Configuration Management Principles and Practice

BS6488

This British standard defines configuration management as

[t]he discipline of identifying all components and their relationships in a continually evolving system (taking into account relevant system interfaces) for the purpose of maintaining integrity, traceability and control over change throughout the life cycle.

DoD Mil-Std-973

This Department of Defense standard defines configuration management as

a discipline that applies technical and administrative direction and surveillance over the life cycle of items to

• Identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of configuration items.

• Control changes to configuration items and their related documentation.

• Record and report information needed to manage configuration items effectively, including the status of proposed changes and the implementation status of approved changes.

• Audit configuration items to verify conformance to specifications, drawings, interface control documents, and other contractual requirements.

IEEE-Std-610.12-1990

The IEEE standard includes definitions of "all" terms for software engineering, among which are many related to configuration management. The standard defines configuration management as

a discipline applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance to: identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change processing and implementation status, and verify compliance with specified requirements.