Artifacts > Configuration & Change Management Artifact Set > Configuration Management Plan


CM Plan		 The Configuration Management (CM) Plan describes all Configuration and Change Control Management (CCM) activities you will perform during the course of the product or project lifecycle. It details the schedule of activities, the assigned responsibilities, and the required resources, including staff, tools, and computer facilities.
Role: Configuration Manager
Template:
Examples:

Input to Activities: Output from Activities:

Purpose To top of page

The purpose of the CM Plan is to define, or reference, the steps and activities that describe how Configuration and Change Control Management is performed in the development of a software product.

Brief Outline To top of page

(hyperlinks into HTML template in a new window)

1.       Introduction         
    1.1     Purpose     
    1.2     Scope     
    1.3     Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations     
    1.4     References     
    1.5     Overview     
2.       Software Configuration Management
    2.1     Organization, Responsibilities, and Interfaces     
    2.2     Tools, Environment, and Infrastructure     
3.       The Configuration Management Program         
    3.1     Configuration Identification     
        3.1.1         Identification Methods           
        3.1.2         Project Baselines           
    3.2     Configuration and Change Control     
        3.2.1         Change Request Processing and Approval           
        3.2.2         Change Control Board (CCB)           
    3.3     Configuration Status Accounting     
        3.3.1         Project Media Storage and Release Process           
        3.3.2         Reports and Audits           
4.       Milestones
5.       Training and Resources     
6.       Subcontractor and Vendor Software Control

Timing To top of page

The CM Plan is written early in the Elaboration phase once funding has been approved for the project to proceed. We recommend you revisit it at the start of each phase and update it accordingly. The CM Plan needs to be archived so it's available for post-deployment maintenance activities, particularly for guidance on where certain software assets might be stored.

Responsibility To top of page

The Role: Configuration Manager is responsible for the integrity of the CM Plan and for ensuring that it covers all of the following:

  • activities to be performed

  • schedule of activities

  • assigned responsibilities

  • required resources (staff, tools, environment, and infrastructure)

Tailoring To top of page

The Configuration Management Plan contains information that may be covered to a greater or lesser extent by other plans.  The following approaches can be used to handle this potential overlap:

  • simply reference the content in another plan,
  • provide the overview in another plan, and provide greater detail in this plan.  References from these other plans to the Configuration Management Plan may be useful.  This often works well on large projects with a separate organization responsible for configuration management,
  • tailor the document sections to cover only those areas which are not covered elsewhere.

The following is a mapping of Configuration Management Plan sections to artifacts which may contain complementary information:

Requirements Management Plan Section Complementary Artifact
Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations Glossary
Organization, Responsibilities, and Interfaces Software Development Plan
Tools, Environment, and Infrastructure Development Case, Software Development Plan (Infrastructure Plan)
Reports and Audits Development Case, Measurement Plan, Quality Assurance Plan
Milestones Software Development Plan, Iteration Plan
Training and Resources Software Development Plan

In addition, configuration management of requirements may be covered in full or in part by the Requirements Management Plan.



Copyright  © 1987 - 2001 Rational Software Corporation

Display Rational Unified Process using frames

Rational Unified Process