Software Configuration Management

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 2
9.1 Software Configuration Management 226

9.1.1 Baselines 227
9.1.2 Software Configuration Items 228
9.2 The SCM Process 230
9.3 Identification of Objects in the Software Configuration 230
9.4 Version Control 232
9.5 Change Control 234
9.6 Configuration Audit 237
9.7 Status Reporting 237
9.8 SCM Standards 238
9.9 Summary 238
SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION
MANAGEMENT
Software configuration management (SCM) is an

umbrella activity that is
applied throughout the software process.
SCM activities :
(1) identify change,
(2) control change,
(3) ensure that change is properly implemented, and
(4) report changes to others
Software configuration
management (SCM) is a set of activities
designed to control change by identifying the
work products that are likely to change, establishing
relationships among them, defining mechanisms
for managing different versions of these
work products, controlling the changes imposed,
and auditing and reporting on the changes
made.
The output of the software process is information that may
be divided into three broad
categories: (1) computer programs (both source level and
executable forms); (2) documents
that describe the computer programs (targeted at both technical
practitioners
and users), and (3) data
Baselines
A baseline is a software configuration management concept
that helps us to control change without seriously impeding
justifiable change.
A specification or product that has been formally reviewed
and agreed upon, that thereafter
serves as the basis for further development, and that can be
changed only through formal
change control procedures.
Software Configuration Items:

Software configuration item as information that is created
as part of the software engineering process.
A configuration object has a name, attributes,

and is "connected" to other objects by relationships.
The configuration objects, Design Specification, data
model, component N, source code and Test Specification are
each defined separately
THE SCM PROCESS

Software configuration management is an important element of
software quality assurance. Its primary responsibility is the
control of change.
five SCM tasks:

identification, version control,
change control, configuration auditing, and reporting
IDENTIFICATION OF OBJECTS IN THE SOFTWARE

CONFIGURATION
To control and manage software configuration items,
each must be separately named and then organized using an
object-oriented approach.
Two types of objects can be
identified [CHO89]: basic objects and aggregate objects.
A basic object is a "unit of text" that has been created by a

software engineer during analysis, design, code, or test.
An aggregate object is a collection of basic objects and other
aggregate objects.
VERSION CONTROL
Version control combines procedures and tools to manage
different versions of configuration objects that are created
during the software process.
CHANGE CONTROL:
Need for change is recognized
Change request from user
Developer evaluates
Change report is generated
Change control authority decides
Request is queued for action, ECO generated Change request is denied

User is informed
Assign individuals to configuration objects

“Check out” configuration objects (items)
Make the change
Review (audit) the change
“Check in” the configuration items that have been changed
Establish a baseline for testing
Perform quality assurance and testing activities
“Promote” changes for inclusion in next release (revision)
Rebuild appropriate version of software
Review (audit) the change to all configuration items
Include changes in new version
Distribute the new version
Change request is denied
Change control is vital.

CONFIGURATION AUDIT:
A software configuration audit complements the formal
technical review by assessing a configuration object for
characteristics that are generally not considered during
review.
STATUS REPORTING:
Configuration status reporting (sometimes called status
accounting) is an SCM task that answers the following
questions:
(1) What happened?
(2) Who did it?
(3) When did it happen?
(4) What else will be affected?
SCM STANDARDS:
Over the past two decades a number of software configuration
management standards have been proposed.
Many early SCM standards, such as
MIL-STD-483,
DODSTD-480A and
MIL-STD-1521A,
focused on software developed for military
applications.

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SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 2

9.1 Software Configuration Management 226

Software configuration management (SCM) is an

Software Configuration Items:

A configuration object has a name, attributes,

THE SCM PROCESS

five SCM tasks:

IDENTIFICATION OF OBJECTS IN THE SOFTWARE

A basic object is a "unit of text" that has been created by a

Request is queued for action, ECO generated Change request is denied

Assign individuals to configuration objects

Change control is vital.

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