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Project Management Information System

BY: PRADEEP PATEL PMP

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/pradeepppatel05

Linkedin: http://in.linkedin.com/in/trainwithpradeep

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Configuration Management System is a part of the overall Project Management Information System (PMIS). Change Management System is a subset of the Configuration Management System.

Configuration Management System has 4 main aspects:

1. Configuration Identification(identifying configurable items(CI)) 2. Configuration Control(Access Control of documents) 3. Configuration Status Accounting(updating the status of documents) 4. Configuration Verification and Audit(Verifying that the documents being

used are latest copies from configuration management system)

PMIS

Configuration Management

System

Change Management

System

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The four main activities of a good Configuration Management System are: Configuration Identification- It is the process of identification of Configuration Items (CI) and developing a method to uniquely identify each individual CI. It helps answers the following questions:

1. Which items are placed under configuration management? 2. What are the components of the product? 3. What is the structure (or configuration) of components in the product? 4. What are the versions of the configuration items?

Configuration Control- It is activity of managing the product (or project's deliverables) and related documentation, throughout the lifecycle of the product. It answers the questions:

1. Which items are controlled? 2. How are changes controlled? 3. Who controls the changes?

Configuration Status Accounting- It involves the recording and reporting of all the changes to the configuration items. It tells us:

1. What is the status of proposed changes? 2. What changes have been made? 3. When were the changes made? 4. What components were affected by the change?

Configuration verification and audit- It is the process of verifying the correctness of the product and its components in order to ensure conformance to requirements. It also means verifying the correctness of the Configuration Status Accounting information. It helps to:

1. Ensure that all the configuration items have been correctly identified and

accounted for. 2. Ensure that all the changes have been registered, assessed, approved,

tracked, and correctly implemented.

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3. Measure the effectiveness of the configuration management process.

Configuration Control and Change Control are distinct but related activities.

Both are related activities as both of the activities are concerned with "management of change". One critical point to remember here is the fact that both are distinct activities with different focus, and one is not a substitute for other.

Configuration Control is the activity of managing the product (or project's deliverables) and related documents, throughout the lifecycle of the product. An effective Configuration Control system ensures the following

1. The latest approved version of the product and its components are used at

all times. 2. No change is made to the product baselines without authorization. 3. A clear audit trail of all proposed, approved or implemented changes exists.

Change Control is the process of identifying, documenting, approving or rejecting, and controlling changes to the project baselines (including scope baselines, schedule baselines, cost baselines, etc.).

In other words, it is used to control changes to all aspects of an approved project plan.

An effective Change Control system ensures the following.

1. Proposed changes are reviewed and their impact is analyzed, prior to approving or rejecting them

2. All requests and changes are properly documented to provide a clear audit trail.

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Configuration Control VS Change Control

1. Configuration Control addresses the management of the product (or project's

deliverables), whereas Change Control addresses the management of the project.

2. Configuration Control manages changes to the product baseline, whereas

Change Control manages changes to the project's baseline. 3. Configuration Control is applied throughout the lifecycle of the product

whereas Change Control is applied during the lifecycle of the project subsequent to establishing the project baselines.

Concept

Design

Develop

Service

Dispose