SP 1.1 Identify Configuration Items

CMMI DEV 1.3

5. Process Areas

5.2. Configuration Management

SG 1 Establish Baselines

SP 1.1 Identify Configuration Items

Process Area	CM
Level	2
Goal	SG 1
Practice	SP 1.1

Identify configuration items, components, and related work products to be placed under configuration management.

Configuration identification is the selection and specification of the following:

· Products delivered to the customer

· Designated internal work products

· Acquired products

· Tools and other capital assets of the project’s work environment

· Other items used in creating and describing these work products

Configuration items can include hardware, equipment, and tangible assets as well as software and documentation. Documentation can include requirements specifications and interface documents. Other documents that serve to identify the configuration of the product or service, such as test results, may also be included.

A “configuration item” is an entity designated for configuration management, which may consist of multiple related work products that form a baseline. This logical grouping provides ease of identification and controlled access. The selection of work products for configuration management should be based on criteria established during planning.

Example Work Products

1. Identified configuration items

Subpractices

1. Select configuration items and work products that compose them based on documented criteria.

Example criteria for selecting configuration items at the appropriate work product level include the following:

· Work products that can be used by two or more groups

· Work products that are expected to change over time either because of errors or changes in requirements

· Work products that are dependent on each other (i.e., a change in one mandates a change in the others)

· Work products critical to project success

Examples of work products that may be part of a configuration item include the following:

· Design

· Test plans and procedures

· Test results

· Interface descriptions

· Drawings

· Source code

· User stories or story cards

· The declared business case, logic, or value

· Tools (e.g., compilers)

· Process descriptions

· Requirements

2. Assign unique identifiers to configuration items.

3. Specify the important characteristics of each configuration item.

Example characteristics of configuration items include author, document or file type, programming language for software code files, minimum marketable features, and the purpose the configuration item serves.

4. Specify when each configuration item is placed under configuration management.

Example criteria for determining when to place work products under configuration management include the following:

· When the work product is ready for test

· Stage of the project lifecycle

· Degree of control desired on the work product

· Cost and schedule limitations

· Stakeholder requirements

5. Identify the owner responsible for each configuration item.

6. Specify relationships among configuration items.

Incorporating the types of relationships (e.g., parent-child, dependency) that exist among configuration items into the configuration management structure (e.g., configuration management database) assists in managing the effects and impacts of changes.

Keywords API ; appropriate ; baseline ; configuration identification ; configuration item ; configuration management ; customer ; data ; document ; process ; process description ; product ; program ; project ; rating ; requirement ; service ; stakeholder ; subpractice