Configuration Manager

Definition

Configuration Manager

the role that is played when a person manages the configuration management activity on an endeavor

Responsibilities

The typical role-specific responsibilities of a Configuration Manager are to:

• Produce and maintain the:
  • Configuration management plan (CMP) and/or the associated section of the management plan.
  • Configuration management procedures.
• Maintain an effective configuration management activity.
• Performance configuration identification, audits, and status reporting.
• Provide effective leadership to the configuration management team.
• Interface with the change control board (CCB).
• Define the requirements for configuration management tools.
• Oversee the configuration management activities of developers, partner organizations, and subcontractor organizations.

Configuration managers typically inherit common role responsibilities from the role process component.

Personal Profile

To fulfill these responsibilities, configuration managers should typically have the following personal characteristics, expertise, training, and experience:

Personal Characteristics

Configuration managers should typically have the following personal characteristics:

• A strong process mentality.
• Able to comfortably multitask (i.e., perform multiple configuration management tasks concurrently).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for:
  • Interfacing with developers, testers, and the members of the Change Control Board (CCB).
  • Explaining the importance of proper configuration management to its diverse audiences.

Expertise

Configuration managers should typically have the following expertise:

• Expert practical knowledge of:
  • Configuration managment theory including tasks and techniques.
  • Configuration management tools and their vendors.
• Solid practical knowledge of:
  • The theory, practice, and tools of software engineering.
• Basic practical knowledge of the:
  • Application domain.
  • Business enterprise of the customer’s organization.

Training

Configuration managers should typically have the following training:

• A bachelor’s degree or better in software or systems engineering, computer science, or the equivalent.
• Vendor certifications in the relevant configuration management systems.
• Practical hands-on training in:
  • The project process, especially in terms of relevant tasks, techniques, and work products.
  • Configuration management concepts, tasks, techniques, tools, and work products.
  • Configuration management systems and their vendors.
• Reads books, technical journals, and conference proceedings on configuration management.

Experience

Configuration managers should typically have the following experience:

• A minimum of 1-2 year’s experience successfully designing and implementing data and software components during similar endeavors.

Tasks

Configuration managers typically perform the following role-specific tasks in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Configuration Management Planning
• Configuration Identification
• Configuration Control
• Version Control
• Configuration Auditing
• Configuration Status Reporting

Configuration managers typically inherit common role tasks from the role process component.

Teams

Configuration managers typically perform these tasks as members of the following teams:

• Configuration Management Team
• Change Control Board (CCB)

Work Products

As members of these teams, configuration managers typically produce all or part of the following work products:

• Documents:
  • Configuration Management Plan
  • Change Request Form
  • Configuration Identification Report
  • Configuration Status Report
  • Configuration Audit Report
• Concepts:
  • Configuration Item
  • Baseline

Guidelines

• Configuration managers are required on any endeavor that has a non-trivial number of configuration items and baselines to manage (i.e., practically all endeavors).
• This role typically inherits the common team guidelines from the roles process component.