Configuration Management and Prince 2 PRINCE 2 Configuration

Configuration Management and Prince 2

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Management Within the context of project Management, the purpose of configuration management is to identify, track and protect the projects products.

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Management Plays a major part in the quality control of the project. Without it, managers have little or no control over the products being produced e. g. what their status is, where they are, what version it is.

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Management is not optional! ! If more than one version has been created, then configuration management is being performed. It is just a question of how formally it needs to be done.

PRINCE 2 - Baseline A baseline is a snapshot of a product and any component products, frozen at a point in time for a particular purpose. It also records a change in product status when the product passes to the configuration library after successful completion of quality control. This changes its status and ‘freezes’ the content. It can now be used as a firm basis from the development of any later product.

PRINCE 2 - Release A release is a complete and consistent set of products that forms a fixed reference point in the development of the end outcome. Each product in the release must have been baselined so that it is clear which version of the various parts should be included.

PRINCE 2 – Managing the configuration Consists of 5 basic functions: Planning Identification Control Status accounting Verification

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Librarian Configuration Management gives the project management team precise control over the project’s assets. The title given to the role that operates the configuration management method is Configuration Librarian.

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Management Plan The configuration management plan forms part of the Project Quality Plan. It defines: • How and where the products will be stored • What filing and retrieval security there will be • How the products and the various versions of these will be identified • Where responsibilities for configuration management lie.

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Identification Each product (and each version of a product) required a unique identifier. As a minimum, the coding scheme should identify: • • The project in which the product is created Type of product e. g. hardware, document etc Product title Latest version number.

PRINCE 2 – Configuration Audits These audits that actual products against the information held about them in the configuration management records, looking for discrepancies e. g. • difference in version numbers • Incorrect status • Stated person has the item out for change. The audits also check that the configuration management process is being done to a standard. Such audits are normally carried out at the end of each stage.