Software Project Management: ResearchColab- Configuration Management (Document-8)
Presented in 4th year of Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering (BSSE) course at Institute of Information Technology, University of Dhaka (IIT, DU).
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1. Configuration Overview
In order to effectively manage the Reserchcolab.com Project, a coordinated Configuration
Management (CM) Plan has been followed. According the CM plan, CM roles and
responsibilities describe how the Reserchcolab.com Project team has track, implement, and
communicate configuration items (CIs) and changes throughout the project lifecycle.
2. Configuration Control
The Researchcolab.com Project has used a standardized configuration control process throughout
the project lifecycle in order to ensure all CIs are handled in a consistent manner and any
approved changes are fully reviewed regarding impact and communicated to project team.
Any configuration changes which are identified by the project team must be captured in a
configuration change request (CCR) and submitted to the Change Control Board (CCB). The
CCB has reviewed, analyzed, and approved/denied the request based on the impact, scope, time,
and cost of the proposed change. If the change is approved, the project requirements will be re-
baselined (if necessary) and all changes will be communicated to the project team and
stakeholders by the Project Manager. Denied CCRs may be re-submitted with additional or new
information for re-consideration by the CCB.
As CIs are identified by the project team, the Configuration Manager will assign a CI name and
the CI will be then assigned to the concern person. It is necessary that for any software changes,
testing is conducted by the testing specialist in order to validate any changes made.
3. Change log
The configuration change log is a document that is used by the project team to log and track
change requests throughout the life of the project. Configuration management is one area of
project management which will cause serious problems if it is not carefully managed. There may
be changes in requirements, deliverables, design, or other changes which can easily cause a
project to fail without a deliberate change management effort.
This document should be updated as new change requests are submitted or as existing change
requests are approved, rejected, or deferred. Most of the information on the change log will
come directly from the change request form that the project team uses. The change management
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process should be clearly communicated to all stakeholders and if a change is requested it should
be submitted on the change request form. The project team will use the data from the change
request form to populate the change log. As the change request follows the change request
process and is reviewed and approved/denied/deferred, the status will be updated in the change
log.
The following table shows a common format used for the Researchcolab.com project change
request:
Change Request
Project: Researchcolab.com Date: 20/11/2016
Change Requestor: Minhas Kamal Change No: CR002
Change Category (Check all that apply):
□ Schedule □ Cost □ Scope □ Requirements/Deliverables
□ Testing/Quality □ Resources
Does this Change Affect (Check all that apply):
□ Corrective Action □ Preventative Action □ Defect Repair □ Updates
□ Other
Describe the Change Being Requested: Discussion rooms can have multiple administrators.
Describe the Reason for the Change: To give more user authority to the discussion room
Describe all Alternatives Considered: N/A
Describe any Technical Changes Required to Implement this Change: N/A
Describe Risks to be Considered for this Change:
Estimate Resources and Costs Needed to Implement this Change: N/A
Describe the Implications to Quality:
Disposition:
□ Approve □ Reject □ Defer
Justification of Approval, Rejection, or Deferral: This requirement change is not too much
important & does not add much value to the system.
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The following table shows a common format used for the Researchcolab.com configuration
change log
Configuration Change Log
Project: Researchcolab.com Date: 25/11/16
Change
No.
Change Type Description of
Change
Requestor Date
Submitted
Date
Approved
Status Comments
CR001 Design Payment should
be an
independent
module, rather
than under Data
Sharing and
Review Request
module. Data
Sharing and
Review Request
module should
simply use it.
Minhas
Kamal
17/11/2016 18/11/2016 Accepted This request was
approved to
ensure the
Ease of use the
payment system.
CR002 Requirement Discussion
rooms can have
multiple
administrators.
Minhas
Kamal
20/11/2016 21/11/2016 Denied This requirement
change is not too
much important
& does not add
much value to the
system.
CR003 Design/ Scope This change
request calls for
modifying
existing network
firewalls to add
intrusion
detection
systems to
enhance network
security.
Kishan
Kumar
Ganguly
20/11/2016 21/11/2016 Deferred This request was
deferred and is
pending a
determination of
the impact to the
project's costs,
schedule and
scope.
CR004 Design/
Implementation
The change
request asks for
changing
encryption
mechanism for
authentication
for better
security
Kishan
Kumar
Ganguly
22/11/2016 23/11/2016 Accepted The request was
accepted because
it refers to an
acceptable
amount of change
in the design and
implementation.