Best Practices

Whether you utilize manual or automated processes, here is a list of techniques that should be considered for your configuration management process:

• Establish central repository— First and foremost, define a central repository for the project where all project work documents will be stored. Make sure access to the repository can be controlled and that the appropriate stakeholders have access to it.

• Define review/revision/approval process— Define which work products need to be reviewed and approved when any change is made, who can make those changes, who needs to approve those changes, and the associated workflow that needs to be followed.

• Define a “gatekeeper”— Experience has shown tremendous value in establishing someone as the official librarian for the project repository. This person is responsible for controlling access to the repository, updating the repository, and ensuring that the configuration management procedures are being followed.

• Implement access controls— Ensure that the project repository is only accessible to authorized stakeholders and the granted access level is aligned with their role on the project.

• Establish common directory structure— To better organize work products and to make it easier to find them when you need them, it is recommended that a directory structure be defined that is aligned with the project phases and workflow process.

• Establish file-naming conventions— Also in the spirit of better organization of work products, it is recommended that a common convention be defined for naming project work products. The convention(s) provide consistency and help improve project communications and stakeholder expectations as well.

• Establish version numbering scheme— If these guidelines do not exist for your organization already, determine the rules that will govern the versioning scheme for each category of work product. Common elements to consider include version number format, differences between major and minor versions, and conventions to be followed.

• Establish baselines— A key best practice, especially before any milestone-type event on the project, such as phase-end, tollgate, start of a testing phase, or releasing work product to a client. To effectively deal with any quality issues and client expectations, you must be able to clearly define (and maintain) the configuration of a work product at a given point in time.

• Use standard document sections— To help encourage effective configuration management practices, it is recommended that work product templates be developed which contain standard document sections. Document sections that are recommended include the following:

  • Title page

  • Revision History page

  • Approval page

  • Standard Header and Footer formats/data

• Use a Deliverable Tracker— A powerful technique that can be utilized regardless of the sophistication of your process. Develop a mechanism to identify and track the status of your project work products. For lack of a better term, I will call this your deliverable tracker. This can be done with a simple spreadsheet program. Table 12.1 summarizes the key recommendations for your Deliverable Tracker.

  Table 12.1. Deliverable Tracker Recommendations

  Element	Definition	Notes
  Work Product Name Project Phase	Targeted work product. Name of the project phase.	Can be a column/field, or you can use separate tab/ sheet for each project phase.
  Modification Type	For this phase, is the work product created or updated?
  Work Product File Name	Actual file name of the work product.	Tip: Hyperlink to its repository location.
  Version	Current version number of work product.
  Status	Current status of the work product in this project phase.	In-process, Completed, Approved. Tip: Use color to visually represent the work product status.
  CM Indicator	Flag indicating whether this work product is under CM control.	Most will be YES.
  Owner	Person responsible for the change.
  Target Completion Date	Scheduled completion date.
  Completion Date	Actual completion date.
  Approver	Person/group who must approve the change.
  Target Approval Date	Scheduled approval date.
  Date Approved	Actual approval date.

  
  

• Back it up— Make sure that your project repositories have proper backup procedures in place and that they are actually working. You will be glad you did.

  Tip

  Execute a test of your backup recovery procedures to verify they are working correctly—before you actually need them.

  
  

• Address needs of different work product types— A single configuration management process may not be adequate for your project. You should develop specific configuration management procedures for each type of work product you are managing.

• Leverage configuration management tools— While effective configuration management procedures can be executed using clearly defined manual procedures—and a fair amount of discipline and a central control point—the process is much easier with configuration management tools. The tools allow you to control access to the repository, control the revision process (only one person can check out the work product for edit at a time), and provide an automatic audit trail.

  Note

  Configuration management tools include document management tools, software configuration management tools, enterprise project management tools, enterprise (and web) content management tools, records management tools, and workflow/collaboration tools.

  
  

• Define product configuration build/release process— On any project that deals with a product that is composed of multiple components, a process is needed that properly integrates the components into a final product. This is especially true for any product that represents a system. This process allows for a baseline configuration to be established.