Software Configuration Management

The only thing constant in life perhaps is change. The Information Technology industry, the backbone of today’s business world, is no exception either. New technological innovations, data capturing techniques, system analysis, coding practices, and software enhancements are governed by change - constant, palpable, and at times subtle. In this article, we will explore the nature of software change management and the attributes of a change management system.

In today’s globalized world, the business environment has become too complex, particularly in case of geographically distributed entities. Today’s high capacity distributed systems can handle high volume sensitive business data, and have to cater to activity requests of varied types. This complex scenario has necessitated the practice of software change management, a new practice under the broader discipline of software project management.

A change management system allows software development companies to streamline software process in order to respond to change requirements more proactively. The practice prompts adherence to standardized methods and procedures in order to minimize the impact on other relevant areas of the software. The aim is to keep the overall system stable without touching a majority of the modules. Time and effort need to be factored in also. Every valid change request must be promptly addressed with minimum efforts.

Software process management needs to be robust enough to tackle external demands ranging from legislative impositions to initiatives in customer service enhancements. Another beneficial effect of change management system is that it strives to maintain a proper balance between the need to implement changes, and the negative effect of changes in a stable system. After all, we need to understand at some point of time that “change is not necessarily a progress”.  Each phase of software development life cycle – IT project and portfolio management; requirement capture and feasibility study; requirement analysis; application design; coding; testing and debugging; user acceptance and overall lifecycle quality management – need to be practiced keeping provisions of the inevitable change requirements. The result of such a system is high visibility and greater predictability of software applications with respect to changes.

One or more of the following components may get affected due to the impact of changes:

• Hardware
• System software
• Communication equipments
• Application software
• All related documentation like design documents, user manuals etc.

Scope and Extent of Software Change Management

The first and foremost requirement of a change management system is the implementation of defined (and documented) steps to handle change requirements. Once established, the practice should spread to all areas of the software process management system. Today’s IT houses have already established change-handling mechanisms. At the beginning, software engineers and analysts pay attention to individual changes. However, in today’s business environment, organizations function in geographically distributed areas catering to diverse client segments. Naturally, an enterprise system cannot function like discrete information silos. An impact of a change in a particular segment of the software often has little to moderate effect in other segments also. If the overall system impact is not taken into account, inefficiencies may creep into the system. Such inaccuracies, if not addressed early, may lead to devastating impact at a later stage.

According to a research, about 45% of software development companies cater to software development initiatives that spread across geographical boundaries and cultures. The extent of change requests handled by these companies can easily be imagined. Over the years, the software engineering discipline has stressed the importance of measurements and metrication in handling changes. The mandatory internal and external audits have enforced process management practices. All these activities have a huge contribution towards software change management.

According to industry analysts, the competency in change management as achieved by software companies in general leaves much to be desired. The challenge is not only from the geographical distribution aspect. Organizational activities like mergers and acquisitions, inability to cope up with rapid hardware and software innovations and monetary concerns in times of economic recession contributes largely towards inefficiencies in change management.

A collaborative approach across functional silos is crucial in achieving a successful change implementation. All processes, including automation mechanisms must work in tandem in order to attain the broader goal of application stability in spite of continual change tremors.

Let us summarize the known building blocks of a well-coordinated change management system below:

• All development practices should be driven by well-defined processes.
• Every activity in the software development life cycle should be properly controlled and measured.
• An efficient asset management practice should be in place. This will help in optimum usage of assets.
• There should be proper time management for all activities.
• Change requirements must be properly validated in order to filter out the most pressing ones with respect to business criticality, time, money, and resource availability aspects.
• A proper communication chain should exist in order to communicate change requests promptly across geographically distributed teams.
• An efficient change tracking mechanism should be in place.
• Geographically distributed teams should work in a scalable, expandable, and secure technical infrastructure.
• Support from all quarters need to be garnered.