PREPARING FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ON-LINE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A technical whitepaper of system capabilities and a proven strategy for satisfying international product structure and document configuration management regulations

1.

 Purpose of this Document

This document was created to provide guidance and information to engineers and managers responsible for Configuration Management at their companies. Its purpose is to give a comprehensive overview of standard Configuration Management terms and procedures, to help your company prepare for implementing the CADIM/CM system, tailored to work with any existing site specific procedures and processes.

CADIM/CM is the comprehensive product data and configuration management system used worldwide by companies in aerospace and defense, transportation, heavy equipment, maintenance and overall, and high tech industry segments. CADIM/CM combines the market leading Product Data Management (PDM) functions of EIGNER+PARTNER's CADIM/EDB family of document, workflow, BOM and Order management system with the functions of usb's compass configuration application and companies.

The configuration management functions in CADIM/CM closely model the standard procedures of MIL-STD-2549 "Configuration Management Data Interface", Electronic Industries Association EIA Standard 649 "National Consensus Standard for Configuration Management" and MIL-HDBK-61 "Military Handbook, Configuration Management Guidance". The principles and basic requirements of International Standard EN ISO 10007 are also captured. MIL-STD-973, which previously governed United States DoD configuration management procedures, is being phased out and is not explicitly considered here.

The sections of this document are divided into the major CM functions: Configuration Identification, Configuration Control, Configuration Status Accounting, and Configuration Audits. Following each section are questions that should be considered in advance of your site's implementation planning sessions.

 

2.

2.1

Introduction to Configuration Management

General

CM is a discipline applying technical and administrative direction and monitoring to:

  • identify and document functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item
  • control changes to those characteristics
  • record and report change processing status and product definition data
  • verify compliance with specifications and other contract requirements
This discipline can be further described in 4 interdependent activities as:

Configuration Identification - Identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of configuration items (CI's) for the purpose of establishing what is to be built,

Configuration Control - Control changes to those CI's and their related documentation,

Configuration Status Accounting (CSA) - Record and report information needed to manage CI's effectively, including the status of proposed changes and the implementation status of approved changes,

Configuration Audits - Audit the CI's to verify compliance with configuration identification documentation.

  2.2

Terms and Definitions

  • As-Designed
  • As-Planned
  • Should-Build
  • As-Built
  • As-Maintained
  • Model Unit Effectivity
  • Serialization
  2.3 Responsibilities

The contractor has the overall responsibility for CM. It is his task and responsibility to convert the contract specifications into a design, establish appropriate design and build standards, identify CI's and control, account and audit them throughout all contracted phases of the program.

  2.4

Organization

The contractor shall establish and maintain an organization to conduct the activities required in the contractual documents (including all annex's) and define these in the contractor configuration management plan (CMP) see also 2.5. This CMP shall embrace the Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) and the CMP's or any other involved companies (partner companies, subcontractors).

  2.5

CM Plan

A configuration management plan describes how configuration management is accomplished and how consistency between the product definition, the product's configuration, and the configuration management records is achieved and maintained throughout the applicable phases of the product's life cycle.

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