Factors affecting configuration plans in product development

¹ HIT Holon Institute of Technology, 52 Golomb St. Holon, 58102, Israel
² Visiting Research Associate, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
³ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

^* Corresponding author: sadeh@hit.ac.il

Abstract

Configuration Management( CM )is an engineering methodology through which it is possible to manage and control all the stages that the product undergoes throughout its life cycle. The applied methodology is relevant to many different engineering disciplines and various products. CM is part of system engineering and it includes many management aspects. This study deals with factors that make up the CM configuration management methodology of all its components. The background and motivation for conducting this research was raised from inspection of outcomes from many development processes of new products, or improvement and changes in design of existing products, in hi-tech organizations in Israel. It was found that in some organizations the issue of configuration management is often not large or not large enough, and accordingly, too little resources are allocated to the subject. The study refers to the configuration management schema according to CMII (Configuration Management version 2). The study examines the level of configuration management with respect to the effects of the following variables and their level in the organization: (i) Requirements Management), (ii) Change Management, (iii) Release Management), (iv) Data Management), (v) Report Management, (vi) Document Management, and (vii) Software Tools Management. The study includes a comprehensive survey of 104 system engineers, managers and project managers related to the field of configuration management processes. The results of the study indicate the relative importance of each factor involved in configuration management. They are very useful for organizations whose main focus is research and development and new product development