This service consists of an in-depth review of the existing configuration management system and a report which summarizes the findings and makes recommendations for improvements, including ways to use automated tools in a more efficient and effective manner.

If you're project seems to be spinning out of control, you are confused by the proliferation of standards that have arisen in the past few years, or you have a smaller project and you just want to do the right thing but you don't want to pay for the development and maintenance of a full-blown documentation scheme, we can help.

The service focuses on reviewing the following aspects of the client's configuration management system:

• Overall approach to baseline management - i.e., how many baselines does the client currently have for each product, how many versions of each product, how are requirements documented, allocated and traced to the product, how are requirements verified, what documentation scheme is used (e.g., Mil-Std-498, J-Std-016, IEEE/EIA 12207, DoD-Std-2167A, etc.), what is the approach to managing changes, is it being followed, and what automation tools are currently being used, how well is the approach tailored to the size and scope of the product.
  
  
• Configuration identification - i.e., are there functional, allocated and design baselines, how well are the requirements written (are they sufficiently detailed and testable?), how well are the requirements traced, how is traceability information maintained, how are the baselines used to evaluate the impact of changes, do the baselines adequately capture all aspects of the system.
  
  
• Configuration auditing - i.e., is the verification and validation approach adequate, are requirements re-verified when major changes are made, how complete is the verification and validation, how is quality assurance integrated with the process.
  
  
• Configuration control - i.e., what management mechanisms are in place to review and authorize proposed changes and how thoroughly are they being followed, what tools are being used to track changes to the functional, allocated, design and product baselines, are they adequate to the task, how are multiple versions of a product being controlled (e.g., XYZ-product for Windows-98/NT and XYZ-product for Unix), what mechanisms are in place to prevent unauthorized changes.
  
  
• Configuration Status Accounting - i.e., how well are changes to the system being tracked, what reports are generated, what tools are being used, how well are they applied.
  
  
• Integration of configuration management with other processes - i.e., how well is the configuration management process integrated with the engineering, engineering management and development processes.