Projects take place in dynamic environments and change requests are inevitable. All potential changes are dealt with as Project Issues and each one needs to be examined for:

1. Degree of importance and impact on the project. 2. Cost, time scale, scope and quality implications on the project. 3. The effect on the Business Case and project benefits. 4. The potential effect on an existing risk or creating a new risk.

A project needs a systematic approach to controlling how those changes affect versions of each product (configuration management). Configuration management applies to nearly all products and is often really hard work.

The Configuration Management discipline consists of:

• PLANNING - deciding the level of version control.
• IDENTIFICATION - identifying all products to be put under configuration management.
• CONTROL - nothing changes without authorisation.
• STATUS ACCOUNTING - recording changes.
• VERIFICATION AND AUDIT - reviews and audits to check configuration management is working well.

Manual

The Configuration Management method may be manual or automated, but, above all, it must be appropriate for the size and scale of the project, and determined early in the planning work.

Automated