An Integration Framework of Configuration Management and Process Management

Currently Configuration Management (CM) tool and Process Management (PM) tool are both largely applied in software organizations. However, neither of them can effectively support the complex evolutions in today’s software development solely. So we must integrate CM and PM together to provide a systematic framework for managing evolutions. This paper introduces a configuration management framework based on life cycle control of the system. In this framework, the life cycle is represented by a series of iterations, which can be started by change requests. Each iteration is based on the process model and CM activities such as check in/check out are performed in it. Strict life cycle control can make evolutions of artifacts more methodical. Furthermore measurements can be effectively performed on the rich information stored in the repository. Process-based reuse is also simplified in this framework.