Seminar We make no secret of the fact that Configuration Management (CM) is fundamental to IT governance generally [declaration of interest: which is why the author of this piece is on the committee of the BCS Configuration Management Specialist Group (http://www.bcs-cmsg.org.uk) (CMSG)]. But even in the CMSG, people do not always agree on exactly what CM is - and how wide its scope is.

This is particularly an issue for developers who may see it as "just" version control (implemented in Subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org/) or Perforce (http://www.perforce.com/), perhaps).

That's certainly part of it, but you have to be careful that some corporate suit doesn't impose a heavyweight and over-controlling configuration management system on you, which does a lot more than just version control, but which slows down code production. So you do need to be aware of the issues.

Now there's a chance to get an insight into Configuration Management (in the context of ITIL v3 (http://www.itsmf.org.sg/news/uploads/itil3_faq.pdf)) from Shirley Lacy (author, with Ivor Macfarlane, Service Transition book for ITIL V3 and a member of the British Standards committee for developing the BS 15000 IT Service Management standard).

This free CMSG event (http://www.bcs-cmsg.org.uk/events/e20071011.shtml) is held on 11 October at the BCS Offices at 5 Southampton St, London. Register here (https://www.secure-website.com/bcs-cmsg.org.uk/cmsg_registration.shtml). Be the developer who can take an active part in the discussion when the bosses start imposing development management standards. ®

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