This month’s CMsights looks at the why, what, who, and how of performing a Configuration Management Assessment (CMA). But first, what exactly is a CMA?

A CMA typically provides a fact-finding review and independent analysis of current CM-related processes, plans, performance gaps, best practices support, personnel competencies, standards adherence, and deployed software. A comprehensive CMA will also identify and prioritize prospective improvements to any elements found deficient.

There are numerous contributing factors which have caused the process of managing CDRLs (and SDRLs) to become not only a more arduous task, but at the same time increasingly important to the bottom-line performance of a DoD program or profitability of a supplier’s contract. Thankfully, as the efficient handling of CDRLs has become more demanding to orchestrate, best practices (BP) have emerged over recent years from a number of contractors, government agencies, industry associations, and CDRL data management software tool providers like CMstat.

After our last post on the Challenges of Implementing Configuration Management, a reader asked if the impediments to deploying configuration management were very different between a modest-size single-production facility versus a large multi-national multi-site enterprise. Our answer was both “No” and “Yes.”

Throughout CMstat’s history we have witnessed firsthand numerous obstacles that high-tech industries, like aerospace and defense, have experienced when implementing a Configuration Management (CM) strategy with supporting software tools. As with many new or rapidly-evolving technologies, most barriers in the successful deployment and adoption of CM are not overly technical in nature. Instead, they tend to be educational, organizational, procedural or contextual at their core.

Once upon a time, the process of managing Contract Data Requirement Lists (CDRL) and Subcontract Data Requirement Lists (SDRL) in support of government and commercial contracts in aerospace and defense was simple enough that data managers and project planners could perform most of what was required using spreadsheets.

What is the most frequent obstacle encountered by an organization developing, implementing, or repairing their Configuration Management strategy and execution? It is the misunderstanding among product managers, program managers, and business-line executives who think that change control management is configuration management. It is not!

Much has been recently written about the use of Configuration Management (CM) as products, equipment, systems, and infrastructures (both physical and digital) become more complex to design and maintain with frequent configuration changes over longer lifecycles of consumer use or asset deployment. As a result, the role of configuration management continues to rapidly expand and evolve, creating new challenges, opportunities and decisions for CM professionals, industry practitioners and solution providers.

In this month’s CMsights we speak with Lisa Fenwick, Vice President of Product Development for CMstat, to better understand what exactly is Change Implementation Planning and Verification. It’s a timely topic because many product and project managers are justifiably confused by the overlapping terms change control, change management, change implementation…

By far the most common error CMstat has observed industrial users of CM software make is that of senior-level managers mistakenly believing their organization was ready to proceed implementing a configuration management strategy before everyone was adequately educated, prepared and trained to do so…

Our latest CMsights post begins a series on the most common lessons that CMstat has seen our software customers and consulting clients learn over the years from implementing configuration management (CM). These include lessons learned – both easy and hard - that are applicable to a small project, complete product line, major program…

In our first CMviews interview, CMstat’s Vice President of Development Lisa Fenwick speaks with Larry Gurule, President of CMPIC, about the role of Configuration Management in taming then leveraging the Digital Thread. In this broadcast our pair of subject matter experts begin to explore: What is the Digital Thread and…

CMstat has announced the publication and availability of its newest white paper on Asset Lifecycle Configuration Management, also known as ALCM. This is the first comprehensive paper available to address the practice of ALCM and the use of configuration management software by industries with long-life assets that are deployed in the…

In our last CMsights article we investigated how Asset Lifecycle Configuration Management (ALCM) is both similar to and different from engineering-centric Product Configuration Management. In this month’s recorded CMsights video blog we will demonstrate an ALCM function from the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) phase of an asset’s lifecycle that…

In this CMsights article we will examine the relatively new practice of Asset Lifecycle Configuration Management (ALCM), including how it is similar and different to product-centric CM, and the evolution in the use of CM software in industries with long-life products that have ALCM…

The independent software solution provider CMstat has announced the general availability release of its next-generation Asset Configuration Management software product EPOCH CM. EPOCH CM offers a rapidly deployable, instantly usable, easily extensible, and swiftly affordable web-based solution for managing the live “As-X” configurations of deployed in-service products, equipment, systems, and…

CMstat and the Council of Logistics Engineering Professionals (CLEP) invite you to attend an educational webinar on Thursday, Sept. 24 on “A Configuration Management Primer for Logistics Professionals.” Attendees will learn why logistics engineers – as well as other professionals working downstream of product engineering in program management, quality, compliance…

In this month’s CMsights we begin to explore the value of a Configuration Management Assessment using configuration management maturity models developed specifically for the practice of CM. This follows our April 2020 article on Configuration Management Assessments. In that post, we presented an example configuration management checklist of questions that…

In the latest CMsights post we share a guest-authored article from Joseph Norton which illustrates the role of configuration management and CM standards like EIA-649 during a supply chain emergency such as that precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe is a current member and past officer of the SAE G-33…