The Configuration Identification activity makes sure that
important artefacts of a project are put under configuration
management, whereas the Configuration Status Accounting
activity reports on the status of artefacts and development.
One way to look at this is that the first activity is the
definition of a database. What objects should be put into it,
what information should be recorded about the objects, how
should they be structured and what relations should exist
between them. The second activity then becomes queries on
this database of project artefacts, both standard queries and
ad-hoc queries to provide information from the collected
data. Configuration Control has focus on managing changes
to project artefacts. It ranges from collecting relevant
information about Change Requests over their treatment on
the Change Control Board – that decides which Change
Requests to accept, reject or defer – through the process of
following them through to their closure. The decision part of
this process has a “control” aspect to it, whereas the rest of
the process can be seen as collection and provision of
information. The purpose of the Configuration Audit activity
is to make sure that a project is ready to deliver what is has
promised. Much like when you see an airline pilot walking
around his airplane before leaving, making sure that the
engines are still there, that there is not ice on the fuselage and
so on. Had the pilot had sensors – and trusted them