Configuration Management Strategy

This is the sixth in my series of blog articles about the twenty-six PRINCE2 management products (i.e. the documents created to help ensure that a PRINCE2 project runs as smoothly as possible). You will learn all about these PRINCE2 management products on a PRINCE2 training course. My previous blog article examined Configuration Item Records; in this article I will look at a related management product: the Configuration Management Strategy.

The Configuration Management Strategy outlines how the project’s other management products, as well as the specialist products, will be controlled and protected. Depending on the nature of the project, either a strategy is created during the Initiating a Project process or the existing strategy for corporate or programme configuration management is adopted. Whether the strategy is created from scratch or derived from one already in use, the project manager must ensure that it meets the needs of the project, taking into account that project’s scope, level of complexity, and so on.

The Configuration Management Strategy focuses on important considerations about the project’s products, such as the means by which they will be stored, how their storage and retrieval will be made secure, and the procedure for controlling the changes made to them. The strategy helps to ensure that configuration management is performed effectively and documented appropriately; for example, any changes made to a baselined product must be performed in accordance with the change control procedure described within that strategy. It also indicates which systems, tools, and techniques are required in order for each aspect of configuration management to be implemented effectively.

With a Configuration Management Strategy in place, the project manager and others involved with the project can keep track of what happens to all of the products relatively easily. The strategy can therefore greatly aid quality control, helping to ensure that the stakeholders’ expectations are met.

Effective PRINCE2 training

Knowledge Train provides fully accredited PRINCE2 training courses, in classrooms, in-house, and online. To book your course or find out more, please call us on +44 (0)20 7148 5985 or email info@knowledgetrain.co.uk

I hope to see you at one of my courses soon!

Look out for my next blog article about PRINCE2 management products!