Definition

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Configuration Status Accounting

The recording and reporting of information needed for configuration management including the status of configuration items (CIs), proposed changes and the implementation status of approved changes. Status accounting provides the means by which the current state of the development can be judged and the history of the development life cycle can be traced.

A typical Configuration Status Report might include:

  • A list of the configuration items that comprise a baseline
  • The date when each version of each configuration item was baselined
  • A list of the specifications that describe each configuration item
  • The history of baseline changes including rationales for change
  • A list of open change requests by configuration item
  • Deficiencies identified by configuration audits
  • The status of works associated with approved change requests by CI.

Configuration status information is maintained in a Configuration Item Register.

Why Configuration Status Accounting is Important

Scenario: Coding from an Out-of-date Design

A development team spends two months coding from a baselined design description that, unbeknown to them, has outstanding change requests. When the change requests are finally implemented the design is substantially different. Ten thousand lines of code have to be re-worked.

This loss could have been avoided if the configuration status of the design description was known to the software developers.

Collaboration

Member Comments

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RE Definition: Configuration Status Accounting

Drift Hunters

By May » Mon 28-Jul-2025, 12:44, My rating: ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

This is a great overview of Configuration Status Accounting! It really highlights the importance of tracking changes and baselines throughout a project's lifecycle. Thinking about this process, I wonder how different teams adapt these practices when they're iterating quickly, maybe even with a "fail fast" mentality. It seems like meticulous status accounting, while valuable, could potentially slow things down. Perhaps there are parallels to be drawn with the tuning and adjustments you might make in a game like Drift Hunters, constantly tweaking settings for optimal performance while keeping track of the original configuration.

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