This guide contains:

Background on configuration management
Important features and functions of configuration management software
How to find the best configuration management system

This short guide was created to help you understand the basics of configuration management and how to find the best configuration management system for your organization. We do not sell any configuration management services ourselves, so you can be assured that all of the information in this guide is independent and unbiased.

Background on configuration management
Whether yours is a small organization or a Fortune 500 company, today's highly dynamic and competitive environment demands that your company efficiently track and manage the configuration of software such as operating systems, applications, patches, content and settings across your enterprise. One of the tools available to help any sized business address this challenge is known as a configuration management system.

A configuration management system takes many forms, but at its heart it provides an automated method of managing software throughout the entire software lifecycle- from deployment, migration, management and ultimately, retirement. By creating repeatable, enforceable, auditable and predictable processes, a good configuration management system helps lower network and IT costs, reduces software-related problems, and provides reliability and security for your company's business operations.

Features and functions of configuration management products
Whether managing multiple software programs or platforms or actually developing custom software applications, there are four main features that any configuration management program should have:

Problem Tracking
The heart of any configuration management program is a highly configurable problem tracking system. This problem tracking allows your developers or support staff to create, route, and edit problem forms across your organization and to assign projects to certain users or groups. Problem forms can be customized according to multiple criteria, such as priority, cost, systems affected, and many more. The problem tracking system should also have the ability to record and track changes to the problem forms, as well as let you define approval lists and security measures.

Process/Workflow Management
Configuration management software will come with a standard 'out of the box' workflow process, which can be customized for you organization's needs. You should be able to customize items such as: set security and use access parameters; define signature chains; generate detailed audit reports; set up email notifications by event or other criteria, and more.