{"id":1,"date":"2014-04-30T19:22:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T19:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devopsbuzz.com?p=1"},"modified":"2022-01-22T16:51:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T16:51:40","slug":"software-configuration-management-scm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devopsbuzz.com\/software-configuration-management-scm\/","title":{"rendered":"Software Configuration Management [SCM] – All You Need To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"scmQuest<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s world where we are becoming more and more digital and everything depends upon software, software management is a real challenge.  All the software projects are getting more complex and complicated in terms of logic, size, difficulty, and technologies used for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In every organization, daily a new fix\/enhancement is added to the project that makes the software management even more complex and the response time to get it done is very less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All software\u2019s are subjected to constant changes during each phase of the software life cycle, such as planning, design, development, and even after development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, Software Configuration Management<\/strong> (SCM) comes into the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for software configuration management is no more unknown to anyone in this digital world and it\u2019s well pronounced than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software configuration management <\/strong>is a method of bringing control to the software development and software management process. It enhances productivity and boosts application quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCM <\/strong>is a process used for more efficiently developing and maintaining software, which is accomplished by improving accountability, audit-ability, reproducibility, traceability, and coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"scm<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importance and Need of SCM<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s assume an example of the organization where they didn\u2019t opt SCM process and started working on the project. They gathered the requirements from the client but neither they identified any control change nor accounted for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team started developing the code in an ordinary system and built software out of it. They then deployed it manually without using any tool and showed it to the client.  The client was happy with the front look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some days someone found a bug in login functionality and developers started working on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only one user was working on the affected module while others were just waiting for him to finish his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few days later other users also modified their code and they decided to deploy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time they took a backup (a full backup which consumed a lot of disk space) of their code before deploying it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But later one of the team members changed something by mistake and he didn\u2019t inform anybody, at the same time another team member found out that a text box and the graphics are not looking good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He modified the code slightly without taking a backup because the disk was almost full and showed it to the client. The client asked them to put the same page which was shown to him the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now here the trouble <\/strong>started:-
The team didn\u2019t document the configuration items and changes, they modified the code without any backup and they were not able to recognize who has changed the logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had to rework the same piece of work which they did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they would have chosen an SCM process and implemented any version control system then they just have to take out the old version of code from the repository and were able to work in parallel when they found a bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would have easily identified who had changed the code and moreover the user himself would have been able to revert it without any trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would have also used one of the SCM build & deployment tools to save the exhausting manual work of building and deploying the code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Software<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without SCM, every organization always comes across numerous common software problems. Some examples of these problems are missing source code, changed component libraries, incapability to do parallel development, an inability to track why, when, and who made a change, and difficulty in finding out why the program which was working earlier has suddenly stopped working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These problems are really frustrating because they are difficult to fix and they reoccur frequently in the software field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, a difficult bug that was fixed previously suddenly reappears, the updated version of the requirements document is not found, a developed and tested feature is missing or the source code and the executable program are of different versions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCM definitely helps to eliminate these problems by implementing the best processes of it. SCM plays an important role in the software life cycle by ensuring what was designed is the same as what is built and deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCM Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SCM process comprises of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n