Search DominoPower's 10,675 Lotus-related article archive 
Home
EasyPrint
News details Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Articles-only Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Twitter Feed Click here for the Twitter feed.
SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
Take hold of your development project with SCM
By Kathy T. Evans-Davis

What happens when you build computer software? In one word: change. In this first article in a series on Software Configuration Management (SCM), we will define SCM, describe how and why its used, and discuss some rules and guidelines that work to produce the best products during the software development process.

What exactly is Software Configuration Management?
In a nutshell, SCM is a system of methods used to control and manage a software development project. The SCM process activities are designed to control change by identifying the likely changing work products, establishing relationships among them, defining mechanisms for managing different versions of these work products, controlling the changes imposed, and auditing and reporting on the changes made.

Various types of work products may be managed or versioned in SCM: documents, software code, design models, etc.

What is the purpose of SCM?
Generally, there are nine goals of effective SCM. Table A describes them.

Goal Description
Build management managing the process and tools used for builds
Configuration control controlling the release of a product and its changes
Configuration identification what code is being produced
Defect tracking making sure every defect has traceability back to the source
Environment management managing the hardware and software that host the system
Process management ensuring adherence to the development process
Review ensuring completeness and consistency of components
Status accounting recording and reporting the status of components
Teamwork facilitating team interactions related to the process

SCM process concepts
Your project has specific objectives and requirements that will be reflected in the SCM process you implement to manage change. The following are some process concepts vital to any SCM implementation.

Track change packages
Each file in a code line has its own revision history. But each revision is only useful in the context of a set of related files. In order to identify all changed source files, you have to track change packages, which are sets of files related by a logical change.

Track change package propagations
Tracking change packages makes it easier to propagate logical changes from one code line branch to another. But propagating change packages across branches is simply not enough. You must keep track of which change packages have been propagated, which are pending propagation, and which code line branches are probable donors or recipients of propagation.


1  ·  2  ·  Next »
Other articles you might like
Home > Lotus Technologies > Application Development (47 articles)
   How hide-whens in Rich Text can ruin your whole day (and what to do about it)
   Little known traps about Lotus Notes fields
   Integrating a Notes Connector database with Google Enterprise Search
Home > Strategies > Data Center (8 articles)
   Exploring VMWare Workstation
   Prominic.NET, a hosting provider that will actually reduce your stress level
   SCM version control, auditing, and reporting
Get Weekly Email Updates
Subscribe to our regular weekly email newsletter. It's packed with tips, reviews, deep analysis, and the latest news.
 
Recent DominoPower Articles
What to look for in a Domino-based document management solution
Understanding Domino.doc end-of-life options
When the debugger won't debug hidden code that isn't hidden
What to do if the LotusScript debugger won't single-step over code
Top 10 ways to launch and build a Lotus consulting practice (with a little help from the Beatles)
Troubleshooting an OpenSuse Notes install
Incident report: denial of service attack against ConnectedPhotographer.com
Latest Lotus Headlines
SnTT - Enabling ALL the bells and whistles!
Tivoli Data protection causes Domino to crash
Fun when running DB2 CLP scripts
Introducing Flippr, the easy way to admin Quickr
DXL and fake security
Using search forms in IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning 2.7
Schmidt, Freed, and Gering on the OVF Toolkit
>> Read all the news
More from the ZATZ journals
Computing Unplugged: Eight steps to successful and reliable home backups
David Gewirtz Online: CNN commentary and analysis
OutlookPower: Can Outlook run when it's not running (and other mysteries)?
-- Advertisement --

AUTOMATE LOTUS NOTES USER ID MANAGEMENT
ID Manager 4.5 from HELP Software provides a new level of automaton for managing Lotus Notes IDs. ID Manager lets Lotus Notes administrators get out of the business of creating and managing user IDs. Use our ROI calculator to see how quickly ID Manager will pay for itself.

Learn more about HELP Software products
-- Advertisement --

Integrate your Notes Applications with Microsoft Office and Symphony
Integra for Notes Integrates Microsoft Office and/or IBM Lotus Symphony
Requires NO change to the design of the appliation or Installations of DLL's and EXE's
  • Integra is a ready to use solution, enhance static reports with Excel data analysis, pivot tables, macros
  • User friendly aproach, using a point and click access to features
  • Reports from any Lotus Notes databases
  • Runs reports through a Notes client, web browser and scheduled basis
  • Allows use of LotusScript for advanced data manipulation
  • Enables self service reporting capabilities to end-users


Learn more at www.integra4notes.com.
ZATZ Home  ·  News  ·  Back Issues  ·  Credits/Trademarks ·  Link To Us
Copyright © 1998-2009, ZATZ Publishing. All rights reserved worldwide.
Editor's Login