# Configuration management ## Links (Wikipedia order) <!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Configuration_management.json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) --> `Accounting` · `Advisory_board` · [[Aerospace_engineering]] · `American_Society_of_Civil_Engineers` · `Annual_general_meeting` · [[Arthur_David_Hall_III]] · `Asset_management` · `Audit` · `Audit_committee` · `Baseline_(configuration_management)` · [[Benjamin_S._Blanchard]] · [[Biological_systems_engineering]] · `Board_of_directors` · `Brand_management` · `Business_administration` · `Business_analysis` · `Business_development` · `Business_ethics` · `Business_intelligence` · `Business_judgment_rule` · `Business_model` · `Business_plan` · [[Business_process]] · `Business_process_management` · `COBIT` · `Canal` · `Capability_Maturity_Model_Integration` · `Capability_management_in_business` · `Capacity_management` · `Capital_budgeting` · `Capital_management` · `Cash_conversion_cycle` · `Change_detection` · `Change_management` · `Chief_business_officer` · `Chief_executive_officer` · `Chief_financial_officer` · `Chief_human_resources_officer` · `Chief_information_officer` · `Chief_marketing_officer` · `Chief_operating_officer` · `Chief_product_officer` · `Chief_technology_officer` · [[Cognitive_systems_engineering]] · `Commercial_bank` · `Commercial_law` · `Commercial_management` · `Communications_management` · `Company` · [[Complex_system]] · [[Computer_engineering]] · `Condition_monitoring` · `Configuration_item` · `Configuration_lifecycle_management` · `Configuration_management_database` · `Conflict_management` · `Conglomerate_(company)` · `Constitutional_documents` · `Consumer_behaviour` · `Content_management` · `Continuous_configuration_automation` · `Contract` · [[Control_engineering]] · `Cooperative` · `Corporate_crime` · `Corporate_finance` · `Corporate_governance` · `Corporate_group` · `Corporate_law` · `Corporate_liability` · `Corporate_title` · `Corporation` · `Corporation_sole` · `Crisis_management` · `Customer_relationship_management` · [[Decision-making]] · `Dependency_(project_management)` · [[Derek_Hitchins]] · `Derivative_(finance)` · [[Design_review]] · `Development_economics` · `Distributed_management` · `Domain_model` · `Earned_value_management` · [[Earth_systems_engineering_and_management]] · `Econometrics` · `Economic_development` · `Economic_statistics` · `Economics` · [[Electrical_engineering]] · `Electronic_business` · `Enterprise_asset_management` · `Enterprise_legal_management` · `Enterprise_resource_planning` · [[Enterprise_systems_engineering]] · `Environmental_economics` · `Factoring_(finance)` · [[Fault_tolerance]] · `Federal_Standard_1037C` · `Federated_database_system` · `Financial_accounting` · `Financial_institution` · `Financial_management` · `Financial_market` · `Financial_risk` · `Financial_statement` · `Financial_statement_analysis` · [[Function_model]] · [[Harold_Chestnut]] · [[Health_systems_engineering]] · `Hierarchical_organization` · `Holding_company` · `Human_resource_management` · `Human_resources` · [[IDEF]] · `ISO/IEC_19770` · `ISO_10007` · `ITIL` · `Incident_management` · [[Industrial_engineering]] · `Information_assurance` · [[Information_system]] · `Innovation_management` · `Institution_of_Civil_Engineers` · `Insurance` · `Interchangeable_parts` · `International_business` · `International_economics` · `International_finance` · `International_trade` · `International_trade_law` · [[James_S._Albus]] · [[John_N._Warfield]] · `Joint-stock_company` · [[Joseph_Francis_Shea]] · [[Kathleen_Carley]] · [[Katia_Sycara]] · `Knowledge_economy` · `Knowledge_management` · `Labour_economics` · `Legal_person` · `Limited_liability_company` · `Liquidation` · `List_of_legal_entity_types_by_country` · `Macroeconomics` · `Management_accounting` · `Management_information_system` · `Managerial_finance` · [[Manuela_M._Veloso]] · `Mark_Burgess_(computer_scientist)` · `Market_economy` · `Marketing_management` · `Materials_management` · [[Mathematical_optimization]] · `Mergers_and_acquisitions` · `Microeconomics` · `Mixed_economy` · `Network_administrator` · `Network_management` · `Office_management` · `Open_economy` · `Operating_system` · `Operations_management` · `Operations_management_for_services` · [[Operations_research]] · `Organization_development` · `Organizational_architecture` · `Organizational_behavior` · `Organizational_communication` · `Organizational_conflict` · `Organizational_culture` · `Organizational_engineering` · `Organizational_patterns` · `Organizational_space` · `Organizational_structure` · `Partnership` · `Performance_engineering` · `Physical_configuration_audit` · `Planned_economy` · `Power_management` · `Predictive_maintenance` · `Privately_held_company` · `Product_management` · `Program_management` · [[Project_management]] · `Promise_theory` · `Property_management` · `Public_economics` · `Public_finance` · `Quality_function_deployment` · `Quality_management` · [[Radhika_Nagpal]] · `Records_management` · [[Reliability_engineering]] · [[Requirements_engineering]] · `Resource_management` · `Reverse_engineering` · `Risk_management` · `Robert_E._Machol` · `Ruzena_Bajcsy` · [[Safety_engineering]] · `Sales_management` · `Security_management` · `Service_management` · `Simon_Ramo` · `Software_configuration_management` · [[Software_engineering]] · `Sole_proprietorship` · `Spare_part` · `Standards_organization` · [[Stanford_torus]] · `State-owned_enterprise` · `Stock_market` · `Strategic_management` · `Supervisory_board` · `Supply_chain_management` · [[System]] · `System_administrator` · `System_configuration` · [[System_dynamics]] · `System_integration` · `System_integrity` · [[System_of_systems_engineering]] · `Systems_analysis` · `Systems_development_life_cycle` · [[Systems_engineering]] · `Systems_management` · `Systems_modeling` · `Talent_management` · `Tax` · `Technology_management` · `Trade` · `Trade_route` · `United_States_Department_of_Defense` · `United_States_Military_Standard` · `V-model` · `Venture_capital` · `Verification_and_validation` · [[Wayback_Machine]] · `Weapon` · `Wernher_von_Braun` · `Wolt_Fabrycky` · [[Work_breakdown_structure]] ## From the Real GENERATIVE library  *Configuration management — placed from the Real G.E.N.E.R.A.T.I.V.E. course library (Engineering room). Source: Wikimedia Commons (via Wikipedia article media). [Details & license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Clear_app_kedit.svg).* > Configuration management (CM) is a management process for establishing and maintaining consistency of a product's performance, functional, and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life.[1][2] The CM process is widely used by military engineering organizations to manage changes throughout the system lif ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Configuration_management)) <!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:END --> > Summary stub · part of [[System]] · [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Configuration_management) ## Summary Configuration management (CM) is a [[Systems_engineering|systems engineering]] discipline focused on establishing and maintaining consistency between a product's performance, functional, and physical attributes and its requirements, design, and operational specifications throughout its lifecycle. Originally developed by [[Military_engineering|military engineering]] organizations to manage complex weapon systems, vehicles, and [[Information|information]] systems, CM has become standard practice in IT service management (ITIL), [[Civil_engineering|civil engineering]], and [[Industrial_engineering|industrial engineering]] across infrastructure projects. At its core, CM ensures that as complex systems evolve—through design changes, implementations, and operational modifications—all stakeholders have accurate knowledge of what the system is, what it should do, and what it actually does. ## Key points - Maintains consistency between system design, requirements, and actual performance - Establishes baselines and formal change control processes for complex systems - Essential for managing lifecycle of large, long-lived systems (military, infrastructure, IT services) - Ensures traceability: every element of the system can be tracked back to original requirements - Critical for systems that must remain reliable, maintainable, and compliant over decades ## Relation to System Configuration management treats systems as evolving entities that must be carefully controlled and documented throughout their lifecycle. It reflects [[Systems_thinking|systems thinking]] principles: understanding the system as a whole, managing interdependencies, ensuring that changes in one component are tracked across the entire system, and maintaining the integrity of the system even as it evolves. ## Sources - [Configuration management — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Configuration_management) Back to [[System]] --- <!-- SEMIOTIC-PROFILE:START --> ## Semiotic profile > *The semiotic universals this article invokes, machine-derived from the crossref — **unverified** (born so). Populated 2026-07-06 for the Systems room.* **Universals (3):** 🟡 system (20) · 🟡 information (2) · 🟢 reflection (1) **Enter by sign:** Systems Semiotic Gateway · Alphabetum · Icon Registry · ← Systems Portal <!-- SEMIOTIC-PROFILE:END --> <!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:START --> ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Configuration_management) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Configuration_management) ## Previous hub tags Tree parents: [[Reliability_engineering]] · [[System_dynamics]] · [[Systems_engineering]]. Legacy hubs: none. --- *Sources: 1 legacy note. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*