Configuration management (CM) is a vital governance and systems engineering process for tracking and managing IT resources, services, and applications within an organization. A well-executed configuration management strategy ensures that businesses are aware of their technology assets, how these assets are configured, and the relationships between them.
This process aims to identify and document individual configuration items (CIs), their functional abilities, and interdependencies. Configuration management tools play a crucial role in enforcing desired configuration settings and providing alerts for any unauthorized changes or problems.
Organizations benefit from configuration management as it allows IT administrators and developers to predict the impact of changes to one CI on others, thereby averting potential conflicts. It is an essential instrument in governance, security, and compliance efforts, especially in increasingly complex IT environments.
Though typically implemented through software tools, configuration management encompasses a broad approach to governance and engineering that integrates with frameworks like ITIL. Over the years, the scope of configuration management has expanded beyond traditional physical IT assets to include modern practices such as software-driven infrastructures and DevOps methodologies.
