SCM Services

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ARCAD Software consultants have developed in-depth expertise in implementing Software Configuration Management tools. Using consulting services as a lead-in to choosing and implementing tool-supported solutions allows you to define an overall Software Configuration Management framework adapted to your needs.  

Objectives
The following methodological framework applies to changes made by in-house information services teams. The primary element is the source component manipulated by developers.

SCM maintains your system coherence, completeness, readability, and traceability during development and operation phases. Effective SCM should provide immediate responses to the following questions:

  • What changes were made,
  • Why they were made,
  • Where are the modified items?
  • Who made the changes?
  • When were the changes made?

Implementation
This methodology has three implementation phases.

Identifying elements to be included:

  • Software components (software packages, specified software publisher developments, customized in-house developments, associated items such as interfaces, databases, etc.)
  • Documents (technical and functional software specifications, technical documentation, version documents, user requests, test documents, etc.)
  • Related software applications that can affect system stability
  • Functional teams (users, domain managers, testers) and technical teams (developers, architects, operators, testers, etc.)
  • Hardware that supports software components.

These elements are collected in a repository that will serve as a management base for later development.

Defining front-end changes:

  • Accounting for external factors that will impact the system (change requests, error notices, supplier deliveries, hardware upgrades, etc.)
  • Definition of risks and impact
  • Priority allocation
  • Allocation of versions that will include changes
  • Change authorization.

Defining how back-end changes will be implemented:

  • Change validation and verification: Document change monitoring, check for follow-up files on changes performed, unit tests executed, etc.
  • Integration phase: Test space definition, authorization lists, backtracking process, status definition,
  • Repository updates,
  • Delivery procedures for production sites.

Configuration Management Consulting for Software Integration
A number of tools functionally integrate applications (both in-house development and software packages) into the information system and allow applications to communicate with other software components. At the same time, ensuring technical integration is key. Installing a product or receiving a new version should not destabilize the system. This is where ARCAD consultants' expertise comes into play.

Consulting services can define the overall methodological framework for software configuration management, adapted not just for software changes but also for software component integration. This methodological framework applies to all the change phases in a software configuration – not at the unit level for each modified source component, but for the entire set of modifications grouped within a function or version.

Objectives
Effective SCM should provide the following:

  • Architecture organization for implementing the initial version;
  • Reception management;
  • Technical qualification;
  • Integration impact analysis;
  • Integration into the overall application framework.

This makes it possible to transition from a situation in which a company undergoes delivery-related changes to a more proactive scenario in which it anticipates changes.

Implementation
This methodology has three implementation phases. The first, “Identifying elements to be included,” is identical to the one outlined above.

The second phase is normalizing relations with a supplier (in-house or external).
It differs in that changes are not made based on information in the repository environment. Instead, they are delivered from an outside source and must be integrated.

The third phase, reception must be carefully monitored, including:

  • In repository environments, identification of supplier components;
  • Definition of information that should accompany deliveries;
  • Definition of delivery unit checkouts;
  • Definition of delivery integrity checkouts;
  • Definition of integration impact analyses;
  • Definition of transfer-to-test criteria.