Monday, March 12, 2007

Spectrum of Functionality in CM Systems


The functionality areas of interest for the CM system features to be discussed concern component, process, team, and a combination of structure and construction features. The following sections discuss each feature in a simplified manner.
The final figure gives a summary of all the features and systems discussed. Note that the description of features is simplified in order to focus on a certain aspect. It is realized that this may not highlight the full capabilities of features nor of systems. But, for the sake of presenting a spectrum, simplification is used since most CM systems tend to overload the purpose of various features.

Component Features:
In particular, Revision Control System (RCS) provides a classic file repository feature and Design Management System (DMS) extends that notion by catering to distributed components.
The Process Features:
The CM systems are Change and Configuration Control (CCC) ,PowerFrame and ISTAR. The features are are an extension of the repository feature of a system such as RCS.
The Structure and Construction Features:
The systems are:
Aide-De-Camp (ADC)
Cedar
Rational
Domain Software Engineering Environment (DSEE)
Adele
Configuration Management Assistant (CMA)

Team Features:
Shape
Software Management System(SMS)
Network Software Environment (NSE)
All teh subsections will be described in upcoming articles.