Configuration Management

Configuration Management helps manufacturers manage complex product variants, configurable product families and evolving BOMs while maintaining consistency, traceability and operational efficiency. It enables organizations to accelerate product development, reduce engineering errors and optimize component reuse across product lines.

A Configuration Management Plan defines the processes, tools and responsibilities used to manage configurable product structures, variants, effectivities and engineering changes throughout the product lifecycle.

Configuration Management tools help organizations manage configurable BOMs, product variants, effectivity rules and engineering changes in a centralized environment. These solutions improve collaboration, traceability and governance while reducing complexity across product development processes.

The configuration management process is typically built around these core stages :

1. Configuration Identification 
   Define and document the configuration items (CIs) — such as products, components, software, documents, BOMs or design files — and establish naming, versioning and baselines.
2. Configuration Control 
   Manage and approve changes to configuration items through formal change processes to ensure consistency, traceability and governance.
3. Configuration Status Accounting 
   Track and record the current and historical status of configuration items, revisions, approvals and changes across the lifecycle.
4. Configuration Verification and Audit 
   Validate that configurations meet requirements and confirm that documentation, product structures and released versions are accurate and compliant.
5. Configuration Management Planning 
   Establish policies, workflows, responsibilities, tools and procedures that define how configuration management will be implemented and maintained.

In modern industries such as aerospace, automotive, electronics and semiconductors, these pillars are often supported by PLM, ALM or DevOps systems to improve traceability, collaboration and change governance.

150% BOM Management is the process of managing all product variants in a single master Bill of Materials (BOM). Instead of maintaining multiple BOMs, it uses configuration rules to generate the correct 100% BOM for each product, improving reuse, reducing complexity and streamlining product development.