The Project Management Body of Knowledge, 5th Edition (PMBoK) describes a configuration

management system as "a collection of formal documented procedures used to apply technical and
administrative direction and surveillance to: identify and document the functional and physical
characteristics of a product, result, service, or component; control any changes to such
characteristics; record and report each change and its implementation status; and support the audit
of the configuration management system." Configuration can also be viewed in terms of the project's
baseline, which is the project's scope at a particular point in time, such as the project's scheduled
start date. Therefore, the baseline is regarded as the project's configuration.

Remember that the baseline scope is merely a summary description of the project's original content
and final product, including information about budget and time constraints. Therefore, configuration
management pertains to the fact that projects typically consist of component parts, all of which
contribute to the functionality of the project. These components must be developed separately and
subsequently assembled or configured to create the final product or service. Configuration
management is responsible for designing, manufacturing, and assembling these parts. In practise,
configuration management is the systematic administration and control of project change, as this
process frequently requires multiple iterations, adjustments, and corrections to complete the project
successfully.20

Change management is performed most effectively at the outset of a project, when plans and the
project's scope are first defined. Why would you want to begin managing change when a project is
being meticulously defined? The answer is that the need for substantial project modifications is
typically accounted for during the planning phase. During the development of a project, some
modifications are made in response to a carefully considered need, while others arise almost by
chance. For instance, we may discover midway through the project's execution that certain technical
specifications designed into the original prototype may not work under certain conditions (e.g., high
altitudes or high humidity), necessitating alterations to the project's required functionality.

Configuration management aims to formalise the change process as early as feasible in the project's
lifecycle, as opposed to allowing required changes to be made uncoordinatedly later on. It has
become necessary to make project modifications or adjustments to specifications.