TOPIC: Difference between Requirements Management and Configuration Management

From what I've searched online, the comparisons are often:

• Requirements management vs Scope management; and
• Change management vs Configuration management

It seems to me that both configuration management and requirements management are the same? Can someone please help clarify the differences between these 4 types of management , especially between configuration and requirements management?

Hi Don,

Let's say we are building a car:

Requirements: Car must have 4 doors
Scope: Steps you take to build a car according to the design
Configuration management: You define a list of documents/technical features that needs to be controlled by change management
Change management: Customer suddenly wants to change the design to 2 doors. You go through the change management process to determine what are affected and what needs to be changed (ex. Scope baseline), evaluate the impact and determine if the change is approved.

Let me know if that makes sense to you
Joe

Hi Joe,

That is very helpful thanks! Though there are some things I might need some extra clarification on.

I thought scope covered what could potentially be covered or not covered (out of scope) in the project, e.g. the scope of the project only entails building a car, and example of out of scope items would be maintenance or building a garage with that car.

With regards to requirements and change management, are requirements only cover "what needs to be done" initially? Are any changes to the requirements or "what needs" done after the initial stage covered under change management?

Best Regards,
Don

Anonymous wrote: Hi Joe,

That is very helpful thanks! Though there are some things I might need some extra clarification on.

I thought scope covered what could potentially be covered or not covered (out of scope) in the project, e.g. the scope of the project only entails building a car, and example of out of scope items would be maintenance or building a garage with that car.
You got it ! Scope management covers what is IN scope and OUT of scope.

With regards to requirements and change management, are requirements only cover "what needs to be done" initially?
Think of it as a certain condition that the deliverable has to meet, ex. oil pipelines has to meet the safety standards of the governing organization. Some requirement are related to the procedures too, ex. can't use animals for experiments.

Are any changes to the requirements or "what needs" done after the initial stage covered under change management?
Requirements can be changed after the planning stage, as long as it has undergone the Integrated Changed Control and the change request has been approved

Best Regards,
Don