BYOD for Healthcare

137

7

Conguration Management

in a BYOD Environment*

Conguration management (CM) provides the means to manage technology-

related processes in a structured, orderly, and productive manner, which

should be the fundamental focus of health information technology. As an

engineering discipline, CM provides a level of support, control, and service

to the health organization. CM is a support function in that it supports

the program, the corporation, and, in a number of situations, the patient

customer.

CM is a control function in that it controls specications, documents,

drawings, requirements, tools, soware, and other deliverables. It can also

be extended to include bring your own devices (BYODs) and the soware

that runs on these devices.

e process of CM has not really changed much during the past 20–30

years. However, the environment that CM operates within has changed

signicantly and is likely to continue to change. Over the past few

decades, we have migrated from centralized mainframes using just a few

programming languages such as COBOL and FORTRAN to decentral-

ized, networked environments with thousands of devices using hundreds

of soware packages/apps and dozens of programming languages. It is

also worthwhile to note that BYOD is not just a composite of hardware

devices and o-the-shelf applications. It can be expected that many orga-

nizations will create their own apps for use on these devices. us, CM

within the context of BYOD does require the management of both hard-

ware and soware.

*

is chapter is based on Keyes, J. (2004). Soware Conguration Management. Boca Raton, FL:

Auerbach Publications.

138 • BYOD for Healthcare

Regardless of this amazing diversity, the process of CM is basically

immutable, that is, the process does not change, only what is being man-

aged changes. is means that CM is as applicable to a mainframe shop

as it is to a shop supporting employees who bring their own devices. e

key is in the process.

CM AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Improvement depends on changing current processes along with

the accompanying environment. CM then provides the underlying

structure for change and process improvement. We refer to this as

process-based CM.

For example, the rst step to improve the product is to know how the

product is currently produced. e second step for improvement is to

foster an atmosphere in which change can be readily accommodated.

If change does not appear possible, improvement is also unlikely. CM

measurements of current practices and their associated metrics can help

identify where processes are working and where they need to be improved.

Such change eorts should lead to increased productivity, integrity, con-

formance, and customer satisfaction.

CM can be dened as the process of managing the full spectrum of an

organization’s products, facilities, and processes by managing all require-

ments, including changes, and assuring that the results conform to these

requirements. By this denition, CM can also be called process CM

because it includes the process of managing an organization’s processes

and procedures.

Many organizations can be characterized as level 1 organiza-

tions as dened in the Soware Engineering Institute’s Soware

Capability Maturity Model. ese level 1 organizations rely heav-

ilyon“heroes” to accomplish the work. e organization’s processes

are not documented, and few people know how the work is accom-

plished, how things are organized, and even where things might be

located. e process is characterized as ad hoc, and occasionally even

chaotic.

An eective CM program organizes all of this. Any changes, updates,

and additions are tracked and documented. Adhering to these policies