UCF STIG Viewer Logo

CM-9 CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT PLAN


Overview

Number Title Impact Priority Subject Area
CM-9 Configuration Management Plan MODERATE P1 Configuration Management

Instructions
The organization develops, documents, and implements a configuration management plan for the information system that:
CM-9a.
Addresses roles, responsibilities, and configuration management processes and procedures;
CM-9b.
Establishes a process for identifying configuration items throughout the system development life cycle and for managing the configuration of the configuration items;
CM-9c.
Defines the configuration items for the information system and places the configuration items under configuration management; and
CM-9d.
Protects the configuration management plan from unauthorized disclosure and modification.
Guidance
Configuration management plans satisfy the requirements in configuration management policies while being tailored to individual information systems. Such plans define detailed processes and procedures for how configuration management is used to support system development life cycle activities at the information system level. Configuration management plans are typically developed during the development/acquisition phase of the system development life cycle. The plans describe how to move changes through change management processes, how to update configuration settings and baselines, how to maintain information system component inventories, how to control development, test, and operational environments, and how to develop, release, and update key documents. Organizations can employ templates to help ensure consistent and timely development and implementation of configuration management plans. Such templates can represent a master configuration management plan for the organization at large with subsets of the plan implemented on a system by system basis. Configuration management approval processes include designation of key management stakeholders responsible for reviewing and approving proposed changes to information systems, and personnel that conduct security impact analyses prior to the implementation of changes to the systems. Configuration items are the information system items (hardware, software, firmware, and documentation) to be configuration-managed. As information systems continue through the system development life cycle, new configuration items may be identified and some existing configuration items may no longer need to be under configuration control.

Enhancements
CM-9 (1) Assignment Of Responsibility
In the absence of dedicated configuration management teams assigned within organizations, system developers may be tasked to develop configuration management processes using personnel who are not directly involved in system development or integration. This separation of duties ensures that organizations establish and maintain a sufficient degree of independence between the information system development and integration processes and configuration management processes to facilitate quality control and more effective oversight.

The organization assigns responsibility for developing the configuration management process to organizational personnel that are not directly involved in information system development.