Previous UCMcentral On-Line Poll Result

Below is a list of polls UCMcentral conducted on the CM community in 2002 and 2003. Some interesting results, but overall it highlights that Configuration Management disciplines and interpretation are still very diverse globally. 

Poll-18: 

Q) Poor release management is one of the primary reasons for production issues. Whom, in your company has the responsibility of Release Management?

+ Release or CM professionals: 60%
+ Experienced Engineers : 16%
+ Junior Droids : 24%

Poll-17:

Q) Does your organisation use Configuration Management metrics to better manage its engineering process?

+ Yes its a big focus : 20%
+ Make some effort : 36%
+ No Way : 44%

Poll-16:

Q) Does your current CM process include scheduled physical audits?

+ Yes definitely : 33%
+ No Way : 53%
+ Unsure : 14%

Poll-15:

Q) Does your organisation use the same tool to track Change Requests as it uses to track other key Service Support requests i.e. Help (Service) Desk and Defect Tracking?
+ No - We use a separate tool for Change Tracking : 50%
+ Partially - We use a single tool for Defect & Change Tracking : 30%
+ Partially - We use a single tool for Help Desk & Change Tracking : 6%
+ Yes - Change, Defect & Help Desk tracked in single tool : 14%

Poll-14:

Q) What notice does your CM team require for a normal (non-emergency) change to your production environment?

+ Less/Equal to 1 Day : 35%
+ Less/Equal to 3 Days : 25%
+ Less/Equal to 1 Week : 24%
+ Less/Equal to 2 Weeks : 10%
+ Less/Equal to 1 Month : 3%
+ Less/Equal to 3 Months : 2%
+ Greater than 3 Months : 2%

Poll-12:

Q) Does your organisation have separate teams for Configuration Management, Change management and Release?

+ Yes (distinct teams): 33%

+ No (single CM team): 67%

Poll-11:

Q) Does you organisation have formal Service Level Agreements for Configuration Management?

+ Yes: 22%

+ No: 65%

+ Unsure: 13%

Poll-10:

Q) Do you use branching & merging to support parallel development and bug fixes?
+ Yes (for parallel development): 62%

+ Yes (for bug fixes only): 18%

+ No (we use no branching): 20%

Poll-9:

Q) What tool is central to your organisational source control policy?

+ ClearCase 30% 
+ Continnus 6% 
+ CVS 9% 
+ MKS 7% 
+ Perforce 5% 
+ PVCS 18% 
+ Starbase 4% 
+ VSS 14% 
+ Other 6% 

Poll-8:

Q) Do you think the CMM is an important driver in CM?
+ Yes: 64
+ No: 30
+ Unsure: 6

Note: Interesting vote that highlights importance of CMM. However one should remember that the CMM is a framework for measuring organisational software process maturity. You can't learn CM from the CMM. The CMM provides little direction with respect to vertical CM activity. 

Poll-7:

Q) Do you use CCBs (Change Control Boards)?

+ Yes (Across the Life Cycle): 37%

+ Yes (At the Production level): 29%

+ No (Never or Informally): 35%

Poll-6:

Q) Does CM Streamline delivery?
+ Always: 42%
+ Usually: 44%
+ Rarely: 10%
+ Never: 4%

Poll-5:
Q) When do you follow documented Configuration Management process?
+ Always: 74%
+ Only During Audits: 14%
+ Never: 12%

Poll-4:

Q) Is the role of configuration manager primarily? 

+ Process Management: 16%

+ CM Tool admin & Releases: 10%

+ Mix of Both: 71%

Poll-3: 

Q) Does your organisation distinguish between the terms Configuration Management and Change Management?

+ Yes: 43% 

+ No: 39% 

+ Sometimes: 18% 

Poll-2: 

Q) Does your Organisation have a CMP?

+ Yes: 60% 

+ No: 32% 

+ Unsure: 8% 

Poll-1: 

Are CM Tools becoming too bloated:?

+ Yes: 61% 

+ No: 25% 

+ Unsure: 14% 

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