Glossary

Configuration control

Configuration control is the formal process for managing and authorizing changes to a system’s defined baseline throughout its lifecycle.

Traceability and Digital As-Built Traceability and Genealogy

Configuration control is the formal, documented process used to manage, evaluate, approve, and record changes to the defined configuration baseline of a system, product, or project throughout its lifecycle.

In practice, configuration control typically includes:

Establishing a baseline description of hardware, software, documents, and interfaces
Submitting proposed changes through standardized change requests or change notices
Reviewing technical, safety, quality, schedule, and compliance impacts of each proposed change
Authorizing or rejecting changes through a designated authority, such as a Configuration Control Board (CCB)
Updating configuration documentation, identifiers, and records to reflect approved changes
Ensuring that implementation, verification, and release of changes match the approved configuration state

Configuration control is a core function of configuration management and is used to keep the as-designed, as-built, as-tested, and as-operated configurations consistent, traceable, and auditable.

Lot tracking helps narrow exposure when a material quality escape is discovered by showing which received lots were used in which jobs, assemblies, or shipments. That can reduce over-containment and speed investigation, but only if identifiers, transactions, and genealogy are captured accurately across receiving, storage, production, rework, and shipping.

What does a manufacturing execution system do?

A manufacturing execution system (MES) coordinates and records production in real time between planning systems (ERP) and the shop floor. In regulated, brownfield plants it typically spans dispatching, WIP tracking, eDHR/eBR, traceability, data collection, and enforcement of workflows and specifications, but actual scope depends heavily on existing systems and validation constraints.

How do we trace a KPI value back to individual work orders and defects?

You can trace a KPI back to work orders and defects only if the metric is built on governed source mappings, stable identifiers, and preserved event history. In brownfield plants, this usually depends on MES, ERP, QMS, and sometimes historian integration quality. Without clear lineage, time alignment, and change control, the KPI is only a summary, not defensible evidence.

How does ERP fit into AS9100-compliant quality and traceability processes?

ERP typically provides the transactional backbone for AS9100 operations: customers, contracts, parts, BOMs, purchasing, inventory, and cost. On its own it is rarely sufficient for end-to-end AS9100 traceability or quality evidence. In most aerospace plants, AS9100 requirements are met by a combination of ERP, MES/PLM/QMS and controlled documents, with integration and governance being the real constraint.

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