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CM2 Baseline: how to make Impact Analysis easy!

CM2 Baseline: how to make Impact Analysis easy!

This article is part of the How Do YOU CM2? blog series in collaboration with theย Institute for Process Excellenceย (IpX). Although I receive compensation for writing this series, I stand behind its content. I will continue to create and publish high-quality articles that I can fully endorse. Enjoy this new series, and please share your thoughts!ย 

In the previous edition of How Do YOU CM2?, we talked about Impact Analysis and why it is often skipped.

๐Ÿ‘‰ One of the main reasons? Itโ€™s not always easy to do.
If you canโ€™t find the data or understand the dependencies, how can you perform a proper impact analysis?

๐Ÿ” This is where the ๐‚๐Œ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž comes into the picture.

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‚๐Œ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.

It’s the gateway to all the single sources of truth. You can see how it was connected, how it is connected, and how it will be connected.

Letโ€™s unpack that.

Imagine trying to forecast the weather without satellite imagery or historical data. Youโ€™d be guessing. Thatโ€™s what performing Impact Analysis without a CM2 Baseline is like: guesswork in the dark.

๐Ÿ’ก A proper ๐‚๐Œ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž turns Impact Analysis from a painful process into something as easy as looking up the weather forecast.

When implemented correctly:
– You gain full visibility across product, process, and people interdependencies.
– You make decisions based on truth, not assumptions.
– You prevent rework, cost overruns, and unnecessary delays.

๐Ÿ‘Ž ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐‚๐Œ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž:
Your team needs to implement a critical design change. Without a robust CM2 Baseline, you’d spend countless hours manually tracing dependencies, sifting through disparate systems, and crossing your fingers that you haven’t missed anything. This isn’t just inefficient; it’s risky. A missed dependency can lead to costly rework, delays, compliance nightmares, and even product failures.

๐Ÿš€ ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐‚๐Œ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž:
But with a well-implemented CM2 Baseline, the process transforms. You have immediate visibility into every impacted and affected item, every dependent dataset, every stakeholder. You can instantly understand the ripple effect of any change, empowering you to make informed decisions. This isn’t just about speed; it’s about precision, control, and significantly reducing risk while remaining agile.

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ˆ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ?
๐Ÿ”— ๐‹๐ข๐ง๐ค๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ are the secret ingredient combined with knowledge graph technology.
You most likely already identify your parts, datasets, and link them in one way or another. So the hard part is already done! Some links can even be inferred with some basic logic. While this information currently resides in multiple application databases, you can create a knowledge graph that connects all of it in one graph, which represents your CM2 Baseline.

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to performing Impact Analysis? And how has your organization leveraged (or struggled with) baselines to overcome this?

Share your insights in the comments below! Let’s elevate the conversation around effective Configuration Management.

Check out the other How Do YOU CM2? posts.

Copyrights by the Institute for Process Excellence

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