Architecture Configuration Management is the discipline of establishing and maintaining consistency, integrity, and traceability among architecture components and their relationships throughout their lifecycle, ensuring that the current state of architectural elements is accurately documented, controlled, and verified against approved specifications.

For enterprise architects, Configuration Management extends beyond traditional IT infrastructure to encompass the architectural building blocks that define the enterprise technology landscape. Comprehensive implementation addresses several dimensions: identification of configuration items (CIs) at appropriate granularity levels; management of relationships and dependencies between architectural elements; version control of architectural artifacts; baselining to establish reference points for future changes; and audit mechanisms to verify alignment between documented and actual states. Technical leaders must determine which architectural elements warrant formal configuration management based on their criticality, volatility, and impact radius. Most organizations establish a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) or Architecture Repository as the system of record, increasingly augmented with automated discovery tools that maintain accuracy through continuous synchronization with operational environments. Integration with related processes—particularly change management, release management, and deployment management—is essential for maintaining configuration integrity throughout the development and implementation lifecycle. As architectural complexity increases through cloud adoption, microservices proliferation, and multi-vendor ecosystems, configuration management becomes more challenging yet more critical. Leading practices involve establishing federated approaches where domain-specific configuration information is maintained in specialized tools while a central repository maintains cross-domain relationships and dependencies. Architecture configuration management should extend beyond static documentation to include operational characteristics like performance thresholds, capacity parameters, and compliance requirements that define the acceptable operating envelope for architectural components.