The key to creating a robust application development environment is Source Control Software (SCS) – also known as Software Configuration Management (SCM) software. Development managers must understand how these systems work if they expect to gain full benefit from them.

What Is Source Control Software?

SCS is essential to all application development projects. Even a one-person IT shop should incorporate SCS into their development environment. SCS controls and tracks all application changes throughout the software development process. Simply stated, SCS allows multiple developers to work simultaneously on the same project while keeping track of all changes they make to the application source code. This gives developers the ability to both fix mistakes and keep track of multiple copies (versions) of the application. For example, SCS allows developers to build and track changes made to an application so that it can run on different operating systems.