This question is asking for benefits so the answer could be based on time, cost, quality, team motivation and user satisfaction. The key will be to explain how configuration management (or rarther poor configuration) management can deliver these benefits.
Steve it may not be your best subject but I think you answer is very good. It shows that you understand what configuration management is and what would happen if it was missing from the project. Well done.
This is probably not my best subject at the moment, so here it goes Paul.
-Configuration management assists in making sure that products conform to their own specifications to maintain a compliance with their interaction and eradicate error when they are produced. There may be times during a project when things are ‘’unknowingly’’ changed which could prove detrimental to the project’s success.
-Team morale during a project maybe a victim to inefficiencies of not having a configuration management process in place. If team members produced a product which did not synch with its counterparts this would most certainly cause a loss of confidence to the system they are working within and ultimately spirit of the teams work and quality.
-Configuration Management prevents re-work, if a product or part is created and does not work with any other for which it is planned too then there is a considerable impact upon re-work or doing things twice. Configuration management prevents duplication with a first time only approach.
-At a glance configuration management is not a visual cost saving tool to the project. It would merely sit in the project managers hindsight if something was to go wrong. The ramification of not having a process potentially adds more risk exposure to the project in terms of the unforeseen cost it may encounter. Its benefit therefore, can be seen as a cost saving activity.
-Finally a project using configuration management prescribes assurance and security to stakeholders and sponsors. With a guarantee of focus on quality and delivery, they can see a process exists to support its deliverance all the way up to its successful handover.