Node A6 · Acronym decoder
CI
Configuration Item
What it actually means
A unit of a system that is managed as a single thing for configuration control — it gets its own identifier, baseline, and change history. Choosing CI boundaries is a real design decision: too many CIs and the paperwork drowns you, too few and a change to anything means re-verifying everything.
Where you'll meet it
Configuration management plans and product structures; software ones are CSCIs.