From a testing perspective, the main purposes of Configuration Management (CM) are to establish and maintain the integrity of all test items and testware. This involves three core activities:

1. Configuration Identification: Uniquely identifying the version of the software under test (i) and the versions of all associated testware (e.g., test plans, cases, scripts) (ii). This ensures that test results can be accurately traced back to a specific build and a specific set of tests.

2. Configuration Control: Managing and tracking changes to testware (iv). This is crucial for maintaining the consistency and validity of the test suite over time, especially in iterative development cycles.

These activities ensure that tests are repeatable and that defects can be reliably reproduced.

iii. Ensuring that all testware is stored in a common repository. While using a common repository is a best practice facilitated by CM tools, it is a mechanism for implementation, not a fundamental purpose of CM itself.

v. Ensuring that all testware is backed up. Backing up assets is a critical data protection and disaster recovery function, which is distinct from the primary CM goals of versioning, control, and status accounting.

1. ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Syllabus (Version 2018 V3.1):

Section 5.3, Configuration Management, Page 53: "The purpose of configuration management is to establish and maintain the integrity of the component or system, the testware, and their relationships to one another throughout the project and product lifecycle." It further states, "These items [testware] should be uniquely identified, version-controlled, tracked for changes, and related to each other." This directly supports points (i), (ii), and (iv) as core purposes.

2. Graham, D., Van Veenendaal, E., & Black, R. (2019). Foundations of Software Testing: ISTQB Certification (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Chapter 5, Section 5.3, Configuration management, Page 218: The text explains that CM ensures that "we know the exact version of everything we are dealing with." It lists typical configuration items as the "test object" (software under test) and "testware." It also emphasizes that CM "controls the changes made to these items." This aligns with the selection of (i), (ii), and (iv). The text does not define repository location or backups as a primary purpose of CM.