Configuration Management Through Satisfiability

In a Build-to-Order environment, a configurator relays the taxonomy of customization choices to the customer, then translates these choices into a bill of materials. Configuration Management (aka Variety Management) of the system entails validating proposed changes to the policies that govern both configurator processes. We present a satisfiability approach to the problem, in which a suite of conflict classes are developed, representing potential configurator failure modes. Satisfiability logic routines test the potential presence of each conflict class if the proposed change is adopted, using an integrated constraint set including both part allocation and customization object relationships.