COMPEL Glossary / version-control
Version Control
Version control is the practice of tracking and managing changes to code, data, models, and configuration files over time, maintaining a complete history of what changed, when, who made the change, and why.
What this means in practice
Version control enables organizations to reproduce past results (recreating the exact conditions under which a model was trained), roll back problematic changes (reverting to a known-good model version when a new version fails), compare versions (understanding what changed between iterations), and maintain audit trails (documenting the evolution of AI systems for governance and compliance). In the COMPEL framework, version control applies to models (model registry), data (data versioning), code (source control), infrastructure (infrastructure as code), and governance artifacts (document management with version history).
Why it matters
Version control enables organizations to reproduce past results, roll back problematic changes, compare iterations, and maintain audit trails documenting the evolution of AI systems. Without it, organizations cannot demonstrate governance compliance, recover from failed deployments, or understand why model behavior changed. Version control applied to models, data, code, and infrastructure creates the traceability that regulators and auditors increasingly require.
How COMPEL uses it
In COMPEL, version control applies to models (model registry), data (data versioning), code (source control), infrastructure (infrastructure as code), and governance artifacts (document management). The Process pillar's MLOps maturity assessment (Domain 7) evaluates version control practices during Calibrate. The Produce stage implements comprehensive versioning, and the Evaluate stage relies on version history for audit evidence and compliance reporting.
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Related Terms
Other glossary terms mentioned in this entry's definition and context.