A single starting point configuration for a complex, configurable system, is determined by collecting machine-reported data from a configurable system; obtaining non-machine reported configuration information regarding said configurable system from one or more external document applications, merging the machine-reported data and the external document, and producing a proposed configuration starting point. A user may enter additional changes to the system configuration, thereby yielding a highly accurate starting point configuration. Prior to order fulfillment, the final system configuration, change order, and starting point configuration are verified to match and correlate.