There are plenty of reasons for using SCM for your project and few against it. Even commercial SCM products are worth the cost when you consider their value in preventing data disaster. Here are some proactive steps you can take to prevent data disasters. These few steps will track the progress of the design, identify potential data problems early, keep data and project objectives in line, and avoid costly disk recovery. They can be implemented today, either at the beginning of your project or during a project.
Automation is the easy part.
It takes vigilance by the project team and some structure within the company to make SCM effective. Many years ago, I implemented a bug tracking database for a software company. It was an automated system that printed reports, sent email, and tracked the progress of bug fixes. Like most database systems some users were more rigorous about updating the database than others. Without full compliance, very few bugs would get fixed, and the data would age rapidly.