Besides having all the capabilities of an add-in, configurations give developers many additional customization opportunities to give ArcGIS Pro a custom look and feel. For example, a configuration can show a custom splash screen and a custom start page; it can inject business logic into the startup sequence including license checking; it can alter the ribbon layout; and, like an add-in, it can introduce new functionality like modules and buttons. A configuration can also control add-ins by setting the add-in security level and specifying additional folders to probe for add-ins. Configurations can also block the customize dialog from appearing in the application options so user's can't modify the configuration.

With these additional extensibility points, a configuration can, for example, use role based logic to present a more appropriate user interface and workflow based on the currently logged in user.

Declaring Configurations in DAML:

            <Configuration blockCustomizeDialog="true" blockPerfMeter="true" checkForUpdatesAtStartup="false">
              <ConfigurationManager className = "ConfigurationManager1" />
                <AddIns securityLevel="1">
                  <AdditionalWellKnownFolder>\\NetworkShare\public\add-ins</AdditionalWellKnownFolder>
              </AddIns>
            </Configuration>
            

System.Object
   ArcGIS.Desktop.Framework.Contracts.ConfigurationManager

Target Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1

Reference

ConfigurationManager Members
ArcGIS.Desktop.Framework.Contracts Namespace