The external version control functionality facilitates means for user groups with different functions and different tasks to use and perform changes to the same configurations, and keep them stored in a Version Control System. Upgrades and changes in configurations will thus be easier to keep track of.
Concept
You can, for example, have different teams working on developing new configurations which can be checked in to the Version Control System, to keep track of changes made during development.
When releasing a finished configuration, the users that are working with implementation of the new configuration can simply check out the released configurations from the Version Control System.
The format of the exported data also allows for easy comparison between different versions of configurations using external diff utilities. Minor differences in the schema files should not cause any problems as long as you have both the xml files and the schema files for the configurations.