Provided is a setting management system for managing the change status of setting information in an image forming apparatus during operation. Multiple image forming apparatuses start operating based on the same setting information in which operation setting values transmitted from a management server are reflected. Each of the image forming apparatuses receives changes in the setting information by multiple setting-receiving units during operation. In each of the setting-receiving units, a change-detecting unit detects that the setting information is changed. The setting-change status of setting information is correlated with the setting-receiving unit and transmitted by a change-status-transmitting unit. The management server receives the setting-change status from an image forming apparatus by a server-communication unit. As a result, a setting-management unit collectively manages histories of the setting changes of multiple image forming apparatuses based on the received setting-change status and the operation setting values.