CMDB) Cornerstone of ITIL-Based Integrated Service Support Table of Contents

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Conﬁ guration Management Database (CMDB) Cornerstone of ITIL-based Integrated Service Support Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ...... 1

INTRODUCTION ...... 2

CORNERSTONE OF SERVICE SUPPORT ...... 2

SOLUTIONS THAT ENABLE THE CORNERSTONE ...... 5

BUSINESS SERVICE MANAGEMENT ...... 6

CONCLUSION ...... 7 Abstract

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) is the standard for industry best practices for IT Service Man- agement, which includes Service Support and Service Delivery. Service Support is the reference book most commonly used within the IT industry. Service Support, as defined by ITIL, has six main elements:

> The Service Desk > Incident Management > Problem Management > Change Management > Configuration Management > Release Management

Each of these six elements integrates with and depends upon the other. Often, integration of applications simply means passing key data from one database into another to ensure the correct information is available to the management process. This exchange creates issues related to duplication and ownership of data. Typically, the solution has been to consolidate this data together into a single database, shared by all relevant service applications, as dictated by a particular process.

A better method is to create a single view accessible by all users, thus ensuring that data owners remain data owners, protecting the existing investment in service support applications by enabling integration in a federated1 manner. This is the idea behind a configuration management database (CMDB).

The term cornerstone can be defined as:

1. A stone that forms the base of a corner of a building, joining two walls 2. A vital part or basis: sugar was the cornerstone of the economy

Whichever definition you prefer, the idea is the same — without the cornerstone, any structure even- tually crumbles or fails. The cornerstone concept aptly describes the CMDB within any IT service management solution.

This paper discusses the function, benefits, and importance of a CMDB and why it has become the cornerstone of IT service support. Business Service Management (BSM), the BMC® Software strategy of managing IT from a business perspective, will also be reviewed in conjunction with the award-win-

ning BMC AtriumTM solution.

1The term “ federated” is defined as “a state comprised of a number of self-governing regions or functions united by a central (federal) system.”

PAGE > 1 Introduction The key phrases here are relevant details and important relationships. Relevant detail refer to the attributes and fields A common theme throughout ITIL is the need for a cen- allocated for each CI type. This requires careful planning tralized view of IT Service Management data—essential to when designing the CMDB. For a better chance of suc- delivering consistent, reliable, effective, and efficient service cess, consider the requirements of other ITIL processes to the business customers. This centralized view is referred when assigning attributes (refer to CMDB Utilization in to as the configuration management database (CMDB). Table 1 of this paper). Important relationships is a critical factor because it is these relationships that differentiate Adhering to ITIL guidelines, Configuration Management the CMDB from a simple database, one that contains a must: list of items and their attributes (e.g., an inventory or as- > Account for all the IT assets and configurations within set database). the organization and its services > Provide accurate information about configurations and Being able to identify and display relationships makes the their documentation in order to support all other Service CMDB a decision and risk-analysis resource. For exam- Management processes ple, if a server should fail, the service desk can instantly > Provide a sound basis for Incident Management, identify which customers and services are affected by the Problem Management, Change Management and failure. Or, a manager can check the potential effect of a Release Management change before authorizing the submission of a Request for Change (RFC). > Verify the configuration records against the infrastructure, and correct any exceptions The configuration item (CI) referred to in the CMDB definition above is a component of the CMDB, described by The CMDB is the cornerstone of Service Management ITIL as: whether or not you adopt ITIL standards. When you do not know what infrastructure items you have, where …a component of an infrastructure that they are, how they are related, their current status and is (or is to be) under the control of Configuration their full history, you cannot effectively manage your IT Management. CIs may vary widely in complexity, size, infrastructure. For example, during the Y2K crisis, some and type, from an entire system to a single module. estimates claimed that as much as 70 percent of revenue was spent locating infrastructure asset items and only 30 Throughout the lifecycle of a configuration item (CI), all as- percent was spent on the necessary technology updates. sociated activity must also be maintained within the CMDB, creating an audit trail of actions, incidents, problems, and Today, just five years past Y2K, many organizations are changes made to that CI. This is vital to understanding what again struggling to identify their infrastructure items in is occurring to the CIs and provides the necessary details order to comply with governance requirements detailed for problem resolution, change-risk assessment, and total- by Sarbanes-Oxley (Sarbox) or Basel II regulations. With cost-of-ownership awareness. an accurate CMDB and a good Change Management policy, meeting the requirements of Sarbox or Basel II Table 1 (page 3) shows some of the key servies that the can be accomplished faster and cheaper. Both are about CMDB can provide to other ITIL processes. To keep the managing operational risk, which, from an IT perspective, table within sensible proportions, only five services are can only be done by understanding the IT infrastructure shown for each ITIL process or function, whereas in re- and adhering to the ITIL processes to avoid disruption to ality there are many more potential and actual services the IT services that in turn directly affect vital business provided by having a comprehensive and accurate CMDB. functions (VBFs) and the underpinning data. Further, Table 1 shows how cross-functional process Cornerstone of Service Support integration creates significant advantages for Service Man- agement. Notice that most ITIL proponents start their Most of the information an organization needs to suc- implementations with a CMDB. The most important person cessfully adhere to ITIL guidelines can be housed with to a football team, for example, is the coach because only a CMDB. ITIL briefly describes a CMDB as: the coach can see the entire picture and give the best in- “A database that contains all relevant struction at the best time. The CMDB is similar because details of each Configuration Item (CI) and details it provides a complete view of a CI, enabling all other pro- of the important relationships between cesses to work cohesively as one. Configuration Items.”

PAGE > 2 Service Support Service Delivery

Incident Management Service Level Management > Automatically populates records > All SLA components must be in CMDB > Provides status of configuration items > SLAs can be referenced from CMDB > Provides urgency data for priorities > Provides reference point for underpinning contracts > Provides impact data for priorities > Shows customer ownership > Provides escalation data > CMDB is a vital component for the Service Improvement Program

Problem Management Capacity Management > Automatically populates problem records > Each CI is a potential Capacity Management candidate > Provides status of configuration items > CMDB provides resources for capacity modelling > Provides risk analysis data for priorities > Shows related CIs in a capacity grouping > Provides ownership data > Provides vital risk-analysis data > Provides data for proactive problem analysis > CMDB reduces time-solving capacity related to incidents and problems

Change Management Availability Management > Shows CIs that are in the Change Management process > Provides vital business impact data > Provides risk-analysis data > Availability Management is to be applied to all CIs in CMDB > Shows which other components could be affected by a change > Shows related components in an Availability string > Provides feedback data about customers for changes > Provides risk-analysis data > Reflects the new status immediately after a change > Helps to isolate which CIs are the root cause of availability failures Release Management Financial Management > Tracks rollout status > Shows which CIs are used for each service provided to the customers > Keeps version details for software > Provides chargeback components > Enables planning vital data for rollouts > Provides important governance information > Provides feedback data about customers for rollouts > Provides a vital source for inventory and asset audit > Provides data for financial impact of Releases > Important tool for financial calculations (e.g., budgeting and forecasting)

Service Desk Continuity Management > Identifies CMDB errors > Baselines provide vital recovery data > Uses CMDB to record incidents > Changes in CI status could mean changes in Continuity requirements > Provides proactive notification to the users > Identifies any potential continuity outages > Provides feedback to customers about CMDB changes > Provides feedback data to customers during outages > Assists Configuration Management with CMDB audit > Shows status of CIs as they become active after an outage

Table 1. Configuration Management Database Utilization

The strength of ITIL does not come from just a set of 5. Problem Management identifies the root cause and a processes and functions, but from the processes incorpo- solution for the root cause. rating cross-functional integration. The relationship between 6. Problem Management creates and submits an RFC to Incident, Problem, Change and Release Management illus- implement the solution. trates this point very well: 7. The change is accepted and is processed through the 1. The Service Desk solves an issue for a customer Change Management process. and completes an incident record. (The original inci- 8. Change Management may forward the RFC to Release dent may have been raised by another ITIL element, Management for the deployment of the change across such as Event Management, part of Infrastructure the infrastructure, matching the RFC criteria. Communications and Technology Infrastructure 9. Incident and Problem Management are notified when Management.) the change is successfully implemented. 2. Incident Management notifies Problem Management, 10. Incident Management ensures that no new incidents where a problem record is opened or an existing prob- appear because of the change. lem record is updated.

3. Problem Management creates a work-around and noti- The more integrated these processes are the better the fies Incident Management for any further recurrences level of service to the customer (when processes are of the incident. automated, service levels improve greatly). The cross-func- 4. Problem Management includes the work-around for tional integration is not just linear; there is a bidirectional the known error database for reference by all the flow between the processes. In fact, one of the main Service Support functions. measures for ITIL process maturity is the amount of

PAGE > 3 cross-functional integration that exists between the ITIL For example, you can implement Incident Management processes and the business processes, as illustrated in without a CMDB, but how would you automatically popu- Table 2. late incident records? How would you identify a priority without knowing the impact and urgency of the incident? Level Function Description How would you become proactive and notify customers There is absolutely no evidence of any affected by an incident? A CMDB not only provides the 0 Absence activities supporting the process. data for these activities, but with quality technology can There are ad-hoc activities present, but also perform all of these activities dynamically. 1 Initiation we are not aware of how they relate to each other within a single process. Of course, you can get system-led benefits without a We are aware of the process, but some CMDB — but to gain maximum advantage, a CMDB is activities are still incomplete or incon- 2 Awareness sistent; there is no overall measuring or critical. The following list provides ten key benefits for control. implementing ITIL Service Management.

The process is well understood and 1. Improved quality of service and more reliable business 3 Control implemented as a single process, but is support – How can you improve the quality of service if not integrated with other processes. you do not have the components of that service clearly The process is now managed by incor- defined? A CMDB provides the configuration for each porating financial management, forward service and the resulting foundation for improving the 4 Management scheduling, trend analysis, and business relationships and is integrated with other quality of service. IT systems and service processes. 2. IT service continuity procedures provide more focus, The process is fully integrated with busi- more confidence in the ability to follow them when ness processes to provide a platform for required – Imagine if a remote office of 200 work- 5 Strategic strategic executives to make reliable business decisions using the power of their stations burned down. How would you know the technology resources. technology that was in that office and how it was con- figured? Without that information, how could the office Table 2. Generic Capability Maturity Modeling (CMM) be rebuilt or reinstated? A CMDB provides both the technology details and the configuration details for In Table 2, notice how Levels 3, 4, and 5 all show in- all locations. That information can be available with- creased degrees of integration. It is also important to in seconds and provides an immediate blueprint for keep in mind that to achieve Business Service Manage- reconstruction. ment (BSM), the ITIL processes and the business 3. Clearer view of current IT capability – To be able to processes must be integrated and that the CMDB plays provide a clear view of IT capability you must know a vital role in that integration. the status of the entire IT infrastructure. One of the roles of the CMDB is to maintain the status of all in- For example, in IT reports, a gasoline pump that accepts frastructure items, CIs, which have upcoming changes. credit cards is just another terminal and probably identified to IT by its model type; to the business owners, however, 4. Better information about current services (and possibly the pump is a revenue-generating opportunity and is likely about changes that would bring additional benefits) – known by a more functional name. Business managers Within each CMDB, each CI should have an attribute, need reports and information using the functional names or attributes, describing which service, or services, to for devices (e.g., gas pump), rather than IT device names which it relates. that they do not understand. This is where the CMDB can 5. Greater flexibility for the business through improved contribute some cross-functional integration with the busi- understanding of IT support – By having control of ness. For example, the CI for the device could contain two your resources, the more information you have the attributes—one with the IT name for the device (12 xyzabc more flexible you can be. If you know all of the com- devices failed yesterday) and the other with the business ponents that need to be considered for a potential name (12 gas pumps failed yesterday). change then you can ensure that those items meet the requirements of a change when it is implemented. The CMDB is vital for cross-functional integration and is For example, you may need to update your browser to also a vital resource for ensuring the successful implemen- meet changing needs. This is one of the reasons why tation of ITIL Service Management. Of course, you can still the relationships within the CMDB are so important. implement some of ITIL and achieve a reasonable level of Once you know what component you are going to success without a CMDB, but the key word is “reasonable.” change, the CMDB will show you all of the related

PAGE > 4 components. You can then review the related compo- changed to ensure a harmonious environment going nents to identify whether they will need any changes forward. When upgrading to a software component, to ensure that they will function with the component all software-recipient browsers may need to be on that is to be changed. the most current release before the upgrades can be 6. Increased staff motivation and improved job satisfac- made. With a CMDB in place, you will know which tion through better understanding of capability and users are to receive the software upgrade and their better management of expectations – Despite popu- browser version. Without a CMDB in place, you lose lar misconceptions, most people prefer working in a cycle time identifying this information, and have a structured, organized and orderly environment. It is higher chance of failure because the older browser reassuring to know that virtually no changes will fail versions were not properly discovered. or create new incidents, so that the service desk staff can concentrate on the customer needs, rather Solutions that Enable than be distracted by entering incident ticket data. the Cornerstone In addition, managers will be in a better position to Over the years many organizations have attempted to cre- understand the needs of their staff. The CMDB pro- ate a CMDB; however, most have failed, simply because vides a basis for accurate and readily available data they tried to populate a single physical database with all that will contribute greatly to motivated staff and the information from various related services within IT. Not higher levels of job satisfaction. only was duplication inevitable and data ownership difficult, 7. Enhanced customer satisfaction as service providers but IT services were also encumbered with surplus data, know and deliver what is expected of them – The most of which was needed by only a few functions and CMDB provides the knowledge, while the rest of not the entire service. ITIL provides the delivery. However, delivery without knowledge is doomed to failure. Recognizing this issue and the absolute need for a CMDB 8. Increased flexibility and adaptability is likely to exist in the delivery of IT services aligned with ITIL, BMC created within the services – Great golfers, such as Tiger the BMC Atrium CMDB. This is a federated CMDB linking Woods, do not play a championship tournament with- the core-services data into a common single view of the out first having played the golf course while their common cross-service data. BMC Atrium provides a 360- caddies measure yardages and disseminate the haz- degree view of the CIs, from any IT service perspective. ards. Equipped with that knowledge, golfers can be

adaptable to the demands of the tournament. Figure 1 clearly shows that the automated population of 9. System-led benefits such as improvements in secu- the CMDB is through integration with the BMC Discovery rity, accuracy, speed, and availability as required to Suite or with any acquired and deployed data collection meet the service levels – To improve a system you tools, thus protecting your existing investment in technol- need to know all of the components of that system ogy. Based on predetermined rules, the unique (patented) and where they are located. In a CMDB, the neces- Reconciliation Engine ensures that CI duplicates are re- sary components are easily found under the guise moved and any extra data collected by one tool, and not of CIs. another, are uniquely merged to provide a full picture of 10. Improved cycle time for changes and greater success the configuration of the CIs. Links are then made to exter- rate – Many changes require other components to be nal databases such as enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Remedy Asset Life Cycle (schedules, POs) Management Contacts Costs Incidents Remedy Problems Help Desk Tasks Change Requests Remedy Change Tasks Management Work Orders

Remedy Service SLAs Level Agreement Measurement Records

Remedy Impact Service Impact Management Event Correlation

Figure 1. BMC Atrium CMDB and application data

PAGE > 5 Business/IT Manager Atrium Reporting Atrium View

Service Incident and Infrastructure Service Impact Asset Change and Capacity Identity Level Problem and Application and Event Management Configuration Management Management Management Management Management Management and Discovery Management and Provisioning

BMC Atrium CMDB

Figure 2. Need for Web services and data integration

tools (SAP or Seibel, for example) and active directories, By viewing IT management through a business services which also hold required data. lens, BMC Software has developed a plan for integrating all of its management disciplines into a cohesive strategy Finally, this reconciled data is made available to, and fed that allows IT and business services to be managed to- from, the IT services applications covering such tasks as gether. This new approach is a response to both customer Incident and Problem Management, Change Management, and industry analyst feedback. Both have noted that there Release Management, and Service Impact Management is a movement toward a business-centric view of IT. This within the core Service Support functions. The BMC Atrium is not a divergence from past initiatives. BSM is the logical CMDB can be integrated to Event Management for ICT evolution of the BMC Software management strategy and Infrastructure Management processes and so on, to be- builds on the solutions that BMC Software has delivered come the single source of data for all the ITIL process. over the past 20 years, extending the promise of Assuring Business Availability. It is built around three essential com- The CMDB in conjunction with Atrium Reporting and ponents that are critical to achieving BSM: Service Impact Atrium View combines a reporting facility and viewing Management, IT Service and Applications Management mechanism (see Figure 2) from an IT perspective and a and IT Operations and Infrastructure Management. business process perspective, highlighting the vital business functions (VBFs). This viewing mechanism provides Figure 3 (page 7) shows the BSM model, with the focus at a graphical interpretation of how the IT infrastructure is the top on the Business operations, objectives and VBFs, performing, and which VBFs are at risk, with a drill-down integrating all the IT services functions to enable a holistic facility to check on actions being carried out to prevent view of the services being delivery from a business per- or reduce outages. This enables the IT infrastructure to spective. The CMDB is at the core of those IT services, be managed from a business perspective and deliver feeding and being fed by all the relevant IT functions nec- true Business Service Management. essary to manage the IT infrastructure. BMC Software is committed to ensuring that this model is underpinned by Business Service the ITIL set of best practice processes and has both the Management Service Desk and the IT Service Management suite applications all verified by the PinkVerifyTM program. This means Activate Business with the power of IT and move from cri- that it has been objectively assessed according to the crisis management to value delivery with Business Service teria specified by ITIL guidelines and certified by a qualified Management. The key to BSM is rapidly aligning IT resour- Pink Elephant IT Service Management consultant as meet- ces and processes to directly support your most critical ing requirements to support the ITIL framework. business objectives ensuring the stability of your vital business functions.

PAGE > 6 Quality of Quality of BSM is a dynamic Service Transactions Experience

method for aligning IT Business User to the business, and for Service Level ensuring that IT is able Management Underpinned with best

to support this goals Service Impact Service practices, the Information Management Desk IT Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Discovery Capacity CMDB Software > The Business Perspective Management Configuration > ICT, Infrastructure Support > Service Support Change Asset Management Management - Incident - Problem Identity Provisioning Management - Change - Configuration Event Management - Release

Mobile > Service Delivery Storage Batch and Online Applications - Capacity Performance and Availability - Availability Database Desktop - Financial

Middleware - Continunity Mainframe Network and Distributed - Service Level Servers > Software Asset Management

Figure 3. Business Service Management model

Conclusion The CMDB is “A database that contains all relevant details of each Configuration Item and details of the important The question is no longer whether to align IT with the relationships between Configuration Items.” It need not be business — it is how. BMC Software offers proven ways a single repository, but may be a federation of the source to accelerate IT-business alignment and realize near-term data to ensure the appropriate data owners own the data return on investment (ROI) based on experience imple- even though it is available to all IT services and functions. menting more BSM solutions than any other company in the industry. To enable clients to move toward BSM in The CMDB is vital to providing all the relevant informa- manageable steps, BMC Software designed Routes to tion to the IT functions and allows that 360-degree view TM. The Routes to Value are the integration of many Value of the Configuration Items, regardless of which IT service ITIL processes broken down into complementary, instantly accesses it. beneficial functions.

The CMDB is the facilitator in aligning IT with the business. The Routes to Value consist of: The CMDB will not only hold the information pertaining to > Incident and Problem Management the CIs, but it will enable the mapping of business services > Change and Configuration Management to those CIs, making it possible to manage and protect the > Service Impact and Event Management vital business functions critical to the success of business continuity and revenues. > Service Level Management > Infrastructure and Applications Management Finally, the CMDB is at the cornerstone of IT service man- > Asset Management and Discovery agement, by facilitating IT and business alignment and, > Capacity Management and Provisioning therefore, Business Service Management. For more infor- > Identity Management mation about BMC Software solutions that support ITIL, please visit www.bmc.com/itil. All of these Routes to Value are provided with and inte- grate into the BMC Atrium CMDB, ensuring from the start of the journey that the information is shared and the investment is protected.

In summary, a CMDB will enable successful ITIL imple- mentation and provide the basis for information sharing to facilitate cross-functional process integration.

PAGE > 7 About BMC Software BMC Software helps IT organizations drive greater business value through better management of technology. Our industry-leading Business Service Management solutions ensure that everything IT does is prioritized according to business impact, so IT can proactively address business requirements to lower costs, drive revenue and mitigate risk. BMC solutions share BMC Atrium™ technologies to enable IT to manage across the complexity of diverse systems and processes — from mainframe to distributed, databases to applications, service to security. Founded in 1980, BMC has offices worldwide and fiscal 2004 revenues of more than $1.4 billion. BMC Software. Activate your business with the power of IT. For more information, visit www.bmc.com.

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