Service Configuration Management
Definition
"The practice of ensuring that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services, and the Configuration Items (CIs) that support them, is available when and where it is needed."
To fulfil the purpose, an organization needs to:
- Ensure the organization has relevant configuration information about its products and services
- Ensure the costs of providing configuration information are continually optimized
Key Terms
Configuration Item (CI): any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver an IT service.
Configuration Management System (CMS): a set of tools, data, and information used to support the service configuration management practice.
Configuration Management Database (CMDB): a database used to store configuration records throughout their lifecycle.
Baseline configuration: a configuration of a product, service, or other CI that has been formally reviewed and agreed.
Verification: an activity that ensures that a new or changed IT service, process, plan, or other deliverable matches its design specification and is complete, accurate, and reliable.
Inventory: data collection and clean up, performed as manual tasks, to build or verify the contents of the CI register.
Discovery: data collection and clean up, achieved through automation technology and tools, to build or verify the contents of the CMDB.
CI vs IT asset: A Configuration Item (CI) is managed for service delivery purposes; tracking relationships and dependencies is the priority. An IT asset is tracked primarily for financial and lifecycle purposes. Many items are both CIs and IT assets, but the perspectives and data captured differ.
Processes
Managing a Common Approach to Service Configuration Management
- Analyse stakeholder requirements: Understand who needs configuration information and why.
- Define and agree the approach: Establish scope, policies, and detail level.
- Communicate and integrate: Embed the approach into value streams.
- Review and adjust: Periodically verify and update.
Capturing, Managing, and Providing Configuration Information
- Analyse resources and identify CIs: Determine which components are CIs.
- Confirm a CI lifecycle model: Define how each CI type is managed through its lifecycle.
- Follow the CI lifecycle model: Track CIs from creation to retirement.
- Manage exceptions: Handle CIs that do not fit standard models.
- Review the CI lifecycle model: Periodically assess and improve.
Verifying Configuration Data
- Plan verification activities: Schedule and scope verification exercises.
- Identify a CI lifecycle model: Select the model to verify against.
- Verify configuration data: Compare CMDB data against actual infrastructure (audit).
- Review verification output: Analyse discrepancies.
- Define and implement corrective actions: Fix discrepancies.
- Compose and communicate a CMDB verification report: Document findings.
Recommendations for Practice Success
- Design configuration management to meet stakeholder needs, not for its own sake
- Regularly review CMDB scope and detail level (avoid over-engineering)
- Ensure continuous CMDB verification to maintain data quality
- Involve third parties (suppliers, partners) in providing configuration data
- Automate configuration data handling where feasible (discovery tools)
- Develop the practice continually without overcomplicating it
Key Metrics
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Satisfaction with configuration information | Stakeholder perception of data quality |
| Satisfaction with config management interfaces/processes | Usability |
| Decisions impacted by poor config info | Business impact of data quality issues |
| Incorrect CMDB data (%) | Data accuracy |
| Verified CMDB data (%) | Verification coverage |
| Cost of service configuration management | Efficiency |
| CMDB data usage rate | Value realization |
Key Roles
- Configuration manager and coordinator: Coordinates the configuration management process
- Configuration librarian: Maintains the CMDB and configuration records
- Resource owner: Accountable for the accuracy of CI data within their domain
Software Tools
- CMS and CMDB tools
- Inventory and discovery tools
- Workflow management and collaboration tools
- Analysis and reporting tools
- Knowledge management tools
- Classification and analysis tools