CMDB AND C ONFIGURATION M ANAGEMENT P ROCESS, S OFTWARE T OOLS C REATION AND M AINTENANCE, P LANNING AND I MPLEMENTATION G UIDE

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2 CMDB AND C ONFIGURATION M ANAGEMENT P ROCESS, S OFTWARE T OOLS C REATION AND M AINTENANCE, P LANNING AND I MPLEMENTATION G UIDE Gerard Blokdijk Notice of Rights: Copyright The Art of Service. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Notice of Liability: The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the products described in it. Trademarks: Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

3 W RITE A R EVIEW & R ECEIVE A B ONUS E MEREO EB OOK OF Y OUR C HOICE: U P TO $99 RRP FREE! If you recently bought this book we would love to hear from you! Submit a review of this purchase and you ll receive an additional free ebook of your choice from our catalog at How Does it Work? Submit your review of this title via the online store where you purchased it. For example, to post a review on Amazon, just log in to your account and click on the Create Your Own Review button (under Customer Reviews) on the relevant product page (you ll find plenty of example product reviews on Amazon). If you purchased from a different online store, simply follow their procedures. What Happens When I Submit my Review? Once you have submitted your review, send us an via review@emereo.org, and include a link to your review and a link to the free ebook you d like as our thank-you (from choose any book you like from the catalog, up to $99 RRP). You will then receive a reply back from us, complete with your bonus ebook download link. It's that simple.

4 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ROADMAP PRESENTATION ONE PRESENTATION TWO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS VERIFICATION AND AUDIT PLAN FOR CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT BUSINESS AND IT SERVICE MAPPING FOR CONFIGURATION ITEMS BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION MINDMAPS CMDB DESIGN DOCUMENT ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES INVOLVED WITH THE CMDB DATABASE COMMUNICATION PLAN EXAMPLE OF ASSET AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS IDENTIFICATION GUIDELINES PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION FOR CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES / GOALS OTHER CMDB MAINTENANCE CONSIDERATIONS POLICIES, OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE REPORTS AND KPI TARGETS STATUS ACCOUNTING GUIDELINES DESCRIPTION OF ASSET TYPES FURTHER READING Page 3

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6 1 INTRODUCTION ROADMAP Many organizations are looking to implement a CMDB as a way to improve the structure and quality of the business. This section describes the contents of the CMDB and Configuration Management Creation and Maintenance Guide. The information found within the guide is based on the ITIL Version 3 framework, focusing on the process of Service Asset and Configuration Management. There are also valuable insights into managing and maintaining a CMDB within Project Management, for example, the increasingly popular PRINCE 2 and PEMBOK methodologies. The guide is designed to answer a lot of the questions about creating and maintaining a CMDB and provides you with useful guides and user-friendly templates. Presentations can be used to educate or be used as the basis for management presentations or when making business cases for CMDB implementation. The additional information will enable you to improve your organizations knowledge base and provide practical, usable examples and templates for you to use in the creation and maintenance of your CMDB. The book serves to act as a starting point. It will give you a clear path to travel. It is designed to be a valuable source of information and activity. The CMDB and Configuration Management Creation and Maintenance Guide: Flows logically, Is scalable, Provides presentations, templates and documents, Saves you time. Page 5

7 Step 1 Start by reviewing the presentations in the following order: 1. Service Asset and Configuration Management ITIL V3 2. Configuration Management Project Management These presentations will give you a good knowledge and understanding of all the terms, activities and concepts required within Configuration Management. They can also be used as the basis for management presentations or when making a formal business case for a CMDB implementation. Make sure you pay close attention to the notes pages, as well as the slides, as references to further documents and resources are highlighted here. Page 6

8 Step 2 If you did not look at the supporting documents and resources when prompted during the presentations, do this now. Below is an itemized list of the supporting documents and resources for easy reference. You can use these documents and resources within your own organization or as a template to help you in prepare your own bespoke documentation. Service Asset & Configuration Management ITIL V3: 1. Types of Service Assets concise description of what constitutes a service asset. 2. Example Configuration Management System ITIL Version 3 example diagram. 3. Example Service Asset and Configuration Management Plan Contents -a detailed overview of the criteria to be included in the contents of a Service Asset and Configuration Management Plan. 4. CMDB Roles and Responsibilities this is an extremely useful document that includes suggested position description contents. Configuration Management Project Management 1. Suggested Contents of the Configuration Management Plan - a detailed overview of the criteria to be included in the contents of a Project Management Configuration Plan. 2. Typical contents of a CI Record - a detailed overview of the criteria to be included in the contents of a Project Management Configuration Record. Alternatively, continue by working through the CMDB MindMaps and the CMDB Design document with the focus on your organization. This will help you ascertain the Configuration Management maturity for your organization. You will able to identify gaps and areas of attention and/or improvement. The supporting documents and resources found within the guide will help you fill these gaps by giving you a focused, practical and user-friendly approach to creating and maintaining your CMDB. Page 7

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2 PRESENTATION ONE Service Asset & Configuration Management GOAL: To support the agreed IT service provision by managing, storing and providing information about Configuration Items

10 2 PRESENTATION ONE Service Asset & Configuration Management GOAL: To support the agreed IT service provision by managing, storing and providing information about Configuration Items (CI s) and Service Assets throughout their life cycle. This process manages the Service Assets and Configuration Items in order to support the other Service Management processes. Page 9

Service Asset & Configuration Basic Concepts - Terminology Attribute CI configuration baseline Service Assets CI Level Status Accounting Configuration Item (CI): ANY component that supports an IT

11 Service Asset & Configuration Basic Concepts - Terminology Attribute CI configuration baseline Service Assets CI Level Status Accounting Configuration Item (CI): ANY component that supports an IT service (except people). IT component or associated items such as Request for Changes, Incident Records, Service Level Agreements Attribute: Specific information about CI s. Example: Size of RAM, hard drive, bandwidth Service Assets: Any capability or resource of a service provider. A detailed description of different Types of Service Assets, is available in a separate document within this book. CI Level: Recording and reporting of CI s at the level that the business requires. Status Accounting: Reporting of all current and historical data about each CI throughout its lifecycle. Example: Status = Under Development, being tested, live, withdrawn etc Configuration Baseline: Configuration established at a specific point in time, captures both the structure and details of a configuration. Used as a reference point for later comparison (e.g. after major changes, disaster recovery etc) Page 10

12 Configuration Management Terms & Concepts CMDB Configuration Baseline Software & Document Libraries DSL License Management The Configuration Management Database (CMDB): is the data store for CI information. Most organizations already have a series of spreadsheets and small databases on infrastructure within the IT department. In larger organizations, the growing size and complexity of the infrastructure has forced the use of technology to manage all the associated information. The CMDB can hold a variety of information including details on users, customers, user groups, business units (Caution: consider privacy legislation at this point). The CMDB is also demonstrable and as an auditable concept it can be used as a compliance mechanism for legal requirements. CI information relating to incidents, problems, known errors, changes, releases; as well as inter CI relationships will be stored in the database. Configuration Baseline: Configuration of a product or system established at a specific point in time, which captures both the structure and details of that product or system, and enables that product or system to be rebuilt at a later date. A snapshot or a position which is recorded. Although the position may be updated later, the baseline remains unchanged and available as a reference of the original state and as a comparison against the current position. Continued from page 14 Page 11

Configuration Management Terms & Concepts CMDB Configuration Baseline Software & Document Libraries DSL License Management Software and Document Libraries: Consists of; Collection of software and

13 Configuration Management Terms & Concepts CMDB Configuration Baseline Software & Document Libraries DSL License Management Software and Document Libraries: Consists of; Collection of software and documents of known status. Controlling mechanism for software release. The Definitive Software Library (DSL): is the logical storage location for master copies of software. The word definitive means ultimate, perfect, best. License management: business people now face harsh financial penalties if they are found to be unable to control and monitor their software usage/licenses. Configuration Management is a crucial process in assisting in the control of software licenses. Page 12

14 Service Asset & Configuration Scope of IT Infrastructure Configuration Items CI s Include Software & Documentation!! Relationships CI Attributes Hard disk space Serial number Owner Location Ram CI Level Scope Service Asset and Configuration Management may cover non-it assets, work products used to develop the services and configuration items required to support the service that are not formally classified as assets. The scope covers interfaces to internal and external service providers where there are assets and configuration items that need to be controlled e.g. shared assets. There is a diagram of an ITIL Version 3 Example Configuration Management System available within this book. Page 13

15 Service Asset & Configuration Activities Identification Control Management & Planning Status Accounting Verification & Audit Reporting Source: the Art of Service Notice how Management & Planning are the central activities. Good, sound Service Asset & Configuration Management requires thorough planning. Page 14

16 Service Asset & Configuration Activities - Planning Planning consists of Defining the strategy, policy, scope, objectives, processes and procedures Roles and responsibilities Location of storage areas and libraries used to hold hardware, software and documentation CMDB Design CI naming conventions Housekeeping including license management and archiving of CI s Identification Control Status Accounting Planning Verification & Audit Reporting There is an ITIL Version 3 Example Asset and Configuration Management Plan Contents available as a separate document within this book. Page 15

17 Service Asset & Configuration Activities - Identification The selection, identification, labelling and registration of CIs. Identification can take place for: Hardware and Software include OS Business systems custom built Packages off the shelf Physical databases Feeds between databases and links Configuration baselines Software releases Identification Documentation Control Planning Status Accounting Verification & Audit Reporting Criteria for CI information to be valuable: It facilitates the management of Change The control of Incidents and Problems Or the control of assets that can be independently moved, copied or changed. Page 16

18 Service Asset & Configuration Activities - Control Ensures that only authorized and identifiable CIs are recorded from receipt to disposal in order to protect the integrity of configurations. Control occurs for: Registration of all new CI s and versions Update of CI records and licence control Updates in connection with RFC s and Change Management Update the CMDB after periodic checking of physical items Identification Control Status Accounting Planning Verification & Audit Reporting Configuration Management needs to understand the CI lifecycle and have procedures in place to ensure proper control over its CI s, throughout their lifecycle. Page 17

19 Service Asset & Configuration Activities - Status Accounting Is the reporting of all current and historical data concerned with each CI throughout its lifecycle Provides information on Configuration baselines Latest software item versions The person responsible for status change CI change history CI incident / problem history Identification Control Status Accounting Planning Verification & Audit Reporting Each asset or CI will have one or more states throughout its lifecycle. The significance of each state is defined by asking the question: What use can be made of the Asset or CI, while in that state? An example of this lifecycle is: Development or draft denoting that the CI is under development and that no particular reliance should be placed on it. Approved meaning that the CI may be used as a basis for further work Under Change is currently being modified by Change Management, may be unreliable until Change completed. Withdrawn meaning withdrawn from use, either because the CI is no longer fit for the purpose or because there is no further use for it. Page 18

20 Service Asset & Configuration Activities - Verification and Audit Reviews and audits verify the existence of CI s, checking that they are correctly recorded in the CMDB and that there is conformity between the documented baselines and the actual business to which they refer. Configuration Audits should occur at the following times: Before and after major changes to the IT infrastructure Following recovery from disaster In response to the detection of an unauthorised CI Identification At regular intervals Control Status Accounting Planning Verification & Audit Reporting Key point: Automate audits where possible through software tools Page 19

TARGET2-SECURITIES INFORMATION SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Target2-Securities Project Team TARGET2-SECURITIES INFORMATION SECURITY REQUIREMENTS Reference: T2S-07-0270 Date: 09 October 2007 Version: 0.1 Status: Draft Target2-Securities - User s TABLE OF CONTENTS