A healthy CMDB can be a game changer in your organization, bringing benefits in streamlined IT asset management security, compliance, and more. But you’ll need to be intentional about the tools, teams, and processes you implement to achieve maximum value.
A configuration management database (CMDB) is a shared repository that stores IT assets and configuration data. A configuration item (CI)—a router, server, business application, virtual machine, etc.— is identified and imported into the CMDB via a data import tool. 1 This provides a single source of truth and visibility for all of your organization’s IT assets.
Having a CMDB can bring value to your business by streamlining siloed data and assets, giving teams better visibility into all the resources in your enterprise. This can help with incident identification and response plans, outage prevention and remediation, compliance, security, and more. It also helps with your internal auditing and planning, as your assets are more easily identified and assessed in a single repository rather than scattered across the business.
Despite its many benefits, a CMDB is only as good as its management. CMDB data must be accurate, relevant, and up-to-date, and CMDB health should be consistently assessed and remediated as needed. This is where CMDB best practices are critical.
While implementing a CMDB is important, just implementing it is not enough to drive measurable value. A successful CMDB involves a synergy of your technology, team members, and processes. As such, your organization should also develop and train teams on practices that achieve measurable results and communicable value. These practices can include maintenance and monitoring, audits, reconciliations, and more, and should also include standards around what data to include in the CMDB, what level of detail is required, and who is responsible for updates and reviews. Doing so aligns your teams on shared goals, educates those involved, and delegates responsibility, alleviating confusion and overlap in work. This also ensures that your CMDB is not cluttered with too much extraneous data, that your data is accurate, and that it’s being stored in a single, secure environment.
A healthy CMDB can be a game changer in your organization, bringing benefits in streamlined IT asset management (ITAM), security, compliance, and more. But you’ll need to be intentional about the tools, teams, and processes you implement alongside the CMDB to achieve maximum value. CMDB best practices can be the difference between an overwhelming, complicated, often frustrating tool and one that makes your organization more efficient.
The right CMDB for your organization will depend on your specific abilities and goals, but it should include strong discovery capabilities, integrated functions, robust support, and more. Once you’ve selected a CMDB, research and employ best practices for both implementation and long-term work. A CMDB is a long-term investment that takes continuous assessment, refinement, and communication among teams; however, it can bring considerable benefits that can be felt across all levels of the enterprise. Be prepared to be flexible, and consider working alongside a trusted partner if the implementation or maintenance is too much for your internal team to handle alone.
The ServiceNow ® platform is the premier enterprise service management solution for IT, human resources, and other important business operations. As an Elite Partner and managed services provider, CAI offers ServiceNow consulting, implementation, ongoing support, and customized business applications that extend the ServiceNow platform. Contact us to get started on your CMDB journey today.
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