Creating a
Configuration Management Program
Creating a
configuration management program is not as easy as it may sound to
the casual observer. Most of the Configuration Management Process
work is done in the planning and implementation phases of the
process.
Once it is in place,
it is reasonably easy to maintain. Sure, you have times where
through the verification activity you will identify changes that
have been made without the IT area being aware of them. But
identifying the scope, depth and structure of your CMDB is one of
the hardest aspects, to be overcome in the initial creating a
configuration management program.
Creating a
configuration management program – first
steps
Configuration
Management has been known to be distributed across the organization
e.g. mainframe, physical networks and desktops. Some organizations
devolve control to support groups that have expertise in a
particular technology or platform, because it may not be
cost-effective to train central staff in specialist areas.
In these cases, the
support group manager is responsible for the control of CIs owned
and maintained by the group. The organization’s procedures for
Change Management, Configuration Management, Release Management and
a centralized CMDB should be adopted wherever possible.
Creating a
configuration management program – should there be a Configuration
Management Function?
This can be a very
difficult question to answer. Should Change, Release and
Configuration Management be moved into a central function that
directly supervises all change and release activities within the
organization? Although, without knowing your organization, I can
safely say this should be one of your earliest
considerations.
Devolution, on the
other hand, needs careful management and regular auditing for
compliance. It is always imperative that there is only one process
owner - and this is even more important if there are a number of
disparate groups performing Configuration
Management.
THE ASSET MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT
Each
item included is of the highest quality, tailor made to cover a
different aspect and issue. It includes presentations,
questionnaires, guidelines, fact sheets.... and whole gamut of
material specifically put together to both introduce and take you
through Asset Management.
It comprises the
following components (click
here)
