Eating the CMDB elephant: A phased approach

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENNIS DROGSETH ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
10/10/05
Today's focus: Eating the CMDB elephant: A phased approach

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Take a phased approach to building a Configuration Management
Database
* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Eating the CMDB elephant: A phased approach

By Dennis Drogseth

Over the last year, I've written on the topic of the
Configuration Management Database as proposed by the IT
Infrastructure Library in its best practices for service
management. The CMDB has since become a far hotter topic than I
had imagined, a fact that I think is both a sign for optimism
and for caution.

The reason for optimism is that the CMDB initiatives expose two
critical trends within the industry: a focus on processes via
ITIL's best practices, and a focus on architectural integration
of IT management investments.

The reason for caution is the fact that ITIL's CMDB remains a
visionary endeavor that's at the embryonic stage in terms of
real, architected technology and supporting standards (from an
architectural perspective there are none fully baked at this
point). In other words, jumping into the CMDB game - well - it's
easy to get burned. The reason for this is that the CMDB, as
ITIL defines it, becomes a composite not only of configuration
information but also a current, trusted resource for topology
and configuration across the full infrastructure. This would
include applications, as it maps to business services, business
constituencies, operational owners and processes, asset and
investment information, contracts, and so on. The CMDB becomes,
in its most evolved state, a dynamic treasure chest of
information that can support virtually all IT management
disciplines, from asset and inventory management, to change and
configuration management, to problem and incident management, to
capacity planning, application development and deployment,
service-level management, etc.

It's not surprising then, that many of you are asking EMA to
help you plan the CMDB so you can "eat the elephant" (as opposed
to, presumably, being trampled to death by it). In this vein,
I'll be speaking in two EMA Webinars on some pragmatic best
practices recommendations for ITIL CMDB deployments (details
below). While there are many things to say about this "big game
hunting" exercise that I won't have space to address here -
probably the most important planning parameter involves taking a
phased approach to the CMDB rather than an all-or-nothing
cavalry charge up a hill lined with bayonets.

By taking a phased approach I mean fundamentally two things: the
first is that no IT organization, no matter how extensive its
resources, should plan to execute on a total CMDB addressing all
ITIL parameters except as a series of stages over years. I'm
going to say that again - "years." I would recommend examining
the rather absolutist opportunity very closely - as an objective
it is, after all, a thing of beauty - and suggest that "years"
might be as many as five or even 10.

As technologies and standards evolve, you want to be able to
evolve your CMDB strategies, as well. Hammering hard into the
short term for the CMDB is guaranteed to fail. Take a long-term
view of business, process, organization, technology and
architectural requirements before even embarking on a CMDB. And
very importantly, do a thorough planning exercise as to what
components, or as ITIL calls them "Configuration Items" - will
need to go into a core CMDB vs. outlying data stores supportive
of a federated CMDB system. This fits in with what I call the
"big vision" axis of a phased, CMDB approach.

On the other hand, nothing stands still and implementations need
to deliver value quickly. And this leads to my second
recommendation: taking baby steps that lead to value quickly and
relatively easily. You want to be able to show strong ROI
quickly and in clear phases with defined metrics for value on a
timeline, which will be re-evaluated and revised many times over
the course of a long rollout.

Once you have a larger vision in place, go for the low-hanging
fruit and the most acute pain points first. Remember that what's
really driving the CMDB initiatives in the industry is a mix of
technology evolution and process-driven organizational
transformation, and then target areas where you are prepared to
make investments in software automation to support critical IT
processes.

For example, where are you most prepared to invest in
infrastructure discovery? And to support what ends? The choices
may range from change and configuration control, to
service-oriented root-cause analysis, to basic inventory and
asset management. Recognize that what you'll do first may not
even be to build what will ultimately be your core CMDB, but to
focus on one of those "federated outposts" where pain points and
technology readiness are most conducive to success.

There is no shame in this. CMDB initiatives will fail if they
are addressed with academic rigidity. They will succeed where a
powerful, long term vision to evolve organization, culture and
process meets with equally powerful near-term opportunities to
capture those "perfect storms" where technology, process and
pain point come together to provide value.

** I'll be speaking in two Webinars on some pragmatic best
practices recommendations for ITIL CMDB deployments.

The first takes place Oct. 13 at 12 p.m. ET. Please register at
the EMA Web site
<http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=cmdbnwwd1005&bs=cmdb1005>.

The second takes place Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. ET. Please register at
the EMA Web site
<http://www.managedobjects.com/events/CMDBwebinar>.

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_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dennis Drogseth

Dennis Drogseth is a vice president with Enterprise Management
Associates <http://www.enterprisemanagement.com/>, a leading
analyst, market research and IT consulting firm based in
Boulder, Colorado, focusing exclusively on all aspects of
enterprise management. Dennis has extensive experience in
service level management and network management platforms and
products. He is actively researching trends in management
software and changing IT roles internationally. His 22-plus
years of experience in high-tech includes positions at IBM and
Cabletron. He is widely quoted in the press and is a speaker at
many industry events. He can be reached via e-mail
<mailto:drogseth@enterprisemanagement.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Coradiant
Improve Web Performance; Monitor Your Web Applications

Decrease support costs and service your customers better.
Download the whitepaper, "Building the Ideal Strategy" - Web
Application Performance Monitoring, to learn more. This
whitepaper provides a detailed look at a new class of
Web-monitoring technologies - Real-User monitoring - which
offers a more sophisticated real-time view of the experience of
each user and quickly points to the cause(s) of errors and site
brownouts. Download the free whitepaper.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=117319
_______________________________________________________________
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE

IT PROS SHARE THEIR TALES OF MAKING ITIL WORK

Running an enterprise network is challenging. IT organizational
change can be even more so if managers don't balance efforts
proportionally across people, process and technology.
Implementing best practices frameworks such as Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) can help, but they
introduce their own set of challenges. Click here for more:

<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/092205-itil.html>
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