IT Configuration

Management Training v1.0

Introduction & Objectives
Ground Rules
• Cell phones off
• Share experience
– If you have questions or comments, please raise your hand
• If questions/issues cannot be resolved in training, they will be noted and tracked to
closure
Pre-requisites & Certification Criteria
Pre-requisites

- ITIL Foundation trained & certified

- Basic Overview of Remedy Atrium v7

- Good Understanding of Asset Management

Foundation Certification Criteria

- Active participation & attendance

- 80% Minimum score in the Questionnaire
Course Objective
At the end of this class, students will be able to:

•Understand ITIL Configuration Management Process

•Understand key differences in IT Asset Management & ITIL Configuration Management
•Understand Business perspective for ITIL Configuration Management
•Understand ITIL Best Practices and ITSM Framework
•Has theoretical knowledge of Configuration Management Process activities
•Understand different ITSM toolsets available in market and basic CMDB architecture
•Has an overview knowledge on Configuration Management Process Integration with other
ITIL Processes
•Score at least 80% in the evaluation
•Attend Masters Level Training for Configuration Management
Course Contents & Schedule
IT Configuration Management Training v1.0

Foundation Level
S. No. Topic Duration (in hrs)
1 Introduction & Objective (Asset v/s Config Mgmt) 0.50
2 Business Overview 2.00
3 ITIL & ITSM - An Overview 1.00
4 Basic Configuration Management Activities 4.00
5 ITSM Tools & CMDB Architecture 1.50
6 ITSM Process Integration 2.00
7 Questionnaire 1.00
Total Duration 12.00
con·fig·u·ra·tion   (kən-fĭg'yə-rā'shən)        
n.  
a. Arrangement of parts or elements.
b. The form, as of a figure, determined by the arrangement of its parts or
elements. See Synonyms at form.
c. The way in which a computer system is set up: changed the configuration by
resetting the parameters.
d. The set of constituent components, such as memory, a hard disk, a monitor, and
an operating system, that make up a computer system.
e. The way that the components of a computer network are connected.

Computer Science
a. The way in which a computer system is set up: changed the configuration by
resetting the parameters.
b. The set of constituent components, such as memory, a hard disk, a monitor, and
an operating system, that make up a computer system.
c. The way that the components of a computer network are connected.
IT Asset Management vs ITIL Configuration Management

All definitions of IT processes (or any business discipline for that matter) are imperfect, but for
the purposes of this discussion let's stipulate a working definition:
IT Asset Management is the discipline of managing finances, contracts and usage of IT
assets throughout their lifecycles for the purpose of maintaining an optimal balance
between business service requirements, total costs, budget predictability, and contractual
and regulatory compliance.  Traditional ITAM activities include the management of
inventory, software licenses, vendors, procurement, leases, warranties, cost accounting,
retirement and disposal.
ITIL's Configuration Management is easier to describe since ITIL is responsible for popularizing
the concept, and because its mission includes forging agreement on terminology.  To
summarize:
The goal of Configuration Management is to provide a logical model of the IT
infrastructure that is accessed by all ITIL processes to drive consistency among them.  
Activities include identifying, controlling, maintaining, and verifying the versions of
configuration items (CIs).  This CI information is to be stored in a single repository – the
Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
IT Asset Management vs ITIL Configuration Management

Asset = A physical IT component managed throughout its lifecycle for its value/cost,
contractual compliance and usage. Records of these assets have typically been stored in an
asset repository. A component should be considered an asset if you want to be able to:
• Manage its procurement, receiving, maintenance or retirement
• Manage associated software license, warranty, lease or maintenance contract
• Track its monetary value or incurred costs
• Know who is using it and/or how often it is being used
Configuration Item (CI) = a physical or logical IT component managed for its operational
impact. CIs are, by ITIL's definition, records in a CMDB. A component should be considered a
CI if you want to be able to:
• Open an incident against it
• Request a change for it
• Manage it as part of a release
• See its role in a business service to determine incident, change or service level
impact
IT Asset Management vs ITIL Configuration Management
IT Asset Management
Goals Manage asset costs, contracts, and
usage/ownership throughout lifecycles. a CMDB as basis for ITIL processes.
Value Lower asset TCO/acquisition costs,
reduced purchasing, more efficient
allocation, more accurate
budgeting/planning.
Organization Can be part of IT operations, typically
growing out of service desk
organization, but often traditionally
aligned with IT Finance and/or
Procurement.
ITIL Configuration Management
Provide logical model of IT environment in
Greater business service stability,
availability, quality (via ITIL processes
that rely on configuration data).
Is almost always in Operations, typically
growing out of service desk or data center
organizations, or both.
IT Asset Management vs ITIL Configuration Management

IT Asset Management ITIL Configuration Management

Definition Asset: Physical IT component tracked Configuration Item (CI): Physical or
based on value, contractual logical IT component managed for its
compliance. A CI can be an asset if it is operational impact. An asset can be a CI
worth tracking for cost, contract, and if it is worth managing for operational
usage. Assets not likely to be managed stability. CIs not likely to be managed as
as CIs because they have little or no assets because they have little or no
operational impact include bulk items administrative impact include a custom
like toner cartridges, assets on order Java component, a business process
(not yet received). document, a business service model.
Etc.
Relationship Basic relationships (peer, parent, child) Sophisticated relationships between CIs
tracking between assets are maintained for are maintained to assess change risk,
retirement process, ownership, analyze root cause of problems, and
software license matching. assess service impact.
IT Asset Management vs ITIL Configuration Management

IT Asset Management ITIL Configuration Management

Versioning An asset should be tracked and
managed according to its lifecycle
state (e.g. on order, awaiting
deployment, deployed, under
maintenance, and retired). For proper
lease, retirement, and cost accounting, remediation, and rollback. In ITIL terms,
it should also offer comparisons
between original and modified states
(e.g. added applications or storage
components to a server).
ITIL processes, such as Change
Management, also require CI status,
including past, future, and desired states
of IT infrastructure configuration, for
proper planning, risk assessment,
this is part of CI Status Accounting, which
also includes ITAM-type status, such as
ordered, received, under repair, and for
disposal.
Conclusion

There is a world of difference between asset management and configuration management. The
two disciplines aim to serve different purposes altogether, but in tandem, they can bring
substantial benefits to the organization that deploys both.
 Configuration management will enable the organization to pinpoint and anticipate
problems, to ensure consistent service provision, and to resolve incidents quickly with
the least possible breakdown of service.
 Asset management will enable the organization to save costs, improve asset
utilization, streamline business processes around access to assets and accountability
for asset usage, manage contracts to their true value, make informed decisions about
asset acquisition and usage, budgeting and forecasting.
In summary, configuration management and asset management are complementary disciplines
that should be combined to give the organization the most streamlined, cost-effective and
efficient infrastructure that can be deployed to achieve competitive advantage.
In most cases, IT components can and should be treated as both assets and CIs. Servers,
desktops, routers, and packaged applications (truly "assets" by almost any definition) should be
managed by ITIL processes to improve the operation of business services.
Questions ??