CMDB - Explosive Topic

Over the past couple of years I have grown to find that there is no other combination of 4 simple letters of the alphabet that can stir as much passionate debate as these do within the world of IT. We all know better than to speak about politics and religion in mixed crowds, I add CMDB right up there with those two topics in the world of IT technologists.

ITIL carried the promise of clear, concise and standard definition….right up until you get to the CMDB. All the topics of ITIL leave room for interpretation, however, the interpretation of just what is a CMDB and just how to implement it can become a powerful debate amongst IT professionals. So much so I consider it a 4 letter word when I speak to IT professionals, until I better understand their “religion” on the topic.

Never do I consider anyone’s view of their CMDB inaccurate, each environment carries with it varying objectives, technologies and processes by which the CMDB can be delivered. I recently had articles published in The Data Center Journal and ITSMWatch.com on CMDB and several key questions often arise when I am out in the real world talking to the folks in the day-to-day trenches:

Who owns and updates the CMDB?
Simply put, everyone does – that is everyone with a vested interest and use of the CMDB. It must be considered a corporate asset and source of “information” and “data”. The more that contribute to it, the more accurate and richer it becomes.

That said, yes, there must be an organizing and policy body that sets the rules for standards to insure consistency. However, it should not restrict the free flow of update, meaning it should not force a single person to perform all updates. Policies, standards and audit notifications should drive the enforcement of standards consistency without crippling the free flow of data.

Why consider implementing?
The 4 letter word often sends shivers down the project owner’s spine, “what did I do to get tasked with this beast?”. Fair sentiment with the crossing of so many organizational barriers this task brings with it. Technology projects are never difficult (work with me on this) until they cross organizational boundaries and then the organization behaviors tend to slow down forward progress of the project.

In this case, data is just that until it is correlated and related to other bits of data turning it into information by which to take action and perform analytics for the growth of the organization. Without a mechanism by which to bring this data together, track it and provide a vehicle by which to apply the intelligence, the sheer volume of data would never expose the actionable information that leads to an agile and growing organization.

So don’t fear the CMDB, embrace the opportunity to contribute to a network of information that begins to connect the whole of the organization over time with true actionable information.

-- Michele