The Configuration Item (CI) lifecycle is the key to success in managing as IT assets in the ServiceNow cmdb. From recognizing and integrating the best of breed CI lifecycle, organizations would be able to obtain accurate, complete, and consistent data from the CMDB ultimately benefiting IT operations and decision making within the organization.
What is a CI Lifecycle?
A CI lifecycle simply means a cycle that a configuration item has to complete before it can be considered retired. It typically involves the following phases:
Creation:
A CI is created anew in the CMDB comprising of such details such as name, description, type, and relation with other CI’s.
Discovery:
The CI is identified through automatic or manual method, having its attributes actualized with relevant data.
Change Management: The change management also evaluates potential changes, reviews and approves them before incorporating into the CI.
Retirement:
Any CI that is no longer in use or has been replaced in the CMDB is retired from it.
Role of the CI Lifecycle in CMDB as a ServiceNow Framework
Data Accuracy and Completeness:
CI lifecycle must be well-established to guarantee the CMDB data credibility and cover all the necessary information to support IT processes and decision-making.
Improved Asset Management:
This approach of managing CIs through their lifecycle means that organizations are best placed to manage their IT assets making work easier and possibly saving costs in the long run.
Enhanced Change Management:
The CI Lifecycle is a useful model that gives an approach towards managing change in IT assets proactively while reducing the impact of change and regulatory compliance to the lowest level in the organization.
Risk Mitigation:
With these general understanding of CIs’ lifecycle, organizations are capable to minimize risks that could arise from asset becoming obsolete, being a security threat, or a non-compliance asset.
Compliance Adherence:
CI lifecycle management with focus on its robustness enables an organization to meet requirements of ITIL and COBIT.
Guidelines for Article CI to Manage the CI Lifecycle in ServiceNow CMDB
Define Clear CI Types:
Set up a clear classification of CIs for the libraries to implement in order to have a common ground on the different methods that will be employed in data gathering.
Implement Automated Discovery:
Keep the CMDB data up to date through the use of automated discovery tools so as to minimize manual input.
Enforce Change Management Processes:
Co-ordinate changes to be made on CIs through change management to reduce undesired impacts.
Regularly Review and Update CI Data:
One of the suggested course of action is the conduct of regular audits to achieved the intended outcome of keeping CI data current and current.
Utilize CI Relationships:
All the CIs should be related so as to capture dependencies, dependencies to facilitate impact analysis.
Integrate with Other IT Systems:
Other goals are about using CMDB as source of reference and confirming the pattern and consistency of the data shared to other assets IT systems such as IT asset management tools and other ‘configuration management databases.
Challenges and Considerations
Data Quality Issues:
Maintaining CI accuracy and completeness can be difficult in large complex IT systems; Getting correct and complete CI is not a simple task in large organization.
Discovery Challenges:
Automating the process of identifying some of the CIs can be challenging, and in some cases, not all CIs can be discovered.
Change Management Complexity:
Properties related to CIs can be change management demanding, especially for large projects or infrastructure updates.
Integration Challenges:
Connectivity of the CMDB with other systems in IT usually take time and the process may necessitate professional help.
CI management in ServiceNow is done using features that form part of the CI Lifecycle to capture detail of the CI.
ServiceNow provides a comprehensive set of features to support the CI lifecycle, including:
CI Discovery:
Computerized tools to search for or download new information about CIs.
CI Relationships: If CIs are to be made relationship aware and their relationship are to be defined and managed then tools to this end are needed.
CI Change Management: To monitor change within the configuration items, integration with the ServiceNow change management module.
CI Lifecycle Management: Techniques and prospects for automated support of the CI life cycle and integration into the workflow.
CI Reporting: Analytical tools such as dashboard and reports to support the intelligence that is contained in the CI data and trends.
Conclusion
The CI lifecycle is a key element on the overall framework of IT asset management. This paper highlights how best practice improvement and the realization of the ServiceNow CMDB provides the sophisticated functionality and capability to consistently create accurate and complete CMDB data, with the goal of transforming the efficiency of IT services, decreasing risk and improving compliance.
