Throw out ITIL, but keep the CMDB?
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Just read an interesting article in Network World's Systems Management
newsletter, "The
jury's in on the CMDB, or is it?" From it, I'd like to pull out two
ideas that caught my eye, one is "In fact, awareness of the term 'CMDB'
outranked awareness of the term 'ITIL' by a significant percentage within
the U.S. IT population. (Awareness of ITIL has been traditionally higher in
Europe in particular.)" I think that the concept of a CMDB is much easier to
wrap your head around than the multiple concepts pertaining to ITIL and
Service Management and Service Delivery and... and... the list is a long
one. But a common database that houses all your assets and connects the dots
for you, well, that is somehow tangible and visible and just makes
sense.
The other quote from Dennis is, "In almost all the 'successful' CMDB
implementations that I've personally assessed, there has been a strong
commitment to process and to change management processes in particular. In
most but not all instances, this attention has been ITIL-driven, while in
some it's more a mix of ITIL and other best practice initiatives (and in one
instance ITIL was thrown out and the CMDB was kept)." Threw out ITIL and
kept the CMDB, now that is interesting. I guess one was more useful in that
environment than the other. He does make the point that you need good
processes in place in order to have a successful ITIL implementation. I
suppose a corporate culture that isn't driven by process and change
management would struggle with ITIL and eventually give it up.
Which is more popular in your group, ITIL or the CMDB? Or are they so
interrelated you can't imagine one without the other?
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So throw out the ITIL and keep the CMDB???
Well, an organisation may not necessarily use the ITIL terminology, roles and process definitions when it is say resolving Incidents and Problems, but it will typically still perform those processes - even if they are informal, undocumented and not mature. That's part of the point of the whole thing; ITIL comprises the things that IT people and organisations already do. Admittedly some well and some not so well, ITIL is not about re-inventing the wheel, it is COMMON SENSE WRITTEN DOWN and in a form that is there for all to share. Also, ITIL itself is not prescriptive - it is simply guidance and says that you should apply its recommendations to your organisation in a way appropriate to it. It doesn’t say ‘you must have a massive complicated bureaucratic processes and procedures’ – that is something that is usually the result of a poor understanding of ITIL.
So, if it was necessary for this organisation to have a well populated and maintained CMDB, but not to have mature, documented processes subjected to reporting and performance review, hey then that is fine so long as it meets their business needs... By adopting and adapting ITIL to meet their needs, the organisation actually used it in the way the authors and community wishes to see it used... in order to make them more effective and efficient.
Of course, having a CMDB doesn't answer the questions about how relevant the IT provided is to the business it supports, if it is cost justified or if it is of sufficient quality... no CMDB could do that. Only effective Service Management can and that requires a broader approach than knowing what you have, where it is and what it is affects.
So throw out the ITIL and keep the CMDB? By adopting a CMDB you have already by definition taken onboard Configuration Management, even if you don't have a process document in place with the name on it.
But what about the other ITIL processes? Well, you'll be doing them anyway, maybe some well and some not so well, it is just that you may not necessarily be calling them by the same name, documenting them or reporting on them.
After all, if the IT organisation doesn't manage its change, customer relationships, Incident reports, availability, capacity, applications, infrastructure, suppliers and other aspects of the service in some way - it will fail and in fact probably already has…
gary.holmes@itsmsolutions.co.uk
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