Hi Norm
Well, look at it from another angle. Does a CMDB add value at the center of your service desk operations when all break/fix incidents and planned change requests are linked to the relevant CI records? For Incidents, you build up a picture not only of frequent Requesters (training issues highlighted?), but also of problem hardware types or patterns of issues that can then be addressed separately (as Problem tickets?). For change requests, the ONLY way you stand a chance of managing changes is if you have clearly identified what assets or other CIs are being changed, evaluate and authorize the changes, and than afterwards review what has been done. Discovery tools may give you an asset inventory to do part of this, and may discover some physical topology (this database runs on this virtual server, on this hardware; it uses this switch/router etc.). What auto-discovery can't give you is how this fits into business processes, like this database is used for payroll, which is part of HR systems, and who the dba is, who the Payroll and HR business owners are, etc. If changes are planned to this database, the owner of the HR processes may need to be informed and to approve the change and the schedule. The change may need to be assigned to the correct dba. The Incident linking part you can probably do with just auto-discovered asset inventory, but the change stuff really needs the business context information to be useful. A decent CMDB will provide the business context around the asset inventory, and will include people and process links. It will allow you to assess risk, business disruption and costs, and plan changes properly. There is value there, but I'm not sure if that value justifies the cost and effort involved in acquiring and maintaining Atrium and SIM for your organization. Only you can answer that question. Regards David Sanders Remedy Solution Architect Enterprise Service Suite @ Work ========================== ARS List Award Winner 2005 Best 3rd party Remedy Application See the <http://www.westoverconsulting.co.uk/downloads/ESS_Concepts_Guide.pdf> ESS Concepts Guide tel +44 1494 468980 mobile +44 7710 377761 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] web http://www.westoverconsulting.co.uk <http://www.westoverconsulting.co.uk/> _____ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB I think we're coming at this from two different perspectives. Agreed--the CMDB might be somewhat useful if you are in an environment where NO OTHER AUTOMATION TOOLS EXIST. But I was coming at this from the perspective that certain "standard" network monitoring/management tools are already in place--HPOV, AD, SMS, SNMP, etc. For the sake of keeping a fruitful discussion alive, allow me to counter: _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
