ITIL Configuration Management

The object of ITIL Configuration Management is to provide a logical model of the IT infrastructure by identifying, controlling, maintaining and verifying the version of all Configuration Items in existence.  ITIL Configuration Management is used to account for all IT assets, to provide accurate information to support other Service Management processes, to provide a sound a base for Incident, Problem, Change and Release Management, to verify records against infrastructure and to correct exceptions.

There are five basic activities of ITIL Configuration Management:

• Planning - The ITIL Configuration Management plan should cover the next three to six months in detail, and the following twelve months in outline.  It should be reviewed at least twice a year and will include a strategy, policy, scope, objectives, roles and responsibilities, the Configuration Management processes, activities and procedures, the CMDB, relationships with other processes and third parties, as well as tools and other resource requirements.

• Identification - The selection, identification and labeling of all CIs.  This covers the recording of information about CI's, including ownership, relationships, versions and unique identifiers.  CIs should be recorded at a level of detail justified by the business need - typically to the level of "independent change".

• Control - This gives the assurance that only authorized and identifiable CIs are accepted and recorded from receipt to disposal.  It ensures that no CI is added, modified, replaced or removed without the appropriate controlling documentation e.g. approved RFC, updated specification.  All CIs will be under Change Management Control.

• Status Accounting - The reporting of all current and historical data concerned with each CI throughout its life-cycle.  It enables changes to CIs and tracking of their records through various statuses, e.g. ordered, received, under test, live, under repair, withdrawn or for disposal.

• Verification and Audit - This is a series of reviews and audits that verifies the physical existence of CIs, and checks that they are correctly recorded in the CMDB.  It includes the process of verifying Release and Configuration documentation before changes are made to the live environment.

In sum, the ITIL Configuration Management process provides identification, control, status accounting and verification of the components of the IT infrastructure (configuration items, assets- PC's, printers, software, business services etc). According to ITIL, ITIL Configuration Management is the process that "covers the identification, recording and reporting of IT components, including their versions, constituent components and relationships." While Change Management is the process to "ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handing of all changes, in order to minimize the impact of change-related incidents upon service quality, and consequently to improve the day-to-day operations of the organization."

ITIL Configuration Management is the implementation of a database (Configuration Management Database – CMDB) that contains details of the organization’s elements that are used in the provision and management of its IT services. This is more than just an ‘asset register’, as it will contain information that relates to the maintenance, movement, and problems experienced with the Configuration Items.

The CMDB also holds a much wider range of information about items that the organization’s IT Services are dependant upon. This range of information includes:

·         Hardware

·         Software

·         Documentation

·         Personnel

Development of the ITIL Configuration Management plan is of course is a complex task and requires a great deal of effort. To assist in this process a specific support kit has recently been launched: The ITIL Configuration Management Planning Toolkit. This comprises a number of discrete materials, similar to the ITIL Toolkit, but focused entirely upon configuration management plans and how to create them.

ITIL Configuration Management is a key discipline for software developers, IT Service providers and managers as it provides direct control over IT assets and delivers quality IT Services economically.  All components of the IT infrastructure - termed Configuration Items - can be identified, controlled, status changed and verified. The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) records all these Configuration Items including attributes, locations, relationships with other items and changes. This ensures that all components are uniquely identified and controlled. The benefits of Configuration Management and the vital component of the CMDB include better:

• control of IT assets
• IT Service provision through support for the management of change
• change management
• incident and problem handling
• control of changes to software and hardware
• security of malicious changes to software
• identification of legal obligations
• expenditure planning
• contingency planning

To sum, ITIL Configuration Management is a key part of IT Service Management. According to ITIL, Configuration Management's goals are to “account for all the IT assets and configurations within the organization and its services. ITIL Configuration Management covers the identification, recording, and reporting of IT components, including their versions, constituent components and relationships.  Items that should be under the control of Configuration Management include hardware, software and associated documentation.