ASG-Discovery and Dependency Mapping
(ASG-DDM): Automating Data Collection
for Change and Configuration Management
PRODUCT BRIEF
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©2010 Enterprise Management Associates
Overview
Configuration Management is at the heart of the IT Infrastructure Library
(ITIL) and forms the foundation for Business Service Management (BSM). In
fact, it is safe to say that neither the ITIL IT Service Management (ITSM)
processes nor the BSM functions that leverage ITSM can be efficiently carried
out without accurate configuration and dependency information. Lacking a
clear understanding of the ways in which hardware and software assets
interconnect, and which ones depend on others, IT organizations must resort
to managing today’s complex business services via trial and error.
Supported by the notions of the Configuration Management Database
(CMDB) in ITIL v2, and the Configuration Management System (CMS) in v3,
the configuration repository provides complete, accurate, and up-to-date
information about business hardware and
software
assets,
their
characteristics, and their interdependencies. However, wholesale adoption of
comprehensive Configuration Management has been hindered by the
difficulty and expense of gathering and maintaining such information.
EMA’s most recent Configuration Management research found that only 15% of companies surveyed were in
full production with a Configuration Management System. Twenty four percent (24%) were in the process of
deploying a first-phase CMS and another 18% were still in the planning stages. There are multiple reasons for
these low numbers, but the most compelling revolve around data. How does a company go about the process
of locating and documenting hardware and software assets, determining interrelationships and dependencies,
storing, and reporting this information? And once such information is in place, how can it be kept current
without expensive manual labor and a host of IT specialists?
The good news is that, while ITIL was evolving from v2 t