CMDB: From "Configuration Management Database" to "Control My **** Business!"

[MichaelDortch]

If you listen to many ServiceNow customers and partners -- those who spoke at Knowledge13 and others -- two common messages emerge regarding CMDBs.

1. The CMDB can enable significant value across all ServiceNow functions, within and beyond IT.
2. The value users get out of their CMDBs is only as high as the quality of the information populating those databases.

The first point's clear enough. Numerous ServiceNow customers are populating their CMDB's with information that extends far beyond that related to traditional IT assets. Some are including information about non-IT assets, and about users and their responsibilities, rights, and roles. And as they expand the functionality of their CMDBs beyond IT asset and service management, they're extending the value of their ServiceNow deployments, thanks largely to those enhanced CMDBs.

But whether your CMDB's being used as a traditional, IT-centric CMDB or to manage most or all of your business, that second' point's the rub. How can you ensure the quality of the data in your CMDB?

Well, one way is to adopt an "eternal vigilance" approach, and to check every item in your CMDB regularly to make sure that all is accurate, complete, and timely. But to do this manually is onerous. To do it manually in environments where the CMDB is very large, growing rapidly, or both is almost impossible. Especially if you only have one person assigned to the task. Even if you have a team to spare, this approach is still a significant challenge.

But what if you could automate the processes needed to ensure that your CMDB information is accurate, complete, and timely? Whether for a single manager or a team? You could then certify that your CMDB is actually a reliable single version of the truth about your environment.

With ServiceNow's new CMDB data certification feature, you can do exactly that. A simple interface lets you certify, validate, and manage any and all CMDB items and relationships. And ServiceNow's CMDB certification works harmoniously with automated discovery, by confirming the validity of information gathered that way as well.

An accurate, complete, and timely CMDB is not only essential to your efforts to manage IT services effectively and to transform IT. Such a CMDB is absolutely necessary if you're going to enable IT to focus less on fire-fighting and more on delivering strategic services and measurable business value. So what are you waiting for? Get it, turn it on, and start automatically ensuring that your CMDB is a firm foundation for your ITSM and enterprise transformation efforts.