1. Asset Record Does Not Equal CI: The confusion between Asset and Configuration Management Christine M. Russo Manager, IT Asset Management and Property

2. Service Lifecycle Stream What is ITIL ® ? Continuous Improvement Service Operation Service Transition Service Design Service Strategy ITIL = Information Technology Infrastructure Library

3. Where Asset and Configuration Management Fit Service Validation Transition Planning Release & Deployment Service Asset and Configuration Change Management Service Transition Evaluation Knowledge Management

4. Definitions IT Asset Management (ITAM) – Manages and reports the value and ownership of financial Assets throughout the asset lifecycle – The maintenance of data required to achieve optimal Financial Performance – Centralized tracking physical, financial and contractual data Configuration Management (part of ITSM) – Maintaining information about configuration items (CI) required to deliver an IT Service including their relationships as the CI moves through the service lifecycle – The maintenance of data required to achieve optimal Technical Performance – Centralized tracking the state of the overall IT environment at any point

5. Comparison of Asset to Configuration Asset ManagementConfiguration Management Concerned with financialConcerned with Operational Focus is everything ownedFocus is everything deployed Maintain data for ownership/valueMaintains data for troubleshooting Lifecycle from Planning to DisposalLifecycle from Deploy to Retire

6. IT Asset and Lifecycle An IT Asset is a “product” that has cost, an owner and adds financial value to an organization IT Assets are managed throughout the asset lifecycle Asset details are stored in the Asset Repository (AMDB) as an Asset Record The repository is concerned with all assets, regardless of their status and purpose, and financial cost and relationships between CIs

7. “Is it an Asset” Checklist  Can you manage the component’s  Procurement, receiving and disposal  The software license, maintenance, warranty data or lease schedule?  Track its monetary value?  Do you know its status at any given time?  Do you know who is using it?  Can you track how often it is used?  Do you need to report financial value or tax information?

8. CI and Lifecycle A CI a logical component used to support a service capability CIs need to be managed to deliver an IT service CIs are stored in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) CMDB contains business IT service relationships and inter-dependencies that are linked to critical business services Deploy Move Add Change Retire

9. “Is it a CI” Checklist  Can you open a Incident ticket or Release notice against the component?  Can a change request be submitted?  Is it is an operational component?  Do you need to report on availability, down time or capacity?

10. Integration of ITAM and Config Plan AcquireReceiveDeployManageDispose Deploy Move Add Change Retire ITAM The synergy between ITAM and ITSM is that several data points that ITAM maintains are the same that ITSM requires for service creation, implementation and metrics

11. Example Organizationally, the ITAM organization is responsible for Asset Management. Configuration Management is performed by various organizations as necessary to support operations Example NOTE THAT DATA FIELDS SIMILARLY NAMED CAN REPRESENT DIFFERENT INFO FOR ASSET vs. CONFIGE ON GLOBAL NETWORK ST. LOUIS OFFICE

12. AM/CM Records: Similarities and Differences In many cases the objectives and data are the same – Both need to know serial numbers, model numbers, locations, owners, etc. – Both need to know SW installations and HW configurations In other cases the objectives are quite different – Only CM wants to know whether the Network is running at 100mb or 1gb – Only AM wants to know the PO number of the purchase – Only CM wants to know who to contact in case of an outage – Only AM wants to know who to allocate costs to – Only CM is concerned with changes associated with patching – Only AM is concerned with the ERP relationships

13. Record Construct and Content Asset Record – Serial Number (unique key) – Make/Model – Asset Tag # – Purchase Order # – Asset Status – Maintenance Information – Warranty Information – Owner – Physical Location Configuration Record (CI) – Server Name (unique key) – OS type and version – Patching Window – Support instructions – Virtual/Physical – Escalation & Support contact and queue info – User – Physical Location

14. Points to Remember Not all Assets are CIs and not all CIs are Assets An Asset should only be managed as CI if they are under change management and can present a risk to the business from a service perspective * If an Asset is a CI, association of the CI to the Asset Record must be established When an asset is changed this changes the organization’s financial status, it does not change the IT Service* There is critical integration between the AMDB and CMDB, but one should not replace the other * Source: ITAM Review by IT Asset Management.net