Product Description

Practical, Real-World ITIL Configuration Management–From Start to Finish

 

The IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL) places the “best practices” in IT operations at your command. ITIL helps you make better technology choices, manages IT more effectively, and drives greater business value from all your IT investments. The core of ITIL is configuration management: the discipline of identifying, tracking, and controlling your IT environment’s diverse components to gain accurate and timely information for better decision-making.

 

Now, there’s a practical, start-to-finish guide to ITIL configuration management for every IT leader, manager, and practitioner. ITIL-certified architect and solutions provider Larry Klosterboer helps you establish a clear roadmap for success, customize standard processes to your unique needs, and avoid the pitfalls that stand in your way.

 

You’ll learn how to plan your implementation, deploy tools and processes, administer ongoing configuration management tasks, refine ITIL information, and leverage it for competitive advantage. Throughout, Klosterboer demystifies ITIL’s jargon, illuminates each technique with real-world advice and examples, and helps you focus on the specific techniques that offer maximum business value in your environment.

 

Coverage includes

• Assessing your current configuration management maturity and setting goals for improvement
• Gathering and managing requirements to align ITIL with organizational needs
• Describing the schema of your configuration management database (CMDB)
• Identifying, capturing, and organizing configuration data
• Choosing the best tools for your requirements
• Integrating data and processes to create a unified logical CMDB and configuration management service
• Implementing pilot projects to demonstrate the value of configuration management and to test your planning

• Moving from a pilot to wide-scale enterprise deployment
• Defining roles for deployment and ongoing staffing
• Leveraging configuration management information: Reporting and beyond
• Measuring and improving CMDB data accuracy

Covers ITIL version 3.

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

About the Author xxiii

 

Chapter 1: Overview of Configuration Management 1

Part I: Planning for Configuration Management 17

Chapter 2: Gathering and Analyzing Requirements 19

Chapter 3: Determining Scope, Span, and Granularity 37

Chapter 4: Customizing the Configuration Management Process 55

Chapter 5: Planning for Data Population 67

Chapter 6: Putting Together a Useful Project Plan 85

Part II: Implementing Configuration Management 97

Chapter 7: Choosing the Right Tools 99

Chapter 8: Implementing the Process 117

Chapter 9: Populating the Configuration Management Database 127

Chapter 10: Choosing and Running a Pilot Program 137

Chapter 11: Communication and Enterprise Roll Out 149

Part III: Running an Effective Configuration Management System 161

Chapter 12: Building a Configuration Management Team 163

Chapter 13: The Many Uses for Configuration Information 179

Chapter 14: Measuring and Improving CMDB Accuracy 193

Chapter 15: Improving the Business Value of Configuration Management 207

 

Index 217

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #216659 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

About the Author

Larry Klosterboer is a certified IT architect specializing in systems management. He works for IBM’s global service delivery team out of Austin, Texas. Larry has more than 18 years of experience in service delivery, spanning technologies from mainframe to networking to desktop computing. His areas of focus have included network design, UNIX® systems administration, asset management, and most recently, implementing IT service management.

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Customer Reviews

Practical Approach
I was recently assigned the project manager role to implement a configuration management system for a Fortune 500 information technology department. While I had experience implementing configuration management systems from a CMM/CMMI perspective, I had never implemented one based on ITIL.

Mr. Klosterboer's book provided the framework for me to: plan the project, orient my team on the approach we would be taking, and provide reference material for the team. Members of my team have decided to purchase the book based on the invaluable content. The table of contents is well defined so as to allow you to go to the section you need quickly.

I have been involved in over a dozen process improvement efforts and have never found a resource so well designed to assist in implementation. Too often the books I have read have been more theory than practical application. I find myself looking at some section of the book every day.

An excellect pragmatics view of implementing Configuation Management
This is an excellent pragmatic view of implementing an ITIL conformant Configuation Management system. It is very useful in understanding the space between ITIL abstract ideals and reality. In addition to a solid description of the technical issues, it provides insight into how to manage expectations and organizational challenges. I highly recommend.

careful planning
At the technical manager level, this book helps you decide on a configuration management system. There is a moderate amount of jargon in the narrative. But overall, the book's recommendations seem valid. Details are supplied about what to plan for. And it is emphasised that planning is vital to a successful project.

You might want to look carefully at the chapter describing failure analysis. It looks at finding single points of failure. Suggesting that you might prepare a risk statement for each such point. Where this is as detailed as you can make it, covering factors like the probability of the event and an action plan to minimise this. Or to recover if it occurs.