itmSUITE ® and, in particular, the visualCMS ® module was the tool that anticipated market trends and the actual evolution of best practices. The fundamental points to bear in mind to be able to create a successful CMS ( including CMDB) in line with best practice are:
- service orientation;
- to start top-down and not bottom-up;
- to begin from the stage of service design;
- to concentrate on critical services;
- to keep manual control (tools do not know what is part of a logic service);
- to facilitate the initial population and/or control and audit of the CMS via automatic discovery of the configuration elements of the IT Services.
For many years, the market has been developing tools inspired by an inverted approach, in other words the gathering of CIs (Configuration Items) via discovery and the organisation of the aforementioned in services (bottom -up approach) where the graphic aspect is primarily a marketing front but does not coincide with the usability of the solution.
itmSUITE ® is meant to offer the utmost usability to all those who design top-down service models and, furthermore, to allow the re-use of information gathered with discovery tools; this results in a reduction of management fees and harmony between the actual solution and the original project.
Main features of itmSUITE® useful in this area
- Optimal automation of the process of Asset & Configuration Management
- Possibility to categorize and freely define types and attributes of CIs and their operation
- Support to the definition of mapping conventions of configurations (ex. aspect of entities, relations, etc.)
- Native visual modelling that is very user-friendly and with textual features
- Full integration with the process of Change Management that guarantees complete control over Configuration Items
- Possibility to configure acquisition and reconciliation of data (entites and relations) from external sources (ex. discovery tools)
- Possibility to publish all or part of the contents of the CMS (that comprises the CMDB) on portals (ex. SharePoint) and web tools
- Access and use of information of the CMS with processes that are supported by itmSUITE ®
- Reporting procedures
Main advantages deriving from the use of itmSUITE®
- Staff can easily access and understand the contents and configuration of services
- Better planning and better forecast of the impacts of Changes and Releases resulting in a significant reduction of side effects
- Easier resolution of Incidents resulting in increased capability to meet relevant service levels
- Compliance with standards and requirements (eg. regulatory) related to documentation, management of assets and configuration
- Tracking of modifications carried out on Configuration Items and related items.
- Support for calculation of the costs of services
- Efficiency and effectiveness in the management of Assets and configurations leading to savings on associated costs
- Optimisation of the costs related to the activities of population and control/ audit of the CMS thanks to the automatic discovery of the configuration elements of the Services.
