Start simple, consider your end users, and be flexible in terms of resources and costs
In my last post, I discussed two keys to help you get moving in the right direction for simplifying service asset and configuration management (SACM) – Key 1: Know why it hasn’t worked, and Key 2: Know why you are doing this. Now let’s move beyond the “why” and into the “what” to provide useful tips for the planning and implementation stages.
If you get the process of planning your service asset and configuration management (SACM) program right from the very start, you increase your chances of achieving a successful implementation. There will be roadblocks ahead, but also plenty of good opportunities for lessons learned along your journey. You will have policy, process and technology to design and build, so you should really think things through. And the process may be twice as hard and take twice as long as you may initially think, to get it right.
Therefore, be sure to start with something important, but manageable – this is the third key to simplified asset and configuration management. Limit the data by beginning with a manageable universe of data points that you can understand and manipulate, with manual intervention when necessary. For asset management, this might be one to three top software licenses, or a class of high value servers. And a focus on one to two high value, tier-1 type services (only ones that really matter) is the best way to structure your configuration management planning efforts.
Next, it’s on to the fourth key: pilot, learn and then apply.