When you overload the CMDB with all your data, it is going to be difficult to manage. A sluggish CMDB with too much data could even fail in the long-term. The key to a successful CMDB is to record CIs that will be actively managed and not just any and every detail you can think of.
Keeping your CMDB lean and efficient will help you realise maximum efficiency and business value.
3. Making CIs Troublesome to Find
Not everybody needs to see every CI in the CMDB. However, no user should be left floundering and unable to find the CIs they require when they require them. Essentially, various personas require different CIs, and some may have minimal technical know-how.
The CMDB interface should be user-friendly and intuitive enough to cater to all categories of users/persona. If some users struggle to find certain CIs, it will be difficult for them to use the CMDB for their tasks, if this is the case then you’re not making the best use of it.
4. Lacking Clear Ownership
CMDB is most definitely not “set and forget”, someone needs to have ownership and watch over it. Surprisingly, many organisations do not implement clear ownership and change management for the CMDB.
Clear ownership ensures that someone (i.e. a configuration manager) is responsible for it, and keeping it up to date as changes take place.
The configuration manager must ensure that the CMDB stays in sync with overall IT strategy so that it stays healthy and current. In addition, the configuration manager must ensure that only authorised changes are allowed (something I’ve been looking at recently on a client engagement).
This type of effective change management keeps your CMDB healthy and supports all of your
other Service Management processes.
5. Common Service Data Model (CSDM)
It is often said that for a successful CMDB implementation you need to use discovery tools.
Certainly discovery tools can help and they have the capacity to make life easier, however for me the key to a successful CMDB implementation is defining your Common Service Data Model (CSDM) before you go any further!
The CSDM, describes the data model for more abstract CMDB classes.