NASA Shared Services Center Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003
Basic Version 1.0
Effective Date: 10/18/2011
Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
NSSC Enterprise Service Desk Configuration
Management Database (CMDB) Configuration
Management Service Delivery Guide
Responsible Office: NSSC Enterprise Service Desk
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Shared Services Center Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic Version 1.0
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
Page 2 of 17
Responsible Office: NSSC Enterprise Service Desk
DOCUMENT HISTORY LOG
Status (Basic/Revision Cancelled) Document VersionEffective Date Description
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic Version 1.0
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
Page 4 of 17
Responsible Office: NSSC Enterprise Service Desk
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...5
ITIL v3 – Configuration Management Process ...5
Technical Approach...7
ITIL Configuration Management Development ...7
Operational CM Support: ...8
Configuration Control ...8
Record IT Configuration Items ...8
Configuration Manager Functions ...9
Change Management (CM) Audit functions ...9
The CM Performance Measures ...9
Key Integration Points ... 10
Roles and Responsibilities ... 11
APPENDICES ... 12
Appendix A – Acronyms ... 12
NSSC CMDB CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT SERVICE DELIVERY GUIDE Introduction
The objective of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Configuration Management process is to ensure accurate and up-to-date Configuration Item (CI) data is maintained within the Enterprise Service Desk (ESD) CMDB continuously. The service helps maximize the ESD‟s ability to accurately relate customer incidents to specific CIs, streamlines asset accounting, and provides better resources to Users by a comprehensive set of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Library (ITIL) aligned work instructions and processes.
ITIL v3 – Configuration Management Process
The IT configuration management process at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is comprised of the following tasks:
The IT Configuration Planning - The management team and Configuration Management should decide what level of Configuration Management is
required for the selected services or projects being delivered. The information is documented in the Configuration Management Plan. The Configuration Management Plan defines the specific Configuration Management activities within the context of the overarching Service Asset and Configuration Management strategy
Selection of IT Configuration Items and Attributes – Requires the definition of how the classes and types of assets and configuration items are to be selected, grouped, classified, and defined by proper characteristics, e.g., warranties for a service, to ensure items are manageable and traceable throughout the lifecycle. The activity includes defining the approach to identification, uniquely naming and labeling assets or service components of interest across the service lifecycle, and the relationships.
Configuration Control - Configuration control ensures adequate control
mechanisms over CIs while maintaining a record of changes to CIs, versions, location and custodianship/ownership. Without control of the physical or electronic assets and components, what is believed to be the IT configuration may mismatch the actual configuration.
Record and Report IT Configuration Items – Recording and reporting IT configuration items ensures alterations made to the configuration of the environment go through the proper change management process and are
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide documented accordingly. The section of the process also ensures the „state‟ of the CI, (e.g., pending implementation, active, retired) is recorded.
The IT Configuration Management Verification and Audit - Activities include: reviews or audits to ensure conformity between the documented baselines, (e.g., agreements, interface control documents) and the actual business environment to which they refer.
Figure 2. IT Configuration Management-Process Development Workshop Flow continued
Technical Approach
Implementation of ITIL based configuration management for the ESD program will occur in two phases: transition involving development of CMDB and supporting tools and operational support to maintain the CMDB as the authoritative source of I3P configuration data. Transition support will produce the initial CMDB load and make it part of ESD Release 1.1. Operational support will support the ITIL Configuration
manager tasks, updating and maintaining the CMDB and auditing configuration data to validate it accurately reflects Center installations and User assets.
ITIL Configuration Management Development
The NASA Shared Serviced Center (NSSC) IT team will implement the ability to „Perform Configuration Management‟ for NASA‟s I3P program.The core capabilities of Configuration Management will be accomplished by leveraging the capabilities of the
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide BMC Remedy Atrium CMDB product. The NSSC IT team will work with NASA
counter-parts, BMC and the I3P contractors to ensure configuration items are mapped and tracked accurately within the BMC Common Data Model.
The Atrium CMDB will allow tracking, managing, and reporting on the lifecycle of Configuration Elements managed or supported by the I3P service providers. Additionally the Atrium CMDB will support periodic audits of configuration items to ensure the accuracy of CMDB data. In the event an audit reveals discrepancies, the NSSC IT team will work with I3P contractors to rectify the inaccuracies.
The mapping of Configuration Items to Atrium classes and attributes will be done jointly with NASA counterparts to ensure proper governance and oversight is in-place for necessary enhancements or extensions of the Common Data Model.
The Atrium CMDB will be integrated with the Incident, Change, Problem, and Service Request Management modules to allow relationships to be created between CMDB data and events within each of the application spaces.
Integrity of the CMDB data will be accomplished with „Sandbox‟ instances used in managing CI creation and updates from I3P contractors. The Atrium CMDB
Normalization and Reconciliation engine will be used to transfer data elements from the „Sandbox‟ dataset instances to the NASA „Golden Dataset‟. The process will ensure NASA rules are followed for CI creation and modification with exceptions being reported.
Operational CM Support:
Configuration Control - Configuration control ensures adequate control mechanisms over CIs while maintaining a record of changes to CIs, versions, location, and
custodianship/ownership. Without control of the physical or electronic assets and components, the actual IT configuration will not match the documented IT
configuration. The Configuration Management Plan will govern the changes to the CMDB structure. The CMDB structure changes will be tracked through Change Management and reflected in the Configuration Management Plan. Data changes will be tracked through Service Request Management, Change Management, or Incident Management depending on the origination of input.
Record IT Configuration Items – Recording IT configuration items in the single
agency-wide CMDB ensures alterations made to the configuration of the environment go through the correct change management process and are documented
accordingly, thereby assuring the „state‟ of the CI, (e.g., pending implementation, active, retired) is accurately recorded.
Configuration Manager Functions – SP employees will either support or perform the following Configuration Manager functions:
Provides support information necessary to update the configuration process Reviews configuration consistency/accuracy/completeness
Assures minimized use of non-standard configuration items Recommends scope for internal audits
Assists with configuration management reporting and documentation Assists with configuration management integration between Configuration
management and other processes
Change Management (CM) Audit functions – CM verification and audit consists of
several activities:
A monthly random sample audit will be provided to each Center‟s Asset Manager via a Tier 0 web form to validate CI accuracy.
The Asset Manager reviews Center-level audits to ensure conformity between the documented baselines, (e.g., agreements, interface control documents) and the actual business environment.
Verifies the physical existence of CIs in the organization.
Checks the records in the CMDB to assure they match the physical infrastructure; In case of discrepancies, the Center Asset Managers submit an Incident to the
ESD and follow through to ensure discrepancies are resolved within the CMDB. The ESD verifies release and/or configuration documentation is present before
making a release.
The CM Performance Measures - Selected CM performance measures will be posted monthly in the Dashboards and Analytics database:
Average number of configuration items managed Average number of attributes per configuration item Number of problem configuration items
Number of configuration areas/groups Average cost per configuration item
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide Age of configuration management program
Auto-discovery accounts for what percent of configuration automation? Number of configuration exceptions reported during audits
Percent of deviations from standard configurations Frequency of physical audits
Key Integration Points - Effective IT configuration management requires significant integration between technology and business communities requesting, building, testing, implementing, and monitoring IT configurations. As such, the IT configuration management process should include; but not be limited to, the following process integration points: Inputs: Incident Problem Change Operational Release Asset Inventory Test Service Continuity Request/Demand Service Level Outputs: Incident Problem Change Operational Release Asset Inventory Capacity Monitoring
Test
Service Continuity Request
Service Level Roles and Responsibilities
Roles Responsibilities
Service Integration Management (SIM)
Configuration Management Process Owner
Responsible for the documentation, modification, and update of IT configuration management process documentation
Responsible for assuring the configuration process meets organizational performance expectations
Ensures individuals/groups adhere to the configuration process Accountable for the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the
process
Responsible for configuration management performance reporting Configuration Manager /
Coordinator (the Enterprise Service Desk will perform the role as it has direct oversight of BMC/Remedy Change and CMDB operations)
Provides support information necessary to update the configuration process
Reviews configuration consistency/accuracy/completeness Assures minimized use of non-standard configuration items Recommends scope for internal audits
Assists external auditors
Assists with configuration management reporting and documentation Assists with configuration management integration between
configuration management and other processes Change Advisory Board Assists in recommendation of configuration structures
Uses configuration information relation to risk management and scheduling
Facilitates resolution of configuration conflicts
Ensures documentation of alterations are captured in relation to configuration documentation.
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide APPENDICES
Appendix A – Acronyms
Acronym/Abbreviation Definition/Description
CI Configuration Item
CM Change Management
CMDB Configuration Management Database
CMS Change Management System
DML Document Management Library
ESD Enterprise Service Desk
IMS Incident Management System
I3P IT Infrastructure Integration Program
IT Information Technology
ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library
NAMS NASA Account Management System
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NSSC NASA Shared Services Center
Appendix B – Flows Inbound request or incident received at the ESD Existing user with Hardware (HW) incident? New/Existing user needs asset? User returning asset?
Activate script for “Incidents for New/ Existing Users”
Activate script for “Request for New
Asset”
Activate script for “Removing Assets from Existing Users”
Incoming ESD Ticket
N N
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Service Delivery Guide
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Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide
ESD Agent confirms Asset CI information.
CI information accurate?
ESD Agent creates new Incident Ticket
regarding CI Discrepancy
ESD Agent links CI with Incident ESD Agent resolves incident? Ticket forwarded to I3P. I3P Technician works
ticket.
I3P Technician updates CI information in the system if applicable and resolves ticket.
Asset needs to be replaced? I3P Technician
updates replaced CI.
All ticket and CMDB information forwarded to ESD CMDB via web service. Ticket resolved. Y N Y N N Y
Incident for New/Existing User
Correct Information is “staged” for automated review After Normalization and Reconciliation CMDB Updates made
Request forwarded from ESD to I3P via
web service.
Request for New Asset
Request
Approved? I3P fulfills request.
I3P Updates the fulfillment system with CI data tied to person
and resolves. CI Information transmitted to ESD CMDB via web service. ESD CMDB updated. Ticket resolved.
NSSC
Service Delivery Guide
NSSDG-2800-0003 Basic
Number Effective Date: 10/18/2011 Expiration Date: 10/18/2016
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Responsible Office: NSSC ESD
SUBJECT: NSSC CMDB Configuration Management Service Delivery Guide
Request forwarded from ESD to I3P via
web service.
Remove Asset from Existing User
Request Approved?
I3P removes asset from physical location
I3P Updates the fulfillment system with CI data tied to person
and resolves. CI Information transmitted to ESD CMDB via web service. ESD CMDB updated
and asset retired. Ticket resolved.
Monthly CM Audits
ESD audit selection process runs.
Personnel audit list built for each Center.
Center audit list made available to each Center Asset Manager via Tier 0.
Center Asset Managers login to Tier 0 and retrieve
the audit list containing personnel and all assets
associate with them.
Center Asset Manager performs physical audits of
all personnel on list. Incorrect asset
information found? Center Asset Manager logs
into Tier 0 and confirms all information is correct. Monthly Audit
Complete.
Center Asset Manager marks incorrect asset information at Tier 0 asset
page. Center Asset Manager
submits incident regarding incorrect information. ESD agent receives
incident and routes to ESD Configuration Manager.
ESD Configuration Manager contacts Center
Asset Manager for additional information as required. Monthly Audit Complete. Y N Correct Information is “staged” for automated
review
After Normalization and Reconciliation CMDB
