{"id":5811,"date":"2016-03-29T19:37:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T19:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multiacademstg.wpengine.com\/20000academy\/?p=5811"},"modified":"2025-07-07T09:43:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T09:43:56","slug":"answers-to-5-faqs-about-the-itil-service-asset-and-configuration-management-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/blog\/2016\/03\/29\/answers-to-5-faqs-about-the-itil-service-asset-and-configuration-management-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers to 5 FAQs about the ITIL Service Asset and Configuration Management process"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Talking about implementation of anything related to <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/what-is-itil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ITIL<\/a>\u00a0(be it a process, function, tool, report \u2026 etc.) always raises many questions. Although that\u2019s good for consultants (there are always potential customers), people inside the IT Service Management (ITSM) organization feel \u2013 trapped.<\/p>\n<p>There are processes that are not complicated (at least in the beginning) for the implementation. A bit of logic, i.e., common sense, some theoretical knowledge \u2026 and you are ready. Incident Management belongs to this category. On the other side are processes that need thorough preparation, a lot of experience, tools \u2026 and who knows what. Well, this is partly true, but \u2013 let\u2019s not overcomplicate things.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How does SACM fit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When talking about complexity of implementation, the Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) process belongs at the upper end of the complexity scale. I\u2019d like to claim that I\u2019m talking about my own opinion, but the fact is that many of my clients believe the same.<\/p>\n<p>SACM is crucial for many other ITSM processes, which makes the implementation even more challenging.\u00a0 This means that the quality of the implemented SACM process influences the efficiency of other processes. Why is that? SACM is like a diet \u2013 in this or some other way you\u2019ll manage to lose the targeted amount of weight, but then the difficulties begin \u2013 how to keep that weight off for the long term. Applied to SACM \u2013 you implement the process and populate the <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/iso-20000-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=service-portfolio-processes&amp;doc=configuration-management-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CMDB<\/a>\u00a0(Configuration Management Database, read the article <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/blog\/2013\/06\/04\/knowing-herd-service-asset-configuration-management-sacm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Knowing your herd \u2013 Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM)<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about the CMDB), but then the \u201cparty\u201d starts. Changes, new requirements, incidents \u2026 they all influence the content of the CMDB and you have to fight really strongly to avoid inconsistency (e.g., change data of your Configuration Items that are not recorded in the CMDB).<br \/>\n<div id=\"middle-banner\" class=\"banner-shortcode\"><\/div><script>loadMiddleBanner();<\/script><br \/>\n<div id=\"side-banner-trigger\" class=\"banner-shortcode\"><\/div><\/p>\n<h2><strong>5 questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>By doing consulting and webinars, I get in touch with many people in ITSM. Some of them are highly skilled (and I can learn from them as well), and some of them are at the beginning of their \u201cITSM journey.\u201d What is common to all of them is that they have questions when we discuss SACM. Here is a selection of the five most commonly asked:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. How is SACM related to other processes? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More or less, all ITSM processes use (and benefit from) implemented SACM and particularly <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/iso-20000-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=service-portfolio-processes&amp;doc=configuration-management-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CMDB<\/a>, foremost Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management (as the most visible ones). That\u2019s because the services you provide are composed of service assets (HW, SW, people, process or other documentation, etc.). Most of them are CIs, which need to be managed. Managed means \u2013 to know exactly which CIs you have, which SW version, where your HW is located, what is the relation between HW and SW or different HW components \u2026 etc. This brings the idea to implement\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/documentation\/service-asset-and-configuration-management-sacm-process\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SACM<\/a>\u00a0before other processes. I would say this is correct, if possible. If not, leave some room while implementing, e.g., Incident Management for future SACM implementation. Learn more in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/blog\/2015\/07\/14\/three-main-activities-to-set-up-itil-service-asset-and-configuration-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Three main activities to set up ITIL Service Asset and Configuration Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Which tools should I use?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I usually get questions like what kind of (e.g., open source or not, how many ITIL supported processes, etc.) tool, which is always hard to answer precisely because organizations have different needs and budgets. If you need to integrate a lot of processes and interfaces to other tools as well as making a lot of customizations \u2013 open source is not the best fit. But, for smaller organizations and their needs \u2013 there are a lot of pretty good open-source tools; but, be aware \u2013 you get what you pay for. Additionally, discovery tools can help you to fill in the <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/iso-20000-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=service-portfolio-processes&amp;doc=configuration-management-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CMDB<\/a> (as well as with snapshots, i.e., audits). When choosing a tool, take care about interfaces to other tools (e.g., ticketing system, fixed asset register, i.e., ERP). Read the article <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/knowledgebase\/free-tools-for-itsm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Free tools for ITSM \u2013 supporting IT Service Management for zero tool cost<\/a>\u00a0to learn more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. How do I measure efficiency?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here we get to KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and CSFs (Critical Success factors). CSFs are derived from goals set through ITSM implementation, and are descriptive. KPIs are parameters you will measure. Or, you can think of CSFs as groupings of KPIs with the same target. For example, your CSF is establishment of an accurate CMS, and a respective KPI is your CMDB audit result, which must show that less than 3% of CIs contain faulty or inconsistent information. When you decide about CSFs and KPIs, try to stay as practical as possible and don\u2019t generalize; make KPIs measurable and make everyone involved agree on them. And, define CSFs and KPIs for both a SACM process as well as for the CMDB.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. How do I determine the scope?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I.e., what to include in the CMDB and how far to go (i.e., breadth and depth). That\u2019s a very important question. It will guide all further activities. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; that is, every organization must define these for itself. Analyze what kinds of information you need to, e.g., assess changes or resolve incidents. For example, if you need information about a user\u2019s laptop and the laptop\u2019s processor or amount of RAM \u2013 that would be your CIs. If you don\u2019t need that information \u2013 they are not. E.g., you need to upgrade all PCs to a new OS. So, most probably you need information about the PC\u2019s processor and amount of RAM.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. How do I start the implementation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Without going into every organization\u2019s details (and they could differ, e.g., having a tool capable of supporting SACM and CMDB, or having in place some of the ITSM processes), I would say \u2013 start with a good plan. Your plan should include reference to the regulation (if needed), scope of the implementation, tool description, roles and responsibilities definition, nomenclature (for the CI\u2019s identification and labeling), etc.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is that all?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>No, it\u2019s certainly not. Since SACM covers most of the processes and service assets, we could spend much more time on debating about different aspects of the implementation. And, that\u2019s one half of the story. The other one begins once you are in the operational environment. In that stage there are even more challenges and pitfalls. But, they have a common root \u2013 implementation of the process. Depending on implementation, you\u2019ll make your life either easy or terrible on a daily basis. The only certain thing is \u2013 it depends on you, and that chance shouldn\u2019t be missed.<\/p>\n<p><em>To implement ISO 20000 easily and efficiently, use our<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/iso-20000-documentation-toolkit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ISO 20000 Documentation Toolkit<\/a> <em>that provides step-by-step guidance for full ISO 20000 compliance.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talking about implementation of anything related to ITIL\u00a0(be it a process, function, tool, report \u2026 etc.) always raises many questions. Although that\u2019s good for consultants (there are always potential customers), people inside the IT Service Management (ITSM) organization feel \u2013 trapped. There are processes that are not complicated (at least in the beginning) for the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":17233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[384,344,476,477,527],"class_list":["post-5811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cmdb","tag-itil","tag-sacm","tag-service-asset-and-configuration-management","tag-tool"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18564,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5811\/revisions\/18564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisera.com\/20000academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}