Providing good IT services is a challenge. So is the management of complex IT infrastructures. FNT's configuration management software helps to successfully master both challenges. It records all configuration items (CIs) and supports the inventory and management of devices, their utilization and adjustments as part of change management.
Highlights of FNT’s Configuration Management Software
With FNT’s configuration management solution, you can always keep track of all configuration items (CIs). This ranges from the passive and active network infrastructure, including structured cabling, server and application structures and the workplace infrastructure through to IT and business services. All information is stored in a central repository, the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
Configuration management provides an overview of all configuration data and helps recognize the complex relationships between CIs. This allows you to accurately identify CIs across the entire IT landscape, control changes to CIs using defined processes and regularly validate the CI data in the CMDB for accuracy and completeness. The life cycle of the individual CIs is also recorded so that the status, location and configuration can always be tracked.
The deep integration with the asset management capabilities of our solutions also enables holistic service asset and configuration management in line with the best practices and processes of ITIL v3/v4.
Advantages of FNT’s Configuration Management Software
Powerful visualizations of the relationships between CIs facilitate root cause analysis so that you can react more effectively to faults and minimize operational interruptions.
With a better overview of all CIs and their dependencies, changes to the digital infrastructure can be assessed more quickly and consequently managed and implemented more efficiently. In addition, the integrated planning functionality with process and order management also contributes to this.
Accurate and always up-to-date data ensures better resource allocation and cost control.
Service management also benefits from the clear presentation of the CIs and the high data quality. The ideal combination of all properties and settings of the CIs and the optimization of their interaction accelerates service provision and increases support quality. Other ITSM processes can be easily connected via interfaces.
The complete documentation of the CIs makes it easy to demonstrate compliance with legal regulations.
Would you like to see how our solution for configuration management works? Request a demo!
FAQ: Configuration Management
Configuration management (CM) is a management discipline that ensures that the many different configuration items of a modern IT infrastructure are known, that the relationships and dependencies between these items are displayed transparently and that they are optimally configured to work together.
Configuration items (CIs) are all available elements and resources that play a role in the operation of an IT infrastructure. These include:
- physical hardware: servers, routers, switches, workstation equipment devices, network cabling, etc.
- virtualized and logical elements of the infrastructure: operating system and application software with their installed instances, middleware applications, databases, file systems, firewalls, etc.
- All surrounding elements of this technical infrastructure: the equipment of buildings and rooms, access rights, contractual documents concerning the infrastructure, etc.
The information that can be stored in a configuration management software is as complex as the CIs themselves: Dimensions, weights, consumption and performance data, hardware and software settings in terms of set parameter values, versioning, license data, person responsible, current location, current operating status, dates, etc. and, of course, the properties and status of the relationships between them.
Projects to implement configuration management software are often perceived a difficult task. The reasons for the failure of implementations range from a lack of clear target definitions, exaggerated expectations, too ambitious "big bang" implementation approaches to unclear responsibilities.
However, there is a reliable recipe for success for the introduction of configuration management software:
- Management support
- A strong interdisciplinary team from all involved domains and organizational silos of infrastructure and service management
- Clearly defined, specific, and quantifiable use cases that focus on a limited number of processes for the initial phase
- Careful selection of appropriate solutions and technologies for implementation
- Identification of CI types relevant to the use cases with quick data acquisition, documentation, and integration with the relevant management systems
- Incremental expansion of the deployment scenario and extension to further processes and CI types in subsequent phases, keeping a strong use case orientation
Choosing the right software is also crucial. To ensure an efficient implementation, it is advisable to use professional configuration management software with integrated CMS (Configuration Management System) or CMDB (Configuration Management Database) structures.
Further Downloads
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