All Great Paintings Need Many Colours

So the journey continues, after 3 days of Service Support I now have a good appreciation of what a Cofiguration Management Database (CMDB) can provide. In its self it has some capabilities but when in concert with Incident, Problem, Change and Release Management it really startes to shine.

I am currently working on a piece of work where we are writing into the document the requirements of an incumbant to utilse ITIL practices. The document is still in draft and reference to having to provide the services of a CMDB were islands in the documents. After completing the 3 days I now fully appreciate that the power of the CMDB is the component parts that are connect to it.

When an Incident is rasied which indicates an interuption or reduction in service, the important part is its association to a Configuration Item (CI). This is where the picture starts and provides the colour to each CI. As an incident is processed and moved through the process the CI is constantly updated with the progress. At the completion of the Incident there will be more colours added from Problem Management, Change Management and Release Management. The end result could be quite a colourful picture, but the real depth comes with the time as more Incidents are submitted. Layer upon layer can be added of tone and colour. Like the old masters of art until you can see the full picutre and are able to appreciate all the colours.

Over time the CMDB becomes quite a powerful agent, providing trend details and information across all the CIs in the CMDB. This in turn then empowers the Service Desk to be more proactive in their goal to reduce Incidents and provide constant improvement over time.

My Journey to the land of ITIL

Today I had an interview to see if I met the criteria to attend an ITIL Masters Course. Good news I past but I am not sure that they knew I was carrying out my own interview, good news they too past.

In many ways doing this course and obtaining the certification is more I believe a validation of how I have always thought. Back in July 2005 I wrote a blog called "The Keys to your Mansion" it was about how decisions of technology needed to be taken further up the tree. That the value to business had to be taken into consideration and that IT should be considered a service to business. In many ways this is the culmination of my experiences and now putting it together with both my business and technical experiences I believe will help me in my journey.

Since then I have gained a far greater appreciation of where those decision should be taken. That IT is not its own entity but an intragal part of Business. It can no longer be seen in isolation but as a necessity of business. Business needs to own its busines and IT is its business. It provids the connectivitiy to the digital age we live in, but it can't drive business. Like all buisness it has to be part of that value chain in the delivery of services. It is in aligning the business strategy and values to IT that will bring around more prosperity. ITIL I believe is just one of those tools we can use.

Over the next few blogs I am going to write about my journey in obtaining and hopfully applying the knowledge I gain from this course. I hope any reader will start to see the development of my understanding from the knowledged I gain. Hopfully my future blogs will become a better articulation of that knowledge and application into an organisation. ITIL and its application is a process of continual improvement. These blogs should represent that continual improvement in my knowledge and understanding.

The course I am doing is with the Conan Group in Western Australia. From what I have experienced to date this company has a passion about ITIL I believe is infectious. I am looking forward to being infected with more of that same passion. The important part is you not only have to walk the talk, but you need a swagger. I believe I have found that in this company and I look forward to my journey.