Empowering Businesses with Asset and Configuration Management

Every organization has unique goals and objectives when it comes to asset and configuration management, but in today's digital world, these objectives often revolve around asset visibility, service assurance, financial efficiency, security, and compliance.?

In order to make full use of their Asset and Configuration management tools to achieve these set goals, businesses must first establish clear objectives and execute their strategy well. In this article, we delve into the essential aspects of asset and configuration management and how organizations can set out to achieve their goals.

Crafting a Clear Strategy And Defining Objectives

Firstly, to start the path towards success, an organization needs to define its objectives and desired end state. This clarity of purpose shapes the level of maturity they aim to achieve.

This is where the maturity pyramid approach can come into the picture for organizations to help them understand where they stand when it comes to asset and configuration management maturity and the sequence of steps they can take to achieve greater maturity. This pyramid helps establish alignment, streamline processes and practices, and reach well-defined outcomes.

As organizations aim to reach greater maturity at each level, they need to put proper IT Asset and Configuration Management processes in place. With these processes in place, an organization can build a repository of assets, performing Impact Analysis on incidents or changes, conducting asset lifecycle analysis, engaging in service management and software asset management, and conducting service availability and asset financial planning.

Setting the Foundation for Success

Once objectives are defined, the next step is to set the foundation for success. This involves establishing key components:

Defining Configuration Item (CI) Classes: As seen in the maturity pyramid above, the base layer is to build a CI repository. As part of this process, it is crucial for businesses to ensure that any data being collected has a corresponding process that consumes that data. Understanding what you have and what process is driving the need will help identify CI classes accordingly. This step is one of the most fundamental so make sure to take the time to establish your key CI classes and their corresponding attributes.?

Managing the Lifecycle Process: As we progress past that base layer, the asset management and configuration management lifecycles start to differ. While the thought of implementing IT Asset and Configuration Management processes can be intimidating, it is possible to leverage regular day-to-day activities to update and manage data automatically, and put support functions in place to both keep data current and maintain a record of changes for each Asset or CI.?

Process Governance: Lastly, to achieve long-term viability and effectiveness of the IT Asset and configuration management lifecycle processes, a set of governance principles is crucial. This must include having a process manager and/or process owner who are responsible for the overall success of the end-to-end processes; they are responsible for ensuring that all the steps in the process are followed regardless if they are manual or automated. This also includes measuring the success of the process through the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Process owners and managers, armed with these KPIs, can then mature these processes over time through Continuous Service Improvement, ensuring project success.?

The Importance of Leveraging Technology: Atlassian And Virima?

Atlassian is renowned for its suite of powerful software tools designed to support collaboration, software development, and project management. In the context of asset and configuration management, Atlassian's Jira Service Management stands out as a key tool in helping organizations streamline their IT operations and empowering development, IT operations, and business teams to provide unmatched service experiences.?

Jira Service Management is a versatile IT service management solution that offers a range of key features, including request and incident management, knowledge base management, service catalog management, automation and workflows, and reporting and dashboards. In addition to these features, JSM offers a range of project templates designed to expedite team setup by creating projects tailored to a specific team or use.

Virima is another noteworthy player, as a provider of enterprise-level IT automation software for Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and IT Asset Management (ITAM). Its comprehensive solution covers a broad range, from Discovery to Hardware and Software Asset Management, and Dependency Mapping through Virima’s ViVID Mapping technology.?

For JSM users interested in advancing their IT Service Management (ITSM), asset management, and configuration processes, the collaboration between Virima, T4S Partners, and Jira Service Management presents a distinct appeal. This integrated approach ensures organizations have complete and real-time IT visibility and control over their assets and configurations.

Putting The Plan in Motion With The Crawl/Walk/Run Method

To successfully implement an IT Asset and Configuration Management strategy, organizations can adopt a gradual, step-by-step approach known as the "Crawl/Walk/Run" method. This strategy focuses on small achievable successes and expanding slowly over time. In this vein, organizations cannot and should not expect to transition from a low level of maturity to a high one overnight.?

When it comes to IT Asset and Configuration Management, organizations should establish a strong accurate baseline from which they can mature their processes over time. The process manager/owner must own the entire IT Asset and/or Configuration Management lifecycle process and leverage Continuous Service Improvement activities to continuously improve the effectiveness every day.

At the end of the day, effective asset and configuration management is crucial for achieving an organization's objectives in today's digital world. If you are looking to harness the power of asset and configuration management for your organization, it's time to take action. Set up a meeting with us to discuss how we can help you solidify your requirements based on your objectives so you can establish a solid foundation and implement a successful plan. Your path to effective asset and configuration management starts now!?