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There is a certain purity to having only a single source of information. You only have one version of the truth and you know where to find it, but can you trust it? Is there value in having multiple data sources?

 

For an IT organization, if you have a single record describing an IT asset, such as a server, it is usually incomplete. Fortunately, many IT management and operational systems collect management data about the same server for their own domain use. These sources can be used to validate what is already known about the server, and used together, increases confidence in the data. This data contains overlaps and can be contradictory. This potentially divergent version of information about the device has serious downsides:

 

  • You don’t have a one place to go to learn about the server
  • Multiple versions of the truth have to be reconciled, which can take time
  • Fragmentation of data creates complexity, reducing clarity, which impacts decision making
  • Change management becomes more error prone
  • Potential ambiguities emerge such as when one system indicates the server is in service while another says it is retired. This creates mistrust and lowers adoption.

 

Merging and reconciling a multiple data sources about a device is not easy. Rules need to be in place to handle conflicting and stale data. This mechanism ensures only the most accurate and current information is used to build a trusted source containing the purified asset records. Automation enables the maintenance of the integrity of this information on an ongoing basis into a trusted Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

 

The benefit of creating an authoritative CMDB includes:

 

  • Less time searching for accurate configuration data that leads to higher application uptime
  • The ability to see the state of an asset before you apply a change, reducing maintenance errors
  • Faster fault finding and incident resolution times, improving customer satisfaction
  • More time for IT to create new services versus firefighting

 

Blazent’s data scientists validate, merge and reconcile multiple customer data sources from a library of more than 240 to build a cohesive CMDB record about IT assets and their interrelationships. As IT infrastructure is constantly evolving with new assets being added to support services and old ones being updated or retired, keeping the CMDB current and relevant requires automation and continuous refinement.

 

You can learn the value of a trusted CMDB in an ITSM context by downloading the white paper titled “Data-powered IT Service Management”.