Configuration management within the ITIL system is asset management to begin with, but then so much more. The ultimate role of Configuration Management is to deal with all configuration items within one’s organization. They identify what these configuration items (CIs) are, control them, maintain them in the format that they are currently and then verify them. Because quality is everything, it is important for configuration management to provide quality data within this database to ensure the effectiveness of the entire operation.

Main Activities of Configuration Management

There are a series of activities that configuration management deals with. These activities are:

  • Planning: Defines the objectives and processes of the configuration management database.
  • Identification: Identification of all the configuration structures and items within the IT infrastructure.
  • Configuration Control: This ensures that only properly configuration items are accepted and placed within the control management database.
  • Status Accounting: Keeps track of the lifecycle of different configuration items from start to finish.
  • Verification and Audit: Ensures that the right information is being recorded to the configuration management database and performs an audit periodically to ensure that the database is up to date.

Relationships With Other Parts of ITIL

When dealing with ITIL incident management, configuration management offers assistance by giving information to the help desk about affected configuration items. It ensures that timely information is passed to the incident management team so that they can better help the customers.

With the ITIL problem management, configuration management assists by creating a link amongst configuration items based on the incident/problem/change management processes. It allows for there to be organization.

When discussing ITIL change management, configuration management keeps track of all the configuration items that have been changed. On top of that, it controls the status of the configuration items throughout the lifecycle of said item.

Importance of ITIL Configuration Management

Because configuration management plays such an important role in so many different parts of the ITIL library, it is important and necessary to have a proper department set up for this type of work. An improper configuration management team can severely limit the success of the other processes found within the business, but if you implement it properly, it could greatly support the success of the entire IT organization.