How does SACM works in real life?

[Itsme]

Hi All

I am new to ITIL and i am a bit confused about how does SACM works? I am clear about Incident, Change & Problem Mangament but when it comes to SACM i am in a blind spot. ALthough there are loads of explanations out there once you google but i couldnt find any practical explanations.

My questions are:

1. How do you identify and control CI's? Which tool do you use and how do you extract the information once you need it?

2. How do you verify and test them?

3. When we talk about configuration managment systems? what are these i mean which tools are we talking about? and when we say CMDB, is it some database which is inbuilt within the tool/software?

I have worked on Remedy and have idea of how to manage incidents, change and problem but i have not worked on SACM so i am totally ignorant about how it is operated in real life i.e using a tool?

Please note I am not looking for a set definition rather would like to hear from someone who has actually performed this role and knows how exactly is it done and how does an analyst handles this.

Do you need to run SQL to extract info out of CMDB?

kindly advice.

Cheers

[MikkoH]

I have tested a Asset Management tool (or rather asset management was built-in), and it basically scans the network on a schedule, and builds a library/report of the findings, you can also usually add the registration details on software and hardware to avoid nasty surprises and keep watch on illegal/unregistered software, there can also be possibility to lock/erase data, sim cards, etc, etc

You can find choke points, duplicates, unused software, monitor all kinds of stuff..

Of course, you could try this on manually with excel and good nerves...
_________________
Mikko Hellemaa
Support Specialist
Indeo Oy
Finland