Who installs a DSL (or DSM)?

[AnneMarie]

I guess in version 3 it's called a DSM already...

I am an RM for a Financial Institution, and am wanting to implement a DSM for our organization (I think it really could benefit from using one). Before I possibly "step on other people's toes", I want to make sure of who would be the prime candidate to set-up a DSM (or at least initiate the project). Would that be the Release Manager or the Software Configuration Manager? I'm a little bit confused because of the role of the SCM as far as the CMDB goes. Thanks!

[Azard]

Hi AnneMarie, one think I would like to start off by saying is don't confuse roles with people. People wear many hats and you need to define boundaries, share duties, or some other approach that works within your organization.

As for the DSL (I’m still working on the v3 terminology), I would guess if you are doing some sort of SMS push of corporate images to workstations throughout the organization, then you have started a “DSL”. It will have the “Gold” version or latest version of the corporate image that needs to be rolled out. In today’s environment, many companies don’t buy off the shelf software. They buy the license to use it and pay for it within 30 days. So as long as those software are stored in the same place as the DSL, or better yet, on a corporate image, you have your gold version to work from.

As for in-house applications, you need to start to bring all of those applications into a central area. You mentioned a Software Configuration Manager. I would allow that role to handle the DSL as that person can be viewed as someone outside or unbiased with the application from a audit perspective. If you have the Release Manager managing the software, if there are issues and there are time constraints, corners may be cut to get things into the production environment.

However, based on the size of the organization, it comes back to people wearing many hats. You need to define the area that best fits your needs but ensuring you can support any audits that may occur.

Cheers,
_________________
Azard Omardeen
ITSM Service Manager Certified
Consultant and Trainer