CM Governance Strategy

[Jianmin]

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if someone could shed some light for me on how to define and plan a strategy for Config. Mgmt Governance. What are the CM Governance requirements, process and the required org. structure?

Thanks!

[Timo]

I am not sure about rest of the folks here but I haven't really heard of Config Management Governance per se. If you are referring to Configuration Management as per ITIL best practices, the chapter in the blue book for version 2 or Service Transition book for V3 (i can't name the color of that book) will provide you with some pretty good insight.

In general, if you are setting Config Management from scratch, you will need to define a policy which will indeed govern how you conduct your config mngt activities, the do's and the dont's, etc.

But it all starts in understanding what your needs for config mngt are.

Perhaps if you can provide a bit more context you may get more pointed answers.

Cheers

[Jianmin]

What i'm wondering is, let's say an organization doesn't have any CM in place and they would like to explore the idea of implementing CM and a CMS/CMDB. One thing an organization is curious about, is a proposed organization and process model for governance of config. data.

This governance, is simply the CM Plan (as referred in ITIL)? Or something at a much higher level (for example, requires a sponsor, multiple governing authorities who evaluates the 'CM process'...ensures it meet business objectives, etc.).

[Timo]

Well, you need to have a reason why you need CfgM in place - you first need to identify what issues or opportunities you are trying to address by implementing Cfg mngt.

If you decide that there is a need and justification for implementing this process, then the governance and process itself will stem from YOUR organization's specific needs and requirements.

But typically, yes, you will require a sponsor (typically at the exec level), a process owner, will need to define config policy which will dictate the authority structure among other things, initiate a project, pick your team, do the scope, etc, etc...

But I can't stress this enough... make sure you understand very clearly WHY you need configuration management.

[Diarmid]