Choosing the Right CMDB

Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers

a white paper
By J o h n C o n n o r
 Choose your CMDB wisely
As the role of the CIO changes and
the functions of IT expand, you must
understand and choose your CMDB
wisely. Along with delivering operational
advantages, a CMDB should propel CIOs into
the business forum, while offering support
for timely, informed, bottom-line decision
making throughout the enterprise.
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers
Businesses expect their IT departments to
deliver solutions that make a difference.
Although this seems obvious, when CIOs and IT
departments focus only on generic means to
address their needs, meaningful and effective
solutions are sometimes difficult to deliver.
The promise of a single source of record for
the connections both within IT and beyond
IT is a decision maker’s dream. It could be
said that a true configuration management
database (CMDB) is the backbone of business.
Much more than a data-gathering repository,
a CMDB provides contextual awareness of
bits of data that are not obviously related.2
The way a CMDB creates that context can be the
difference between waiting weeks to receive
decision-critical information and securing the
same intelligence in five minutes.3
CMDBs, BSM, and Business Value
A CMDB is a concept that has evolved from the IT Information
Library (ITIL®). A CMDB in its simplest form contains information
about IT assets like servers, desktops, networks, and software. As
an ITIL concept, the CMDB has focused on configuration. Therefore,
information is represented as individual configuration items (CIs).
Every CI has two primary components:
1. The characteristics of the CI that are described as attributes
and stored in the CMDB
2. The relationships of the CI to all other CIs in the CMDB
As an organization moves beyond a view of IT configuration and
evolves towards a Business Service Management (BSM) capability,
the elements that are required to understand the business services
supplied by IT become more important than the individual IT
components. Accordingly, the CMDB must expand to accommodate
new types of information, stored as new CI types that represent
Industry Thought-Leaders
The name “CMDB” is a bit of a misnomer as they
are not, in reality, databases. The CMDB should
only hold the relationships from other entities
that are held within various data sources
throughout the organization. Rather
than a single database instance, the
CMDB is best described as a meta-
database and, as such, is more likely to
be federated. 4
the entirety of the business services, and may include complex
relationships, business or workflow processes, people, calendars,
events, and combinations of these CIs.
The notion of the CMDB as a metadata repository moves the
CMDB from a simple relational model with a single instance
to an architecturally diverse and flexible federated model.
Without the federation capabilities of the CMDB, the only
answer is to duplicate data from various sources. This practice
is both time consuming and expensive. Formerly considered
a convenience, CMDBs are now being tagged as necessities.
In fact, analyst Chris Matney of Enterprise Management
Associates (EMA) predicts that by 2012, no Fortune 1000
company can be competitive unless it has a CMDB.5
CMDBs Must be Federated
A CMDB without federation is comparable to a large business
functioning without a Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) system. Just as central information about customers and
financial data would be missing for the business, the non-federated
infromation for business services users would be missing from the
CMDB.
The new, federated CMDB will be the CRM system of IT. It will show,
in business terminology, how the services provided by IT support
the corporation or Line of Business (LOB) objectives in a format
understandable by business service users.
A federated CMDB will contain critical information about business
services, such as how they are used, the composition of the
business service, who uses the service, and the quality measure of
the service.
1

More Information
ITIL v3 defines a CMDB as a repository used
to store configuration records throughout
their lifecycle. The Configuration Management
System (the ITIL name for CMDB federation)
maintains one or more CMDBs. Each
CMDB stores attributes of CIs and
relationships with other CIs.
Much of the buzz surrounding CMDBs has to do with IT cost-saving
benefits. IT managers who have deployed CMDBs cite several areas
of operational savings6:
• Reducing or eliminating unnecessary servers and other
hardware
• Better license and maintenance contract management
• Tighter management of outsourcing agreements
• Improved overall service delivery
However, these cost containment gains don’t necessarily translate
into improved service quality from a business perspective. Business
users are not interested in servers, operating systems, or IT
components; instead, they are interested in how well IT helps them
create business value.
More Information
What are CIs?
Configuration items can include hardware,
software, applications, people, processes, and
documentation. An effective CMDB should have
the ability to handle millions of relations
between CIs.
2
A Little Known Advantage of CMDBs
This leads to a less frequently discussed advantage of CMDBs: the
creation of clear business value (beyond operational savings) for
decision makers.
Certainly, CMDBs have the potential to reveal how the changes and
incidents of IT impact business. But is this where the challenge of
Business Service Management (BSM) ends? Does the IT concept of
BSM fully bridge the gap between IT and business?
The Line of Business, or LOB, manager is concerned about the
following type of items:
• Introducing new products and services
• Improving customer loyalty and satisfaction
• Increasing gross margins
• Growing market share
To move towards effective BSM adoption, IT metrics must be linked
directly to business outcomes; they must demonstrate how IT
initiatives contribute favorably to improving these outcomes.
The initiative to fuse IT and business is underscored by the evolving
role of CIOs, who are already being pushed beyond their familiar
support regime. Expectations of CIO performance are expanding
beyond cost-cutting to include business strategy. More and more,
they are being challenged to shed their operational duties and to
concentrate on identifying, and even developing, technologies that
will help their organizations innovate.7
As the CIO role changes, the function of information technologies
expands. Formerly evaluated from a cost reduction standpoint,
IT now finds itself responsible for top-line growth in increasingly
dynamic environments.
IT executives must keep this in mind as they choose a CMDB. Along
with delivering operational advantages, a CMDB should propel CIOs
into the business forum, supporting timely, informed, bottom-line
decision making throughout the enterprise that turns IT into an
enabler of business and not just a utility service that is looked at as a
cost, and is always under pressure to cut costs.
This is the new BSM: staying in step with the CIO evolution,
propelled by a CMDB with a decision-driven data model based on
real-time information.
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers

What Should Your CMDB do for You?

A CMDB does not automatically create business value. It pays off only when the data within it is current, complete, and actionable. Ideally, a
CMDB enhances an enterprise’s agility. It should be flexible enough to adjust to new IT requirements stemming from new IP devices that are
now under the purview of IT, ITIL best practice initiatives, government regulations, and post-merger/acquisition data integration. In addition,
it should empower business to be strategically responsive to changing market conditions, product/service development opportunities, and
shifting income streams.

Intelligence
Transform your data into meaningful information. A CMDB should automatically understand and navigate arbitrarily
complex relationships between dissimilar CIs and have the ability to represent that data in multiple views that are relevant
to individual decision makers throughout your organization.

Discovery
Determine what you have. A CMDB should identify all the CIs in your IT repertoire without the costs and errors associated
with manual discovery.

Federation
Manage data throughout your enterprise. A CMDB should access data where it lives, pulling appropriate data, regardless
of each source’s vendor or performance level, into a unified view and provide transparent read access.

Change Control
Manage change in dynamic environments. Because IT is dynamic and change is constant, a CMDB should include versioning
capabilities to recognize and address change.

Flexibility
Change what you need, when you need to. A CMDB should provide a platform for growth and should be easily modifiable
to accommodate new data sources, tools, and applications; more business processes; and additional and changing CI
attributes and relationships.

Extensibility
Grow with your business. The CMDB data model should be extensible to easily support the addition of new CI class types
such as process controllers in manufacturing lines and radiology and other diagnostic machinery in hospitals.

Scalability
Handle organizational size and complexity. A CMDB should be able to store and manage a virtually unlimited number of
CIs and their relationships without negatively impacting system performance.

3
 Relational Databases

How They Work

PubID Publisher PubAddress
lly Relational databases are highly structured, well
03-4472822 Random House 123 4th Street, New York
cts. known, and well understood. They work well for tedious
04-7733903 Wiley and Sons 45 Lincoln Blvd, Chicago
real operations that involve grinding through incredible
03-4859223 O’Reilly Press 77 Boston Ave, Cambridge
than amounts of structured data. Some examples of this
03-4472822 Random House 99 Market, San Fransisco
lational are banking applications, report generators, and usage
analyzers.
AuthorID AuthorName AuthorBDay
ncludes 345-28-2938 Halie Selassie 14-Aug-92
These databases, sometimes called many-to-many
nce of relationships, are represented by joining tables that are
392-48-9965 Joe Blow 14-Mar-15
d their typically created by a series of outside programming
454-22-4012 Sally Hemmings 12-sep-70
used commands.
663-59-1254 Hannah Arendt 12-Mar-06
grown
However, relational databases are limited in that they
ISBN AuthorID PubID Date Title are not efficient at traversing relationships. Problems
o 1-34532-482-1 345-28-2938 03-4472822 1990 Cold Fusion for Dummies
occur because it is difficult to arrange locality of
on items storage.
1-38482-995-1 392-48-9965 04-7733903 1985 Macrame and Straw Tying

2-35921-499-4 454-22-4012 03-4859223 1852 Fluid Dynamics of Aquaducts An example of this might happen when accessing
of 1-38278-293-4 663-59-1254 03-4472822 1967 Beads, Baskets & Revolution employee information from a relational database.
s flowing Throughout the process of tracking the employee’s
poor name, then the employee’s department, and then the
Example of a Relational Database
ted ability employee’s office location, the database needs to be
accessed multiple times.
What is a Relational Database? Advantages
on-flat” Relational databases, or RDBs, store data in tables • Handles large volumes of structured data with ease
comprised of rows and columns and typically handle large • Performs queries if you know in advance what you
nships
volumes of structured data very well. Links between want to see
base data elements are implemented through common keys Limits of a Relational Database
e and join tables, which can make the database design
The limits of relational databases lie in the fact that
prohibitively complex, especially when a large number
they cannot support the large number of changing
base of different types of links must be supported. relationships and dynamic data that is flowing in and out
of a modern enterprise.
an OODB, A well-designed and normalized RDB supports flexible
nal table queries through the SQL query language; queries that Changing the structure of the data in a production
much
follow long chains of relationships, however, can become database takes planning and preparation and may
ational require completely reloading the data. The relational
difficult to design and very inefficient quickly.
data model allows for representation of simple, uniform
DBs have data structures. Because RDBs follow a fixed schema
must paradigm, representing arbitrarily complex structures
ness of requires unnatural compromises and navigating them is
because cumbersome.
mming
tional
g the
within

4
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers

Object-Oriented Databases Rela

How They Work

Grouping Pu
Group +STAFF GROUP ORDER ID : int Data in an object-oriented database are typically
-grouping : Grouping 03-44
+STAFF GROUP ORDER ID : int
-grouping : Grouping +hashcode : int unstructured and are treated as individual objects.
+hashLearner : boolean 04-77
+isNull : boolean Therefore, OODBs more accurately reflect the real
+compareTo : int 03-48
+createLearnerGroup : Group +toString : String
+compareTo : int
world. They support diverse data types rather than
+createStaffGroup : Group 03-44
+equals : boolean +createLearnerGroup : Group only the simple tables, columns, and rows of relational
+Group
+Group +createStaffGroup : Group databases.
+hashcode : int +equals : boolean
+hashLearner : boolean +Group
+isNull : boolean +Group OODBs contain relationship logic that usually includes
+toString : String +STAFF GROUP ORDER ID : int
-grouping : Grouping support for classes of objects and the inheritance of
GroupdId : Long
GroupdId : Long
orderId orderId class properties and methods by subclasses and their
Group objects. Because there is currently no widely-used
Grouper standard for what constitutes an OODB, homegrown
+doGrouping : void infrastructure is often required.
+doGrouping : void
RandomGrouping IS

+CreateCopy : RandomGrouping
ChosenGrouping Similar to relational databases, OODBs have no 1-3453
-grouping : Grouping +ChoosenGrouping mechanism for handling undefined configuration items
+hashcode : int +ChoosenGrouping 1-3848
+hashLearner : boolean +CreateCopy : LDs (CIs); which then must be manually defined.
+isNull : boolean +hashLearner : boolean 2-3592
+isNull : boolean
+hashcode : int Although OODBs can support the large number of 1-3827
+hashLearner : boolean isLearnerGoup : boolean
changing relationships and dynamic data that is flowing
in and out of a modern enterprise, they make a poor
Example of an Object-Oriented Database
choice for a CMDB. This is because of their limited ability
for searching, sorting, and scaling.
What is an Object-Oriented Database? Advantages What i
An object-oriented database, or OODB, stores • Treats data in a way that is closer to the “non-flat” Relation
nature of CIs
data in a form that is closely aligned with the data compris
• Defines complex data and complex relationships
model for object-oriented languages. This allows the volumes
development environment to directly save and recall • Includes relationship logic inside the database data ele
the data being working on with minimal overhead. • Changes to object details do not affect the and join
application prohibit
The object-oriented data model allows for
Limits of an Object-Oriented Database of diffe
representation of complex, uniform data structures.
Links between objects in the database are Because relationship logic is contained within an OODB, A well-d
implemented as pointers, which embed addresses it avoids the extra overhead incurred by relational table queries
in data that specify the location of data in another creation. Also, performing an order query is a much
follow lo
simpler process in an OODB than it is in the relational
record or file. Accordingly, the data structure in difficult
model.
an OODB must be designed in anticipation of the
queries that are to be efficiently supported. However, like their relational counterparts, OODBs have
no mechanism for handling undefined CIs; they must
The tight relationship between the database and the be manually defined. Another significant weakness of
programming environment involves manual programming OODBs is that structural changes are difficult because
and makes structural changes to the data in a production the relationship to the object-oriented programming
environment must be kept in sync. Neither relational
environment particularly complex. Data in OODBs
nor object-oriented databases excel at handling the
more accurately reflects the real world because, unlike
enormous complexity of CI relationships found within
RDBs, which handle CIs as flat items, an OODB treats modern enterprises.
a CI as an object. As a result, an OODB, with its close
representation of reality, is more resilient and adaptable.

5
 CMDB Selection: The Importance of the Data Store
Many leading providers of CMDBs utilize conventional database
management systems to store and manage their data. While these
CMDBs help consolidate configuration data and document CI
relationships, they typically fall considerably short of completely
fulfilling the requirements for BSM. These disappointing results,
which can often be directly attributed to the underlying data model,
can occur with both relational and object-oriented databases. While
the lines are blurring between conventional databases, there are still
key differentiators.
Metadata Repositories
in the same manner as the relational model is supported natively by
RDB.
The core of metadata repositories is designed to support dynamic
data, the structure of which can change at any time. The related
metadata in the repository is organized according to a meta-model
that describes the structure of the metadata and their relationships.
Metadata repositories are ideal for an environment in which data
values, data structure, and data relationships change and evolve
over time. Because the meta-model in a true metadata repository
is not fixed, it is flexible, extensible, and easily adaptable to the
changes and needs of dynamic, real world environments.

Traditional database models do not acclimate to change without
considerable cost and effort. Yet, IT is in a constant state of flux.
And so is business. Clearly, another data store model is needed to
support BSM and accommodate innovation.
Metadata repositories offer a different approach from traditional
databases. A distinguishing feature of metadata repositories is the
use of a self-descriptive, attributed graph model. The graph model
allows for representation of arbitrarily complex and non-uniform
structures. The foundation for superior performance is a unique
physical data organization supporting the graph data model natively
The Difference is in the Metadata
Metadata is the data that describes the structure and workings of
an organization’s use of information or data, as well as the systems it
uses to manage that information or data. It is structured information
that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to
retrieve, use, or manage an information resource.8 In addition to
describing data, metadata also explains an organization’s methods
for understanding its data, activities, people, geography, timing,
and motivation. It also provides information about how different

What is Metadata and how is it used?

To understand the power of a true meta-database, you must
first understand the fundamentals of metadata.

Let’s use a simple example of trying to locate a book at a

library to help with this difficult concept. However, unlike our
modern computerized filing system, this library still uses
drawers filled with cards based on the Dewey Decimal
Classification System.

Today, we’re looking for a book about database technology.

When approaching the filing drawers, our first step is to make
sense of the cabinet and locate the drawer labeled ‘D’. We
would then finger through the cards to locate information
sorted into the Database category.

In this example, the catalog card can be considered

metadata. The card describes the attributes of the book,
specifically the topic, the publisher, the author, and most
importantly, where in the library the book is physically
located.

6
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers
data points are related to each other. Metadata makes data
understandable, useable, and shareable. It provides insight into:
• What data exists?
• Where data is being used?
• Where the data is located?
• How data is labeled and referenced?
• How data is related to other information assets?
• Who uses the data?
• Why the data is needed?
• When the data was last accessed or updated?9
Enterprise metadata technology contextualizes data, making data-
based decisions more enforceable throughout an enterprise.
For example, metadata helps answer questions such as, “Which
policies and rules relate to a business service?” If a car insurance
company decides not to sell policies in the state of Wisconsin, that
decision can be tracked through metadata relationships to the
portal and database applications that enforce that decision. The
same metadata advantages apply to any compliance, performance,
or process management situation.
Another benefit of metadata is that it gives data perspective. For
example, an accountant and a marketer can view the same product
code data and arrive at different decisions. In this way, metadata
empowers individual decision makers throughout an enterprise to
make informed decisions within their spheres of influence.
More Information
According to a leading analyst group, repositories
come with metadata mining capabilities to
understand metadata usage and lineage and
to help address compliancy reporting…
[Nevertheless] metadata management
is not pursued consistently in most
organizations.
Federation: The Ultimate Goal
Keeping a CMDB in step with large-scale and rapidly changing
business environments is one challenge. Assuming that enterprise-
wide data can be pulled into and accessed through these data stores
is quite another. Most enterprises are not organized in a way that
allows data to be loaded into a single CMDB.
The typical IT portfolio is populated with multidimensional business
models, third-party software, virtualization technology, and complex
systems interfaces, all from an assortment of vendors. The existing
investment in IT systems is staggering. But no relational or object-
oriented CMDB currently on the market is architected to connect
seamlessly to all data sources in an enterprise (i.e., federation), so
IT executives have no way of leveraging their existing investments.
Because the concept of enterprise architecture has not been
realized in IT’s operational domain, the potential for CMDB silos
exists.
Federation is only part of a BSM solution. Gathering business-
critical information throughout an enterprise is critical, but
so is organizing that information in a way that makes sense to
business and IT decision makers. The ability to understand data/CI
relationships—in any direction, across multiple business functions,
even among undefined items—without additional tools or manual
programming is the type of smart data management needed to
thrive in a hypercompetitive marketplace.
From an IT operations perspective, this type of intelligent CMDB
saves time and labor. From a business perspective, federated
intelligence, when fed into a multiple-view interface, supports
confident, on-the-spot decision making.
More Information
The ability to understand relationships—in any
direction, across multiple business functions, even
among undefined items—without additional
tools or manual programming is the type of
smart data management needed to thrive in
a hypercompetitive marketplace.
7
 ASG’s Federated MetaCMDB™
ASG’s MetaCMDB™ combines the best of traditional data models
and enhances their strengths with metadata technology to deliver all
the CMDB essentials for practicing BSM.
Intelligence. ASG’s MetaCMDB technology understands the dynamic
nature of a CMDB and its data relationships. This remarkable
capability automatically discovers CIs, defines ambiguous CIs, and
maps relationships to, and dependencies on, other CIs (similar and
dissimilar), eliminating the need for manual classification required
by other database models.
The metadata technology behind the remarkable intelligence of
ASG’s MetaCMDB is ASG-Rochade®. Recognized as an industry-
leading metadata repository, ASG-Rochade provides a standard
configuration model that is easily adaptable to serve changing
business/IT operations information needs. Well known for its
flexibility, scalability, and accuracy, ASG-Rochade is used by 10 of
the 20 largest banks in the world.
Reporting. ASG’s MetaCMDB includes a number of powerful
standard reports detailing individual CIs, CI references and usages,
CI paths, and item versions and their comparisons. Additional
reports can also be customized to cover all instances of an object
across all repository versions, for the information content of the
repository and/or for the interrelationships of items within the
repository.
Discovery. Using a sophisticated auto-discovery component, ASG’s
MetaCMDB automatically identifies all CIs from an enterprise’s
stock of trusted data sources. In addition, ASG’s MetaCMDB
automatically maps CI dependencies from business service to
application to infrastructure.
Federation. ASG’s MetaCMDB consolidates and standardizes data
from diverse technologies throughout an enterprise. This data
may even come from other CMDBs based on less appropriate data
models. The ASG model is rich and flexible enough to reflect the
data structures described in other data models, but not vice versa.
The common representation provided by the model underlying

Presentation Layer
Dynamic dashboards built to
suit your needs and to enable
decision support

ASG’s MetaCMDB™ Manager

Predictive Service Business Impact Dynamic
Technology Layer Modeling Level Mgmt
Event Mgmt State Mgmt
Tools
MetaCMDB
Model
ASG’s Federated MetaCMDB
uses dynamic information

ASG’s Federated MetaCMDB™

models

powered by Rochade

Interface Layer ASG

Provided
Universal
(SNMP/SQL
Custom
Developed
Web
Services
Trusted CI
Data
Application
Dependency
Business
Service
ASG’s wide array of Databases) (AIS) Sources Mapping Tools
adapters plug-and-play to
any data source and allow
for true federation
Business Aplplications and Software Tools

ASG’s MetaCMDB™ leverages the strengths of a metadata repository to provide end-to-end metadata management,
with complete visibility of data flows and relationships across all applications and systems.

8
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers

An Example of ASG’s Federated MetaCMDB

The True Power of ASG’s Federated MetaCMDB Advantages

In this example, we can quickly visualize how everything connects and • Intelligence
relates to each other to provide an effective business service. • Discovery

Powering the business service, eCommerce in this example, are different • Federation
applications – credit card verification, databases, and other eCommerce • Change Control
applications. These applications are enabled by critical infrastructure,
• Flexibility
such as multiple servers and network devices.
• Extensibility
The true power of ASG’s MetaCMDB is in the intelligence it provides. It
• Scalability
is the ideal solution for any modern business and provides sustainable,
balanced performance in handling both business and operational data in
unpredictable environments.

9
 ASG’s data federation enables virtually anything to connect to external programming code. It is flexible, adaptable, and expandable,
anything else (even other CMDBs), optimizing current and future IT perfectly suited to managing mammoth amounts of complex
investments and creating a single point of truth for an organization’s information in a volatile business environment.
data.

Flexibility and Extensibility. As business conditions continually Conclusion

evolve, the needs and requirements of the business change. With
With proper process and organizational planning, CMDBs can
more than 100 out-of-the-box adapters, ASG’s MetaCMDB easily
reduce mean time to repair or overall downtime by as much as 70
connects to new and existing applications and tools and accesses
percent.10 In turn, improved IT performance paves the way to service
data from any and all sources throughout an enterprise. ASG’s
excellence: better service resolution time, business alignment, and,
MetaCMDB can easily adapt to CI attribute changes on the fly and
ultimately, customer satisfaction. 11
add new CI classes such as process controllers in manufacturing
plants and diagnostic machines in hospitals. However, a CMDB does nothing by itself. The benefits come not from
having a CMDB, but from using the knowledge a CMDB organizes.12
Change Control. IT is dynamic and change is constant. ASG’s
And that knowledge is only as good as the CMDB’s method of data
MetaCMDB includes versioning capabilities to recognize and
management.
address change even in the most dynamic environments.
To truly support BSM, a CMDB must operate on a flexible model
Scalability. In addition to its object-oriented advantages, ASG’s
that can adapt to sudden and continual change—in markets,
MetaCMDB’s metadata repository supports urgent business needs
organizational structure, IT infrastructure, customer preferences,
for handling enormous amounts of data. ASG’s MetaCMDB has
or product/service offerings. And it must give businesses room to
virtually no capacity limits. It can support 100 million CI types and
grow, with virtually unlimited data management capacity and the
100 million configurations without substantially lowering system
ability to connect to new and diverse IT components.
performance.
To accommodate rapid business expansion, a CMDB should have the
capacity to store and/or manage data around the globe. And this
More Information data must be easily accessible.

A CMDB with enterprise-wide connectivity (via federation) ensures

A CMDB must be inteligent enough to manage
that all CIs (people, processes, and technologies) are available for
metadata. It must be capable of associating
auto-discovery and relationship-mapping, a vital part of BSM.
specific data with descriptive data and
A CMDB must be intelligent enough to manage metadata. It must be
provide context for decision making.
capable of associating specific data with descriptive data, not only
for governance, privacy, and compliance, but also for providing an
accurate, informative context for decision making.

These key CMDB differentiators will take CIOs where they need
to go: beyond operations, into the strategic realm…into the new
and expansive landscape of BSM, where innovation thrives, and
decisions are as smart as the CMDBs they’re based upon.

ASG’s MetaCMDB is the ideal CMDB for modern business. It

provides sustainable, balanced performance in handling both
business and operational data in unpredictable environments.
Exceptional at handling complex data and relationships, ASG’s
MetaCMDB can easily adapt to business and technological changes.
Through its object orientation, ASG’s MetaCMDB manages CIs
as real-world objects and handles complex relationships without

10
 Choosing the Right CMDB: Smart Considerations for Strategic Decision Makers

About the Author Sources

1
William Pollard, chairman of the board and former CEO of The
John Connor, CTO of ASG, oversees the strategic direction of ASG’s ServiceMaster Company.
technology and advises on ASG partnerships, technology alliances,
and acquisitions. Connor speaks worldwide on automation, help desk 2
Matthews, Tim. “Data Federation and the CMDB.” Integration Insider.
implementation, operations productivity, and enterprise-systems 02 Jan. 2008.
management. He has authored over 40 articles on enterprise
systems management, large systems performance, and automation 3
Taken from an ASG client’s actual experience in performing a query in
for publication in journals such as Xephon, CMG Transactions, a relational database using SQL (which took 4 weeks) and running the
Enterprise Systems Journal, and Computer Operations Manager. same query in ASG’s object-oriented network database model (which
Connor brings more than 30 years of technology and took 5 minutes).
management experience to ASG. Prior to joining ASG,
he worked in various capacities for Landmark Systems
4
Thompson, Mike. “Clearing up the Confusion of a CMDB.” Butler
Corporation, Boole & Babbage, and BMC Software. Group Review. 2 May 2008

5
Qtd. in Santosus, Megan. “Reining in Change with CMDBs.”
SearchDataCenter.com. 27 Sept. 2007.

6
Ibid.

7
Mark, David and Eric Monnoyer. “Next-generation CIOs.” McKinsey on
IT. Spring 2004.

8
National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

9
Rogers, G. Philip. “Building the Business Case for Metadata in the
Enterprise: Looking at Models, Architectures, and Business Processes
As Building Blocks for Cost Benefit Analysis and ROI.” DCMI Global
Corporate Circle Presentation.

10
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) Vice President and
Senior Analyst Dennis Drogseth, qtd. in Santosus, “Strategies for
Justifying CMDB ROI.” SearchDataCenter.com. 12 Dec. 2007.

11
Jay Long, manager of IT service management at Forsythe Solutions
Group, Inc., qtd. in Santosus, “Strategies for Justifying CMDB ROI.”
12
Hank Marquis, author and software industry pioneer, qtd. in “CMDB
ROI Comes From the Basics.” ClickPress. 31 Jan. 2007. Emphasis
added.

11
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