CMDB Health: A Guide to Key Performance Indicators and Metrics

Maintaining a healthy Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is critical for IT service management. A robust CMDB supports various ITIL processes and provides a centralized repository of information about IT assets, known as Configuration Items (CIs). To ensure your CMDB remains in top condition, it’s essential to monitor its health using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics. In this article, we’ll delve into the three primary KPIs — correctness, compliance, and completeness — and how you can configure and utilize them for optimal CMDB health.

Understanding CMDB Health KPIs

CMDB Health is quantified through an aggregated score derived from three KPIs: correctness, compliance, and completeness. Each KPI comprises several sub-metrics, providing a detailed view of your CMDB’s state. By default, the base system includes all KPIs and metrics, but you have the flexibility to configure which ones are included in evaluations and dashboards.

1) Completeness: No CI Left Behind

Completeness measures whether all necessary information is present in the CMDB:

a) Required Fields: This metric checks for mandatory fields that are not populated, tagging the CI as incomplete.

b) Recommended Fields: It measures the percentage of CIs missing recommended information. You can set and unset recommended fields using scheduled jobs.

2) Correctness: Ensuring Accurate Data

The correctness KPI is an aggregate of metrics that measure the accuracy of the data in your CMDB. This includes:

a) Orphan CIs: These are CIs that remain in the CMDB without a purpose, often due to being unintentionally left behind. Orphan CIs are identified based on specific criteria, such as lacking relationships or missing data.

b) Staleness: Stale CIs haven’t been updated within a specified time frame. The default rule sets this period at 60 days, but it can be customized. Stale relationships are also flagged when they involve stale CIs.

c) Duplicates: Duplicate CIs are identified using identification rules, and only independent CIs are evaluated. The count of duplicates is the total number of CIs in a set, minus one.

3) Compliance: Adhering to Standards

Compliance is based on CMDB audit runs and includes:

a) Audit: This compares actual field values against expected values defined in audits. CIs must comply with all audits to pass the CMDB Health audit test.

4) Relationships

The health of CI relationships is assessed through non-configurable metrics, including duplicate, orphan, and stale relationships. Additional summaries report on non-compliant relationships based on suggested, containment, and hosting rules.

Configuring CMDB Health

To reflect your organization’s data health standards, CMDB Health is highly configurable. The CMDB Health Dashboard jobs are disabled by default, and you must enable them to start collecting health data.

Step 1: Review and Adjust KPIs and Metrics

· The first step to configure the KPIs and Metrics, by navigating to All > Configuration > Health Preference.

· Select Health Metrics on the right-hand side bar.

· In the Select Metric drop-down list select the Completeness, Compliance, or the Correctness KPI and toggle Active to included or exclude that KPI and its associated metrics in CMDB Health analysis and reporting.

Step 2: Define Rules and Requirements

For each KPI and metric, establish necessary rules and requirements for each KPIs:

2.1. Completeness:

2.1.1. Required Fields

To set up this configuration, it is necessary to update the necessary fields as mandatory by modifying their dictionary entries accordingly.

In this case, we are configuring Host name as a mandatory field for Server class.

2.1.2. Recommended Fields

a) To set up the recommended fields, follow these steps:

i) Open the CI Class Manager by going to All > Configuration > CI Class Manager.

ii) Choose the specific CI Class you wish to configure, in this instance, the Server Class.

iii) Proceed to Health > Completeness > Recommended Fields.

iv) Here, select the fields you wish to mark as recommended, such as Location and Serial Number for the Server Class.

2.2. Compliance:

2.2.1. Audit

To configure this Metrics, firstly we need to create a Certification Filter, where we will define the conditions to select the CIs for which Audit operation should perform.

i) Open the CI Class Manager by going to All > Configuration > CI Class Manager.

ii) Choose the specific CI Class you wish to configure, in this instance, the Server Class.

iii) Proceed to Health > Compliance > Certification Filter and create a Certification Filter.

Next step is to create a Certification Template, which will contain all the required checks to perform in the Audit.

iv) Proceed to Health > Compliance > Certification Template and create a Certification Template.

Next step is to create Audit.

v) Proceed to Health > Compliance > Audit and create Audit records.

2.3. Correctness:

2.3.1. Orphan Rule

To configure this KPI, we need to create Orphan Rules by following steps:

i) Open the CI Class Manager by going to All > Configuration > CI Class Manager.

ii) Choose the specific CI Class you wish to configure, in this instance, the Server Class.

iii) Proceed to Health > Correctness > Orphan Rule.

iv) Click on New button and create a new Orphan Rule.

v) In this case, we are configuring the Orphan rule in such a way that if a Server CI’s Operational status is Non-Operational and it does not have any relationship with any class then the CI should be identified as an Orphan CI.

2.3.2. Staleness Rule

To configure this KPI, we need to create Staleness Rules by following steps:

i) Open the CI Class Manager by going to All > Configuration > CI Class Manager.

ii) Choose the specific CI Class you wish to configure, in this instance, the Server Class.

iii) Proceed to Health > Correctness > Staleness Rule.

iv) Click on New button and create a new Orphan Rule.

v) In this case, we are configuring the Staleness rule with Effective Duration as 30 days hence, if a CI haven’t updated in last 30 days, then it should be identified as an Stale CI.

Step 3: Create Health Inclusion Rules

Create health inclusion rules to determine which CIs are included in health calculations.

a) To set up the Health Inclusion Rules, follow these steps:

i) Open the CI Class Manager by going to All > Configuration > CI Class Manager.

ii) Proceed to Health > Health Inclusion Rules.

iii) Select the Active Record Condition and Metrics to follow this Health Inclusion Rule.

In this case, we are setting up a health inclusion rule for all CI classes. Only CIs with Install Status and Operational Status not set to ‘Retire’ will be included in the CMDB Health Calculation.

Step 4: Adjust System Properties

Review and modify CMDB Health system properties as needed.

Step 5: Enable Health Dashboard Jobs

Activate the Health Dashboard jobs for the KPIs you want to monitor and report.

There are multiple places from where you can enable the CMDB Health Dashboard Jobs such as — Health Preference, CMDB Dashboard — CMDB View.

In this case, we are enabling the schedule jobs from Health Preference.

· Navigate to All > Configuration > Health Preference.

· Select Scheduled Jobs on the right-hand side bar.

· Make the Active field True for the KPIs you want to activate.

· In this case, we activated all schedule jobs.

CMDB Workspace

CMDB Workspace provides an interactive user interface for CMDB activities. The Management view offers CMDB Admins rapid access to essential management tools and provides in-depth insights into the health and activities of the CMDB.

For viewing CMDB Health navigate to CMDB Workspace > Management > CMDB Health

Conclusion

By effectively configuring and monitoring the KPIs and metrics of CMDB Health, you can ensure your CMDB remains a reliable resource for IT service management. Regularly reviewing and adjusting settings will help you maintain a comprehensive and accurate CMDB, supporting your organization’s IT infrastructure and services.