CMDB Item Criticality

You can define CMDB Item criticality levels, which Analysts can use when completing the CMDB Item Details to indicate how important the item is to your IT infrastructure.

Understanding CMDB Item Criticality

Configuration Item (CI) Criticality refers to the importance or impact a CI has within an organization's IT infrastructure. Setting CI criticalities helps prioritize responses and allocate resources efficiently during incidents or outages. It ensures that the most critical systems are maintained and monitored with the highest levels of scrutiny, minimizing business disruptions and safeguarding key operational processes.

Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Item Criticality serves as a pivotal element in managing IT service delivery and infrastructure. It classifies Configuration Items (CIs) based on their importance to the organization's operations, impacting how incidents, problems, and changes are prioritized and managed.

Best Practices for Managing CI Criticality

  1. Regular Review and Update: CI criticalities should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in the business environment and IT infrastructure. This ensures that criticality ratings remain accurate and relevant.

  2. Stakeholder Involvement: Engage with stakeholders from different business units to understand the impact of CIs on their operations. This collaborative approach ensures that CI criticality ratings accurately reflect business needs.

  3. Integration with ITSM Processes: Integrate CI criticality information with other IT Service Management (ITSM) processes, such as incident management and change management, to prioritize actions and resources based on the impact on the business.

  4. Training and Awareness: Ensure that IT staff and relevant stakeholders are trained on the concept of CI criticality and understand how it influences decision-making processes within IT operations.

  5. Automation and Tools: Utilize CMDB tools that support automation in assigning and updating CI criticalities based on predefined criteria. This reduces manual efforts and helps in maintaining accuracy.

  6. Clear Guidelines: Develop clear guidelines for assigning criticality levels, including criteria and examples. This helps in consistency across the organization and reduces ambiguity in criticality assignment.

By adhering to these best practices, organizations can ensure that their CI criticality management process effectively supports the prioritization and efficient handling of IT operational tasks, ultimately contributing to smoother business operations and reduced downtime.

Creating a Criticality

Before you start

You must have CMDB Setup enabled within your General Access security role in order to configure any CMDB administration settings. Depending on if or how your system is partitioned, ensure that you are working in the correct partition.

  1. Select the Menu button, then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed.

  2. In the Explorer pane expand CMDB.

  3. Select CMDB Item Criticality to open the window.

  4. Select the New icon. A new row is added to the browse table.

  5. In the Name list, type the name of the new criticality you want to create.

  6. Repeat for each criticality you want to create.

  7. Select the Save icon to save the changes. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.

You can change the display order of the criticality types in the drop down list on the CMDB Details window. To do so, select a criticality by clicking on it and use the up or down buttons to change its position in the table.

Renaming a Criticality

  1. Select the Menu button, then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed.

  2. In the Explorer pane expand CMDB.

  3. Select CMDB Item Criticality to open the window.

  4. Select the criticality entry you want to edit by selecting on it. The entry is highlighted.

  5. Type the name you want to assign for the selected criticality.

  6. Select the Save icon to save the changes. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.

Deleting a Criticality

You cannot reverse this procedure. If you delete a criticality by mistake, you have to re-create the entry by creating a new criticality.

You cannot delete the system default. If you attempt to delete the system default, you will receive a warning message.

  1. Select the Menu button, then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed.

  2. In the Explorer pane expand CMDB.

  3. Select CMDB Item Criticality to open the window.

  4. Select the criticality entry you want to delete from the list by selecting on it. The entry is highlighted.

  5. Select the Delete icon. The entry disappears from the screen but you have to save the changes in order to remove it from the database.

  6. Select the Save icon to save the changes. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.

Last updated