7.7 Process control

Configuration Management should continually assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Configuration Management system using regular management reports. A review of the expected growth of demand of Configuration Management activities should be scheduled on a regular basis, for example, every six months, although in more volatile situations more frequent reviews may be appropriate.

7.7.1 Management reporting

Management reports for Configuration Management should cover the following:

• results of configuration audits
• information on any non-registered or inaccurately registered CIs that have been detected and the corrective action
• information on the number of registered CIs and CI versions, broken down by CI category, type and status (and possibly also by location or other CI attributes)
• growth and capacity information
• information on the rate of change of CIs/CMDB and the DSL
• details of any backlogs of Configuration Management work or any delays caused by Configuration Management activities, and proposed remedies
• the Configuration Management staffing position
• the amount of authorised work done out of hours by other IT services staff
• the results of efficiency/effectiveness reviews, growth reviews and audits of the Configuration Management system and proposals for tackling actual or potential Problems
• data and analyses on the number of CIs by type (e.g. services, servers, routers, hubs, software licences, desktop PCs, etc)
• the value of CIs (or assets)
• the location of CIs by business unit, support group or service.

Management reports should be designed to support Service Management activities such as progress monitoring, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management, Configuration audits and service planning. The reports should be made available for interrogation and trend analysis by IT Service Management and other groups within the IT services structure.

In general, IT Service Management should set the future direction for Configuration Management in the light of these management reports, taking account of the planned Configuration Management workload and growth.

7.7.2 Key performance indicators

Measurable targets for objective metrics should be set for the effectiveness of the Configuration Management process. Consider including the following metrics and set targets to improve them over a realistic timeframe:

• occasions when the 'configuration' is not as authorised
• Incidents and Problems that can be traced back to wrongly made Changes
• RFCs that were not completed successfully because of poor impact assessment, incorrect data in the CMDB, or poor version control
• the cycle time to approve and implement Changes
• licences that have been wasted or not put into use at a particular location
• exceptions reported during configuration audits
• unauthorised IT components detected in use.

Other indicators and targets that may be appropriate are:

• the change in the proportion of Service Desk calls that are received per month that are resolved whilst the User is on the telephone, without the need for further escalation
• the change in the number and seriousness of Incidents and Problems
• the change in the average time and cost of diagnosing and resolving Service Desk calls that cannot be resolved immediately
• the change in the number and seriousness of occasions when a Service Level Agreement has been breached where the Problem can be traced back to errors made in the Change Management, Configuration Management, Release Management, Problem Management or Service Desk functions
• the number of changes to the CMDB per month because of identified errors in the CMDB.