EAM and CMDB Modelling - Nottingham Derby BCS · EAM relationships need to be modelled for planning and strategy purposes CMDB relationships show active interfaces – manual etc

EAM and CMDB ModellingKaren Dawson

Enterprise Architect

May 2019

About Me

Up to 1995

IT programming and support

1995 to 2005Application developerVBA to C#

2005 to 2010Application

Architect

2010 to presentEnterprise Architect

Karen DawsonEnterprise Architect in the energy industryWorking in IT since 1986

What will this talk be about?

EAM - Strategic

• What is EAM?

• EA Frameworks

• EA Modelling

• Modelling issues and benefits

• Implementation

CMDB - Operational

• What is a CMDB?

• Data sources

• EAM / CMDB interface

• Where is the master?

• Interface Issues

What is EAM?

• Strategic planning• Business Strategy to IT

Strategy

• Application and Technology Standards

• IT Principles

• Scenario building• Roadmaps

• Reference architecture

• Portfolio management• Risk assessment

• Landscape optimisation

Enterprise Architecture Management

Enterprise Architecture provides a holistic view of the enterprise – an enterprise being any business or group (i.e organization) which provides products or services. It enables the organization to align the IT landscape with business goals.

EA FrameworksDefines how to create and use an enterprise architecture

• Zachman

• One of the oldest EA frameworks

• Uses taxonomy to organize all aspects of the organization to 6 focuses and perspectives

• TOGAF

• Currently the most widely used EA framework

• Focuses on alignment of business goals with IT goals

• Focused on the ADM (Architecture Development Method)

• Others

• EAP (Enterprise Architecture Planning)

• FEAF (Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework)

• etc

EA Modelling – answer the questions

A model of the enterprise architecture provides a conceptual view of all elements and their relationship to each other – however no one model will fit all requirements.

Always start with the questions!

What do you want to know about your organization? Identify and interview stakeholders, and start with the highest priority questions. Talk to business and IT.

Business Owner End user Application Manager Enterprise Architect CIO

EA Modelling – define the metamodelEAM

Metamodel example

Modelling IssuesEAM

Metamodel example

What’s the benefit to

modelling this information?

Who’s going to populate

and maintain this object?

Don’t we already have

this in the CMDB?

What is an application

anyway?

What’s the difference between Business Capability

and Business Process?

We don’t know anything about this application

We have a different tool for

projects!

This information is outdated –

what’s the point in using it?

Modelling BenefitsEAM

Metamodel example

Are we using the full capabilities of the application, or only one aspect?

What software is out of support?

What are our standards?

Where are our risks?

How many types of hardware do we have? What

are our standards?

How many applications do we have right now?

How many will we have in a year?

What are our key capabilities and

processes, and what IT is essential to deliver them?

Who can make decisions about

these applications?

What areas of our IT landscape are being

changed by a project, and when?

What technical dependencies does

this application have?

How is data used, stored, and moved around our

organization?

EA Model Implementation

Maintenance

• Don’t boil the ocean!

• Model priority areas and expand when more mature

Objects

• Less is more – do you really need all that information?

• Focus on core information

• Review regularly

Attributes

• Who maintains?

• How often?

• How do we track data quality?

• What are our KPIs?

Responsibilities

Governance

• Data maintenance

• Modelling standards, guidelines and procedures

• Framework management

Metamodel

• Standards management and compliance

• Architectural models

• Technology and product compliance

• Strategy alignment and implementation

EAM implementation

What is a CMDB?Configuration Management Database – contains an operational view of the IT landscape, and comprises Configuration

Items (CIs)A CI can be everything from physical hardware (server, switch) or software (apache installation on a server) to a logical

construct (so called Business Service, which is the highest logical instance in Configuration Management)Configuration Items are linked to each other to enable an end-to-end view

• CMDB

• Operational view

• IT assets used by the organisation, relationships between assets

• Supports ITIL processes (i.e. incident, problem, change)

• Physical / Operational

• EAM

• Strategic / Planning view

• Supports Business and IT Strategy

• Enables scenario modelling and planning

• Links IT landscape to business via capabilities, processes etc

• Conceptual / Logical

What is a CMDB? Layer Model

• Responsibilities for different technology layers

• Scope of hosting types

Mo

st com

mo

n sco

pe o

f CM

DB

CMDB - metamodel example

• Supports ITIL processes

• General example only below – final metamodel is much more detailed

CMDB and EAM metamodel example

Data Sources – internally managed only

Data Sources – multiple service providers

Break

• Tea, coffee and biscuits!

EAM / CMDB InterfaceWhy interface EAM to the CMDB?

• How many servers do we have at a particular datacenter?

• Where is a specific software version installed?

• Which application instances haven’t been accessed in the last 3 months?

CMDB

• What are our standard applications?

• Which are our key business capabilities?

• Which applications support a specific process?

• What will our landscape look like in 3 years?

EAM

• We’re changing from one standard application to another – who is affected, and what is the scope of the project?

• How many applications are running on outdated operating systems?

• What is the impact of a software security issue on a specific part of the business?

Combined

EAM / CMDB Interface

There are a number of areas where EAM can interface to the CMDB:

Business Application

(EAM)

•Application landscape –from concept to out of operation

•Facilitates business capabilities and supports business processes

•Contains business logic

•Key architectural information (Strategic? Important to business?)

•Ownership information

Service

(CMDB)

•Application services provided to business

•Can comprise more than one business application

• Includes related infrastructure and software

•Contains key operational information (where installed, who/what it’s used by)

Software Product

(EAM)

•Commercial software

•Tied to a specific vendor

•Modelled once per version

•Contains manufacturer lifecycle information

•Key architectural information (Strategic? Standard?)

•Ownership information

Software

(CMDB)

•Specific instance of software

•Modelled per instance

•Contains status information (i.e. installed)

•Contains key operational information (where installed, who/what it’s used by)

Where is the master?

Clear definition of primary data source is essential

Duplication of data should be avoided as much as possible

ANY duplication MUST be regularly refreshed

Enter data at the highest level and reference down

Ensure buy-in from data owners – why should they maintain data they know already?

Must be useful to be used!

Interface issuesInterface links dependent on a number of factors – there is no right or wrong!

Interface issuesInterface links dependent on a number of factors – there is no right or wrong!

Relationship to instances

duplicated

Service relationship creates extra layers,

but needed by CMDB

Relationship between CMDB and EAM very hard to maintain for lower level objects –should be automated

EAM relationships need to be modelled

for planning and strategy purposes

CMDB relationships show active interfaces –manual etc not included

EAM objects include future and outdated objects

CMDB data (i.e. ownership) often defined in EAM

Higher layers (i.e. capabilities, processes)

often in EAM system only

Relationship to non production environments can cause issues

with ITIL processes

EAM to CMDB data creation

New application planned

• Entered in EAM

• Core information populated

• Relationships to Capabilities, Processes and Organisation created

• Link to software and hardware products where required

Implementation project starts

• Service and service offering created in CMDB

• Environments created in CMDB (dev, test, prod)

• Linked to application in EAM

• Linked to database, server etc in CMDB

Go Live

• Ownership handed over from project

• Service, Service offering and Production environment status set in CMDB

• Lifecycle status updated in EAM

Architect Project Manager Service Owner

Concept phaseOnly required software and hardware

related (i.e. must have Android Oreo or above, no specific phone model)

Data can include i.e. DR requirement, SLA, Security, data privacy etc

Production phaseChanges in EAM data (i.e. to SLA, security requirements) must be

reflected back to CMDB

Development phaseService and environment data focuses on operational information (instance name, status, maintenance window, support team) – data inherited from

EAM (i.e. DR) application for prod only

Making use of the interface

Demo of EA and CMDB Reporting