Configuration Item Life Cycle - Applications

Whether a commercial product or something developed in-house, this should be the full, formal name of the product (e.g., "Office Suite 2016" or "Graduate Applicant Tracking System") rather than a nickname, abbreviation, or acronym ("Office 16" or "GATS"). While nicknames and abbreviations may be meaningful to frequent users of the CI, they are not so apparent to others who are not as familiar with the application.

Nickname, abbreviation, or acronym for the CI. The nickname is generally how the majority of those who use the software refer to it. The nickname is optional and should always be enclosed in parentheses to separate it from the full name.

A version is used to identify a specific baseline of a CI. This information should only be included if the CI is being defined to track a specific version or release of the application.

The name of the client that is the primary end user of the CI. This is optional and should only be used to eliminate any confusion about the primary user of the CI or to eliminate duplication of CI names. For instance, if several departments are using the same same application software but there are separate instances of the software for each department, include the department name as the client. For example: Office Suite 2016 - (DUE), Office Suite 2016 - (Graduate Division), etc. The client should always be enclosed in parentheses and separated from the rest of the CI name by a hyphen.

Phase 1:Software Developed or Acquired

This phase covers the original requirements definition, design, and development (or purchase) of the software. With respect to software CIs, it does not matter whether the software is developed in-house or acquired from a third party. This phase ends when the software is ready to be deployed into production.

If ServiceNow will be used to track incidents, changes, or task assignments while the software is being developed then a CI will be required. Otherwise, a CI is not required until the software is ready for deployment.

Phase 2: Software Tested & Deployed

When the client determines that the application software meets all the initial requirements and OIT determines that it is ready to begin production support of the software, the software is deployed into an appropriate environment. This phase ends when the application software is ready to be used for its intended purpose.

A Configuration Item Management Form is submitted by a member of the team acquiring or developing the application and the new CI will be added to the CMDB by the CMDB Administration Team.

Phase 3: Software in Service & Maintained

This phase represents the useful production life of the application. Throughout this phase, the software will undergo periodic maintenance, upgrades, failures, and fixes. At some point, the usefulness of the software will come to an end and plans need to be made to take it out of service. This phase ends when the application is no longer being used.

Ongoing adjustments to the Status, State, and other fields in the CI record are made as needed by a member of the team supporting the application.

Phase 4: Software Retired

When the application is no longer needed, either because it is being replaced by something newer or it no longer serves any useful function, it is retired.

The Status and State are updated by a member of the team supporting the application to reflect the fact that it is no longer operational and has been retired. At the same time, the application name in the CI is modified to include a prefix of RETIRED to make it obvious in listings and searches that it is no longer in use. Under no circumstances should a CI ever be deleted from the CMDB. Deleting a CI record will make it impossible to trace the history of the software and any activity documented by incidents and change requests.

Uses

Database¹

Depends on

Application

Runs on

Server¹

Uses

Load Balancer¹