Impact simulation
When a change manager receives a request to modify a configuration item (CI), such as restarting an email exchange server, they must quickly and accurately assess the impact of the change on the associated business service. In this example, the business service is the email service, which relies on the underlying physical network infrastructure. If a CI in the physical network infrastructure needs to be changed, the change manager uses impact simulation to assess the impact of this change on the business service. Change managers can also use the Impact Simulator to generate simulation reports for audit or compliance purposes. The following image is an example of an impact simulation:
The CMDB Impact Simulator is useful in planning for disaster recovery. You can run simulations to determine where the network is weakest, and plan accordingly.
Related Topics
The impact simulation widget is available in the ITSM applications such as Change management and incident management.
You can also access CMDB Impact Simulator in CMDB Portal by navigating to Atrium Core > Simulate Impact.
The following image shows an example of the impact simulation results in a table view:
The following image shows an example of the impact simulation results in a topology view:
Use the Impact Simulator to search for a configuration item (CI), simulate its impact, and assign a weight to the impact. For example, the impact of a change might be minor, such as causing partial service availability, or it could be severe, resulting in a complete service outage. Impact weights help change managers quickly assess the proposed impact.
The Impact Simulator propagates the change through the entire service model. This simulation helps you identify the relationship between the CI and the change and determine the IT or business services that might be affected.
Save and compare simulations
Save simulations to experiment with different network impacts and analyze the affected services. Compare these models and assign weights to business services based on their relative importance.
For example, if both an email service and a payroll service are impacted simultaneously, use the assigned weights to prioritize which service to restore first. After creating a satisfactory simulation, generate a change request to start the necessary tasks for implementing the change.