Simulating impact of changes to configuration items

This use case describes how to simulate the impact of changes to configuration items (CIs) on other CIs in the IT environment of an organization so that well-informed decisions can be taken to address issues related to changes.

The following image shows a high-level overview of impact simulation:

Related topics

Impact-simulation

Simulating-the-impact-of-changes-to-CIs

ImpactSim_concept.png

The benefits of simulating impact include:

  • Simulates changes helps you identify potential risks before implementation, minimizing the likelihood of downtime and service disruptions.
  • Provides a clear view of how changes affect consumers, enabling IT teams to assess the impact of outages and make informed decisions.
  • The CMDB's data quality and integrity makes sure that the normalization and reconciliation processes lead to reliable information for impact analysis.

Scenario

Scenario

Apex Global needs to identify the impact of restarting a server when addressing an incident. They want their incident manager to run a simulation that shows the impact of restarting the server on other configuration items (CIs) so that they can work on an appropriate solution.

Carl, an incident manager at Apex Global has been assigned to an incident for an accounting program that is not working. He identifies that the issue is being caused by a faulty database, and determines that he must update the database and restart the server to bring the program back online.

Before Carl restarts the server, he runs a simulation in CMDB Impact Simulator to determine the impact of restarting the server on other CIs. For example, there might be other software on the server unrelated to the issue he is trying to fix.

The results of the simulation show that restarting the server will also impact human resources software using a different, and currently functional, database on the same computer. With this knowledge, the Carl presents the issue and solution to the Emergency Change Advisory Board at Apex Global.


Workflow for simulating impact

Impact simulation workflow.png

Product | Component | Console

User

Action

Reference

CMDB Impact Simulator

  • Configuration manager
  • Incident manager

In the CMDB Explorer or the AIS:Main form, select the CIs whose impact you want to simulate.

Set the status of the CIs that will impact the other CIs.

Run the simulation.

View the results in a table or topology view.


 

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