Configuration items
Discovery products, such as BMC Client Discovery and BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping (BMC Atrium Discovery) can populate CIs in BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (BMC Helix CMDB). You can use BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management to manually create or update CIs.
CI information
You use the CI form to store all the information that is related to a CI such as CI Name, location, financial details, and related contracts.
The following figure displays a CI of type Computer system:
The CI form contains the following areas:
- Navigation pane — Use the quick links in the navigation pane to view CIs, run reports, view broadcast messages, create blackout schedules, and so on.
- CI Information — Use this area to specify general information about the CI and the item that it represents. For example, you can specify the CI name, status, and number of users affected by the item. You can specify the impact and the urgency that apply when the item goes down.
- CI tabs — Use these tabs to perform additional activities. You can relate contracts and configurations. You can add cost, schedule, outage, and return information. You can track work and update areas impacted by this CI.
When you use BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management to create a new CI, you can perform some tasks before you save the CI. After you save it, or when you open a CI, you can perform additional tasks. For example, when you create a new Computer System CI, you see only the tabs listed in the following table:
CI tabs displayed before you save the CI
Tab | Purpose | See |
|---|---|---|
General | Categorize your CIs and specify location and lifecycle information | |
Specifications | Specify additional information about the item, for example, environment information and network information. | |
Financials | Specify costs associated with owning the item. | |
Work Info | Add tasks that you perform against the current CI or the item that it represents. Important: You can also access this feature from the navigation pane. |
When you open a CI, depending on the CI type, you might see the additional tabs listed in the following table:
CI tabs displayed after you save the CI
Tab | Purpose | See |
|---|---|---|
Contracts | Relate contracts to a CI. For software product CIs, release a software license certificate to a CI. | |
People | Relate people to a CI. | |
Relationships | Relate CIs to other CIs. | |
Relationship details | Display components related to a computer system CI, such as memory, operating system, and products. | |
Outage | Add outage information about a CI. | |
Impacted Areas | If the item goes down, use this tab to add areas that might be affected. |