***Attention - Event Rescheduled to June 1, 2023***

We apologize for any inconvenience caused last week, May 25 as we have had to reschedule as we ran into technical difficulties that we could not fix until now.  As a result, the event will be rescheduled to this Thursday, June 1, 2023.  You do not have to re-register for this event.  A new link will be sent to you closer to the event on Thursday.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we recover from this issue.

Please join the FREE virtual event June 1, 2023 lunch and learn panel discussion, organized by the Ottawa-Gatineau and Atlantics branch teams: This event is free for both members and non-members.

Planning for Gold: Configuration Management Realities

Configuration Management is the practice that provides the required data for all other aspects of IT Service Management (ITSM) to operate. For instance, this information is used to identify risks, predict impact, and drive decisions for incidents, changes, and compliance. The gold is in the relationships between records that map these records into value chains able to improve the service.

The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) contains Configuration Items (CIs), individual records of components the organization cares about, and their relationships to each other. Types of individual records include services, processes, and people. (and more) Ideally, relationships span boundaries between silos to provide a dynamic holistic view, zoomable to different layers of the service architecture.

Key constraints for the database are the availability and the accuracy of the data in the context of the decision to be made. As a service grows in complexity, this can involve the reconciliation of information across multiple vendor cloud and on-premises components, capturing the key relationships dynamically through both automation and manual updates.

For example: An Ice Storm is Coming!

Which critical services have components (Cis) that are physically hosted in Ottawa or Montreal areas, and are potentially impacted by the April ice storm power outages?

• Who are the key people that use, administer, or make decisions that must continue during a storm and cleanup?
• If access is done remotely, do these people have power at home?
• Are they able to get to an onsite location as an alternative?
• How are onsite seats identified and protected for critical system personnel?
• Are they able to access powered fuel stations to refill their vehicles to get onsite?
• Is public transportation able to navigate downed trees and debris to service their area?
• Can enough of the required components be moved geographically, with enough speed, to prevent or minimize a critical service outage?
• What are the processes that manage the above activities?

The quality of the data drives the quality of the decisions.

Join us in May for a panel discussion on the ups, downs and pitfalls of implementing CMDBs.

Panelists:

Leigh Brown

Leigh is a strong, data driven leader passionate about sharing new ways of working collaboratively across processes and breaking through barriers. His 15 years of experience in the OPS providing insights to our IT organization bringing people through digital transformation has led to some great operational and project opportunities. Today, Leigh leads his team of IT and process professionals through change and into a desired future state of curating a single source of truth. He’s established a vision for his team that supports an organization that works across functional areas supporting our business clients achieve their goals. With an eye on the horizon, Leigh has an appreciation of the past and energized by and celebrates with his team’s successes.

Nwosu Chiechezonam (Eche)

With over 15 years of experience in the Private and Public sectors, Eche is a highly skilled technology professional who focuses on solutions. He has extensive involvement in CMDB projects and has managed an ITSM team that played a key role in developing an in-house CMDB application. His expertise in IT Service Management, ITIL, IT security and risk management, enterprise architecture, project management, and process improvement is vast. Eche holds multiple certifications, including ISO 20000 lead implementer and auditor, TOGAF 9, ITIL V3, CompTIA Security+, and CompTIA A+. He is currently employed as a Configuration Management Analyst with the Province of Nova Scotia. Outside of work, Eche is an avid soccer lover and enjoys watching the Premier League.

Aleida Dikland

Aleida Dikland is an award-winning Senior Business Architect with over 25 years’ experience in Business Architecture. She specializes in establishing the governance, processes and behavior changes required to transform an organization to mature processes and align to business requirements. She has been a key contributor on multifaceted change projects to implement different ITSM tools across multiple clients.

She has shown that to achieve valuable results, establishing clear linkages between available configuration management data and the business decisions that can be made is critical. The costs and efforts to collect and maintain quality data can then be predicted and prioritized for further investment.

She possesses several industry certifications, including ITIL V4 Managing Professional and Strategic Leader, Prosci Change Management, and Cherwell ITSM Tool Implementation. Her clients have included Shared Services Canada, Statistics Canada, HP, CGI, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Canada Post Corporation, and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Arpad Martonosi

Arpad joins our panel with over 14 years of IT Operations and Process experiences. Currently the Senior Manager for the Government of Ontario, overseeing the IT Service Management Operational Processes including but not limited to: Incident, Problem and Change Management as well as the Service Asset and Configuration Management (CMDB) teams.

He is a published Government of Ontario IT Standards editor of 8 IT Service Management processes, with a passion for driving continual improvements through the use of big data in day to day operations and strategic initiatives. He is a strong advocate for the IT Service Management processes helping establish IT Governance for Compliance Operations and Risk management, he can be heard on large projects frequently leveraging the power of the CMDB to help inform as well as reduce risk in rapid architecture and design of applications.

Moderator: Guido Piraino

Guido is an accomplished IT Service Management Manager, Host, and Producer.

He is one of the original authors of the Change Management process in the Ontario Public Sector, having started with the Land & Resources Cluster and penning a process in early 2000, that became the foundation for today’s Government of Ontario IT (GO IT) Standard and influenced other Standards. Having worked in Client, Service Partner, and Governance organizations he draws on lived customer journey experiences. He has also managed Service Asset & Configuration Management, Service Level Management, Data Analytics, and recently Service Management Engagement & Integration teams in an enterprise-wide capacity. Today, as a Senior Manager in Service Management, Service Planning, Design, and Transition he continues to focus on the overall maturity of Service Management. In his spare time, Guido hosts and produces a monthly podcast that is streaming in over 50 countries and is also the producer for an internet radio station program where he focuses on building relationships world-wide.

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