Configuration Items (CIs) are the building blocks that make up business services. Managing them effectively is a key activity of the Configuration Management process, which looks to make sure these components are accounted for and reliable information on them is available. It lays the groundwork for trustworthy service operations.
The most widespread practice to do this is building a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) that sets out your CIs and their relationships. So, join us as we define the full scope of Configuration Items and explain how to manage them effectively on InvGate Asset Management.
Configuration Item: Understanding The CMDB's Building Blocks
What is a Configuration Item (CI)?
A Configuration Item (CI) is any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver an IT service, as ITIL 4 defines it: servers, laptops, software, network devices, cloud resources, documentation, facilities, supplier contracts or digital assets such as certificates, each recorded with its attributes and its connections to other CIs. In simpler terms, a CI is any identifiable and manageable element that contributes to the functioning of an organization's IT environment.
Each organization decides which components it manages as CIs, based on what it needs to run its IT services. That scope usually reaches past hardware and software to buildings, suppliers and documentation, or anything else that makes up part of an IT service.
Asset vs. Configuration Item
Assets and Configuration Items are dealt with in the ITIL framework. They are both key components that must be kept under your radar and help you efficiently manage your IT environment. However, there are key differences between the two to consider. Let's take a look.
- A Configuration Item is a building block within an organization's IT infrastructure and includes any components that need to be managed and controlled to ensure the delivery of IT services. The focus of Configuration Items is on their impact on delivering stable IT services and their relationships and dependencies with other CIs throughout an organization. The CMDB stores and manages information about CIs and their relationships.
- An asset refers to any item that has value to an organization and can contribute to its financial status. The focus of assets is on their monetary value, and IT Asset Management (ITAM) manages them across their lifecycle, with attention to financial aspects such as procurement costs, maintenance, depreciation, and disposal.
The two overlap, and many records are both. A production server can be asset and a CI at the same time, a laptop still in stock is an asset that only becomes a CI once it supports a service, and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a CI with no resale value. That overlap is why teams look at how the CMDB and the Asset Management Database (AMDB) work together before deciding where each record lives.
Configuration Item types (and subtypes)
We've set out the criteria to define what a CI is in each organization, but you might still be wondering what this looks like exactly in real life. So, some typical CI categories and examples include:
Hardware CIs:
- Servers (both physical and virtual)
- Storage devices (disk arrays, storage area networks)
- Internet of Things (IoT) devices
- Network devices (routers, switches, and hubs)
- Voice equipment, such as private branch exchange (PBX) and interactive voice response (IVR) systems
- Printers and scanners
- End-user devices (laptops, desktops, mobile devices)
Software CIs:
- Operating systems
- Business applications such as your office suite
- Custom software applications
- Software licenses
- Middleware
- Utilities such as system backup tools and antivirus software
Network CIs:
- IP addresses and subnets
- Local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and virtual LAN (VLAN) information
- Firewalls
- Gateways
- Wireless access points
- Network bridges
- Network segments
- Domain Name System (DNS) configurations
Documentation CIs:
- User manuals
- Design specifications
- Configuration and installation guides
- Network diagrams
- Process documentation
- SLAs, operational level agreements (OLAs), and experience level agreements (XLAs)
Facility CIs:
- Data centers, comms rooms, and server rooms
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
- Battery and backup systems, for example, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) details
- Power distribution units (PDUs)
- Physical security systems
Supplier CIs:
- Vendor contracts and agreements
- Supplier information and contact details
- Information from your supplier and contracts database (if you have one)
Technical service CIs:
- Internal CIs (e.g., project assets)
- External CIs (e.g., customer agreements)
- Interface CIs, such as the application programming interfaces (APIs) and service provider interfaces an end-to-end service depends on
Digital asset CIs:
- Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates
- Automation workflows
- Scripts
- AI agents
Digital assets are the newest addition to this list, since an expired certificate or an unowned workflow can take a service down as easily as a failed server. InvGate Asset Management already registers SSL/TLS certificates and automation workflows as CIs in its Digital Assets family, each with an owner, a status and connections to the systems it supports, and AI agents and scripts are coming soon.
Configuration Item attributes
CI attributes are the characteristics that describe and define a specific CI within your IT infrastructure. Attributes provide details about the CI, its specifications, what makes it part of the service provision, and the relationships between them.
By clearly defining them in a CMDB, you have access to a map of how everything operates and relates with each other in your environment. This provides valuable information to support your IT functions, and some common types of CI attributes include:
- Unique identifier
- Name or label of the CI
- Brief description of the CI's purpose
- Type, for example, hardware, software, documentation
- Subtype, for instance, server, finance application, network documentation
- Model or version number
- Support details
- Vendor details
- Owner
- Relationship to other CIs and services, for example, parent and child relationships
- Location (physical and logical)
- Status
- Cost and financial information
- Warranty information
- Security requirements, if appropriate
- CI abbreviations or acronyms
Configuration Item lifecycle
The CI lifecycle refers to the stages a CI goes through within an organization's IT environment. Effective management ensures that CIs are properly managed, controlled, and maintained throughout their lifecycle in line with corporate requirements.
These are standard stages, and their path and timing vary by CI type: a certificate doesn't follow the same route as a server. The process typically includes:
- Planning and design: Identifying the need for a new CI is the main part of the requirements-gathering exercise that kicks off the process.
- Acquisition and procurement: Procuring or creating the CI according to the design specifications.
- Identification and registration: Assigning the CI a unique identifier and registering it in the CMDB.
- In test environment: Ensuring that it functions as required and meets quality standards.
- Deployment: Releasing it to the production environment and making it available to end users.
- Early life support: The warranty or settling-in period may include enhanced support levels and response times when a CI has been recently deployed to the live environment.
- Production environment: Performing the monitoring, management, maintenance, and updates required to keep the CI running effectively and efficiently.
- Retirement and disposal: When the CI is no longer needed, retirement involves removing any data, redeploying related software licenses, and recycling or disposing of hardware components.
Configuration Item Management
CIs are managed most effectively in a CMDB or a Configuration Management System (CMS). The CMDB stores configuration records throughout their lifecycle along with the relationships between them, and the CMS is the broader set of tools, data and information for Service Configuration Management, which can combine several CMDBs, asset databases and knowledge sources. Both are only as good as the data they hold.
Behind those checkpoints sits the Configuration Management process, which identifies, records and maintains the information about the CIs needed to deliver IT services. Its four activities are:
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Identification, deciding which items count as CIs.
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Cntrol, accepting only authorized and identifiable CIs.
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Status accounting, tracking each CI's status and history.
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Verification and audit, checking that records match the real environment.
How to manage CIs on InvGate Asset Management
How to Build a CMDB And Map Your Entire IT Infrastructure
InvGate Asset Management is IT Asset Management software that offers an enterprise experience without the complexity or the price of one, characterized by its ease of use: an intuitive interface, a no-code approach and fast deployment. Inside it, assets, people, locations, contracts, cloud resources, databases and digital assets are all CIs, so the CMDB grows from the same inventory the team already keeps.
The first step is bringing CIs into the system. InvGate Asset Management combines several methods, and most of them keep records current after the first load:
- Assets: the Agent, network discovery, integrations with tools such as Microsoft Intune, Jamf, VMware, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, and manual entry or CSV import.
- People: created manually or synced from Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID.
- Locations and contracts: created directly in the product and linked to the assets in each place or under each agreement.
- Digital assets: SSL/TLS certificates and automation workflows, added manually, by CSV import or through the API.
Connections between CIs
Once CIs are in, CI connections relate any two of them through a typed link, such as the server a database runs on or the person who acts as security auditor for an application. Each connection appears on the profile of both CIs with its direction, criticality and description, so nobody has to record it twice.
InvGate Asset Management includes native connection types and lets teams create their own. Teams can also filter the Explorer by connection and trigger automations when a connection is created, updated or deleted, for example to notify a new technical owner as soon as the role changes hands.
Business Applications and CMDB auto-mapping
Business Applications are how the CMDB in InvGate Asset Management groups the CIs that deliver a service together, shown as a diagram. CMDB auto-mapping speeds up that modeling: select a CI, turn on suggestions, and the diagram shows the CIs it could be related to, based on what the Agent, network discovery and integrations such as VMware, AWS and Azure detected, plus properties like owner and location and the connections already registered.
Each suggestion is accepted or discarded one by one, so nothing enters the diagram without someone confirming it. Teams can also create a Business Application straight from an asset and build it from that asset's suggestions, which turns a task that used to depend on one person's memory into a review of what the inventory already knows.
Change history and service desk context
Every change to a CI is recorded in its history, so teams can see what changed in a record and when. That trail is what an auditor asks for, and it's the first place to look when an incident starts right after a change.
When InvGate Asset Management works with InvGate Service Management, agents see on each ticket the affected CI and the people connected to it, without leaving the request. That context helps them route the ticket to the right owner and gauge the impact before touching anything.
In short
A Configuration Item is any component an organization manages to deliver an IT service, and the CMDB keeps each one connected to the services and people it affects throughout its lifecycle. To see how InvGate Asset Management builds that map from your own inventory, start a free trial or talk to Sales.
Frequently Asked Questions
These answers cover the questions that come up most often about Configuration Items. Each one stands on its own, from what the CMDB stores to who manages CIs.
What information does the CMDB contain for Configuration Items?
The CMDB stores the attributes of each Configuration Item, such as its unique identifier, type, owner, location, status, version, vendor and warranty. It also records how each CI relates to other CIs and to the services it supports, along with the history of changes made to it. Together, that information shows what each component is, who is responsible for it and what would be affected if it failed.
Can people be a Configuration Item?
Yes, organizations can treat people and roles as Configuration Items when managing them is necessary to deliver a service, such as the owner of a critical application or the engineer responsible for a server. Recording people as CIs lets a CMDB link them to the assets, applications and services they are accountable for. InvGate Asset Management does this through connections between person records and other CIs.
What is an example of a Configuration Item?
A production server is a classic example of a Configuration Item, and every CI type has its own: a laptop (hardware), an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application (software), a firewall (network), a service level agreement (documentation), an uninterruptible power supply in the data center (facility), a vendor contract (supplier), a customer agreement (technical service) and an SSL/TLS certificate (digital asset). What makes each of them a CI is that the organization manages it, with its attributes and its connections to other CIs, to deliver an IT service.
Who manages Configuration Items?
Configuration Items are usually managed by a configuration manager, the role responsible for the Configuration Management process. This person defines the policies and procedures for identifying and recording CIs, oversees the CMDB so its information stays accurate, coordinates with the service desk, Change Enablement and other teams, and runs regular audits to find discrepancies. Day-to-day updates come from many hands, since service desk analysts, change teams and automated discovery all keep CI records current.
What are the types of Configuration Items?
The most common types of Configuration Items are hardware, software, network, documentation, facility, supplier and technical service CIs. Digital assets such as SSL/TLS certificates and automation workflows are a newer type that more organizations now manage as CIs. Each type groups subtypes, such as servers and laptops within hardware or SLAs and network diagrams within documentation.
