Creating configuration items

You can create configuration items manually in the Configuration Items application.

1. In the Configuration Items application, click New CI.
2. Provide a unique name for the configuration item in the CI Number field.
3. Optional: Provide a user-friendly name and a description for the configuration item. You can enter any text that will help you locate this CI or make it easy to recognize.
4. Specify a classification for the configuration item. The classification, or type, is a crucial characteristic of a CI, because it determines which attributes the CI has, including the data types of the attributes, as well as which lifecycle is used for the CI. To specify the classification, click the icon next to the Classification field and choose a classification. The available classifications will be those that you defined when you set up your authorized CI space.
5. If you want to associate the CI with an actual CI, click the icon next to the Actual CI field and choose a value.
6. Specify an owner, who is responsible for the CI. This person can receive notifications when the CI is affected by a change or other process.
7. Specify the initial status of the CI. The status reflects the state of the CI in its lifecycle. The lifecycle is assigned based on the classification of the CI. If you do not specify a status value, the CI takes on the default status that has been defined for its lifecycle.
8. If you have deployed an asset management solution, you can use the Asset field to associate the CI with an asset. When you associate a CI with an asset, it will take on some of the attributes of that asset, such as the location.
9. Supply values for additional attributes as appropriate. To supply values for attributes, you must first specify the configuration item's classification. The CI's attributes are determined by the classification. To supply a value for an attribute, click New Row and enter the name and value of the attribute. Enter the value into the appropriate column, Alphanumeric Value or Numeric Value, according to its data type. The application enforces data typing according to the attributes defined for the classification. For example, if the classification defines an attribute as numeric, you must enter it into the Numeric Value column, and only numbers can be entered for the value.
10. To associate people or person groups with the CI, so that these individuals can be notified of operations that involve the CI, open the Interested Parties tab and define one or more interested parties. For more information, see the Associating interested parties with a CI topic.
11. Optional: Provide information for the remaining fields.

    For example, you can assign a value in the Business Impact field to indicate the degree to which your business is affected by an outage that involves the CI. You can specify a business impact value from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a critical impact and 5 indicating no impact. For example, a Microsoft Windows Operating System CI might have a business impact of 1; a network router might have an impact of 4, which is used for low-impact CIs.

    When a CI is selected as a target for a processing operation in the data center, such as a Change, the CI business impact score is used to determine the impact that the process will have on the business. For example, the CI business impact is used by the Change workflow and by response plans when the Change risk is calculated and a job plan is assigned. Changes that affect CIs with substantial business impacts require a thorough, carefully monitored process that must be assessed, scheduled, and authorized before it can proceed.

12. Save your changes.