Configuration Items
Investigation or resolution of an issue reported in a ticket (service request, incident, or problem) often results in creating work orders or process requests that affect one or more configuration items (CIs). The ticket record provides several menu options that help you assess the impact of CI changes before you create a work order or process request.
A configuration item (CI) is a component that is considered part of your IT infrastructure, such as a computer system or software application. Configuration items are managed through database records that identify its attributes and relationships to other CIs, and through processes that support changes to a CI without adversely impacting the IT environment. Configuration items vary in complexity and size from an entire service which may consist of hardware, software, and documentation to a single program module or a minor hardware component. The lowest-level CI is usually the smallest unit that can be changed independently of other components.
Use the Configuration Item field in the Details section of a ticket record to specify the primary CI that is affected by the ticket. Use the Configuration Item field in new records (rows) that you add to the Multiple Assets, Locations, and CIs section to specify additional CIs affected by the ticket.
You can click 
beside the Configuration Item field
to see a list of options for viewing information about the CI specified
in this field. This information can help you narrow or better define
the issue addressed by the ticket. It can also help you assess the
impact of potential changes. Before creating a work order or process
request, use these options to investigate whether there is already
ongoing or scheduled work involving this CI and how a change might
impact other CIs related to it.
- Go To Configuration Items
- Use this option to launch to the Configuration Items application and view a topology graph of a CI that you want to investigate. You can navigate the topology in a variety of ways. You can select a CI in the topology view and select Return With Value to return to the Incidents application, with the selected CI specified as the CI associated with the Incidents ticket.
- View Work Details for CI
- Use this option to view details of all tickets and work orders associated with the specified CI. You can also select one or more of the listed tickets and work orders and relate them to the current ticket.
- View Actual CI Details
- If the specified CI is linked to an actual CI, use this option
to view the actual CI data.
The CIs that you specify on a ticket record are sometimes referred to as authorized CIs, to distinguish them from actual CIs. Both authorized and actual CIs are software objects that represent an item in the real world. An authorized CI is a database record that contains an authorized representation of an item for the purpose of change and configuration management. An actual CI object contains actual configuration data found by a discovery tool. An actual CI typically contains much more data than an authorized CI.
When creating an authorized CI, an administrator can link it to an actual CI that represents the same real world object. By viewing the actual CI data, you might find attributes or relationships that are not defined in the authorized CI. Because some authorized CIs represent objects that cannot be discovered, they cannot be linked to actual CIs.
- View CI Collections
- Use this option to view all of the CI collections in which the specified CI is a member. A CI collection is a group of related CIs, assets, and locations. For example, all CIs that belong to a particular department might be included in a CI collection.
- View CI Relationship History
- Use this option to view the relationships between the specified CI and other CIs during a specified period of time. Viewing CI relationships can help you assess how a change to the specified CI affects the CIs related to it. By viewing the history of CI relationships, you can assess whether a recent change might be the cause of the issue addressed by the ticket.
- View CI Topology
- Use this option to launch to the Configuration Items application and view a topology of the specified CI. A topology is a graphical representation the CI and all of its related CIs.
- View CI Schedule of Change
- You can use this option to view scheduled implementation tasks for the specified CI and the CIs related to it. Implementation tasks are the tasks required to modify a CI. An administrator identifies and schedules implementation tasks as part of a change control process.