ITIL on ESM Guide

CMDB: what it is for and how to feed it

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In short:

A CMDB records configuration items and, above all, the dependency relationships linking them.

Its primary use is impact analysis, before a change or during a major incident.

An inventory lists assets, a CMDB adds dependencies: they are two different objects.

Manual population always drifts: automated collection is the only sustainable option.

What a CMDB actually contains

A CMDB, for Configuration Management Database, records the configuration items of an information system: servers, workstations, applications, services, contracts. But the list is not the point. What separates a CMDB from a spreadsheet is the relationships between those items: which server hosts which database, which database feeds which application, which application delivers which business service.

Service desk and help desk: the vocabulary sorted

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In short:

A help desk handles faults, a service desk handles faults and service requests.

ITIL keeps only the term service desk, defined as the single point of contact between provider and users.

The three-tier pattern, generalist then specialist then vendor, remains the reference structure.

First-line resolution rate depends directly on the quality of the knowledge base made available.

Three terms, three scopes

The help desk emerged from the need to centralise the reporting of IT faults. Its scope is corrective: a user sees a malfunction, reports it, a team fixes it.

Incident and problem management: stop confusing them

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In short:

An incident is measured in time to restore, a problem in incidents avoided.

A workaround closes an incident but never closes a problem.

Grouping recurring incidents is the main entry signal for problem management.

A known error is a problem with an identified cause and a documented workaround, ahead of the permanent fix.

Two practices, two clocks

An incident is an unplanned interruption to a service or a reduction in its quality. The associated practice pursues one objective: restore service as quickly as possible. Restart, fail over, reassign a licence, the means hardly matter, including when they fix nothing fundamental.

ITIL 4: the 7 guiding principles explained

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In short:

ITIL 4, published in 2019, places seven guiding principles ahead of its 34 management practices.

These principles are rules of conduct, not processes to execute: they exist to arbitrate, not to run.

Three of them, start where you are, keep it simple and progress iteratively, are enough to frame most projects.

The framework cannot certify an organisation: that certification falls under the ISO/IEC 20000 standard.

Why ITIL 4 starts with principles

Earlier ITIL versions mostly described processes. ITIL 4 reverses the order and sets out seven guiding principles, valid in any context, before going into practice detail. The intent is explicit: avoid the mechanical application of a procedure catalogue to an organisation whose actual maturity nobody has examined.