There are more requirements for business to be able to run its operations successfully in terms of legal compliance and revenue streams optimisations. Businesses are placing high demands on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to adapt to changing conditions. However, ICT organisations tasked with providing increased service levels at lower costs do not have the resources to reinvent itself with every technological or regulatory change. Without frameworks in place to leverage automation and best practices, these ICT, organisations are consumed with the day-to-day operations of ICT with little time and few resources left to develop new services that add value to the business. There is, therefore, a definite requirement for a central repository system in order to enhance ICT service delivery and strategy for continuing to improve service, lowering per-service delivery costs and enabling ICT organisations to bring new services that support competitive advantages. The company of choice in the study is Sentech, which has recently adopted some of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes; these are service desk, incident management, and change management. The company is still in the middle of deciding on whether to implement the configuration management process which will eventually lead to Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This study attempted to indicate the role and the importance of running the CMDB together with the rest of other ITI L processes. The study also indicated how the other processes cannot function effectively without a proper CMDB platform. The primary objective of the study was to identify the importance and the role of CMDB in an ICT environment. The organisation implemented a number of processes such as configuration and change management. To be successful with using the ITIL change management process, it is important that the people, processes, and technologies work together in a coordinated manner to overcome the political roadblocks that usually inhibit cooperation between groups in the same organisation. The study has indicated that the current ITIL processes, such as change management are not achieving the required results due to a lack of proper CMDB. General recommendations on the implementation of the CMOB based on the study were: •Get executive and Board of Directors' support on the implementation of CMOB. •The organisation needs to redefine the role of the General Manager - ICT to a more appropriate role of Chief Information Officer reporting directly to the board. •The organisation must define detailed business processes and procedures. •The organisation must set a clear scope of the CMOB. •The relevant stakeholders on the CMOB must be identified . •A full state of the current ICT processes must be determined. •The business case on the CMOS must be formulated and documented. •Set goals on what the CMOB will have to achieve. •The organisation must create a plan on the implementation of the CMOB. •Identify responsibilities on maintaining the CMOS. •Create awareness within the organisation around CMOB. •Training on CMOB must be offered to the personnel. •The organisation must baseline all ICT assets. •Plan for ongoing management of the CMOB. It is believed that the objective of the study has been met. From the investigation, it has been clear that there is a dire need for an implementation of a central repository system like the CMOS to support other service delivery and support processes. If the recommendations are implemented within Sentech, the company will secure a more effective and efficient service delivery on the ICT platform. Furthermore, Sentech can become an ICT leader and gain a competitive advantage over its fellow competitors. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

There are more requirements for business to be able to run its operations successfully in terms of legal compliance and revenue streams optimisations. Businesses are placing high demands on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to adapt to changing conditions. However, ICT organisations tasked with providing increased service levels at lower costs do not have the resources to reinvent itself with every technological or regulatory change. Without frameworks in place to leverage automation and best practices, these ICT, organisations are consumed with the day-to-day operations of ICT with little time and few resources left to develop new services that add value to the business. There is, therefore, a definite requirement for a central repository system in order to enhance ICT service delivery and strategy for continuing to improve service, lowering per-service delivery costs and enabling ICT organisations to bring new services that support competitive advantages. The company of choice in the study is Sentech, which has recently adopted some of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes; these are service desk, incident management, and change management. The company is still in the middle of deciding on whether to implement the configuration management process which will eventually lead to Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This study attempted to indicate the role and the importance of running the CMDB together with the rest of other ITI L processes. The study also indicated how the other processes cannot function effectively without a proper CMDB platform. The primary objective of the study was to identify the importance and the role of CMDB in an ICT environment. The organisation implemented a number of processes such as configuration and change management. To be successful with using the ITIL change management process, it is important that the people, processes, and technologies work together in a coordinated manner to overcome the political roadblocks that usually inhibit cooperation between groups in the same organisation. The study has indicated that the current ITIL processes, such as change management are not achieving the required results due to a lack of proper CMDB. General recommendations on the implementation of the CMOB based on the study were: •Get executive and Board of Directors' support on the implementation of CMOB. •The organisation needs to redefine the role of the General Manager - ICT to a more appropriate role of Chief Information Officer reporting directly to the board. •The organisation must define detailed business processes and procedures. •The organisation must set a clear scope of the CMOB. •The relevant stakeholders on the CMOB must be identified . •A full state of the current ICT processes must be determined. •The business case on the CMOS must be formulated and documented. •Set goals on what the CMOB will have to achieve. •The organisation must create a plan on the implementation of the CMOB. •Identify responsibilities on maintaining the CMOS. •Create awareness within the organisation around CMOB. •Training on CMOB must be offered to the personnel. •The organisation must baseline all ICT assets. •Plan for ongoing management of the CMOB. It is believed that the objective of the study has been met. From the investigation, it has been clear that there is a dire need for an implementation of a central repository system like the CMOS to support other service delivery and support processes. If the recommendations are implemented within Sentech, the company will secure a more effective and efficient service delivery on the ICT platform. Furthermore, Sentech can become an ICT leader and gain a competitive advantage over its fellow competitors. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Web applications provide the information technology (IT) implementation of business and align IT with business. Retirement of IT applications should ensure stability of business and IT alignment. The current study investigated the alignment gaps created between business and IT resulting from retiring IT software applications. The purpose of this study was to identify IT integration points with business and provide a process-based solution that sustained IT alignment with business after retiring IT applications. The theoretical framework strategic alignment model aided in identifying 3 IT domains as the IT integration points with business: enterprise architecture, configuration management database, and service-level agreement. The research methodology was grounded theory method. A process-in-operation facilitating application retirement generated the data. The grounded theory approach revealed the core category as IT and business alignment and established that the identified IT domains enabled IT alignment with business. The research findings revealed that structured decommissioning, timely repository updates, and 2-way communication between IT and business ensured continued accuracy and reliability of the repositories so business made valid interpretations. The findings may enable employees to realize their self-worth and dignity, leading to increased collaboration and coordination. The positive social change implications of these findings are in the increased alignment between IT and business, resulting in improved overall employee performance.

隨著企業越來越重視資訊科技服務管理及流程效能的議題，加上過去兩年由國內外資訊大廠所倡導的ITIL觀念也漸漸成形，部分大型企業已開始依據ITIL所定義的資訊處理流程，逐步導入於其企業內部作業流程中。除了ITIL標準與解決方案外，如何有效地建置CMDB 成為實施ITIL重要的一環。 根據itSMF於2006提出的分析，導入ITIL時，企業主要面臨的幾項挑戰，包括： 1. 組織成員是否願意接受、付出及執行。 2. 高階管理階層是否願意支持、並提供足夠的資源。 3. 如何將ITIL整合到現有的管理流程、執行及評價ITIL的成功價值。 4. 設計及具體呈現ITIL的執行過程。 5. 如何建立一個合適的組織架構、如角色定位、責任及權利劃分……等。 6. 如何獲得及整合各種支援技術或工具。 ITIL 所強調「IT 即業務，業務即IT」的資訊化社會之成形，也是必然的發展方向。從各學術期刊文獻中可以找出以ITIL 為研究主題之學術論文，然而，卻難以找到以ITIL 之核心 CMDB為探討主題之學術論文。本研究從探討台灣製造業電子化特性，佐以各家導入CMDB的方法論，透過案例分析探討導入CMDB 之方法論，推論出台灣製造業導入CMDB前考慮之特性以及更適合台灣的製造業之CMDB之導入方法論。藉由此四大階段的CMDB導入方法，能協助資訊部門在導入 CMDB時能有一個指引可遵循，能夠有效率的導入CMDB，達到Quick Win的目標。效益包括： 1. 依據ITIL或BSM 藍圖，找出企業IT 服務管理問題所在。 並由台灣製造業商業模式，製造模式及運籌模式推出製造業導入CMDB前考慮的特性，得出核心服務並定義服務模型，依重要狀況先後導入。 2. 從四家CMDB導入方法整理出四大階段，此四大階段導入方法符合製造業快速得出成效的要求，並定義每一階段步驟、里程碑及產出文件。 3. 台灣製造業可將此方法論做為導入CMDB 之參考。其他產業亦可將此方法論做為參考。企業可根據實際情況，決定自那個階段切入。 / As the concept of ITIL is widely being promoted across various industries, the topics of IT Service Management and Process Availability are becoming the focal points for many enterprises. Many large enterprises have already implemented ITIL-compliant processes throughout their internal IT organizations. Among many ITIL-related projects, the effective and efficient implementation of CMDB is of particular importance. Nevertheless, it is hard to find research conducted on CMDB, the integral component of ITIL, even though there is no shortage of academic literature on ITIL subject alone. This thesis seeks to define the pre-implementation requirements and implementation methodologies of CMDB that are most suited to manufacturing industries in Taiwan through the application of case studies. The focus on business priority is no doubt the next step in the IT evolution. This paper seeks to assist IT organizations accomplishing the goals of implementing CMDB effectively and efficiently, and define the critical success factors needed to achieve quick wins. The benefits include: 1. Explore the issues within the enterprise IT Service Management with the help of ITIL or Business Service Management Blueprint. Define CMDB’s pre-implementation requirements, implementation phases, and the resulting service models while considering the unique business model and strategy-making processes of Taiwanese manufacturing industries. 2. Consolidate the four CMDB implementation phases necessary to achieve quick-wins from four CMDB implementation cases, and define the procedures, milestones and deliverables of each phase. 3. This four-phase methodology can act as the reference to CMDB implementation not only to Taiwanese manufacturing industries, but other industries as well. Enterprises can decide the most suitable phase to initiate the CMDB project as they see fit.