Managed Objects has announced a CMDB product (or repackaging) today. I can’t tell from the PR and web information if it’s something new or repackaging of what they were calling Business Service Configuration Manager (BSCM), a vCMDB, or if it’s something completely new.
I’d certainly be interested in learning more on what’s behind the scenes and how they’ll integrate/enable process areas such as change, config, release, incident, etc. or how they federate and reconcile (metadata, schemas, etc.). Has Managed Objects been invited to participate in the CMDB Federation Consortium?
In general for any/all vendor CMDB solutions, how does one assess time to value, ease of deployment, integration or federation? What perspective is applied, the executives, the tools group, or the IT operations/support staff? Is this something that industry practioners should create guidelines for? A checklist or assessment rules of thumb? No IT environment is the same and they all generally have their fair share of COTS and custom applications/software and integration challenges (technology, politics, etc.).
Thoughts?
Think you’ve got what it takes to turn complex data into something easily understood by an executive? Got a special knack for creating dashboards, reports, charts or graphs? Do this in your day job or as a (weird) hobby? The Business Intelligence Network announced its 2006 Data Visualization Competition. Download the spreadsheet and take a look at this contest based on five different business scenarios.
I like scenario #4 and may give it a go:
“You are a consultant who has been hired by a U.S. commercial airlines to design a dashboard for its executives. The information that the executive team wants to monitor has been identified and now its your job to create the dashboard’s visual design. You must try to display all of this information in some manner on a single screen such that the executives will be able to quickly identify anything that needs their attention and then have the means to discern enough about the situation to decide if they can ignore it for now or must perhaps take some action. It is up to you to determine the appropriate manner, level of detail, and means to display each piece of information.”
Fore more information, visit here.
