Configuration Management Specialist

As a member of the OU IT Service Assurance and Monitoring team, the Configuration Management Specialist (CMS) will work with the Asset Management team, process management and technical teams to ensure a robust configuration management program is maintained. The CMS will manage the inventory of CIs and assets throughout their lifecycle, including dependencies and attributes, ensuring accuracy of the asset data. This role will work closely with the Asset Management Lead and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Librarian in the development and deployment of a brand-new, comprehensive OU IT Asset Management (ITAM) plan. This role provides a unique growth opportunity to use your organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills to implement a critical OU IT support function.

Essential Duties

The Configuration Mangement Specialist will map relationships between Configuration Items (CIs) in order to manage these assets through effective incident, problem, release and change management.  The major tasks of this role are:

• To record and track the dependency mapping of upstream and downstream services by mapping the CI descriptors in the CMDB;
• To collaborate with IT teams to analyze services and identify the relationships of each critical services provided by IT;
• To ensure the proper baseline identification of configuration items, perform periodic audits, and provide verification of version release configuration items; and
• To assist the CMDB librarian with maintaining the CMDB.

Process

• Provide services, asset tracking, administration, and management of CIs to ensure CMDB accuracy and completeness.
• Manage inventory of CIs and assets, including dependencies and attributes, ensuring that modifications, withdrawals, and additions of existing ones are correctly recorded by the teams in charge in the ITSM tool.
• Ensure the currency and availability of base reference and populated relationship information in the CMDB by maintaining CI class, attribute configuration and CI relationship.
• Populate the CMDB with descriptions of the attributes and relationships of the logical and physical configuration items.
• Support and administer the tool for configuration and asset management.
• Collect and retain information that will assist in the assessment of what CIs are impacted by a Change to a product or system.

Collaboration

• Work with the Asset Management team to develop standard IT configuration management methodology improvements to increase maturity levels.
• Support the Asset Management team in increasing maturity level of CMDB services, processes and knowledge base.
• Work with the Asset Management team to improve CI data integrity regarding classes, naming conventions, attributes, data sources, and relationship mapping.
• Work with the Asset Management team to conduct configuration audits and reconciliation (duplicates, orphans, stale computers, etc.).
• Work with other ITSM processes to understand new requirements and identify how Configuration Management can support.
• Provide support in the operation and maintenance of the Discovery and Service Mapping applications including but not limited to, discovery schedules, credentials, service mapping and other discovery related operational activities.

Reporting and Governance

• Regulate the change process so that only approved and validated changes are incorporated into product documents, databases, software and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products.
• Support internal and external audits related to the accuracy of CI data in the CMDB.
• Drive visibility on unauthorized CI changes or alterations to environment.
• Assist in building and maintaining an updated knowledge base and dashboards supporting CMDB upkeep.
• Prepare scheduled and ad-hoc reports for management, team members, and auditing as required.
• Setup and maintain business service and service offering mapping structure and build transform maps to import external data sources and maintain integrations.
• Develop reports and dashboard for Discovery and Service Mapping to highlight issues and progress.
• Continuously monitor Configuration Item (CI) baselines, discovery reports/logs, help with the identification of errors and work with subject matter experts (SMEs) to troubleshoot and resolve issues.

Other

• Serve as a support and backup to other Service Assurance and Monitoring team functions, including: Service level monitoring of IT services and applications; Event (outage) management; and Change management.
• Take part in other ITSM processes, or as required perform as a back up to maintain operational activities.
• Other duties as assigned.