How a healthy CMDB paved the way for the ITOM project in a large water and sanitation company in Brazil.
What was delivered
- Consolidating visibility of IT infrastructure
- Connection of configuration items (ICs) calls, contracts and indicators
- Structuring the database to evolve as ITOM
The company is one of the largest private sanitation companies in Brazil, with operations distributed across dozens of municipalities and an IT infrastructure that needs to support essential services with continuity and reliability. The company operates with operations distributed across dozens of municipalities and more than 20,000 employees.
“CMDB brought visibility and organization to our IT operation, creating a solid foundation for evolution in ITOM.”
The challenge
Without a structured CMDB, the company lacked consolidated visibility into its IT assets. Servers and computers were managed in a decentralized manner, without a reliable repository connecting configuration items to the services and contracts they supported. This gap wasn't just technical: it hindered the area's evolution towards more advanced operations management practices, and any step towards ITOM depended on a solid and governed database.
The solution
4MATT implemented the CMDB module in the company's ServiceNow, structuring servers and computers as a starting point for progressive expansion. The CMDB was integrated into the ITSM environment, connecting configuration items directly to tickets, contracts, and indicators, transforming a technical database into a management tool.
With the CMDB in operation, the company gained a structured view of its infrastructure, an indispensable foundation for any automation, monitoring, or governance initiative. The project represents the starting point of a maturity journey that already points to the next step: the evolution to ITOM.
Does your company also face visibility challenges regarding its IT infrastructure? Speak with a 4MATT specialist and discover how to structure a CMDB that truly supports the evolution of your operation.
CMDB and ITOM: Why the database comes before automation.
CMDB (Configuration Management Database) It is the repository that records the configuration items of the IT infrastructure and the relationships between them. ITOM (IT Operations Management) It is the set of capabilities for visibility, monitoring, and automation of the operation. ITOM only delivers value when the CMDB is reliable, because it tells Discovery, Service Mapping, and Event Management what exists, what depends on what, and which service is at risk.
What does each ITOM capability consume from the CMDB?
| ITOM capability | What does she consume from CMDB? | Risk associated with weak CMDB |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Populate the configuration items and run them through the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) to avoid duplicates. | Duplicate or missing items from the source. |
| Service Mapping | Part of the application service, it maps dependencies from top to bottom down to the infrastructure. | Incomplete map and poorly estimated impact. |
| Event Management | It correlates events using the mapped items and services. | Alerts without service context |
| AIOps | It uses the Service Instance tables, configuration items, and Dynamic CI Group. | Inaccurate forecasts and routing |
| Incident and Change Management (ITSM) | It uses the relationships between items to analyze the impact on applications and services. | Decision to change without a vision of the impact. |
Discovery and Service Mapping form ITOM Visibility, which creates and relates configuration items in the CMDB (ServiceNow DocsThe data they generate also feeds into ITSM, asset management, and security, so the quality of the CMDB benefits several processes at the same time (ServiceNow Docs).
How to evolve from CMDB to ITOM
- Diagnose: Measure the quality of the current CMDB (duplicates, required fields, coverage) and define the initial scope.
- Structuring the foundation: Populate key items, such as servers and computers, and connect them to calls, contracts, and indicators.
- Automate discovery: Use Discovery and other data sources to keep the CMDB up-to-date without manual typing.
- Mapping services: Relate the items to application and business services following CSDM.
- Governing and evolving: monitor the health of the CMDB (ServiceNow Docs) and only then activate event monitoring and AIOps.
In which popular phases did CMDB become popular?
| Phase | What's popular | What enables |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl | Windows and Linux servers, network equipment, virtualized data center, network printers, laptops and desktops, business applications and services. | Initial ITSM processes with impact and item owner responsible. |
| Walk | Other operating systems, databases, load balancers, storage, technical services and their offerings. | Mapping of services and foundation for Event Management |
| Run | Software, Tier 2 devices, cloud environments, and service portfolio data. | A comprehensive overview of ITOM, portfolio, and application rationalization. |
Order matters: each phase depends on the quality of the previous one. That's the logic of... CMDB in ServiceNow and of ITOM servicesExpand the scope only after validating the database.
Related readings on CMDB and ITOM
| Theme | Read when | Article |
|---|---|---|
| CMDB Overview | Do you want to understand the value of CMDB for the operation? | How CMDB simplifies IT operations in ServiceNow |
| Warning signs | It is suspected that the CMDB has lost credibility. | 7 signs that your CMDB is failing |
| Data quality | You need to govern the base with the CSDM. | How to ensure data quality and governance in CMDB following CSDM |
| Service Mapping | It aims to distinguish between the concepts of application and service. | CMDB and Service Mapping: Business Application, Application Service and Application |
| Migration to CSDM | It has a legacy lifecycle model. | Legacy Lifecycle Migration to the CSDM Standard |
| Automation of operations | Want to see ITOM applied to IT operations? | IT Operations Automation with ServiceNow |
| CMDB and ITOM in the field | Operates external teams and distributed assets. | Field Service Management in ServiceNow: CMDB and ITOM |
| Completing the CMDB | Want a practical guide to Discovery? | E-book: Populate and maintain your CMDB with ServiceNow |
Regarding 4MATT's CMDB and ITOM practices
4MATT is a ServiceNow Elite Partner in Brazil and received the Technology Excellence Partner Award 2024-2025, granted by ServiceNow. Its practice integrates CMDB, CSDM, ITOM Discovery, ITAM and... ServiceNow managed services, with data architecture as the starting point for each project.
Frequently asked questions about CMDB and the evolution to ITOM.
Why does the CMDB need to be healthy before starting ITOM?
Because ITOM capabilities consume the CMDB as a source of truth. Service Mapping starts with configuration items to build a map for each service, and Event Management uses these items and services to provide context for alerts. If the CMDB has gaps or duplicates, the map is incomplete and the correlation loses accuracy. This was the logic in this case: first the governed database, then the evolution to ITOM.
What is ITOM Visibility?
It is the set formed by Discovery and Service Mapping, the two products that create configuration items in the CMDB and relate them (ServiceNow DocsDiscovery finds servers, devices, and the applications running on them. Service Mapping builds a map of application services and the devices that support them.
What is the difference between Discovery and Service Mapping?
Discovery answers “what exists in the infrastructure” and feeds the CMDB with configuration items. Service Mapping answers “what depends on what”: it starts with the application service and maps, from top to bottom, the connections between devices and applications, which allows you to see the impact of a problem on other services.ServiceNow DocsThey complement each other.
Where should we begin to popularize the CMDB?
This underpins ITSM processes: servers, network equipment, virtualized data center, network printers, laptops, desktops, and business services and applications. Then come databases, load balancers, storage, and technical services, and only then software, Layer 2, and cloud. It's the phased approach (crawl, walk, run), the same one that guides the gradual evolution of this case, which began with servers and computers. See also Diagnosis and Planning of CMDB.
How does CMDB improve Event Management and AIOps?
ITOM AIOps relies on correct data in the CMDB tables, especially the Service Instance table (formerly called Application Service), the configuration items table, and the Dynamic CI Group table.ServiceNow DocsFollowing CSDM guidelines when populating these tables improves mapping accuracy and helps route alerts and incidents to the right team. Without this context, the alert arrives without knowing which service it belongs to.
How do you measure the health of the CMDB?
Through CMDB Health, which evaluates indicators such as duplicate items, completed mandatory fields, and audits, and consolidates them into scores by class, health group, and service. The tool also offers remediation rules for items that failed the tests (ServiceNow DocsFor symptoms of a CMDB at risk, read 7 signs that your CMDB is failing.
What is the role of CSDM in the evolution to ITOM?
The CSDM (Common Service Data Model) defines how to organize services, applications, and configuration items and how to relate them. It's what allows you to connect a server to a business service and then to an alert. To delve deeper into data governance at this layer, see [link to relevant documentation]. How to ensure data quality and governance in CMDB following CSDM.
Is it possible to start ITOM without a complete CMDB?
It's possible, provided the initial scope is small and reliable. A partial, but governed, CMDB supports a better first cycle of mapping and monitoring than a broad and outdated CMDB. The safest approach is to expand the scope in phases, validating data quality at each stage.
What did CMDB deliver in this case before ITOM?
4MATT structured servers and computers in the CMDB and integrated it with ITSM, connecting configuration items to tickets, contracts, and indicators. The result was a consolidated view of the infrastructure and a database ready to evolve to ITOM. See other operational practices at [link to 4MATT operating practices]. IT Operations Automation with ServiceNow.
Do you want to know if your CMDB is ready to support ITOM? Speak with a 4MATT specialist.