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Thursday
Aug182011

Data Center Program Management

Case Study

Background

The two production data centers were nearing physical and infrastructure capacity limits. Construction was well underway on the expansions, and the project management group needed guidance and assistance on how to manage multiple simultaneous efforts, including the “normal” IT book of business. Client was experienced managing projects, and had never embarked on program management.

What We Did

Project management efforts in the client were focused on applications development efforts and not transferable to Infrastructure efforts (rapid iterative infrastructure implementations are to be avoided.) An infrastructure project template was developed, and then used as the basis for developing a light weight, infrastructure specific program management approach. Included in this approach were management oversight committees, and program dashboards.

What We Achieved

The client began using the templates for new infrastructure projects, and immediately applied the program management approach in managing the overall efforts. A total of twelve distinct projects made up the high level elements of the program.

Contact Harvard Partners to learn more about our Data Center Strategies »

Summary

Industry: Financial Services
Scope: US corporate wide exposure, with $160M annual IT spend
Impact: Projects were delivered successfully as part of the overall program
Duration: 1 year+


Thursday
Aug182011

Breakfast Drive-Thrus

In a fun twist on the traditional restaurant review, we set out to review breakfast restaurant drive-thrus.

We’re talking the “grab and go” places….the “I didn’t have time to make something at home and still need to eat,” kind of places.

Where you go is probably determined by a short list of factors:

  • ·         Convenience – Relative location to a main road and ease of driving through
  • ·         Quality – is the food and beverage tasty
  • ·         Speed – Time to order and receipt
  • ·         Price

With school going back into session and the summer vacation season coming to an end, we thought it would be fun to “analyze” Westborough drive-thrus on these characteristics. As you might guess, a non-scientific method was used. Two “commuters” went through each drive-thru ordering a popular item during morning drive time in a four door car. We then repeated the trip through the drive-thru (sans food) in an F350 truck with a 16’ trailer attached (thanks to Lawn Aeration Plus)…as we realize people go through the drive-thru in different vehicles. The truck/trailer combination made it through almost every drive-thru; some were better than others.

We were simulating being in a rush, so we never got out of the vehicle.

We recognize making two passes through a restaurant drive-thru hardly constitutes a scientific method. The intent was to share our experiences and have some tongue-in-cheek fun (pun intended.) We split the food entrées, so nothing went to waste. We did an iced or hot coffee, and a breakfast entrée; where there were “specials”, we ordered the special (i.e. “A number two.”) We did consult the internet to make sure we were not overdosing on caffeine. 

Convenience is a relative item. A Route 9 westbound location isn’t terribly helpful if you need to go East on Route 9. We measured convenience as getting on and off the closest main road.

We did record the hours the drive-thrus are open. We did this by calling each restaurant. This is particularly important for the early risers.

Here are our findings:

Company

Convenience

Quality

Speed

Price

Burger King
(Rt 9 Westboound)
139 Turnpike Road
(508) 366-7997

Drive-thru open

Sun-Wed
5:30AM – Midnight

Thu, Fri, Sat
5:30AM - 2AM

Easy off Route 9 Westbound, exit onto Lyman Street.

We hadn’t been to Burger King for breakfast in ages. They are promoting a new breakfast menu.

Arguably the best breakfast hash browns.

 

 

Fast, pleasant order taker.

The Rt 9/Lyman Street intersection traffic light cycle can cause delay.

Under $5

Boston Market
Mass Turnpike - Service Area 6A Milepost
(508) 870-9969

Drive-thru open
10:00AM – 9:00PM

Included solely for Mass Pike travelers. There is a Dunkin Donuts in the plaza without a drive-thru

No Breakfast

--

--

Dunkin' Donuts
(Rt 9 Eastbound)
124 Turnpike Rd
(508) 366-5784

Drive-thru open 24x7

A popular morning place. Easy off, easy on.

Coffee is great.

Donuts and bagels are what you would expect.

It seems you have to ask for napkins.

The place is so popular a line around the building and out to Route 9 develops. On these days, pass on Dunkin’ and head to McDonalds.

Just under $4 for coffee with a donut or bagel, around $5 for hot.

Dunkin' Donuts
(Rt 9 Westbound)
133 Turnpike Rd
(508) 898-9994

Drive-thru open 24x7

This had the tightest yet achievable overall corners. We’ve seen worse, but we had to pay attention especially when maneuvering the truck/trailer.

Coffee is great.

Donuts and bagels are what you would expect.

The place is so popular a line around the building and out to Route 9 develops. On these days, pass on Dunkin’ and head to McDonalds.

Just under $4 for coffee with a donut or bagel, around $5 for hot.

Honey Dew
2 Connector Road

(508) 366-7661

Drive-thru open:
5AM – 8PM

If you live at Windsor Ridge, use Connector Road, or work on Research, Computer or Technology Drives, this is a no-brainer stop off.

Our sausage, egg and cheese on a plain bagel had a cold center…a downfall of microwave ovens in fast food restaurants.

Order and pick up was fine on the back side of the building.

Around $5.50

Honey Dew
65 East Main

(508) 366-5211

 

Drive-thru open:
5AM – 9PM (weeknights 8PM)

For everyone heading east on Main Street, this is a hidden jewel when time pressed.

Our sausage, egg and cheese sandwich was very good.

This is the only drive-thru not handing us a sandwich “in a bag.”  Yes, there was a wrapper, but no bag and no napkins.

We like using the bag as a litter bag….filling it up with trash breakfast trash and tossing in a receptacle at a destination.

Also, had we picked up breakfast to eat somewhere else, it would have been awkward to carry.

One car in front of us….perfect!

If you are arrive and continue east on Main Street, this is an easy stop off.

If you need to continue west, the left turn out of the parking lot onto Main Street can take time.

Just under $6

McDonalds
(Rt 9 – E)
166 East Main Street
(508) 366-2276

Drive-thru open 5AM to midnight.

Three entrances and two exits make this location high on convenience.

The Egg McMuffin is the signature breakfast sandwich introduced in 1972.  Combined with a hash brown, and you’ve got a great “grab and go.”

When the regular crew is working, you almost fly through.

Just under $5

McDonalds
(Rt 9 W, by Wal*Mart)
299 Turnpike Road
(508) 616-0209

Drive-thru open
Sun-Wed
5:00AM – 11:00PM

Thu, Fri, Sat
5:00AM - midnight

One way in, one way out….traffic can be a bit of a hassle.

The Egg McMuffin is the signature breakfast sandwich introduced in 1972.  Combined with a hash brown, and you’ve got a great “grab and go.”

The only times we saw a line form at this McDonald’s was around lunchtime.

They do have 3 windows in a row (the “ignore”, the payment, the pickup), something confusing any “non-regular.” 

Just under $5

Panera Bread
Bay State Commons
600 Union Street
(508) 898-3400

Drive-thru hours:
6:30AM – 9PM

We checked; Panera is a US based company.   Why?  Their drive through turns the “wrong way” (to the right), so people hit the curb all the time OR get out of their car (see photo). This is the 3rd Panera in the country with a drive through; we can see why.

We did not attempt to manuver the F350/trailer through the drive-thru. We suspect it would make it only if no cars were at the exit.

Being in Bay State Commons makes this a little off the beaten path for almost all but the Bay State condo crowd.

We asked what to order, and went with the recommendation of bacon, egg and cheese on an asiago cheese bagel.  

Of all the breakfasts, this one tastes the most like “real” food and not some overly processed or imitation.

Speed is not their things.

One car in line….we waited at the window over 5 minutes….an eternity when you are in a hurry.

The drive-thru opening at 6:30AM almost disqualifies Panera as a breakfast restaurant according to your intrepid early morning reviewers.

We asked the single worker at the single window why so slow, and he explained he has to run around to collect food.

Panera Bread logistics “fail” outside and inside at the drive-thru.

Just over $6

Wendy’s
300 Turnpike Road
(508) 366-0081

10:00AM – 2:00AM daily

A little off the beaten path for a place with Rt 9 visibility. More convenient if you are at BJs or the Rt 9 Stop & Shop

No Breakfast

--

--

Full disclosure….on a “normal” day we frequent the Rt 9 Eastbound Dunkin Donuts, or the Rt 9 Eastbound McDonalds. Our co-pilot swears by the Green Mountain Coffee at the Mobil Station (130 Turnpike Road) on Rt 9 at Lyman Street (the Mobil Station is not a drive-thru, therefore not included.)

The Author

Gary Kelley has lived in Westborough since 1994. His reviews are what he would tell friends, and are not an academic analysis.

 

Monday
Jul182011

You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure

Harvard Partners’ Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Practice Lead, John Manning, always says, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” John uses this to help clients assess risk and prioritize business continuity and disaster recovery initiatives. We recognize the same holds true across Information Technology (IT).

 

 

IT is a discipline focused on understanding user needs, delivering solutions, and creating business outcomes. IT should be measurable, well-organized, and predictable. Every decision, be it a simple one or one made during a crisis, is based on either reducing business risk or increasing business value. Decisions and recommendations should be fact-based.

An IT Assessment is a fact-based, holistic tool for measuring expectations and perceptions of IT relative to capabilities, resources, vulnerabilities, and internal IT priorities.

Qualitative and quantitative inputs help identify areas of achievement and those needing improvement. Dashboards provide metrics giving IT the means to identify and prioritize areas for remediation.

Narratives resulting from an IT Assessment are typically driven from business input or industry best practice and help to identify areas where user perception is different than IT reality. Many times, improvements in communication (a weakness for most IT organizations) create positive attitudes towards IT and technology.

While the outcome of an IT Assessment aids in decision making, the process of performing an IT Assessment should be collaboration between users, IT staff, and those performing the assessment. Every response and metric has a story and those stories contain the clues to uncovering the underlying cause of many issues.

IT Assessments should be used to fix root cause issues rather than provide temporary fixes for symptoms.

In a recent IT Assessment Harvard Partners performed for a $200M company, many areas for improvement were identified along with dozens of vulnerabilities (none critical). A prioritized list (by category) of improvements was proposed with estimated effort and benefits. Using the results, IT managers identified and prioritized specific initiatives designed to improve IT and the impression people have of IT.

This organization is now well down the path to improvement, with the business realizing immediate and substantial gains.

 

Monday
Jul042011

Data Center Migrations

As companies emerge from the great recession, data center spending appears to again by in vogue.

While we believe colos and clouds deserve serious attention, many companies are expanding existing data centers to address the needs of business and/or systems growth.

Ok not THAT kind of migration

The first, and arguably most important, step in any migration effort is understanding the inventory. It’s our experience few companies have this airtight.

The inventory must include hardware (model, serial number) and also applications, databases, circuits and interdependencies. Any special power (including outlets) and cooling needs (a blade enclosure brings a significant heat source.) Network and SAN connections must be understood.

The company then decides how to perform the migration (most companies decide this first, and we believe in understanding the requirements first). Is it a “lift and shift,” a P2V (physical to virtualize) effort, or a fork lift upgrade? How the data will be migrated is a key consideration, with attention paid to how quickly data can be moved.

Most companies allow development machines to be “moved” anytime, although consideration must be given to the development machine usage. For example, a US based company moving a development environment during the US day is preferable when using a India development team.

The network team is a key player in any migration. How the network is extended between locations will have a direct impact on how challenging the migration will be….especially if IP addresses must change. Any administrator will tell you changing IP addresses is an easy task; however any “bad” application coding techniques will quickly be exposed.

Arguably the easiest migration is establishing a mirror environment, migrating data and testing applications in a “cocoon” segregated from the current production environment. This type of migration reduces downtime, and if clustering approaches are used downtime is virtually eliminated. Migrations are also an opportunity to use disaster recovery environments (provided they are well tested in advance.) The target environment can be an upgraded processing environment, and vendors often facilitate with an asset swap minimizing licensing and tax ramifications.

Perhaps the most challenging migrations are lift and shifts. In these migrations, a (backed up) environment is brought down, moved, and then restored. The issue is “falling back” is a practical challenge. Once the machines are moved, it’s very rare they are ever moved back…instead, they are “fixed in place.”

It’s important as much testing and verification as possible is performed before moving systems. All electrical must be confirmed, cables/fiber tested and labeled, door widths and heights reviewed, physical security access confirmed, loading dock heights confirmed, etc. When you find that one loading dock door that’s “always open” locked…how do you get it unlocked at 2AM? And when you are moving distances, it is prudent to check weather and road closures whenever possible BEFORE starting the migration. Some equipment is so large, professional movers are needed.



In a physical move, the application is brought down, backups performed, database brought down, followed by the server being brought down. Once at the target location, the server is brought up by the system administrators, database is confirmed by the DBA team, and then the application is prepared for user verification BEFORE productive use. At best, this is a multi-hour event. In a virtual migration, data is first migrated, and so the live environment is established and tested. The network team can then repoint DNS so the new environment. The application should be quiesced in the original environment so nobody can continue entering transactions.

Migrations can take time and often take place in the wee hours. It’s our experience, especially when physically moving older equipment; some equipment will not immediately come back (~1%). This often requires an extended recovery time, and necessitates “shifts” of support people. Technicians need to know this in advance and plan for it; to many, it is a badge of honor to work 72 hours straight.

In a short piece like this all options for migrations can’t be covered. Migrations are projects like any other, and require good planning and execution.

Friday
Jun172011

The Value of Consistent Format

“Here’s the Format Manual,” was intoned during orientation for one company. Without even looking up, a small pamphlet was envisioned. Instead, a 1” thick three ring binder was presented.

In it was every conceivable form of communication along with the specified format. Yes, two column for a memo, in the company’s unique (yes, unique) font, including the flow of the overall document. It felt very restrictive; leaving me wondering what led a partnership to commission a “Format Manual.”




I now “get it.” Here’s why.

My business is helping companies develop IT Strategy. We often take complex subjects and present them in a compelling manner. This has led us to develop a library of hundreds upon hundreds of PowerPoint slides, all stored on SharePoint for staff to access.

This intellectual property library allows us to quickly respond to client needs….pulling together non-client specific data quickly and professionally.

For this to be effective, the slides must all have the same look and feel…otherwise we can’t build presentations from existing materials.

Recently, a presentation was developed where a lot of time was spent on modifying the format…limiting the value of those materials.

All our presentations have black letters on white backgrounds. This one has white letters on a black background. Personally, making notes on a black background slide is nearly impossible.

The fonts were changed, introducing a new font, and in some cases shading. As before, these slides don’t “look” like ours, and certainly can’t be reused.

We use stock photos in most of our presentations…for a professional look. This author had to use black and white cartoon figures….and hand drawn figures. It just doesn’t hold together for me. In fact, it cheapens the look.

My sense is authors should spend time on developing concepts and presenting compelling ideas as a prime focus, not on changing format.

As I thought about this blog entry, I was drawn to an example of where format is varied and it works. Google’s Doodles come to mind. They are compelling.



That said, they are temporary, they are clever, they don’t impact function….

I respect that IBM’s used Helvetica forever. Every IBM document is the same.

When was the last time the New York Times used a different font than…say….Cheltenham. Every 100 years or so. Heck, even when they went digital they scanned the old image.

So…let’s give it a decade before we change formats. Until then, let’s focus on content.

 

Friday
May202011

Notes from the MIT CIO Symposium

This week we attended the MIT CIO Symposium and, as in previous years, found it thought provoking, inspirational, and actionable. We want to share some interesting comments from a keynote CEO panel.


The panel was moderated by Gregory Huang (Editor, Xconomy Boston) with the following CEO’s panelists:

The main theme was alignment and the need for IT organizations to understand business organizations in order to help them innovate. Business leaders want to “be on the edge.” IT leaders want to focus “on the core.” The problem with staying at the core is “innovation gets stifled.” Therefore, IT needs to “bring the core out to the edge.” When this is achieved, then CIOs can pull CEOs towards innovation and help the CEO “look smart.”

A leading factor preventing IT from innovating and moving the core to the edge is the organization of IT. Most IT “organizations are structured like the military.” There is a clear command and control structure with a specific ration of managers to staff. At Google they operate with 60 staff members being managed by one manager. In order to break old habits, IT will need to redesign itself and think about using new techniques for communication and accountability. At a different session, the question was asked how “Gen-Y” employees want to work. A CIO said he didn’t know, but he looks at his 16 year-old son playing Xbox and maybe has a clue. His son is playing a game where he is the leader of a team of virtual people (soldiers). The people are real and located all around the world. His son is able to organize the team, establish productive real-time communication, enable a virtual command and control structure and win the battle. Pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t graduated high school.

The CEO’s felt IT has become order takers. They would prefer them to be “Deflationary, Destructive, and Disruptive.”

In a discussion about talent management, one CEO stated he no longer reads resumes before meeting someone. He claims a resume is simply “person branding,” and doesn’t tell you much about the person. The CEO will read the resume after the interview, only if he likes the candidate. A highly provocative approach.

The conference was fantastic and this panel was ideal as a kick-off for many panels and discussions around the role of IT and the need for technology-driven business innovation.

Monday
May092011

An Elevator in the Data Center

As a trusted advisor to CIOs and their staff, we often hear the dirty little secrets. We call it the “close the door moment.” We know when a client lowers their voice and says, “Would you please close the door?” we are about to hear what’s keeping the client awake.

We recently had a client reach out with a unique problem. “Facilities needs to add an elevator to the building, and it must go through the data center. Can you help?”


What the client was asking was how to mitigate risk in the buildout. This is a perfect example of where external services are of benefit.

We are in data centers nearly every day. From 500 square feet to 50,000 square feet and beyond, this is one of our core areas. We assist with the processes, oversight, management structures, systems migrations, etc.

Obviously this client had architectural/structural/construction resources, and none were familiar with risk mitigation during construction and on to operation.

Clearly adding an elevator shaft to an operating data center presents challenges in construction dust/debris, vibration, EMI of the running elevator, security, cooling, power, network, etc. By bringing to bear our perspectives garnered over many data center expansions, we delivered a risk mitigation plan allowing construction and operation to continue, while also adding some facility improvements to create an overall better data center for this client.

From the client perspective, construction in and around the data center was a very scary thought. Because we help numerous clients, we had the skills and knowledge to help the client on a very efficient basis.

The CIO knew he needed help, and did not hesitate asking for help early in the construction process.

Sunday
Apr172011

Hail to the Chief

At a private fundraiser, in Chicago, President Obama spoke about a number of issues but after the address a microphone was left open and reporters covering the event heard his comments. Some of his comments were about government IT.

Mark Knoller, a reporter for CBS, tweeted the following as he listened to President Obama’s comments.

“Obama said he thought that as President, he’d have some “cool phones and stuff” in the Oval Office, but now he says “we can’t get our phones to work!”

“Pres Obama said the govt’s IT ‘is horrible.’ He said that’s the case ‘across the board:’ at the Pentagon, Homeland Security, the agencies.”

I shared this with a number of IT people and the responses all came back the same.

“Typical User. Instead of recognizing the problem being security and process, he is more concerned about “cool phones and stuff.”

Is this really an issue of a user with no sensitivity to the issues faced by an IT infrastructure organization, or is this simply a case of IT not understanding and being sensitive to business outcomes?

President Obama is the first president to embrace technology and recognize its value in communication, requirements gathering (the people in the West Wing probably don’t use this term when referring to listening to the American people), and decision making.

The issue is not whether President Obama’s BlackBerry is secure, but how to make it secure without a loss in user productivity. It is a problem faced by most (non-government) IT infrastructure organizations when it comes to iPhones, iPads, and Droid devices. Cool devices with very simple and productive interfaces, but not enterprise-ready when it comes to security.

We have a practice focused on “IT Satisfaction.” IT Satisfaction is a product of organizational awareness and commitment to making end-users successful. The desired end state is a crystal clear vision of how the end-user perceives services delivered by IT and an ongoing evolution of delivery capabilities surpassing expectations. Based on President Obama’s comments, the White House IT staff is not achieving IT Satisfaction.

The White House IT staff should consider uncovering IT processes and service opportunities designed to drive satisfaction levels upward through reactive and proactive services. They should insulate the President and his staff from infrastructure requirements (i.e., security), and focus on improving their productivity. The White House IT staff has a “game changing” opportunity to bring the President into the 21st century as it relates to technology. The President wants to go there. All he requires are people to listen to his technology vision and have the skills and passion to make it a reality.

 

Sunday
Mar132011

Facebook as a business tool

After the financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent economic impact, many firms took seriously finding alternatives to cut spending and increase sales. We are witnessing the period of massive “government budget cuts”, where every single save/unspent dime is very important. Private companies are following down this road too. One of the new “tools” of cost saving and business promoting is the use of social media. In particular Facebook, the leading site in web 2.0 social media, can become a very useful tool for businesses struggling to keep their levels of income high and lower costs. In mid-2009, Anderson Analytics, a research institute based in the United States, concluded after a two months research survey that “60% of the Internet population uses social networks and social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter” (Evans 2010, 2). And with the rapidly growing internet population around the world this is an opportunity the business world can’t miss. It looks like “virtual” is becoming as important as “real” for businesses.


So, what is social media? As researchers Kaplan and Haenlein define it, social media is “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue” (2010, 15). It is a powerful way to directly connect businesses with customers (users) in a public environment and, at the same time, a personal basis. Managers understood that a direct communication with customers is essential for sale increase and customer satisfaction (Gottschalk 2005). Facebook is just the perfect example of this new business-customer relationship. With more than 500 million users, more than the population of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined, it is a public (virtual) sphere of worldwide potential customers that a company better not ignore.

But how does Facebook practically help your business?

1. Cost-effective marketing.

The cost of “traditional marketing” by other media means (TV, radio, newspaper, billboard, etc.) is quite high compared to that of social media. In fact, it ranges from 2 to 15 times more (Evans 2010). But the only honest comparison can be made with a TV ad, since both social media and TV marketing includes the combination of audio & video messaging to the potential customers. Which televised event compared to Facebook has the possibility to deliver your message to hundreds of millions? When you answer that question, please do so with: How much does your company cost a TV ad in such an event? A Facebook ad will cost you on a click-per-person basis. You will pay only for those customers who show interest in what you are advertising. This way you can be sure that all money spent has generated interest among customers. No money spent in vain!

2. Low advertising rates.

Not only you pay for every person who clicks on your ad, but the cost for each click is $1.25. And that is the same even if you sell a product worth hundreds of dollars. That should be a convincing argument for marketing cost effectiveness.

3. New product development.

Facebook makes new product development easier and less costly. The “classical” way of generating a new product comes through a combination of customer surveying, feedback collection, market trends and innovations. Managers are eager to conduct pre-launching tests for their new products and are very careful in designing the product according to the target group requirements / desires (Gottschalk 2005). They contract survey agencies to conduct massive customer surveys and focus groups. All the data gathered should be analyzed and categorized in order to look and find patterns. At the end that is both time and cost consuming for a company. Will the product be well accepted by customers? Will they like it? With Facebook you have the possibility to organize survey campaigns and likewise focus group activities at no additional cost. You have just to be a user to do that. Furthermore, you can publicize certain characteristics of the product you are developing and collect feedback / suggestions. This will allow the company to make any adjustments before launching. And the cost of all this is? Free. You even get “fans” during this process.

4. Continuous customer contact.

A company can have its own Facebook page for free. In it, you as a manager can monitor any feedback given from users on a particular product or anything related to your business. There is no need in conducting customer surveys in order to assess customer satisfaction. This is a good way to assess customer satisfaction for free. Your company even gets free publicity as your “fans” show on their “wall” to all their “friends” any related interaction with your company.

This article was a short introduction to some ways how business can use Facebook and benefit from it.

This article submitted by a guest author who has been studying social media.

List of References

Evans, Dave. 2010. Social media marketing: The next generation of business engagement. London, Sybex Publishing.

Gottschalk, Petter. 2005. E-Business Strategy, Sourcing and Governance. New York. Idea Group Publishing.

Kaplan, Andreas. & Haenlein, Michael. 2010. “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media”, Business Horizons, 53 (1): 59–68. 


 

Monday
Feb212011

Inventory Management in Data Centers

We are seeing a large number of companies re-engaging in data center construction activities after the Great Recession of 2008-2010. After putting large expenditures on hold, companies are finding data center environmental constraints (power, cooling, and white space) are requiring infrastructure upgrades and/or relocations.

We are finding many companies would benefit from inventory management disciplines typically found in retail or manufacturing environments.


 

Many IT organizations have “lost control” of their inventories because of parochial approaches in departments managing the underlying information. In other words, they are suffering from an overwhelming amount of data!

In a retail or warehousing environment, every item (or Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)) is tracked closely in a master catalog, with annual physical inventory and/or cycle counting approaches used to maintain a key understanding. There is often one number universally used through the organization (sales, distribution, warehousing, manufacturing, design, sales administration, etc.). Each department can then use their own systems for understanding products. These approaches are well understood in the arguably more mature retail/warehousing environments.

Information Technology departments often suffer from a hubris preventing a shared perspective. Each department uses their own view…often with overlap, and not uniformity. Each department manages “their data”, often creating different indexing inhibiting sharing for the total organization’s good.

For example, an IT organization may use the following “keys” for storing their data:

Department

Key

Issue

Data Center

Server Name

Process breaks down if server upgrades use same name

Networking

IP Address

Does not uniquely identify a machine.

Server team

MAC Address

Not externally identifiable


 

Obviously this is a contrived example. In the real world, organizations use a combination of identifiers to uniquely track an environment. Unfortunately, these schemes often break down and, are not maintained, and often struggle to reflect a virtualized environment.

That said, how can we leverage this parochial view for a breakthrough in understanding.

What’s a company to do?

Many companies start down the path of an iron-clad asset management initiative. Often a czar of asset management is appointed, and new processes are introduced. Some companies even go so far as to place RFID tags on servers. As a place to start, Asset Management will make a marked improvement.

The real answer may be more subtle.

A configuration management data base (CMDB) is a repository of information related to all the components of an environment. The CMDB is a fundamental component of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework’s Configuration Management process.

One could argue CMDB is a fancy way of doing asset management. The key difference is CMDB repositories frequently involve federation, the inclusion of data into the CMDB from other sources, such as Asset Management, so the definitive source of the selected data retains accountability for the data.

In the retail/warehousing environment, the individual areas are responsible for their data and have “figured out a way” to share (federate) the data so the organization has a single shared view.

Our recommendation to companies beginning any data center process is spend the time “up front” understanding their data, and rationalizing into a system transcending the data center construction effort. Since a data center effort requires a solid inventory, enter into the discovery effort with an eye towards all the data needed…not to derail the migration effort, but to accelerate it during the move and beyond.

As a side benefit? You will find servers that can be repurposed or decommissioned…better leveraging the strategic IT investment with savings in complexity, license and maintenance costs, repairs, etc.