Use a dependency view to locate affected CIs

The service desk can use dependency views to identify CIs that are affected due to a configuration item that has caused an incident.

Before you begin

Role required: itil, itil_admin, or admin

About this task

Often, an incident is related to one or more specific configuration items (CIs). If the configuration management database (CMDB) is populated, the CI records hold valuable information to help resolve incidents. You can associate configuration items to an incident to see how the incident affects dependent CIs.

Procedure

  1. In the Incident form, complete one or both of the following steps to associate CIs.
    To use theDo the following
    Configuration item reference field Click the lookup icon beside the field and select the CI.
    Affected CIs related list Click Edit at the top of the list. Select the CI to associate, and click Save.

    If necessary, the administrator can configure the form to display the Affected CIs related list.
    Use the Configuration Item field when a single CI is the cause of the incident, and the Affected CI's related list when multiple CIs are affected by the incident.
    For example, suppose a load-balancer in a datacenter is no longer operational. The Configuration Item field lists the specific server which is out of memory, while the Affected CI related list contains the load-balancer, the datacenter, the servers that depend on the load-balancer, and business services that are impacted by the missing server.
  2. To see more information, click the dependency views icon (Dependency views map icon) beside the Configuration item field.
    The Dependency Views map opens in a new tab or window.
  3. To see items that this CI affects, click the down arrow and select View Affected CIs.
    The CIs Affected list opens in a new tab or window.
  4. To add another affected CI to the incident, click the down arrow beside the CI and click Add Affected CI(s).
    The selected CI is added to the incident.