Review By: Tilmann Bruckhaus, PhD
10/22/2008

Implementing ITIL Configuration Management provides practical insights and guidelines that will remain relevant for years to come. As I read this book, I gained insights about ITIL and implementing ITIL that could be applied immediately. That is because Larry Klosterboer delivers solid advice on implementing ITIL in clear and concise language, supported with numerous illustrations, diagrams, and tables. He structures his book into meaningful chapters and sections for quick access to the most relevant topics of implementing ITIL. Readers can quickly grasp the key concepts and pick up helpful advice on the broadest range of ITIL-related issues. The book's main parts provide an overview of configuration management, planning for configuration management, implementing configuration management, and, finally, running an effective configuration management system.

This book is for anyone who contributes to implementing ITIL and those who experience impacts of such an initiative. Klosterboer's guidelines supply sufficient background and groundwork to allow novices to come up to speed quickly. He lays out his book to cover the breadth from the fundamentals to advanced topics. Readers with little or no prior knowledge of ITIL are able to learn about the standard and apply what they learn without necessarily consulting additional secondary sources. I have recommended this book to coworkers, and anybody who wants to learn about ITIL should add this comprehensive and practical text to their library.

Overall, this book is a refreshingly practical guide to implementing a complex technical standard. One aspect of ITIL that Klosterboer would have done well covering in more detail is the ITIL standard itself, including topics such as its structure; examples of its language; and its adoption over time, worldwide, and across industries. Such information about the standard itself and about its adoption would help the reader become more familiar with the standard and its significance.

One of the most interesting facts offered in the book is the evocative description of the stages of configuration management including tracking, relating, optimizing, and leveraging of configurations. Another similarly useful concept presented in the book is the discussion of the requirements gathering process. According to Klosterboer, this begins with filtering dreams and hopes for what is practical, separating wishes and expectations as to whether they are measurable, and finally focusing on those requirements that management funded.

The most inspiring passage of Klosterboer's book comes near the end of the text where he outlines a future in which IT manages assets with precision, quickly identifies trends to prevent failures, and proactively refreshes hardware according to accurate predictions of impeding failures.