ServiceNow CMDB 201: Awaken Your Service Management From Within

This is the book that started me with ServiceNow. After speaking with Hichem about issues I was having when I started with ServiceNow he told me to read this book and then ask questions. This book answered every question I could think of. If you are starting with ServiceNow I highly recommend that you get this book.

I rate this book, and its author, the lowest possible rating that Amazon will allow. This is due to the author's lack of integrity, the book’s numerous errors, the book’s lack of organized thought, and the existence of significantly better CMDB products. 1) Regarding the integrity of the author. Hichem Guerimi claims he will send a PDF and original diagrams of the applicable publication to anyone who emails him. He states this in the foreword of CMDB 201 as well as his replies to comments on Amazon (he has a couple other publications). I purchased this book 30 days ago, since then I’ve sent Guerimi six emails and one phone message. Despite acknowledging receipt of my requests on at least two occasions, Guerimi has failed to send the material. I can only conclude that Guerimi was being intentionally misleading with his claim. 2) The book, CMDB 201, has numerous formatting and proofreading errors. There are spacing issues throughout the document, for example a word may read like "t his" rather than "this." The book also has paragraph numbering issues, for example a paragraph 3 without a paragraph 2. The book has general proofreading issues, for example a figure with multiple titles (figure 21 has two titles: "Figure 21" with a description and "Figure 22" with a different description) or a figure title without an associated figure (“Figure 23” title but no actual figure 23). 3) This book is written more like a random collection of notes. You will find information relating to different sub-topics here and there, but not organized in a manner that is coherent or logical. The formatting and proofreading errors mentioned in my previous point compound the issue. I found myself having to write an outline to try to decipher the points Guerimi was trying to make. 4) Guerimi's shortcomings ended up being a blessing in disguise in that I found much better CMDB products. The book "BMC Step-by-Step Guide to Building a CMDB" is a vastly superior CMDB implementation product, it is comprised of 5 Phases, 26 Steps, and approximately 151 tasks organized in a logical manner. The pamphlet "NASHCO ServiceNow Data Model v3.4" provides a vastly superior source for CMDB diagrams, it is a 66-page pdf that you can easily convert to other formats as your starting point for diagrams. In conclusion, I do not recommend author Hichem Guerimi or his book CMDB 201. Guerimi lacks integrity and his work products are inferior in quality. There are much better CMDB alternatives out there so investing your money elsewhere would be a wise decision.

Thanks author!! Structural diagrams really helps better understanding..

I should first disclose I didn't get this book through Amazon directly A colleague bought copies for a number of us at work. I've been in IT Service Management for many many years, and I haven't found as comprehensive and as effective a resource about understanding and building a CMDB as this one. I'm sure by the time we launch our CMDB v1, my copy will probably be taped together as it's already starting to show some wear and tear.

Too High-level and academic approach

I used this book to design multiple CMDBs, diagrams are super helpful. I cannot stress enough how useful this book is, especially if you are struggling with data modelling of CMDB

This book is terribly inaccurate, and difficult to read. The formatting, spelling, and grammatical/punctuation issues all contribute to its terribleness, but not nearly so much as the fact that it is straight-up wrong, or a copy-and-paste from ITIL, which you can learn about for free. I give this book the minimum number of stars, and hope that nobody else has to waste their time on it.

worth reading this book. easy to understand the cmdb with its detail which is very helpful for everyone. keep writing such books.

Far too 'high-level' and no detail. There was a lot of theory with no corresponding real-world examples. I did not find this useful.

Common implementation pitfalls would be great to be listed. With the immense experience of author here will be of great value

Need to mention technical stuff...

I would give this more stars if it was a 101 guide. At this level is is too simplistic and ‘perfect world.’ Typological errors, while secondary, are irritating. This feels like a rushed effort.