Running a 30-day pilot of a CMDB alternative

Before day one

Take the baseline measures from lesson 9: coverage per asset class, sampled correctness, duplicates, ghosts, owner coverage. Without a baseline you cannot tell whether the pilot helped. Agree access: API credentials for the sources an aggregation platform needs, or network segments and permissions for a discovery tool.

Days 1 to 7: connect and discover

Connect the sources or start discovery. For runZero there is a free 21-day trial and a free Community Edition up to 100 assets; Lansweeper offers a 14-day trial and a free tier up to 100 assets; Freshservice lists a 14-day free trial of its service desk. Other options in this set do not publish trial terms, so agree them in writing. Note how long setup takes and who had to be involved: that is your first reading of upkeep.

Days 8 to 14: compare against the CMDB

Ask the option for three lists: assets it found that the CMDB lacks, CMDB records it could not confirm, and fields where it disagrees with the CMDB. Check a sample of each by hand. A tool that claims thousands of missing assets is only useful if the sample shows they are real.

Days 15 to 21: owners and sync

Test ownership: what share of assets now has a current owner, and from which source? Then test sync in report-only mode: what would the option create, update or retire in the CMDB? Review the proposed changes with the CMDB owner before switching any on.

Days 22 to 30: measure again

Repeat the baseline measures on the same asset classes. Record the change in coverage, correctness, duplicates and owner coverage, plus the hours your team spent. The drift cost calculator turns those hours into a cost at your rates.

What should you ask the vendor in writing?

• The price for your scope and the unit it is based on, since several options here publish no price and others publish only part of one.
• Which sources or network segments the price covers.
• How often the record refreshes and what controls the schedule.
• What exactly it writes into your CMDB, and how a wrong change is reversed.
• Who maintains credentials and connectors after the pilot.
• What happens to your data and connectors if you do not buy.

How do you decide?

Compare the before-and-after measures against the cost. Then check the result against the weights that matter to you in the calculator, and read the pairing page for the two options you are choosing between. Write the decision up on one page, with the measures, the cost and the reasons, so the next review of the CMDB starts from evidence rather than memory.