OpenText Universal Discovery and Universal CMDB Room for Improvement

RakeshKumar15 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Migration & Imp Senior Analyst at Accenture

Based on the latest version, there were multiple changes done. It had multiple fixes. However, it's based on the customer's requirements. They have modified and created, and released the changes according to those needs.

The UI could be better.

The page loading is very slow. The customer wants faster loading.

Before releases, it would be nice to be able to upgrade to the new release and check it out in order to see the new functionality and what they have changed.

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IB
ITSM Consultant at Softela

Based on my experience and what I have heard from clients, there are two main areas where Universal CMDB could get better. First, the way it shows results to users could be more user-friendly. Second, it can be really complex because there are so many different types of things you can track, and they are organized in a complicated way. This complexity can make it take a long time to learn how to use it effectively. Making it simpler to set up and understand would be a big improvement. I have shared some suggestions with OpenText through their platform. One thing I would like to see in the next Universal CMDB is more consistency and simplification. The results it provides are really good, especially compared to other systems, but the way it shows those results could be more user-friendly. Improving the presentation and making it easier to understand would be a great step forward.

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it_user111354 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Advisor at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
I think the product is so large and complex that the learning curve is long if you want to understand all aspects of what it can do. You have to jump from manual to manual to accomplish some of the functions, but this is understandable considering the scope of what it attempts to do. View full review »
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Configuration Management Databases
March 2024
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Prajwal Kewat - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Analyst at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.

Based on my experience with UCMDB, I've faced challenges while discovering servers (nodes).

We need to define the IP list of discovery in RTSM and run jobs. Instead, over the years, if we need to add some new assets, we have to add the new IP in RTSM and run jobs again.

From the agent side, we need to provide the data flow probe IP. We can do this things as one way: we install the agent at the server (node) level (define the IP of the data flow probe) and after that, our data flow probe will capture the data from the agent and send it back to the UCMDB. That way, we can remove the one step of adding the IP in RTSM.

When we work in an environment, the production environment continuously changes and at that time we should have knowledge about the new server (node). However, the auto-discovery part should automatically discover the new CI (node/servers) in an environment and inform the IT person.

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RK
Senior Technical Pre-Sales Consultant / Project Manager (BSM) at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Mobile/iPad Apps version of the UCMDB Browser would be a step ahead, which should have features, like viewing CI information, ownership, etc.

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EB
Network Operations at a government with 10,001+ employees

The implementation could be simplified. 

It is not implemented correctly and it's most likely us and the way that we had implemented it. The issue is with integration.

We have multiple different operating systems and enclaves between on-premises and the cloud services that we are trying to monitor and the integration with the different products has been difficult.

It is very complex. 

The complexity is very high. The maturity of the organization needs to be high for this product, and that is where we are missing because we are not mature yet. It's very complex and should be for a mature organization.

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it_user782412 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Systems Management Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Improve the GUI and documentation.  

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it_user2043 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

- can be rather expensive to implement (for smaller companies)
- can be support intensive
- requires a lot of project resources to push toward implementation
- requires a number of people to operate
- as game changing technology requires a mature IT service organization, numerous resources for project management, design, implementation, evangelization
- requires serious upper echelon management backing (sponsorship)

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it_user567681 - PeerSpot reviewer
Itsm Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would like to see better reporting and better support of integrations with the other systems. There is an additional tool that they give to you for the end users so that it's easier. It’s called the UCMDB browser, which is like an internet browser so you can browse the data easier. This should be in each and every tool in the suite so that you are referencing the same database. They are doing this step by step, and they are quite far right in the process.

In the reporting, it should be more flexible in terms of data drill downs and dimensional data excerpts, enrichment of data so that you can really use it as a data mart into your service trees.

I would like to see a centralized configuration and administration tool because right now the administration for the tool and the sub-tool, UCMDB browser, is done through different interfaces. For example, on the GUI, you do it on the JMX management interface, and you can sometimes add it from the database directly.

There's always room for improvement in this area. If you want to run a company based on a good referential and integrity, then you want your data to improve all the time.

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it_user192834 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Management Consultant with 10,001+ employees

Some of the UI could always be improved, but that is personal taste. I am a big fan of removing thick clients and thick servers and making everything Web UI.

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Buyer's Guide
Configuration Management Databases
March 2024
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText, BMC, ServiceNow and others in Configuration Management Databases. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.