ITIL4F ITIL Management Practices Practice Question
Which TWO statements about the relationship between IT Asset Management and Service Configuration Management are correct?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
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Configuration management provides information about relationships between assets
Configuration management provides information about relationships between CIs, which helps understand dependencies. Option D is correct: Configuration management provides the CMDB that includes details of IT assets (CIs). Option A is incorrect because configuration management maintains the configuration baseline, not asset management. Option B is incorrect because not all assets are CIs and not all CIs are assets; they are separate but overlapping concepts. Option E is incorrect because asset management focuses on the entire lifecycle of assets, not just CIs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Asset management maintains the configuration baseline
Why it's wrong here
Asset management primarily focuses on optimizing the value, cost, and risk of IT assets throughout their financial and contractual lifecycle. Configuration baselines, however, define the approved and known state of a Configuration Item (CI) or a set of CIs at a specific point in time. Maintaining the integrity, version control, and adherence to these baselines is a core responsibility of configuration management to ensure service stability and controlled changes, not asset management.
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All assets are considered CIs, and all CIs are assets
Why it's wrong here
The statement incorrectly assumes a complete one-to-one mapping between assets and Configuration Items (CIs). Not all IT assets, such as a bulk purchase of spare keyboards or a general office printer not critical to a specific service, are necessarily managed as CIs within a Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Conversely, not all CIs, like a logical relationship between two software components, a specific version of an operating system, or a service definition, are considered tangible financial assets in the same way hardware is.
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Configuration management provides information about relationships between assets
Why this is correct
Configuration management is fundamentally concerned with understanding how different components of an IT service relate to each other to ensure service integrity and operational efficiency. By defining and tracking Configuration Items (CIs) and their interdependencies within the Configuration Management System (CMS), it provides crucial insights into how changes to one asset (represented as a CI) might impact others. This relational information is vital for effective incident, problem, and change management, ensuring service stability and reliability.
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Configuration management provides the CMDB that includes details of IT assets
Why this is correct
The Configuration Management Database (CMDB), a key component of the Configuration Management System (CMS), serves as a central repository for information about Configuration Items (CIs). Many CIs directly represent IT assets, such as servers, network devices, or software applications, which are essential for service delivery. Therefore, the CMDB frequently stores detailed attributes of these IT assets, including their specifications, location, status, and relationships to other CIs, supporting both configuration and asset management objectives.
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Asset management focuses on the lifecycle of CIs
Why it's wrong here
Asset management primarily focuses on the financial, contractual, and inventory aspects of IT assets, aiming to maximize their value and minimize costs throughout their economic lifecycle. In contrast, Configuration Items (CIs) are components that need to be managed to deliver an IT service, and their operational lifecycle (from planning to disposal) is a core concern of configuration management. Asset management tracks the financial lifecycle of the *asset*, while configuration management tracks the operational lifecycle and relationships of the *CI*.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ITIL4F practice question is part of Courseiva's free PeopleCert certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ITIL4F exam.