Patent ID: 7822785

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of managing a configuration management database, comprising executing the following steps via a computer: creating at least one composite configuration item in the configuration management database, the at least one composite configuration item comprising one or more supporting elements of the configuration management database and the at least one composite configuration item being represented as a graph of navigable relationships between the one or more supporting elements in accordance with a template, wherein the one or more supporting elements of a given composite configuration item comprise a root element of the given composite configuration item; and retrieving information from the at least one composite configuration item in accordance with a query and the template of the at least one composite configuration item, wherein one or more attributes of the query are replaced using one or more corresponding definitions of the template; wherein the root element of the given composite configuration item is an atomic configuration item of a type specified by the template of the at least one composite configuration item, wherein the atomic configuration item is the root element of only the given composite configuration item such that the atomic configuration item uniquely identifies the given composite configuration item within the configuration management database.