How does ITIL Support the Delivery of a Service

ITIL History:

• UK government was seeking a way to deliver services and sought input from a number of vendors.
• They recognized the similarities between vendors
• ITIL V1 was the consolidated view of these practices
  • 40 processes
• 2001: U.S. refines the approach in 2001: ITIL V2 is born
  • 10 processes and 1 function
• 2007: May 31, 2007 ITIL V3 is born
  • Focused on delivering services as a part of a lifecycle
  • Repeatable, continual growth based on 5 stages

1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
4. Service Operations
5. Continual Service Improvement
• 2011: 5 Core books are republished, and the ITIL framework is updated
  • ITIL has now dropped the version number, and as such is referenced by year – not version number.
  • In 2011 additional processes were introduced.
  • ITIL has been established for over 10 years.

Best Practices

• IT service organizations are constantly challenged to improve their ability to deliver quality services at prices customers can afford.
• Best practices are developed and often shared.
  • Public frameworks
  • Examples: ITIL, PMBOK, Six Sigma
• ITIL is not a standard.
• Businesses have proprietary knowledge. ITIL can contribute to proprietary knowledge.
  • Often embedded within the organization
  • Difficult to duplicate
  • Usually undocumented
  • Customized for specific needs
  • May require purchasing or licensing
• Public Frameworks
  • Validation can occur across a diverse set of environments
  • Broad reviews can be conducted across organizations
  • Knowledge is more widely distributed
  • Training and certification is often available
• Sources of best practices
  • They are no good unless you can leverage an enabling activity
  • Usually it is people who enable a best practice
  • ITIL is all about adapt and adopt – through the use of enabling.
    1. Sources (Generate)
    2. Drivers (Filter)
    3. Enablers (Aggregate)
    4. Scenarios (Filters)

 

Challenges of IT Service Management

Common Challenges

• Organizational capabilities are developed to overcome challenges
• Services are intangible and difficult to measure, control, and validate
• Demand is tightly coupled with customer assets
• There is little or no buffer between the service provider and the customer
• Service output and service capacity have perishable natur

How Are Services Delivered

• Assets (Resources and Capabilities) See Above
• Processes
  • Characteristics of Processes
    • Measurable
    • Delivers specific results
    • Value to customers and stakeholders
    • Responsiveness to specific triggers
• Functions
  • Service Desk: Is the single point of contact for users when there is a service disruption, a service request, or even some categories of requests for change.
  • Technical Management
  • IT Operations Management
  • Application Management

Process Roles

• Owner (Process)
  • Being accountable for the process meeting stakeholder and business objectives
  • Defining the process strategy and assisting with the process design
  • Sponsoring, designing, and managing process changes and improvements
  • Ensuring the appropriate levels of documentation and communication
  • Periodically reviewing and auditing process compliance and performance
  • Addressing process related issues and reviewing opportunities for process improvements
  • Ensuring process resources have required knowledge to perform activities
  • Periodically review process trategy

• Manager

• Responsible for operational management of the process
• Working with the process owner to coordinagte all process activities
• Ensuring activities are carried out as required
• Appointing resources to the required roles and managing process resources
• Working with service owners and other process managers
• Identifying process improvement opportunities for inclusion in the CSI register
• Working with the process owner and CSI manager to prioritize process improvements
• Making improvements to the process implementation

• Practitioner

• Carry out one or more process activities
• Understanding how the role contributes to the delivery of services and value creation
• Working with process stakeholders to ensure their contributions are effective
• Ensure process inputs, outputs and interfaces for their activities are correct
• Creating or updating records related to the activities performed

• Service Owner
• Being the single point of accountability for the delivery of a specific service
• Representing the service across the organization
• Ensuring that the ongoing service delivery and support meets agreed customer requirements
• Working with business relationship management to understand customer requirements
• Ensuring consistent and appropriate communication with customers
• Assiting in defining service models
• Assisting in the assessment of proposed changes and improvements to the service
• Identify service improvement opportunities and discuss these with the customer
• Liaising with process owners as necessary to ensure IT processes are effectively supporting the service.