Excerpt

Foundations of IT Service Management based on ITIL

ITIL was developed in recognition of the fact that organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT to fulfil their corporate objectives. This increasing dependence has resulted in a growing need for IT services of a quality corresponding to the objectives of the business, and which meet the requirements and expectations of the customer. Over the years, the emphasis has shifted from the development of IT applications to the management of IT services. An IT application (sometimes referred to as an information system) only contributes to realizing corporate objectives if the system is available to users and, in the event of fault or necessary modifications, it is supported by maintenance and operational management.

In the overall life cycle of IT products, the operations phase amounts to about 70 to 80% of the overall time and cost, the rest is spent on product development (or procurement). Thus, effective and efficient IT Service Management processes are essential to the success of IT. This applies to any type of organisation, large or small, public or private, with centralised or decentralised IT services, with internal or outsourced IT services. In all cases, the service has to be reliable, consistent, of a high quality, and of acceptable cost.

IT Service Management addresses the provision and support of IT services tailored to the needs of the organisation. ITIL was developed to disseminate proven IT Service Management best practices systematically and cohesively. The approach is based on service quality and developing effective and efficient processes.

ITIL offers a common framework for all the activities of the IT department, as part of the provision of services, based on the IT infrastructure. These activities are divided into processes, which when used together provide an effective framework to make IT Service Management more mature. Each of these processes covers one or more tasks of the IT department, such as service development, infrastructure management, and supplying and supporting the services. This process approach makes it possible to describe the IT Service Management best practices independently from the structure of the organisation.

Many of these best practices are clearly identifiable and are indeed used to some extent in most IT organisations. ITIL presents these best practices coherently. The ITIL books describe how these processes, which have sometimes already been identified, can be optimised, and how the coordination between them can be improved. The ITIL books also explain how the processes can be formalised within an organisation. Finally, the ITIL books provide a frame of reference within the organisation for the relevant terminology, and help to define the objectives and to determine the required effort.

By using a process approach, ITIL primarily describes what must be included in IT Service Management to provide IT services of the required quality. The structure and allocation of tasks and responsibilities between functions and departments depends on the type of organisation, and these structures vary widely among IT departments and often change. The description of the process structure provides a common point of reference that changes less rapidly, which can help maintain the quality of IT services during and after reorganisations and among suppliers and partners as they change.

The list below identifies some benefits and possible problems of using ITIL best practices. This list is not intended to be definitive, but is provided here as a basis for considering some of the benefits that can be achieved and some of the mistakes that can be made when using ITIL.

Benefits of ITIL to the customer/user:

• The provision of IT services becomes more customer-focused and agreements about service quality improve the relationship.
• The services are described better, in customer language, and in more appropriate detail.
• The quality, availability, reliability and cost of the services are managed better. Communication with the IT organisation is improved by agreeing on the points of contact.

Benefits of ITIL to the IT organisation:

• The IT organisation develops a clearer structure, becomes more efficient, and more focused on the corporate objectives.
• The IT organisation is more in control of the infrastructure and services it has responsibility for, and changes become easier to manage.
• An effective process structure provides a framework for the effective outsourcing of elements of the IT services.
• Following the ITIL best practices encourages a cultural change towards providing service, and supports the introduction of quality management systems based on the ISO 9000 series or on BS15000.
• ITIL provides a coherent frame of reference for internal communication and communication with suppliers, and for the standardisation and identification of procedures.

Potential problems/mistakes with using ITIL:

• The introduction can take a long time and require significant effort, and may require a change of culture in the organisation. An overambitious introduction can lead to frustration because the objectives are never met.
• If process structures become an objective in themselves, the service quality may be adversely affected. In this scenario, unnecessary or over-engineered procedures are seen as bureaucratic obstacles that are to be avoided where possible.
• There is no improvement in IT services due a fundamental lack of understanding about what the relevant processes should provide, what the appropriate performance indicators are, and how processes can be controlled.
• Improvement in the provision of services and cost reductions are insufficiently visible, because no baseline data was available for comparison and/or the wrong targets were identified.
• A successful implementation requires the involvement and commitment of personnel at all levels in the organisation. Leaving the development of the process structures to a specialist department may isolate that department in the organisation and it may set a direction that is not accepted by other departments.
• If there is insufficient investment in appropriate training and support tools, justice will not be done to the processes and the service will not be improved. Additional resources and personnel may be needed in the short term if the organisation is already overloaded by routine IT Service Management activities which may not be using ‘best practices’.

These potential problems and mistakes could of course be avoided by understanding and using ITIL best practices in line with the needs of the business that the IT organisation is there to support.

Excerpt from Foundation of IT service management based on ITIL Price: Rs 2,401 Contact: Akbar Shroff Phone: +919867230571, 022-22070989 E-mail: cbs@vsnl.com Web site: cbs-india.com