ITIL Core Concepts Summary

Services

Services are a means of delivering value to customers by helping them achieve their objectives without requiring the customer to own specific costs and risks.

Service Management

Service Management is a set of specialized capabilities for delivering value to customers in the form of services. ITIL is a framework for IT Service Management: focuses on the implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business.

Processes

Structure or model that turns a defined input into a defined output through change and transformation. Produce business outcomes according to constraints, objectives, and policies. The outcomes create value for the customer or stakeholder.

Characteristics:

Measurable. Specific result. Delivers its primary result to a customer or stakeholder. Responsiveness to specific triggers.

Functions

Specialized units or groups within an organization that perform a specific type of work and create specific results, through defined roles and responsibilities.

ITIL as a Good Practice Framework

Good practices are best practices which have gained wide acceptance and adoption. In short, Good Practices have withstood the test of time.

Reasons for ITIL:

it is nonproprietary

it is nonprescriptive

it provides best practices

it provides good practices

Utility and Warranty

Service Lifecycle

Service strategy: determining strategic objectives

Service design: Creating a developed solution.

Service Transition: Packing, building, testing and releasing the service.

Service Operation: Running and supporting a service.

CSI: maintaining the overall health of IT service management.

Stage Purpose Objectives Service strategy

Value: Help organizations to develop and maintain the advantage of being reliable and valuable IT service providers.

Create the strategic goals and objectives that an organization hopes to achieve through the IT services it delivers

turning Service Management into strategic assets to help service-providing organizations achieve their goals

determining the nature and the type of IT services to offer and how they may differ from competing IT services

creating value for customers and stakeholders

defining service quality and determining how to deliver and improve it

determining how to allocate resources and creating a strategy for leveling over allocated resources, and

determining where and when to make strategic investments

Service design

Value: Good quality, cost-effective service is created according to business requirements.

Use the principles developed in the Service Strategy stage and design new IT services or modify existing ones.

designing processes that ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and good Service Management throughout the ITIL Service Lifecycle

designing a stable IT infrastructure that can be expanded further or developed without compromising time or cost constraints

recognizing and controlling risks

designing measurement methods to evaluate the success of the design processes

assisting in the creation of policies and standards through feedback about the design process, and

ensuring that IT services do not need to be reworked once implemented

Service Transition

Value: Enabling an IT service provider to align services with business requirements and operations.

Ensure that designed IT services are efficiently and effectively transitioned into operation.

selecting resources and capacity controlling visible errors and

anticipating risks meeting service requirements and

constraints meeting customer expectations

Service Operation

Value: Culminates the value that each of the other stages of the ITIL Service Lifecycle provides, also as it is the stage where the results of an IT service are most apparent. This means that its value can be readily determined.

Ensure that the processes for effectively running IT services are carried out properly.

continually maintaining any and all technology that accompanies the IT services

ensuring that the everyday operation of processes is properly conducted and controlled

ensuring efficient and effective management of the operational processes, and continually monitoring performance, conducting assessments, and gathering information

CSI

Value: The implementation of improvements yields a measurable result known as benefits.

Ensure that any areas that need improvement are identified, and that those improvements are effectively and efficiently administered.

reviewing and improving on aspects of each ITIL Service Lifecycle stage

applying activities that improve overall IT service quality, as well as IT Service Management processes

ensuring customer satisfaction while maintaining cost effectiveness, and ensuring the quality of the management methods used for the CSI process

Service Strategy Stage

Strategy is a plan that outlines how an organization will meet a designed set of objectives

Customers: Those who buy goods or services and establish service level targets (Internal, External) Differences:

Link with business strategy and objectives. Cost of service Involvement in design Involvement in service transition and design

Service: Means of delivering value to customers. They facilitate the outcomes customers want to achieve, while enabling them to pass specific costs and risks for designing and maintaining the services to an external service provider.

Classification I:

Core Enabling (Allow users to use

core services) Enhancing (Provide

differentiated value to customers, offered as an additional service to increase earnings)

Classification II:

Internal External Supporting (Services used by the

service provider to support the main services offered)

Service package: Detailed description of a set of related services that is available for delivery to customers (one or more core services, as well as supporting services).

Service portfolio: Complete set of services that a service provider manages.

Service provider: Supply IT services to customers (Internal, external and shared: type of internal service provider that provides shared IT services to more than one business unit)

Stakeholder: All those who have an interest in an IT organization, its projects, or its services, and in the activities, targets, resources, or deliverables from Service Management.

Factors that determines value:

Business outcomes Preferences Perceptions

Risk: Uncertainty of outcome. It can take the form of positive opportunities or negative threats. The main aim of Risk Management isn't to eliminate risks, but to manage them effectively in order to improve performance.

Automation: service automation can improve the quality of delivered services, reduce costs, reduce risks, and resolve production trade-offs.

Assets: Resources: take the form of

direct inputs into the production or service delivery.

Capabilities: components that make up an organization's ability to use and transform resources in a way that adds value to services or products.

Service Strategy Processes

1. Strategy management for IT services: The main aim of a strategy is to define an organization's objectives and how it will go about meeting these. It should also make it possible to determine exactly when objectives have been met.

Advantages:

ensures resources, capabilities, and investments are matched to objectives

ensures stakeholders are represented ensures service providers offer the appropriate set of services results in cost savings leads to increased investment in valuable projects helps an organization shift investment priorities when necessary

CSFs (Critical Success Factors): factors that must be in place if the Strategy Management process is to be successful.

Key performance indicators (KPIs): metrics used to evaluate the CSFs. KPIs should be monitored and used to identify opportunities for improvement.

2. Service portfolio management Is the complete set of services that is managed by a service provider. Includes three categories: service pipeline (proposed or in development), Service Catalog (design phase, live or available for deployment), and retired services.

Phases of portfolio management:

Define: every proposed service is documented in business case, also validates information about the business outcomes

Analyze: evaluating the IT services to determine whether they provide value, and how supply and demand can be prioritized and balanced.

Approve: authorizing the level of investment required to deliver the targeted levels of service.

Charter: document that authorizes an IT service project and states its scope, terms, and references

Triggers for service portfolio: A change in strategy A request from a customer An identified improvement

opportunity Feedback from staff Service Level Management

reviews Unexpected costs

Potential challenges: insufficient access to customer

and user information lack of formal project and

change management absence of project or customer

portfolios failure to consider customers'

required business outcomes rushed or uninformed decisions lack of defined metrics for

measuring value

3. Demand management Involves interpreting and influencing customer demand for services, as well as providing capacity to meet those demands.

Challenges to overcome: Idle capacity (different than

unused capacity) Insufficient capacity synchronous production and

consumption inability to manufacture

services in advance

Pattern of Business Activity (PBA): Workload profile of one or more business activities. PBAs are used to help to understand and plan for different levels of business activity.

User Profile: pattern of user demand for services. Each UP may include one or more predefined PBAs.

4. Financial Management for IT Involves managing an IT service provider's budgeting, accounting, and charging requirements; aggregate data input from across an organization and then generate information from this data as an output.

Benefits: Operational visibility, insight,

and superior decision-making Use as a strategic tool Ability to demonstrate the value

of IT service Planning confidence Compliance

Concepts: service valuation demand modeling Accounting Variable Cost Dynamics (VCD)

Key Inputs for other processes:

o Service Portfolio Management: By using the financial data generated through Financial Management processes to understand the cost structures involved in the provision of a service, organizations can benchmark the cost of a service against the cost offered by other service providers.

o Service Provisioning Optimization: SPO entails analyzing financial data relating to service components and delivery models to determine how to provide IT services at the best price and quality.

Business case: is a decision support and planning tool that projects the likely consequences of a business action, such as a service management initiative.

5. Business Relationship Management Involves maintaining a positive relationship with customers by identifying the needs and ensures that an IT service provider can meet these needs with an appropriate catalog of services, helps to align customers expectations with whats being offered.

BRM has the highest level of contact with the customer along with SLM, the difference is that BRM focuses in levels Strategic and tactical, like customer perception and satisfaction, SLM focuses in the Tactical and operational levels, the approach is oriented to metrics.

BRM puts a human face on the service provider, this helps to manage customer expectations, disagreements and business needs.

Role: Business Relationship Manager

The main work of business relationship managers relates to the BRM process, but their high-level roles give them broad involvement across different processes. Tools: Customer portfolio, Customer agreement portfolio.

Customer Portfolio: document that records information about all of an IT service provider's customers.

Customer agreement portfolio: document used to manage service contracts, or agreements with customers, should list the contract or agreement that relates to each IT service delivered to each customer(Owned by SLM).

Service Design Stage The main purpose is the design of new or changed services for the introduction into the live environment.

The 4Ps of Service Design: People: scope, tasks, activities

and skills. Products: management support

tools and tech. Processes: processes and

procedures used to manage IT services.

Partners: suppliers, manufacturers, vendors.

Service design aspects: Service solutions for new or

changed services Management information systems and

tools (including service catalogue)

Technology architectures and management architectures

The process required Measurement methods and metrics

1. Assess the existing business requirements

2. Review existing IT services, and then develop solutions for meeting business requirements.

3. Agreement must be reached on the budget and expenditure for the design solutions (ROI, TCO).

4. Check alignment with strategies and security control.

5. Execute assessment to evaluate how to become the implementation of the process.

Technology and management architecture: development and maintenance of IT policies, strategies, architectures, designs, documents, plans, and processes. Architectural design is used for the deployment and subsequent operation and improvement of appropriate IT services and solutions throughout an organization. Obtain balance between: Innovation, Risk and Cost.

Required Processes: Service Design should be defined in terms of a set of processes, and a formal approach to process design should be adopted. The process's objectives should drive the process output. The output needs to be Measured regularly against a set of norms with the aim of optimizing the process.

Measurement methods and metrics: Measures whether the design solution is fit for purpose, works right the first time, has the appropriate level of quality.

With immature processes, the first two levels of metrics should mostly be used.

For mature processes, there should be greater emphasis on the effectiveness and efficiency metrics.

Types of metrics:

Progress Compliance Effectiveness Efficiency

Service design package (SDP): should be assembled for the subsequent transition, operation, and improvement of the new or changed service solution. An SDP is a set of documents that defines all aspects of an IT service and its requirements through each stage of its lifecycle.

RACI(Model to describe roles and responsibilities):

Responsible Accountable (also approver or final approving authority) Consulted (sometimes counsel) Informed

Service Design Processes

1. Design coordination - Ensuring the consistent design of Service Management Information Systems, architectures, and technologies - Coordinating design activities across projects, and managing schedules, resources, & conflicts - Producing service design packages (SDPs) based on service charters and change requests - Planning and coordinating resources and capabilities

Design coordination challenges: One of the major challenges is trying to maintain consistent quality

across the Service Design stage, as a result of the work being carried out by different individuals, such as process owners, managers, and project managers.

Another challenge is ensuring that enough time and resources are allocated to activities and that individuals and groups are assigned the appropriate responsibilities to complete the job.

The design coordination process should ensure that there is a balance in bureaucracy and autonomy.

2. Service catalogue management Accurate and consistent source of data about all operational services and about all services being transitioned to the live environment, should contain details of all services that are currently provided and of services being prepared for transition to the live environment.

The Service Catalog has two aspects:

Business Service Catalog: contains details of all the IT services delivered to customers, including the relationships of the services to business units and details of the business processes that depend on the services. This is the customer view of the Service Catalog.

Technical Service Catalog: details relationships to the supporting services, shared services, elements, and Configuration Items (CIs) necessary to provide the service to the organization.

Service Catalogue Manager:

The main responsibility is to produce and maintain the Service Catalog.

The duties of the Service Catalog manager are to ensure that:

- all relevant services are recorded in the Service Catalog - the information in the Service Catalog is accurate and up-to-date - the information in the Service Catalog is consistent with that of

the Service Portfolio - the information in the Service Catalog is protected and backed up

3. Service level management The purpose of Service Level Management (SLM) is to make sure an agreed level of service is provided and maintained for delivered IT services. It does this by ensuring agreed and achievable targets are set, and that operational services and their performance are monitored regularly throughout an organization.

Basic concepts:

SLR: Service level requirements

SLA: Service level agreement

OLA: Operational level agreement

UC: Underpinning Contract

UA: Underpinning Agreement

SLM key activities: Negotiating: Negotiate SLAs

based on the SLRs and develop a contact with the customer.

Monitoring: Includes monitoring service performance against SLAs.

Reporting: Produces service reports and logging and managing complaints and compliments.

Reviewing: Includes reviewing and revising underpinning agreements, conducting service reviews, and instigating.

SLA structures: Service-based SLA: covers generic

service requirements for a particular service and for all customers that make use of that service.

Customer-based SLA: covers service agreements for all services that are used by a particular customer group.

Multilevel SLA: usually comprises three levels corporate, customer, and service. The corporate level covers the generic SLM requirements of every customer.

4. Availability management Focuses on ensuring that all operational services meet the agreed

availability targets. It is also responsible for ensuring that new or changed services are designed in such a way as to meet their intended targets, without compromising the performance of other services.

Concepts: Availability: Refers to the

ability of a service to fulfill its agreed purpose, usually measured as a %.

Reliability: Duration for which it can perform its function without interruption (MTBF & MTBSI).

Maintainability: How quickly and effectively the service returns to normal

Serviceability: Ability of a third-party supplier to meet the terms and conditions of a contract.

5. Capacity management Capacity Management is responsible for ensuring that IT processes are planned and scheduled to provide a consistent level of performance that aligns with current and future business needs.

Objectives of capacity management:

ensuring that cost-justifiable IT capacity aligns with agreed business needs in all areas of IT

providing a point of focus and management for all capacity and performance-related issues

producing and maintaining an appropriate and up-to-date capacity plan that portrays business needs

A capacity plan records levels of utilization of resources as well as performance of service Capacity Management relies on a delicate balance of :

costs against resource needs

supply against demand

Capacity Management Sub-processes:

Capacity Manager Responsibilities:

identifying capacity requirements with the service level manager understanding the existing use of IT infrastructure and services,

as well as the maximum capacity of each component performing sizing on all suggested new services and systems to

determine capacity requirements predicting future capacity requirements ensuring that there is adequate IT capacity to meet required

levels of service

6. IT Service Continuity Management Supports the overall Business Continuity Management (BCM) process by ensuring that the required IT technical and service facilities can recommence within required business timescales.

Objectives of ITSCM:

maintain IT Service Continuity and recovery plans that support overall Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

complete regular Business Impact Analysis (BIA) exercises to ensure that all continuity plans align with changing business requirements

perform regular risk analysis and management exercises, especially together with the business and the Availability Management and Security Management processes

give advice and guidance to other business and IT areas on all continuity and recovery-related issues

ensure that appropriate continuity and recovery mechanisms are in place to meet agreed business continuity targets

IT service continuity manager responsibilities:

Performing BIAs for all services Implementing and maintaining the ITSCM process to ensure that

agreed targets are met Ensuring that all ITSCM plans, risks, and activities support and

align with BCM plans, risks, and activities Performing risk assessment and management to prevent failures

whenever practical and cost-justifiable

7. Information Security Management It provides strategic direction for security activities and ensures that all objectives are achieved. It also ensures that information security risks are managed appropriately and that enterprise information resources are responsibly used.

The objectives of ISM are:

Protect the confidentiality of data and systems Protect the integrity of information Ensure authenticity and nonrepudiation of transactions and

information

Some examples of what the information security policy may include are: - An overall policy for securing information - An access control policy - A password control policy - An e-mail policy

The ISMS provides a system for creating a cost-effective information security program that aligns with business objectives.

The ISMS consists of five main elements:

Control Plan Implement Evaluate Maintain

Security Manager Responsibilities:

developing and maintaining the information security policy and supporting policies

ensuring appropriate authorization, commitment to, and approval of policies by senior IT and business management

communicating and publicizing the information security policy to all the appropriate areas

8. Supplier Management Aims to ensure that suppliers meet the terms, conditions, and targets of their contracts and agreements, it's also implemented as a means to attain a higher value for money from suppliers and the services they offer

The consistent and effective implementation of Supplier Management depends on the establishment of a Supplier and Contract Database (SCD), as well as on clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

A comprehensive SCD provides information in the areas of:

supplier categorization establishment of new suppliers, their assessment, and the

establishment of associated contracts contract renewal and termination management of supplier and contract performance

Objectives of supplier management and supplier manager responsibilities:

secure good value for money from suppliers and contracts align contracts with suppliers to business needs and targets manage relationships with suppliers manage supplier performance maintain the organization's supplier policy and supporting SCD

Service Transition Stage It's designed to ensure that new or modified services meet the business expectations documented in the Service Strategy and Service Design stages of the lifecycle.

Objectives of service transition:

plan and manage service changes efficiently and effectively manage risks relating to new, changed, or retired services successfully deploy service releases into supported environments set appropriate expectations about the performance and use of new or

changed IT services

Scope of service transition:

managing the complexity associated with changes to services and Service Management processes

introducing new services or making changes to existing services decommissioning and discontinuing services, applications, or service

components when relevant transferring services to and from other IT service providers for

example, due to changes in outsourcing, use of co-sourcing, or company mergers

Governance:

Ensures that policies and strategy are actually implemented and that required processes are correctly followed. Governance includes defining roles and responsibilities, measuring and reporting, and taking actions to resolve any issues identified.

Remediation:

Actions taken to recover after a failed change or release, may include back-out, BCP or other actions.

Service Transition Processes

1. Transition planning and support The purpose of the transition planning and support process is to provide overall planning for Service Transition processes and to coordinate the resources that they require.

Objectives: coordinate resources coordinate activities establish new or changed IT

services establish new systems and tools ensure the adoption of a common

framework provide clear plans manage risks

Scope: maintaining policies guiding changes coordinating activities planning resource requirements reviewing planning and support

activities

2. Change Management Change Management is the process in the Service Transition stage that's responsible for controlling the lifecycle of all changes to IT services. Its primary purpose is to ensure that only beneficial changes are made and that these result in minimal disruption.

Objectives:

Maximize value Align services Control and document changes Optimize risk

Informational documents

Change proposals Communicates a high-

level description of the proposed change, including business outcomes to be supported, and utility and warranty to be provided.

(before chartering new or changed IT services)

RFCs An RFC is a formal

and documented either written or electronic proposal for a change to be made.

It includes details of the proposed change.

The term RFC is often misused to mean a change record, or the change itself.

Change records It documents the

lifecycle of a single change.

A change record is created for every RFC, including those that are subsequently rejected.

A change record should reference the CIs affected by the proposed change.

Change records may be stored in the CMS

Types of changes

Standard Pre-approved change A defined trigger

initiates a standard change

A standardized procedure should exist for implementing the change, which occurs commonly or is expected.

Typically involve low risks and costs, and low levels of effort to implement.

Emergency Has to be implemented

ASAP. Should be designed

carefully and tested as much as possible before they're implemented.

Details of emergency changes may also be documented retrospectively.

Normal Any service change

that isn't a standard or emergency change.

Needs to follow the entire approval process.

Emergency change lifecycle Number of emergency changes

should be minimum Only to repair errors in IT

services with significant, negative impact.

Emergency change lifecycle differences Authorization: ECAB instead

of regular CAB, according to organizations procedures

Testing: tested as much as possible before use, when only limited test is possible, focus on the aspects to be used shortly

Change review: If change fails, iterative attempts at fixes may be necessary(business needs remain first)

Documentation: Build temporary records while in the change in order to complete the full documentation (change record) after the completion

Normal change lifecycle

3. Service Asset and configuration management Ensures that the assets required to deliver IT services are properly controlled, and that accurate and reliable information about those assets is available when and where it's needed, this information includes details of how the assets have been configured and the relationships between assets.

Configuration item (CI):

A CI is a service asset that has to be managed to deliver an IT service.

All CIs are service assets, although service assets aren't all CIs.

Objectives: Ensure assets are identified,

controlled, cared for. maintaining an accurate and

complete Configuration Management System (CMS)

identify, control, record, report, audit, and verify services and other CIs, including versions, baselines, constituent components, and service attributes and relationships

Scope: Management of the complete

lifecycle of every CI. Ensuring releases into

controlled environments and operational use are formally authorized.

Provides a configuration model of services and service assets by recording the relationships between CIs.

4. Release and deployment management The scope of Release and Deployment Management includes the processes, systems, and functions required to package, build, test, and deploy releases into live environments. It helps to ensure that these activities deliver the newly required functionality without endangering the quality and integrity of existing services.

Key Objectives:

Define and sign off Release and Deployment Management plans with stakeholders

Create and test packages

Important notes:

The scope of the Release and Deployment Management process also includes all CIs

Release and Deployment Management ensures that appropriate testing takes place, but the actual testing is conducted by the service validation and testing process.

Release and Deployment Management isn't responsible for authorizing changes. It requires authorization from Change Management at various stages in the lifecycle of a release.

Release and deployment phases

Release and deployment planning: Starts with Change Management

authorization to plan a release, and ends with Change Management authorization to create the release.

Develop build plans, design specifications, and environment configuration requirements.

Establishes release logistics and schedules, defines a configuration baseline for the build environment, tests the build and related procedures, and assigns resources, roles, and responsibilities for performing key activities.

Release build and test: Starts with Change Management

authorization to build a release and ends with Change Management authorization for the base lined release package added into the DML.

Release package is built, tested, and checked.

Manage the build and test environments.

You also need to manage and document build and test activities,

Deployment: Starts with Change Management

authorization to deploy a release package to one or more target environments. It ends with handover to the Service Operation functions and early-life support.

Develop a detailed implementation plan, including details of who is responsible for each aspect of implementation.

Deployments (Push, Pull and Big Bang).

Review and close: Capture experiences and feedback

about customer, user, and service provider satisfaction.

Check that any problems, known errors, and workarounds are documented and accepted by the affected stakeholders.

Ensure arent any remaining issues to address.

Experience and feedback are captured, performance targets and achievements are reviewed, and lessons are learned.

5. Service Validation and testing Provides quality assurance within the Service Transition domain, it verifies that a new or changed IT service is fit for purpose and fit for use. Last process in Service Transition. Once this process completes, the IT service is moved into a live environment.

Objectives:

Quality assurance Fit for purpose? Fit for use? Customer requirements defined? Structured validation and testing process? Errors and risks?

6. Change Evaluation Provide a consistent and standardized means of determining the performance or value of a proposed IT service change, to facilitate a decision about whether to authorize the change by identifying and assessing the likely impacts of a proposed change on business outcomes, and on existing and proposed services and IT infrastructure. Every change must be authorized by a suitable change authority at various points in its lifecycle and change evaluation supports decisions at each of these points.

Objectives:

set stakeholder expectations evaluate the effects of a proposed change provide high-quality outputs

7. Knowledge management The Knowledge Management process involves sharing perspectives, data, ideas, experience, and information, and ensuring that these are available in the right place and at the right time. This enables informed decisions, and improves efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge.

Objectives:

Improve decision-making Reduce need to rediscover knowledge Ensure common understanding Maintain knowledge Gather, analyze, store, share, use, maintain data

SKMS: set of tools and databases used to manage knowledge, information, and data, with the aim of improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of all stages of the Service Lifecycle.

DIKW Data Information Knowledge Wisdom

Service Operation Stage The purpose of the Service Operation stage is to coordinate and carry out the activities and processes required to deliver and manage services at agreed levels to business users and customers. This stage is also responsible for ensuring that the necessary technology is managed properly to support this service delivery.

Goals: deliver IT services and support

of these services effectively and efficiently

ensure IT services are provided only to those authorized to receive the service, and

reduce the impact of service outages in daily operations

Responsibilities: Executing and performing

processes to optimize the cost and quality of services within the Lifecycle.

Provide the business with capacity to meet its objectives.

The technology used to deliver and support service

The overall functioning of the business itself

Service operation functions

The service desk is the primary point of contact for users when there is a service disruption, for service requests, or even for some categories of Requests for Change (RFC).

Technical Management provides detailed technical skills and resources needed to support the ongoing operation of the IT Infrastructure.

IT Operations Management responsible for the daily operational activities needed to manage the IT Infrastructure. IT operations control ensures that routine operational tasks are carried out. Facilities Management refers to the management of the physical IT environment usually data centers or computer rooms.

Application Management is responsible for managing applications throughout their lifecycle.

Service desk

The primary aim of the service desk is to restore service to normal for users as quickly as possible. Restoring service to normal for users is meant in the widest possible sense. While this could involve fixing a technical fault, it could equally involve fulfilling a service request or answering a query.

Organizational structures

Local: is located within or close to the user community it serves. Centralized: has staff located in one or more centralized service desk

structures. Virtual Service desk: Using technology such as the Internet and

corporate support tools, it is possible to give the impression of a single, centralized service desk when in fact; personnel are located across any number or type of geographical or structural locations.

Follow-the-sun service desk: Some global or international organizations may combine two or more of their geographically dispersed service desks to provide a 24-hour follow-the-sun service desk.

Specialist service desk group: Staff specially trained for specific technologies.

Technical management

Roles:

Holds technical knowledge and expertise Responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient knowledge and

expertise available to design, test, manage, and improve IT services. Provides technical resources to support the IT Service Management

(ITSM) Lifecycle Appropriate deployment of resources to ensure that the technology used

to deliver and support IT services is designed, built, operated, and improved effectively.

Technical Management ensures that an organization can access the appropriate human resources to manage the technology required to support business objectives. An important aspect of carrying out this role effectively is the ability to balance the skill levels available, the use of resources, and the cost of these resources.

IT operations management

IT Operations Management is the function responsible for the ongoing maintenance and management of organizations' IT infrastructure. It is defined by the daily activities needed to ensure that the infrastructure operates optimally.

Operations management sub-functions

Operations control oversees the execution and

monitoring of the activities and events in the IT infrastructure

executing routine tasks managing consoles job scheduling performing backups and restores performing maintenance activities

Facilities management Management of the physical IT

environment. This includes data centers and computer rooms, as well as necessary power and cooling equipment.

Application Management

Roles:

Holds technical knowledge and expertise Responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient knowledge and expertise

available to design, test, manage, and improve IT services. Ensures that application staff is trained and that sufficient resources

are deployed throughout the ITSM Lifecycle. Guidance to IT service operation about how to manage applications

effectively. Integrating the Application Management Lifecycle with each stage of the

ITSM

Service Operation Processes

1. Event Management An event is any change of state that has significance for the management of a Configuration Item (CI) or IT service. Associated activities include detecting events, making sense of them, and determining and coordinating the appropriate control actions.

Elements that can be monitored by events:

CI Environmental Conditions Software Licensing Security Normal IT activity

Categories of events Informational: This refers to an event that does not require any action and does not represent an exception.

Warning: A warning is an event that is generated when a service or device is approaching a threshold.

Exception: service or device is currently operating abnormally (however that has been defined).

2. Incident management An incident is defined as an unplanned interruption in, or reduction of, the quality of an IT service. An incident can also include a Configuration Item (CI) failure, if service is interrupted.

Purpose:

Ensure that IT services are provided at the levels agreed to in a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The focus is on maintaining or restoring service in the event of an incident, and on minimizing the negative effects of any interruptions on customers, users, and business operations.

Principles:

Setting timescales for incident response Creating incident models Planning special responses to major incidents Tracking incident status Dividing the incident lifecycle into clear stages

Priority Coding System

3. Request Fulfillment A service request is any request or demand that a user makes to an IT organization. Many of these requests are for common or minor actions involving low risk and low costs, or for simple information.

Request Fulfillment plays an important role in maintaining end user satisfaction by ensuring that users' requests are satisfied as promptly and efficiently as possible. This prevents minor requests from congesting the normal Incident Management and Change Management processes, and negatively impacting overall service delivery.

Objectives:

provide a channel for users to request and receive standard services for which a predefined authorization and qualification process exists

source and deliver the components of requested standard services assist users by providing general information and handling complaints

4. Access management Is the process of granting specific authorized users the rights to use services, while also preventing unauthorized users from gaining access. It involves executing the policies and actions defined through Information Security Management.

5. Problem management Problems: A problem is an actual or potential cause of incidents Problem Management activities focus on finding ways to prevent incidents from occurring.

Problem a. The unknown cause of one or more incidents b. Reactive and proactive (how problem management process is

triggered)

Problem Models: Step by step instructions to fix a problem.

Workaround: step by step procedure to reestablish the service without fixing the main problem.

Known Error: A problem that has an entry in the KEDB, might have a documented root cause or a workaround. Known errors are created and managed throughout their lifecycle by problem management. Known errors may also be identified by development or suppliers.

Known Error Database: A database containing all known error records. This database is created by problem management and used by incident and problem management.

Continual Service Improvement Stage Throughout the CSI stage, the performance of an IT service provider is continually measured and improvements are made to processes, IT services, and IT infrastructure where necessary. This can result in improved IT service quality, operational efficiency, and better cost efficiency.

CSI supporting activities:

Reviewing management information and trends to ensure that IT services are meeting the agreed service levels and that the output of the enabling processes are achieving the desired results

Conducting maturity assessments to demonstrate areas for improvement, as well as areas of concern

Conducting internal audits to verify employee and process compliance Reviewing existing deliverables for appropriateness Proposing recommendations for improvement opportunities Conducting customer satisfaction surveys Reviewing business trends and changed priorities to keep ahead of

business projections Conducting external and internal service reviews to identify CSI

opportunities Measuring and identifying the value created by CSI improvements

CSI register

A CSI register is a database or structured document used to record and manage improvement opportunities throughout their lifecycles.

Should be part of SKMS Should be properly updated and maintained. For each recorded improvement initiative, suitable Key Performance

Indicators (KPIs) should also be identified in the CSI register. Define the interface between the CSI register and other processes in

the Service Lifecycle.

CSI Register fields

Opportunity number Date raised Size : scale of a

needed improvement or initiative, based on how much work and effort it will require

Timescale: estimated time it will take to complete an improvement or initiative.

Description Priority field KPI metric field

should list one or more appropriate KPIs for measuring the success of each improvement initiative.

Justification field for explaining the choice of a particular KPI metric

Raised by To be actioned by Date required by

Deming cycle (PDCA) Plan: identifying the vision,

business need, and operational and strategic goals driving the need for improvements.

Do: involves collecting raw data from service operations and then processing this data.

Check: involves analyzing the prepared data to reveal business trends and the success or failure of the strategy determined in the Plan step.

Act: involves taking action based on the results of data analysis.

Seven-step improvement process

Types of metrics collected

Technology metrics: Technology metrics are often associated with component and application-based metrics such as performance and availability

Process metrics: Process metrics are captured in the form of Critical Success Factors (CSFs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and activity metrics for the Service Management processes.

Service metrics: measure the overall effectiveness or output of an end-to-end IT service, including both its technological and human elements.

CSI flow