The adoption of ITIL as the most widespread guidance in the world on IT service management (ITSM) will continue with ITIL 4. ITIL 4's holistic approach raises the profile of service management in organizations and industries and puts it in a more strategic context.
INTRODUCTION
IT service management in the modern world
Almost all services today are IT-enabled, which means there is tremendous benefit to organizations in creating, expanding and improving their IT service management capabilities. Service management is evolving, and so is ITIL, the most common guidance on IT service management (ITSM) in the world.
About ITIL 4
They are an evolution in the way organizations operate so that they can thrive in the face of significant and ongoing change. Service management is changing to address and support this organizational change and to ensure that opportunities from new technologies and new ways of working are maximised.
The structure and benefits of the ITIL 4 framework
- The ITIL SVS
- The four dimensions model
To ensure a holistic approach to service management, ITIL 4 outlines four dimensions of service management, from which each component of the SVS must be considered. By giving each of the four dimensions an appropriate amount of focus, an organization ensures that its SVS remains balanced and effective.
KEY CONCEPTS OF SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
- Value and value co-creation
- Value co-creation
- Organizations, service providers, service consumers, and other stakeholders
- Service providers
- Service consumers
- Other stakeholders
- Products and services
- Configuring resources for value creation
- Service offerings
- Service relationships
- The service relationship model
- Value: outcomes, costs, and risks
- Outcomes
- Costs
- Risks
- Utility and warranty
The supplier may be outside the consumer's organization, or they may both be part of the same organization. From the supplier's perspective, a complete and correct understanding of the cost of service delivery is essential.
THE FOUR
DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE
Organizations and people
An organization's effectiveness cannot be guaranteed by a formally established structure or system of authority. Figure 3.1 The four dimensions of service management.
Products and services
Partners
- Information and technology
- Partners and suppliers
- Value streams and processes
- Value streams for service management
- Processes
- External factors
Does this technology present new risks or limitations to the organization (for example, locking it into a specific vendor). A value stream is a combination of the organization's value chain activities (see Section 4.5 for more details on value chain activities and Appendix A for examples of value streams).
THE ITIL SERVICE VALUE SYSTEM
Service value system overview
ITIL SVS describes how all the components and activities of the organization work together as a system to enable value creation. This requires continuous improvement activity to be carried out at all levels of the organization; the ITIL continuous improvement model helps structure this activity.
Opportunity, demand, and value
This means that the scope of the SVS can be an entire organization, or a smaller subset of that organization. Organizational agility is an organization's ability to move and adapt quickly, flexibly and decisively to support internal change.
The ITIL guiding principles
- Focus on value
- Who is the service consumer?
- The consumer’s perspectives of value
- The customer experience
- Applying the principle
- Start where you are
- Assess where you are
- The role of measurement
- Applying the principle
- Progress iteratively with feedback
- The role of feedback
- Iteration and feedback together
- Applying the principle
- Collaborate and promote visibility
- Whom to collaborate with
- Communication for improvement
- Increasing urgency through visibility
- Applying the principle
- Think and work holistically
- Applying the principle
- Keep it simple and practical
- Judging what to keep
- Conflicting objectives
- Applying the principle
- Optimize and automate
- The road to optimization
- Using automation
- Applying the principle
- Principle interaction
CX can be defined as the entire interaction a customer has with an organization and its products. Enhancement iterations can be sequential or concurrent, depending on the enhancement requirements and available resources.
Governance
- Governing bodies and governance
- Governance in the SVS
Monitoring The governing body monitors the performance of the organization and its practices, products and services. The organization's governing body should monitor this to ensure it aligns with the organization's objectives and priorities.
Service value chain
In ITIL 4, the guidelines and continuous improvement apply to all components of the SVS, including management. In an organization, the governing body can adopt the ITIL guiding principles and adapt them, or define its own specific set of principles and communicate them across the organization. The governing body must also have visibility of the outcomes of continuous improvement activities and the measurement of value for the organization and its stakeholders.
Plan
Improve
- Plan
- Improve
- Engage
- Design and transition
- Obtain/build
- Deliver and support
- Continual improvement
- Steps of the continual improvement model
- Continual improvement and the guiding principles
- Practices
One of the biggest obstacles to service value chain agility used to be the rigidity of infrastructure solutions. Each value stream accepts and adapts the activities of the value chain for the performance of specific tasks. The first step of the continuous improvement model is to define the vision of the initiative.
ITIL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
General management practices
- Architecture management
Information architecture describes an organization's logical and physical data assets and data management resources. It shows how information resources are managed and shared for the benefit of the organization. The practice of architecture management is responsible for evaluating an organization's capabilities in terms of how they align with all the detailed activities required to co-create value for the organization and its customers.
The purpose of the practice of continuous improvement is to align the practices and services of the organization with the changing needs of the business through the continuous improvement of products, services and practices, or any element involved in the management of products and services. The field of continuous improvement practice includes the development of methods and techniques related to improvement and the spread of a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization, in accordance with the overall strategy of the organization. The commitment and practice of continuous improvement must be embedded in every fiber of the organization.
High
If not, there is a real risk that day-to-day operational concerns and large project work will eclipse continuous improvement efforts.
Obtain/build Deliver and support
Information security management
Plan Information security should be considered in all planning activities and built into every practice and service. Improve Information security must be considered in all activities along the improvement value chain to ensure that no vulnerabilities are introduced when making improvements. Deliver and support Detection and correction of information security incidents should be an integral part of this value chain activity.
Knowledge management
Improve This value chain activity is based on an understanding of the current situation and trends, supported by historical information. Design and transition As with the acquire/build value chain activity, knowledge of the available solutions and technologies, and the reuse of information, can make this value chain activity more effective. Acquire/build The efficiency of this value chain activity can be significantly improved with adequate knowledge of the available solutions and technologies, and by reusing information.
Measurement and reporting
- KPIs and behaviour
- Reporting
Delivery and support Continuous value chain activity in this area benefits from knowledge management through reuse of solutions in standard situations and a better understanding of the context of non-standards. This means that there can be some flexibility in the objectives and behaviors allowed by the team as a whole. Individuals will, of course, still need some specific guidance for their performance, but this must be clearly within the goals of the team and the organization, and all objectives must be set in the context of delivering value to the organization.
Organizational change management
- Activities of organizational change management
Unlike other practices, responsibility for organizational change management cannot be transferred to an external vendor. However, external expertise can be sought to complement an organization's organizational change management capabilities. Engage The practice of change management in organizations actively engages stakeholders at all stages of a change.
Portfolio management
Portfolio management plays an important role in how resources are allocated, used and managed throughout the organization. Customer portfolio The customer portfolio is maintained by the organization's relationship management practice, which provides a significant contribution to the portfolio management practice. Portfolio management uses the customer portfolio to ensure a good understanding of the relationship between business results, customers and services.
Project management
Design and transfer, acquire/build, deliver and support Portfolio management is responsible for ensuring that products and services are clearly defined and linked to the achievement of business results, so that these value chain activities are aligned with value. This balance between projects and 'business as usual' has the potential to impact a number of areas, including resources (people, assets, finances), service levels, customer relationships and productivity. Therefore, the capabilities and capabilities of the organization should be considered as part of the strategy. its project management approach. Improve Many improvement initiatives are large and complex, so project management is the relevant practice to manage them.
Relationship management
Risk management
Risk management must be consistent across the organization It is vital that risk management practice is managed holistically to achieve consistency across the organisation. These guidelines provide a general and general perspective of the purpose and principles of risk management. The Risk Management Plan provides essential input for the organization's strategy and planning, with a focus on risks that may drive variability in results.
Service financial management
Design and transition Financial management services help keep this activity cost-effective by providing resources for financial planning and control. Financial management refers to the effective and efficient management of money in the most appropriate way to achieve the organization's financial goals. Another evolution in financial management is taking place with a special innovation called blockchain, which is again made possible only through cloud services.
Strategy management
The strategy must balance the organization's need to deliver both efficient and effective operations, with innovation and forward-looking activities. Strategy management provides a carefully considered approach to the organization's relationships with customers, as well as both agility and resilience in dealing with the variations in value that define these relationships. Plan Strategy Management ensures that the organization's strategy is translated into tactical and operational plans for each organizational unit that is expected to realize the strategy.
Supplier management
- Sourcing, supplier strategy, and relationships
- Evaluation and selection of suppliers
- Activities
- Service integration
Meaning and effect The value of the service to the company, provided by the supplier. Supplier and contract management The purpose of this activity is to ensure that the organization achieves value for money and delivery of the supplier's agreed performance in relation to the contract and targets. It is possible to develop a hybrid model where the organization is responsible for some of the service integration function and extends this capability with an external service integrator.
Workforce and talent management
- Workforce and talent management activities
Performance measurement Delivering regular performance measurement and assessments against established job roles based on pre-defined competencies. Personal development An employee's use of published job roles and competency frameworks to proactively plan personal growth and advancement. Learning and development Targeted education and experiential learning opportunities using various formal and non-formal methods.
Service management practices
- Availability management
- Business analysis
- Capacity and performance management
- Change control
- Incident management
- IT asset management
- Monitoring and event management
- Release management
- Service catalogue management
- Service catalogue management activities
- Service configuration management
- Service continuity management
- Service design
- Design thinking
- Customer and user experience
- Service desk
- Service level management
- Service level agreements
- Service request management
- Service validation and testing
- Service validation
- Testing
The purpose of the service catalog management practice is to provide a single source of consistent information for all services and service offerings, and to ensure that it is available to the relevant audience. The purpose of service continuity management practice is to ensure that the availability and performance of a service is maintained at sufficient levels in the event of a disaster. The goal of service design practice is to design products and services that are fit for purpose, fit for use, and deliverable by the organization and its ecosystem.
The purpose of service desk practices is to capture demand for incident resolution and service requests. The purpose of validation and testing of services is to ensure that new or changed products and services meet defined requirements.
Technical management practices
- Deployment management
- Infrastructure and platform management
- Software development and management
The purpose of the infrastructure and platform management practice is to oversee the infrastructure and platforms used by an organization. The goal of the software development and management practice is to ensure that applications meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders for functionality, reliability, maintainability, and compliance. Plan Software Development and Management provides information about opportunities and constraints associated with creating and modifying the organization's software.
THE ITIL STORY, ONE YEAR ON
- A user needs an incident to be resolved
- An error in third-party software creates issues for a user
- Business requirement for a significant new IT service
- Regulatory change requires new software development
The creation of the new service is discussed, as well as the various costs and risks. Further incremental releases of the new service are created, based on close collaboration between the software development team and service users. The effectiveness of the new service is evaluated to check how well it is working.
FURTHER RESEARCH
ITSM, DevOps, and why three-tier support should be replaced with Swarming. https://medium.com/@JonHall_/itsm-devops-and-why-the-three-tier-structure-must-be-replaced-with-swarming- 91e76ba22304. COBIT® 2019: http://www.isaca.org/Cobit/pages/default.aspx Cynefin Framework for Decision Making: https://cognitive-edge.com. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20000: https://www.iso.org/standard/70636.html Lean IT: http://leanitassociation.com.
GLOSSARY
The practice of providing an understanding of all the different elements that make up an organization and how these elements relate to each other. The practice of adapting an organization's practices and services to changing business needs through the continuous identification and improvement of all elements involved in the effective management of products and services. The practice of protecting an organization by understanding and managing risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
ITIL
Any financially valuable component that can contribute to the delivery of an IT product or service. All the hardware, software, networks and facilities required to develop, test, deliver, monitor, manage and support IT services. The complete set of stages, transitions and associated statuses in the life of a service, product, practice or other entity.
