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An Ini al Look at ITIL Version 3 Part Three

By Rich Schiesser Date: Oct 12, 2007 Return to the ar cle Rich Schiesser concludes his three-part series on ITIL version 3 with a brief look at the "Service Opera on" and "Con nual Service Improvement" books, and discusses their rela onship to the overall objec ves of the service management lifecycle. This is the nal installment of a three-part series oering a brief look at the new version 3 of ITIL. Part One presented the concept of a service management lifecycle and examined the rst book of the ve-book library that comprises version 3, the book of "Service Strategy." Part Two provided an overview of the next two books of the library, "Service Design" and "Service Transi on." In this nal segment, well take a look at the remaining two books, "Service Opera on" and "Con nual Service Improvement."

Service Opera on
The chief goal of service opera on is to coordinate and execute the day-to-day ac vi es and processes of computer opera ons. These ac ons are needed to deliver and manage services at agreed-upon levels of service for customers, business users, support groups, and suppliers. Service opera on is the only phase of the service management lifecycle that includes func ons as well as processes. A func on diers from a process in several ways: A func on is an organiza onal en ty that maintains a self-contained body of knowledge, employs appropriately trained and skilled sta, uses personnel management techniques to deliver expected results, and u lizes service metrics. A process crosses over organiza onal boundaries and func ons, uses a consistent set and sequences of ac vi es to accomplish an objec ve, and u lizes process metrics. Five processes are associated with service opera on: Service desk func on. Similar to its role in version 2, the service desk func on in version 3 is intended to be the single point of contact for users and customers in dealing with rst-level IT issues. These issues may include requests for services or for informa on, or repor ng a disrup on or degrada on of service. Incident management. This process is responsible for restoring service as quickly as possible, minimizing adverse impacts of service interrup ons, and handling failures of congura on items that have not yet aected service opera ons. Problem management. Problem management has several objec ves, all of which are similar to those in version 2: Preven ng problems to IT services, along with the resul ng incidents. Elimina ng recurring incidents. Iden fying the root cause of service interrup ons and proposing permanent xes to eliminate this cause. Submi7ng a request for change that will implement the x. Oering a temporary workaround for the problem. Access management. This is the rst of three new processes of service opera on introduced in version 3. The purpose of this process is to grant authorized individuals the right to use a par cular IT service while preven ng access by unauthorized users. Access management executes the policies dened by informa on security management and availability management. This process is some mes referred to as rights management or iden ty management. Event management. This is a new process in version 3. In ITIL terms, an event is any detectable or discernable occurrence that has signicance for the management of the IT infrastructure or the delivery of an IT service. Event management is the process responsible for detec ng, managing, and determining the appropriate control ac ons for these events throughout their lifecycle. Request fulllment. In version 2, service requests were normally handled by either the service desk func on or the incident or change management processes. In version 3, request fulllment is a separate process for dealing with service requests from users, because many of these requests involve small changes, low risks, or simple requests for informa on. Four func ons are associated with service opera on: Technical management func on. This is the rst of three new func ons in ITIL version 3. The role of the technical management func on is to provide technical exper se and overall management of the IT infrastructure. The objec ves of this func on are to plan, implement, and maintain a stable technical infrastructure to support the business processes of the enterprise. This includes training and deploying appropriate personnel to build and operate the technology required to deliver and support IT services. Applica on management func on. This new func on supports and maintains opera onal applica ons that support an organiza ons business processes. It also helps in iden fying the func onality and manageability requirements for so8ware in the applica on por9olio, and then assists in the deployment, support, and improvement of those applica ons. IT opera ons management func on. The focus of this func on, which is also new for version 3, is on the day-to-day,

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short-term ac vi es required to operate and support IT services. These opera onal ac ons are performed over rela vely long periods of me and emphasize execu ng repeatable, standardized procedures. In some instances, personnel from the technical management and applica on management func ons may assist in stang the opera ons management func on.

Con nual Service Improvement

The primary goal of the con nual service improvement phase of the service lifecycle is con nually realigning IT services to changing business needs in order to add value to the enterprise. A secondary goal is con nually iden fying and implemen ng process improvements. This phase applies to all of the other four phases of the IT service management lifecycle, and consists of a single seven-step improvement process, which is new in ITIL version 3: 1. Dene what you should measure. In this step, consider service level requirements and targets, cri cal success factors, corporate goals and objec ves, and regulatory agency needs. 2. Dene what you can measure. Make note of measurement tools that are already in place, and consider those that can be used without extensive customiza on. 3. Gather the data. Collect three types of data: service, process and technology. U lize the SMART a=ributes (specic, measurable, achievable, relevant, mely). 4. Process the data. The ac ons in this step include conver ng the collected data into the required formats for the tools that process it and the audience that will use it. 5. Analyze the data. The technique I nd most eec ve for analyzing any type of performance and improvement data is to look for trends, pa=erns, and rela onships. ITIL version 3 recommends a similar technique to iden fy areas for process improvements and to es mate the costs of implementa on. 6. Present and use the data. There are usually three dis nct target audiences that will use this data: business users and customers, senior IT management, and IT support groups. 7. Implement correc ve ac ons. In this step, the knowledge acquired from the analysis and presenta on of the data is used to determine which improvement ac ons will be implemented, and in what order.

Summary
This three-part series oered a brief look at the new version 3 of ITIL. Part 1 discussed the service management lifecycle and the "Service Strategy" book of the ve-book library that comprises version 3. Part 2 reviewed the "Service Design" and "Service Transi on" books. Part 3 examined the remaining two books, "Service Opera on" and "Con nual Service Improvement." The key point to take away from this series is that ITIL is around to stay, and is commi=ed to improvements as it matures. The original version of ITIL was born in 1989, almost 20 years ago, and limited to the UK. In a li=le over 10 years, it had become a worldwide de facto standard for infrastructure process management excellence. With version 3, thousands of suggested improvements have been incorporated into ITIL to make more mely, eec ve, and prac cal to implement. Whether youre an ITIL veteran or a novice, its worth looking into how ITIL version 3 can benet you and your shop. Even if you decide not to pursue ITIL at this me, examining its framework will help to improve your ability to assess the quality of your current infrastructure environment. TIP For training, consul ng, and generally more details on working with ITIL, check out the Pultorak & Associates web site.
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