Introduction to ITIL V3

Introduction to ITIL V3

What is ITIL?ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) provides a framework of Best Practice guidance for IT Service Management and since its creation, ITIL has grown to become the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world. This KM doc designed as an introductory overview for anyone who has an interest in or a need to understand more about the objectives, content and coverage of ITIL. Whilst this guide provides an overview, full details can be found in the actual ITIL publications themselves.

ITIL is a public framework that describes Best Practice in IT service management. It provides a framework for the governance of IT, the service wrap, and focuses on the continual measurement and improvement of the quality of IT service delivered, from both a business and a customer perspective. This focus is a major factor in ITILs worldwide success and has contributed to its prolific usage and to the key benefits obtained by those organizations deploying the techniques and processes throughout their organizations. Some of these benefits include:

Increased user and customer satisfaction with IT services

Improved service availability, directly leading to increased business profits and revenue

Financial savings from reduced rework, lost time, improved resource management and usage

Improved time to market for new products and services

Improved decision making and optimized risk.

ITIL History

In the late 1980s, the British govt. asked the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) to structure the IT organizations of the British government agencies.

This resulted in the IT Infrastructure Library, a library of books describing best practices in IT management, and a detailed approach for the implementation of these best practices.

The aims of the CCTA in developing the IT Infrastructure Library were:

To facilitate the quality management of IT services.

Increase the efficiency with which the corporate objectives are met.

To improve efficiency, increase effectiveness, and reduce risks.

To provide codes of practice in support of total quality.

Why ITILIt has become increasingly recognized that information is the most important strategic resource that any organization has to manage. Key to the collection, analysis, production and distribution of information within an organization is the quality of the IT Services provided to the business. It is essential that we recognize that IT Services are crucial, strategic, organizational assets and therefore organizations must invest appropriate levels of resource into the support, delivery and management of these critical IT Services and the IT systems that underpin them. However, these aspects of IT are often overlooked or only superficially addressed within many organizations.

Key issues facing many of todays senior Business Managers and IT Managers are:

IT and business strategic planning

Integrating and aligning IT and business goals

Implementing continual improvement

Measuring IT organization effectiveness and efficiency

Optimizing costs and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Achieving and demonstrating Return on Investment (ROI)

Demonstrating the business value of IT

Developing business and IT partnerships and relationships

Improving project delivery success

Outsourcing, insourcing and smart sourcing

Using IT to gain competitive advantage

Delivering the required, business justified IT services (i.e. what is required, when required and at an agreed cost)

Managing constant business and IT change

Demonstrating appropriate IT governance.

The challenges for IT managers are to co-ordinate and work in partnership with the business to deliver high quality IT services. This has to be achieved while adopting a more business and customer oriented approach to delivering services and cost optimization.

ITIL is useful to manage above issues in the widely accepted best practice way.

The ITIL Framework

ITIL comprises of seven distinct books:

1. Service Support

Describes the processes associated with the day-to day support and maintenance activities associated with the provision of IT services

2. Service Delivery

Covers the processes required for the planning and delivery of quality IT services and looks at the longer term processes associate with improving the quality of IT services delivered

3. ICT (Information & Communications Technology) Infrastructure Management

Covers all aspects of ICT Infrastructure Management from identification of business requirements through the tendering process, to the testing, installation, deployment, and ongoing operation and optimization of the ICT components and IT services

4. Planning to implement Service Management

Examines the issues and tasks involved in planning, implementing and improving Service Management processes within an organization. It also addresses the issues associated with addressing cultural and organizational Change, the development of a vision and strategy and the most appropriate method of approach

5. Application Management

Describes how to manage applications from the initial business need, through all stages in the application lifecycle, up to and including retirement. It places emphasis on ensuring that IT projects and strategies are tightly aligned with those of the business throughout the application lifecycle, to ensure that the business obtains best value from its investment

6. The Business Perspective

Provides advice and guidance to help IT personnel to understand how they can contribute to the business objectives and how their roles and services can be better aligned and exploited to maximize that contribution

7. Security Management

Details the process of planning and managing a defined level of security for information and IT services, including all aspects associated with reaction to security Incidents. It also includes the assessment and management of risks and vulnerabilities, and the implementation of cost justifiable countermeasures

The ITIL Framework ( contd )

The two most commonly used disciplines are Service Support and Service Delivery

Service Support comprises of :

Service Desk

Incident Management

Problem Management

Configuration Management

Change Management

Release Management

Service Delivery comprises of :

Service Level Management

Financial Management for IT Services

Capacity Management

Availability Management

IT Service Continuity Management

ITIL V2 Vs ITIL V3

ITIL V2 talked about Aligning IT with business, the ITIL V3 is talking about integrating IT with business; it means making IT a part of the strategic layer of an organization and thus covering strategic, tactical and operational layers.

ITIL V3 has introduced us to Service Life Cycle approach. This raises a question Why was it required? ITIL V3 is having a major focus on IT Strategy (Business IT integration) and Continual Service Improvement. The entire approach from identifying a service for creating value to business, to its design, Transition, operation and improving on its performance and cost parameters needed a continuous cycle.

Overview of the ITIL v3 library

Five volumes comprise the ITIL v3, published in May 2007:

1. Service Strategy2. Service Design3. Service Transition4. Service Operation5. Continual Service Improvement

Service Strategy

As the center and origin point of the ITIL Service Lifecycle, the ITIL Service Strategy volume provides guidance on clarification and prioritization of service-provider investments in services. More generally, Service Strategy focuses on helping IT organizations improve and develop over the long term. In both cases, Service Strategy relies largely upon a market-driven approach. Key topics covered include service value definition, business-case development, service assets, market analysis, and service provider types. List of covered processes:

Service Portfolio Management

Demand Management

IT Financial Management

Supplier ManagementService Design

The ITIL Service Design volume Service Catalogue Management

Service Level Management

Risk Management

Capacity Management

Availability Management

IT Service Continuity Management

Information Security Management

Compliance Management

IT Architecture Management

Supplier Management

Service transition, as described by the ITIL Service Transition volume, relates to the delivery of services required by a business into live/operational use, and often encompasses the "project" side of IT rather than "BAU" (Business as usual). This area also covers topics such as managing changes to the "BAU" environment.

List of processes:

Service Asset and Configuration Management

Service Validation and Testing

Evaluation Release Management

Change Management

Knowledge ManagementService Operation

Best practice for achieving the delivery of agreed levels of services both to end-users and the customers (where "customers" refer to those individuals who pay for the service and negotiate the SLAs). Service operation, as described in the ITIL Service Operation volume, is the part of the lifecycle where the services and value is actually directly delivered. Also the monitoring of problems and balance between service reliability and cost etc are considered. The functions include technical management, application management, operations management and Service Desk as well as, responsibilities for staff engaging in Service Operation.

List of processes:

Event Management

Incident Management

Problem Management Request Fulfillment

Access Management

Aligning and realigning IT services to changing business needs (because standstill implies decline).

Continual Service Improvement, defined in the ITIL Continual Service Improvement volume, aims to align and realign IT Services to changing business needs by identifying and implementing improvements to the IT services that support the Business Processes. The perspective of CSI on improvement is the business perspective of service quality, even though CSI aims to improve process effectiveness, efficiency and cost effectiveness of the IT processes through the whole lifecycle. To manage improvement, CSI should clearly define what should be controlled and measured.

CSI needs to be treated just like any other service practice. There needs to be upfront planning, training and awareness, ongoing scheduling, roles created, ownership assigned, and activities identified to be successful. CSI must be planned and scheduled as process with defined activities, inputs, outputs, roles and reporting.

List of processes:

Service Level Management

Service Measurement and Reporting

Continual Service Improvement

Introduction to ITIL V3Page 1