ITIL - SM Reference Model

 Page 1 - Model Overview

Page 2 - Process Model

Page 1 - Model Overview

The model at the core of the HP OpenView IT service management initiative is based on standards developed by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), adapted through practical implementation experience and best practice analysis to form a process methodology for successfully delivering IT service management.

A good reference model addresses people, process, and technology and a well defined way to commit to, deploy, and operate successful IT service management. This is an example of an IT service management reference model.
 

Page 2 - Process Model

Given the goal of IT to provide quality service management to customers, the processes that make up the model have been divided into four major service-oriented process groupings.

These primary groups of service-oriented processes cannot be delivered without a strictly controlled IT production environment. Therefore, these four process groups revolve around the two IT processes that are absolutely required in order to stabilize the IT environment.
 

Business – IT Alignment

These processes provide IT with an understanding of customer business requirements in order to derive an optimal IT strategy. These are strategic processes and provide IT with a much-needed customer focus.
 

Service Design and Management

These processes allow IT to translate strategy into planned IT services and well-defined service objectives and service levels. Service availability, contingency requirements, capacity plans and forecasts, and IT service costing information all are incorporated into service contracts via these processes.
 

Service Development and Deployment

These processes enable IT to develop, test, and deploy IT services according to specific service definitions, objectives, requirements, and levels. Within this process grouping, services and their related infrastructure components are developed - processes, procedures, tools, hardware staging, software installation, applications development, training plans, and so on. When the service and its components have been successfully tested, they are released and integrated into the production environment to experience another battery of tests prior to signoff.
 

Operations Bridge

These processes provide the primary interface between the IT organization and service customers. These processes work together to provide command, control, and support of the IT environment, similar to the nautical concept of a bridge on a ship. Focused on service delivery, they enable the ongoing running, monitoring and maintenance of the IT enterprise environment.
 

Page3 - Critical Processes and Subprocesses

The four primary process groups contain multiple IT processes, which in turn are comprised of various subprocesses.
 

Business IT Alignment

Business Assessment

Assesses the business strategy and defines requirements for IT's contribution to the value chain.

Subprocesses:

• Value chain analysis
• Ascertain business goals
• Define IT requirements

Provides the role of trusted advisor, anticipates new requirements, communicates service value, keeps a pulse on customer satisfaction levels, and engages in joint problem solving.

Subprocesses:

• Market IT services.
• Customer satisfaction review
• Customer liaison
• Strategic business reporting
• Define customer support requirements
• Identify new service needs

Develops an IT strategy that will optimize IT's contribution to the business objectives.

Subprocesses:

• Formulate IT principles
• Define policies and standards
• Determine IT capability
• Define technical architecture
• Define IT process models
• Define IT organization model

Design and Management

Service Planning

Defines service requirements, service plans, and identifies gaps in current IT capabilities

Translates operational service change requirements into service definitions and plan updates

Subprocesses:

• Define service requirements
• Define new services
• Financial planning
• Define and model service data
• Define IT capabilities
• Benchmarking
• Gap analysis

Translates the service plan into operational requirements

Establishes and manages service level agreements (SLAs) and operational level agreements (OLAs) to provide reliable, cost-effective services based on IT strategy, customer requirements, and IT capabilities

Subprocesses:

• Maintain service catalog
• Establish service level requirements
• Conduct service improvement projects
• Negotiate and document service levels
• Service level monitoring and reporting

Defines, tracks, and controls IT resource availability to customers

Determines plans and tactics for service continuity, contingencies, and physical and data security

Subprocesses:

• Risk analysis and management
• Security design
• Supplier relationship management
• Design and ongoing management for service reliability and serviceability

Defines, tracks, and controls IT service capacities to ensure that infrastructure improvements are ready to meet demands of customers

Subprocesses:

• Performance analysis
• Demand management
• Workload management
• Resource management
• Application sizing
• Capacity planning

Defines, tracks, and controls service cost structures to ensure IT cost recovery

Subprocesses:

• Service costing
• Service value management
• Define accounting policies
• Cost recovery
• Financial asset management
• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Development and Deployment

Build and Test

Develops and tests services, infrastructure (process, people, technology) and related applications as specified in the service design

Subprocesses:

• Development project management
• Risk management
• Develop infrastructure
• Functional testing
• Training planning
• Recovery planning
• Hardware and software staging
• Application development
• Construct service, support and control mechanisms

Manages the introduction of products and services into the enterprise IT environment as specified in the service design

Subprocesses:

• Production build, test, and integration
• Hardware and software control and distribution
• Implement service
• Training

Operations Bridge

Operations Management

Operates the enterprise IT environment

Proactively collects resource status data, filters for potential problems, and provides notification of incidents

Performs day-to-day routine change administration

Subprocesses:

• Client/server administration
• LAN/WAN administration
• IP administration
• Database administration
• Output management
• Backup management
• Storage management
• Production scheduling and processing
• Performance monitoring and tuning
• Security access and control
• Environment data collection and filtering
• Event detection and notification
• Preventive maintenance
• Voice infrastructure management
• Transmission-related activities

Handles all events, problems, customer requests and queries

Restores service availability with minimal interruption, often resolving the symptom rather than the underlying problem in an effort to return the customer to service as quickly as possible

Escalates unsolved incidents to problem management process.

Subprocesses:

• Customer interface
• Incident classification
• Impact and urgency assessment
• Call and event tracking and routing
• Business operation support
• Escalation
• Incident resolution and closure

Determines the root cause of recurring, critical, and/or escalated incidents

Analyzes the environment to prevent problems

Subprocesses:

• Incident root cause analysis
• Problem tracking
• Coordinate problem resolution
• Known error control
• Problem prevention

Page 4 - Getting Started

There are essentially three high-level "phases" to follow when approaching the implementation of IT service management processes.

Phase 1: Long-Term Strategic Goals

Phase 2: Short-Term Tactical Goals

Phase 3: Medium-Term Tactical Goals
 
 

Phase 1: Long-Term Strategic Goals

The first phase focuses on developing the strategic service management processes that will drive all of the work engaged in by IT. The following IT processes have been marked with a "1", signifying phase 1 projects:

• Business assessment
• Customer management
• IT strategy development
• Service planning process

Assess customer business needs.

Work at cementing and growing business relationships with customers.

Update their IT strategy to meet changing customer demands.

Develop new services and modify or replace old ones to satisfy customer service needs.

Without a robust business assessment feeding a sound IT strategy that is then translated into business-justified service plans, moving forward with an implementation of IT service management can result in disjointed projects, infighting, and frustration among the involved IT staff and customers. After several false-starts due to an incoherent IT strategy and/or a weak customer management process, both IT staff and customer cynicism starts to build, often making it very difficult to proceed with further implementation efforts.

The importance of a solid IT strategy cannot be overemphasized.
 

Phase 2: Short-Term Tactical Goals

Once the customer's business needs have been rigorously assessed, an IT strategy developed, and work begun on formulating service plans to meet customer requirements, it is time to begin projects that are focused on stabilizing the IT enterprise environment; that is, those processes that will be used in the development, integration, deployment, and ongoing monitoring and maintenance of services and their related infrastructure components.

These processes (marked with a "2" to denote phase 2) that must be in place in order to stabilize the IT enterprise and provide a controlled environment, one conducive to IT service management. These processes are:

• Change management
• Configuration management
• Incident management/service desk
• Problem management
• Operations management
• Release to production
• Build and test

While the perfect world would have companies complete phase 1 projects before engaging in phase 2 work, some companies have chosen to dual-track phase 1 and phase 2 projects. This means that they coordinate the phase 1 and phase 2 implementation efforts consciously, in an effort to take advantage of the "low-hanging fruit" offered via phase 2 projects, while beginning and continuing the strategic efforts that cannot and must not be ignored.
 

Phase 3: Medium-Term Tactical Goals

With the foundation processes implemented by phase 2 projects, the IT enterprise will be controllable and measurable, which means that it can be improved on an ongoing basis. The stability provided by these foundation processes is absolutely required before IT can realistically begin delivering true service management capabilities to their customers. The processes that can now be implemented (marked with a "3" to indicate phase 3):

• Service level management
• Availability and continuity management
• Capacity management
• Cost management