itil v3 2009 edition notes

7/31/2019 ITIL v3 2009 Edition Notes

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ITIL v3 Foundation2009 EditionStudy Notes

B y - R a m J a n g i d1 8 t h J u l y 2 0 1 2

N a s h v i l l e , T N


2/33ITIL v3 Study Notes Page 2

Note: This document or part of document is not copyrighted at all, can be used by anyone who wants to prepare for ITIL foundation examination. Information

contained in this document should not be taken for granted, I recommend verify the information before going to examination. I will not be responsible for any

incorrect information, whatsoever. Good luck!

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INTRODUCTION

Definition of IT Service Management (ITSM):A set of specialized organizational capabilities for providing value to customers in the form ofservices

These organizational capabilities are influenced by:

1. Needs and requirements of customer

2. Culture that exists within Organization3. Intangible nature of output and intermediate products of service

Standard elements of ITSM:

1. Process2. Products, or Technology3. People

4. Partners or external suppliers.

Four Perspectives (4 Ps) or attributes of ITSM:1. Partner/Supplier Perspective

2. People Perspective3. Product/Technology Perspective4. Process Perspective

Benefits of ITSM:

4. Improved quality service provision5. Cost justifiable service quality6. Services that meet business, customer and user demands7. Integrated centralized processes



8. Everyone knows their role and knows their responsibilities in service provision9. Learning from previous experience10.Demonstrable performance indicators.

Stakeholders that benefits from improved ITSM

1. Senior Management2. Business Unit managers

3. Customers4. End users5. IT Staff6. Suppliers

Business and IT alignment: How IT supports Business of the organization below are the layers1. Organization: What are the goals of an organization?2. CORE Business Processes: What are business processes to meet above goals?3. IT Service organization: What IT services are required for effective and efficient business

processes above?

4. IT Service Management: What ITIL processes required for quality delivery and support of the ITServices above.5. IT Technical Activities: What technical activities required for above ITIL services?

ITILs five volumes:1. Service Strategy2. Service Design3. Service Transition4. Service Operation5. Continual Service Improvements

COMMON TERMINOLOGY

Process: Processes can be defined as a structured set of coordinated activities designed to produce an

outcome and provide value to customers or stakeholders. A process takes one or more inputs and

through the activities performed turns them into defined outputs.

Principles of Process:

1. All processes should be measurable and performance driven (not just time, but measuringoverall efficiency including cost, effort and other resources used).

2. Processes are strategic assets when they create competitive advantage and market

differentiation.

3. Processes may define roles, responsibilities, tools, management controls, policies, standards,guidelines, activities and work instructions if they are needed.

Function: Functions refer to the logical grouping of roles and automated measures that execute a

defined process, an activity or combination of both.



Connecting Functions and Processes: A useful tool to assist the definition of the roles and

responsibilities when designing processes is the RACI Model. RACI stands for:

R ResponsibilityA Accountability

C ConsultI Inform

SERVICE LIFECYCLE

Output from each service lifecycle phase:

Service Strategy -

1. IT Budgets2. Patterns of Business Activity

3. Service Portfolio InformationService Design

1. New and changed service assets2. Service Catalogue, SLAs, OLAs, UCs3. Testing and Validation Criteria

Service Transition 1. Known Errors from Development2. Testing and validation results3. Change Authorization

Service Operation

1. Incidents & Problems, Events, Service Requests2. Request for Changes

3. Information collected from infrastructure monitoringContinual Service Improvements Service and Process improvements

SERVICE STRATEGYObjectives:



1. Design, develop, implement Service Management2. Develop the IT organizations capability to manage the costs and risks associated with their

service portfolios.

3. Define the strategic objectives of the IT organization.

Processes: There are three processes involved in service strategy phase:

1. Service Portfolio Management

2. Financial Management3. Demand Management

Service Portfolio Management

Goals and Objectives:

Primary goal is to provide strategic direction and management of investment into ITSM so that

an optimum portfolio of service is continually maintained.

Other objectives:

1. To provide an improved ability for supporting and enhancing business services andprocesses.

2. To identify and define business value provided by IT services3. To maintain accurate information regarding planned, current and retired services.

Services are grouped in three categories in Service Portfolio:

1. Service Pipeline proposed, but not completed, services

2. Service Catalogue current services3. Retired Services

Methods or steps:

1. Define2. Analyze

3. Approve4. Charter

Investment categories and Budget allocation

Service investments are split into 3 categories:

1. Transform the Business (TTB)2. Grow the Business (GTB)3. Run the Business (RTB)

Financial Management

Goals and Objectives:Primary goal is to provide cost effective stewardship of IT assets and financial resources used in

providing IT services.

Benefits:

1. Enhanced decision-making

2. Improved speed of change3. Improved service portfolio management4. Financial compliance and control



5. Improved operation control6. Greater insight and communication of value created by IT

Activities:

1. Funding Predict future requirements for funds and see if funds available to makebusiness case strong.

2. IT Accounting Account the IT organization for the way it spends money

3. Chargeback (Optional) Charging customers for their IT use.

Demand Management

Goals and Objectives:

Primary goal is to assist the IT Service Provider in understanding and influencing Customer

demand for services and the provision of Capacity to meet these demands.

Other objectives: a. Identification and analysis of Pattern of Business Activity (PBA) and user

profiles that generate demand. b. Utilizing technology to influence and manage demand in such

a way that excess capacity is reduced without affecting customer and business requirements.

SERVICE DESIGN

Service design is concerned predominantly with design of IT services, as well as associated or

required:

1. Processes2. Service management systems and tools3. Service Solutions4. Technology Architectures5. Measurement systems



Objectives: Main three objectives are as below

1. To convert the strategic objectives into Services and Service Portfolios.2. To use holistic design approach to ensure integrated end-to-end business related functionality

and quality.

3. To ensure consistent high design standards and conventions are followed

Five aspects of Service Design: Key aspect is to meet changing business needs.

1. Service Portfolio2. Service Solutions3. Technology architecture4. Processes5. Measurement systems

Service Design Processes:

1. Service Level Management (Design)2. Capacity management3. Availability Management

4. IT Service Continuity Management5. Information Security Management6. Supplier Management

7. Service Catalogue Management

Service Level ManagementGoal: To ensure that agreed level of IT service is provided for all current IT services, and that

future service delivered to agreed achievable target.

During Service Design lifecycle, Service Level management:

1. Designs and plans the SLM process and Service Level Agreement (SLA) Structure;

2. Determines the Service Level Requirements (SLRs);3. Negotiates and Agrees upon the relevant Service Level targets with customers to

produce SLAs;

4. Negotiates and agrees upon the support elements required by the internal IT groups andExternal

5. Suppliers to produce Operational Level Agreements (internal) and UnderpinningContracts (external).

Service Level Agreement Structures:

Three types: Service Based, Customer Based, and Multi-lever or Hierarchical SLAs

Supplier Management:Primary goal is to manage suppliers and services they supply, to provide seamless quality of IT

services to the business and ensure that value for money is obtained.

Other objectives:1. Obtain value for money from supplier and contracts.

2. Ensure that underpinning contracts and agreements with suppliers are aligned tobusiness needs.

3. Manage relationships with suppliers.4. Negotiate and agree contracts with suppliers.



5. Manage supplier performance.6. Maintain a supplier policy and a supporting Supplier and Contract Database (SCD).

Service Catalogue ManagementPrimary goal is to ensure that Service Catalogue is produce, maintain and always contains

accurate information on all operational services and those ready for deployment.

Other objectives:1. To provide single source of consistent information for communicating available servicesand their associated details, interfaces, dependencies.

2. To ensure that it is widely available to those who are approved to access it.3. To enable mechanism for self help utilizing technology within the Service Catalogue.

Capacity ManagementGoal is to ensure that the current and future capacity and performance demands of the

customer regarding IT services provision are delivered for in a cost-effective manner.

It manages:

1. The right capacity

2. at the right location3. at the right moment

4. for the right customer5. Against the right cost.

Sub-processes within Capacity management:

1. Business Capacity Management2. Service Capacity Management3. Component Capacity Management

Activities:

1. Performance Monitoring2. Demand Management3. Application Sizing4. Modeling

5. Tuning6. Storage of Capacity Management Data7. Capacity Planning8. Reporting

Role: Capacity Manager

Responsibilities:

1. Ensure adequate performance and capacity for all IT services2. Capacity Plan (development and management)

3. Oversee Performance and Capacity monitoring & alerting4. Report provision and advice

Skills:

1. Strategic business awareness

2. Technical and analytical acuity3. Consultancy



Availability ManagementGoal: Primary goal is to ensure that the level of service availability delivered in all services is

matched to or exceeds the current and future agreed needs of the business in the cost-effective

manner.

Other objectives:

1. Reduction in the frequency and duration of Availability related incidents

2. To maintain forward looking Availability plans.

Activities:

1. Ensuring service availability meets SLAs2. Determining the cause of availability failures3. Reviewing business requirements for availability of business systems4. Cataloging business requirements5. Ensuring proper contingency plans are in place and tested6. Establishing high-availability, redundant systems to support mission-critical

applications

Expanded Incident Lifecycle:

Also called Availability Management Metrics.

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) or Uptime: Average time between therecovery of previous incident and the occurrence of next incident

Mean Time to Restore Service (MTRS) or Downtime: Average time to restore theservice after a failure.

Mean Time between System Incidents (MTBSI): Average time between two

consecutive incidents (MTBF + MTRS)



Detection Time: Time for service provider to inform the incident (informed) Diagnosis Time: Time for service provider to respond after diagnosis. Repair Time: Time the service provider restores the service. Restore Point: Point at which agreed level service has been restored.

Role: Availability Manager

Responsibilities:

1. Ensure adequate availability of all IT services2. Developing and maintaining an Availability Plan3. Oversee availability monitoring and improvement of the process4. Report provision and advice

Skills:

1. Awareness of how IT supports the business2. Technical and analytical acuity3. Consultancy4. Seeks continuous improvement

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of Availability Management:1. Percentage reduction in unavailability of services and components2. Percentage increase in the reliability of services and components

3. Effective review and follow up of all SLA, OLA and UC breaches4. Percentage improvement in overall end-to-end availability of service5. Percentage reduction in the number and impact of service breaks6. Improvement of MTBF7. Improvement of MTBSI8. Reduction in MTRS

IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM):

Goal: To support overall Business Continuity Management (BCM) by ensuring that the requiredIT infrastructure and IT service provision can be recovered within required and agreed

business time scales. DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING.

Four Stages of ITSCM:

1. Initiation: Define scope of BCM2. Requirement and Strategy: Business Impact Analysis, Risk Assessment, Business

Continuity Strategy

3. Implementation: Organization and Impl. Planning, Recovery Plans and procedure, Initialtesting

4. Operational Management: Education & awareness, Review & Audit, Testing, Change

Management, Assurance.

Roles and Responsibilities:



Information Security Management (ISM)

Goal: To align IT security with business security and ensure that information security is

effectively managed in all service and IT service management activities.

Information Security Management of an organization ensures that confidentiality, integrity and

availability of its assets, information, data and IT services is maintained.

Four perspectives of ISM:1. Organizational: Define security policies and staff awareness of these.2. Procedural: Defined procedures used to control security.3. Physical: Controls used to protect any physical assets against any threats or security

incidents.

4. Technical: Controls used to protect any IT infrastructures against any security incidents.

Role: Information Security Manager

Responsibility:

1. Manage entire security2. Consult with senior management

Skills: Strategic sense of PR & be tactical

Role: Security Officer

Responsibility:

1. Day to day operational duties2. Advice staff on security policy and measures

Skills: Analytical, eye for details, consultancy



SERVICE TRANSITION

This phase focuses on vulnerable transition between Design phase and Operation phase of the Service.

Goal: Main objective of this phase is development and improvement of capabilities for transitioning

new and changed IT services.

Other objectives include:

1. To ensure new or changed IT services meet customer needs and doesnt impact business needs

adversely.2. To reduce the variation between estimated and actual costs, timeframe, impact scale etc.3. To build, configure, test, and deploy quality Release into operation.

Benefits include:

1. Increase in success rates in Changes in Releases.2. More accurate estimations for Service Levels and Warranties

3. Less variation of costs and other resources.

Processes:

1. Knowledge Management

2. Service asset and Configuration Management

3. Change Management4. Release and Deployment Management5. Service Validation and Testing

Knowledge ManagementGoal: to enable organization to improve the quality of management decision-making by

ensuring that reliable and secure information and data available throughout service lifecycle.

Benefits:



1. We can stop having to continually reinvent wheel.2. More efficient use of resources (including people)3. Enables the organization to continually improve and mature.

Challenges while implementing and operating Knowledge Management:

4. Getting staff to use the system1. Having extra time taken to record the relevant information after actions are made.

2. Managing information and knowledge that is no longer needed3. Design a system that can scale well as an organization grows.

Data: Set of discrete facts. Collects everyday.

Information: Comes from providing context to dataapplying some meaning or relevance to

the set of facts

Knowledge: Composed of the experiences, ideas, insights and judgments from individuals

used to facilitate decision-making.

Wisdom: Gives the ultimate discernment of the material and having the application and

contextual awareness to provide a strong common sense judgment. The use of wisdom

ultimately enables an organization to direct its strategy and growth in competitive marketspaces.

Components, tools and databases:

SKMS: Service Knowledge Management System, a complete set of integrated repositories that

are used to manage knowledge and information.

It includes Configuration Management System as well as other tools and databases.

CMS: Configuration Management System, a set of databases and tools that are used to

manage IT service providers configuration data. Also include information about knownerrors, incidents, problems, changes and releases.

CMDB: Configuration Management Database, used to store configuration details

for an IT infrastructure.KEDB: Known Error Database, created by Problem Management and used by

Incident and Problem Management

Service asset and Configuration ManagementGoal: To support the agreed IT service provision by managing, storing and providing

information about Configuration Items (CI) and Service assets throughout their lifecycle. This

assists in providing logical model of infrastructure.

Activities:

Management and Planning

1. Defining strategy, policy, scope, objectives, processes and procedures for Service Assetsand Configuration Management

2. Roles and responsibilities of involved staff and stakeholders.3. Location of storage area and libraries used.4. CMBD design5. CI naming conventions.

Identification can take place for

1. Hardware and software (including OS)



2. Business Systems3. Packages4. Physical Database5. Configuration baseline6. Software release7. Documentation

Control To ensure that only authorized and identifiable CIs are recorded from receipt todisposal in order to protect the integrity of CMDB.

1. Registration of all new CIs and versions2. Update of CI records and license control3. Updates in connection with RFCs and Change Management4. Update the CMDB after periodic checking of physical items

Status Accounting Reporting of all current and historical data concerning each CI. Provide

information on

1. Configuration baseline

2. Latest software version number3. The person responsible for status4. CI change/incident/problem history

Verification and Audit Reviews and audits verify existence of CIs, checking that they arecorrectly recorded in CMDB and that there is conformity between documented baseline and

actually environment to which they refer.

Configuration Audits should occur at the following times:

1. Before and after major changes to the IT infrastructure2. Following recovery from disaster3. In response to the detection of an unauthorized CI

4. At regular intervals


Service Asset Management1. Full lifecycle management of IT and service assets from acquisitions to disposal2. Maintenance of the asset inventory.

Configuration Management1. To provide a logical model of the services, assets and infrastructure by recording

the relationships between service assets and configuration items

2. To ensure control procedures are complied with to protect the integrity ofConfigurations.

3. To support the information needs of other ITIL processes

The actual roles related to Service Asset and Configuration Management include:

1. Service Asset Manager2. Configuration Manager3. Configuration Analyst

4. Configuration Administrator/Librarian5. CMS/Tools Administrator6. Change Manager (all Changes to CIs must be authorized by Change Management)



Change Management

Goal: To ensure that standardized methods and procedure are used for controlled, efficient and

prompt handling of Change; in order to minimize the impact of change related incidents upon

service quality and consequently to improve the day-to-day operations of the organization.

Important Steps:1. The RFC is logged2. An initial review is performed (to filter RFCs)3. The RFCs are assessed may require involvement of CAB or ECAB4. This is authorized by the Change Manager5. Work orders are issued for the build of the Change (carried out by other groups)6. Change Management coordinates the work performed (with multiple checkpoints)

7. The Change is reviewed8. The Change is closed

Assessing and Evaluating Changes: To ensure that Change Management process doesnt become

the bottleneck.

The 7Rs of Change Management:

When assessing the changes, ask below questions must be answered for all changes1. Who RAISED the change?

2. What is the REASON for the change?3. What is the RETURN required from the change?4. What are the RISKS involved in the change?5. What RESOURCES are required to deliver the change?6. Who is RESPONSIBLE for the build, test and implementation of the change?7. What is the RELATIONSHIP between this change and other changes?

Authorization of Changes: Change Manager authorizes all the Changes required; they in turn

will ensure they have the approval of three main areas:

1. Financial Approval - Whats it going to cost? And whats the cost of not doing it?2. Business Approval - What are the consequences to the business? And not doing it?3. Technology Approval - What are the consequences to the infrastructure? And not

doing it?

Relationship with Project Management:



1. Change Management authorizes, controls, coordinates, but does not plan, build, testand implement changes itself.

2. Change Management is concerned with Remediation Planning to ensure that eachRFC has fallback/rollback plan.


Change Manager:

1. Administration of all RFCs2. Prepare RFCs for CAB meetings, FSC for Service Desk3. Authorize (or reject) changes

CAB:

1. Advises Change Manager on authorization issues for RFCs with significant ormajor impact

2. Typical representatives for a CAB under normal conditions are:a. The Change Manager (chairs the CAB)b. Customer representativesc. User management

d. Application Developers/Supporterse. Technical Experts and Consultantsf. Other Services Staff

g. Vendors and Suppliers.Release and Deployment Manager:

1. Manages the release of changes2. Advises the Change Manager (as part of CAB) on release issues

Technical Specialists:

1. Build, test and deploy the actual hardware and software change components

KPIs of Change Management:

1. Number of RFCs (Accepted/Rejected)2. Number and % of successful Changes3. Emergency Changes4. Number of Changes awaiting implementation5. Number of implemented Changes6. Change backlogs and bottle-necks7. Business impact of changes8. Frequency of Change to CIs

Release and Deployment ManagementGoal: To deploy new releases into production, transition support to service operation, and

enable its effective use in order to deliver value to customer.

A collection of authorized changes to IT services is called Release.

Release and Deployment Management works closely with Change Management and Service

Desk to inform users of scheduled changes/deployments.

Options for the deployment of Release:



Big Bang Deploy to each and every user in one operation. Used when introducing any

important application. This is sometimes very risky and increases impact of failed release.

Phased Approach: Deployed to part of user base, then to remaining user bases via

scheduled rollout plan.

Push Approach: Used where service component is deployed from center location to the

target locations.

Pull Approach: Used for software releases where user are free to pull out new software

from a central location.

Automated: Using technology to automate the Release. This helps to ensure repeatability

and consistency.

Manual: Using manual activities to deploy or distribute releases. Need extra care for this

situation since manual deployment is more likely to be error prone and inefficient.

Activities:

Release Planning

1. Defining the Release contents2. Defining the Release Schedule

3. Defining the resources, roles & responsibilities required for the ReleaseDesign and Test1. Produce Release assembly & build instructions

2. Create Installation scripts3. Run Test plans4. Develop Back-out procedures5. Produce tested installation procedures

Rollout Planning

1. Defining timetable for distribution2. Identification of affected CIs3. Defining communication plans

4. Defining training plans5. Communication & training for Users and Support Staff

Logistic, Distribution and Installation

1. Transfer financial assets2. Transfer changes required to business/organization3. Deploy processes and materials4. Deploy Service Management Capability5. Transfer service

6. Deploy service7. Decommissioning and service retirement8. Remove redundant assets




Release and Deployment Manager

1. Drive effectiveness & efficiency of process2. Manage release management team3. Liaise with Change & Configuration Management, IT platform managers, Application

Developers etc.

Release and Deployment Management Team

1. Manage the DML & DS2. Design, build, test & deploy releases3. Manage software management/distribution tools

Service Validation and TestingGoal: To ensure the new or modified service will provide the appropriate value to customers

and their business.

Service validation contributes to quality assurance establishing that the service design andrelease will deliver new or changed service or service offering that satisfies the requirements

and standards of customers and stakeholders involved.

Testing is vital area within Service Management. If services are not tester properly, their

introduction into production area will bring rise in:

Incidents, Service Desk calls for assistance, Problems and errors, Costs, Services that arenot used effectively



SERVICE OPERATION

Objective: The main objective is to enable effectiveness and efficiency in delivery and support for IT

services. Strategic objectives are realized through Service Operation, hence making it more critical

capability.

Major Concepts:

Achieving the Balance: One of Service Operations key role is dealing with the conflicts betweenmaintaining status quo, adapting to the changing business and technological environments and

achieving a balance between conflicting sets of priorities.

Internal IT view

Focuses on IT components and

services. Out of balance to meet

business requirements.

Vs External Business view

Has business focus, but tends to

under-deliver on promises to the

business

Stability

No matter how well system is

designed, it will worth far less if

any component is missing orperform inconsistently. Service

Operation has to ensure that

service is stable as available as

required. Extreme focus on

stability means IT is in danger of

not responsive enough of

business changes.

Vs Responsiveness

When there is high focus on

responsiveness, IT service may

tend to over spend on changesand also decrease the stability of

the infrastructure.



Cost of Service

An organization with an extreme

focus on cost, tend to lose

quality of services because of

heavy cost cutting.

Vs Quality of Service

An organization with extreme

focus on quality has very

satisfied customers, but tends to

overspend to deliver higher

levels of services than required.

ReactiveAn organization that is very

reactive is not able to effectively

support the business strategy

Vs ProactiveAn extreme proactive

organization tends to fix the

services that are not broken, or

introduces services that are not

needed.

Service Operation Functions:

1. Service Desk2. Technical Management3. IT Operation Control

4. Application Management1. Service Desk

Goal: To support agreed IT service provision by ensuring the accessibility and availability of IT

organization and by performing various supporting activities.

Types: Call Center, Help Desk, Service Desk

Structures: Local, Central, Virtual, Follow-the-sun

Skills: Communication, technical, business understanding

KPIs:

1. Number of calls to service desk2. Number of calls to other support staff3. Call resolution time

4. Customer satisfaction (Surveys)5. Use of self help

Staff Retention: Some ways in which this can be done include

1. Recognitions of staff achievements contributing to service quality2. Staff rotation3. Team building exercise4. Promote Service Desk as stepping stone for staff to move into other more technical

or supervisory roles

2. Technical Management

Goal: To help plan, maintain, and implement a stable technical infrastructure to support the

organizations business processes through:1. Well designed and cost effective topology2. Use of adequate technical skills of staff

3. Swift use of technical skills to speedily diagnose and resolve any technical issues.Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Custodian of technical knowledge and expertise related to managing ITinfrastructure.

2. Plays an important role in providing actual resources to support IT ServiceManagement lifecycle.



3. IT Operations ManagementGoal: To perform daily operational activities needed to manage the IT infrastructure. This is

done using the performance standards defined during Service Design.


1. Maintenance of status quo to perform day-to-day activities and processes2. Regular scrutiny and improvements to achieve improved services at reduced costs

3. Swift application of operational skills to diagnose and resolve any IT operationsfailures that occur.

4. Application ManagementGoal: To help design, implement and maintain stable applications to support the organizationsbusiness processes.


1. Managing applications throughout lifecycle.2. Support and maintains operational applications3. Support the organizations business processes by helping to identify functional and

manageable requirements for application software

4. Assisting in the decision whether to buy or build an application5. Assign in design and deployment of these applications

6. Provide ongoing support for these applications7. Identify skills required for these supports.

Service Operation Processes:

Following are the processes that supports Service Operations goal:

1. Event Management2. Incident Management3. Problem Management4. Request Fulfillment5. Access Management

1. Event ManagementGoal: To provide capability to detect the event, make sense of them and carry out appropriateactions to control them. Basis for Operational Management and Control.



Different types of events:

1. Event that signifies regular operations (e.g. A scheduled backup occurred successfully)

2. Events that signify an exception (e.g. A scheduled backup failed)3. Events that signify unusual but not exceptional operation. These are an indication that

the situation may require closer monitoring (e.g. No backup initiated within last 72

hours)

Activities:

2. Incident Management:Goal: To restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize the adverse

impact on business operations, thus ensuring that the best possible levels of service quality and

availability are maintained.

Difference between Incident Management and Problem Management:

Incident Management Problem ManagementNot concerned with the root cause, onlyaddressing the symptoms as quickly aspossible.

Concerned with root cause of the problem



Major Concepts:

1. Categorization Unemotional/statistical aspect of prioritization.Impact + Urgency = Priority

Impact: Degree to which user is affected.

Urgency: Degree to which resolution can be delayed.2. Escalations This is human element of incident prioritization. Helps us identifyincidents that can be moved up or down the priority list.

Functional: Based on knowledge or expertise, also known as horizontal escalation.

Hierarchical: For corrective actions by authorized line management, also known as

vertical escalation.

Activities:

Ownership, Monitoring, Tracking and Communication 1. The Service Desk typically OWNS/accountable for ALL Incidents2. Monitor progress, escalation of Incidents

3. Advise user and IT managementIncident Identification and Logging Update/confirm Incident and user details

Categorization, Prioritization (Most critical activity) & Initial Support

1. Categorize so the exact type of call is recorded e.g. Incident

2. Assess urgency and impact to assign correct priority3. Match against existing Problems/Known Errors4. Match multiple Incidents and create new Problem record (if necessary)5. Provide initial support based on evidence already gathered

Investigation and Diagnosis 1. Assess the Incident details and provide workaround (if available)

2. Escalate to support areas (Functional) or IT management (Hierarchical)Resolution and Recovery

Resolve the Incident or raise a RFC

Incident Closure 1. Update details of actions taken and classification of Incident2. Confirm closure with User

Major Incidents: This is nothing but the one for which the highest category or impact is

defined. A separate procedure with shorter timescale and greater urgency are used. This often

leads directly into Problem Management, to ensure that the root-cause of the Incident is

removed and the incident never occurs again.


Incident Manager 1. Drive effectiveness & efficiency of process2. Manage incident management team3. Ensure SLA targets for Incident resolution are met

Skills

1. Analytical2. Technical



3. Business understanding4. Communication5. Calm under pressure.

Service Desk1. Log/record Incidents2. Incident classification and categorization3. Provide initial support

4. Match to existing Incident or Problem records5. Manage communication with end-users

1st, 2nd, 3rd line support groups1. Including Technical and Application Management2. Incident classification3. Investigation and resolution of Incidents

KPIs:

1. Total number of incidents;2. Percentage of Incidents handled within agreed response time

3. Average cost per Incident;4. Percentage of Incidents closed by the Service Desk without reference to other levels ofsupport;

5. Number and percentage of Incidents resolved remotely, without the need for a visit.

3. Problem Management:Goal Is to manage lifecycle of all problems. It seeks to identify and remove the root-cause of

Incidents. Primary objectives are:-

1. To prevent problems and resulting incidents from happening2. To eliminate recurring incidents

3. To minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented

Processes Defined as two major processes:-

1. Reactive Problem Management2. Proactive Problem Management (Generally driven in Continual Service Improvements)

Aim is to identify errors that might otherwise be missed.

o Reactive Problem Management:



Activities are similar to those of Incident Management for logging, categorization and

classification of problems. Subsequent activities are different.

1. Problem detection2. Problem logging3. Problem categorization4. Problem investigation and diagnosis5. Workarounds6. Raising a Known Error record7. Problem resolution8. Problem closure9. Major Problem reviews

Major Problem Reviews

While problem is fresh, review should be conducted to learn any lessons for

future. It can be used as part of training and awareness activities for staff.

1. Those things that were done correctly;

2. Those things that were done wrong;3. What could be done better in the future?4. How to prevent recurrence;5. Whether there has been any third-party responsibility and whether

follow-up actions are needed.

o Proactive Problem ManagementTwo main activities:

Trend Analysis 1. Review reports from other processes (e.g. trends in incidents, availability levels,

relationships with changes and releases)

2. Identify recurring Problems or training opportunities for IT staff, customers andend users.

Targeting Preventative Action

1. Perform a cost-benefit analysis of all costs associated with prevention2. Target specific areas taking up the most support attention3. Coordinate preventative action with Availability and Capacity Management,

focusing on vulnerable areas of the infrastructure (e.g. single points of failure,

components reaching full capacity/utilization)



Roles and Responsibilities

Problem Manager:

1.Drive effectiveness & efficiency of process2.Manage the Problem Management team3.Liaise with customers, IT executive, IT platform managers

Skills:

1. Business knowledge

2. Lateral thinker3. Coordination skills

Problem Management Team: Including Application and Technical Management functions

1. Reactive & proactive problem management2. Provide management reports3. Assist Incident Management

Skills: Analytical, technical, business knowledge

4. Request Fulfillment

Goal: This is concerned with fulfilling requests from end user community using consistent andrepeatable methods.

Scope: The scope of Request Fulfillment is influenced heavily by the success of Change

Management and what types of pre-approved changes can be effectively managed, controlled

and implemented by the IT department. Scope should grow over time as maturity develops for

Service Request, including:

1. Users and customers asking questions, providing comments and making complaints2. Users seeking changes to their access levels (utilizes Access Management)3. Users wishing to have common services and applications installed for their use

(including Standard Changes)

Request Models: A predefined request models should be defined for the service requests that

reoccur frequently:

1. What activities are required to fulfill the request2. The roles and responsibilities involved3. Target timescales and escalation paths4. Other policies or requirements that apply

Activities:

Menu Selection used in self help type of functions.

Financial Approval need to have approval from Finance department as well

Other Approval wide business approval may be neededFulfillment Service Requests can only be fulfilled using automated mechanisms.

Closure when service requests have been fulfilled, it should be sent back to Service Desk to

initiate its closure.

5. Access Management

Goal: The primary objective is to provide capabilities for the granting of authorized users the

right to use a service while preventing non-authorized users from using the services.



Relationship with other Processes:

Access Management ensures that users are given the right to use a service, but doesnt

guarantee that this is available to all agreed times this is provided by Availability

Management. Process is centrally coordinated by Service Desk, but can include Technical and

Application Management functions.



CONTINUAL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

Objectives: To ensure continual improvements to IT Service Management and IT Services.

CSI binds all the other elements of the Service Lifecycle together and ensures that both the services

and capabilities for providing them continually improves and matures.

Major Concepts: The Continual Service Improvement Model

CSI Model provides the basis by which improvements are made to both services and capabilities of

an IT Service Provider. They are the questions asked

Relationships within the Service Lifecycle

Questions asked in CSI model required close interactions with all the other ITIL processes.

Questions for CSI Model Relationships with lifecycle phases

What is the Vision? Service Strategy, Service Portfolio

Where are we now? Baselines taken using Service Portfolio, Service

Level Management and Financial Management

Where do we want to be? Service Portfolio, Service Measurement andReporting

How do we get there? CSI and all ITIL processes

Did we get there? Service Measurement and Reporting

How do we keep the momentum going? CSI

CSI Processes: There are three processes

1. Service Level Management2. Service Measurement and Reporting

3. CSI (7 steps) Improvement process

1. Service Level Management:Goal: Primary goal is to provide agreed level of IT Service is provided for all current and future

IT services. It also proactively seeks and implements improvements.

Activities:

Major focus of SLM within CSI is identifying potential service improvements. SLM is

concerned with improving services and processes through constant

o Analyzing data gathered during Service Operation



o Reporting

o Evaluating

o Improving

Service Improvement Plans: Formal plans to implement improvements to a process or service.

Improvements may come from

o Breaches of Service Level Agreements

o Identification of user training and documentation issueso Weak system testing

o Identified weak areas within internal and external support groups


Service Level Manager

o Must be senior enough to represent organization; with authority to do what is necessary

o Manages Service Catalogue, SLAs and OLAs and ensures alignment of UnderpinningContracts

o Identifies and manages improvements to services and processes

o

Analyses and reports on Service Level Achievements

Skills

o Relationship Managemento Patience, tolerance, resilience

o An understanding of the customers business and how IT contributes to the delivery ofthat product or service

Challenges Affecting SLM:

o Monitoring of pre-SLA achievements, where to begin?

o Identifying targets that are achievable and reasonable

o Insufficient focus, resources and timeo Inadequate seniority of SLM staffo Underpinning contracts ignored

o SLAs too long, written in technical jargon and not customer focused

o Improvement actions not adhered to

KPIs of SLM:

o Number/Percentage of services covered by SLAs

o Number/Percentage SLAs supported by UCs and OLAso Number/Percentage of services targets being met

o Are service level achievements improving? If NO, then WHY?

o Are customer perception statistics improving? If NO, then WHY?o Are IT costs for service provisions decreasing for services with stable SLAs? If NO, then

WHY?

2. Service Measurement and ReportingGoal: To coordinate the design of metrics, data collection and reporting activities from the other

processes and functions.

Reasons to monitor and measure:



o Validate Are we supporting the strategy and vision?

o Direct Based on factual data, people can be guided to change behavior

o Justify Do we have right targets and metrics?

o Intervene Take corrective actions.

Type of Metrics:

o Technology Metrics Technological components and application-based metrics such as

performance, availability etc. Design architect and technical specialists are responsible.

o Process Metrics capture in the form of KPIs and activity metrics. Various ProcessOwners are responsible.

o Service Metrics The result of end-to-end service. Service Level Managers and ServiceOwners are responsible.

Baseline: A benchmark captures and used as a reference point for later comparison. Baselines

must be established at each level: strategic goals and objectives, tactical process maturity and

operational metrics and KPIs.

3.

CSI (7 steps) Improvement processGoal: To coordinate a structured approach for improvements to IT services and ITSM processes.

Deming Cycle is the foundation for continual improvement.

Some of the items that occur during below 4 phases:

o Plan: Scope, requirements, objectives, Roles and Responsibilities

o Do: Funds, Policies, reports, managing, changing

o Check: Monitor against plans, survey, report

o Act: Policy on improvement, assessment, implementation



Below diagram shows CSIs 7 step Improvement Process:

Benefits of CSI:

o Increased growth

o Competitive Advantage

o Increased Return on Investment

o Increased Value on Investment


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itil v3 2009 edition notes

Documents