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ITpreneurs™ Service Management

WORKBOOK

Release, Control, and Validation release 3.3.0

ITIL® Intermediate ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited.

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Copyright

ITIL Release, Control, and Validation, Classroom course, release 3.3.0

Copyright and Trademark Information forPartners/Stakeholders.

ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited.The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of AXELOS Limited.The ITIL Accredited Training Organization logo is a trade markof AXELOS Limited.

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No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of bothITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited. Permission can be requested at www.ITpreneurs.com [email protected].

Material in this document has been sourced from ITIL® Service Lifecycle Suite 2nd Edition, 2011.

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved. Please note that the information contained in this material is subject to change without notice. Furthermore, this material contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright.No part of this material may be photocopied, reproduced, ortranslated to another language without the prior consent ofITpreneurs Nederland B.V. The language used in this course is US English. Our sources ofreference for grammar, syntax, and mechanics are from The Chicago Manual of Style, The American Heritage Dictionary, andthe Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.

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Contents

i

COPYRIGHT II

LIST OF ICONS III

LIST OF ACTIVITIES IV

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VII

UNIT 2: CHANGE MANAGEMENT 1

2.3 Business Value of the Process 2

2.8.2 Logging, Reviewing, and Assessing Change Requests 3

2.8.3 Authorizing Changes 4

2.8.4 Coordinating, Reviewing, and Closing Changes 5

2.16 Sample Test Question 6

UNIT 3: SERVICE ASSET AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 8

3.4 Policies, Principles and Basic Concepts 9

3.5.2 Configuration Identification 10

3.5.5 Verification and Audit 14

3.6 Triggers, Inputs, Outputs, and Interfaces with Other Processes 15

3.12 Group/Individual Exercise 16


UNIT 4: RELEASE AND DEPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT 19

4.3 Business Value of the Process 20

4.4.3 Release Units 20

4.4.5 Release and Deployment Options 21

4.5.1 Release and Deployment Planning 22

4.5.3 Deployment 26


UNIT 5: SERVICE VALIDATION AND TESTING 31

5.4 Policies, Principles, and Basic Concepts 32

5.5 Main Activities, Processes, Methods, and Techniques 34



UNIT 6: REQUEST FULFILMENT 46


6.11 GROUP/INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE 50

UNIT 7: CHANGE EVALUATION 52


7.5 Process Activities, Methods, and Techniques 54


ii

7.12 SAMPLE TEST QUESTION 59

UNIT 8: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 61


8.5 Process Activities, Methods, and Techniques 66



UNIT 9: TECHNOLOGY AND IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT 77

9.2 Evaluation Criteria for Service Management Tools 78

9.7 GROUP/Individual Exercise 80


APPENDIX A: CASE STUDY 82

APPENDIX B: MIND MAP EXCERCISE (REFER TO STUDENT REFERENCE MATERIAL) NA

APPENDIX C: GLOSSARY (REFER TO STUDENT REFERENCE MATERIAL) NA

APPENDIX D: SYLLABUS (REFER TO STUDENT REFERENCEMATERIAL) NA

APPENDIX E: ANSWERS 95

APPENDIX F: DIAGRAMS (MACRO VIEW) (REFER TO STUDENT REFERENCE MATERIAL) NA

APPENDIX G: RELEASE NOTES (REFER TO STUDENT REFERENCE MATERIAL) 150

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved. iii

LIST OF ICONS

Refers to content that is meant for the instructor to lecture in class

Refers to content that is meant for the student to read on his/her own in class or at home

Refers to information items that are not covered by the instructor in class but help the student understand a particular topic in detail

Refers to a Scenario-Based Activity that the student must do in class or as homework after the completion of a topic or in between a topic

Refers to items or contents that are given in a step-by-step-instruction or checklist format

Refers to an important snippet of information that the instructors should remember to touch upon while conducting an activity or during a lecture

Refers to the simplification of content that was previously difficult to understand or confusing

Refers to an extra piece of information that is not very important but still good to know

Refers to light, conversational snippets of information or that the instructor can use in class to break the monotony of a serious and tedious lecture

Refers to general-knowledge-based information that the instructor can use to provide relief to students during a serious or tedious classroom lecture

Refers to space for the students to take notes

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved.iv

LIST OF ACTIVITIES

This course uses a variety of delivery techniques. Each of these techniques is designed to help students not only learn the material but also apply the information. The various techniques used are:

Activity

DescriptionGenerally, the instructor asks students to fill up a blank diagram or to answer given questions in their Workbook.

Brainstorm

DescriptionThis promotes collaborative learning, where the group is encouraged to offer up ideas without analysis and to then finalize the solution after brainstorming.

Compare and Contrast

DescriptionThe class compares and lists the similarities and differences between two concepts or processes.

Concept Jog

DescriptionThe instructor asks a “Rapid-Fire” round of questions to students. The instructor and students discuss the answers in 2 minutes.

Critical Thinking

DescriptionThe students think about a given question(s), write their responses, and present their views in class.

Discussion

DescriptionThe instructor poses questions to guide the students through complex subjects. The discussion assists the students in comprehending complicated topics.

Lecture

DescriptionThis is a traditional method of instruction but is done from the Instructor Guide, not from the PowerPoint presentation. The students are encouraged to follow along in their Student Reference Materials.

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved. v

Mind Map

DescriptionThe class draws a stepwise list of activities/phases/functions or web of content, for example, processes, functions, activities, steps, and so on. The idea is to map one idea in relation to other ideas, to understand whether or not the students have understood a concept properly.

Recall, Describe, and List

DescriptionThe class lists as many ideas on or the key points of a previously learned topic, either in the Foundations course or through the course materials.

Role-Play

DescriptionThe instructor and the students play different roles. The instructor assigns roles to the students based on real-life situations/problems and asks them to act out their roles in a problem situation. The students give their views of/solutions to the situation/problem, per the specific roles assigned to them. Role-reversal can also take place where the students act as the instructor and teach the class.

Round-Robin

DescriptionThis is similar to a discussion, except that the conversation goes from one student to the next, and each student must offer up an idea or a concept.

Scenario

DescriptionReal-world cases are used to provide context to apply the ITIL framework. These are particularly valuable when the students are developing a consultative view of a situation and selecting what aspect of ITIL will meet the needs of the scenario.

Self-Study

DescriptionThis is usually used for supplemental material after a topic has been covered. It is also used to create diversification of teaching techniques in order to keep students engaged.

Solve a Common Problem/Risk Mitigation

DescriptionThe class is divided into two groups. Each group notes down a brief, “topic-related” problem. The groups then quiz each other about “how to solve” the given problem.

Teach-Back

DescriptionThis encourages greater retention of topics through self-study and preparation, to teach the concepts back to fellow classmates. The instructor plays a key role to ensure that the teach-back session reflects the appropriate content.

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved.vi

The Big “Why”

DescriptionThe instructor asks “The Big ‘Why’” questions to introduce a <concept/topic/idea> to class. The instructor conducts this activity in a conversational or less formal manner and provides a gist of the entire course/topic(s)/subtopic(s).

Think-Pair-Share

DescriptionThe instructor asks the class a question. The students then pair up with a partner to compare or discuss their responses. The instructor calls randomly on a few students to summarize their discussion or give their answer.

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved. vii

We would like to sincerely thank the experts who have contributed to and shaped ITpreneurs’ ITIL Intermediate product suite.

ITpreneurs’ Course Reviewers Anessi, Ray - Pangloss Group

Costigan, Michael D - CSC

Mohr, Julie - Blue Print Audits

Vikdal, Mike - Auslyn Group

Wigmore, Michael - Independent

Pondman, Dick - Independent

Burgers, Jurian - Independent

Rijken, Adriaan - Independent

ITpreneurs’ Course Exercise WritersFoederer, Marcel - ITpreneurs

Mohr, Julie - Blue Print Audits

Vikdal, Mike - Independent

Wigmore, Michael - Independent

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved. 1

Unit2Change Management

ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Release, Control, and Validation

Copyright © ITpreneurs and AXELOS Limited 2014. All rights reserved.2

2.3 BUSINESS VALUE OF THE PROCESS

The Royal’s IT organization is functionally well organized because of its relatively small size. Dimitri van Rijn is responsible for the IT in the hotel.

There are three main units within the IT organization. These are:

1. Customer support – it deals with questions, requests, and Incidents from end-customers (visitors of the hotel) and staff members.

2. Application Management – it is responsible for the maintenance of the reservation/booking system and all other applications in use.

3. Infrastructure Management – it is responsible for the maintenance and second-and third-line support of the technical infrastructure in the hotel. This leads to a natural overlap with facilities.

Now, with Suvarna’s pool project report, Harry, the owner and CEO of the hotel, has mandated his Executive team to work on a major revamp of the hotel’s image and infrastructure. He wants to change the hotel’s image from being old-fashioned to that of a modern hotel that boasts of contemporary facilities and services while drawing on the timeless values of traditional Thai hospitality.

The infinity-edge swimming pool was a result of this mandate. Several other infrastructure changes as well as guest services changes are underway. As expected, the IT department needs to gear up to support all these changes in the business. However, as you are already aware, the Royal’s IT operations is fairly small and not experienced enough to meet the demands of such major Change. They want to ensure that they are dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s” as they plan, design, and implement Change. As a result, Dimitri has invited you as the ITSM Process Consultant to help the hotel with this.

Pap has heard about the ITIL Change Management process and would like to consider using it to implement Change in the Royal’s IT department.

As you study the Royal’s plans and the as-is state, the imperative to implement Change Management becomes clear to you. However, your job’s far from done. The hotel’s IT department, while nursing ambitions for modernization, is of course going to take everything you say with several pinches of salt; which means this is going to be a hard-sell for you. You cannot take for granted that because the Royal’s management invited you for your expertise, they are going to accept everything you recommend. You need to convince Pap, IT Head, about the completeness of the Change Management process, together with the value that this process will have for the hotel. Of course, you also need to recommend the implementation steps.

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Change Management


Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. What is the business value the Change Management process has for the hotel?

Write your answer in the space provided.

Answer:

2.8.2 LOGGING, REVIEWING, AND ASSESSING CHANGE REQUESTS

One of your responsibilities as the ITSM Process Consultant helping the Royal’s IT Department scale up in step with the hotel’s organizational Change is to help it set up its Change Management process.

James, the hotel’s General Manager, has assigned you the task of designing procedures to log and review RFCs at the Royal.



Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. How will you set up the Change Management process at the hotel?


Answer:

2.8.3 AUTHORIZING CHANGES

The Royal is considering the implementation of a Change Management process under your guidance. Some decisions need to be made about:

y Authorization levels

y Frequency of CAB meetings

y Organizational level of the Change Manager

As the ITSM process consultant, you need to help them with these decisions. As you’re aware, the Royal currently has a small IT department, where individuals perform multiple roles. The IT infrastructure primarily supports back-office activities. However, with the introduction of the kiosks and other IT and guest infrastructure services, IT will become increasingly business critical.

Scenario-Based ActivityWrite your answer in the given table.

Questions

Authorization Levels

Frequency of CAB Meetings

Organizational Level of the Change



Q1. What makes sense for the current situation at the Royal with respect to the three points mentioned above?

Q2. With the anticipated Changes at the Royal, it is expected that the IT department will need to grow. Additional specialization among the IT staff is probable. Does this change the situation?

Q3. What would change if the Royal were part of a global chain?

2.8.4 COORDINATING, REVIEWING, AND CLOSING CHANGES

ActivityQ1. Outline how Changes are coordinated in your organization.


Answer:



Q2. Compare the normal review with a Post Implementation Review (PIR) in your organization.

Write your answer in the given table.

Normal Review PIR

2.16 SAMPLE TEST QUESTION

A large manufacturing organization has offices at multiple locations across North America and Europe. A new Change Management process has been in place for the last 6 months. This process consolidates the disparate Change Management processes at the different locations. Things have been going well, with reports showing that all the KPIs are within their expected ranges.

Change Management policies were put in place as part of the overall design. They are:

y There is zero tolerance for unauthorized Change.

y The Change Management process must be aligned with business needs.

y Accountability and responsibility for Changes must be assigned.

y Duty controls must be segregated, that is, build and test.

y There will be a single focal point for Changes.

y Evaluating the Risk of all Changes that Impact Service capability will drive the level of authorization required.

y People who are not authorized to make a Change will not have access to the production environment.

y Change Management will integrate with other Service Management processes to establish the traceability of Change, detect unauthorized Change, and identify Change-related Incidents.

y Change windows will be enforced.



The new Change Management system was set up with an elaborate authorization process that involved four authorization levels. A scheme was set up to categorize Changes into eight Risk levels, and the Risk level mapped the Change to the appropriate authorization level. There was a lot of in-fighting about what constituted which Risk level, but all stakeholders eventually agreed to the scheme and signed it off. The higher the Risk and, consequently, the authority level signoff, the longer the process takes because the “higher authority” consists of higher-level roles in the organization.

In the last 2 weeks, the organization has started to complain that critical business Changes are taking too long to implement, leading to business loss. As the process manager, you are responsible for investigating this issue and coming up with a solution.

Q1. What should you do?

a) You recall that the policies state that the process must be aligned with business needs. Clearly, to eliminate lost business, something must be done to the process. You decide that if Risk is automatically reduced for business Changes, this will mean that the authorization level is lower, leading to a faster turnaround time. You immediately institute this Change to the process.

b) You engage with the business to find out the nature of the Changes that are not taking place in a timely way. You suspect that some Changes could be recategorized as Standard Changes, eliminating any delays. In addition, you want to ensure that Risks are correctly assessed because overestimation of Risk will slow down the implementation of Change. For example, the business need may override the IT perspective, but this may not be reflected in the Risk calculation.

c) You decide to change the reporting structure so that you can better see if the Risk to authority level mapping is working, that approvals are happening in a timely way, and that implementation is happening on schedule. You schedule a meeting after 4 weeks to discuss the results of the investigation with the stakeholders to see if any adjustments are required for the process. You know that you should never change a process without measurement data to justify it.

d) You think that the mapping of Risk to authority level is working well. The problem is the turnaround time of the people who have to sign off the Change. You find out which individuals are holding up authorization and let them know that if they cannot respond in a timely way, they will have to be removed from the authorization list.


Unit3Service Asset and Configuration

Management

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Service Asset and Configuration Management


3.4 POLICIES, PRINCIPLES AND BASIC CONCEPTS

DiscussionQ1. Why is it important to have SACM policies?


Answer:

Q2. What types of principles typically help become part of the SACM policy?


Answer:


3.5.2 CONFIGURATION IDENTIFICATION

The Royal Chao Phraya Hotel is investigating the setting up of a CMDB. It could utilize a couple of sources of existing data as the foundation for the CMBD. You’ve been invited as the SACM Specialist to help them ascertainif they’re on the right path. As the specialist on this job, your task is cut out. You are required to look at each source of existing data available at the Royal and determine if:

y The CIs are at the correct level.

y There are more attributes.

y The relationships are appropriate and, if not, what opportunities are being missed.

y The situation described is useful in any way.

Situation 1The infrastructure group has an asset register. It contains information down to the level of servers and routers, but does not contain information on PCs, keyboards, pointing devices, kiosk hardware, and so on. There are no relationships.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Are the CIs at the correct level?


Answer:



Q2. Should there be more attributes?


Answer:

Q3. Are the relationships appropriate and, if not, what are the opportunities being missed?


Answer:


Q4. Is the described situation useful in any way?


Answer:

Situation 2There is a database utilized by the desktop group in existence. This includes information on PCs but not on commodity items, such as keyboards, even though the organization uses customized keyboards and specialized kiosk hardware. Relationships are provided through a discovery tool.

Q1. Are the CIs at the correct level?


Answer:



Q2. Should there be more attributes?


Answer:

Q3. Are the relationships appropriate and, if not, what are the opportunities being missed?


Answer:


Q4. Is the situation described useful in any way?


Answer:

3.5.5 VERIFICATION AND AUDIT

The Royal has just implemented Configuration Management, including populating its initial CMDB. A recent fire in the computer room forced the organization to operate from its contingency site for a week. Fortunately, it is expected that there will be about 4 weeks of stability before the new kiosk application and its associated desktop application are implemented. There is some nervousness about implementing this new Release, partly because the Service Desk has reported a number of instances where user records were incorrect. Because of this, the organization does not fully understand what will happen when the Release is pushed to the users’ infrastructure. As part of the implementation plan for the kiosk, no major activity or upgrades are expected for about 3 months after the initial Release.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Why should an audit be conducted in the given scenario?


Answer:



3.6 TRIGGERS, INPUTS, OUTPUTS, AND INTERFACES WITH OTHER PROCESSES

BrainstormQ1. How does the SACM process interface with other ITIL processes, such as Change Management,

Financial Management, and Availability Management? Also, identify what SACM interfaces there are with the other processes and what interfaces the other processes have with SACM.


Answer:

Process/FunctionFrom SACM to Service Management Process

From Service Management Process to SACM

Process

SACM


Q2. According to you, which other processes need to be implemented in parallel or directly after the SACM process, including the justification for this?


Answer:

3.12 GROUP/INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE

The manager of the hotel has heard about the Configuration Management process. He is interested in using this process in his hotel. Due to this, he invited an external consultant who should convince the manager about the aspects of the Configuration Management process.

You are fulfilling the role of an external consultant who has to sell the implementation of the Configuration Management process to the manager of the hotel.

Your task is to convince the hotel manager about the advantages that the Configuration Management process will bring to the hotel.

You created a Request for Proposal (RFP). You will be going to present the results to the manager.



Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. What business value does the Configuration Management process have for the hotel?


Answer:

Q2. Pick four processes within the ITIL Service Lifecycle. Review the list of metrics and measures provided in this section.

Identify those metrics that will help support the four processes you have chosen for the hotel. If you do not find any metrics that will support your process, can you think of any metrics within the process that can help support SACM at the hotel?


Answer:



You are the SACM Manager. The CIO comes to you to inform you he is about to cancel the project to create a CMS. This is because he was recently at a conference where he discussed the project with peers who strongly advised him not to go ahead. Their experience, which seemed to have been gained over several years, was that this type of project was a drain on money and resources.

Several other CIOs recognized that the overall concept was good and to serve the organization well and improve the image of Service Management, they invited some other stakeholders, such as Application Development, to the table to cover their needs as well.

You are somewhat alarmed to hear this because you have already asked the business for its requirements. As a result, the project is on the radar now, and the CIO would not want to disappoint the stakeholders.

Your organization has an inviolable principle, which is that each project over a specific dollar threshold must demonstrate, through metrics, a Return on Investment (ROI) within a year. This is another factor that is causing the CIO to doubt the prudence of starting the CMS project.

In all fairness, the CIO has given you a week to come up with reasons not to cancel the project and a plan to be followed if he agrees not to cancel the project.

Q1. What do you do?

a) Far from scaling back your plan, you initiate an immediate exercise to sell the CMS to as many stakeholders as you can. You feel that you need to overpower the objection by getting the potential stakeholders to quantify the benefits of a CMS and give you input that will help answer the ROI question. Naturally, you will provide the CMDB with relationships as part of what you deliver (it would not be a CMS without one).

b) Scale down your plan to use an existing asset register to give the functionality of a CMDB. You suggest that this is done quietly, so that no other potential stakeholders try to influence the project. This option will give immediate results because using an asset register as a CMDB will allow Changes to be logged against the CIs as well as Incidents, Problems, and so on. In your heart, you know that this will provide huge benefits to IT. Additionally, you believe that the budget for this scaled-down project will be under the dollar limit where projects have to show an ROI within a year.

c) Scale down your plan to use an existing asset register to give the functionality of a CMDB, but also plan to implement relationships and CIs that define Services, applications, and so on. You have an outline plan to investigate the cost of outages in the last year and to extrapolate how much would be saved by having a CMDB that is able to show Impacts through relationships – for both Change Management and Incident Management. You also feel that you should be able to provide the business a dashboard that shows the health of the Services. You would do this by displaying the CIs that constitute a Service and its relationships. This will help ensure that the business is not disappointed with the project.

d) Frankly, you have been reading about some horrible situations where everything the CIO said is true. You decide not to fight a losing battle, and figure out ways to redeploy your staff so that at least your political potency will not be impacted when the axe falls.


Unit4Release and Deployment Management



4.3 BUSINESS VALUE OF THE PROCESS

BrainstormQ1. What value does Release and Deployment Management have for the hotel?

Write your answers in the space provided.

Answer:

4.4.3 RELEASE UNITS

With the implementation of the kiosk application, it is expected that the organization will have to implement a large number of Changes in a short space of time. Some of the Changes are to correct defects in existing Services while others implement a variety of new functionalities, ranging from minor improvements to completely new major additions.

The Release and Deployment process has been neglected, and you need develop an approach to Release and Deployment at the Royal.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Use the given table to come up with a scheme for Release Unit numbering that distinguishes

among the six Changes listed below.

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Release and Deployment Management


To complete the table:

y Distribute the Change types across the Example column.

y Allot a numbering scheme to each Change type.

y Provide the characteristics of each Change type.

Changes

1. Single Web page update

2. Change to Web site navigation at home page level (highest level of drill down)

3. Bug fix to application

4. Small enhancement plus bug fixes

5. New desktop tool

6. New business service


Release Type Numbering Scheme Characteristics Example

Major

Minor

Fix/Emergency

4.4.5 RELEASE AND DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS

The Royal is planning to redesign its hotel lobby and give its guests the comfort and luxuries of home right from the moment they step into the hotel. Because lighting is a big part of interior design and exterior architecture, and the right or wrong lighting choices can either enhance the atmosphere of the hotel’s lobby or tarnish it, the hotel plans to



fix lighting as a top priority. It plans to fix the lighting at the lobby and go all the way through into the corridors and guestrooms. The Royal does not want its world-class image tarnished by the wrong lighting and wants to convey the right feel to its hotel guests.

You are appointed as the head of the Lighting Design Group. Your task is to redesign the hotel’s lobby area without compromising the environment-friendly atmosphere of the hotel and release the new-look lobby to its guests before peak season.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Which design options will you use? Complete the table given in your Workbook to show the

pros and cons of whether a Release should be using the big-bang, phased, push, or pull approach.


Design Options Pros Cons

Big bang

Phased

Push

Pull

4.5.1 RELEASE AND DEPLOYMENT PLANNING

Note: This is a continuation of the scenario in Topic 4.4.3. Provided below is a recap of that scenario, with some new, topic-specific information added. You are required to do an Activity based on the complete scenario.

Scenario from Topic 4.4.3

With the implementation of the kiosk application, it is expected that the organization will have to implement a large number of Changes in a short space of time. Some of the Changes are to correct defects in existing Services while others implement a variety of new functionalities, ranging from minor improvements to completely new, major additions.

The Release and Deployment process has been neglected, and you need to develop an approach to Release and Deployment at the Royal.



New Information

The next step in the Release and Deployment process overhaul is to get the planning for Releases on the right track.

Each Release must obtain the approval of Change Management. To get permission to proceed with Release activities, quite a lot of information needs to be attached to the RFC.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Name at least three items that should be in the Release plan.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Q2. Name at least three pass/fail criteria that might be used.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Q3. List at least two advantages/ factors you need to consider related to running a pilot.


Advantage/Factor

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Q4. List at least two reasons you might want to run multiple pilots.


Reason



1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Q5. Some Releases need logistical planning (for example, where remote servers must be updated, new equipment needs to be ordered, and so on). List at least two logistical planning issues that you need to cover for the deployment to be successful.


Logistical Planning Issue

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Q6. List at least two financial factors that affect the Release.


Financial Factors



1.

2.

3.

4.

4.5.3 DEPLOYMENT

The Royal is overhauling its swimming pool area and the overhaul process is nearly complete. The next step in Release and Deployment is to actually transfer, deploy, and retire any part of the infrastructure that is no longer required, and verify the deployment itself. The Release may also warrant ELS.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. The first activity is transfer financial assets. List at least two items that would be in this category.


Financial Assets

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.



Q2. When you transfer a Business Unit, Service, or Service Unit, it involves Changes to the Royal itself. List the activities concerned with the hotel’s aspects that come up when you outsource, in source, change outsourcer, and so on.


Transfer/Transition Business and Organization

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Q3. List at least two activities related to the Deploy processes and materials and the Deploy Service Management Capability activity of the Release and Deployment process.


Deploy Processes and Materials and Deploy Service Management Capability

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



Q4. List at least two of the activities that need to be performed to transfer the Service to a new location.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Q5. List two activities of the Deploying the Overhaul of the Swimming Pool Area step.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



Q6. In some cases, the swimming pool area can be decommissioned or retired. List at least two of the activities that need to take place for this.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Q7. As part of the deployment, you need to remove redundant assets. List the related activities.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.




The technical infrastructure at the hotel is outdated. In particular, the electrical infrastructure has to be renewed. The facilities department of the hotel initiated a project to renew the complete electrical infrastructure, including meter cupboards, generators, and uninterrupted power supplies. Apart from the preparations IT has to make for this Change, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) wants to use this major Change to implement several servers for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications.

The CIO asked you, as the Change Manager, to prepare the IT organization for this Change/Release and to make sure that the other Changes are implemented within the same period.

y The timeframe of the Change is the 4th weekend from now, from Friday evening 22:00 until Monday morning 06:00.

y The delivery of the critical Services of the hotel has to be continued during the weekend of the Change.

y You have to list the items that have to be discussed with the facilities representative.

y You must convince the CIO and the hotel management about your high level of control over this project.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Give a presentation of the plan (maximum 12 slides). The plan should cover the Change

Management and Release and Deployment Management aspects to ensure that the Changes/Releases are implemented with the assurance of continued deliverance of business-critical Services at their normal levels during the weekend.


Answer:


Unit5Service Validation and Testing



5.4 POLICIES, PRINCIPLES, AND BASIC CONCEPTS

A large Change is scheduled for the kiosk service. This Change involves the first-time implementation of an existing, customer-facing, guest-booking Service. In the past months, the Business Unit has been involved with Service Design. Because the customers will be using the kiosk service directly, they are nervous about its usability. One of the key factors in encouraging the use of kiosks is response time. However, the new Service has some “convenience factors,” such as the ability to use the guest key to book a wide range of guest services from a number of locations. It is suspected that the workload of the Service Desk will significantly increase because of the new Service. To keep a check on the response time, the Service Management team needs to change its monitoring strategy. While there has been a lot of work put into understanding the popularity of the new Service, there is a level of nervousness about whether the Service will be responsive enough to meet expectations. When there is trouble with the new Service, it is not clear to those concerned how they will deal with it (expertise and human resources). They also want to know if they can respond to calls in a timely way. Finally, finance is wondering if the use of the new Service will justify the costs.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. List the reasons to use a Test Model and the different types of Test Models that you can use.


Answer:

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Service Validation and Testing


Q2. For each Test Model, use the following table and invent a test condition and mechanism to perform the test. In addition, fill the Service V-Model level that corresponds to each Test Model. One has been completed as an example.


Answer:

Level of Test Service V-Model Level Test Condition Mechanism

Service Contract Test

Service Requirements Test

Service Test Level 1 – customer/business needs Budget within target Financial reporting

Service Level Test

Operations Test



Q3. List the different people involved in the implementation of the Service. Identify how each person involved in the scenario perceives the Service and how the individual views help in testing and delivering the Service successfully. Also, identify which of the Test Models would be most relevant to the roles.


Answer:

5.5 MAIN ACTIVITIES, PROCESSES, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES

The Royal is planning to relaunch the kiosk so that its customers experience an efficient and effective self-booking Service. The kiosk crashed the first time it was launched because of the highest recorded number of customers logging on to avail the “Holiday Special” facilities. The Royal believes that this relaunch will be smooth and will be able to handle the maximum demand. However, the hotel does not want to take chances and wants to validate and test every possible area where the kiosk service can break down.

You are appointed as the Test Manager and your role is to devise a test plan for each testing activity. The activities of testing are:

y Perform validation and test management for the kiosk.

y Plan and design a test for the kiosk.

y Verify the test plan and design for the kiosk.

y Prepare the test environment for the kiosk.

y Perform tests on the kiosk.

y Evaluate the exit criteria and report for the kiosk.

y Perform test clean-up and closure for the kiosk.



Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Transfer your test condition and mechanism to the given table for the Service level test. Give

an example of how each activity would be involved; use the explanations of the activities in your Reference Material.


Answer:

Service Level Test Response time less than 1 second under load Service test – use of simulator to load the Service

Perform validation and test management for the kiosk.

Plan and design a test for the kiosk.

Verify the test plan and design for the kiosk.

Prepare the test environment for the kiosk.



Service Level Test Response time less than 1 second under load Service test – use of simulator to load the Service

Perform tests on the kiosk.

Evaluate the exit criteria and report for the kiosk.

Perform test clean-up and closure for the kiosk.

.



Q2. Transfer your test condition and mechanism to the given table for the operations level test. Give an example of how each activity would be involved; use the explanations of the activities from your Reference Material.


Answer:

Operations Test Service Desk Able to Answer 95% of usage Questions Within 1 Minute Operations Test – Simulate User Question Storm

Perform validation and test management for the kiosk.

Plan and design a test for the kiosk.



Perform tests on the kiosk.






The three Service Changes at the Royal are:

1. A large Change involving an extension to the kiosk service. The new functionality is to introduce a “frequent guest” club. This involves Changes in the application, databases, screen layouts, and so on.

2. A smaller Change to provide different levels of Service within the kiosk service. Business people have come up with an idea for a “front-of-the-line” option when people buy tickets to local events. The idea is that when there is a “hot” ticket, customers can opt to pay more and be serviced ahead of those not wishing to pay a premium. To implement this is actually quite easy. There is a small application change to accommodate the front-of-the-line choice and if it is selected, the transaction will belong to a SLP that delivers a faster response.

3. The kiosk service has been doing very well, and the Capacity Management process has dictated the need to migrate to new servers. New infrastructure has been bought and the Service now needs to be migrated to it.

For each Change, you must:

y Determine which Test Model is appropriate.

y Determine which level of the Service V-Model corresponds to the Test Model.

y Determine which stakeholders will want to see the results of the test.

y Describe a test condition that will need to be satisfied and the mechanism to verify the test.

y Describe an action within each testing activity.

y Describe what each validation and testing role will need to do.

y Describe what type of action will be required with respect to test environments and data.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Which Test Model is appropriate?

Q2. Which level of the Service V-Model corresponds to the Test Model?

Q3. Which stakeholders will want to see the results of the test?

Q4. Describe a test condition that will need to be satisfied and the mechanism to verify the test.

Q5. Describe an action within each testing activity.

Q6. What will each validation and testing role need to do?

Q7. What type of action will be required with respect to test environments and data?


Answer:



Change 1 A Large Change Involving an Extension to the Kiosk Service

Test Model

Level of Service V-Model

Stakeholders

Test Condition and Mechanism

Activities



Change 1 A Large Change Involving an Extension to the Kiosk Service

Roles

Test Environment and Data

Change 2 A Smaller Change to Provide Different Levels of Service Within the Kiosk Service

Test Model




Change 2 A Smaller Change to Provide Different Levels of Service Within the Kiosk Service

Stakeholders


Activities

Roles




Change 3 New Infrastructure has Been Bought, and the Service Now Needs To Be Migrated to It

Test Model


Stakeholders





Activities

Roles






There is a dispute in the IT department.

The output of Service Design is the SDP that contains many details related to the transition and operation of a new or changed Service. Some of the components of the transition of the SDP are:

y Build policies, plans, and requirements, including Service and component build plans, specifications, controls and environments, technology, tools, processes, and methods and mechanisms, including platforms

y Testing policy, plans, and requirements, including test environments, technologies, tools, processes, methods, and mechanisms

y Testing, which must include:

o Functional testing

o Component testing, including all suppliers, contracts, and externally provided supporting products and Services

o User acceptance and usability testing

o System compatibility and integration testing

o Service and component performance and capacity testing

o Resilience and continuity testing

o Failure, alarm, and Event categorization, processing, and testing

o Service and component security and integrity testing

o Logistics, Release, and distribution testing

o Management testing, including control, monitoring, measuring, and reporting, together with backup, recovery, and batch scheduling and processing

y Deployment policy, Release policy, plans, and requirements, including logistics, deployment, roll-out, staging, deployment environments, cultural change, organizational change, technology, tools, processes, approaches, methods, and mechanisms, including all platforms, knowledge, skill, and competence transfer and development, supplier and contract transition, and data migration and conversion

The organization has appointed a manager for each of the following: Release and Deployment, Service Validation and Testing, and Evaluation. Each wants to have first access to the SDP when it becomes available to Service Transition.



Q1. The IT director does not know how to handle this situation. You are an ITIL consultant on contract with the organization. What advice do you offer?

a) The Service Transition part of the SDP is written by staff working in Service Transition. The Release and Deployment Manager should attend to the build policy, plans, and requirements, including Service and component build plans, specifications, controls and environments, technology, tools, processes, and methods and mechanisms, including all platforms. The Service Testing and Validation Manager should attend to the testing policy, plans, and requirements, including test environments, technology, tools, processes, methods, and mechanisms. Testing must include such items as functional testing, component testing — including all suppliers, contracts, and externally provided supporting products and Services; user acceptance and usability testing, system compatibility and integration testing, and so on. The Evaluation Manager should set stakeholder expectations correctly and provide effective and accurate information to Change Management to make sure that Changes that adversely affect Service capability and introduce Risk are not transitioned unchecked. Each manager should work with his/her team to develop the appropriate section of the SDP, and these efforts should be in parallel.

b) The Release and Deployment Manager should receive the SDP first. This is because the build has to precede any testing, and in any case, by definition, building the test environments is part of Release and Deployment Management. Release and Deployment Management needs a head start so that everything is ready for testing.

c) The Release and Deployment Manager and the Service Validation and Test Manager should receive the SDP at the same time but before the Evaluation Manager needs to see it. This is because while build has to precede any testing, building the test environments and test scripts can proceed in parallel with the build. Evaluation occurs after the Service is live, so the process definitely does not need the SDP first.

d) If any of the managers should see the SDP first, it should be the Evaluation Manager. This is because Service Design or Service Changes should be evaluated before being transitioned. Consequently, there would be little point in investing time and effort in Release and Deployment and Service Validation and Testing before evaluating the Service Design or Service Change. The most appropriate solution is to let the three managers see the SDP as it is received from Service Design because the three processes can work in their own area at the same time.


Unit6Request Fulfilment

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Request Fulfilment



The Royal Hotel has no self-help capability. All help is obtained through the Service Desk. A decision has been taken to increase the scope of the Service Desk to handle non-IT issues, such as servicing photocopiers. This will no doubt increase the workload of the Service Desk if no other action is taken. Consequently, the organization has decided to embark on providing the self-help capability.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. The self-help capability should be dedicated to Request Fulfilment. Is this statement true or

false?


Answer:


Q2. What characteristics should you include in the self-help capability?


Answer:

a) How should users get access to the self-help capability?


Answer:



b) What data entry methods should be employed?


Answer:

c) What information should be given to users when their request is fulfilled?


Answer:


d) What other part of ITIL might you be able to use to find out Request Fulfilment response times (when the request will be fulfilled)?


Answer:


ActivityQ1. Create a chart to depict the overall flow for Request Fulfilment. To create this chart:

y List what steps have to be completed, and in what order.

y Write down whether it is necessary to include escalation.

y Include linkage with the other processes with which Request Fulfilment interfaces.


Answer:



Q2. Create and describe the complete overview of all the RCV processes, activities, their value to the business, and the relationships between them.


Answer:


Unit7Change Evaluation

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Change Evaluation



ActivityQ1. Complete the table given in your Workbook by explaining the key Change Evaluation terms.

Answer:

Terms Definition

Service Change

SDP

Performance

Performance model

Predicted performance

Actual performance

Deviations report

Risk

Countermeasure


Terms Definition

Test plan and results

Residual Risk

Service capability

Capacity

Constraint

Resource

Evaluation plan

Evaluation report

7.5 PROCESS ACTIVITIES, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES

The Royal’s existing Web site has been quite successful. It was introduced 6 months ago and is stable. The Web site was the entry for the organization into the Internet and has been primarily used to provide information.

An RFC for an extensive addition beginning online booking on the hotel’s Web site has been submitted to Evaluation.

The Service Change is evaluated against the factors from Topic 7.3 with good results, except for the fit-for-use factor.

The only cause for concern is the capacity requirement for the Service Change. Because it is a retail, Web-based Service, the hotel cannot reliably predict its usage before the launch. This is an obvious Risk.



Q1. What steps can be taken to manage the Risk? Is there any flexibility with respect to WHEN mitigation actions can take place?


Answer:


The Royal is continuing to move forward with its ITIL implementation. The recent implementation of the kiosk service has convinced the senior management that the value of new Services and Service Changes is not always well understood and that, sometimes, the organization takes more Risk than intended. A review of ITIL materials has suggested that Evaluation is the answer. The Royal is trying to determine if this is appropriate. This task has been assigned to you.

Not many people at the hotel understand what Evaluation is all about. You need to conduct some awareness sessions to “sell” Evaluation.

Scenario-Based ActivityConstruct a five-slide presentation that covers the following:


Q1. What Change Evaluation will do for the organization?


Answer:

Q2. How Change Evaluation complement other components of the ITIL framework.


Answer:



Q3. How Change Evaluation could prevent a major failure in a Change.


Answer:

Q4. What people will have to do differently now that there is Change Evaluation.


Answer:


Q5. Who will see the outputs of Change Evaluation?


Answer:

Q6. What are the values of Change Evaluation for the hotel?


Answer:




Six months ago, you were promoted as Service Transition Manager. You have engaged the business and many other stakeholders in your organization and given them awareness sessions. You have also obtained their input for the plans and policies you have been diligently putting together to make Service Transition a success. Perhaps you could have found some quick wins, but you felt that your course of action has been correct.

Your CIO has just dropped a bombshell. He has told you that he does not buy into the need for Service Transition and plans to abandon it and merge the processes back into Service Operation and Service Design. Maybe you should have got some quick wins after all!

He cites four main reasons for doing this:

1. Creating a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is too complex and costly, and the Service Catalogue that is in place can do the job.

2. Evaluation is overkill for the size of the organization. Simply put, there are not enough people.

3. Change Management should be in Service Operation because it pertains almost exclusively to operations anyway.

4. The addition of another department is not in keeping with the current HR/organizational climate of the organization.

You have managed to get 15 minutes of the CIO’s time tomorrow.

Q1. What are you going to say about his four points?

a)

i. What the CIO doesn’t understand is that the catalog is a Business Service Catalogue, which provides little of the functionality of a CMDB. Your plan is to “educate” the CIO to better understand the issues.

ii. The organization has a history of delivering Services that are way off the mark. The appropriate way to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future is to implement Evaluation and all the other processes of Service Transition. You will go to the mat on this one because it’s so important.

iii. Service Operation is only interested in Changes to infrastructure, so it will not handle Changes to anything else, such as application programs, correctly.

iv. Suggest that some people are removed from Service Operations and Service Design to populate this important department.

b)

i. While the Service Catalogue lists the business and technical Services, it does not contain information at the level necessary for Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management to be effective. You propose that a cut-down CMDB be created, which will be based on the principal servers, routers, etc. on which the critical Services run.

ii. Evaluation is a process that can bring a great deal of value to an organization. Evaluation can effectively be folded into Validation and Test, so you can abide by the CIO’s wishes and yet retain the process.

iii. It is true that operations is intimately involved with Changes. Many Changes are to the infrastructure itself. Many other things that are not directly part of the infrastructure need to be under Change Management. So, regarding Change Management as purely the domain of operations is selling it


short. Keeping Change in Service Transition means that operations will not be overloaded and that Service Design does not have to worry about managing build, deploy, and so on.

iv. A small core group of people to administer Service Transition is all you are asking for. The rest of the activities can be accomplished by begging for resources from other departments.

c)

i. While the Service Catalogue lists the business and technical services, it does not contain information at the level necessary for Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management to be effective. To be a more-effective Service Provider, being able to assess the Impact of an Incident, Problem, or Change is vital, and the CMDB will give you that.

ii. Evaluation is a process that can bring a great deal of value to an organization. However, it is not necessary to implement it right away. IT Service Providers have existed without this process for years and functioned very satisfactorily. However, it makes sense to consider it for the future because ITIL has been a guidepost for IT for the last decade or more.

iii. It is true that operations is intimately involved with Changes. Many Changes are to the infrastructure itself. However, many are for things such as applications, SLAs, and so on. All these artifacts need to be tracked and controlled. So, regarding Change Management as purely the domain of operations is selling it short. Everything we do in IT should end up in operations eventually — or why are we doing it? — but we don’t assign all processes, such as Service Level Management, to operations. Grouping the processes that take the IT Service Provider from one state to another means that operations will not be overloaded, that Service Design does not have to worry about managing build, deploy, and so on. In fact, transition is a logical part of the Service Lifecycle.

iv. While you may have been promoted to the position of Service Transition Manager, it in no way mandates the formation of a department. ITIL is based on processes that will span many of the existing departments and functions within the organization.

d)

i. You are willing to admit that the CMDB is a lot of work and the industry has many examples of failed CMDB projects. Your compromise is to concentrate on Asset Management and use the asset register as a CMDB.

ii. For years, IT Service Providers have existed without this process and functioned satisfactorily, so you don’t think you will ever sell the CIO on the idea. It is better to give in on this point.

iii. It is entirely possible to have Change Management in Service Operation, so you are willing to go along with the CIO on this point so long as Change Management reports to you.

iv. You feel the CIO is missing the point. You promise to keep staff to the minimum.


Unit8Knowledge Management




The Royal Hotel has a fairly small IT department and has implemented monitoring on practically every piece of hardware. The rationale is that this will help address the lack of resources, and if a Problem should occur, there will always be information to help diagnose the issue. A lot of disk storage is used to support the monitoring.

The management wants to take better advantage of this data and has been requesting statistical information. The monitoring technicians supply it via e-mail. It often takes several iterations to get the information they seek.

Scenario-Based Activity 1

Q1. Describe the characteristics of this scenario in terms of the DIKW model.


Answer:

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Knowledge Management


Q2. Which levels of the DIKW model are present at the Royal’s IT department?


Answer:

Q3. Which levels are necessary for the Royal to effectively leverage all the investment on monitoring?


Answer:



Q4. If you think things could be done better, what would you do first?


Answer:

Q5. What would the long-term vision be?


Answer:



Current SituationThe Royal has determined that at least 75% of the cost of delivering support comes from resolving customer issues. Because the Service Desk is still fairly immature, it uses point technologies, such as a Service Desk workflow tool, search engines, scripting tools, or simple knowledge bases to help the agents. These systems are generally focused on parts of the resolution process and are not very effective. This has contributed to dissatisfied customers, resulted in an ineffective Service Desk, and has caused integration issues for IT.

Scenario-Based Activity 2

Q1. How can the current situation at the Royal be improved?


Answer:



8.5 PROCESS ACTIVITIES, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES

Knowledge transfer throughout an organization is highly dependent on the learning styles of individuals within the organization. If you use the wrong learning style, knowledge will often not be received or will not be fully transferred. Think about your own learning style. Think about the learning style of others in your organization.

The most common method to transfer knowledge is classroom training. Many students will complain of “death by PowerPoint” because of the long lectures with little or no interaction. This method is preferred by some students because of their auditory learning style. Others, say those that are more tactile learners, have a very difficult time staying engaged in classroom training.

Scenario-Based Activity Q1. Can you think of learning styles that would enable successful knowledge transfer?


Answer:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



Q2. Can you think of ways to visualize knowledge for ensuring more-effective knowledge transfer?


Answer:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.



Q3. Other than Incident scripts or Incident Models, as they are called in ITIL, can you think of other ways that knowledge can be transferred within the organization that will also create the same benefits of consistency and reduction in rework?


Answer:

1.

2.

3.

4.



Q4. Can you identify other ways that can be used to help communicate new knowledge?


Answer:

1.

2.

3.

ActivityQ1. Assign each of the following points to the appropriate table.

y Adopt data classification schemes that are in use across the organization and, if necessary, negotiate Changes to enable the schemes to deliver within the Service Management area. Where such organization-wide (or supply chain or industry sector) schemes do not exist, design data-classification schemes derived for use within Service Management with the intention of their being applicable across the organization to facilitate support for future, organization-wide Knowledge Management.

y Identify the Service Lifecycle data and information to be collected.

y Define the procedure required to maintain the data and information and make it available to those requiring it.

y Store and retrieve.

y Measure the use made of Data and Information Management – data transactions.

y Establish authority and responsibility for all required items of information.

y Define and publicize rights, obligations, and commitments regarding the retention of, transmission of, and access to information and data items based on applicable requirements and protecting their security, integrity, and consistency.

y Establish adequate backup and recovery of data and information. This should address reinstating the ability to make constructive use of information, not just the establishment of a database.

y Create and regularly update a Service Management information model that enables the creation, use, and sharing of information that is flexible, timely, and cost-effective.

y Evaluate the usefulness of the data and information, identified by relevance of reports produced.



y Identify the requirements to review, in light of changing technology, organizational requirements, evolving policy and legislation, and, if necessary, adapt to Changes in information system infrastructure with reference to evolving hardware and software technology security, Service continuity, storage, and capacity.

y Deal with collection and retention requirements.

y Implement mechanisms to capture, store, and retrieve the identified data from the relevant sources.

y Identify any data or information or registered users who no longer seem relevant to the organization’s knowledge requirements.

y Manage the storage and movement of data and information, especially in line with appropriate legislation.

y Define systems that optimize the use of the information while maintaining data and information integrity.

y Archive designated information, in accordance with the Data and Information Management plan, including safely disposing of unwanted, invalid, or unverifiable information according to the organization policy.


Answer:

Define the Information Architecture



Establish the Data and Information Management Procedures



Evaluate and Improve


The Royal is considering the outsourcing of the management of its mainframe. The attached chart was used at a large financial institution as a senior management report. It has been presented to the Royal as an example of some of the enhanced value-added reporting that could be provided.



The chart represents a server for a large mainframe computer busy over a period of time. The mainframe was subdivided into partitions (called LPARS), and the consumption of each is shown with a different color. The total server busy for any period constitutes the sum of all the partitions.

Two factors that are important for mainframe management are that they are often leased (true for this case) and suddenly needed upgrades are expensive and not quick or easy to make.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. From the DIKW model, what is being represented here?


Answer:



Q2. What does the line at 80% accomplish?


Answer:

Q3. Who might find this chart useful? Why?


Answer:



Q4. How would a manager (including the senior management) use the chart?


Answer:

Q5. What other charts, reports, and so on might the management (including the senior management) need?


Answer:




Knowledge Management has been implemented at AtoZ Corporation for 6 months. AtoZ is a leading engineering company with a great deal of the technical information needed for a variety of jobs that were residing in different groups. A lot of effort went into determining how knowledge could be captured, and the concept of Knowledge Engineers was introduced. The people given this role had a roaming brief to find pockets of knowledge within the corporation, which they would then “extract” and codify into the SKMS. The extraction process involved interviews that would cut into the working day of people, often putting them behind in their engineering projects. This caused some resentment toward the project.

The Knowledge Management Manager found that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not easy to implement for Knowledge Management. For the first 4 months, the principal KPI – number of SKMS accesses – was trending up very satisfactorily. This was attributed to information being put into the SKMS and information being found by users seeking answers. In the fifth month, the KPI dipped markedly, but this was attributed to two things:

y Most Knowledge Engineers were reassigned to other jobs.

y Users who had benefitted from the information in the SKMS in the previous 4 months did not need to access the information because they had retained it from their previous access.

An area of focus was the use of the SKMS by IT itself. IT embraced the concept of the SKMS and populated it with a large number of Workarounds, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and so on. A survey of the Service Desk found that its use of the SKMS was increasing and that it was delighted with Knowledge Management.

It is consequently, a shock to hear from the CIO that he was publicly humiliated at this morning’s executive meeting by the VP of Engineering’s assessment that Knowledge Management had been a complete waste of his people’s time and that the engineering projects’ slippage was IT’s fault.

Q1. What do you think was the problem, and what should be the course of action?

a) There is no fundamental problem with the implementation of Knowledge Management. The SKMS was obviously very useful to people, as indicated by the number of accesses. It is typical for engineering to find someone else to blame when it starts to fall behind on their projects, so it is not really a surprise that they now blame IT. The CIO needs to push back more and reference the fact that the Service Desk finds the SKMS incredibly useful.

b) To make what is wrong with Knowledge Management clearer, a user survey should be conducted. This will determine the issues users have with the SKMS, perhaps revealing a lack of DIKW modeling and consequently, diminishing the effectiveness of the SKMS. The survey will also reveal any training issues that users have, enabling new training courses, WebEx’s, FAQs, and so on to be developed.

c) It is pretty clear that the process must somehow be faulty. The DIKW model may not have been implemented correctly by the Knowledge Engineers. As a result, users are not finding value in using the SKMS, which is why usage is dropping. Initiating a redesign of the process will ensure that DIKW is performed properly. Then everyone, including engineering, will see the benefits of Knowledge Management.

d) You should engage with the management to ensure that the objectives of Knowledge Management are understood and agreed. The scope of the original project may have been too broad, and expectations could have been accidentally set by the Knowledge Engineers during their interviews (trying to do too much too soon). Identify stakeholders, determine their requirements, and ensure that they understand and buy in to exactly what it is you can deliver with the SKMS. Try to reuse the information that exists in the SKMS to reduce any interaction with the engineering department.


Unit9Technology and Implementation

Management



9.2 EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR SERVICE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

The Royal has decided to update the tool that is being used for all Service Management processes. It has some established ITIL-based processes and a number of internal ones that have not yet been redesigned. It would like to select an “out-of-the-box” product that will map best to its processes. Assess the following three contenders:

Product 1

This product is from a new vendor that has been getting great reviews. The vendor’s model is Software as a Service (SaaS) or Application Service Provider (ASP), which eliminates some cost-of-ownership issues. However, you have not been able to find reference sites to explore yet (although the salespeople assure you they exist, you suspect they are being asked to take a lot of reference calls). Because the infrastructure is outside your control, you have no idea of the capacity of the Service. On the other hand, your use will be modest at first.

Product 2

This product has been on the market for a couple of years and has a solid following. Customers talk glowingly about the product. Because the vendors installation base is not huge, proof of their ability to integrate with other vendors is incomplete, although what they can show works very well. Like product 1, conformance with standards has been built into the product, and the tailoring capabilities look awesome.

Product 3

This product is the incumbent. The product has had some problems at the hotel and so has to overcome some prejudices to be selected. Some of the dissatisfaction stems from previous versions of the product, particularly difficulty in upgrading. The last upgrade was made to look like the previous level so that user training could be avoided. Overall, customization is difficult.

Scenario-Based ActivityQ1. Categorize the requirements for tools in the given scenario, and list the requirements in the

given table.

Answer:

Categorization of Requirements for Tools

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Technology and Implementation Management


Categorization of Requirements for Tools

Q2. Analyze the given scenario, and determine the critical factors for product selection.


Answer:



Q3. What other factors might be included in the evaluation?


Answer:


ActivityQ1. In this unit, you learned about the importance of technology and how it supports the

processes within RCV and the implementation of Change. Based on the information you have learned in this unit, create a poster that summarizes the value of technologies within RCV. This has to be a one-page visual aide that can be used to demonstrate the value of technology in ITSM and RCV. After 20 minutes, the instructor will ask you to present your poster to the class.


Answer:

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Technology and Implementation Management



MegaCorp is a multinational conglomerate that started out in transportation but has expanded into many other areas, such as retail, distribution, and property. Most of the growth has come by buying other companies.

For many years, the purchased companies were left mostly to themselves and only had to report their results through board meetings. However, MegaCorp’s business is underpinned by transportation, and with the huge increase in oil prices, MegaCorp is under extreme financial pressure. The CEO realizes that huge savings can be made by consolidating the operations of the large number of individual, subsidiary companies and has ordered that a plan be put into effect to make this happen.

Each subsidiary had its own IT, and this area was mandated for consolidation. However, it was realized that this is not an overnight project, so major Services, such as financials, were to be centralized, but Services that fit individual companies were to continue to run in distributed mode.

It was also realized that it made sense to standardize on a Service Management practice and not unsurprisingly, ITIL was chosen as the framework to follow. To enhance Service Management, the CIO mandated the use of tools wherever possible to make IT more efficient and effective.

You are the Change Manager for MegaCorp. The challenge is not in the centralized part of IT because you have a lot of control there but in the subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies have a wide variation of maturity in Change Management. Your biggest fear is that some staff have been in an environment where they put Changes in on the fly, rarely if ever completing the correct paperwork.

You are a big believer in tools, and some tool vendors have told you about some techniques that seem to offer a great deal of control and convenience. By using tools, you want to be able to control unauthorized Changes.

Q1. Which of the following is the most appropriate course of action?

a) While procedural approaches can work, tools can help as well. Tools are useful to conduct configuration monitoring by discovery, so the timely detection of unauthorized Changes via tools should be the goal. After you know where the unauthorized Changes are coming from, you can take steps through a variety of techniques, including Change Models, standard Changes, and management mandates to reduce unauthorized Changes.

b) A faction in your company believes there is a simpler, nontool answer to your dilemma. If you lock down the production environment and deny access to all apart from a few authorized persons, you can achieve your goal. To ensure that people do not revert to earlier behavior, you request that the organization adopt a zero tolerance position, meaning employees will be fired if they are caught implementing a Change without proper authority, that is, through an approved RFC.

c) A tool vendor has a very innovative tool that will discover what is in the environment and update the CMDB. The argument is that this will reduce the staff workload because an RFC will not need to be created since the software will do the task instead of the staff (when the update is discovered). This will mean there is no need to have to change the behavior of the less-mature subsidiary companies, which is a good thing because you do not have time to spend on trying to educate the uninformed.

d) To reduce the number of unauthorized Changes, you believe that if you make it easier for people to submit an RFC and get it approved, they will not feel the need to make unauthorized Changes. Your solution is to institute a program to define many more Change Models, and make as many of those as possible standard Changes. The advantage of this approach is that because standard Changes are preapproved, it will not delay the person trying to make the Change.



THEROYAL

CHAO PHRAYAHOTEL

THE HOTEL CHALLENGES ORG. CHART MANAGEMENT & STAFF

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Case Study


THEROYAL

CHAO PHRAYAHOTEL

The Royal Chao Phraya Hotel (nicknamed the Royal) is a city hotel situated on the banks of the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok.

Built in 1983 by the Chinese-Thai businessman, Teck-Wee Lim (Harry Lim to his friends), its 32 floors have been a fixture on the city skyline for almost 25 years. The Royal is modeled after its neighbor, the historic Oriental Hotel. Its dominance on the five-star hotel market is increasingly challenged by many newcomers, such as the Peninsular (1998) and the Royal Orchid Sheraton (remodeled in 2001), some with the backing of multinational brands.

As the competition has grown over the past 10 years, it is becoming more difficult to achieve the occupancy rate that the hotel is used to while maintaining its target room rates, which vary from $145 to $445.

Despite the newfound rivalry, the Royal is well appreciated by its guests, many of whom are repeat business customers.

As a rule of thumb, from May through October, the guests are mostly business visitors while November through April and most weekends tend to be dominated by tourists. The Royal has always had a considerable advantage over other five-star hotels through its connection with the Saphan Taksin Conference Center.

This is because the Revenue per Available Room (RevPar) from conference attendees is, on an average, 30-50% higher than that from regular hotel guests. This is especially true when conferences are organized for medical, legal, insurance, or IT professionals, who spend up to three times the amount a regular hotel guest does on lodging and ancillary services.

As a city hotel, the Royal depends on good access to public transport. It is less than 100 yards from Bangkok’s upscale sky train service (BTS), which allows guests to reach the most attractive parts of the city comfortably, quickly, and safely. It also has its own boat service offering guests river tours as well astrips to more exotic parts of the city, such as the floating market.



FACILITIES

Rating:

Business center, restaurants, bar, fitness center with sauna and spa, and outdoor pool

Signature restaurant Heavenly 33

Lobby bar Sugar Reef

Smoking Club Harry’s

Four restaurants Leased to outside companies

FACTSHEET

Rooms 340

Standard 130

Sky View 80

Sky Executive 130

The average guest stays 3.5 days at the hotel.

PERSONNEL

Over 200 people work at the hotel, with only the front desk employing 70 people, 24 of whom work in shifts in guest services and reception.

The average staff attrition is 30% per year. So, on an average, a complete replacement of personnel is seen every 3 years. Of course, in reality, a core team of employees has worked at the hotel for many years. In fact, 32 staff members have celebrated over 20 years of service at the Royal.

} Suites 30



THE BUSINESS CHALLENGES THAT LEAD TO IT CHALLENGES

SERVICE QUALITY

The General Manager (James) recently sponsored a thesis project on service quality from the Hospitality School of the University of Queensland at the hotel. The results were a shock to the management. In the 1 month that the project ran, 73 critical incidents resulting in unhappy guests were discovered.

The students found that 50% of the complaints concerned discrepancies in guest expectations and services offered. Thirty-five percent were actual service failures, such as over-booking or the incorrect fulfillment of a guest’s request; and about 13% were described as “demanding guests” whose requests were excessive and whose judgment was harsh, even by objective, fair standards.

James and the Manager - Rooms Division (Dimitri) are particularly concerned about the 85% of complaints that were considered avoidable. Further analysis has revealed that 50% of these complaints originated in the early stages of the stay and, consequently, meant revenue was lost because clients opted to shorten their stay or cancel altogether.

The report also found that the Royal, while employing a number of gifted and highly motivated personnel, did not have a structured Service Recovery or Compensation plan. In fact, some of the complaints were because of the guests’ perception that some of them were treated differently (better) when they complained about similar incidents.

NEW FORMS OF COMPETITION

The Royal has made its mark as a city hotel, but its leading competitors from the chains are winning some of its clients by assembling different tourist experiences from various Thai hotels into one package.

For example, some clients are spending 3 days in Bangkok and then a number of days in the luscious countryside of Chiang Mai with its vibrant local markets and elephant treks or perhaps one of the islands such as Ko Samui or Ko Phi Phi.

Conference guests traveling with their spouse or entire family are particularly attracted to this offering. The Royal’s management is actively looking at how new services can be introduced into the portfolio to combat this erosion of the valuable repeat/conference guests.

SCALABILITY

Another challenge for the Royal is partially due to its own successful collaboration with the Saphan Taksin Conference Center. Building on the success of the past 10 years, Saphan Taksin has recently decided to expand its conference facility by 70%. This will lead to a peak demand for accommodation in excess of 1,100 rooms. The Royal has the land and the financial means to expand, but this type of move requires investment from the holding company. While James is concerned that the Royal hasn’t really analyzed this new developmentsufficiently, the hotel owner (Harry) is convinced that Saphan Taksin will never achieve its goal of attracting so many more new conference guests.



THE ROYAL’S RESPONSE TO BUSINESS AND IT CHALLENGES

THE KIOSK SOLUTION

To help handle the increase in guest traffic while improving the guest experience, the Royal has decided to install and commission kiosks to provide guests with the self-service capability. The kiosks will enable guests to book services at the spa, book a scuba lesson in the pool, get printed information, such as maps and coupons to local restaurants, and so on.

The new system uses the guest’s room entry card extensively. The rationale is that guests must have their room key to be able to get into their room. So, in almost all situations at the hotel, it is reasonable to expect the guests to have their room card with them. The most important aspect of the card is that it authenticates who the guests are. The cards will also have the capability to have new or updated information written to them by the kiosk hardware. While this is a great advance for the Royal, kiosks rely on IT, so there are many issues that need to be thought through before they go live.

Through a previous hotel loyalty program, customers were given paper coupons for using additional services around the pool such as the sauna or for free meals and drinks. Unfortunately, the customers kept losing these paper coupons frequently and complained that there must be a better way to manage these perks of membership. The use of room cards combined with the kiosk functionality should be the solution to this situation.

In addition to kiosks, the Royal wants to allow guests who are using their laptops in their rooms (an ever-increasing number) to be able to do all the functions that are available from the kiosk. One big difference between the two situations is that whenusing a laptop, there is no way to update the guest room access card, although the application can link the ordered services to a particular room.



NONESSENTIAL READING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

THE OWNER

TECK-WEE LIM (HARRY)

Harry Lim made his money as a silk trader in the 1970s. His original business was based on trading in cheap and cheerful clothing aimed at the tourists passing through Bangkok. His company’s success accelerated when Ralph Lauren signed up one of his textile factories in Udon Thani to produce suits, under contract to the Lauren brand, for export to the US. Since then, Harry hasn’t looked back.

In 1981, one of his creditors had severe financial difficulties and to clear his debt, Harry took on the Royal Chao Phraya Hotel as payment. At the time, the Royal was a partially completed hotel at a superb location. Harry financed the completion of the hotel and threw open the Royal in 1983.

Harry is a very cautious and astute businessman. He does not really understand the intricacies of the hospitality industry, so he works on the simple premise that quality works. “The guests are always right, so get the right guest and treat them right, and you will be successful.” Harry does not like spending on things that are not visible to the customer. As a result, while his Smoking Club is ostentatious, with leather chairs, teak finishing, and gold trimmings, there has been little investment in supporting infrastructure, such as IT applications.



THE ORG. CHART

TECK-WEE LIM

(HARRY)

Owner

AKKARAT LIM

(JAMES)

General Manager

DIMITRI VAN RIJN

(DIMITRI)

Manager

Rooms Division

CHE INGLESIAS

(CHE)

Manager

Food & Beverage

KIET APILUKTOYANUNT

(PAP)

Manager

Engineering

KANYA UNGVICHIAN

(NEE)

Manager

Sales & Marketing

SUVARNA

Manager

Recreational Services

KATSUSHI

FUJIYAMA

Manager

Finance

STU

MILLER

Manager

Human Resources

DANIAL KIDWAI

(DAN)

Maintenance

Chief

ISABEL O’HARA

Front Office and

Business Center Head

MARY

SANCHEZ

Executive

Housekeeper

JUANITA

SANCHEZ

Accountant

YVETTE

LEROUX

Chef

JEAN

Assistant

Chef



THE MANAGEMENT

THE GENERAL MANAGER

AKKARAT LIM (JAMES)

James is Harry’s second son. It was always Harry’s intent for James to take on the hotel business. After attending the Harrow School in Bangkok, James went on to study at the International Hotel and Tourism Industry Management School in Bangkok. On completion, he attended the New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, where he graduated with MSc Honors in 1997.

James has inherited his Thai mother’s free spirit. His mother, Isra Sangsirithorn (everyone calls her Elle), was raised on the Thai island of Ko Pha Ngan and has always been an extrovert lover of life, somewhat balancing her husband’s more-cautious, introvert character.

James is now 36 and keen to escape his father’s yoke and really modernize the hotel. James, who can sense the winds of change in the industry, is now actively challenging the natural thrift of Mr. Lim, which helped build the Royal Chao Phraya Hotel.

His comparative youth, modern outlook, and the islanders’ love of enjoying the moment makes it somewhat frustrating for him to keep his plans for expansion and personnel changes in check.

MANAGER — ROOMS DIVISION

DIMITRI VAN RIJN

The biggest job at the Royal is arguably that of Manager — Rooms Division. Harry knew early on that he needed real expertise to take on this task and has always filled it with Dutch graduates from the well-respected Maastricht Hotel Management School in Holland.

Dimitri is the fourth graduate from the school to take on this role. He is typically Dutch in his focus on being practical and pragmatic. He also believes that it is important to be very close to his employees, through his empowered and collaborative approach to management. That doesn’t always work in the traditional Asian culture, and Dimitri is often at odds with Harry, who doesn’t ever trust employees who aren’t family. The staff, frequently from the rural province of Isan, don’t quite know what to make of the eccentric Dutchman and his unusual style!



MANAGER — FOOD AND BEVERAGE

CHE IGLESIAS

Che is a flamboyant man of Cuban descent, whose parents fled to Florida in the 1960s. Preferring the slow rhythm of the tropics, he is a natural counter-balance to the ever-energetic Dimitri. Harry and Che share a love for cigars and believe that spending lavishly on guests is key to success. Che has not had any formal training in this role and, as a result, does not make use of regular F&B metrics, such as the Pour/Cost percentage1 for efficiency in the bar.

Che has grown through the ranks after settling in Bangkok while on a post-graduation, sabbatical world tour. He worked as a waiter and short-order cook in Miami while working his way through his BBA at the University of Miami. This limited exposure to the business and strong support from Harry has enabled Che to muddle through as F&B Manager. His day begins a little later than that of all other personnel and a siesta is always on the schedule,— “why kill yourself working today when you will only miss the party tomorrow?”

MANAGER — ENGINEERING

KIET APILUKTOYANUNT (PAP)

Pap is a cautious engineer who graduated from the prestigious Chulalongkong University. He is a very good technical engineer who takes his work seriously. He believes passionately in quality but, as a result, some of his tasks take longer to complete than guests expect. Pap hasn’t traveled outside of the country other than on vacation, and he isn’t very comfortable with English or conversing with foreign guests.

Like many Thai, Pap does not like any form of confrontation. Consequently, he sometimes finds himself promising things to guests or colleagues to avoid an issue and then being “unavailable” in the event that he cannot deliver on the promise.

Dimitri and James would like to bring in someone who is more comfortable dealing with international guests to work with Pap. To some extent, Dan Kidwai, the maintenance chief with his experience in South East Asia is a help. However, he prefers to stick to his beloved machines rather than to engage with guests. The problem is that Pap would see that as a loss of face, and because he is Elle’s cousin, he has significant support.

1. The pour cost percentage is determined by dividing the cost of goods sold by sales (portion cost/selling price). Consequently, a 20% pour cost means that it costs the taxpayer $.20 to generate $1.00 of liquor sales, which translates to a gross profit margin of 80% and a markup on cost of 400%.



MANAGER — MARKETING AND SALES

KANYA UNGVICHIAN (NEE)

Nee is a young, well-connected, confident professional. She originally studied finance but quickly found out that she has flair with customers. She studied economics at Harvard in the United States and received an MBA in Europe.

Her family consists of well-connected traders, and Nee has successfully tapped into their network of friends and relatives to ensure a steady stream of clients for the Royal. In addition, many of her former classmates are active in the medical, legal, and IT sectors. These contacts give her access to lucrative conference and banquet events.

MANAGER — RECREATIONAL SERVICES

SUVARNA

Suvarna is the darling of the Royal. She just appeared at Harry’s door one day, confidently asking for a chance to set up a small massage facility. This has since grown into a significant recreational facility. No one seems to know her full name or how old she really is. “It didn’t seem polite to ask,” Harry is fond of saying.

Suvarna is charming and elegant; she is a former champion swimmer who learned her trade at the prestigious Tettucio spa in Montecatini, Italy. Her next ambition is to set up a fully equipped daycare center, but Harry does not see the need for such innovation. “Crying babies would just disturb the other guests and our own staff would probably bring all their children from the provinces and crowd the place up.”

MANAGER — HUMAN RESOURCES

STU MILLER

Stu is a colorful American who moved to Thailand with his partner in 2001, after 9/11. The tragedy in New York altered his view of the meaning of life. He wanted to tone down his existence in the fast lane, and Thailand seemed a good place to go. Ultimately, Stu wants to move to one of the islands and open his own resort. He

somehow finds it difficult to escape the trendy excitement of Bangkok, even though, after New York, it still seems provincial in many ways.

Stu has a PhD in education and feels a little underutilized in his current role, but it is a good job and he likes the interplay of cultures that make up his portfolio.

MANAGER — FINANCE

KATSUSHI FUJIYAMA

Fujiyama-san is Japanese and a trained accountant who has worked in many different fields, including IT and education, before settling in his current role. Fujiyama-san met Harry many years ago in Tokyo when Harry was negotiating an export deal with a Japanese importer and Fujiyama-san was the negotiator. Harry was so impressed, he made an offer that “could not be refused,” and Fujiyama-san has now worked at the Royal for 6 years.

While Fujiyama-san is serious and conscientious about his tasks, he also loves to have fun outside of the office. He can often be found with Che and Harry at the Amadis, an upscale Karaoke bar, or at one of the prestigious sake bars, such as Wasabi, in town.



THE STAFF

FRONT OFFICE AND BUSINESS CENTER HEAD

ISABEL O’HARA

Responsible for the front office, including the lobby, Isabel plays a key role at the Royal. In fact, her energy and love of technology is what made both Harry and James give her additional charge of the business center and the coffee shop, which James envisages as an informal chill-out zone for the business guests and the young, techno-savvy tourists. A whirlwind of energy, she is literally wherever the action is, and as some might say, if there is no action, she creates it!

Isabel believes in personal attention and keeping tight control over every customer interaction. No detail is too small to escape her notice, so much so that her team is now happy for her to take on the responsibility of every decision because their initiative seems unwanted. Small wonder then that she is exhausted at the end of the day and wonders how much more she can manage just by herself! Advice she has received includes adjusting her intense approach or face a possible burnout. These days, she barely has time for jazz and is usually too tired for scuba diving, her favorite leisure activities.

CHEF AND ASSISTANT CHEF

YVETTE LEROUX AND JEAN

Madame Yvette Leroux is an institution at the Royal. She can literally change the mood at any time, especially if her decisions are not accepted. Mme. Yvette is a gifted chef and a master of several types of cuisine. “Food,” she proclaims, “can be cooked by anyone, but only the French make it divine.” The management is only too happy to humor her, given the mouth-watering food she conjures up, including her unbeatable range of pastries.

But, Che knows how many anxious moments she gives her team as she ponders and broods over her menu till the last moment, and then spews forth the list of provisions she needs. The fresh seafood, vegetables, and fruits that she insists on are purchased from the local market at Saphan Mai, an hour away. This has led to a popular local tradition called the Royal Grand Prix.

THE ROYAL GRAND PRIX

A group of local vendors, preselected through years of experience, is in a state of high alert. The hotel van, with Mme. Yvette’s young assistant — Jean — pacing, cell phone in hand, is on standby. The moment the phone rings and the instructions are noted, the vendors swing into action and the loading frenzy begins.

Within minutes, the van is loaded and Jean’s speed on the Royal Grand Prix is unrivalled. There is a discreet betting ring that lays odds on how long it will take Jean to make it back to the hotel. There was even talk of turning this into a professional race till the otherwise easy-going police nipped such ideas in the bud.



Jean, with Che’s tacit support, has made some not-so-subtle suggestions about making this a weekly, and not a daily, ritual — not least because of the expense. However, till now, no action has been taken to resolve this issue.

Knowing he is facing a formidable adversary, Che is quietly pushing for the upgrade of the coffee shop, offering a variety of food that can be served quickly and Wi-Fi areas for the business guest. At least publicly, Madame Yvette remains unconcerned about the threat from the coffee shop and the other “fast-food” ideas of James.

EXECUTIVE HOUSEKEEPER

MARY SANCHEZ

The elder of the two Sanchez sisters, Mary is a perfectionist who is intolerant of any sloppiness. Her white-glove inspections would do credit to a drill sergeant of the Marine Corps — one reason why the entire staff trembles in her presence.

Nobody doubts her integrity; however, it is her impossibly high standards that often terrify the housekeeping team.

Mary has a passion for flowers, her favorite being the rare Parrot flower, and counts the elderly gardener, with whom she has coffee at 11 am every day, as among her few friends. Very thorough with her planning, control, and instructions, she is at her wits’ end with the increasing number of complaints about housekeeping. No amount of repeated instructions or scolding seems to make a difference to the personnel.

ACCOUNTANT

JUANITA SANCHEZ

Juanita Sanchez is the younger, fun-loving sister of Mary. Juanita’s encouraging manner goes a long way to energize the young people at the Royal with her natural leadership qualities. The confidant of many of the younger girls, including and especially in Housekeeping, she is often caught between two contradictory influences. On the one hand is her loyalty and affection for her older sister, and on the other is her growing concern that the quality of service for which Housekeeping was known is slipping.

Much better with people and figures than her elder sister, she is contemplating a formal course in management (apart from her basic qualification in accounting) because she feels that qualifications, savvy, and experience are never enough in an increasingly competitive world.

Juanita is a firm friend of the Business Center Head, Isabel O’Hara, who has not only helped her explore technology, but with whom she spends time as a student, learning all things fun, educational, and practical online.



MAINTENANCE CHIEF

DANIAL KIDWAI (Dan)

Dan is a stocky, quiet, 37-year old, who loves to work with machinery. As his seniority increases, he resents the time he needs to spend in meetings and drafting memos and seeks every opportunity to get his hands “dirty.” He is happiest with a flask of tea and his tool kit.

However, he is smart enough to realize that growth means that he either sets up his own “shop” or he grows in the hotel hierarchy. With a big, extended family dependent on him, the former option is more risky.

His grandparents migrated from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Myanmar, and finally reached Thailand. He has come up the hard way, and educated himself at night school, leading to an Engineering diploma, while working during the day.

He has worked for several establishments, including a business center in Indonesia, a hotel in Thailand, and a resort in Malaysia.

He is respected by his staff for his mechanical skill and his ability to insulate them from the management. In turn, the management respects Dan’s ability to get along with his people, and his “noiseless” ability to get things done. Despite his quiet demeanor, he is very effective at negotiating with vendors.

Dan likes listening to folk songs in his mother tongue, Bangla, and enjoys playing football on the weekend. When not wearing overalls, simple cottons are his preferred mode of dress.

Student | ITIL Intermediate Certification Level | Answers


2.3 Business Value of the Process

The Royal’s IT organization is functionally well organized because of its relatively small size. Dimitri van Rijn is responsible for the IT in the hotel.

There are three main units within the IT organization. These are:

1. Customer support – it deals with questions, requests, and Incidents from end- customers (visitors of the hotel) and staff members.

2. Application Management – it is responsible for the maintenance of the reservation/booking system and all other applications in use.

3. Infrastructure Management – it is responsible for the maintenance and second-and third-line support of the technical infrastructure in the hotel. This leads to a natural overlap with facilities.

Now, with Suvarna’s pool project report, Harry, the owner and CEO of the hotel, has mandated his Executive team to work on a major revamp of the hotel’s image and infrastructure. He wants to change the hotel’s image from being old-fashioned to that of a modern hotel that boasts of contemporary facilities and services while drawing on the timeless values of traditional Thai hospitality.

The infinity-edge swimming pool was a result of this mandate. Several other infrastructure changes as well as guest services changes are underway. As expected, the IT department needs to gear up to support all these changes in the business. However, as you are already aware, the Royal’s IT operations is fairly small and not experienced enough to meet the demands of such major Change. They want to ensure that they are dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s” as they plan, design, and implement Change. As a result, Dimitri has invited you as the ITSM Process Consultant to help the hotel with this.

Pap has heard about the ITIL Change Management process and would like to consider using it to implement Change in the Royal’s IT department.

As you study the Royal’s plans and the as-is state, the imperative to implement Change Management becomes clear to you. However, your job’s far from done. The hotel’s IT department, while nursing ambitions for modernization, is of course going to take everything you say with several pinches of salt; which means this is going to be a hard-sell for you. You cannot take for granted that because the Royal’s management invited you for your expertise, they are going to accept everything you recommend. You need to convince Pap, IT Head, about the completeness of the Change Management process, together with the value that this process will have for the hotel. Of course, you also need to recommend the implementation steps.



scenario-Based activityQ1. What is the business value the change Management process has for the hotel?

sample answer: Reliability and business continuity are essential for the success and survival of the hotel. Delivering consistently high-quality and reliable services to the guests of the hotel is business critical. Service and infrastructure changes can have a negative impact on the business through Service disruption and delay in identifying business requirements. However, you can add value to the business in the following ways through Change Management:

y Prioritizing and responding to business and customer Change proposals

y Implementing Changes that meet the customers’ agreed Service requirements while optimizing costs

y Contributing to meet governance, legal, contractual, and regulatory requirements

y Reducing failed Changes and, consequently, Service disruption, defects, and rework

y Delivering Change promptly to meet business timescales

y Tracking Changes through the Service Lifecycle and to the assets of its customers

y Contributing to better estimations of the quality, time, and cost of Change

y Assessing the Risks associated with the transition of Services (introduction or disposal)

y Aiding in the productivity of staff by minimizing the disruptions caused by high levels of unplanned or “emergency” Change and, consequently, maximizing Service availability

y Reducing the Mean Time to Restore Service (MTRS) via quicker and more successful implementations of corrective Changes

y Liaising with the business change process to identify opportunities for business improvement

2.8.2 logging, reVieWing, and assessing change reQuests

One of your responsibilities as the ITSM Process Consultant helping the Royal’s IT Department scale up in step with the hotel’s organizational change is to help it set up its Change Management process.

James, the hotel’s General Manager, has assigned you the task of designing procedures to log and review RFCs at the Royal.

scenario-Based activityQ1. how will you set up the change Management process at the hotel?

sample answer:

Procedural steps examples

1. Submit a Change Request. Enhance the guest reservations system to include and integrate real-time availability

information.

2. Log RFCs. Submit a Change Request to IT for upgrading the hotel’s Wi-Fi connection for faster Internet Services.



Procedural steps examples

3. Allocate a unique identification number to each RFC.

Allocate an identification number for the RFC such as CCIT0012 and ECIT0013.

4. Review and filter out any unwanted Requests.

Pap, the IT Head, will assign the RFC to a member of his team, who will then review whether or not the RFC for upgrading the Wi-Fi is reasonable. If yes, it will send the RFC for implementation. If no, the member will filter the request and send it for rejection with comments.

5. Return the rejected requests to the initiator.

If the RFC is rejected, Pap will send a mail to the RFC initiator, stating why the request has been rejected. If the Change is implemented, Pap will send a mail to the initiator, stating that the Change has been implemented.

6. Assess the Change Request.

Pap and his team will identify the impact the RFC will have on the Royal if the Change is implemented. They will then inform all stakeholders of the proposed Change, and implement the Change according to the set priority level.

2.8.3 authorizing changes

The Royal is considering the implementation of a Change Management process under your guidance. Some decisions need to be made about:

y Authorization levels

y Frequency of CAB meetings

y Organizational level of the Change Manager

As the ITSM process consultant, you need to help them with these decisions. As you’re aware, the Royal currently has a small IT department, where individuals perform multiple roles. The IT infrastructure primarily supports back-office activities. However, with the introduction of the kiosks and other IT and guest infrastructure services, IT will become increasingly business critical.

scenario-Based activity

Questions authorization levels frequency of caB Meetings

organizational level of the change

Q1. What makes sense for the current situation at the royal with respect to the three points mentioned above?

Two levels of authorization

Biweekly CAB meeting (once every 2 weeks)

The Change Manager will probably be a mid-level manager or individual contributor reporting to the IT head (possibly a CIO, although this has not been determined).



Q2. With the anticipated changes at the royal, it is expected that the it department will need to grow. additional specialization among the it staff is probable. does this change the situation?

Three levels of authorization (Local, Change Manager, and CIO – probably needed with growth), instead of the two in the previous situation

Weekly CAB meeting

The Change Manager could be a mid-level manager, for example, Operations Management Manager/Supervisor or Technical Management Manager

Q3. What would change if the royal were part of a global chain?

Four levels of authorization (local, Change Manager, data center, and international)

Daily scheduling meeting; twice-weekly CAB meeting

The Change Manager will probably be a senior manager, such as a director – someone respected across the organization, a get-it-done person, preferably with political clout.

2.8.4 coordinating, reVieWing, and closing changes

activityQ1. outline how changes are coordinated in your organization.

sample answer:

Change coordination includes the following activities:

y Preparing and documenting remediation procedures

y Overseeing that all Changes are thoroughly tested

y Scheduling Change implementations at a time when the Impact on live Services is the lowest

y Ensuring the availability of support staff during the Change implementation

Q2. compare the normal review with a Post-implementation review Pir in your organization.

sample answer:

normal review Pir

Is on a smaller scale Is on a larger scale

Does not involve CAB members Involves CAB members



2.16 saMPle test Question

A large manufacturing organization has offices at multiple locations across North America and Europe. A new Change Management process has been in place for the last 6 months. This process consolidates the disparate Change Management processes at the different locations. Things have been going well, with reports showing that all the KPIs are within their expected ranges.

Change Management policies were put in place as part of the overall design. They are:

y There is zero tolerance for unauthorized Change.

y The Change Management process must be aligned with business needs.

y Accountability and responsibility for Changes must be assigned.

y Duty controls must be segregated, that is, build and test.

y There will be a single focal point for Changes.

y Evaluating the Risk of all Changes that Impact Service capability will drive the level of authorization required.

y People who are not authorized to make a Change will not have access to the production environment.

y Change Management will integrate with other Service Management processes to establish the traceability of Change, detect unauthorized Change, and identify Change-related Incidents.

y Change windows will be enforced.

The new Change Management system was set up with an elaborate authorization process that involved four authorization levels. A scheme was set up to categorize Changes into eight Risk levels, and the Risk level mapped the Change to the appropriate authorization level. There was a lot of in-fighting about what constituted which Risk level, but all stakeholders eventually agreed to the scheme and signed it off. The higher the Risk and, consequently, the authority level signoff, the longer the process takes because the “higher authority” consists of higher-level roles in the organization.

In the last 2 weeks, the organization has started to complain that critical business Changes are taking too long to implement, leading to business loss. As the process manager, you are responsible for investigating this issue and coming up with a solution.

Q1. What should you do?

a) You recall that the policies state that the process must be aligned with business needs. Clearly, to eliminate lost business, something must be done to the process. You decide that if Risk is automatically reduced for business Changes, this will mean that the authorization level is lower, leading to a faster turnaround time. You immediately institute this Change to the process.

b) You engage with the business to find out the nature of the Changes that are not taking place in a timely way. You suspect that some Changes could be recategorized as Standard Changes, eliminating any delays. In addition, you want to ensure that Risks are correctly assessed because overestimation of Risk will slow down the implementation of Change. For example, the business need may override the IT perspective, but this may not be reflected in the Risk calculation.

c) You decide to change the reporting structure so that you can better see if the Risk to authority level mapping is working, that approvals are happening in a timely way, and that implementation is happening on schedule. You schedule a meeting after 4 weeks to discuss the results of the investigation with the stakeholders to see if any adjustments are required for the process. You know that you should never change a process without measurement data to justify it.



d) You think that the mapping of Risk to authority level is working well. The problem is the turnaround time of the people who have to sign off the Change. You find out which individuals are holding up authorization and let them know that if they cannot respond in a timely way, they will have to be removed from the authorization list.

answer:

a) 0: distracter. You cannot arbitrarily reduce Risk just to reduce authorization level.

b) 5: Most correct. Engaging with the business to identify the pain points is very good, the use of standard Changes is good, and investigating Risk levels is good.

c) 3: second best. Changing the reporting structure is good, but waiting to engage with the stakeholders for 4 weeks is not.

d) 1: third best. Removing people from the authorization list because of a lack of performance is not acceptable.

3.4 Policies, PrinciPles and Basic concePts

discussionQ1. Why is it important to have sacM policies?

sample answer:

The organization needs to make some strategic decisions and lay out priorities because investing in SACM is expensive.

The value chains of the Service Delivery network are complex. As a result, it is crucial to lay down a clear SACM framework that considers the organization’s business drivers and contractual and Service Management requirements and complies with applicable laws and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and related standards. For example, an organization’s asset policy may be applicable to specific asset types or Services such as desktops.

The SACM policy is closely associated with the Change and Release and Deployment Management policies.

Q2. What types of principles typically help become part of the sacM policy?

sample answer:

The following principles become part of the SACM policy:

y Balancing SACM operational costs against the potential Risk to Services

y Delivering to governance requirements

y Need to deliver capability, resources, and Warranties, as defined in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or contracts

y Need for available, reliable, and cost-effective Services

y Requirement for cost and performance criteria for interventions that reduce costs or improve Service Delivery, for example, lower maintenance costs

y Applying “whole-life” cost appraisal methods

y Shift from reactive to proactive management

y Need to maintain required asset and configuration information for all stakeholders

y Levels of control needed for tracking and auditing



y Need to apply Continual Service Improvement (CSI) methods

y Requirement to provide accurate asset and configuration information for other processes

y Integration of SACM with other processes

y Common asset and CMS architecture and need for automation

3.5.2 configuration identification

The Royal Chao Phraya Hotel is investigating the setting up of a CMDB. It could utilize a couple of sources of existing data as the foundation for the CMBD. You’ve been invited as the SACM Specialist to help them ascertain if they’re on the right path. As the specialist on this job, your task is cut out. You are required to look at each source of existing data available at the Royal and determine if:

y The CIs are at the correct level.

y There are more attributes.

y The relationships are appropriate and, if not, what opportunities are being missed.

y The situation described is useful in any way.

situation 1The infrastructure group has an asset register. It contains information down to the level of servers and routers, but does not contain information on PCs, keyboards, pointing devices, kiosk hardware, and so on. There are no relationships.

scenario-Based activityQ1. are the cis at the correct level?

sample answer: Perhaps, but what about PCs?

Q2. should there be more attributes?

sample answer: Yes, there will only be financial information. We would like information about the status, owner/custodian, and technical aspects of the CI.

Q3. are the relationships appropriate and, if not, what are the opportunities being missed?

sample answer: No, the relationships are not appropriate. We cannot perform an Impact analysis and such other activities based on the current set of relationships.

Q4. is the described situation useful in any way?

sample answer: Yes, we can use the CIs to post Incidents, Problems, and Changes. It is better than doing nothing.

situation 2There is a database utilized by the desktop group in existence. This includes information on PCs but not on commodity items, such as keyboards, even though the organization uses customized keyboards and specialized kiosk hardware. Relationships are provided through a discovery tool.

Q1. are the cis at the correct level?

sample answer: It would seem that they are for hardware. But, what about applications and so on? In addition, the custom keyboards might need to be tracked, although they may not be something that Asset Management is interested



in because they are below a financial threshold. These keyboards will need, in all probability, careful attention when there is an Incident, a Change is implemented, and so on. The specialized kiosk hardware has high criticality and visibility and so would probably be tracked, although this may be outsourced to the hardware vendor.

Q2. should there be more attributes?

sample answer: Yes, it looks like only financial information will be available currently. We would like information about the status, owner/custodian, and technical aspects of the CI.

Q3. are the relationships appropriate and, if not, what are the opportunities being missed?

sample answer: This is much better than Situation 1. However, because there are no application CIs, an Impact analysis and other related activities cannot be conducted at the most effective level.

Q4. is the situation described useful in any way?

sample answer: Yes, it is quite useful, but it needs the other types of CIs too.

3.5.5 Verification and audit

The Royal has just implemented Configuration Management, including populating its initial CMDB. A recent fire in the computer room forced the organization to operate from its contingency site for a week. Fortunately, it is expected that there will be about 4 weeks of stability before the new kiosk application and its associated desktop application are implemented. There is some nervousness about implementing this new Release, partly because the Service Desk has reported a number of instances where user records were incorrect. Because of this, the organization does not fully understand what will happen when the Release is pushed to the users’ infrastructure. As part of the implementation plan for the kiosk, no major activity or upgrades are expected for about 3 months after the initial Release.

scenario-Based activityQ1. Why should an audit be conducted in the given scenario?

sample answer: If you take a look at the factors to be considered before deciding to conduct an audit, the scenario given above meets three out of five of those criteria. Consequently, an audit should be conducted at the following points in the given scenario:

y When the organization has just recovered from an IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM) situation, similar to what the Royal faced when its computer room caught fire

y Before the organization starts to implement a new major Release, such as the new kiosk and related applications

y When using Service Desk records to implement a new Release to check if what the user has is incorrect; this has also been seen at the Royal

In addition to the above, the following are factors to be included for consideration when deciding to conduct an audit:

y When building a new Release from a copy of the last known good Release that is in the DML

y After the Release, regularly at planned intervals or by conducting random audits for the next 3 months

Note that not all factors will be present in any given situation; and the decision to conduct an audit or not should be based upon key factors that will have a significant impact on the Release.



3.6 triggers, inPuts, outPuts, and interfaces With other Processes

BrainstormQ1. how does the sacM process interface with other itil processes, such as change

Management, financial Management, and availability Management? also, identify what sacM interfaces there are with the other processes and what interfaces the other processes have with sacM.

sample answer:

Process/function

from sacM to service Management Process

from service Management Process to sacM

Process

SACM

CI information on the relationships/attributes associated with Change

Information required to accurately assess the Impact of Change

Accurate status of Changes and Releases

Storage for Change records, Release records, and other documents

Change records

Authorization to change CIs

Updated status of CIs with reference to Changes

Change schedule

Change Management

CI information on the relationships and attributes associated with Release

CI baselines

Status accounting for CIs

Link between CMDB and the DML

Audit and verification services

Release records

Status and location of Releases

DML information

Definitive spares information

Baselines

Release Management

Relationship information for Impact

Contact information

Escalation information

CMDB exceptionsService Desk/Incident Management

Relationship information for Impact and analysis CMDB exceptions Problem

Management

Relationship information for Services/customers

CMDB repository

Service Level Management (SLM) documentation

Service information

SLM

Workload requirements

CI information for costing

Costing model information for Configuration Management

Financial Management



Process/function

from sacM to service Management Process

from service Management Process to sacM

Process

Capacity requirements

Relationship information for analysis

Tool capacity support

Capacity-related CI information

Capacity Management

Availability requirements

Relationship information for analysisTool availability support Availability

Management

Baselines

CMDB repositoryITSCM-related documentation ITSCM

Q2. according to you, which other processes need to be implemented in parallel or directly after the SACM process, including the justification for this?

sample answer:

By its very nature – as the single virtual repository of configuration data and information for ITSM – SACM supports and interfaces with every other process and activity to some degree. Some of the more noteworthy interfaces are:

y Change Management – identifying the impact of proposed Changes

y Financial management – capturing key financial information, such as cost, depreciation methods, owners and users (for budgeting and cost allocation), and maintenance and repair costs

y ITSCM – awareness of assets that the business services depend on and control of key spares and software

y Incident/Problem/error – providing and maintaining key diagnostic information; maintenance and provision of data to the Service Desk

y Availability Management in detection of points of failure

The relationship among Change, Release, and Deployment is synergistic, with these processes benefiting greatly from a single, coordinated planning approach. Configuration control is synonymous with Change control, that is, understanding and capturing updates to the infrastructure and Services.

3.12 grouP/indiVidual exercise

The manager of the hotel has heard about the Configuration Management process. He is interested in using this process in his hotel. Due to this, he invited an external consultant who should convince the manager about the aspects of the Configuration Management process.

You are fulfilling the role of an external consultant who has to sell the implementation of the Configuration Management process to the manager of the hotel.

Your task is to convince the hotel manager about the advantages that the Configuration Management process will bring to the hotel.

You created a Request for Proposal (RFP). You will be going to present the results to the manager.



scenario-Based activityQ1. What business value does the Configuration Management process have for the hotel?

sample answer: Optimizing the performance of Service Assets and configurations improves the overall Service performance and optimizes the costs and Risks caused by poorly managed assets at the hotel, for example, Service outages, fines, correct license fees, and failed audits.

SACM provides the hotel with visibility of accurate representations of a Service, Release, or environment that enables:

y Better forecasting and planning of Changes.

y Changes and Releases to be assessed, planned, and delivered successfully.

y Incidents and Problems to be resolved within the Service level targets.

y Service levels and Warranties to be delivered.

y Better adherence with standards and legal and regulatory obligations (fewer nonconformances)

y More business opportunities as SACM is able to demonstrate control of assets and Services

y Changes to be traceable from requirements

y The ability to identify costs for a Service

Q2. Pick four processes within the itil service lifecycle. review the list of metrics and measures provided in this section. identify those metrics that will help support the four processes you have chosen for the hotel. If you do not find any metrics that will support your process, can you think of any metrics within the process that can help support sacM at the hotel?

sample answer:SACM captures a lot of information about CIs throughout the Service Lifecycle. This information is very valuable to other Service Management processes.

sacM KPi type of KPi and its use

Percentage reduction in number of CI attribute errors at the kioskQuality

Process

Percentage increase in number of CIs successfully entered and audited for the hotel

Quality

Process

Percentage reduction in kiosk Service errors because of wrong CI informationQuality

Process

Improved speed of component repair and recovery of the kiosk Service Performance

Reduction in the number of missing or duplicated CIs in the hotelQuality

Process

Greater percentage of maintenance costs and license fees within the Royal’s budget

Performance

Cost




Reduced percentage of failures in the kiosks CI Change because of inaccurate CI data

Organization

Process

Quality

Reduction in unauthorized Changes at the hotelQuality

Process

Percentage improvement in maintenance scheduling over the life of the hotel Asset; this measure should neither be in large quantities, nor should it be scheduled after a long time

Organization

Process

Degree of alignment between provided maintenance and business support for the hotel Organization

Number of Assets identified as the cause of kiosk Service failuresPerformance

Process

Improvement in the speed of Incident Management to identify CIs and restore kiosk Services

Organization

Process

Quality

Impact of Incidents and errors affecting a particular CI type, for example, from particular suppliers or development groups, for use in improving the kiosk Services

Organization

Process

Quality

Percentage reuse and redistribution of under-utilized resources and Assets at the hotel

Cost

Performance

Degree of alignment of insurance premiums with business needsOrganization

Cost

The ratio of used licenses against paid-for licenses of the hotel; this should be close to 100% Cost

Average cost per user for licenses, which results in achieving more-effective charging options for the hotel Cost

Achieved accuracy in budgets and charges for the Assets that each customer or Business Unit utilizes in the hotel

Quality

Organization

Percentage reduction in the business impact of outages and Incidents caused by a poor kiosk Asset and Configuration Management process

Quality

Process

Organization

Improved audit compliance for the hotel

Quality

Organization

Process




Percentage improvement in maintenance scheduling over the life of the hotel Asset; this measure should neither be in large quantities, nor should it be scheduled after a long time

Performance

Process

Increased quality and accuracy of Asset and configuration information in the hotel

Quality

Process

Fewer errors caused by hotel staff working with out-of-date informationQuality

Performance

Shorter audits because quality Asset and configuration information is easily accessible in the hotel

Quality

Cost

Process

Reduction in the use of unauthorized hardware, software, nonstandard, and variant builds that increase complexity, support costs, and Risks to the hotel business services

Quality

Process

Cost

Reduction in the average time and cost of diagnosing and resolving Incidents and Problems (by type) for the kiosk

Cost

Organization

Process

Improvement in time to identify the poor-performing and poor-quality Assets of the hotel

Quality

Cost

Organization

Occasions when the “configuration” is not as authorized by the hotelQuality

Process

Changes that were not completed successfully or caused errors because of poor Impact assessment, incorrect data in the CMS, or poor version control by the hotel

Quality

Process

Exceptions reported during configuration audits by the RoyalQuality

Process

Value of IT components detected in use for the kiosk Cost

Reduction in Risks because of early identification of unauthorized Change in the kiosk

Quality

Process




You are the SACM Manager. The CIO comes to you to inform you he is about to cancel the project to create a CMS. This is because he was recently at a conference where he discussed the project with peers who strongly advised him not to go ahead. Their experience, which seemed to have been gained over several years, was that this type of project was a drain on money and resources.

Several other CIOs recognized that the overall concept was good and to serve the organization well and improve the image of Service Management, they invited some other stakeholders, such as Application Development, to the table to cover their needs as well.

You are somewhat alarmed to hear this because you have already asked the business for its requirements. As a result, the project is on the radar now, and the CIO would not want to disappoint the stakeholders.

Your organization has an inviolable principle, which is that each project over a specific dollar threshold must demonstrate, through metrics, a Return on Investment (ROI) within a year. This is another factor that is causing the CIO to doubt the prudence of starting the CMS project.

In all fairness, the CIO has given you a week to come up with reasons not to cancel the project and a plan to be followed if he agrees not to cancel the project.

Q1. What do you do?

b) Far from scaling back your plan, you initiate an immediate exercise to sell the CMS to as many stakeholders as you can. You feel that you need to overpower the objection by getting the potential stakeholders to quantify the benefits of a CMS and give you input that will help answer the ROI question. Naturally, you will provide the CMDB with relationships as part of what you deliver (it would not be a CMS without one).

c) Scale down your plan to use an existing asset register to give the functionality of a CMDB. You suggest that this is done quietly, so that no other potential stakeholders try to influence the project. This option will give immediate results because using an asset register as a CMDB will allow Changes to be logged against the CIs as well as Incidents, Problems, and so on. In your heart, you know that this will provide huge benefits to IT. Additionally, you believe that the budget for this scaled-down project will be under the dollar limit where projects have to show an ROI within a year.

d) Scale down your plan to use an existing asset register to give the functionality of a CMDB, but also plan to implement relationships and CIs that define Services, applications, and so on. You have an outline plan to investigate the cost of outages in the last year and to extrapolate how much would be saved by having a CMDB that is able to show Impacts through relationships – for both Change Management and Incident Management. You also feel that you should be able to provide the business a dashboard that shows the health of the Services. You would do this by displaying the CIs that constitute a Service and its relationships. This will help ensure that the business is not disappointed with the project.

e) Frankly, you have been reading about some horrible situations where everything the CIO said is true. You decide not to fight a losing battle, and figure out ways to redeploy your staff so that at least your political potency will not be impacted when the axe falls.

answer:

a) 1: third best. A CMS is good but it is overkill for the situation and makes it much more difficult to show positive ROI within a year.

b) 3: second best. There is a reasonable chance of showing positive ROI. However, without relationships, there is no ability to conduct a Risk assessment and so on.



c) 5: Most correct. This is the best answer.

d) 0: distracter. This is a distracter.

4.3 Business Value of the Process

BrainstormQ1. What value does release and deployment Management have for the hotel?

sample answer:

For the hotel, the value of Release and Deployment Management is:

y Effective Release and Deployment Management enables the hotel to add value to the business by:

o Delivering Change faster and at optimum cost and minimized Risk.

o Assuring that customers and users can use the new or changed Service in a way that supports the business goals.

o Improving consistency in the implementation approach across business changes, Service teams, suppliers, and customers.

o Contributing to meeting auditable requirements for traceability through Service Transition.

Well-planned and implemented Release and Deployment will make a significant difference to the hotel’s Service costs. A poorly designed Release or deployment will force the Royal’s IT staff to spend significant amounts of time on troubleshooting Problems and managing complexity, at best. At worst, it can cripple the environment and degrade live Services.

4.4.3 release units

With the implementation of the kiosk application, it is expected that the organization will have to implement a large number of Changes in a short space of time. Some of the Changes are to correct defects in existing Services while others implement a variety of new functionalities, ranging from minor improvements to completely new major additions.

The Release and Deployment process has been neglected, and you need develop an approach to Release and Deployment at the Royal.

scenario-Based activityQ1. use the given table to come up with a scheme for release unit numbering that distinguishes

among the six changes listed below.

To complete the table:

y Distribute the Change types across the Example column.

y Allot a numbering scheme to each Change type.

y Provide the characteristics of each Change type.



Changes

1. Single Web page update

2. Change to Web site navigation at home page level (highest level of drill down)

3. Bug fix to application

4. Small enhancement plus bug fixes

5. New desktop tool

6. New business service

sample answer: release type numbering scheme characteristics example

Major V1Major enhancement, potential need for substantial training, consolidated bug fixes

New desktop tool

New business service, for example, kiosks

Change to Web site navigation at home page level (highest level of drill down)

Minor V1.1 Minor enhancement, less need for training, for example, FAQ, bug fixes

Small enhancement plus bug fixes

Single Web page update

Fix/Emergency V1.1.1 Immediate fix required (cannot wait for a major or minor Release)

Bug fix to application

4.4.5 release and dePloyMent oPtions

The Royal is planning to redesign its hotel lobby and give its guests the comfort and luxuries of home right from the moment they step into the hotel. Because lighting is a big part of interior design and exterior architecture, and the right or wrong lighting choices can either enhance the atmosphere of the hotel’s lobby or tarnish it, the hotel plans to fix lighting as a top priority. It plans to fix the lighting at the lobby and go all the way through into the corridors and guestrooms. The Royal does not want its world-class image tarnished by the wrong lighting and wants to convey the right feel to its hotel guests.

You are appointed as the head of the Lighting Design Group. Your task is to redesign the hotel’s lobby area without compromising the environment-friendly atmosphere of the hotel and release the new-look lobby to its guests before peak season.

Which design options will you use?



scenario-Based activityQ1. Which design options will you use? Complete the table given in your Workbook to show the pros and

cons of whether a Release should be using the big-bang, phased, push, or pull approach.

sample answer:

design options Pros cons

Big bangEveryone (the hotel staff) is at the same level (only one level to support). As a result, the work that will come with the lighting redesign will be potentially less.

Everyone (the hotel staff and its guests) will be affected if there is an issue during the lighting redesign.

PhasedOnly part of the hotel’s guest community will be affected if there is a problem in the lighting redesign.

Because there are two levels to support in this phase, there will be potential confusion about which level a user (guest) is on. This will, in turn, potentially increase work for the Lighting Design Group.

Push

IT will be in control of the lighting when its guests get the redesigned lightning release. The

Service Desk will also be aware of the level on which a user (guest) is on to fix any problems quickly.

You must have access to push targets (PCs could be powered down).

Accurate configuration of the lighting system is mandatory but can be difficult to get.

Pull The release of the redesigned lighting is not forced on its guests.

It may be difficult to get laggards to pull the redesigned lighting release, meaning there can be two levels to support for a longer time.

4.5.1 release and dePloyMent Planning

note: This is a continuation of the scenario in Topic 4.4.3. Provided below is a recap of that scenario, with some new, topic-specific information added. You are required to do an Activity based on the complete scenario.

scenario from topic 4.4.3

With the implementation of the kiosk application, it is expected that the organization will have to implement a large number of Changes in a short space of time. Some of the Changes are to correct defects in existing Services while others implement a variety of new functionalities, ranging from minor improvements to completely new, major additions.

The Release and Deployment process has been neglected, and you need to develop an approach to Release and Deployment at the Royal.

New Information



The next step in the Release and Deployment process overhaul is to get the planning for Releases on the right track.

Each Release must obtain the approval of Change Management. To get permission to proceed with Release activities, quite a lot of information needs to be attached to the RFC.

scenario-Based activityQ1. name at least three items that should be in the release plan.

sample answer:

1. Scope and content of the Release

2. Risk assessment and Risk profile of the Release

3. Organizations and stakeholders affected by the Release

4. Stakeholders who approved the Change request for the Release and/or deployment

5. Team responsible for the Release

6. Approach to working with stakeholders and deployment groups to determine the:

o Delivery and deployment strategy

o Resources for the Release and Deployment

o Amount of Change that can be absorbed

Q2. name at least three pass/fail criteria that might be used.

sample answer:1. Pass — all tests are completed successfully.

2. Pass — the evaluation report and RFC for build and test are signed off.

3. Pass — all SAC are met and mandatory SLA documents are signed off.

4. Fail — insufficient resources are available to pass to the next stage. For example, an automated build is not possible, and so the resource requirement becomes error-prone, too onerous, and expensive. Testing identifies that there will not be enough money to deliver the proposed design in the Operations phase.

5. Fail Service Operation does not have the capabilities to offer particular Service attributes.

6. Fail — Service Design does not conform to the Service Operation standards for technologies, protocols, regulations, and so on.

7. Fail — the Service cannot be delivered within the boundaries of design constraints.

8. Fail — SAC are not met.

9. Fail — mandatory documents are not signed off.

10. Fail — the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) and CMS are not updated, perhaps because of a manually intensive process.

11. Fail — the percentage of Incidents, Problems, and Risks is higher than predicted, for example, by over 5%.



Q3. list at least two advantages/ factors you need to consider related to running a pilot.

sample answer:advantage/factor

1. Advantage — test with a small part of the user base — not waiting for the full rollout for feedback

2. Advantage — can be used to establish the viability of most or all aspects of the Service

3. Advantage — can test supporting Services, such as the Service Desk

4. Factor — scope needs to be controlled — too large, hard to do quickly — too small, may not reveal errors

5. Advantage — can collect feedback on deployment

6. Factor — needs stakeholder commitment, which can be a challenge

Q4. list at least two reasons you might want to run multiple pilots.

sample answer:reason

1. Distinctly different user groups

2. Use different techniques on different groups (for example, training method used)

3. Political implications (some groups must be in the pilot)

4. Different technology (for example, head office vs. remote location)

Q5. some releases need logistical planning (for example, where remote servers must be updated, new equipment needs to be ordered, and so on). list at least two logistical planning issues that you need to cover for the deployment to be successful.

sample answer:1. How and when Release Units and Service components will be delivered

2. What the typical lead times are; what happens if there is a delay

3. How to track the progress of the delivery and obtain confirmation of delivery

4. Availability of secure storage, where required

5. Managing customs and other implications of international distribution

6. Decommissioning and disposing of redundant items, including software, licenses, hardware, skills, computers, staff accommodation, and support contracts, such as utility supply, maintenance, and cleaners

7. Need for temporary equipment, for example, swing equipment or throwaway software

Q6. List at least two financial factors that affect the Release.

sample answer:

1. Working capital – are sufficient funds available to deliver the customer expectations, for example, to fund initial changes to gain emotional acceptance during the deployment?

2. Contracts and licenses – have all necessary contract and license transfers been arranged?

3. Funding – is funding available for the supporting systems to manage the Service, for example, the CMS and related licenses?



4. Intellectual Property – has the full range of Intellectual Property (IP), and its ongoing ownership and usage, been addressed, including:

o Software developed by one of the parties.

o Documentation, such as user manuals.

The Royal is overhauling its swimming pool area and the overhaul process is nearly complete. The next step in Release and Deployment is to actually transfer, deploy, and retire any part of the infrastructure that is no longer required, and verify the deployment itself. The Release may also warrant ELS.

scenario-Based activityQ1. The first activity is transfer financial assets. List at least two items that would be in this category.

sample answer:1. Any changes in supplier financial agreements and charges

2. Purchase or transfer of annual support and maintenance costs, including systems to manage the Royal’s swimming pool, for example, the CMS

3. New license costs and renewals for the swimming pool

4. Annual disaster recovery contracts with third parties

5. Provision or transfer of working capital

6. Transfer of intellectual property

Q2. When you transfer a Business unit, service, or service unit, it involves changes to the royal itself. list the activities concerned with the hotel’s aspects that come up when you outsource, in source, change outsourcer, and so on.

sample answer: 1. Finalize the hotel structure, roles, and responsibilities.

2. Communicate Changes in the hotel, roles, and responsibilities.

3. Ensure that hotel staff adapts to and adopts new practices.

4. Engender, at the very least, acceptance and preferably active support of the Changes imposed in the hotel staff.

5. Ensure that the hotel staff understands the continuity plans and procedures.

Q3. list at least two activities related to the deploy processes and materials and the deploy service Management capability activity of the release and deployment process.

sample answer:1. Train hotel staff to use new processes and procedures.

2. Deploy new or changed processes, systems, and tools to the hotel Service Provider teams responsible for Service Management activities.



3. Check that each hotel staff member is competent and confident to operate, maintain, and manage the Service in accordance with the Service Model and processes.

4. Remove or archive redundant Services and assets in the hotel, for example, processes, procedures, and tools.

5. Monitor the swimming pool area against the Service Model and performance standards as far as possible.

Q4. list at least two of the activities that need to be performed to transfer the service to a new location.

sample answer:

1. Reviewing Service performance, issues, and Risks by performing some Service tests and an evaluation prior to the transfer

2. Performing configuration audits of Service Assets and configurations

3. Finalizing the Service Catalogue (adding or removing the Service) and related information

4. Sending a Service notification to communicate the Change to relevant stakeholders

5. Managing contract changes

6. Managing changes to existing agreements

7. Updating contract details and information in the SKMS

8. Transferring ownership of Service Assets and CIs; remembering to update the CMS

Q5. list two activities of the deploying the overhaul of the swimming Pool area step.

sample answer:

1. Allocating and delivering the swimming pool area and pool area components at the correct location and time

2. Building, installing, and configuring the swimming pool area and pool area components with any converted or new data and information

3. Testing the system and swimming pool area according to installation and acceptance tests and producing installation and test reports

4. Recording any Incidents, unexpected Events, issues, or deviations of the pool area from plans

5. Correcting any deviations in the pool area that are outside design limitations and constraints

Q6. in some cases, the swimming pool area can be decommissioned or retired. list at least two of the activities that need to take place for this.

sample answer:

1. Removing deployed copies of software and data from retired hardware; failure to do this may result in license contravention or in staff using unsupported software.

2. Identifying licenses and other assets that can be redeployed; software being retired from use in one area may well remain in active use elsewhere.

3. Disposing of equipment according to environmental policies and procedures.



4. Moving assets that can be redeployed to secure storage areas, if required. If the assets being retired remain in use elsewhere, especially for hardware, the released assets may serve a useful role as spare equipment to be retained in asset stores for speedy redeployment in the event of failures.

5. Records of retirement, transfer, and disposal should be maintained and used to update other information, such as license information.

Q7. as part of the deployment, you need to remove redundant assets. list the related activities.

sample answer:1. Wasted disk space and licenses

2. Overpayment of license and maintenance fees

3. Removal of assets associated with the redundant Service but also used by other Services, causing Incidents within those Services, for example, common software components and network elements

4. Deletion or archival of redundant data, information, and records related to the previous Service or products

5. Support contracts with third-party suppliers because changes in the probable usage may require renegotiation of contracts

6. In-house second/third-level support staff with specialist knowledge may no longer require that knowledge, necessitating reassessment of their role, level of payment, retention, and so on, and identification of opportunities for redeployment

7. Service Desk workload affected

8. Records within the knowledge base relating to the decommissioned components needing to be archived and deleted


The technical infrastructure at the hotel is outdated. In particular, the electrical infrastructure has to be renewed. The facilities department of the hotel initiated a project to renew the complete electrical infrastructure, including meter cupboards, generators, and uninterrupted power supplies. Apart from the preparations IT has to make for this Change, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) wants to use this major Change to implement several servers for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications.

The CIO asked you, as the Change Manager, to prepare the IT organization for this Change and to make sure that the other Changes are implemented within the same period.

y The timeframe of the Change is the 4th weekend from now, from Friday evening 22:00 until Monday morning 06:00.

y The delivery of the critical Services of the hotel has to be continued during the weekend of the Change.

y You have to list the items that have to be discussed with the facilities representative.

y You must convince the CIO and the hotel management about your high level of control over this project.

scenario-Based activityQ1. give a presentation of the plan (maximum 12 slides). the plan should cover the change

Management aspects to ensure that the changes are implemented with the assurance of continued deliverance of business-critical services at their normal levels during the weekend.



sample answer:The presentation slides must focus on the specific situation at the hotel:

1. Establish a formal RFC:

o Document the purpose and scope of the Change.

2. Register and filter requests:

o Ensure that the required information is supplied.

3. Categorize and prioritize:

o Know that high priority = major Change.

o Ensure that Risks are identified.

o Classify and assign responsibilities.

4. Authorize and schedule:

o Assess Impact on the CIs that support the ERP system.

o Assess the Impact on other Services using the same CIs.

o Assess the Impact of not implementing Change, as a Risk mitigation strategy and as a back-out plan.

o Obtain board approval.

5. Coordinate:

o Monitor Release Management build, test implementation.

o Review the results of the plan at each step.

6. Evaluate and close:

o Conduct a formal PIR on the Monday following the implementation of the Change.

o Provides the PIR report to the CIO.

7. Preparing the IT Organization for the Change:

o Organize all stakeholders and staff for implementing the proposed Change.

8. Publish a series of memos to all IT staff:

o Summarize the Impact of rolling out internal outages.

o Provide updates on the progress of testing and planning.

o Repeatedly communicate schedules via multiple communications channels, such as memos, the intranet, and staff meetings.

9. Communicate roles and responsibilities.

10. Communicate the Risks of the Change.

11. Confirm the availability of critical Services during the Change.

12. Support, Application Management, and Infrastructure Management have documented plans to test the capability of maintaining the availability of critical Services:

o Coordinate with a rolling, phased upgrade of the IT infrastructure.

o Results of tests will be reviewed with the Change Manager.

13. Complete the upgrade within the scheduled timeframe.

14. Plan simulation testing.



15. Results will be reviewed by the Change Manager and board.

16. If approved, coordination of the implementation will commence in the planned month.

17. Raise an RFC that might include migration of timeline milestones achieved in development.

18. Construct discussion points for meeting with facilities

19. Produce a copy of an RFC

20. Notify the staff and stakeholders about the Risks

21. Coordinate the phased upgrade with the upgrade of IT infrastructure.

22. Implement a back-out plan.

23. Maintain electrical power to other IT Services during the upgrade.

24. Request for the test plan from facilities:

o Produce results of cutover simulation testing and so on.

o Convey the requirements for a rolling, phased upgrade of electrical circuits.

25. Request Implementation Plan (doc.)

26. What are the next steps you need to implement

27. What is required from you:

o Support for this Change Management plan

o Assurance of IT organizational compliance

o CIO signoff (RACI roles/responsibility)

o Engagement of the manager of the hotel:

� Encourage the manager to formally sign off this as a jointly sponsored Change.

5.4 Policies, PrinciPles, and Basic concePts

A large Change is scheduled for the kiosk service. This Change involves the first-time implementation of an existing, customer-facing, guest-booking Service. In the past months, the Business Unit has been involved with Service Design. Because the customers will be using the kiosk service directly, they are nervous about its usability. One of the key factors in encouraging the use of kiosks is response time. However, the new Service has some “convenience factors,” such as the ability to use the guest key to book a wide range of guest services from a number of locations. It is suspected that the workload of the Service Desk will significantly increase because of the new Service. To keep a check on the response time, the Service Management team needs to change its monitoring strategy. While there has been a lot of work put into understanding the popularity of the new Service, there is a level of nervousness about whether the Service will be responsive enough to meet expectations. When there is trouble with the new Service, it is not clear to those concerned how they will deal with it (expertise and human resources). They also want to know if they can respond to calls in a timely way. Finally, finance is wondering if the use of the new Service will justify the costs.

scenario-Based activityQ1. list the reasons to use a test Model and the different types of test Models that you can use.

sample answer:



A big Change to an existing customer-facing, ticket-booking Service is upcoming. In the past months, the Business Unit has been involved with Service Design. Because the customers will be using the ticket-booking service directly, they are nervous about its usability (Service Contract Test Model and Service Requirement Test Model).

Response time is going to be critical because other ticket-booking agencies offer essentially the same Service (although the new Service has some “excitement factors,” such as the chance to get your order free by means of a lottery, which should attract customers) (Service Level Test Model).

The suspicion is that there will be quite an increase in workload at the Service Desk because of the new Service (Service Level Test Model). To keep a check on the response time, the Service Management team needs to change its monitoring (Service Test Model).

While there has been a lot of work to understand the popularity of the new Service, there is a level of nervousness about whether it will be responsive enough to meet user expectations (Service Test Model).

When there is trouble with the new Service, the concerned individuals are not clear about who will deal with it (expertise and human resources) (Service Operation Model). They also want to know if they can respond to calls in a timely way (Service Level Test Model).

Finally, finance is wondering if the use of the new Service will justify the costs (Service Test Model).

Q2. for each test Model, use the following table and invent a test condition and mechanism to perform the test. In addition, fill the Service V-Model level that corresponds to each Test Model. one has been completed as an example.

sample answer:level of test service V-Model level test condition Mechanism

Service Contract Test Level 1 – customer/business needs

Less than 1% customer complaints about usability

Post-implementation statistics

Service Requirements Test

Level 2 – Service requirements

User interface navigation always via mouse

Service acceptance test – check all navigation

Service Test Level 1 – customer/business needs Budget within target Financial reporting

Service Level Test Level 2 – Service requirements

Response times less than 1 second under load

Service test – use of simulator to load the Service

Operations Test Level 3 – Service solutionService Desk able to answer 95% of usage questions within 1 minute

Operations test – simulate a user question storm

Q3. list the different people involved in the implementation of the service. identify how each person involved in the scenario perceives the service and how the individual views help in testing and delivering the service successfully. also, identify which of the test Models would be most relevant to the roles.

sample answer:Roles such as customer, user, CIO, Service Management team, Operations, Application Development, Technical Management, and third-party suppliers, Business customers/customer representatives – Service contract test, Service requirements test, and Service level test have defined and agreed means to measure the acceptability of the Service, including interfaces with the Service Provider, for example, how errors or queries are communicated via a Single Point of Contact (SPOF) and monitoring the progress and closure of Change requests and Incidents.



Understand and make available the appropriate level and capability of resources to undertake Service acceptance.

Users of the Service within the customer’s business who will use the new or changed Service to assist them in delivering their work objectives and deliver Services and/or products to their customers:

y Test the functional requirements of the Service to ensure that it meets the users’ expectations.

y Perform tests on Service Management activities, such as the ability to use the Service Desk, respond to diagnostic scripts, Incident Management, Request Fulfilment, and Change Request Management.

suppliers: Keep the business involved during the build and testing of the Service to avoid any surprises when Service acceptance takes place.

Ensure that the overall quality of the Service delivered into acceptance is robust because this starts to set business perceptions about the quality, reliability, and usability of the system, even before it goes live.

Deliver and maintain solid and robust acceptance test facilities in line with business requirements.

Understand where the acceptance test fits into any overall business service or product development testing activity.

operations and service improvement perspective:The operations staff must ensure that they deliver all the IT staff requirements to the customer before deployment.

y Set up technological facilities before delivering the new or changed Service.

y Provide the relevant staff skills, knowledge, and resources to support the Service after it goes live.

y Arrange for supporting processes and resources, such as the Service Desk and second- or third-line support.

y Consider business and IT continuity.

y Provide access to documentation and the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS).

5.5 Main actiVities, Methods, and techniQues

The Royal is planning to relaunch the kiosk so that its customers experience an efficient and effective self-booking Service. The kiosk crashed the first time it was launched because of the highest recorded number of customers logging on to avail the “Holiday Special” facilities. The Royal believes that this relaunch will be smooth and will be able to handle the maximum demand. However, the hotel does not want to take chances and wants to validate and test every possible area where the kiosk service can break down.

You are appointed as the Test Manager and your role is to devise a test plan for each testing activity. The activities of testing are:

y Perform validation and test management for the kiosk.

y Plan and design a test for the kiosk.

y Verify the test plan and design for the kiosk.

y Prepare the test environment for the kiosk.

y Perform tests on the kiosk.

y Evaluate the exit criteria and report for the kiosk.

y Perform test clean-up and closure for the kiosk.



scenario-Based activityQ1. transfer your test condition and mechanism to the given table for the service level test. give

an example of how each activity would be involved; use the explanations of the activities in your reference Material.

sample answer:

service level test response time less than 1 second under load service test – use of simulator to load the service

Perform validation and test management for the kiosk. Schedule the test.

Plan and design a test for the kiosk. Ensure that skills to run the simulation software for the kiosk are in place.


Compare the test plan to the Risk profile to ensure that the right tests are being done on the kiosk, for example, if the Risk profile states the Risk is low, perform less-extensive tests.


Prepare the test environment for the kiosk by ensuring that file space and so on are available for heavy load situations.

Perform tests on the kiosk.Use automation (the simulator) to run the test load. If the response becomes longer than one second, continue with the tests to build a profile with increasing load.


Pass or fail. If the response is close to one second at the projected peak load, provide feedback that there is a Risk to the kiosk.

Perform test clean-up and closure for the kiosk. Archive performance and monitoring data for the kiosk..

Q2. transfer your test condition and mechanism to the given table for the operations level test. give an example of how each activity would be involved; use the explanations of the activities from your reference Material.

sample answer:

operations test service desk able to answer 95% of usage Questions Within 1 Minute operations test – simulate user Question storm

Perform validation and test management for the kiosk. Plan the resources needed to do the Service Desk test (for example, people).

Plan and design a test for the kiosk. Ensure that people have access for the off-hours test (get in pizza and so on).

Verify the test plan and design for the kiosk. Ensure that the scripts and timing of the user question storm are appropriate.


Set up a “dummy” Service Desk (to ensure that the real Service Desk is not impacted during the test) for the kiosk. Infrastructure, desks, phones, and so on will need to be provisioned.

Perform tests on the kiosk. Record results with particular attention to usage questions that were not covered in the SKMS.

Evaluate the exit criteria and report for the kiosk. Pass or fail. In addition, report on user satisfaction with the kiosk service.




Decommission any infrastructure, and return the physical environment to its previous state.


The three Service Changes at the Royal are:

1. A large Change involving an extension to the kiosk service. The new functionality is to introduce a “frequent guest” club. This involves Changes in the application, databases, screen layouts, and so on.

2. A smaller Change to provide different levels of Service within the kiosk service. Business people have come up with an idea for a “front-of-the-line” option when people buy tickets to local events. The idea is that when there is a “hot” ticket, customers can opt to pay more and be serviced ahead of those not wishing to pay a premium. To implement this is actually quite easy. There is a small application change to accommodate the front-of-the-line choice and if it is selected, the transaction will belong to a SLP that delivers a faster response.

3. The kiosk service has been doing very well, and the Capacity Management process has dictated the need to migrate to new servers. New infrastructure has been bought and the Service now needs to be migrated to it.

For each Change, you must:

y Determine which Test Model is appropriate.

y Determine which level of the Service V-Model corresponds to the Test Model.

y Determine which stakeholders will want to see the results of the test.

y Describe a test condition that will need to be satisfied and the mechanism to verify the test.

y Describe an action within each testing activity.

y Describe what each validation and testing role will need to do.

y Describe what type of action will be required with respect to test environments and data.

scenario-Based activityQ1. Which test Model is appropriate?

Q2. Which level of the service V-Model corresponds to the test Model?

Q3. Which stakeholders will want to see the results of the test?

Q4. Describe a test condition that will need to be satisfied and the mechanism to verify the test.

Q5. describe an action within each testing activity.

Q6. What will each validation and testing role need to do?

Q7. What type of action will be required with respect to test environments and data?

sample answer:

change 1 a large change involving an extension to the Kiosk service

Test Model Service Contract Test Model

Level of Service V-Model 1




Stakeholders Business, Service Provider, for example, CIO, Service Strategy, and Service Design


10% of customers sign up for the frequent guest club – sign-up statistics

5% of Service Desk calls are related to usage problems related to the frequent guest club – Service Desk statistics

Activities

y Perform validation and test management.

Prioritize and schedule what is to be tested.

y Plan and design a test.

Set scheduling milestones.

y Verify the test plan and design.

Ensure that the Test Model covers the Risk profile.

y Prepare the test environment.

Use the capabilities of (Release and) Deployment to prepare the test environment.

y Perform tests.

Product test results show proof of testing with cross-references to the Test Model, test cycles, and conditions.

y Evaluate exit criteria.

Gather test metrics and summarize the results of the tests. The Service, with its underlying applications and technology infrastructure, enables business users to perform all aspects of functions, as defined.

y Perform test clean-up and closure.

Review the testing approach and identify improvements to input to design/build, buy/build decision parameters, and future testing policy/procedures.




Roles

y Service Test Manager:

o Defines the test strategy.

o Designs and plans testing conditions, test scripts, and test data sets to ensure appropriate and adequate coverage and control.

o Allocates and oversees test resources, ensuring that test policies are adhered to.

o Provides management reporting on test progress, test outcomes, success rates, issues, and Risks.

o Conducts tests as defined in the test plans and design.

o Records, analyzes, diagnoses, reports, and manages test Events, Incidents, and Problems, and retests depending on agreed criteria.

o Manages test environment requirements.

o Verifies tests conducted by Release and Deployment teams.

o Administers test assets and components.

y Test support:

o Provides independent testing of all components.

y Build and Test Environment Manager:

o Performs no action.

Test Environment and Data y New test data required – data to test new functionality against

y No change to test environment

change 2 a smaller change to Provide different levels of service Within the Kiosk service

Test Model Service Contract Test Model (possible but not the emphasis for this Change), Service Requirements Test Model, and Service Level Test Model


Stakeholders Business, Service Provider, and Service Design


Service Acceptance Model – 50% of customers use the front-of-line function (when there is a “hot” ticket) – sign-up statistics

Service Level Model – front-of-line transactions faster than regular transactions 95% of the time – performance statistics

Activities y Perform test clean up and closure.

y Ensure that the test environments are cleaned up or initialized.



change 2 a smaller change to Provide different levels of service Within the Kiosk service

Roles




o Allocates and oversees test resources, ensuring test policies are adhered to.






o Administers test assets and components.

y Test support:

o Provides independent testing of all components.

y Build and Test Environment Manager:

o Performs no action.

Test Environment and Data y New test data required – data to test new functionality against

y No change to test environment

change 3 new infrastructure has Been Bought, and the service now needs to Be Migrated to it

Test Model Service Level Test Model and Operations Test Model


Stakeholders Operations and Service Design


y Servers deployed on time, without issues – installation report

y Servers performing at the anticipated, higher level than older servers – capacity/performance reports



change 3 new infrastructure has Been Bought, and the service now needs to Be Migrated to it

Activities

y Perform validation and test management.

Capturing the configuration baseline

y Plan and design test.

Hardware tests

y Verify the test plan and design.

Ensuring test scripts are accurate

y Prepare test environment.

Using the capabilities of (Release and) Deployment to prepare the test environment

y Perform tests.

Producing a list of resolved Problems/Known Errors and related Changes

y Evaluate exit criteria.

Capturing Configuration Baselines in the CMS

y Perform test clean-up and closure.

Testing lab cleaned up and loaned test equipment returned

Roles




o Allocates and oversees test resources, ensuring that test policies are adhered to.






o Administers test assets and components; test support — provide independent testing of all components.

y Build and Test environment Manager:

o Builds the new environment.

Test Environment and DataNo new test data needed

New test environment to include new servers




There is a dispute in the IT department.

The output of Service Design is the SDP that contains many details related to the transition and operation of a new or changed Service. Some of the components of the transition of the SDP are:

y Build policies, plans, and requirements, including Service and component build plans, specifications, controls and environments, technology, tools, processes, and methods and mechanisms, including platforms

y Testing policy, plans, and requirements, including test environments, technologies, tools, processes, methods, and mechanisms

y Testing, which must include:

o Functional testing

o Component testing, including all suppliers, contracts, and externally provided supporting products and Services

o User acceptance and usability testing

o System compatibility and integration testing

o Service and component performance and capacity testing

o Resilience and continuity testing

o Failure, alarm, and Event categorization, processing, and testing

o Service and component security and integrity testing

o Logistics, Release, and distribution testing

o Management testing, including control, monitoring, measuring, and reporting, together with backup, recovery, and batch scheduling and processing

y Deployment policy, Release policy, plans, and requirements, including logistics, deployment, roll-out, staging, deployment environments, cultural change, organizational change, technology, tools, processes, approaches, methods, and mechanisms, including all platforms, knowledge, skill, and competence transfer and development, supplier and contract transition, and data migration and conversion

The organization has appointed a manager for each of the following: Release and Deployment, Service Validation and Testing, and Evaluation. Each wants to have first access to the SDP when it becomes available to Service Transition.

Q1. the it director does not know how to handle this situation. you are an itil consultant on contract with the organization. What advice do you offer?

b) The Service Transition part of the SDP is written by staff working in Service Transition. The Release and Deployment Manager should attend to the build policy, plans, and requirements, including Service and component build plans, specifications, controls and environments, technology, tools, processes, and methods and mechanisms, including all platforms. The Service Testing and Validation Manager should attend to the testing policy, plans, and requirements, including test environments, technology, tools, processes, methods, and mechanisms. Testing must include such items as functional testing, component testing — including all suppliers, contracts, and externally provided supporting products and Services; user acceptance and usability testing, system compatibility and integration testing, and so on. The Evaluation Manager should set stakeholder expectations correctly and provide effective and accurate information to Change Management to make sure that Changes that adversely affect Service capability and introduce Risk are not transitioned unchecked. Each manager should work with his/her team to develop the appropriate section of the SDP, and these efforts should be in parallel.



c) The Release and Deployment Manager should receive the SDP first. This is because the build has to precede any testing, and in any case, by definition, building the test environments is part of Release and Deployment Management. Release and Deployment Management needs a head start so that everything is ready for testing.

d) The Release and Deployment Manager and the Service Validation and Test Manager should receive the SDP at the same time but before the Evaluation Manager needs to see it. This is because while build has to precede any testing, building the test environments and test scripts can proceed in parallel with the build. Evaluation occurs after the Service is live, so the process definitely does not need the SDP first.

e) If any of the managers should see the SDP first, it should be the Evaluation Manager. This is because Service Design or Service Changes should be evaluated before being transitioned. Consequently, there would be little point in investing time and effort in Release and Deployment and Service Validation and Testing before evaluating the Service Design or Service Change. The most appropriate solution is to let the three managers see the SDP as it is received from Service Design because the three processes can work in their own area at the same time.

answer:a) 0: distracter. Service Transition does not write the transition part of the SDP.

b) 1: third best. Release and Deployment does not need a head start on writing test scripts and so on. By definition, building test environments is NOT part of Release and Deployment.

c) 3: second best. Evaluation takes place before and after a Service is live.

d) 5: Most correct. This is the correct answer.


The Royal Hotel has no self-help capability. All help is obtained through the Service Desk. A decision has been taken to increase the scope of the Service Desk to handle non-IT issues, such as servicing photocopiers. This will no doubt increase the workload of the Service Desk if no other action is taken. Consequently, the organization has decided to embark on providing the self-help capability.

scenario-Based activityQ1. The self-help capability should be dedicated to Request Fulfilment. Is this statement true or

false?

sample answer:False. The self-help capability should also be used to allow users to report Incidents and look at the status of Incidents, Problems, Changes, and so on.

Q2. What characteristics should you include in the self-help capability?

sample answer: The characteristics that should be included in the self-help capability are:

y Search y Compare y Learn y Decide on y Request



y Track the Requests

c) how should users get access to the self-help capability?

sample answer: Users should get access to the self-help capability through the Internet/intranet – some form of Web-based access.

d) What data entry methods should be employed?

sample answer: The self-help capability should provide drop-down lists so that users can select appropriate options. It is preferable to keep keying to a minimum.

e) What information should be given to users when their request is fulfilled?

sample answer: The ticket number and the expected completion date should be given to the users when their request is fulfilled.

f) What other part of ITIL might you be able to use to find out Request Fulfilment response times (when the request will be fulfilled)?

sample answer: The Service Catalogue can be used for this purpose (many commercial Service Catalogue products have this information).


activityQ1. Create a chart to depict the overall flow for Request Fulfilment. To create this chart:

b) list what steps have to be completed, and in what order.

c) Write down whether it is necessary to include escalation.

d) Include linkage with the other processes with which Request Fulfilment interfaces.



sample answer:

Incident Management process flowBased on AXELOS ITIL® Service Lifecycle Suite 2nd Edition, 2011. Reproduced under licence from AXELOS.

a) The Incident Management flowchart deals with the early part of the process to handle Service Requests. The steps are Identification, Logging, and Categorization. Then, the Incident flow directs the Service Requests to Request Fulfilment.

b) The flow is the same as Incident Management, except that there is nothing about Investigate and Diagnose. Instead, depending on the Service Request, it will flow to specialists to execute – this is similar to the path in Incident Management that leads to level two and so on. The flow should have Escalation.

c) If a Service Request is not completed in a timely way, that is, within the SLA, escalation should occur. The flow should show a check of the SLA (so should the Incident flow, but it does not!). Give extra credit for including linkage with any other process, such as Change and Release.



Q2. create and describe the complete overview of all the rcV processes, activities, their value to the business, and the relationships between them.sample answer:Request Fulfilment ActivitiesThe activities in the process are:

y Menu selection:

o Request Fulfilment offers great opportunities for self-help practices where users can generate a Service Request using technology that links into Service Management tools. Ideally, users should be offered a menu-type selection via a Web interface, so that they can select and input details of Service Requests from a predefined list. Organizations can set appropriate expectations by giving target delivery and/or implementation targets/dates (in line with SLA targets).

y Financial approval:

o An important extra step that is likely to be needed when dealing with a Service Request is that of financial approval. Most requests will have some form of financial implication, regardless of the type of commercial arrangements in place. The cost of fulfilling the request must first be established.

y Other approval:

o In some cases, further approval may be needed, such as compliance-related or wider business approval. Request Fulfilment must have the ability to define and check such approvals, where needed.

y Fulfillment:

o The actual fulfilment activity will depend on the nature of the Service Request. The Service Desk, which acts as first-line support, may complete some simpler requests while others will have to be forwarded to specialist groups and/or suppliers for fulfilment.

y Closure:

o When the Service Request has been fulfilled, it must be referred back to the Service Desk for closure.

Value of Request FulfilmentThe value of Request Fulfilment is to provide quick and effective access to standard Services, which business staff can use to improve their productivity or the quality of business services and products.

Request Fulfilment effectively reduces the bureaucracy involved in requesting and receiving access to existing or new Services. As a result, it reduces the cost of providing these Services too. Centralizing fulfilment also increases the level of control over these Services. This in turn can help reduce costs through centralized negotiation with suppliers and can help reduce the cost of support as well.

Request Fulfilment Interfaces with Other ProcessesA strong link is needed between Request Fulfilment, Release, and Asset and Configuration Management because some requests will be for the deployment of new or upgraded components that can be automatically deployed. In such cases, the Release can be predefined, built, and tested but only deployed on request by those who want the Release. On deployment, the CMS will have to be updated to reflect the Change. Checks and updates of software licenses will also be necessary, where appropriate.




activityQ1. complete the table given in your Workbook by explaining the key change evaluation terms.

terms DefinitionService Change

SDP

Performance

Performance model

Predicted performance

Actual performance

Deviations report

Risk

Countermeasure

Test plan and results

Residual Risk

Service capability

Capacity

Constraint

Resource

Evaluation plan

Evaluation report



sample answer:

terms Definition

Service Change Is defined as a Change to an existing Service or the addition of a new Service. It is in the form of an RFC from Change Management.

SDP Is a plan for Service Changes for a specific period. It also defines the acceptance criteria and proposed performance of a Service.

Performance Is defined as the Utilities and Warranties of a Service.

Performance model Is a representation of the performance of a Service.

Predicted performance Is the predicted performance of a Service after a Service Change.

Actual performance Is the actual performance of the Service after the Service Change.

Deviations report Is the gap between the predicted and actual performance of the Service after the Service Change.

Risk Is a calculation based on the probability and adverse Impact of a Service not performing.

Countermeasure Is the mitigation plan you implement to reduce Risk.

Test plan and resultsIs a plan to test and verify a Service Change. The amount and level of testing depends on the Impact assessment of the Service Change. The results indicate the actual performance after the implementation of the Change.

Residual Risk Is the Risk that remains after deploying countermeasures.

Service capability Is the ability of a Service to perform as required.

Capacity Is the ability of an organization to maintain Service capability under any predefined circumstances.

Constraint Is the limit of an organization’s capacity.

Resource Is the organization’s requirement to maintain Service capability.

Evaluation plan Is the result of the evaluation planning exercise.

Evaluation reportIs the report created by the Evaluation function after evaluating a Service. This report consists of a Risk profile, a deviations report, a recommendation, and a qualification statement.

7.5 Process actiVities, Methods, and techniQues

The Royal’s existing Web site has been quite successful. It was introduced 6 months ago and is stable. The Web site was the entry for the organization into the Internet and has been primarily used to provide information.

An RFC for an extensive addition beginning online booking on the hotel’s Web site has been submitted to Evaluation.

The Service Change is evaluated against the factors from Topic 7.3 with good results, except for the fit-for-use factor.

The only cause for concern is the capacity requirement for the Service Change. Because it is a retail, Web-based Service, the hotel cannot reliably predict its usage before the launch. This is an obvious Risk.



scenario-Based activityQ1. What steps can be taken to manage the Risk? Is there any flexibility with respect to WHEN

mitigation actions can take place?

sample answer:

First, assess the capacity Risk to the present Web service. The objective of doing this is to see if the Risk will be any higher after we implement the Service Change. Only if the Risk level has gone up will mitigation be necessary.

It may well be that the existing Web site was deployed with a large amount of spare capacity. In the first deployment, the same unknown must have been present. Historically, organizations have over-provisioned their Web sites to try to ensure the absence of out-of-capacity situations.

The original Web site has been operational for 6 months, so the organization has some experience in what to expect in terms of capacity. In any case, the Risk of out-of-capacity situations on the existing Web site should be well understood by now.

Risk is the probable Impact. The probability of an out-of-capacity situation is greater because the extensive addition should attract more activity on the Web site. Similarly, the Impact is probably greater because if users cannot access the Web site due to its overload, the hotel could lose customers who have lost faith in the company. Even if they are not using the extensive addition but are using the existing part of the Web site, they could be affected. So, the adverse Impact of the Change could be widespread.

The new Risk level must now be compared to the old level, which will drive the decision to implement mitigation.

Many students will focus on mitigation methods without considering the above analysis. Provisioning more servers or using virtualization techniques will provide mitigation.

If the Risk is high enough, there should be a mitigation plan. However, implementing mitigation too early or too late will affect the organization’s profits, so this issue should be approached carefully.


The Royal is continuing to move forward with its ITIL implementation. The recent implementation of the kiosk service has convinced the senior management that the value of new Services and Service Changes is not always well understood and that, sometimes, the organization takes more Risk than intended. A review of ITIL materials has suggested that Evaluation is the answer. The Royal is trying to determine if this is appropriate. This task has been assigned to you.

Not many people at the hotel understand what Evaluation is all about. You need to conduct some awareness sessions to “sell” Evaluation.

scenario-Based activityConstruct a five-slide presentation that covers the following:

Q1. What change evaluation will do for the organization?

sample answer:

y Determining the performance of a Service Change in the context of existing and proposed Services and IT infrastructure

y Setting stakeholder expectations correctly



y Providing effective and accurate information to Change Management to make sure that Changes that adversely affect Service capability and introduce Risk are not transitioned unchecked

y Allowing a more accurate focus on value in future Service development and Change Management

Q2. how change evaluation complement other components of the itil framework.

sample answer:

y Change Management – by assessing Risk

y Continual Service Improvement (CSI) – by providing data for CSI to analyze

y Service Design – by evaluating a new Service or Service Change before transitioning it and potentially avoiding implementation when the Risks and/or value is not well established

y Knowledge Management – by storing the results of the evaluation in the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS)

Q3. how change evaluation could prevent a major failure in a change.

sample answer:

y The value of the new Service/Service Change is not well established.

y The Risks of the new Service/Service Change are not well understood or mitigated.

y The performance of the new Service/Service Change is lacking.

Q4. What people will have to do differently now that there is change evaluation.

sample answer:

y Evaluation request from Change Management

y Test results from the testing function

y Planning to determine actual performance from the testing function

Q5. Who will see the outputs of change evaluation?

sample answer:

y Stakeholders

y Change Management

y Senior Management

y Business Management (business risks)

Q6. What are the values of change evaluation for the hotel?

sample answer:

The values of Evaluation for the hotel are:

y Effective Evaluation will establish the use made of resources in terms of delivered benefits, and this information will allow a more accurate focus on value in future Service development and Change Management.

y There is a great deal of intelligence that CSI can take from Evaluation to analyze future improvements to the process of Change and the predictions and measurement of Service Change performance.




Six months ago, you were promoted as Service Transition Manager. You have engaged the business and many other stakeholders in your organization and given them awareness sessions. You have also obtained their input for the plans and policies you have been diligently putting together to make Service Transition a success. Perhaps you could have found some quick wins, but you felt that your course of action has been correct.

Your CIO has just dropped a bombshell. He has told you that he does not buy into the need for Service Transition and plans to abandon it and merge the processes back into Service Operation and Service Design. Maybe you should have got some quick wins after all!

He cites four main reasons for doing this:

1. Creating a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is too complex and costly, and the Service Catalogue that is in place can do the job.

2. Evaluation is overkill for the size of the organization. Simply put, there are not enough people.

3. Change Management should be in Service Operation because it pertains almost exclusively to operations anyway.

4. The addition of another department is not in keeping with the current HR/organizational climate of the organization.

You have managed to get 15 minutes of the CIO’s time tomorrow.

Q1. What are you going to say about his four points?

a)

i. What the CIO doesn’t understand is that the catalog is a Business Service Catalogue, which provides little of the functionality of a CMDB. Your plan is to “educate” the CIO to better understand the issues.

ii. The organization has a history of delivering Services that are way off the mark. The appropriate way to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future is to implement Evaluation and all the other processes of Service Transition. You will go to the mat on this one because it’s so important.

iii. Service Operation is only interested in Changes to infrastructure, so it will not handle Changes to anything else, such as application programs, correctly.

iv. Suggest that some people are removed from Service Operations and Service Design to populate this important department.

b)

i. While the Service Catalogue lists the business and technical Services, it does not contain information at the level necessary for Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management to be effective. You propose that a cut-down CMDB be created, which will be based on the principal servers, routers, etc. on which the critical Services run.

ii. Evaluation is a process that can bring a great deal of value to an organization. Evaluation can effectively be folded into Validation and Test, so you can abide by the CIO’s wishes and yet retain the process.

iii. It is true that operations is intimately involved with Changes. Many Changes are to the infrastructure itself. Many other things that are not directly part of the infrastructure need to be under Change Management. So, regarding Change Management as purely the domain of operations is selling it short. Keeping Change in Service Transition means that operations will not be overloaded and that



Service Design does not have to worry about managing build, deploy, and so on.

iv. A small core group of people to administer Service Transition is all you are asking for. The rest of the activities can be accomplished by begging for resources from other departments.

c)

i. While the Service Catalogue lists the business and technical services, it does not contain information at the level necessary for Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management to be effective. To be a more-effective Service Provider, being able to assess the Impact of an Incident, Problem, or Change is vital, and the CMDB will give you that.

ii. Evaluation is a process that can bring a great deal of value to an organization. However, it is not necessary to implement it right away. IT Service Providers have existed without this process for years and functioned very satisfactorily. However, it makes sense to consider it for the future because ITIL has been a guidepost for IT for the last decade or more.

iii. It is true that operations is intimately involved with Changes. Many Changes are to the infrastructure itself. However, many are for things such as applications, SLAs, and so on. All these artifacts need to be tracked and controlled. So, regarding Change Management as purely the domain of operations is selling it short. Everything we do in IT should end up in operations eventually — or why are we doing it? — but we don’t assign all processes, such as Service Level Management, to operations. Grouping the processes that take the IT Service Provider from one state to another means that operations will not be overloaded, that Service Design does not have to worry about managing build, deploy, and so on. In fact, transition is a logical part of the Service Lifecycle.

iv. While you may have been promoted to the position of Service Transition Manager, it in no way mandates the formation of a department. ITIL is based on processes that will span many of the existing departments and functions within the organization.

d)

i. You are willing to admit that the CMDB is a lot of work and the industry has many examples of failed CMDB projects. Your compromise is to concentrate on Asset Management and use the asset register as a CMDB.

ii. For years, IT Service Providers have existed without this process and functioned satisfactorily, so you don’t think you will ever sell the CIO on the idea. It is better to give in on this point.

iii. It is entirely possible to have Change Management in Service Operation, so you are willing to go along with the CIO on this point so long as Change Management reports to you.

iv. You feel the CIO is missing the point. You promise to keep staff to the minimum.

answer:a) 0: distracter.

b) 3: second best. Merging Evaluation with Validation and Testing is incorrect. However, this is nearly as good as the correct answer.

c) 5: Most correct. This is the correct answer because it is the only answer that talks about ITIL being process based rather than department based.

d) 1: third best. There are no relationships in the CMDB.




The Royal Hotel has a fairly small IT department and has implemented monitoring on practically every piece of hardware. The rationale is that this will help address the lack of resources, and if a Problem should occur, there will always be information to help diagnose the issue. A lot of disk storage is used to support the monitoring.

The management wants to take better advantage of this data and has been requesting statistical information. The monitoring technicians supply it via e-mail. It often takes several iterations to get the information they seek.

scenario-Based activity 1Q1. describe the characteristics of this scenario in terms of the diKW model.

sample answer:

There is a lot of “uncaptured” data available at the Royal, but very little effort has been made to transform the data into information; only e-mails are available. These are not a good source to find, query, and reuse information. The fact that managers have to ask several times to get what they need indicates that there is no information strategy in place.

The scenario says nothing about data on applications and certainly nothing on Services — this is a big gap.

Q2. Which levels of the diKW model are present at the royal’s it department?

sample answer: Data, maybe a bit of information.

Q3. Which levels are necessary for the royal to effectively leverage all the investment on monitoring?

sample answer: All levels are necessary. Small though the department is, its senior managers must have information or some description from IT about the investment on monitoring. In addition, while information will make lives easier, what the Royal does with that information is key. The Royal’s ability to analyze and transform that information into knowledge will lead to improvement in future Services and operations. Knowledge makes information easy to use, that is, information still needs to be “processed” by the person looking at it while knowledge can be thought of as the distillation of the information combined with experience, making it easier to use. Ultimately, wisdom allows the management to see the data/information/knowledge in the context of experience, with perhaps a recommendation for action. To take a leaf out of the Royal Case Study, consider what happened with the Arora family. The family came for a much-anticipated vacation. They checked into their room, only to find that they’d landed in an air-conditioner malfunctioning mess. The hotel’s guest services had no clue of the reason. Between them and IT, they took forever — at least in the Arora family’s mind — to provide a solution. They were unhappy with the compensation, only to overhear someone else had been given much better compensation for a similar inconvenience. In the end, the family left, swearing never to come back.

Now, consider if the Royal had an effective DIKW model in place. Data about the seventeenth floor’s air-conditioning system being under repair and maintenance was not captured in a reusable manner, be it in the reservation software system or in any other format. As a result, information that this floor should not be used for guests was not available to the reservations and guest services teams. Had they had this information, they would have “known” how to respond from their experience. They would have “known” that the guests previously booked on this floor needed to be booked to other rooms; if the room booked was a special one, guests would need to be adequately compensated, even if it meant upgrading their rooms. They would have had the ability to transform the information into knowledge and made the final judgment (wisdom) based on all their collective experience. This would have avoided the faux pas and enabled them to retain the loyalty of their guests.



Q4. If you think things could be done better, what would you do first?

sample answer: Start producing information! This would involve monitoring technicians working with managers to understand their requirements. The managers have every right to refuse to look at data-based reports after information is on the radar of the monitoring technicians. Also, the situation with monitoring applications needs to be investigated. The goal is to produce reports on Services, and applications are a large component of the Services. To take the Arora family example again, it is imperative for the Royal to ensure that the hotel’s room reservation system is 100% functional and that it generates reports that are set to be circulated to respective teams and departments that would require the data from the systems to make decisions.

Q5. What would the long-term vision be?

sample answer: To achieve at least a knowledge level. While wisdom is the ultimate level, it is hard to achieve. A more realistic goal is to provide information in the context of the experience of the people — knowledge!

current situationThe Royal has determined that at least 75% of the cost of delivering support comes from resolving customer issues. Because the Service Desk is still fairly immature, it uses point technologies, such as a Service Desk workflow tool, search engines, scripting tools, or simple knowledge bases to help the agents. These systems are generally focused on parts of the resolution process and are not very effective. This has contributed to dissatisfied customers, resulted in an ineffective Service Desk, and has caused integration issues for IT.

scenario-Based activity 2Q1. how can the current situation at the royal be improved?

sample answer:

The situation at the Royal can be improved by implementing a comprehensive SKMS at the hotel. The SKMS will help address the obstacles by combining intelligent search and Knowledge Management with Service Management, business process support, authoring workflows, and comprehensive self-service facilities.

To address the obstacles, the Problem Management and Change Management processes should support the SKMS. This will dramatically improve the experience of end users who come to the new Web site for help. Instead of an empty search box, followed by no results or far too many, the SKMS application will lead the user through a structured set of steps. Based on the specifics of the Incident or Request and the customer, Web screens will guide users to specific answers, follow-up questions, escalation options, opportunities to drill down, or highly relevant search results.

The following improvements can be achieved:

y Increased agent productivity

y Reduced aversion to Web self-service

y Fewer escalations

Over time, the Web workflows can be tuned to deliver increasingly optimized experiences. Good experiences help add value to products and Services, and this will result in greater loyalty, which in turn will increase profits.



8.5 Process actiVities, Methods, and techniQues

Knowledge transfer throughout an organization is highly dependent on the learning styles of individuals within the organization. If you use the wrong learning style, knowledge will often not be received or will not be fully transferred. Think about your own learning style. Think about the learning style of others in your organization.

The most common method to transfer knowledge is classroom training. Many students will complain of “death by PowerPoint” because of the long lectures with little or no interaction. This method is preferred by some students because of their auditory learning style. Others, say those that are more tactile learners, have a very difficult time staying engaged in classroom training.

scenario-Based activityQ1. can you think of learning styles that would enable successful knowledge transfer?

sample answer:

An important part of knowledge transfer is the way in which knowledge is visualized. This refers to the phrase, “a picture is worth a 1000 words.” One simple picture often conveys much more information than can be described through pages of text.

Learning style differs with age, culture, attitude, and personality. These are the reasons why it is important to keep reminding the IT staff in an organization that what works for them might not work for the support staff.

Some of the learning styles in which successful knowledge transfer can occur are:

1. Simulation

2. Supervised experience

3. Classroom

4. Self-study

5. Consideration of age, culture, attitude, and personality

Q2. can you think of ways to visualize knowledge for ensuring more-effective knowledge transfer?

sample answer:

1. Diagrams

2. Images

3. Photographs

4. Storyboards

5. Animation

Q3. other than incident scripts or incident Models, as they are called in itil, can you think of other ways that knowledge can be transferred within the organization that will also create the same benefits of consistency and reduction in rework?



sample answer: Within an IT organization, we can use many means to help with knowledge transfer and knowledge visualization. One of the most common techniques employed today is the use of scripts within Incident Management. The Subject Matter Expert documents a method to solve commonly occurring Incidents and then provides it to the Service Desk as the method that should be followed when that Incident occurs. This is an important tool because it prevents the rediscovery of knowledge over and over again, and creates consistency in how the Incident is handled.

1. Incorporation with tool

2. Service Desk scripts

3. Change Models

4. Incident Models

Q4. can you identify other ways that can be used to help communicate new knowledge?

sample answer: Communication is vital to the success of knowledge transfer. We often use many different vehicles to help communicate new information, hoping that the more methods and channels we use to communicate, the better. One common channel employed today is the use of Webinars. Through a short Web-based presentation, we can communicate new knowledge to a broad audience without requiring them all to come to one location.

1. Seminars

2. Webinars

3. Journals and newsletters

activityQ1. assign each of the following points to the appropriate table.

y Adopt data classification schemes that are in use across the organization and, if necessary, negotiate Changes to enable the schemes to deliver within the Service Management area. Where such organization-wide (or supply chain or industry sector) schemes do not exist, design data-classification schemes derived for use within Service Management with the intention of their being applicable across the organization to facilitate support for future, organization-wide Knowledge Management.

y Identify the Service Lifecycle data and information to be collected.

y Define the procedure required to maintain the data and information and make it available to those requiring it.

y Store and retrieve.

y Measure the use made of Data and Information Management – data transactions.

y Establish authority and responsibility for all required items of information.

y Define and publicize rights, obligations, and commitments regarding the retention of, transmission of, and access to information and data items based on applicable requirements and protecting their security, integrity, and consistency.

y Establish adequate backup and recovery of data and information. This should address reinstating the ability to make constructive use of information, not just the establishment of a database.

y Create and regularly update a Service Management information model that enables the creation, use, and sharing of information that is flexible, timely, and cost-effective.



y Evaluate the usefulness of the data and information, identified by relevance of reports produced.

y Identify the requirements to review, in light of changing technology, organizational requirements, evolving policy and legislation, and, if necessary, adapt to Changes in information system infrastructure with reference to evolving hardware and software technology security, Service continuity, storage, and capacity.

y Deal with collection and retention requirements.

y Implement mechanisms to capture, store, and retrieve the identified data from the relevant sources.

y Identify any data or information or registered users who no longer seem relevant to the organization’s knowledge requirements.

y Manage the storage and movement of data and information, especially in line with appropriate legislation.

y Define systems that optimize the use of the information while maintaining data and information integrity.

y Archive designated information, in accordance with the Data and Information Management plan, including safely disposing of unwanted, invalid, or unverifiable information according to the organization policy.

sample answer:

Define the Information ArchitectureCreate and regularly update a Service Management information model that enables the creation, use, and sharing of information that is flexible, timely, and cost-effective.

Define systems that optimize the use of the information while maintaining data and information integrity.

Adopt data classification schemes that are in use across the organization and, if necessary, negotiate Changes to enable the schemes to deliver within the Service Management area. Where such organization-wide (or supply chain or industry sector) schemes do not exist, design data-classification schemes derived for use within Service Management. The intention should be their being applicable across the organization to facilitate support for future, organization-wide Knowledge Management.

establish data and information Management ProceduresIdentify the Service Lifecycle data and information to be collected.

Define the procedure required to maintain the data and information and make it available to those requiring it.

Store and retrieve data and information.

Establish authority and responsibility for all required items of information.

Define and publicize rights, obligations, and commitments regarding the retention of, transmission of, and access to information and data items based on applicable requirements and protecting their security, integrity, and consistency.

Establish adequate backup and recovery of data and information. This should address reinstating the ability to make constructive use of information, not just the establishment of a database.

Identify the requirements to review, in light of changing technology, organizational requirements, evolving policy and legislation, (and if necessary, adapt to) Changes in information system infrastructure with reference to evolving hardware and software technology security, Service continuity, storage, and capacity.

Deal with collection and retention requirements.

Implement mechanisms to capture, store, and retrieve the identified data from the relevant sources.

Manage the data and information storage and movement, especially in line with appropriate legislation.

Archive designated information in accordance with the Data and Information Management plan, including safely disposing of unwanted, invalid, or unverifiable information according to the organization policy.



evaluate and improveMeasure the use made of Data and Information Management data transactions.

Evaluate the usefulness of data and information, identified by relevance of reports produced.

Identify any data or information or registered users who no longer seem relevant to the organization’s knowledge requirements.


The Royal is considering the outsourcing of the management of its mainframe. The attached chart was used at a large financial institution as a senior management report. It has been presented to the Royal as an example of some of the enhanced value-added reporting that could be provided.

The chart represents a server for a large mainframe computer busy over a period of time. The mainframe was subdivided into partitions (called LPARS), and the consumption of each is shown with a different color. The total server busy for any period constitutes the sum of all the partitions.

Two factors that are important for mainframe management are that they are often leased (true for this case) and suddenly needed upgrades are expensive and not quick or easy to make.

scenario-Based activityQ1. from the diKW model, what is being represented here?

sample answer: Essentially, they are data points presented visually, that is, contiguous bar charts of server busy.

Q2. What does the line at 80% accomplish?

sample answer: It is a (rather feeble) attempt at converting the chart into information. But, what does crossing 80% mean? Should we immediately upgrade? If we cross the threshold four times a day, should we upgrade? If we cross the threshold 5 days in a row, should we upgrade? If we are consistently above 80% for a week, should we upgrade? There



is no answer we can give other than “it depends.” However, all these questions, if answered, would help convert the report/chart to knowledge!

Another key point is whether any Services were impacted by crossing the 80% line, which would be information for the management.

Q3. Who might find this chart useful? Why?

sample answer: It is useful for performance/capacity analysts. In this role, an analyst typically looks at such charts to get a “feel” of utilization, performance, and so on. From this “feel,” they are in a position to provide the insight to take the information to the next level and present the knowledge to the management.

Q4. how would a manager (including the senior management) use the chart?

sample answer: They really cannot use this chart. If senior managers use this chart, they are assuming the role of performance/capacity analyst (there is an expression, “don’t have a dog and bark yourself ”). The chart needs to be interpreted, and they should not be doing it themselves – that is the job of the performance analyst.

Q5. What other charts, reports, and so on might the management (including the senior management) need?

sample answer: The point here is that the chart needs to be interpreted, put in context, and so on. Let us assume that 80% is a legitimate threshold beyond which a mainframe upgrade may be required in the relatively near future (this is a genuine rule of thumb used for mainframes). The management needs to know that the threshold is being crossed, but with an assessment of the probability of the need for an unplanned upgrade (in other words, answers to the questions in the “what does the line at 80% accomplish” paragraph above). This should include the Impact on Services that the crossing of the threshold caused.

In fact, what the management should be given to constitute information is an exception report with the above information.

To raise this to the level of knowledge could be to link the exception report to the upgrade/lease plan.

To raise it further to wisdom might be to link the knowledge to past experience — the situation of crossing the threshold — along with an assessment of vendor pricing patterns (can we wait until at least the end of the quarter or, better yet, the end of the vendor’s financial year, both of which will result in better pricing for the customer?).




Knowledge Management has been implemented at AtoZ Corporation for 6 months. AtoZ is a leading engineering company with a great deal of the technical information needed for a variety of jobs that were residing in different groups. A lot of effort went into determining how knowledge could be captured, and the concept of Knowledge Engineers was introduced. The people given this role had a roaming brief to find pockets of knowledge within the corporation, which they would then “extract” and codify into the SKMS. The extraction process involved interviews that would cut into the working day of people, often putting them behind in their engineering projects. This caused some resentment toward the project.

The Knowledge Management Manager found that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not easy to implement for Knowledge Management. For the first 4 months, the principal KPI – number of SKMS accesses – was trending up very satisfactorily. This was attributed to information being put into the SKMS and information being found by users seeking answers. In the fifth month, the KPI dipped markedly, but this was attributed to two things:

y Most Knowledge Engineers were reassigned to other jobs.

y Users who had benefitted from the information in the SKMS in the previous 4 months did not need to access the information because they had retained it from their previous access.

An area of focus was the use of the SKMS by IT itself. IT embraced the concept of the SKMS and populated it with a large number of Workarounds, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and so on. A survey of the Service Desk found that its use of the SKMS was increasing and that it was delighted with Knowledge Management.

It is consequently, a shock to hear from the CIO that he was publicly humiliated at this morning’s executive meeting by the VP of Engineering’s assessment that Knowledge Management had been a complete waste of his people’s time and that the engineering projects’ slippage was IT’s fault.

Q1. What do you think was the problem, and what should be the course of action?

a) There is no fundamental problem with the implementation of Knowledge Management. The SKMS was obviously very useful to people, as indicated by the number of accesses. It is typical for engineering to find someone else to blame when it starts to fall behind on their projects, so it is not really a surprise that they now blame IT. The CIO needs to push back more and reference the fact that the Service Desk finds the SKMS incredibly useful.

b) To make what is wrong with Knowledge Management clearer, a user survey should be conducted. This will determine the issues users have with the SKMS, perhaps revealing a lack of DIKW modeling and consequently, diminishing the effectiveness of the SKMS. The survey will also reveal any training issues that users have, enabling new training courses, WebEx’s, FAQs, and so on to be developed.

c) It is pretty clear that the process must somehow be faulty. The DIKW model may not have been implemented correctly by the Knowledge Engineers. As a result, users are not finding value in using the SKMS, which is why usage is dropping. Initiating a redesign of the process will ensure that DIKW is performed properly. Then everyone, including engineering, will see the benefits of Knowledge Management.

d) You should engage with the management to ensure that the objectives of Knowledge Management are understood and agreed. The scope of the original project may have been too broad, and expectations could have been accidentally set by the Knowledge Engineers during their interviews (trying to do too much too soon). Identify stakeholders, determine their requirements, and ensure that they understand and buy in to exactly what it is you can deliver with the SKMS. Try to reuse the information that exists in the SKMS to reduce any interaction with the engineering department.



answer:a) 0: distracter.

b) 3: second best. The survey does not get their requirements; it assumes that DIKW is the issue.

c) 1: third best. This is internally focused and assumes that the process is faulty.

d) 5: Most correct. This is the correct answer because it deals with stakeholder involvement.

9.2 eValuation criteria for serVice ManageMent tools

The Royal has decided to update the tool that is being used for all Service Management processes. It has some established ITIL-based processes and a number of internal ones that have not yet been redesigned. It would like to select an “out-of-the-box” product that will map best to its processes. Assess the following three contenders:

Product 1

This product is from a new vendor that has been getting great reviews. The vendor’s model is Software as a Service (SaaS) or Application Service Provider (ASP), which eliminates some cost-of-ownership issues. However, you have not been able to find reference sites to explore yet (although the salespeople assure you they exist, you suspect they are being asked to take a lot of reference calls). Because the infrastructure is outside your control, you have no idea of the capacity of the Service. On the other hand, your use will be modest at first.

Product 2

This product has been on the market for a couple of years and has a solid following. Customers talk glowingly about the product. Because the vendors installation base is not huge, proof of their ability to integrate with other vendors is incomplete, although what they can show works very well. Like product 1, conformance with standards has been built into the product, and the tailoring capabilities look awesome.

Product 3

This product is the incumbent. The product has had some problems at the hotel and so has to overcome some prejudices to be selected. Some of the dissatisfaction stems from previous versions of the product, particularly difficulty in upgrading. The last upgrade was made to look like the previous level so that user training could be avoided. Overall, customization is difficult.



scenario-Based activityQ1. categorize the requirements for tools in the given scenario, and list the requirements in the

given table.

categorization of requirements for tools

sample answer:categorization of requirements for tools

Vendor reputation

Support for all Service Management processes

Capacity

Conversion (for all products)

Tailoring (configuration and customization)

Conversion

Q2. analyze the given scenario, and determine the critical factors for product selection.

sample answer: The critical factors for product selection:

y Usability

y Support for monitoring Service levels

y Distributed clients

y Flexibility

y Data backup, control, and security

y Support

y Scalability

y Training

Q3. What other factors might be included in the evaluation?

sample answer: Other factors about the underlying technology are as follows. The product should support:

y Self-help

y Workflow/process engine

y Integrated CMS



y Discovery/deployment/licensing technology

y Remote control

y Diagnostic utilities

y Reporting

y Dashboards

y Integration with BSM


activityQ1. in this unit, you learned about the importance of technology and how it supports the

processes within rcV and the implementation of change. Based on the information you have learned in this unit, create a poster that summarizes the value of technologies within rcV. this has to be a one-page visual aide that can be used to demonstrate the value of technology in itsM and rcV. after 20 minutes, the instructor will ask you to present your poster to the class.

sample answer: There is no right or wrong answer for this exercise. Just make sure that the relevant points are covered throughout the review.


MegaCorp is a multinational conglomerate that started out in transportation but has expanded into many other areas, such as retail, distribution, and property. Most of the growth has come by buying other companies.

For many years, the purchased companies were left mostly to themselves and only had to report their results through board meetings. However, MegaCorp’s business is underpinned by transportation, and with the huge increase in oil prices, MegaCorp is under extreme financial pressure. The CEO realizes that huge savings can be made by consolidating the operations of the large number of individual, subsidiary companies and has ordered that a plan be put into effect to make this happen.

Each subsidiary had its own IT, and this area was mandated for consolidation. However, it was realized that this is not an overnight project, so major Services, such as financials, were to be centralized, but Services that fit individual companies were to continue to run in distributed mode.

It was also realized that it made sense to standardize on a Service Management practice and not unsurprisingly, ITIL was chosen as the framework to follow. To enhance Service Management, the CIO mandated the use of tools wherever possible to make IT more efficient and effective.

You are the Change Manager for MegaCorp. The challenge is not in the centralized part of IT because you have a lot of control there but in the subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies have a wide variation of maturity in Change Management. Your biggest fear is that some staff have been in an environment where they put Changes in on the fly, rarely if ever completing the correct paperwork.

You are a big believer in tools, and some tool vendors have told you about some techniques that seem to offer a great deal of control and convenience. By using tools, you want to be able to control unauthorized Changes.

Q1. Which of the following is the most appropriate course of action?

a) While procedural approaches can work, tools can help as well. Tools are useful to conduct configuration



monitoring by discovery, so the timely detection of unauthorized Changes via tools should be the goal. After you know where the unauthorized Changes are coming from, you can take steps through a variety of techniques, including Change Models, standard Changes, and management mandates to reduce unauthorized Changes.

b) A faction in your company believes there is a simpler, nontool answer to your dilemma. If you lock down the production environment and deny access to all apart from a few authorized persons, you can achieve your goal. To ensure that people do not revert to earlier behavior, you request that the organization adopt a zero tolerance position, meaning employees will be fired if they are caught implementing a Change without proper authority, that is, through an approved RFC.

c) A tool vendor has a very innovative tool that will discover what is in the environment and update the CMDB. The argument is that this will reduce the staff workload because an RFC will not need to be created since the software will do the task instead of the staff (when the update is discovered). This will mean there is no need to have to change the behavior of the less-mature subsidiary companies, which is a good thing because you do not have time to spend on trying to educate the uninformed.

d) To reduce the number of unauthorized Changes, you believe that if you make it easier for people to submit an RFC and get it approved, they will not feel the need to make unauthorized Changes. Your solution is to institute a program to define many more Change Models, and make as many of those as possible standard Changes. The advantage of this approach is that because standard Changes are preapproved, it will not delay the person trying to make the Change.

answer

a) 5: Most correct. This is the correct answer because it touches on the use of ITIL techniques to solve underlying issues.

b) 1: third best. This is an unworkable answer for the real world because there is no tool involvement.

c) 0: distracter. This is a distracter and is anti-ITIL because it suggests that no RFC is needed for a Change.

d) 3: second best. This is a good but partial answer because there is no tool involvement


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Release Notes Release Type Market ReleaseCourse Name ITIL Release, Control, and Validation Capability ClassroomCurrent Version No. r3.3.0 Current Release Date March 25,2014

Previous Release Version No. r3.2.0 Previous Release Date December 12, 2012

Next Release Version No. TBD Next Release Date TBD

Course Description Course Duration: 5 days# of Modules: 9Case Study Based: YesAssociated Certification Name: ITIL Release, Control, and Validation Capability

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