Process Consultant

6 ‘I’s Of Strategic Decision Making

2011-12-17T14:23:00.000+05:30

Strategic Decision Making is a continuous process. There are various models for strategy generation (My Strategy Generation Model). But still a question that bothers us is - "How do we formulate and decide a strategy?"

I propose the following model for Strategic Decision Making. I prefer to refer to as "6I's of Strategic Decision Making"

My 6 I's are:

Identification of problem: During this stage the problem for which the strategic decision has to be made is identified. he output of this stage would be the problem statement.
Information processing: This is the stage where data gathering is done and information is processed. Referring to my model of strategy generation, this is the Strategic Assessment stage/phase. We analyze all external and internal factors, conduct appreciative enquiry and arrive at various objectives.
Identification of options: The identified objectives will act as an input for identifying various options. From IT strategy perspective this would be the second phase of my strategy generation model, SITP Planning Process (rather even the 4th and 5th Is are related to it).
Otherwise for identifying any strategic option, the objectives will be analyzed to identify the various ways or options by which it can be accomplished. The focus should be on identifying as many options that may be possible.
Isolating a choice: After identifying various available options, the best one needs to be identified. There are various qualitative and quantitative techniques that may be used to isolate the choice. These methods would be discussed in my next post.This would also give measurable targets for the strategy or objectives.
Implementation: After the choice has been identified/isolated, the implementation plan has to be formulated. Mintzberg's Plan and Pattern will act as an catalyst for formulating the Implementation plan. Thereafter, steps for implementation of the plan is performed, which would include allocation of required resources. Thus, resources and capabilities of the organization will enable in eventual implementation.
Improvement via feedback: This is the feedback mechanism. Whether the implementation is inline with identified measurable targets or not is determined with regular feedback, gaps and corrective actions identified and implemented. Eventually when the required target is achieved, it would mean that the strategic decision has been able to successfully resolve the IT/business strategic problem.

It should be noted that strategic decision making is a cyclic process. Also, it may be possible that a strategic decision making for a new problem has to be initiated when one for the other is already at any stage of 6I. In such a situation we can find parallel implementation of 6I.

My 6Is of decision making can easily be related to the PDCA or Deming Cycle. Also, it should be observed that the problem statement referred to in this post is more of the business or IT issue or need that is in hand for which a strategic decision has to be made.

IT Strategy Generation: Preparing For Execution

2011-12-11T15:04:00.000+05:30

My model for strategy generation is in extension to the OGC's model. My model consists of following phases/stages:

Strategic Assessment:
We analyze the internal and external factors. We are conducting a SWOT analysis to identify our Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. But at the same time the model focuses on SOAR. Thus, Weaknesses and Threats through analyzed and acting as an input to the assertive enquiry, yet there is not a major focus on the findings. These finding are more from the perspective of 'keeping an eye on'. This ensure that the benefits of SOAR is being realized along with not missing the concern areas during assessment and strategy formulation.

Based on the assertive enquiry, analysis of external & internal factors and the business strategy itself, the objectives are established.

Measurement and success criteria for measuring the successful implementation of these objectives are determined for each objective identified.

Strategic IT Planning Process:
This is the stage during which Strategic IT Plan (SITP) is prepared. This is based on the Mintzberg's 5 Ps of Strategy. OGCs model refers to only 4 Ps, but I have included the 5th P (Ploy) as well, since IT can act as a major enabler or creator of a Ploy.

Eventualy the SITP is prepared, which has all the required details about the IT Strategy. This acts as an input to Service Portfolio process of ITIL V3 as well.

Model For Intergrating IT With Business

2011-12-06T11:10:00.006+05:30

We have come across with the shift in focus from Business - IT Alignment to Business-IT integration in ITIL V3. Service Strategy phase of the lifecycle, specifically Strategy Generation (or Strategy Management) process, talks about this integration.

But a query in a practitioner's mind is always there - How to achieve this integration? I am presenting below a model, Business - IT Integration Model, which can help us with achieving this integration.

My model is in extension to the Business-IT alignment Framework (Proposed by: Henderson & Venkatraman).

My model takes into account the fact that traditionally:

Business Strategy drives Business Infrastructure
Business Strategy drives IT Strategy
IT Strategy drives IT infrastructure

This dependency of IT strategy on business strategy is resulting in the short term IT strategy and goals. In other words this is making it impossible to have a long term IT strategy.

Predominantly in many organization IT is still being treated as a cost center . 'Actual' value proposition of IT to business remains unexplored. This is so since IT is entangled with short term or immediate requests of business on a daily basis and is struck with playing a support role.

Value proposition of IT can only be realized when IT partners the business. This is where my model highlights that:

Business Strategy and Business Infrastructure drives each other: Strategy could be deliberate or emergent. In case of deliberate strategy, business infrastructure will provide the current state assessment and the defined business strategy will drive the business infrastructure that will be required to support it. On the other hand, although emergent business strategy may drive the business infrastructure but more often it would be the existing business infrastructure that would drive the business strategy.
Business Strategy and IT Strategy drives each other: We know that traditionally IT strategy is based on the business strategy. These IT strategies are short term. But having a long term IT strategy will enable effective business strategy. Whenever any strategy is defined various options are available and these options are to be evaluated. A well defined IT strategy can have a major influence during this process. This is where the business strategy would be driven by IT strategy.
IT Strategy and IT infrastructure drives each other: In the same way as business strategy and business infrastructure drive each other, IT strategy and IT infrastructure also drives each other.
Business infrastructure and IT infrastructure drives each other: Traditionally IT infrastructure is based on the requirements to support IT strategy and business infrastructure. This is where business infrastructure drives IT infrastructure. But when IT infrastructure is futuristic ,based on the long term vision of IT (or IT strategy), it would have the features to support the business which business itself may not have thought of. Thus, it would start driving the business infrastructure.
Evolution of Business/IT strategy and infrastructure is a continual process: The overall evolution of strategy and the infrastructure is a continual process and the continual improvement can be triggered internally by any of the four quadrants or externally (eg. competition, law, marketspace, etc.)

Service Level Manager & Incident Management

2011-11-09T15:06:00.003+05:30

I have quiet frequently come across queries where I have been asked "what would be the involvement of a Service Level Manager in Incident Management?"

Predominantly following two views were put forth to me:
1) Service Level Manager is accountable and Incident Manager is responsible for incident resolution.
2) Service Level Manager is accountable as well as responsible for incident resolution.

I have a different view on this.

Incident Management process is owned by incident manager. So ensuring timely resolution of incidents is the accountability of incident manager and responsibility of its resolution lies with various support teams.

Service Level Manager is accountable for reporting the SLA and ensuring that the SLAs are met. Responsibility of its adherence would lie with the concerned process managers.

Thus, in case of an incident following would hold true:
1) Service Level Manager is 'Accountable' for SLA adherence
2) Incident Manager is 'Responsible' for SLA adherence
3) Incident Manager is 'Accountable' for incident resolution
4) Functional/technical teams are 'Responsible' for incident resolution

The escalation matrix ensures that after a certain time, if unresolved, incident is escalated to service level manager as well. This does not mean that accountability of incident resolution shifts to service level managers. Their involvement is triggered because accountability of SLA being breached lies with them. Co-ordination of various teams and ensuring that incident is resolved is managed by incident manager. In such a situation Service Level Managers involvement is predominantly "Consultive".

However, since in most of the organizations, individual in a Service Level Manager role is senior to the individual in Incident Manager role in hierarchy, their involvement in incident resolution changes from 'consulting' to 'managing'. This does not mean that Service Level Manager becomes accountable for incident resolution. Actually, in such a situation that individual is wearing the hat of 'Incident Manager'.

Letter from the author

2011-09-28T11:14:00.005+05:30

Dear Readers,

My first title "Tackling Roadblocks During IT Implementation" is now available.

To unravel the mystries behind successful or failed IT implementation projects, buy my book today (Click Here)

I had been busy speaking at various forums to promote my book and hence there has not been any post from my side for quiet some time. I had a very interesting session at Project Management Institute, where I had delivered a session on "Managing ITIL/Process Consulting Engagements". I felt it would be something of relevance even in this forum. Thus, I am planning to come out with a series on what I had covered at PMI.

There has been some other interesting sessions at Computer Society of India, UKA University and Symbiosis.
Will be soon back with the next series for all of you.

Regards,

Sumit

Tackling Roadblocks During IT Implementation

2011-06-28T22:43:00.004+05:30

Please promote the facebook page - Alethia Publishing. Kindly click "like".

Many IT implementation projects that organizations undertake get delayed. Some fail to meet the required objectives. No effort is made to identify the reasons behind the success or failure or delay of such engagements. This book unravels the rationale behind successful implementation as well as decodes the principle reasons for failure of IT projects. It covers detailed identification of key roadblocks faced during IT implementation projects. Consulting experience across a broad spectrum of industries is used to describe each of the roadblocks. The book has been written in four parts.

First part provides an introduction to the case on which the second part is based, along with the basic explanation of roadblocks and concerned parties.

In the second part, the book focuses on the case of a management institute along with relevant sample cases from various industries covering consulting, software and related IT/process implementation projects. These cases have been used to cite various roadblocks and the way they were addressed.

Third part has two case studies – one of a premier management institute for whom the ERP implementation was done and other of a Government organization for which a Personal Information System was implemented.

The fourth part provides an Ideal Implementation Model, which can be used as a base to implement any IT or consulting engagement across any industry. This part addresses key aspects like:

Qualities of a good consultant
How to constitute a consultant or development team
Way a consultant can gain faith of the sponsor
Issues related to implementation
Sponsors should do to ensure a successful IT implementation and,
He organizational change to ensure the same

This book is an attempt to unravel the rationale behind successful implementation as well as decode the principle reasons for failure of IT projects.

Characteristics & Attributes of a Process

2011-06-20T17:01:00.000+05:30

Process Characteristics
Manageable
Measurable
Effective
Efficient
Triggered by a specific event

Process Attributes
Process will have following attributes:

Goal (achieve a desired outcome)
Activities
People and/or machines
Interaction between groups, people and/or machines

Process

2011-06-15T16:53:00.002+05:30

Process
A process can be defined as a connected series of actions, activities, changes, etc. performed by agents with the intent of satisfying a purpose or achieving a goal.

A common misconception that people have about processes is that the processes are dependent on the tools. People from different quarters have put forth their concern related to the ‘dependency that process has on tools’ to me a number of times. Couple of them even argued to put forth their point. And this misconception existed even in the most experienced of the lots. On all these occasions it took quiet an effort from my side to make them understand that the processes are not dependent on the tools.

To put this misconception to rest I would repeat that Process is not dependent on tool. But on the contrary the tools are dependent on the processes. Tools acts as process enablers and they follow a certain defined process. A process can exist even without having a tool in place but a tool, whatever functionality it provides, will always be following a process.

Elements of a process:

Process Agent: In order to deliver desired outputs reliably, process agents may include roles & responsibilities, tools, activities, procedures and work instruction.
Process Enabler: Resources & capabilities required to perform the process.
Process Control: Planning and regulating a process with the objective of performing the process in an effective and efficient way.

"What Is" And "What Is Not" A Process

2011-06-03T11:10:00.003+05:30

Organizations do ‘things’ to achieve its objectives.

Example:

Managing and handling IT support
Handling procurement
Designing new products and services
Handling recruitment
Others

‘Things’ are:

Formed by logical and consistent set of organizational activities
Focused on achieving a desired outcome
Significantly large

Outcomes of the above example could be:

Managing and ensuing that the issues/complaints are resolved within the defined time-lines (SLA) efficiently and cost effectively
Getting the financial & technical details for an item required, identifying & finalizing the vendors, approval for procuring it, and finally procuring it from the selected vendor
Identifying the new products and services for the market space, its key feature & customer requirements and designing the same
Respond to the resource needs of the organization by identifying the candidates with right skill set, experience, capability and attitude

These ‘Things’ are processes.

Process is not

Marketing and sales team
Finance department
HR department
Procurement department
Others

These are the organizational functions that contribute towards performing a process or an activity within a process.

Calculating SLA: Incident Management

2011-05-17T18:49:00.007+05:30

Calculating the SLA adherence percentage for incidents seems to be a very simple task. But organizations struggle when they have to report on the same. One has to consider the open tickets, closed/resolved tickets and tickets that have breached the SLA.

Organizations have adopted different ways to calculate the SLA.

APPROACH I:

In Some organizations SLA is calculated based on the tickets they have resolved for the period. For example they have 10 tickets they have resolved of which 1 has breached the SLA, for them the SLA adherence would be 90%, i.e. they use the formula:
What they miss out here is that as a customer one would expect the breach to be reported in the report when the breach has actually happened and not when the breached ticket has been resolved. In this case SLA reporting gives all green whereas the reality is something different. This would also mean that in case one does not resolve the ticket that has breached the SLA, the SLA report will never reflect the same.

APPROACH II:
Another approach that organization takes is that they calculate SLA adherence based on the tickets resolved within the SLA and number of tickets created for that period. They use the formula:
In this approach although the SLA breaches are factored, yet the real picture is not presented as there would be tickets within the SLA that have not been resolved.

APPROACH III:
In yet another approach organization's calculate SLA adherence based on the tickets resolved within the SLA and number of tickets resolved for that period. They use the formula
In this approach although the SLA breaches are factored, yet again the real picture is not presented as there would be tickets that has breached the SLA and has yet not been resolved. Such tickets are not factored in the denominator.

Approach II and III will show a negative picture of the delivery as in both cases denominator tends to have a higher value.

There are other approaches similar to the ones discussed above used by organizations.

RECOMMENDED APPROACH:
When calculating SLA adherence, one has to factor the number of open tickets for a period, number of tickets that has breached the SLA and number of tickets carried forward from the previous reporting cycle. Considering these factors, I recommend the following formula:

In case one as to calculate SLA adherence for a particular period, start and end dates for the required period can be used instead of that for the week.

Strategic Management & ITIL

2011-05-05T15:32:00.003+05:30

Previous posts have helped us in understanding Strategic Management.

We know that Strategic Management helps in shaping or defining the organizational strategy. Today business is dependent on IT. So the actual translation of organizational strategy into business benefits for any organization will happen only when its IT is able to support the same. This is where Service Strategy phase of ITIL V3 becomes important. Thus, there is a very strong link between Strategic Management and ITIL.

Strategic Thinking

2011-05-01T15:30:00.000+05:30

Strategic thinking means asking, "Are we doing the right thing?" It requires three things:

Purpose or end--a strategic thinker is trying to do something.
Understanding the environment, particularly of the opponent, or opposing forces, affecting and/or blocking achievement of these ends.
Creativity in developing effective responses to the opponent or opposing forces.

Successful Strategic Planning - Benefits

2011-04-29T15:28:00.000+05:30

Some of the benefits of a successful strategic planning are:

Leads to action
Builds a shared vision that is values-based
Is an inclusive, participatory process in which board and staff take on a shared ownership
Accepts accountability to the community
Is externally focused and sensitive to the organization's environment
Is based on quality data
Requires an openness to questioning the status quo
Is a key part of effective management

Review of Strategy

2011-04-25T15:26:00.000+05:30

You must keep the strategy under constant review, as part of the continuous task of monitoring organisational performance. You should consider:

Is our 'vision' for the organisation still valid? Does our view of the desired future for the organisation match the pressures on us, the way our business is developing, and the changes that have taken place – and are likely to take place – in our business environment?
Are the themes of our strategy still appropriate? Do we need to consider additional themes which should be added to the agenda for change, because of changed business circumstances, new technologies, pressures from the environment or changes in corporate capabilities? Are any of our strategic themes no longer relevant to the organisational agenda for change?
What progress are we making in our strategic themes, and do we need to re-prioritize or replan to ensure that the rate of change meets our business requirements?

You must keep all these levels of strategy and planning under constant review:

The strategic 'vision'.
The route chosen towards the vision (the 'themes' of the strategy).
The detailed plans for implementation.

Strategic Decisions

2011-04-17T15:21:00.002+05:30

What constitutes a 'strategic' decision?

A decision is likely to be strategic rather than tactical or operational if:

• The decision has major financial or other resource implications – for example, on staffing or equipment.

• The decision will involve a significant amount of change in the organisation.

• The decision will affect the whole organisation or a large part of it.

• The decision constrains or commits the organisation in significant respects for a long period of time.

• The decision will have a major impact outside the organisation – for example, on customers or other bodies.

• The decision entails significant risks to the business.

• The decision will involve major changes in the business of the organisation, such as the products or services it offers.

• The decision is related to other important decision areas, and raises issues of complexity and 'cross-cutting' interactions.

• It will be difficult or impossible to reverse the consequences of the decision.

If the organisation has to take a strategic decision unexpectedly, the decision will be taken and the strategy updated in parallel. A strategy is a guide to action, not a straitjacket; you should remain open to the need for changes in strategy when the business requires them.

Principles of Strategic Management

2011-04-10T15:24:00.000+05:30

The strategic issues facing the organisation and its response to them will call on the organisation's skills in strategic management – its ability to recognise and deal successfully with strategic issues. In the public sector, these will include:

Addressing the needs of the citizen, not the convenience of the organisation
Greater efficiency and value for money
Improved and innovative service delivery to the public
Joined-up policy making
Increased communication with customers and partners
Greater local-central government coordination
Improved performance and the implementation of Public Service Agreements
Realisation of the government's e-government strategy (an enabling framework of key principles such as interoperability and supporting technical standards)

Although the strategy process may incorporate timetabled events which fit in to the wider management processes – such as the cycles of financial planning in the public sector – strategic management is a continuous process. Managers at all levels in the organisation may need to make decisions on business issues at any time, and some of these decisions could be regarded as 'strategic' – even though they may not appear so at the time. Any business-focused strategy must be flexible enough to accommodate the demands of continuous change.

Stakeholders in Strategic Management

2011-04-02T15:14:00.000+05:30

Key Stakeholders are:

Senior executives and business managers - they need to seek out opportunities for new ways of working that will help the organisation to realize the agenda for change in the public sector; they also need to be aware of the implications of realignment if the strategic direction is changed.
Senior management responsible for reviewing and redefining the requirements for delivery of core services, and for acquiring the means to deliver them.
Staff responsible for developing and reviewing the business strategy in their organisations; they need to appreciate the wider business context partners and other stakeholders affected by the strategy.

Effective Strategic Management

2011-03-30T15:12:00.003+05:30

Characteristics of effective strategic management include:

A clear business strategy and vision for the future.
A strategic direction endorsed by senior managers, taking account of partners and other stakeholders.
A mechanism for accountability (to the citizen in meeting their expectations, as well as to the centre in meeting policy targets).
A framework for governance at several levels (government-wide down to internal reporting arrangements) that ensures you can coordinate everything (multiple goals) even when there are competing priorities and different goals.
The ability to exploit opportunities and respond to external change (turbulence) by taking ongoing strategic decisions.
A coherent framework for managing risk – whether it is balancing the risks and rewards of a business direction, coping with the uncertainties of project risk or ensuring business continuity.

Importance Of Strategic Management

2011-03-27T15:11:00.000+05:30

Organisation need to be able to respond effectively to challenges – both problems and opportunities – as they arise. For example, the citizen has increasing expectations of service standards and availability. In response, organisations are working towards an outward-focused view of the way services should be provided - a fundamental shift from the traditional focus on internal concerns. At the same time, major opportunities for improvement may arise from developments such as new information and communications technologies, and the availability of additional financial resources such as the Invest to Save Budget. In many cases the response to the problem or opportunity will:

Require the continuous attention of senior management.
Affect most or the entire organisation.
Have long term implications.
Require substantial resources.
Be interconnected with other issues and developments.

Strategic Management Process

2011-03-23T15:09:00.000+05:30

PART - III

Organizational analysis can also be thought of as fourfold. How is the firm organized? What is the structure of the organization, who reports to whom, how are the tasks defined, divided and integrated? How do the management systems work, the processes that determine how the organization gets things done from day to day – for example, information systems, capital budgeting systems, performance measurement systems, quality systems? What do organizational members believe in, what are they trying to achieve, what motivates them, what do they value? What is the culture of the organization? What are the basic beliefs of organizational members? Do they have a shared set of beliefs about how to proceed, about where they are going, about how they should behave?

We know, thanks to Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence, that the basic values, assumptions and ideologies (systems of belief) which guide and fashion behavior in organizations have a crucial role to play in business success (or failure). What resources does the organization have at its disposal – for example, capital, technology, and people?

Management’s role is to try to ‘fit’ the analysis of externalities and internalities, to balance the organization’s strengths and weaknesses in the light of environmental opportunities and threats. A concept that bridges internal and external analyses is that of stakeholders, the key groups whose legitimate interests have to be borne in mind when taking strategic decisions. These can be internal groups, such as managers themselves and employees, or the owners of the firm, shareholders. They can also be external groups: the stock market if it is a quoted company, banks, consumers, the government.

Senior management’s task is to try and align the various interest groups in arriving at its chosen strategy in the light of the creation of an appropriate strategic vision for the organization. Increasingly important here is the issue of corporate responsibility, how the organization defines and acts upon its sense of responsibility to its stakeholders. The broad responsibility to society at large is important here in, for example, such areas as ‘green’ (ecological) issues. Sometimes the various interest groups may be at odds with each other and management will have to perform a delicate political balancing act between them.

Having chosen a strategy, there is the issue of implementation. Very few schemes go totally (or even approximately) according to plan. The business environment changes, new issues emerge – green ones, for example. Some demand to be taken on board so that in many, perhaps the majority, of cases emergent strategy asserts itself to the extent that the realized strategy differs markedly from the chosen/planned strategy. In time, the realized strategy becomes a part of the firm’s strategic history . . . and the strategy process continues.

Strategic Management Process

2011-03-19T15:06:00.003+05:30

PART - II

If change is the order of the day, then two issues need to be addressed: environmental (external) analysis and organizational (internal) analysis (This is the ideal way of proceeding. In practice, managers may adopt only a partial solution and analyze only external or internal factors.). For a change of strategy to work there must be alignment between internal capability and external opportunity.

This is described as ‘strategic fit’. The ideal situation is where there is a fit between the environments, a business need arising out of that environment that is strongly felt by a firm that has the sense of purpose (mission) and a management system that enables it to respond to this need with a coherent and practicable strategy. The potential to act in this way depends upon managerial judgments, managerial skill to exploit windows of opportunity and management ability to motivate other employees to support and commit themselves to the firm’s new strategic objectives.

The analysis of the environment can be segmented into four interactive elements. There is the issue of the firm’s general environment, the broad environment comprising a mix of general factors such as social and political issues. Then there is the firm’s operating environment, its more specific industry/business environment. What kind of industry is the firm competing in? What ‘forces’ make up its ‘industry structure’? Having examined its business environment, the issue then arises: how is the firm to compete in its industry? What is to be the unique source of its competitive positioning that will give it an edge over its competitors? Will it go for a broad market position, competing on a variety of fronts, or will it look for niches? Will it compete on the basis of cost or on the basis of added value, differentiating its products and charging a premium? What is the range of options that managers have to choose from? How are they to prioritize between these options? Does the company have strategic vision, a strong sense of mission, a ‘reason for being’ that distinguishes it from others? If change is necessary, what is to be the firm’s direction for development? Having identified the major forces affecting its environment, how is the firm to approach the future?

(Cont...)

Strategic Management Process

2011-03-17T15:01:00.001+05:30

PART - I

If a firm chooses a particular strategic direction and it works in the way that very successful firms like IBM or, on a smaller scale, Body Shop have, the fact that it is successful does not mean that the choice of strategy was optimal and that it was the best. There might have been another strategic decision that could have led to even greater success. Conversely, if a firm makes a choice that leads to disaster, this does not necessarily mean that it could have made a better choice (though, with better decision making, it hopefully could have averted the disaster). The environmental conditions in its industry might have been such that this was the best choice, but that no choice, given its size or history, or the power of its competitors, could have changed its fate.

Current strategy has its roots in the strategic history of a firm and its management and employees. Both management and employees has been mentioned here because, though in many cases senior management is the source of strategic decisions, it is the employees at the point of production or delivery of a product or service who are responsible for the actual implementation of a strategy. (Of course, in the final analysis it is management who are ultimately responsible for the performance of employees.) Current strategy is the result of the interaction of intended strategy and emergent strategy. The organization’s actual strategy (its realized strategy) can be the direct result of strategic planning, the deliberate formulation and implementation of a plan. More often it is the outcome of the adaptation of such a plan to emergent issues in the environment. In some cases actual strategy can be very different from the strategy as planned or the firm may not have a very clear plan in the first place. In such cases the strategy can be described as emergent in the sense that strategy emerges from an ongoing series (sometimes described as a pattern or stream) of decisions.

Managers can decide that they are happy with their current strategy. They can take this decision in two ways. In a proactive sense they can scan their environment and the potential for change within their own organization and decide that to carry on doing what they are doing and what they are good at is the best way to face the future. In a less active, and far less satisfactory, way they can proceed on the basis of tradition – ‘This is the way we have always done it. It has worked so far. That’s good enough for us’ – or inertia. Or management may decide that change is necessary. Again this can come about in a variety of ways. They may scan their environment and decide that there are major changes occurring in their business world to which they have to adapt. Or they might decide, through internal analysis, that they have the ability to develop a new way of doing business that will redefine the nature of the business they are in. Another stimulus to change can be the new manager appointed to a senior position who wants to leave his or her mark on the company and changes strategy primarily for this self-centered reason.

(Cont...)

Understanding Strategic Management

2011-03-10T14:57:00.006+05:30

Strategic management is a dynamic process of aligning strategies, performance and business results; it is all about people, leadership, technology and processes. Effective combination of these elements helps in providing strategic direction and successful service delivery. It is a continuous activity of setting and maintaining the strategic direction of the organisation and its business, and making decisions on a day-to-day basis to deal with changing circumstances and the challenges of the business environment. In other words strategic management can be defined as the application of strategic thinking to the job of leading an organization.

As part of strategic thinking about advancing the business, one has to set a course for a particular direction, but subsequent policy drivers (such as new performance targets) or business drivers (such as increased demand for services) could take the organisation in a different direction. There could be implications for accountability when one has to decide whether to take corrective action to get back on course or to go with the new direction. Similarly, there could be implications for governance if relationships between the partners/directors change.

We can say that strategic management means continually asking the question, "Are we doing the right thing?" Strategic management is focused on the future within a context of a changing, but relatively predictable environment.

Strategic management consists of the following three activities and decisions:

1. Formulation of the future mission of the organization in light of changing external factors such as regulation, competition, technology and customers;

2. Development of a competitive strategy to achieve the mission; and

3. Creation of an organization structure which will deploy resources to successfully carry out its competitive strategy.

That is, it requires attention to the "big picture" and a willingness to adapt to changing circumstances.

What is 'Strategy'?

2011-03-05T14:54:00.002+05:30

The term ‘strategy’ proliferates in discussions of business. Scholars and consultants have provided myriad models and frameworks for analysing strategic choice. The key issue of strategy is a clear sense of an organization’s objectives and a sense of how it will achieve these objectives. It is also important that the organization has a clear sense of its distinctiveness.

For the leading strategy guru, Michael Porter (1996), strategy is about achieving competitive advantage through being different – delivering a unique value added to the customer, having a clear and enactable view of how to position yourself uniquely in your industry, for example, in the ways in which Deccan Airways had positioned itself in the airline industry as a low cost airlines.

To enact a successful strategy requires that there is fit among a company’s activities, that they complement each other, and that they deliver value to the firm and its customers. The Deccan Airways example just mentioned illustrate that industries are fluid. It came to prominence by taking on industry incumbents and developing new value propositions. Also, one must reckon that success is not guaranteed.

While there is much debate on substance, there is agreement that strategy is concerned with the match between a company’s capabilities and its external environment. Analysts disagree on how this may be done.

John Kay (2000) argues that strategy is no longer about planning or ‘visioning’ – because we are deluded if we think we can predict or, worse, control the future – it is about using careful analysis to understand and influence a company’s position in the market place.

Another leading strategy guru, Gary Hamel (2000), argues that the best strategy is geared towards radical change and creating a new vision of the future in which you are a leader rather than a follower of trends set by others.

We can say with certainty that: "winning strategy = foresight vision"

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (Internal Facing) - Request Fulfillment

2011-03-01T14:28:00.006+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 17

Request fulfillment is the process responsible for fulfilling service requests. Such requests are simply provisioned. These requests does not go through a formal change approval cycle.

But in cloud environment, the requests for addition, modification or deletion/removal of the existing capacity or resource has to be done in real time. Such requests are raised by the customer and provisioned without any change approval cycle. The request fulfillment team has to ensure that such requests are received in a complete manner and all required approvals, if any, from the customer side is provided along with the request.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (Internal Facing) - Financial Management

2011-02-28T21:39:00.004+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 16

With cloud computing the 'Unit' of charging has to be defined as charging is based on resource utilization, transactions, etc. Cost has to be properly allocated to different customers to ensure effective accounting and charge-back. Also, effective budgeting process would be required as all investments has to be strongly justified. The process has to be capable to provide details on return on investment (RoI) and total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud services.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (Internal Facing) - Capacity Management

2011-02-26T14:17:00.001+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 15

In the previous post I had discussed about the sudden surge in demand. The sudden surge in demand has to be fulfilled. Thus, the service provider has to ensure the availability of sufficient capacity. Not only that they have to maintain a balance between the utilized and excess capacity. Excess capacity would mean wastage of investment while the over utilized capacity reflects a potential threat for performance degradation. So capacity management and forecasting becomes a very complex and critical activity.

Capacity management has to be tightly integrated with supplier management process.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (Internal Facing) - Demand Management

2011-02-23T14:07:00.002+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 14

In a cloud environment there can be a sudden surge in demand. The probability of the surge will be much higher in public cloud. The provider has to be ready to provision such demands. Thus, effective mapping of demand trend and patterns of business activity (PBA) for every customer is required. The analysis of PBA and trend analysis will help in addressing the change in demand pattern. Also, this will help in identifying the ways to influence demand. A close linkage with capacity management and financial management is needed.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (Internal Facing) - Service Asset & Configuration Management

2011-02-22T21:39:00.003+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 13

Friends, first of all I am extremely sorry for being 'offline' for a considerable amount of time. I am continuing this series from where I had left.

SACM can be said to be the "heart" of ITSM. Any IT organization is dependent on accurate CMDB and Configuration Management System (CMS) for information. Each IT component of a cloud infrastructure has to be registered in the CMDB along with a well defined relationship. These IT components would be responsible for supporting many customers of the Cloud service Provider. So a failure of a single component has the potential to have a severe impact on many customers and thus the service provider.

Cloud Computing - A new name to 'Outsourcing'

2010-10-21T17:20:00.000+05:30

I had been troubled by a question – Why cloud computing is suddenly getting so much of importance?

Technologies which form the building blocks of cloud computing existed for quiet some time now. Even cloud as a concept has been there for couple of years. Then why suddenly there is so much of hype? Today every IT organization is talking about cloud. Every IT service provider wants to embrace cloud mania and become a cloud service provider.

I feel that there definitely has to be something more than technology. One of my friend said that it is because of cost saving. I do agree that there could be significant cost savings but that would have always been there. If cost of components used for setting up an IT infrastructure or provisioning IT services has come down; it has come down for both the customer as well as service provider. So I do not agree that the sudden shift to cloud computing is because of the cost saving.

The cloud computing is gaining all the attention post the recent economic recession. Then, what could be the reason other than cost savings? If you have notices the economic and political scenario during and post recession, there has been huge hue and cry against off-shoring and outsourcing. Number of countries or states across Europe and America has taken up steps to come up with a legislation to ban the same. The focus on cloud has gained since then.

The answer to all these comes to my mind in form of a question – Is cloud computing another way of outsourcing that could be used to bypass the political or legislative stance of various governments?

Cloud computing is meant for real time provisioning of a cloud service to a customer without having the customer own the specific costs and risks. The customer is not aware of where the infrastructure is based. This fact further strengthens my belief.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (External Facing) - Supplier Management

2010-10-15T08:37:00.000+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 12

As Cloud Computing is all about real time provisioning, the supplier management becomes a very critical process for a cloud service provider. This is not only in terms of getting a good deal or price from their supplier but also in terms of having an excellent relationship so that they can fall back on their supplier as and when needed.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (External Facing) - Financial Management

2010-10-09T08:31:00.004+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 11

From the service provider, Customers needs information related to the details of their utilization for which the service provider has billed them and would also prefer to get information that could help them in billing their internal customers. Thus, Service provider need to have a well defined and implemented process for Financial Management, supported by a good tool.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (External Facing) - Service Catalog Management

2010-10-07T10:29:00.001+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 10

Entire service offering along with the relevant details for the offered services is part of a service catalog. Entire business of a cloud service provider would depend on their service catalog. Thus, it is one of the key processes.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (External Facing) - Service Portfolio Management

2010-10-06T10:28:00.001+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 9

Management of service portfolio has becomes very important in cloud computing. Number of cloud service providers are there in the market. Every one would always want to be a first to provide a new service. Thus, the entire process right from identifying the market feasibility of a service to deciding on the actual deployment of that service has to be very efficient. This is where service portfolio management becomes very important.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Service Provider Perspective (External Facing) - Service Level Management

2010-09-29T08:00:00.002+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 8

With Cloud computing, SLM will become even more important. Customers are concerned with the service levels that would be or is being delivered to them. They are not concerned with how the service provider will deliver the same. In cloud environment, a well defined SLA will gain prime importance. Service provider will have to have a very effective OLAs and UCs so as to be able to commit to and meet the customer's service requirements. Hence there has to be a very effective coordination between SLM and supplier management.

Customers would be interested in knowing how the service provider can meet their service requirements. Customers would evaluate the service levels that the service provider has been delivering. So one of the first steps towards decision on selecting a service provider would be the detailed analysis and evaluation of the service levels that they guarantee to provide.

Thus, a service provider will need in place a very matured Service Level Management process along with an experience Service Level Manager. This would be very important to gain customer's confidence.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Customer Perspective - Release & Deployment Management

2010-09-23T08:00:00.001+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 7

As in cloud environment customer could only be concerned about their hosted services or applications and not the cloud infrastructure, any release and deployment would be done remotely. In case of private cloud the release policy would not be drastically different to the one in traditional ITSM environment.

But in case of Public cloud the Release & Deployment process, policy and plan would be significantly influenced by the service provider. The customer would have to ensure that their interests are taken care of. They also have to ensure that the criteria for emergency releases are agreed upon with the Service provider.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Customer Perspective - Change Management

2010-09-22T08:00:00.000+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 6

Every IT service has to go through a change at one point of time or other during its life cycle. Change to the hosted services or applications can be controlled by the customer organization following their organizational change policy.

But the concern starts when the customer is using public cloud, and even more so when the cloud infrastructure itself needs a change. These changes, specifically the ones related to cloud infrastructure, are controlled by the service provider and would be based on their change policy. Thus, for a customer it is very important to analyse the impact of such changes on their services, the associated risks and mitigation options.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Customer Perspective - Incident Management

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 5

When an IT service is hosted in a cloud environment, then the incidents that can trouble an organization could occur because of:

Error in application/service:

These are the incidents that occur because of error in the services or applications hosted by the organization. These incidents have to be resolved by the customers themselves. But a proper monitoring and recording of such events/errors should be done. It has to be integrated with the customers ticketing and incident management tool.

Error in the cloud infrastructure:

The responsibility to resolve such incidents is that of service provider. Customer should ensure that the defined SLA is inline with their organizational requirements. Also, this is again a case where Service Continuity Management is critical.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Customer Perspective - Service Continuity Management

2010-09-20T08:00:00.003+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 4

In case the customer is having their own private cloud (within their premises) then their existing service continuity policy still holds good. But when they are availing the cloud services from a service provider then this becomes another critical process for them.

Since the services are hosted with the cloud service provider, it is very important to evaluate the service continuity process and policy offered by the service provider. This then should be analyzed to understand its relevance to organizational service continuity and business continuity policy. If need be then the offered service continuity process, policy and plan should be negotiated upon to address the organizations needs and concerns.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing: Customer Perspective - Security Management

2010-09-18T08:00:00.000+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 3

One of the key concern for any organization that wants to move their services to cloud is how secure their data and services would be. This is even more true if one wants to move their services to a Public cloud. This makes Security Management as one of the key processes that customers are concerned with.

It needs to be ensured that the IT security is integrated with the business security. Thus, a organization seeking cloud services has to ensure that their overall corporate and IT security governance framework is not compromised upon while moving their IT services to a cloud environment.

Initially moving the services, which has a high security risk, to cloud should be avoided. These services should only be moved when all the concerned security risks are adequately addressed.

If the private cloud is set up internally then Security Management will not be of any concern as the services are still hosted internally. But the above discussion holds true if private cloud is provided by any vendor (in this case services are not hosted within the organizations own premises) or for a public cloud.

Key ITIL Processes For Cloud Computing

2010-09-17T23:10:00.006+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 2

With cloud computing, the only difference that is going to be in ITIL world would be that the ITIL processes could no longer be ignored. In my experience, today in many organizations ITIL processes exist in silos. Key processes like configuration management are ignored. In most of the processes, an option to bypass the process exists, i.e. the process adherence and its compliance with best practices are significantly low.

But with cloud computing ITIL processes can no longer be neglected. Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) process will become utmost important along with the IT security and demand management processes. To highlight the key processes in cloud computing environment, I would prefer to list 5 key processes from customer's and service providers’ perspective in the order of their importance.

Customer perspective:

1) Security Management

2) Service Continuity Management

3) Incident Management

4) Change Management

5) Release & Deployment Management

This perspective is important for a customer while finalising a vendor. These are the processes which concerns a customer the most.

Service provider perspective – External Facing

1) Service Level Management

2) Service Portfolio Management

3) Service Catalog Management

4) Financial Management

5) Supplier Management

These are the key processes which the service provider needs to focus on while approaching a customer.

Service provider perspective – Internal Facing

1) Service Asset & Configuration Management

2) Demand Management

3) Financial Management

4) Request Fulfillment

5) Capacity Management

These processes are important for a cloud service provider for their internal organization in order to provision customers’ requests.

The subsequent post will highlight the importance of above processes in cloud computing environment.

ITIL V3 or ITIL V4?

2010-08-18T21:57:00.000+05:30

Sometime back words put forth by a very senior guy "ITIL V4 will be released next year. It will cover ITIL for cloud offerings" caught me off-guard. Being an ITIL expert, a senior consultant, I should have known the upcoming things or new releases for my domain. My experience said ITIL V4 is not possible as of now. ITIL V3 itself has not reached a maturity level. We are still in the process of phasing out ITIL V2. How can then we be talking about a new ITIL version altogether? Otganisations have started investing to upgrade their system to ITIL V3. How will their investments be justified? Is ITIL V3 a failure?

All these questions were troubling me. They should definitely be as the words on ITIL V4 have come from a guy much senior to me, with a consulting profile much stronger than me. What acted as a salt to my bruises further enhancing my agony was his claim of being part of OGC's ITIL V4 initiative.

I was even told that ITIL V4 is covering all aspects of Cloud Computing. This triggered another question in my mind - Why and how should ITIL best practices change for Cloud Computing?

I started my research moment I was free the things that had been keeping me busy. I got my clarity. I was correct. There was no ITIL V4. OGC was coming up with a new release or rather I should say probably a new revamped edition of ITIL V3 core volumes. The website clearly articulated that "there is no ITIL V4" and that "A new release of ITIL V3 (new edition of the publications) would be released next year".

Official News From OGC on ITIL V4

ITIL Mandate For Change - An Update To Core Publications

If we revisit the ITIL V3 core volumes, one can easily make out that its quality reflected that it was a hush-hush release just like the OS releases from Microsoft. It looked as if the delivery targets were being missed so something was delivered to the customer (ITIL Community in this case). It was lacking on quality parameters in every sense, when we compare it to the two core volumes of ITIL V2. It definitely needed an update. And the OGC's initiative to revamp the core volumes should be appreciated.

ITIL and Cloud Computing

2010-07-21T22:01:00.000+05:30

ITIL and Cloud Computing Series - Part 1

I had heard about Cloud Computing which is also often referred to as Cloud. I was aware that it is the 'next big thing'. I was not very sure what it covered and how ITIL would impact it or how it would impact ITIL.

Recently I got an opportunity to work for a cloud initiative. I realised it is a old wine in a new bottle. The technology existed. Lot of things which we perceived as an IT service earlier was now a cloud offering. A simplest of examples could be the hosting services.

Cloud computing is an internet based computing which shares resources, hardware and/or software and provisions the same on demand. The concept originates from virtualization technology, which could be either software or hardware virtualization, meant towards optimising the utilisation of computing power and/or storage. It covers dynamic on demand provisioning of scalable resources over the internet or intranet.

Types of Cloud:

Private Cloud – Cloud infrastructure is owned by the organization itself.
Public Cloud – Cloud infrastructure is owned by a Third Party.
Hybrid Cloud – This uses both Public and Private Clouds, i.e for an organization a portion of its services which are critical or sensitive are hosted on internal infrastructure or Private Cloud and the portion which is non-critical or non-sensitive is hosted on external infrastructure or Public Cloud.

With cloud computing the importance of service delivery processes changes. The focus shifts to “Service”. Earlier, various components of IT infrastructure as a CI were important. For cloud computing Service as a CI has become utmost important. Thus, Service reliability has become important for the customer from cloud perspective.

Now coming back to my other confusion on ITIL and cloud computing. I do not see any impact on fundamentals of ITIL from cloud computing or vice versa. ITIL will now gain even more importance as efficient service management will be the key to success of any cloud initiative. Like any IT infrastructure which is benefited by ITIL implementation, cloud would also be benefited by implementing ITIL framework. We do not need to define a new version of ITIL for cloud. ITIL V3 framework is well laid to manage the challenges arising out of the cloud buzz word.

...To be continued...

ITIL IPR: The Crown Copyright

2010-07-07T02:00:00.000+05:30

Many ITIL professionals are not aware about what Crown Copyright is and that it covers ITIL publications. They freely use the contents - both textual as well as diagrammatic from these publications, without realising that they might be infringing the copyright. It is true that for using ITIL you need not pay any royalty to OGC, but it is also true that these publications are copyrighted.

Let us first understand Crown Copyright. It is a form of copyright that is used by the governments of a number of Commonwealth dominion. The name is derived from the Crown, i.e., the entities of the state of Queen of Great Britain. It provides special copyright rules.

Crown Copyright covers ITIL and all related OGC publications. These publications are owned by OGC. For reproduction or usage of these materials (including logos, contents from publications, diagrams, etc.) in any form, one is required to have a license from OGC or their official Accreditor – APM Group.

In case one is using OGC word marks, like ITIL, one has to mention the acknowledgement as specified below, along with the usage of symbology of registered trademark (®), which has to be on the same page as product work mark. This has to be done only for the first usage of the product word mark.

“ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries”.

For further information on crown copyright and licensing please refer to:

1) Understanding Crown Copyright:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/index.htm

2) ITIL IP Awareness Leaflet: http://www.itil-officialsite.com/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=940&sID=114

3) http://www.itil-officialsite.com/IntellectualPropertyRights/TrademarkLicensing.asp

4) http://www.ogc.gov.uk/copyright_using_ogc_copyright_material.asp

5) http://www.ogc.gov.uk/copyright_charging_for_ogc_material.asp

How To Get The User Buy-In

2010-06-26T08:00:00.001+05:30

In continuation of "Getting User Buy-In for ITIL Implementation"

Let us focus on how you can answer the questions of my previous post.

Organization is because of employees. Any initiative can be beneficial to the organization only if it benefits the employees as well. Benefit need not always mean financial benefit. ITIL processes are meant to:

Make your life simpler…simpler in terms of doing your day-to-day activity
Make your professional life better…better in terms of doing quality work
Make you performance highlighted…highlighted because there will be metrics defined which will give a qualitative and quantitative indication of your performance levels
Have a clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This will open up additional avenues for growth.

Taking an example of incident management, you can highlight how it will help in clear categorization of task/activities to be performed by the resources based on their expertise. How it can prevent the resources from having to answer calls related to incidents when they are actually midway in their effort to resolve one of the incidents.

We can take this example a step further…

By defining and implementing a service desk, we have a dedicated team to answer to the user’s calls, logging incidents, taking care of service requests, updating users with the status, etc. Thus, it would free the experienced resources from having to undertake these tasks in parallel to their task of resolving incidents. This would help in improving their performance level.

Also, with incident prioritization and categorization only the team with right skill set and expertise will work on that incident. This will help in faster resolution.

In this way, ITIL consultants need to come out with examples and answered to the questions that trouble the end users. This small exercise on part of the ITIL consultants will surely make the implementation a success.

Kindly note that these recommendations are in addition to other activities that are planned to promote the initiative and its awareness.

Getting User Buy-In for ITIL Implementation

2010-06-25T08:00:00.004+05:30

Taking a step further from my last post, I will focus now specifically on getting user buy-in for ITIL implementation. The same logic of getting buy-in for process consulting applies to ITIL as well.

Although, the stakeholders are well aware of the business benefits of ITIL implementation, awareness is lacking in end users about the benefits of the same. Moreover end users are more concerned about the benefits which they will drive from the initiative. Following questions trouble them:

ITIL is for the organization and not for me. Why should I follow the process?

What is there in ITIL for me?
How is ITIL going to benefit me?
How will the ITIL process (es) benefit my team?
Is the organization trying to make me replaceable? Am I going to loose my job?

ITIL Consultants should be prepared to answer these questions. Specifically regarding the last question, the consultant should advise the stakeholders to adopt ‘change management’ and take the end users into confidence before trying to roll out the new initiative.

Every ITIL Consultant focuses on benefits of ITIL for the organization. But one should remember that this will just help in getting the ITIL consulting or implementation contract. But in order to make the ITIL initiative a success, one needs to get the buy-in of the end users as well. Consultants should also take out time to answer the above questions which trouble the end users.

(Con’t…)

Process Consulting: Getting Customer's or End User's Buy-In

2010-06-23T08:00:00.001+05:30

I have seen process definition or improvement initiatives fail because of the lack of desired level of support from the customers or end users. Some of the reasons for the same includes:

Fear of job loss
Poor perception of the process
‘Just another’ initiative

Customer in this scenario are not only the sponsors or the people who are going to pay for your service but includes the sponsors or the stakeholders, internal and/or external customers and the end users of the process.

It is very important to get customer buy-in for any process consulting initiative. Process consultant should ensure that the customer understands and sees the benefits of the initiative. Answering the following questions will help a process consultant to be prepared to handle such situations.

Why would the customer need the process?
What does the customer expect from the process?
What is the customer’s view of the process?
How will the process benefit the customer?
How is the process performance from customer’s perspective?
What are the customer’s measurement criteria for the process?
What can we do to improve the process?
What performance levels does the customer expect from the process?
What is critical to the quality of the process from customer’s perspective?

A kick-off workshop focusing on the benefits covering points from the answers to the above question enables the consultant to break the ice and build on the confidence level of the customers. During future process definition workshops, consultants should stress (but not beyond a point) on the benefits of the process and how it can simplify customer’s way of working. This would help in getting full cooperation from the process owners or customers and would help in making the initiative a success.

Con't...

My Appeal To ITIL Professionals

2010-06-21T11:15:00.007+05:30

There are few training providers, who not only allow candidates to have an open book exam but also give answers to the question paper. I am referring to Service Manager Certification. With ITIL V3, focus on V2 exams got reduced as attention shifted to the new version.

I got a word doc from a candidate who had taken the exam. It contained all questions and answers. He send it to me for comment on his performance. If I try to recollect my exam, I remember that I was not able to confidently recall even a single question word by word. Not only that, the properties of the word doc clearly showed the authors name to be that of a training provider. This type of activities is reducing the overall value and recognition of Managers certification.

I lodged a complaint with APMG, EXIN, ISEB and OGC. APMG identified the Examination Institute which was offering that case study and replaced the case as well as has taken steps to tighten the examination system.

As ITIL professionals it is up to us that how we can maintain the recognition and sanctity of our certification. My appeal to entire ITIL community, please do not turn to be a blank spectator to such incident; be proactive and be assured that APMG & OGC will take necessary action.

ITIL Foundation Certified Professionals: The New Breed

2010-06-16T21:13:00.002+05:30

I had been a bit busy for last couple of days with my organizational activities. Also, I had been interviewing potential candidates for openings that we have for various ITIL operational roles. I have come across many ITIL foundation certified professionals, whom I would prefer to call a new breed of ITIL professionals.

One of the candidates I interview had mentioned ‘Foundation Certified in IT Service Management’ and ITIL V3 Foundation certified. I asked him ‘what is the difference between these two certifications’…answer was ‘I don’t know’.

My next question – ‘What are the various lifecycle phases of ITIL V3’…I got another blank face…I went on to next question ‘Name any 5 processes of ITIL V3’…again a blank face and then an answer ‘I don’t know’. I asked ‘you are ITIL V3 Foundation certified and I expect the name of ITIL processes at least’…A great answer I got ‘My company asked us to get certified. I was shocked. I thought that this would be a one of case. But thereafter I have found many guys like him, who do not even recall the process names. Another interesting case was when I asked one candidate, ‘which version of ITIL you are certified in’…he thought for a while and then answered ‘Version 1’. He had completed his engineering in 2006, probably would have been just a couple of years old when ITIL version 1 was introduced.

Service Request Vs Change

2010-05-28T14:01:00.000+05:30

I have faced a question from many people - Are all service requests a change? People believe that it is so as they do not understand the fundamental difference between the two. They feel that every service request involves a change in the state of live IT infrastructure.

To answer this question, I would first prefer to explain the two individually:

Service Request:

Service request is the request from the user for any information, documention, advice or access.

Example: user manuals, password reset, etc.

Change

Change is defined as an addition, modification or removal of an approved, supported or basedlined CI.

Example: Upgrade of a server, modification of a documentation, addition of a new service.

Now going back to our question, I would like to make a statement - 'Service request is not a change'. It does happen that a number of low impact changes, which are known to cause no negative impact to the IT environment are pre-approved for implementation. These changes are referred to as standard changes. These pre-approved changes are also treated as a Service Request and the request is fulfilled by Request Fulfillment team.

ITIL V2 & V3: My Views

2010-05-15T12:20:00.000+05:30

OGC rolled out new version of ITIL, ITIL V3, in June 2007. I would prefer to term this as an excellent initiative. With ITIL V3 OGC has encapsulated every function and process area of an IT organization.

In ITIL V2, the focus was on 'aligning IT with business'. Today, IT is at core for success of any business. Thus, it can be said that IT is integral to business. This has resulted in the shift of focus in ITIL V3 to 'integrating IT with business'.

Although the initiative is excellent, motive and objective is great, but way the things have come out is far from any thing that can be termed as good. I feel that as far as publication of core volumes of ITIL V3 is concerned, it definitely lacks the 'depth' when compared to ITIL V2. Besides it has ambiguities at couple of places. For example in change management in one of the process flows, an activity box 'update plan' is mentioned. No where in the book its description has been given. Reader are left to make a guess based on ones experience.

I have observed that a person certified at ITIL V3 Foundation level lacks ITIL knowledge when compared to the person with ITIL V2 Foundation certification. An ITIL V2 certified person had a significant understanding of the processes whereas ITIL V3 foundation certified individual lacks that. He just has an overview or basic understanding of the ITIL V3 processes.

Referring to the certification scheme, ITIL V2 was designed to test both the practical as well as theoritical knowledge of the individual. ITIL V2 Manager certified individual had an indepth understanding of the processes and its practical application. The certification scheme was so designed that based on a persons capability, one can directly appear for Manager certification after clearing the Foundation. This was the route that I had taken. It was a very cost effective option.

On the other hand, ITIL V3 certification scheme looks to be more 'business' oriented. You need to accumulate required credits to reach the next level by clearing multiple exams. I would like to mention that to take each of these exams, with foundation being an exception, attending training from an Accredited Training Provider is mandatory. Thus, clearing each of these trainings/certification is pretty expensive.

While ITIL V2 certification scheme (to Manager level) tests your knowledge of ITIL at the first place, I feel that ITIL V3 certification scheme (to Master level) tests your financial capability at the first place. Testing ones knowledge becomes secondary as you need to arrange for the finances needed to clear a number of trainings and certification exams.

As far as overall knowledge is concerned, I feel it would be the same at ITIL V3 Expert level for both the set of individuals who have taken the ITIL V2 Managers route or the ITIL V3 route to ITIL V3 Expert certification. But definitely the people who are V2 Managers certified will be better placed for ITIL V3 Master certification, when the same is rolled out as it will be testing the practical knowledge and experience towards ITIL implementation.

Gap Analysis

2010-05-12T15:54:00.001+05:30

Gap Analysis is the analysis of the difference between two states. It is used to identify the gaps or potential improvement opportunities. For financial or sales domain, it is the analysis of actual or current financial/sales performance with that of the projected financial/sales performance.

In the same way, in process consulting, gap analysis is the tool used to identify gaps in the current process ('As-Is' process). Gaps are identified using either an industry accepted process framework, like ITIL, or an ideal scenerio as a reference. All of these identified gaps maps to potential improvement opportunities. These are then used to define the new process ('To-Be' process).

Baseline:

Baseline is the current state or the 'As-Is' state used as a reference point or benchmark - for our consideration it is the 'As-Is' state of the process.

Gap Analysis & Continuous Improvement

New process is defined or existing process is improved (referred to as 'To-Be' process) using the existing process as a reference or baseline. For continuous improvement, newly defined 'To-Be' process becomes the 'As-Is' process or the new baseline.

So everytime gap analysis is performed in order to identify further improvement opportunities. These identified gaps are then improved upon in the new 'To-Be' process. This eventually becomes a continuous improvement cycle.

Some Common Misconceptions

2010-03-30T08:00:00.003+05:30

I have come across a number of misconceptions that people have about ITIL and would like to clarify the same. Some of the common misconceptions are:

1. "We have installed ITIL"/ "We have bought ITIL and are in process of its installation"

ITIL is not a software package that can be bought or installed.

2. "We are following ITIL Standard"

ITIL is not a standard but a framework of good/best practices. ISO20000 is the standard which is based on ITIL.

3. "ITIL is dependent on Tools"

ITIL consists of a set of processes. Processes are not dependent on tool and so is ITIL. Tools acts as the enablers.

4. "I am ITIL Master Certified"

ITIL Master certification is not available yet. Thus, none of us can be ITIL Master certified. ITIL V2 Managers certification was commonly referred to as Masters by a section of people in the industry and this definition still exists for them. And this is the misconception being carried forth by the group of people following that school of thought.

ITIL and Organizational Cultural Change

2010-03-25T11:21:00.000+05:30

I believe that ITIL implementation or anything that changes the way you work needs a change in organizational culture. Specially in case an organization is not process oriented, then ITIL implementation in such organization demands huge cultural change.

What is culture change in an organization?

Organizational culture can be defined as a set of 'ways', 'values' and 'beliefs' that its employees has and they use these to control the way they:

Interact with one another,
Outside world, and
Perform their day to day functions

A change to any of these directly impacts the day-to-day activities of the employees. This is a cultural change.

Thus, any process implementation or automation initiative results in an organizational cultural change. ITIL implementation, being a process implementation, is not an exception.

It is a human tendency to resist a change. It is embedded in the human psychology. Hence, organizational cultural change also faces a tremendous resistance from employees. The top three key factors that contribute to the overall resistance are:

Fear of Job Loss: It is a common perception in IT departments of organizations across the globe that their 'work' might be outsourced. Process implementation demands process adherence, a unique 'one' way of working, which further increases their fear of outsourcing.
My way is a better way: Every individual feels that existing way of working or the system itself is the best one. This is because they are used to the existing system and are very comfortable with it.
Relearning: A change would mean that the new system or 'way’ should be learned and well understood. For many of us (especially after a certain age) relearning is a difficult task.

Change in organizational culture is very important for organization’s growth. It is inevitable. A change is acceptable to any individual when its benefits outweigh the perceived troubles. Thus, a change should be properly planned; employees convinced about the benefits that it brings.

It is very important to plan organizational cultural change for an ITIL implementation initiative to be successful.

Key factors that would constitute Organizational Change strategy are:

Strategic Vision: Formulation and communication of clear strategic vision

Top management commitment: Commitment of top management is required and ‘communication’ of this commitment (following a top-down approach)

Initiation: Culture change should be started at the highest level

Organizational Re-structure: Organization restructuring should be done, if required, to support the organizational change

Control: Select ‘takers’ (those who are ready to accept change) and terminate deviants (blockers of change)

Develop sensitivity: Ethical and legal sensitivity to change should be developed.

ITIL implementation strategy should follow or encompass organizational change strategy. This will ensure that the ITIL implementation initiative is successful.

Understanding ITIL

2010-03-12T12:30:00.003+05:30

ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. ITIL is a set of best practices for service management.

Till date three versions of ITIL has been released. Version 1 of ITIL (ITIL V1) was published in 1989 by CCTA, which is now Office of Givernment Ccommenrce (OGC), an administrative body of government of Great Britain. Version 2 of ITIL (ITIL V2) was published in 2000 and finally in 2007 Version 3 (ITIL V3) was released.

ITIL V2 consisted of two core volumes - Service Support & Service Delivery each having set of 5 processes.

With ITIL V3, the focus is now on 'integration of IT with business'. ITIL V3 has 5 core volumes or phases of lifecycle - Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement. All of the old ITIL V2 processes has been moved to one of these lifecycle phases.

ITIL is a framework of best practices. It is not a standard. BS15000 was the standard that was based on ITIL V2 and it has subsequently given way to ISO 20000.

Note: I have or would be publishing seperate blogs to understand different ITIL concepts.

ITIL Certification Scheme

2010-02-26T09:42:00.002+05:30

THE CREDIT SYSTEM:

V3 certification is based on credit system that provides the flexibility to opt for an intermediate level module, allowing one to select a course based on his/her expertise and interest in pursuit of ITIL Expert level of certification, thus accumulating the credits required for the next level.

Each V3 certification is allocated a credit value. One needs to accumulate atleast 22 credits across various levels to gain ITIL V3 Expert certification. After achieving the V3 Expert certification, one can pursue the ITIL Master certification (currently under development).

LEVELS OF CERTIFICATION IN V3:

Foundation: Foundation certification is the entrance level of ITIL V3. It is a mandatory level for all higher level of certifications. It provides a general awareness of the Service Lifecycle and its key elements. It focuses on the overall linkages between the stages in the Lifecycle, the processes used and their contribution to Service Management practices.

No pre-requisites. One can take the certification exam without taking training from an accredited training organization.

Intermediate: It provides a deep level understanding of V3 processes and roles. It focuses on the Lifecycle, the use of process and practice the elements used within it besides the management capabilities needed to deliver quality Service Management practices in any organization. Intermediate level consists of 5 Lifecycle Modules and 4 Capability Modules.

Foundation certification (2 credits) is the pre-requisite for attending the training from an accredited training organization. The training is a mandatory requirement for taking the certification exam.

Managing Across Lifecycle: It completes the Lifecycle and Capability streams. It focuses on the ancillary knowledge required to implement and manage the necessary skills associated with the use of the Lifecycle practices. This certification is mandatory for reaching the ITIL Expert level (ITIL V1 or V2 Service Managers are exempted).

Accumulating atleast 15 credits from Intermediate level (Lifecycle and/or Capability modules) is a pre-requisite. The training is a mandatory requirement for taking the certification exam.

ITIL Expert: One needs to accumulate atleast 22 credits across various levels to gain ITIL V3 Expert certification. There is no separate exam for this level.

ITIL Master: ITIL Master Certification is currently under development and the exact course structure, syllabus and pre-requisites are yet to be finalized.

UPGRADING YOURSELF TO ITIL V3:

The existing ITIL certifications have been duly recognized in the ITIL V3 Qualifications scheme. The credits awarded are:

S.No.	Certification	Credits
1.	ITIL V2 Foundation	1.5
2.	ITIL V2 Practitioner Clusters	3.5
3.	ITIL V2 Practitioner individual	2.0
4.	ITIL V1/V2 Service Manager	17.0

Following certificate holders can:

ITIL V2 Foundation Certificate: Upgrade to ITIL V3 Foundation by clearing the ITIL V3 Foundation Bridge examination (follow the route of Blue and then Black Lines for ITIL Expert level certification).
ITIL V2 Practitioner Certificate: Can use their existing credits to take the ITIL V3 Managers Bridge examination (need 12 credits and can take the Green Line for ITIL Expert level certification. Also, one can even take other ITIL V2 Practitioner certifications to accumulate the required 12 credits. In case if the total credit value is less than 12, then one needs to take ITIL V3 Foundation Bridge examination and then accumulate the remaining credits by taking various ITIL V3 intermediate level certifications.ITIL V1/V2 Service Managers: Can take the ITIL V3 Managers Bridge examination (following the Red Line) for ITIL Expert level certification. They are exempted from taking “Managing Across Lifecycle” exam.

Should A Problem Ticket Be Created For Every Incident?

2010-02-24T10:20:00.002+05:30

I have come across this question quite often. There is a section of people who believe that a problem ticket should be created for every incident. There is another section of people who believe that a problem ticket should be created for every major incident.

As per the ITIL best practice, whenever an incident is recorded, even if it is a major incident, it has to be matched with the known error database (KEDB). In case the incident has a match in KEDB then a problem ticket should not be created. The reason for this is that - a similar incident has already been resolved, its resolution is available and no further investigation is required. This incident would be tagged to the matched known error thereby also increaing the incident count against that known error. This data can be further used by the problem management team for Proactive Problem Management.

On the other hand, if there is no match in KEDB for a incident, then a corresponding problem ticket should be created. As the goal of incident management is to resolve the incident as quickly as possible, so incident management team can work towards resolving the same. Any resolution provided by incident management team for such an incident should be updated against its problem record. This is meant to get the resolution evaluated by the problem management team, who will add it to KEDB in case the resolution is correct, or else will provide a correct workaround or resolution.

What Is a Process?

2010-02-23T11:15:00.001+05:30

A Process can be defined as a connected series of actions, activities, changes, etc. performed by agents with the intent of satisfying a purpose or achieving a goal. In other words process is a structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. It takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. It may include any of the roles, responsibilities, tools, and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. Also, it may define policies, standards, guidelines, activities, and work instructions, if necessary.

Is Process Dependent On Tool?

2010-02-05T11:05:00.002+05:30

Another misconception that I have often come across is that there are certain group of individuals who believe that process is dependent on tools.

Lets assume that this belief is correct, and take an example of process of going to office from our home. The tool that is being used for this process is a car. Thus, if this belief is correct, it would mean that the process (going to office) is dependent on the tool (car). This would signify that a person cannot take any other mode of transport to go to his office, which is not the case. Hence our assumption is wrong.

We should remember that Tool is dependent on the process and not vice-a-versa. Tool is just an enabler of a process. Multiple tools can be available in the market which can help in process implementation or its automation. It depends on the organizational requirements or preferences that decides the tool that has to be used.

Will An Incident Become A Problem?

2010-01-20T17:21:00.019+05:30

I have often come across discussions and queries regarding when an incident would become a problem. Interestingly, I have found that some of my co-consultants and many practitioners of ITIL, despite being ITIL certified at various levels themselves, provide various reasons for the same. Some of the ‘so called’ conditions when an incident would become a problem are:-

When there is a major incident
When the incident approaches SLA breach time
Business impact of incident is very high
Etc.

The fact is an incident never becomes a problem.

In generic terminology or layman’s language, incidents are referred to as problems. But such explanations are not expected from an ITIL certified individual.

Let us see how ITIL defines incident and problem:

ITIL defines incident as an unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of an IT service.
ITIL defines problem as unknown cause of one or more incidents.

Let us take an example to understand difference between the two – Your PC hanged and that happened quite frequently. Every time you rebooted your PC, it started working fine. Eventually, you called the support team. They checked your PC and installed a patch. Thereafter, your PC never hanged.

The condition when your PC hanged was an incident. You resolved that incident by rebooting it. It was a workaround. Finally, when the support team checked your PC, they did a root cause analysis. It was a problem. They provided resolution to this problem by installing the patch.

Asset Vs Configuration Item

2010-01-11T17:53:00.004+05:30

Another area that people find it difficult to differentiate is a configuration item and an asset. Some of us feel that both are same. I will focus this post on key differences between the two.

Asset has a financial value along with a depreciation rate attached to it. IT assets are just a sub-set of it. Anything and everything that has a cost and the organization uses it for its asset value calculation and related benefits in tax calculation falls under Asset Management, and such item is called an asset. Asset's life is for duration till its financial value becomes 'Zero', which depends on the associated depreciation rate. There is no relationship between assets.

Configuration Item or CI on the other hand may or may not have financial values assigned to it. It will not have any depreciation linked to it. Thus, its life would not be dependent on its financial value but will depend on the time till that item becomes obsolete for the organization. CI has a relationship. So from a CI all information on subsequent parent and child CIs can easily be obtained. Also, CI is restricted to items specific for use in live IT environment.

Let’s take an example that can easily signify the similarity and differences:

1) Similarity:

Server - It is both an asset as well as a CI.

2) Difference:

Building - It is an asset but not a CI.

Document - It is a CI but not an asset.

Good Practice Vs Best Practice

2010-01-10T23:29:00.002+05:30

I have observed that most of us confuse between Good Practice and Best Practice. Whenever it is recommended that a practice should be followed, it is said to be a best practice. When this practice becomes a part of life, it becomes a good practice. So a good practice is always automatically followed by everyone concerned. We can say that a best practice when followed over a period of time becomes a good practice.

Let us take couple of examples from our day to day life. Initially when the seat belts were introduced in cars, it was said to be a best practice to wear the seat belt. Eventually, wearing seat belt became a habit and thus a good practice.

Another example is wearing helmets. Initially people were not used to wearing helmets and thus it was said to be best practice to wear a helmet. But over a period of time, in most countries, wearing helmet became a habit and it became a good practice.

Let’s take an example from ITSM space. For an organization where service desk has been recently introduced, it is a best practice to call the service desk in case of any issue, help or information required. But eventually when the process matures, it becomes a practice to call the service desk for any support issues and hence a good practice.

ITIL V2 Vs V3

2010-01-09T23:58:00.022+05:30

Like any other process framework evolution, ITIL is also evolving and ITIL V3 is the latest generation of this evolution. This evolution has really caused a lot of anxiety in ITIL followers in terms of “What it is?”, “How will it impact our ITIL V2 implementation?”, “Should we go for ITIL V2 or V3” and so on.

I would like to mathematically term V3 as:

ITIL V3 = ITIL V2 Refined + ‘X’

Where, ‘X’ is a set of new processes, most of which probably your organization would already be following.

Also, there has been a level of ambiguity in the ITIL V2 jargons and the terms the industry was actually using. A best example of it can be the CMDB. The ITIL V3 has not only taken care of these ambiguities but also provided a simplified framework in terms of what industry was “actually” using. In other words we can say that it has refined ITIL V2 to be aligned with the industry. Not only that it has broadened its scope covering the processes that industry is already using but were not included in ITIL V2.

Besides, while ITIL V2 talked about “Aligning IT with business”, the ITIL V3 is talking about “integrating IT with business”; i.e., making IT a part of the strategic layer of an organization and thus covering strategic, tactical and operational layers.

ITIL V3 has introduced us to Service Life Cycle approach. This raises a question – “Why was it required?” ITIL V3 is having a major focus on IT Strategy (Business – IT integration) and Continual Service Improvement. The entire approach from identifying a service for creating value to business, to its design, transition, operation and improving on its performance and cost parameters needed a continuous cycle, and thus what we have is a Service Life Cycle. Accordingly a process realignment (of all ITIL V2 processes) was required.

In the corresponding tables we would try to map all the existing processes of ITIL V2 to ITIL V3 and understand the key processes that are new to ITIL V3. The description under the column “In V3 under” has the names of core ITIL V3 books. These five books help an organization in understanding:

• How can they develop business driven ITSM strategy?

• How can they design a system to support the selected ITSM strategy?

• How would they transition the designed system to production, in terms of people, processes and technology?

• How would they support the operation of the implemented system on an ongoing basis?

• How would they continuously improve the processes and operations?

Mapping ITIL V2 processes to ITIL V3

1. Process: Financial Management For IT Services

Process Name in V3: Financial Management

In V2 under: Service Delivery

In V3 under: Service Strategy

Additional Details: Concept of Return on Investment (RoI) introduced.

2. Process: Service Level Management

Process Name in V3: Service Level Management

In V2 under: Service Delivery

In V3 under: Service Design

Additional Details: No changes. It is also covered briefly in Continual Service Improvement.

3. Process: Capacity Management

Process Name in V3: Capacity Management

In V2 under: Service Delivery

In V3 under: Service Design

Additional Details: Resource Capacity Management is renamed as Component Capacity Management (consisting of Resource Management & Performance Management). Capacity Management Information System (CMIS contains info. on capacity & performance reports and data, Forecast and Capacity plan) introduced.

4. Process: Availability Management

Process Name in V3: Availability Management

In V2 under: Service Delivery

In V3 under: Service Design

Additional Details: Availability Management Information System (AMIS contains info. on Availability Mgmt. reports, Availability plan, Availability design criteria and Availability testing schedule) introduced.

5. Process: IT Service Continuity Management

Process Name in V3: IT Service Continuity Management

In V2 under: Service Delivery

In V3 under: Service Design

Additional Details: No changes.

6. Process: Change Management

Process Name in V3: Change Management

In V2 under: Service Support

In V3 under: Service Transition

Additional Details: No changes.

7. Process: Configuration Management

Process Name in V3: Service Asset & Configuration Management

In V2 under: Service Support

In V3 under: Service Transition

Additional Details: Configuration Management and Asset Management exist as two sub-processes. Configuration Management System (CMS) and Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) introduced. CMS contains a set of tools and databases (Eg. CMDB, Asset database, etc) used to manage configuration data and includes information about Incidents, Problems, Known Errors, Changes, and Releases.

DHS & DSL replaced by Definitive Media Library (DML). DML is one or more locations in which the definitive and approved versions of all software Configuration Items are securely stored).

8. Process: Release Management

Process Name in V3: Release & Deployment Management

In V2 under: Service Support

In V3 under: Service Transition

Additional Details: Release and deployment activities separated as two separate sub-processes – Release and Deployment.

9. Process: Incident Management

Process Name in V3: Incident Management

In V2 under: Service Support

In V3 under: Service Operation

Additional Details: No changes.

10. Process: Problem Management

Process Name in V3: Problem Management

In V2 under: Service Support

In V3 under: Service Operation

Additional Details: No more bifurcation of process into problem control and error control activities. Known error can be created during any stage of problem management.

New processes in ITIL V3

1. Demand Management (Service Strategy): It is a critical aspect of service management. It consists of activities that understand and influence customer demand for services and the provision of capacity to meet these demands. At a strategic level Demand Management involves analysis of patterns of business activity & user profiles and the strategy to influence the demand. At a tactical level (as part of Business Capacity Management it involves implementation of strategies to influence the demand. In ITIL V2 the concepts of Demand Management was discussed under Business Capacity Management).

Key Terminologies:

• Pattern Of Business Activity (PBA): It defines dynamics of a business & includes interactions with customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders.

2. Service Portfolio Management (SPM) (Service Strategy): SPM is the process responsible for managing the Service Portfolio. It considers Services in terms of the business value that they provide.

Key Terminologies:

• Service Portfolio: It is the complete set of services that are managed by a service provider. It is used to manage the entire lifecycle of all services (Service Pipeline, Service Catalog and Retired Services). It is not normally published to customers.

• Service Pipeline: It is a database or structured document listing all IT services that are under consideration or development, but are not yet available to customers. It provides a business view of possible future IT services.

• Service Catalog: It is a database or structured document with information about all live IT Services, including those available for deployment. It is the only part of the Service Portfolio published to customers, and is used to support the sale and delivery of IT Services. It includes information about deliverables, prices, contact points, ordering, and request processes. It contains accurate information on all services that are currently operational and all services that are about to transition into operation.

3. Service Catalog Management (Service Design): Service Catalog Management is the process responsible to provide a single source of consistent information on all of the agreed services and ensure that it is widely available to all who are approved to access it. They are responsible for the maintenance of Service Catalog. In ITIL V2 Service Catalog was discussed under Service Level Management.

4. Supplier Management (Service Design): Supplier Management is the process responsible for ensuring that all contracts with suppliers support the needs of the business, and that all suppliers meet their contractual commitments. In other words they are responsible to manage suppliers and the services they supply, thus ensuring that value for money is obtained by provision of high quality of IT Services to the business.

Key Terminologies:

• Supplier and Contract Database (SCD): It is a database or structured document used to manage Supplier Contracts throughout their lifecycle. The SCD contains key attributes of all contracts with suppliers, and should be part of the Service Knowledge Management System.

5. Information Security Management (Service Design): It is the process that ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an organization’s assets, information, data, and IT Services. It is a comprehensive process designed to address the strategic direction for security activities of the organization and to ensure that its business objectives are achieved. They are responsible for aligning IT Security with business security and thus ensuring that information is effectively managed in all services and Service Management activities. In ITIL V2 it was a part of Availability Management.

6. Transition Planning & Support (Service Transition): Its purpose is to plan for the capacity & resources required for any transition and provide support to the transition teams. Besides planning & co-ordination they are responsible for identifying, managing & controlling the risks of failure & disruption across transition activities. When needed they also co-ordinate activities across projects, suppliers and service teams.

7. Service Validation & Testing (Service Transition): It is responsible for ensuring the quality assurance, i.e., to ensure that a service being transitioned is fit for purpose and fit for use. Its responsibility also includes planning and implementation of validation and test activities. It also identifies, assesses and addresses issues, errors and risks through out the Service Transition activity.

8. Evaluation (Service Transition): It is a generic process. It considers whether the performance of something is acceptable, value for money, etc. – and whether it will be continued with, accepted into use, paid for, etc. They are responsible for correctly setting the stakeholder expectations and providing effective and accurate information to Change Management to make sure changes that adversely affect service capability and introduce risk are not transitioned unchecked.

9. Knowledge Management (Service Transition): It is responsible to ensure that the right information is delivered to the right person at the right time to enable him/her to make an informed decision, thereby improving the quality of the management decision.

10. Event Management (Service Operation): It is a stand-alone process for detecting and managing events and alarms, which ITIL calls “exceptions”. In ITIL v2, Event Management was covered under Incident Management. It is responsible for monitoring all events that occur anywhere in the IT infrastructure, to detect and escalate exception conditions and determine the appropriate control action.

11. Request Fulfillment (Service Operation): It is a new process for managing the lifecycle of all customer and user generated service requests. These types of requests include facilities, moves and supplies as well as those specific to IT services. In ITIL V2, it was covered under Incident Management.

12. Access Management (Service Operation): It provides rights and identity management related to granting authorized users the right to use a service, while restricting access to non-authorized users. Its goal is to provide right to users to be able to use a service or group of services.

13. Continual Service Improvement: It is responsible for continuously aligning and re-aligning IT services to the changing business needs by identifying the improvement opportunities and implementing the improvement plans/activities to IT services that supports the business processes.

ITIL Functions

ITIL V2 had Service Desk as the lone function. While ITIL V3 has 3 more functions other than the Service Desk. These functions are:

1. Technology Management: Provides the detailed technical skills and resources needed to support IT services and management, along with the ongoing operation of the IT Infrastructure.

2. IT Operations Management: It is responsible for the daily operational activities needed to manage IT services and the IT Infrastructure. It includes IT Operations Control and Facilities Management.

3. Application Management: It manages applications throughout their lifecycle.

Impact Of ITIL V3 On ITIL V2 Implementation

What if your organization is already implementing (or has already implemented) ITIL V2? In fact a very minimal impact is there. You can carry forward your ITIL V2 implementation plans and once you have already implemented ITIL V2, you can identify the areas which would need some modifications or tweaking of your processes. The changes to the old processes are in terms of refinements and thus are minimal. So taking your organization from ITIL V2 to ITIL V3 is not going to be an ‘uphill’ task. And in terms of the new processes of ITIL V3, a lot of them would be what your organization would already be following. So you have to only work around these processes to follow the ITIL V3 framework.

And for the organizations that are thinking of implementing ITIL, well you can take up your implementation plan with ITIL V3 straight away.

ITIL and Six Sigma - The Magical Combination

2009-12-30T21:21:00.003+05:30

IT Information Library (ITIL) was originally defined by UK Government’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), (now Office Of Government Commerce (OGC)). ITIL defines a framework to deliver and support IT-based services. There are many components of ITIL framework and each component has a set of recommended practices and procedures that can be adopted individually or in total. Customer satisfaction is critical to a successful ITIL – run organization.

Six Sigma, on the other hand, is a quality-management process based on statistical measurements used to drive quality improvement while reducing operational costs. It is a formal approach for evaluating which processes are important to your business, measuring the quality of outputs for those processes statistically, and using the methodology for continuously mapping, measuring, and improving the process and hence the results. Six Sigma focuses on Voice of Customer (VoC) and thus on customer satisfaction.

From the understanding of both the approaches it is very clear that both ITIL and Six Sigma have the same focus i.e. ‘Customer Satisfaction’.

ITIL and Six Sigma are independent approaches. They have their own merits and have been used independently to improve the quality of IT Services. Then a question arises that when these two processes can function without each other then why should we bring them together?

ITIL tells us What should be done but it does not specify How we should do it. For example, ITIL specifies that priority should be allocated for each incident that comes into the service desk. But, it does not specify how we should allocate that priority. So with ITIL, IT staff has to find out the details of process flow and create detailed work instructions on their own as suitable for their organization.

On the other hand Six Sigma tells us How, but it doesn't tell us What. It does not specify any best practices, specifically for IT Service Management.

So we can say that ITIL defines the “what” of service management, and Six Sigma defines the “how” of quality improvement. Together, they can be a perfect fit for improving the quality of IT service delivery and support. But bringing them together is really a challenging task, with the challenge being bringing these two approaches together to implement the optimum combination for any organization.

Six Sigma can be used to work on and improve the existing processes in an organization which is already following ITIL framework and can also be used in an organization which is migrating to ITIL framework. The approach for such an organization would be to analyze the risk, compare existing processes to that what is required in the ITIL compatible state and then using a business case define the solution to migrate the existing processes to ITIL compatible processes which would be usable as well as measurable.

There are number of tools available to manage the workflow as per the ITIL framework. Since ITIL specifies what is expected from a workflow but does not specify how this workflow should be, so it is dependent on the IT staff to decide this workflow. This workflow is nothing but a process. This is where linking Six Sigma and ITIL is very helpful for the business. Six Sigma can help in standardizing the processes, eliminating the defects and then these optimized & standardized processes that is also conforming to the ITIL framework can turn out to provide a greater ROI to the organization along with Happy & Satisfied Customers.

Then the question arises that how should we move about making this combination of ITIL and Six Sigma possible?

To briefly take up this question we assume that we are migrating an existing process to an ITIL – compatible process and thus we’ll be applying the DMAIC model of Six Sigma.

In the Define Phase we focus to understand the ‘real’ requirement of the customer, i.e. Voice of Customer and correspondingly we identify the process that need to be improved and also make sure that resources required for this improvement process are in place. We should always remember that the goal of the define phase is not only to align the Six Sigma strategy to the ITIL strategy but also to the organizations strategy, which is very important for the success and feasibility of the project.

In the Measure Phase we assess the current state of the process. We define the defects, gather data for baseline information about the process, validate the measurement systems and establish more specific improvement goal. Since this phase is based on data and measurements so any source of assumption is eliminated. We determine the issues and Critical To Quality factors (CTQs) of the desired process.

In the Analyze Phase we analyze the data collected during the Measure Phase. We identify the sources of variation and then prioritize these source. We thus separate the “vital few” variables from “trivial many” variables and hence propose a possible pilot solution for the same.

In Improve Phase we confirm whether this proposed pilot solution meets the quality improvement goal of the project. If not then we further refine our pilot process to meet the desired goal.

In the Control Phase we implement this pilot solution at the organization level and ensure that the improvement made is sustained to prevent the process from reverting back to its prior state. At this stage there is a very important role of Knowledge Management so that the lessons learnt from this improvement process is properly documented and made available for process improvements in other areas. So finally the ITIL – compatible process, defined or designed using Six Sigma methodology, is implemented to achieve business goals.

This article has also been published by isixsigma.com

About Me

2009-12-30T10:28:00.001+05:30

ITIL Expert Certified, Six Sigma Greenbelt and a Gold Medalist in MS (Consultancy Management), with extensive subject matter expertise in ITIL, having around ten years of experience reflecting strong leadership qualities coupled with exceptional client relationship & management skills. Relate & interface easily at top executive levels. Powerful strategist, able to map creative business vision, transforming and empowering organizations with tools/techniques and strategies to bridge the digital business gap. Have record of delivering large-scale, mission-critical projects on time and within budget.

Currently I am Technology Head - ITIL and my SBU's Pune Location Head for India’s leading CMMI Level 5 IT services company, leading a team 20+ ITIL & process consultants
Handled ITIL consulting assignments across various geographies including UK, Switzerland and Singapore
Successfully delivered 400K USD process improvement project in UK with a cost under-run of 66K USD. Obtained overall engagement CSAT of 7 on a scale of 7
Have a history of constantly delivering projects with a CSAT of over 6.4 on a scale of 7
Have trained 250+ resources on ITIL foundation (ITIL V2 and V3)
Experience in starting, running and managing an IT firm
Exceptional interpersonal & communication skills

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Management

Strong business/technical perspective developed from working with different clients and by developing & implementing all stages of a business plan
People management skills developed by handling team of consultants, developers & support engineers
Have successfully undertaken service transition and organizational change management for clients
Ability to identify key issues in any business scenario & identify action steps to resolve them
An understanding of the importance of interpersonal relationships & team dynamics in business environments, and the ability to leverage them to achieve desired business results
Performance evaluation

Planning & Implementation

Product management & development; Have designed, developed & implemented IT solutions for clients
Have prepared business models for new products for my firm
Project planning, including process improvement or Six Sigma projects, and Implementation
Lead, manage and motivate a team of customer service professionals
Resource and demand scheduling
Review of work schedules to ensure continuous improvement of client service levels

Business Development

Develop pricing, identify key opportunities and develop sales plans. Service support & delivery and manage requirements of the business and handhold them through live stages of projects. At Developers’ Team this was one of my core activities. Successfully procured businesses and promoted new products for my firm
Manage various client accounts

Others

Awareness of latest information and communication technology from business perspective
Excellent communication skills honed through practical and educational exposure
Imparting training and giving technical presentations to both internal as well as external customers
Weekly meetings to review Technical performance and implementing appropriate action plans