ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) is the world's most widely established approach to IT Service Management (ITSM). It provides a set of best practices for identifying, planning, delivering and supporting IT services to businesses. ITIL's ITSM Best Practice is supported by the AXELOS certification scheme that enables practitioners to demonstrate abilities in adopting and adapting the framework to address an organisation's specific needs.
The ITIL Service Lifecycle is comprised of the following volumes:
These five volumes map the entire ITIL Service Lifecycle, beginning with the identification of customer needs and drivers of IT requirements, through to the design and implementation of the service and finally, the monitoring and improvement phase of the service.
Service Strategy provides guidance on how to design, develop and implement Service Management not only as an organisational capability as a strategic asset.
The ABC of Financial Management for IT Services (Accounting, Budgeting, Charging), provides the quantification of the value of IT services and assets, and the qualification of operational forecasting.
Service Design provides guidance for the design of appropriate and innovative IT services, including their architecture, processes, policies, and documentation, to meet current and future agreed business requirements.
There are five aspects of Service Design that provide a holistic approach to the design of new and changed services [STAMP]. Service Solutions for new or changed services; Management Information system and Tools; Technology Architectures and management architectures; Measurement methods and Metrics; and The Processes required.
The CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) of information security management is the benchmark model used to evaluate and match the agreed needs of the business.
Service Transition provides guidance for the development and improvement of capabilities for transitioning new and changed services into operations.
The Seven R's of change management offer a process to assess the risk and benefit of change to a service: Who RAISED the change? What is the REASON for the change? What is the RETURN required from the change? What are the RISKS involved in the change? What RESOURCES are required to deliver the change? Who is RESPONSIBLE for the build, test and implementation of the change? What is the RELATIONSHIP between this change and other changes?
Service Operation includes guidance on achieving effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery and support of services so as to ensure value for the customer and the service provider. From a customer viewpoint Service Operation is where actual value is seen / realised. The operation of service is where plans, designs and optimisations are executed and measured.
The service desk is a critical component to an organisation's ITSM. It is key to the successful implementation and fulfilment of service operation processes. A good service desk may compensate for deficiencies elsewhere within the organisation, but an ineffective service desk can give a poor impression of an otherwise excellent service. Hence, the correct calibre of staff must be used on the service desk.
A focus on increasing the efficiency, maximising the effectiveness and optimising the cost of services and the underlying IT Service Management (ITSM) processes.
Many organizations attempt Service Improvement through ‘big bang’ implementations, but often small iterative improvements to a service or process can be more efficient and less risky. The Deming Cycle (or PDCA Cycle) provides a method for quality improvement. After each phase there is a period of consolidation to ensure new improvements are performing as intended and that the benefits are not temporary. Activities in the Deming Cycle:
The 7 Step Improvement Process explains how to measure and report on service improvement. It is vital to baseline so to measure any improvements or deficiencies against an original marker. The 7 steps include:
There are close links between the 7 Step Improvement Process, the Deming Cycle and the Data to Information to Knowledge to Wisdom (DIKW) structure of Knowledge Management, which should feed into the Service Improvement Plan (SIP).
ITIL is mapped in ISO 20000. This recognizes the way that ITIL can be used in to meet the requirements set out for ISO 20000 certification and the interdependent nature with ITIL. This is the first such mapping that the International Organization for Standardization has allowed to be part of their standards
AXELOS, created on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government in the UK, is responsible for developing best practice methodologies used globally by professionals working primarily in project, programme and portfolio management, ITSM and cyber resilience.