Why IT Service Management is Needed?

Higher IT service quality is always required while fewer resources are available
Users are not interested in the processes / technology, rather they just need to utilize
the service to achieve business goals
As users are usually not directly responsible for the costs of IT services, they would
endlessly request more and more IT services with higher and higher standards /
quality
Changes to business and technology happen continually that would affect IT systems and
processes
Nowadays, IT services are increasingly provided as business services to the external
customers (e.g. in the past, bank customers would need to go to a local bank to
request a transaction with the bank teller who would make use of the IT system to
retrieve the account and record the transaction; nowadays, customers would directly
make transaction online or in ATMs where the IT services are directly used by the
customers)
The need to balance IT services request and quality with available resources to deliver the
maximum value to the business -> IT service management

What is IT Service Management?

IT Service
[definition] A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes
customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks
e.g. Email service: business users just make use of email service for communication
needs, the management, cost and risks (e.g. security, hardware, virus, etc.) are not
their concerns
outcome is the result of carrying out an activity, including intended and actual results
two types of customers: internal (within the same organization) and external (outside
the organization)
external services provide a more direct and visible contribution to the business
outcome than internal services
[definition] IT Service A service provided by an IT service provider. An IT service is made
up of a combination of information technology, people and processes. A customer-facing
IT service directly supports the business processes of one or more customers and its service
level targets should be defined in a service level agreement. Other IT services, called
supporting services, are not directly used by the business but are required by the service
provider to deliver customer-facing services.
IT Services consist of taking care the design, implementation and maintenance of all the
components that are required to fulfill a business objective for the users (i.e. IT and business
integration, not just IT and business alignment)
Values of IT services

 Create values for the business by supporting business processes

Create values for end customers
Reduce costs / increase productivity (enhance performance)
Manage costs / risks / issues more effectively
Reduce / remove constraints (e.g. not enough bandwidth)
Facilitate achievement of outcomes (e.g. students registering for a class)
Customer Satisfaction is at the core of judgment of the quality of the services. Service
costs (total cost of ownership (TOC), return on investment (ROI) or overall cost) will be a
major factor to be considered by the customers.
Types of services according to the value for customers
Core Services: required directly by customers to deliver an intended outcome
Enabling Services: needed to ensure core services can be delivered successfully, not
visible to customers
Enhancing Services: created to add features / values to the customers, not essential
Types of IT services according to the customer types
Supporting Services (infrastructure services): not directly visible to customers,
managed with operation level agreements
Internal Customerfacing Services: enable internal customers to carry out its
business process, managed with service level agreements
External Customerfacing Services: used by the external customers, can be the
business process itself, managed with contracts
A service package is a collection of two or more [generic] services that have been combined
to offer a solution to a specific type of customer need or to underpin specific business
outcomes. A service package may consists of any types of services. The generic services
used in this way can achieve economy of scale.
In case if there is a need for giving options on warranty and/or utility for components of a
service package, different service level packages can be offered as service options.

Stakeholders
[definition] Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have an interest in an organization,
service, or project and are potentially interested or engaged in the activities, resources,
targets, or deliverables from service management.
Internal stakeholders: within the service provider organization
External stakeholders: outside customers, users, suppliers (vendors, network
providers)
[definition] Service providers are organizations supplying services to one or more internal
or external customers.

IT Service Management
[definition] Service Management is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for
providing value to customers in the form of services.

 Capabilities: functions and processes for managing services over a lifecycle

Specialized: in strategy, design, transition, operation, and continual improvement
The capabilities represent a service organizations capacity, competency, and
confidence for action. The act of transforming resources into valuable services is
at the core of service management. Without these capabilities, a service organization
is merely a bundle of resources that by itself has relatively low intrinsic value for
customers.
[definition] IT Service Management: The implementation and management of quality IT
services that meet the needs of the business. IT service management is performed by IT
service providers (to internal or external customers) through an appropriate mix of people,
process and information technology.
Make use of best practices (a set of generic (high level) guidelines based on the
successful experiences of a number of organizations) in service
management, adapt and apply for the business to save cost and improve quality
[definition] Good practice could be either an application of best practice, or an
input into best practice
Types of IT Service Providers
Type I: Internal Service Provider service providers located within the business
unit, maybe several internal service providers within an organization
Type II: Shared Services Unit supports several business units, e.g. centralized IT
department
Type III: External Service Provider delivers services to external customers
Suppliers vs Providers
suppliers only provide an element of the service which is not visible to the customer

Process
A process is a set of activities designed to turn input(s) into output(s) to accomplish a
specific objective (need to be measurable, expressing in terms business benefits for business
goals), often including feedback (report, measurements (metrics)) from the output to be
used for process improvements
Processes may include roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls (actions,
dependencies, and sequence) and are supported by the enablers (resources and capabilities).
The process is considered effective if all the objectives of the output are met.
Each process is owned by a process owner responsible for the process and improvement,
ensuring the process meets the defined objectives
Once defined, processes need to be documented and controlled (repeatable and
manageable)
Process Characteristics:
Measurable (performance based e.g. cost, quality, productivity, duration)
Deliver specific identifiable and countable results
Meet the expectations of the customers / stakeholders

 Respond to specific events (called triggers)

Business Process, IT Process and IT Service

IT teams provide the service to enable the business process to be automated.
IT team will need to take reference to the ITIL best practice of IT processes to deal
with a particular business process
Benefits of Process Automation with IT Service:
Capacity Management Improve quality, i.e. can respond to variation in demand,
less time restrictions
Optimization handle complex tasks better
Measurement for improvement as human factor is ruled out
Reduce costs (users can self-serve) and risks (human errors)
Knowledge Capture reduce variations as the process is well studied and
documented
The tasks should be well studied and only simple and routine tasks with recognizable
patterns can be automated
Areas of service management ideal for automation:
design and modeling (for project and forecasting)
service catalog (capture demand for services)
pattern recognition and analysis
classification, prioritizing and routing
detection and monitoring
routine service requests

Functions and Roles

[definition] Function: A team or group of people and the tools they use (resources) to carry
out one or more processes or activities
Functions are self-contained units responsible to carry out the tasks to create specific
outcomes
provide structure and stability to the organization
have their own body of knowledge accumulated through experience
e.g. technical management, application management, operations management
functions, service desk
[definition] Role: A set of responsibilities, activities and authorities granted to a person or
team
triggers to play the role are determined by processes (by the line-manager)
one person/team can take up several roles in different context
e.g. change management role, capacity management role
Defined roles in ITIL:
Group a number of people performing similar activities, not formal structure

 Team a more formal structure for people working together with a common
objective
Department a formal organizational structure with a hierarchical structure
Division a number of departments forming a self-contained unit

Why Information Technology Infrastructure Library

(ITIL)?
ITIL is recognized as a world-wide best-practice approach for delivering IT services and IT
service management by focusing on the processes, functions, and capabilities required to support IT
services in businesses. It helps organizations to gain competitive advantage by ensuring they are
utilizing the best-practice approaches to IT available helping IT services to meet the needs of the
customers within the budget in an cost-effective way. There are different sources of the best
practices: proprietary knowledge / internal experience, standards / industry practice and training and
education / academic research.
ITIL is considered one of the standards containing the body of knowledge in best practice and is
being adapted by organizations worldwide to establish and improve capabilities in service
management.
It works as ITIL embraces a practical approach with a common framework
Vendor-neutral not tied to any technology, platform or industry, owned by the UK
Government
Non-prescriptive designed for all types of organizations, advocates adopt and adapt,
doesnt specify how the best practices are to be structured or carried out
Best practice accumulated through experiences by service providers worldwide
ITIL enables organizations to deliver benefits, values and return on investment on a sustainable
approach. It allows a cultural shift by the adoption of standard approach to service management
across the entire organization.
ITIL standardizes the strategic approach to the management of services, the performing
organizations just need to make minor adjustments to meet their business needs. This is the core of
ITILs approach to service management.

The ITIL Service Lifecycle

ITIL consists of the following components:
The ITIL Core: a set of five publications containing the best practice guidance
applicable to all organizations providing services
The ITIL Complementary Guidance: a auxiliary set of publications (online or
printed) detailing the application of ITIL to specific industries, organization and
technology platform
Organizations practicing ITIL may get certified under ISO/IEC 20000

1. Service Strategy
Guidance for organizations on
how to think and act in a strategic manner
how to turn service management into strategic assets for strategic growth by
understanding the cost and value of the services
how to clarify relationships between various services, systems, or processes and the
business models, strategies, or objectives

2. Service Design
Guidance for organizations on
how to design and develop services / service management processes
how to convert strategic objectives into portfolios of services and service assets
applicable for existing services requiring changes / improvements
integrate people, process, products and partners

3. Service Transition
Guidance for organizations on
how to build and test the services
how to transit new / improved services into operation (live environment)
how to effectively realize the Service Strategy as planned in Service Design in
Service Operation and control risks
how to manage changes of services / service management
combine release management, program management and risk management in the context of
service management
from testing to live; from one organization to another

4. Service Operation
Guidance for organizations on
how to coordinate daily operation and deploy the services to operation
how to deliver value with quality, efficiency and effectiveness by service operation
and support
how to maintain stability while allowing for changes
how to exercise reactive and proactive control
how to support operation through new models and architectures (e.g. web services,
mobile e-commerce, cloud computing, etc.)
Execute the plans and measure the results
A critical capability as strategic objectives are realized in operation

5. Continual Service Improvement

Guidance for organizations on

 measurement, reporting and improvement on services, processes and technology for

every stage in the lifecycle
how to continually monitor, maintain and create value to users through better design,
transition and operation
how to link improvement efforts and outcomes with service strategy, design, and
transition through the closed-loop PDCA (plan, do, check, act) model
how to continually align to changing business needs
Combine quality management, change management and capability improvement