itil in the real world :

1

ITIL in the Real World: NYU Leverages ITIL Best Practices to Enhance IT Organizational Processes and Service Delivery

Presented by Ben Maddox, NYU Information Technology Services

[email protected] or 212-992-9298

mailto:[email protected]

2

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Information Technology Services (ITS) at NYU

New York University at a GlanceAbout Information Technology Services (ITS) at NYU About ITIL:

OverviewKey Components

ITIL in Action:Strategic Planning, A Critical Element Mapping ITIL Processes to ITS Initiatives

ITIL and ITS: Lessons Learned, Next StepsSummary

3

New York University at a Glance

• The nation’s largest private University, at over 50,000 students and more than 14,000 employees

• Large and complex fiscal and physical operation

• Consistently ranked as one of country’s more “wired” campuses

• Impacted by HIPPAA, FERPA, Graham Leach Bliley and other regulatory policies

• Currently implementing Active Directory

• One central IT organization, but schools, divisions and departments may have local support teams, systems administrators and tools.

4

About Information Technology Services at NYU

In advancement of the NYU community’s commitment to teaching, learning, research, and public service, the purpose of NYU Information Technology Services is

to serve,

to lead,

to innovate

with services that are readily available, responsive, reliable and cost-effective.

— ITS Mission Statement, adopted 1999

5

About Information Technology Services at NYU: Structure

Communications & Computing Services

Operation, management, evolution and security of NYU's large-scale technology infrastructure providing voice (telephone) and data network services, and computing resources supporting a wide range of essential, computer-based University services.

Technology services for faculty and students, in support of research, scholarship, and instruction; Internet2 resources; computer labs, ResNet services, classes, and more; development and management of web, email, and NYUHome portal services, and of strategic technology initiatives.

Enterprise Computing & Support Services

IT helpdesk services for all faculty, students, and staff, and application development and support for core University administrative systems; desktop support, accounts, training, publications, directory, database, and application security services; SIS, Albert, HRIS/PASS, fame, BSR Advance, Data Warehouse, BIA, eReports, Brio, Remedy, and more.

.edu Services Office of the Associate Provost & Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO)

Leadership and coordination of University IT strategy, policies, and services; IT-related planning, compliance, and continuity services.

— Adapted from http://www.nyu.edu/its/about/

6

About ITIL: Overview• Developed in late 1980s in the UK in response to

growing dependence on IT

• Now a public body of knowledge for Service Management best practices

• Helps organizations improve service levels and reduce the cost of IT operations

• A framework, defining ten interlocking processes for service support and service delivery

• Also provides guidance on IT security, business management, and other topics

• The ten ITIL processes are described in two volumes:

- Service Support focuses on management of essential operational processes

- Service Delivery on strategic management of the IT services

7

About ITIL: Key Components

Service SupportService Desk*Incident ManagementProblem ManagementConfiguration ManagementChange ManagementRelease Management

*A function, not a process.

Service DeliveryService Level ManagementFinancial Management for IT ServicesCapacity ManagementIT Service Continuity ManagementAvailability Management

QuickTime™ and aGraphics decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

— Adapted from ITIL training material.

8

About ITIL: Key Components (continued)

Service SupportService Desk*Incident ManagementProblem ManagementConfiguration ManagementChange ManagementRelease Management

*A function, not a process.

Service DeliveryService Level ManagementFinancial Management for IT ServicesCapacity ManagementIT Service Continuity ManagementAvailability Management

9

ITIL in Action

STRATEGIC PLANNING

PROJECTS &INITIATVES

BEST PRACTICES

ITIL

ITIL Best Practices Framework —

may include other frameworks or

guidelines

Projects, Services

initiatives and organizational

culture

Organizational and institutional

strategy and alignment

10

ITIL in Action

ITIL and Strategic Planning & Initiatives

• The alignment of IT and business, mapping product and service delivery to institutional planning and identified needs, is strongly emphasized the ITIL framework.

• Over the course of the last two years, ITS has provided ITIL Essentials Training or workshops to more than 50 staff members of our staff. In addition, staff members take advantage of tuition remisson and workshop offerings in project management, service delivery and communication.

• ITS is committed to long term strategic and tactical partnerships with academic and operational units. These includes areas directly recommended by ITIL best practices, such as the strengthening of service delivery, service support, and continuity and availability management.

11

Mapping ITIL Processes to ITS Initiatives

ITIL Service Support Process ITS Projects & Services

Service Desk*• Single point of contact with the

IT organization• Incident & Problem

Management is its primary process

• May also include a Change Management role

• May also have roles with respect to Configuration Management, Service Level Management & Release Management

• Knowledge base — creating & populating with IT solutions • Cross-training for more complex issues, such as accounts and

eligibility• Emphasis on single point of contact for communication • Sharing of information across IT areas• Creation and deployment of ServTrak, in-house services tracking

tool to support Services Catalogue• University-wide course-management support group • Facilitating Enterprise-wide adoption of incident management

tools

*A function.

12

Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)


Incident Management • An incident is any event which

is not part of the standard operation of a service and which causes, or may cause an interruption to, or a reduction in the quality of that service.

• Incidents are recorded, classified and allocated to appropriate specialists, incident progress is monitored, and incidents are resolved and they are closed.

• Incident Management (BMC Remedy) innovation and enhancement

• Creation of new roles for escalation within Service Desk — e.g., IT Support Technicians I and II, Analyst II

• Increased in-house training and knowledge sharing• ACD/Remedy/UDW reporting• Daily key performance indicator (KPI) reporting

13



Problem Management • Identifying or detecting

system/application/infrastructure problems based on a collection of related incidents.

• Enacting and tracking appropriate solutions.

• Collaborating with IT service partners to increase problem definition and tracking

• Facilitating enterprise-wide availability of incident management tools

• Increasing use of knowledge base• Supervisory Team has greater access to metrics

14



Configuration Management Provide reliable and up-to-date details about the IT infrastructure.

• Marimba deployment; asset tracking via BMC Remedy; Change Request tracking

• ITS Security initiatives for criticality and system administration• Security Architecture Working group formed• Non-ITS systems administrators forum created

15



Change Management Manage the process of change

and consequently limit incidents

related to changes.

• Creation and deployment of ModTrak, in-house change management tool

• University Data Warehouse — data sharing across toolsets• Enhancements of incident management and change request

systems

16



Release Management Ensure the quality of the production environment, by using formal procedures and checks when implementing new versions.

(Release Management is concerned with implementation, unlike Change Management, which is concerned with verification.)

• Use of ModTrak for documentation related to change• Use of ProjTrak, in-house project management tool providing

timelines and project tracking through completion• Technical Review Team for assessment of projects’ feasibility

and completion

17

Mapping ITIL Processes: Service Delivery

ITIL Service Delivery Process

ITS Projects & Services

Service Level Management Process of negotiating, defining, measuring, managing and improving the quality of IT services at an acceptable cost

• Optimizing the use of SLAs, including reporting and notification• Enterprise-wide technical support working groups• Providing incident management tools and training for non-

technical areas, such as Human Resources Divisions• ServTrak - Creation and deployment of in-house service tracking

tool• Developing ITS operational-level agreements (OLAs)• Providing incident management

18

Mapping Processes: Service Delivery (continued)



Financial Management for IT Services

Promote the efficient and economic use of IT resources, by changing over from budget-based organizations with fixed budgets to cost-conscious businesslike organizations.

• Use of “Trak” toolset to document and evaluate IT services and products

• Use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs)• Cross-ITS and business unit collaboration in the development of

and compliance with IT controls policy

19


ITIL Service Delivery Process ITS Projects & Services

Capacity ManagementProvide the required capacity for data processing and storage, at the right time and in a cost effective way.

• Creation and deployment of ProjTrak, in-house project-tracking tool

• Created cross-ITS working group for enterprise applications and systems administration

20


ITIL Service Delivery Process ITS Projects & Services

IT Service Continuity ManagementContingency planning — proactive, rather than reactive — with an emphasis on preventing disasters.

• Disaster Recovery planning, formal testing, and assessment• Communicating business continuity as a priority to ITS

leadership, management, and staff• Collaborating with partners across University regarding

emergency and continuity planning• Extended Service Coverage (XSC) program

21




Availability ManagementEnsuring the IT infrastructure —

its availability, reliability,

maintainability, and

serviceability.

• Multiple redundancy projects for network and hardware• Extended Service Coverage (XSC) • Communicating Scheduled Maintenance windows to clients via

Ask ITS service portal• Creation of cross-ITS working group for enterprise applications

and systems administration

22

ITS and ITIL: Asking the Right Questions

Where do we want to be?

Where are we?

How can we get where we want to

be?

How do we know that we have

arrived?

Vision and business objectives

Assessment

Process improvement

Metrics

— Adapted from IT Service Management, an introduction, a publication of the IT Service Management Forum.

23

ITIL & ITS: Lessons Learned, Next Steps

• Process enhancement is incremental - take the long look

• Use the framework to connect the dots of initiatives and build a portfolio

• Integrate support planning earlier in our product and service development cycles, so that the products we release are easier to use and support.

• Ask your client communities what will support their business and leverage ITIL to mapp your initiatives

• Resource limitations will impact your timelines

• Make noticeable improvements in procedures people have to follow to get ITS services.

• Mitigate the impact of service disruptions by using innovative notification approaches.

• Work with other help-providing groups at NYU to coordinate services more effectively.

• Intensify our use of metrics in driving improvements and of the Remedy trouble ticket system to track problems, identify trends, and evaluate the effects of improvement measures introduced.

itil in the real world :

Documents