itil overview

May 2007

Service management solutionsWhite paper

Incorporate service management best practices into the service life cycle.

http://www.ibm.com/us

Incorporate service management best practices into the service life cycle.2

Overview

When planning an IT budget, no CIO wants to devote increased funding to

operational costs at the expense of new service development — because new

services represent growth initiators for the organization, while operational

costs do not. Yet more and more enterprises have been making this budget

shift in recent years because the increasing size of infrastructure, process

inefficiencies, maintenance and global sourcing demand more operational

attention.

One way to reverse this trend is the adoption of a service management

approach throughout the organization, including service delivery and

operations. Service management refers to bringing IT business, development

and operations teams together to optimize service quality for the business,

meet business priorities and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

One primary benefit of service management is improved integration across the

IT service life cycle, and recent research suggests that organizations that apply

an integrated approach are up to twice as successful in reducing costs, twice

as successful at increasing quality and customer satisfaction, and up to three

times as successful in increasing revenue.*

Most problems encountered in service delivery and operations can be

traced back to inadequate integration between development and operations.

Typically, a limited “hand-off” takes place between the development team

Contents

2 Overview

4 Achieve cost and time savings through

proper service management planning

6 Integrate development and operations

teams throughout the life cycle

7 Determinebest-practicesprocesses

8 Integraterequirementsfromeach

processintoeachphaseofthe

lifecycle

9 Solveservicedeliveryand

operationalproblemsbefore

theyimpactcustomers

9 Help reduce costs and increase quality

by automating even the most complex

deployments

10 IBM Service Management helps

organizations use best practices

consistently

10IBMGlobalTechnologyServices

helpoptimizeserviceoperations

13IBMsoftwareproductsprovide

therequiredarchitectureand

automation

14 Conclusion

15 For more information

16 About IBM solutions for enabling IT

governance and risk management

Incorporate service management best practices into the service life cycle.�

and the operations team, so when an application is rolled out or updated and

service problems crop up, a tedious and consuming process is undertaken:

• First,muchtimeisspentfiguringoutwhatandwheretheproblemis.

• Next,patchesandcodearewrittento“retrofit”thenewapplicationsothatitrunsproperlyinthe

organization’sITenvironment.Onoccasion,theunwittinghandofoneprogrammermayundo

monthsofoperationalperformanceandcapacityplanning.

• Finally,asimplicationsoftheapplication-supportedservicebecomeclearer,servicemanagement

planningisinitiatedmuchtoolate.Formostorganizations,theseimplicationsbecomeclearafter

deployment,andafteroperationalcostsandservicequalityhavebeennegativelyimpacted.

Most organizations can and should improve the processes of planning

and rolling out new services and updates to existing services. Today, they face

other significant challenges that stand in the way of delivering high-quality,

cost-effective services:

• Thelackofpropercommunicationbetweendevelopmentandoperationsjustmentioned.

• Disparatetechnologies,architecturalcomplexityandteamsdividedbygeographyand/orculture

maketheprocessmorecomplex.

• Industryconsolidation,technologyconvergenceandintensepressureonbusinessmodelshave

createdanenvironmentofrapidandconstantchange.

• Compliance,auditandgovernancerequirementsintroduceaddedsecurityandaccessconsiderations.

• OverallITbudgetsremainrelativelyflateventhoughoperationalcostsarerising.

Consequently, many organizations are spending much more money than

they wish just “keeping the lights on” — and that leaves less money for the

development of innovative, new services and other growth initiatives. The

adoption of service management can play a key role in turning this situation

around. Service management stresses the use of tools, processes and best

practices that can help an organization plan, integrate and automate.


Embracing a service management approach can free resources to drive

more innovation and new capabilities within an organization. Most

importantly, the adoption of best practices–based service management can

allow IT to become a competitive differentiator — and a profit center —

instead of merely a cost center.

This white paper shows how incorporating service management into service

delivery and operations — using best practices — can help organizations

transform IT resources, both technical and human, into value.

Achieve cost and time savings through proper service management planning

Paying lip service to the concept of service management is not enough to reap

its benefits. Careful planning is paramount. The successful adoption of service

management requires a shift in mindset and an evolution in an organization’s

processes. Service management can lead an organization from a structure

of siloed application and infrastructure resources to a reliance on process-

based disciplines and, consequently, the provision of valuable IT services that

support well-conceived business processes and business services.

Both IT’s value and cost to the organization correlate with integration and

collaboration across management domains — more so than with the maturity

of any one specific functional process. Process maturity assessments are still

valuable in diagnosing and improving processes, but IT service management

presents implications that extend beyond IT and affect virtually every

management discipline within the organization.

Strategic planning should focus on the integration and collaboration

required for the overall service management capability, rather than viewing

each process as an independent effort. Instead of process maturity only,

the service management capability should emphasize adding value to the

With an emphasis on best practices, incor

porating service management into service

delivery and operations can help transform

IT resources into value

Highlights


customer through an improved overall capability achieved through enhanced

integration and collaboration. To deliver the most value, service management

must look at the business of IT from the customer’s perspective.

Unfortunately, in many organizations, the adoption of a service management

approach remains wishful thinking. That will not change until service

management impacts project management and the governance changes

required to drive complex change in the organization. The first step in

planning service management improvements is the adoption and adaptation

of industry-accepted best practices.

After all, it makes no sense to reinvent what others have already learned.

In fact, planning service management improvement is required by

international standards and globally accepted as a primary best practice.

What an organization critically needs are an actionable, end-to-end service

management framework, methodology and governance of best practices that

leverage accepted standards and practices such as:

• InternationalStandardsOrganization/InternationalElectrotechnicalCommission(ISO/IEC)20000.

• ControlObjectivesforInformationandrelatedTechnology(COBIT).

• ITInfrastructureLibrary®(ITIL®).

Beyond the adoption of best practices, planning, design and implementation

methods are required to turn service management from wishful thinking into

business value. Governance is required to establish the decision rights and

accountability framework that “glues” management capabilities together and

drives the desired behavior and decision making in IT — decision making that

aligns with business objectives. In this way, governance helps ensure that IT

functions as a provider of valued services to customers.

Planning, design and implementation are

needed to turn service management into

business value

Highlights


Integrate development and operations teams throughout the life cycle

One of the strongest benefits a best practices–based approach to service

management can deliver to an organization is integration at the information,

technology and process levels. But achieving this integration requires close

attention to these criteria:

• Toeffectivelydrivechangewithinanorganization,servicemanagementmustbecloselytiedto

projectmanagementandgovernance.

• Havingallassetclasses—bothbusinessandIT—managedandfullyintegratedinthesame

managementsystemenablesapplicationconvergence,aswellasbusinessandITsynergy.

• Thedegreeofintegrationandcollaborationacrossmanagementdomainsmayhavemoreimpact

onIT’svalueandcosttothebusinessthanthematurityofanyonespecificprocess.

As organizations drive improvements to service management, the best results

come from combining the different perspectives of product developers, service

delivery teams, IT management consultants and business process consultants

to collaboratively promote end-to-end service and asset management

excellence. Different types of subject matter expertise and advanced software

functionality require full participation from many different areas, across many

management domains.

This “integrated teaming” approach is critical for any IT organization that

desires to improve service management capabilities. It must be recognized

that valuable improvements will require changes to governance, resulting

in improved collaboration across management domains. Ultimately, this will

translate to improved value for the organization’s customers.


A well-designed system puts these integration goals within reach:

• Theintegrationofdevelopmentandoperationsteamsateachphaseoftheservicelifecycleby

usingbestpractices–baseddevelopmenttools,operationstoolsandprocessgovernance.

• Thetestingofservicesinaproduction-modeledenvironment—followedbydeploymentafter

fullconsiderationoftestingresults.

• Beforeproblemsoccur,theestablishmentofbestpracticestoenableoperationsanddevelopment

teamstocollaborativelydiscoverrootcausesquicklyandwithincreasedvisibility.

Determinebest-practicesprocesses

While integration and collaboration across management domains, rather than

the maturity of any one specific process, is the most critical factor for service

management success, it does not necessarily mean a wholesale abandonment

of an organization’s existing processes is in order. With a unified view of

service management and governance, an organization can often leverage many

existing products and processes to support integrated workflows across the

service life cycle. The integration of existing development processes should

be considered when:

• Yourvariousteamshavealreadyestablishedsuccessfulmethodsfordischargingtheirrespective

responsibilities.

• Acleardivisionofresponsibilitieshasbeendevelopedbetweentheseteams.

• Youregularlyworkwithmultipleserviceprovidersforservicedeliveryandoperations.

The key to successful integration is to investigate the various processes used

by your collaborative teams, agree on the ones that are most useful and make

them the “best-practices” processes for your entire organization.

For successful integration, investigate

processes used by your collaborative teams,

agree on the most useful processes and make

them the “bestpractices” processes for your

entire organization

Highlights


IBM has developed tools, placed in public domain, that provide an

appropriate starting point for any organization seeking to improve service

management through greater integration:

IBM Tivoli® Unified Process is a reliable and complete process reference

model that routinely saves time, improves quality and enables new levels of

innovation. Tivoli Unified Process provides practical help in understanding

the process flows, roles, tools and information work products required by

service management. Tivoli Unified Process supports ITIL, COBIT, ISO/IEC

20000 and detailed documentation of IBM Process Reference Model for the

Business of IT.

IBM Process Reference Model for the Business of IT describes more

than 40 processes critical to service management and provides a significant

reference point for how all the activities within IT, including everything under

the office of the CIO, should work together in an integrated, efficient and

effective organization.

Using these tools, an organization can bring people from disparate disciplines

together and establish a continuum between development teams and

processes, and operations teams and delivery processes.

Integraterequirementsfromeachprocessintoeachphaseofthelifecycle

A best practices–based service management system provides an integrated,

end-to-end release management capability. Collaborative service testing,

before operational deployment, is one of the primary ways to improve

operational service quality and help reduce operational costs. In this way, the

test environment becomes, in essence, a simplified mirror of the production

environment. Shared analysis of test data leads to enhanced insight into

service performance. For example, performance test results can be used by


operations as a basis for service quality planning and to establish baseline

operational thresholds. The critical point is that development and operations

plans should be integrated and coordinated as part of an overall service

management plan — much like development and production architectures.

Solveservicedeliveryandoperationalproblemsbeforetheyimpactcustomers

Integration between development and operations, exemplified by more

effective, service oriented testing can help prevent incidents and problems

before they occur, reduce the time and human effort required to resolve them,

and minimize the depth and duration of the impact to users and customers.

This type of integration is required to help reduce operational costs, improve

service quality and satisfy customer requirements for service reliability.

Effective problem management requires good forensic data for debugging the

root causes of service deployment problems. An optimal service delivery and

operations system will provide vital monitoring and configuration data as well

as the steps needed to reproduce the problem.

Monitors built into applications automatically capture problem “events”

and give problem managers access to “known errors” before they spend

time getting to a problem’s root cause. Problem managers can also see and

analyze configuration differences between test and production environments.

Meanwhile, development and testing teams can access problem records and

configurations so they can analyze and reproduce a problem — then move

to solve it.

Help reduce costs and increase quality by automating even the most

complex deployments

Automation reduces costs through two primary means: reduction of the

human effort (and labor costs) required to perform the activities, as well as

the reduction of human error that may occur during those activities. Reducing


errors improves customer satisfaction and helps control operational costs

associated with responding to incidents. A best practices–derived delivery and

operations process helps automate complex deployments within the context

of an organization’s overall release management process. Automation helps

facilitate enforcement of agreed-upon practices because it permits fewer

deviations. And even when a critical situation occurs, an established process

guides the activities required to effectively and efficiently respond, based on

agreed-to service levels.

IBM Service Management helps organizations use best practices consistently

IBM Service Management solutions enable effective governance of service

delivery and operations processes, as well as the management of the services,

software and infrastructure that supports the business. In particular, IBM

Service Management solutions help organizations to:

• Alignservicemanagementstrategyandplanswiththeneedsofthebusiness,basedonpractical,

actionableandconsistentrelianceonacceptedstandardsandpractices.

• Integrateoperationsanddevelopmentbasedonservicemanagementbestpractices.

• Automateservicemanagementcapabilitiesforconsistentexecutionandtofacilitate

auditablecompliance.

IBM integrated solutions leverage a framework for service delivery and

operations based on accepted standards and practices such as ITIL, COBIT

and ISO/IEC 20000. Organizations can also draw on IBM services for

practical help with all aspects of planning, design, automation and integration

of best practices.

For service management requirements to be addressed, organizations must

develop a service management strategy and associated policies that provide

the foundation for fast, successful implementations in accordance with

IBM Service Management solutions enable

effective governance of service delivery and

operations processes, and the management

of the services, software and infrastructure

supporting the business

Highlights


best practices such as ITIL. IBM currently has thousands of ITIL-certified

personnel with expertise in financial management; service desk, service

delivery, outsourced operations, capacity management; incident, problem,

change, release, event management and monitoring design; business

resilience; and server, network, storage, facilities and user services. IBM

staff includes OGC IAG (the ITIL Advisory Group within the UK’s Office

of Government Commerce) members, ITIL authors, members of various

IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) advisory boards and committees,

education providers, consultants and developers. IBM also maintains strategic

partnerships with leading IT service management vendors.

IBMGlobalTechnologyServiceshelpoptimizeserviceoperations

IBM Global Technology Services provide industry-leading insight and

guidance in implementing service delivery and operations processes. Expertise

includes such areas as IT management and service oriented architecture

(SOA) infrastructure consulting; IT life-cycle management; IT and SOA

governance; and software platform integration, deployment and management.

IBM Global Technology Services help clients assess, plan, design and

implement industry-accepted service management best practices like those

described in ITIL, COBIT and ISO/IEC 20000. Additionally, the IBM process

reference model for IT translates the IBM Service Management framework

into concrete action for implementation, so an organization can follow a

streamlined path from design to production.

Using workshops, analytics and process reference models in a flexible

and modular way, IBM provides unique, in-depth insight into how an

organization’s IT resources, processes and investments match overall business

needs — and what steps should be taken for improvement. IBM Global

Technology Services enable an organization to quickly identify the right

service management improvement opportunities, choose the best solution

approach and speed implementation.

IBM provides unique, indepth insight into how

an organization’s IT resources, processes and

investments match overall business needs and

how to make improvements

Highlights


IBM IT Management Consulting Services bring a business-oriented,

standards-based approach to service management strategy and planning.

IBM professionals use tested and mature assets and methods for planning

the adoption of service management practices. Modular services also include

management and strategy consulting, facilitating a well-defined path toward

better management of IT assets, higher stakeholder satisfaction, increased

efficiency and higher standards of service quality.

IBM service management design and implementation services help define

and implement an integrated set of service management tools and processes

for a business-oriented service management capability. Service management

design and implementation include considerations for the governance, guiding

principles, processes, organization, information and technology architecture

required for a successful implementation.

IBM Testing Centers of Excellence allow organizations to work with

highly experienced IBM performance, capacity and testing consultants to

help improve, plan for and validate the performance and scalability of new

applications, processes, storage solutions and networks.

A key element of IBM Service Management, IBM Global Technology

Services deliver decades of cross-industry experience in helping thousands

of organizations around the globe diagnose, plan, design and implement

service management. IBM offers solid experience, a broad portfolio

of solutions and depth of expertise to help organizations better align

technology investments to business objectives and help IT bring its full

value to the organization to drive business growth.

Incorporate service management best practices into the service life cycle.1�

IBMsoftwareproductsprovidetherequiredarchitectureandautomation

IBM software products that provide the architecture and automation required

for effective service delivery and operations include:

Tivoli Unified Process provides intuitive, Web-based access to a content-rich

database, the Tivoli Unified Process Method Library. This library draws from

expertise derived from decades of IBM consulting experience. At the heart of

Tivoli Unified Process is IBM Process Reference Model for the Business of IT.

IBM Process Reference Model for the Business of IT has a set of

ITIL descriptions for workflow management that can be tailored to fit an

organization’s particular needs. In effect, IBM Process Reference Model for

the Business of IT makes ITIL operational. It includes a simple, point-and-

click interface that allows users to gain a basic understanding of each process,

and then drill down to understand the relationships between processes, and

the roles and tools involved in efficiently managing them.

IBM Rational Unified Process® (RUP®), based on more than 20 years

of experience working with clients on thousands of projects, is a process

framework for defining, delivering and adopting software and systems

development best practices. RUP and Tivoli Unified Process are included

in IBM Rational Method Composer. The deployment of an integrated Tivoli

Unified Process/RUP solution allows organizations to build applications and

business services with manageability designed in for IT life-cycle support.

IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB) handles the data needed to initiate and manage change. It

provides an enterprise-ready platform for storing deep, standardized data

on configurations and change histories to help integrate people, processes,

information and technology.


IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Software helps organizations

automate the deployment of software to servers, desktops and laptops

distributed across different environments and locations — quickly, easily

and cost-effectively. Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Software provides

comprehensive release management capabilities, including built-in discovery,

inventory, software distribution, patch automation and support for compliance

and remediation.

IBM Rational® Performance Tester is a multiuser testing tool for validating

Web application scalability before deployment. It creates, executes and

analyzes tests to validate the reliability of complex on demand business

applications.

Rational Performance Tester can be integrated with IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) software, helping organizations quickly

pinpoint — in real time — the source of bottlenecks in application code or

server resources. Real-time information provided by ITCAM software includes

throughput, response time and specific transaction details.

Conclusion

Implementing service management in service delivery and operations

processes involves building applications and business services with

manageability designed in, for true IT life-cycle support. Such a

“build-to-manage” strategy helps ensure the successful introduction —

and lifetime success — of such services.

For any organization, a successful transition to a service management

approach will necessarily involve looking at the business of IT from the

customer’s perspective. It must be remembered that both IT’s value and

cost to the business are more related to integration and collaboration across

management domains than with the maturity of any one specific functional


process. Enhancing the range and depth of service management capabilities

(including the level of integration and collaboration both within the

organization and with its business partners) will dramatically add value

to the business.

Employing the IBM Service Management approach to service delivery and

operations, based on best practices, allows an organization to manage new

technology alongside existing technology — all with a strategic view toward the

organization’s specific service delivery objectives. IBM service management

helps organizations deliver and operate new services efficiently, while

enhancing service levels and process capabilities.

For more information

To learn more about how IBM Service Management solutions can help your

organization better manage and apply best-practices precepts to service

delivery and operations, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business

Partner, or visit ibm.com/itsolutions/servicemanagement

Also at ibm.com/itsolutions/servicemanagement, you may download these

useful, service management–related tools:

Tivoli Unified Process provides practical help in understanding the

process flows, roles, tools and information work products required by

service management.

IBM IT Service Management Self-Assessment will help you better

understand how your IT infrastructure can more effectively and efficiently

deliver IT services by:

• EvaluatingITprocessesandtheirimportancetoyourITefficiencyandeffectiveness.

• Providinginsightsintoprocessprioritiesforimprovements,basedonyoursituation.

• Sharingapproachesandsolutionsonhowanintegrated,servicesapproachtoservice

managementcanbenefityourorganization.

G000-0000-00

© CopyrightIBMCorporation2007

IBMCorporationRoute100Somers,NY10589U.S.A.

ProducedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica5-07AllRightsReserved

IBM,theIBMlogo,Rational,RationalUnifiedProcess,RUPandTivoliaretrademarksofInternationalBusinessMachinesCorporationintheUnitedStates,othercountriesorboth.

ITInfrastructureLibraryisaregisteredtrademarkoftheCentralComputerandTelecommunicationsAgencywhichisnowpartoftheOfficeofGovernmentCommerce.

ITILisaregisteredtrademark,andaregisteredcommunitytrademarkoftheOfficeofGovernmentCommerce,andisregisteredintheU.S.PatentandTrademarkOffice.

Othercompany,productandservicenamesmaybetrademarksorservicemarksofothers.

Disclaimer:Thecustomerisresponsibleforensuringcompliancewithlegalrequirements.Itisthecustomer’ssoleresponsibilitytoobtainadviceofcompetentlegalcounselastotheidentificationandinterpretationofanyrelevantlawsandregulatoryrequirementsthatmayaffectthecustomer’sbusinessandanyactionsthereadermayhavetotaketocomplywithsuchlaws.IBMdoesnotprovidelegaladviceorrepresentorwarrantthatitsservicesorproductswillensurethatthecustomerisincompliancewithanylaworregulation.

*IBMGlobalCEOStudy2006

About IBM solutions for enabling IT governance and risk management

IBM enables IT organizations to support governance and risk

management by aligning IT policies, processes and projects with business

goals. Organizations can leverage IBM services, software and hardware to

plan, execute and manage initiatives for IT service management, business

resilience and security across the enterprise. Organizations of every size

can benefit from flexible, modular IBM offerings that span business

management, IT development and IT operations and draw on extensive

customer experience, best practices and open standards–based technology.

IBM helps clients implement the right IT solutions to achieve rapid

business results and become a strategic partner in business growth. For

more information about IBM Governance and Risk Management, visit

ibm.com/itsolutions/governance

http://www.ibm.com/us

itil overview

Documents

tivoli unified process

incorporate service management

service life cycle

service management capability

service management strategy

reduce operational costs

service management

service delivery