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ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Management as
a Practice (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-
foundation-service-management/)
[ITIL v3 Foundation Study Notes (/web/itil)] Service Management as a
Practice gives an introduction to the definition and practice of service
management according to the ITIL framework for the ITIL v3 Foundation
Certification.
Why IT Service Management is Needed?
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Home (http://edward-designer.com/web) ITIL Foundation (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil/)
ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Management as a Practice
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
Back to top
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
Conclusion: ITIL v3 Foundation Concepts
This ITIL v3 Foundation study note provides an overview of the components of the ITIL framework and the ITIL
lifecycle (Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service
Improvement) and definitions of terms like IT Service, IT Service Management, Process, Function and Role.

ITIL v3 Foundation 2011 Study Notes
1. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Management as a Practice (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-
foundation-service-management/)
2. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Strategy (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-service-strategy/)
3. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Strategy [2] (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-service-strategy-
2/)
4. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Design (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-design/)
5. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Design [2] (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-design-2/)
6. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Design [3] (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-design-3/)
7. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Design [4] (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-design-4/)
8. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Transition (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-transition/)
9. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Transition [2] (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-v3-foundation-
notes-service-transition-2/)
10. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Operation and Functions (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-
operation/)
11. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Operation [2] (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-operation-
2/)
12. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Service Operation [3] (http://edward-designer.com/web/service-operation-
3/)
13. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Continual Service Improvement (http://edward-
designer.com/web/continual-service-improvement/)
14. ITIL v3 Foundation Notes: Last Minutes Revision Notes (http://edward-designer.com/web/itil-v3-
foundation-notes/)
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