Multi-layer ICT Management Presented by Andy Park

Introduction There is no one RIGHT way to manage ICT. There is no WRONG way to manage ICT. The ideas presented here are personal. They have taken shape over many years. ICT management is often erratic. ICT management can be organized.

Andy Park How do you think it should be done? Hierarchy? Divisions? Departments? Groups?

Andy Park Whichever way you look at it: Identify “blocks”. Set up communication between “blocks”.

Andy Park Have you considered layers but with good communication? Divide ICT management into layers. Good communication is essential.

Andy Park Firstly Each layer involves HW, SW and people. And the layers are:

Andy Park 1) The user layer The (end) customer. Everything needed to look after the customer.

Andy Park 1a) The customer could be: A group of users. A department. A company. Company relations (EDI). Developers. The outside world (via internet etc.). BISL “Focus”

Andy Park 1b) Looking after the customer User management. Customer relations. Security. Helpdesk. Maybe even sales, marketing of ICT services.

Andy Park 2) The application layer Everything the users directly interacts with.

Andy Park 2a) The application layer Office tools. Printing, plotting, scanning. General applications. ERP/MRP/CRM. Development tools and compilers. ICT support tools. Factory/Laboratory automation software.

Andy Park 2b) The application layer Functional application management –Functional specification Technical application management –Software development –Software management (SW C&D) ASL “Focus”

Andy Park 3) The data layer Data is what the applications process.

Andy Park 3a) The data layer Database management. File and disk management. Tape management / backups. HSM, RAID, SAN, NAS. File shares. Middleware (data access) products.

Andy Park 4) The system layer The basic environment to run the applications.

Andy Park 4a) The system layer Clients (Terminals, PC’s, Tablets, Smartphones, Virtual Desktops, ATM’s). Servers, CPU, Memory. Operating systems. Special peripherals.

Andy Park 5) The infrastructure layer Everything to connect the pieces. –Network. –Environment.

Andy Park 5a) The network Network management. Cables, switches, routers, hubs, bridges. Firewalls. TCP/IP, SNA, DECnet, OSI. Telephone. WWW.

Andy Park 5b) The environment Electricity, gas, water. (Coffee?) Cooling, heating. Rooms. Fire prevention.

Andy Park To summarize The user layer. The application layer. The data layer. The system layer. The infrastructure layer. But this is not the end of the story!

Andy Park Major advantages Good foundation for costing. –€ per m2, per CPU unit, per GB, per application The right experts working together. Experts doing their own job.

Andy Park Major disadvantages Requires trust that each layers does its job.

Andy Park (Management) Communication The layers are not independent. Without some sort of communication nothing happens. You need to recognize and understand the processes involved. Each process covers ALL the layers.

Andy Park ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library. A set of concepts on which to design your own ICT management processes.

Andy Park ITIL groups The service support group. –daily work. The service delivery group. –vision for the future.

Andy Park Service support The processes involved with the day to day running of ICT.

Andy Park Service support Configuration management. Incident management. Problem management. Change management. Software control and distribution.

Andy Park Configuration management What are our assets (HW, SW and People)? What are the relations between assets? What needs registering? Keeping information up to date.

Andy Park Incident management Identifying incidents (by tools). Identifying incidents (from customers). Helpdesk - contact with customer. Keeping track of who is “solving” incident. When is an incident a problem?

Andy Park Problem management Working out what is the real problem. Finding solutions. Defining “Known errors”. Generating “request for change”.

Andy Park Change management Processing Request for change. Planning. Is it worth doing? What are the consequences? What are the priorities?

Andy Park Software control and distribution Keeping track of SW versions. Who needs which version? Who has which version? How to get new versions where they are needed.

Andy Park Service delivery The processes involved with the long term. Where are we going? What are our goals?

Andy Park Service delivery Service level management. Customer liaison. Cost management. Capacity management. Availability management. Contingency planning.

Andy Park Service level management Analysis and evaluation of services. Creation of “service catalog”. Creation of “Service Level Agreements”. SLA is the result of discussions between customers and ICT. Setting up reporting.

Andy Park Customer liaison General discussion with customer at high level. Future plans. What’s going wrong.

Andy Park Cost management Identify what everything is really costing. Calculation of what (new) things will really cost. (not just purchase price). Possibility of invoicing customers.

Andy Park Capacity management How are resources being used? Identification of when expansion will be required. What will a new service need?

Andy Park Availability management When are services required? When can we do maintenance? How reliable do things need to be? What are the consequences if something's not available? Security issues.

Andy Park Contingency planning What can go wrong? Should we allow for it? What are we going to do about it? Everything from just making a backup to having hot standby external computer sites.

Andy Park Map ITIL on management layers The User Layer (BISL) The Application Layer (ASL) The Data Layer The System Layer The Infrastructure Layer I T I L

Andy Park Summary Now you know what you are managing and how. What = the ICT management layers. How = the ICT processes. Do you have the knowledge, tools, and people to “get organized”?