Service Management

Contents This presentation will review:  Major risk factors  How these risks can be eliminated  How this provides a successful implementation

Risk Elimination

Risk Factors There are several reasons why Service Management implementations fail:  Lack of senior management commitment  Unable to reach consensus on process definitions  Processes cannot be supported by a tool  Tool customization takes too long  Resistance from IT specialists  Inadequate training of IT specialists

Risk Elimination Lack of Senior Management Commitment  Do not start a Service Management implementation until senior management understands its importance and is willing to support it.  Ask senior management to send an to all IT managers and specialists. This must state the commitment of senior management to Service Management.

Risk Elimination Unable to Reach Consensus on Process Definitions  Use a detailed set of field-proven processes to get started  Set-up a board that will review and approve improvement requests after the organization has had some experience with the processes (and the supporting tool)  This completely eliminates or significantly reduces the process definition phase of the Service Management implementation

Risk Elimination Processes Cannot be Supported by a Tool  Ensure that the field-proven processes can be supported by a Service Management application  Do this before starting the implementation project

Risk Elimination Tool Customization Takes too Long  Use a preconfigured database for the Service Management application  This database should contain all settings to ensure that the Service Management application can efficiently support the field-proven processes.  This completely eliminates or reduces the tool customization phase of the Service Management implementation

Risk Elimination Resistance from IT Specialists  Ensure that the specialists receive an from senior management indicating senior management’s commitment to Service Management  Provide specialist with practical instructions, rather than academic guidelines  Make these instructions readily accessible on the organization’s intranet, rather than handing out thick process documents  Give the specialists a tool: =that is pleasant to work with =of which the GUI can be personalized

Risk Elimination Inadequate Training of IT Specialists  Because training is normally provided towards the end of the implementation project, it is often compromised because: =the deadline needs to be met =there is not enough budget left  Avoid this by eliminating (or reducing) the process definition and the tool customization phases  Minimize the training effort required by ensuring that: =the processes are common sense, rather than an intellectual challenge =that the terminology used to describe the processes is not confusing (e.g. incident / problem) =the tool is configured to prevent people from making mistakes

Risk Elimination Summary  Ask senior management to send an to all specialists stating its commitment to Service Management  Obtain a set of processes to eliminate or reduce the process definition phase  Ensure that the processes: =are field-proven =are common sense =provide practical instructions that are readily accessible for reference =use easy to understand terminology  Obtain a preconfigured database with tool settings for complete and efficient support of the processes

Benefits Apart from eliminating or reducing all major risks, the benefits are:  Process definition phase eliminated or reduced =Significant time savings =Significant cost savings (external process consultants) =Avoids internal arguments and frustration =Avoids unsatisfactory compromises  Tool customization phase eliminated or reduced =Time savings =Cost savings  Implementation project team can concentrate on training

Result A Service Management implementation project can be implemented in a short period of time A major portion of this time is dedicated to training Because the processes, the tool, and the implementation plan are field-proven, and because all major risk factors are eliminated or minimized, the implementation is successful.

Can’t we just use ITIL ?

ITIL The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provides the guidelines for organizations that want to define their Service Management processes. It does not provide the processes themselves. Even the processes are not enough, however. They will need to have detailed work instructions behind them to provide a practical benefit to the people who are expected to follow the processes. Naturally, ITIL also does not provide tool settings. Hence, ITIL is not enough. Organizations are still expected to do a lot of work. TheoryTheory HP OpenView Service Desk GuidelinesGuidelines ProcessesProcesses ProceduresProcedures Work Instructions Tool Settings Service Management Tool ITIL GAP Alignability

Conclusion

Service Management Implementation  Best practices following ITIL Guidelines is the goal  Get the technology and the processes in place as fast as possible  Put all your effort into training the team