1. Best Practices – Overview
IT Service Management
Best Practices – Overview
2/15/2006
John A. Underwood and Steve Sobiech

2. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
Developed by the British government over the last 30 years
Open source framework for IT service delivery
A collection of best practices developed in the IT industry
Aims to synchronize theory and practice by the use of comprehensive checklists, tasks, procedures and responsibilities which can be tailored to any IT organization
Other models based on ITIL
HP’s ITSM Reference Model
IBM’s IT Process Model
Microsoft’s Operations Framework (MOF)

3. ITIL

4. ITIL IT Service Management (ITSM)
Service Support
Incident Management
Problem Management
Configuration Management
Change Management
Release Management
Service Delivery
Service Level Management
Financial Management
Capacity Management
IT Service Compatibility
IT Service Continuity Management
Availability Management
Security Management
ICT Infrastructure Management
Application Management
Business Perspective
Panning to implement Service Management

5. Service Level Agreements (SLA)
Definition: “A formal negotiated document that defines (or attempts to define) in quantitative (and perhaps qualitative) terms the service being offered to a customer.” (Dictionary for IT Service Management)
Typically it will cover:
Service hours
Service availability
Customer support levels
Throughputs and responsiveness
Restrictions
Functionality and service levels to be provided in contingency

6. So what really is a SLA?
Two way agreement between those providing the support and those receiving the support
also used to define support boundaries and expectations between internal work groups
responsibility charts – who is responsible for what
Sets clients’ expectations

7. Types of SLAs External Internal
between IT organization as a whole and all clients receiving IT services
Internal
between groups providing support for these IT services within the IT organization
responsibility charting

8. Content of External SLA
Introduction
parties involved
description of services
scope of agreement
responsibilities of both parties; provider and client
Service hours
Availability
Reliability
Support provided
Throughput
Response time
Service continuity and Security

9. Content of Internal SLAs
Introduction
groups involved
description of services
scope of agreement
ownership
responsibilities of both groups
Troubleshooting steps
Required information
Criteria for priorities
Preferred contact methods
business hours notifications
after normal business hours notifications
criteria for notifications

10. All initial contacts begin as an Incident
What is an Incident?
deviations from expected or planned service performance as outlined in a SLA
All initial contacts begin as an Incident

11. Incident Management Incident detection and recording
primary responsibility of a help desk
the initial incident details, contact information etc
Classification and initial support
identifying the reason for the incident and checking to see if there is a matching known solution*
temporary workarounds or permanent solutions
decreases resolution time and avoids further or reinvestigation of an incident that is related to a known solution
* created by support personnel through incident and problem resolutions
Investigation and diagnosis
if a solution is not available, additional investigation and diagnosis is completed to gather more information to obtain a resolution, even if the resolution means a workaround with degraded services

12. Incident Management cont.
Resolution and recovery
carried out when a solution has been found, even if it means a workaround with degraded services
Incident closure
after the incident has been resolved, either at the help desk, second- or third-level support, the incident is closed
It is important to accurately update the details of the incident and match it with a known solution or enter a new solution. This will allow future incidents to be resolved without additional investigation.
Ownership, monitoring, tracking and communication
defined with SLAs

13. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Hello ITIL Best Practices Help Desk. How can we help you?
An Incident is created
Search of similar incidents results in a potential solution.
Solution is tried and it works.
Is there anything else we can do for you?
The Incident is resolved.
I have not received any in the last hour and I know people have sent me some
No, thanks for the quick fix.

14. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Hello ITIL Best Practices Help Desk. How can we help you?
An Incident is created.
Do you have the same problem with your personal folder?
Search for similar incidents provides no possible solutions or workarounds.
When I open a folder on the shared drive, I get an “XB – unable to complete operation’ error.
My personal folder works fine.

15. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Search of equipment database provides client’s equipment configuration, including version of software installed. This is confirmed.
It is assessed that services are degraded and in violation of client agreements.
Following internal agreements, the Incident is escalated to a Problem and assigned to the File Services Group.
Client is given the Incident number and told that it has been assigned to the File Services Group.
Is there anything else we can help you with?
No, thanks for your help.

16. What is a Problem?
a Problem is generated when no known solution is available for an Incident
multiple Incidents can be related to a single Problem

17. Problem Management Problem control Error control
detection of the underlying root cause(s) of individual or related incidents, their resolution and future prevention
this includes communicating solutions or workarounds to the help desk to immediately restore services to clients
Error control
monitoring and eliminating known problems if possible
for this process to be effective, known errors should be identified and eliminated during the development and testing process before a service or change is rolled into production
Proactive Problem Management
uses trend analysis and the completion of problem reviews
aimed at preventing Incidents before they occur or are escalated into Problems

18. Problem Management Outputs
Known solutions
used in the initial classification and support process of Incident Management
allows for first contact Incident resolution
A Request for Change (RFC)
making changes to prevent incidents that are likely but have not occurred
An updated problem record
a solution and/or available workaround for future incidents are clearly documented and added to the support knowledge base

19. Day in the life of the ITIL Tier 2 Support
Client is contacted and solutions is verified working.
Incident is resolved.
File Service Group is able to duplicate the problem and solution is investigated.
Solution is found.
Problem is updated with possible solution.
Problem is resolved.
Following internal agreements, Help Desk is notified of possible solution.

20. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Hello ITIL Best Practices Help Desk. How can we help you?
An Incident is created.
Do you have the same problem with your personal folder?
Search for similar incidents provides a possible solution or workaround.
When I open a folder on the shared drive, I get an “XB – unable to complete operation’ error.
My personal folder works fine.

21. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Solution is tried and it works
Is there anything else we can help you with?
Incident is resolved.
No, thanks for the quick fix.

22. Configuration Management
Release Management
Accounts for all IT assets and configurations within the organization and its services
Provides accurate information on configuration and their documentation to support all other Service Management processes
Verifies the configuration records against the infrastructure and correct any exceptions
Involves the use of a Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
Plans and oversees the successful rollout of software and related hardware
Designs and implements efficient procedures for the distribution and installation of changes to the IT systems
Ensures that hardware and software being changed is traceable, secure and that only correct, authorized and tested version are installed
Communicates and manages expectations of the customer during the planning and the rollout of new releases

23. What is Change Management? Inputs
manages the process of change and limits the introduction of errors and incidences related to the change
Inputs
Request for Change (RFC)
CMDB information
change planning
Outputs
updated change planning
triggers for Configuration and Release Management
change advisory board approval and recommendations

24. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Hello ITIL Best Practices Help Desk. How can we help you?
An Incident is created.
Is your working?
Client is located in Lincoln 231.
When I try to go to any web pages I get an error of unable to find server.
My is not working either.

25. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Search for similar incidents provides no possible solutions or workarounds.
Search of equipment database provides client’s location, equipment configuration, including version of software installed. This is confirmed.
It is assessed that services are degraded and in violation of client agreements.
Following internal agreements, the Incident is escalated to a Problem and assigned to Network Support.

26. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Client is given the Incident number and told that it has been assigned to the Network Support.
Is there anything else we can help you with?
No, thanks for your help.

27. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Hello ITIL Best Practices Help Desk. How can we help you?
An Incident is created.
Is your working?
Client is located in Lincoln 233.
When I try to go to any web pages I get an error of unable to find server.
My is not working either.

28. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Search for similar Incidents finds that a Problem for Lincoln 231 has already been escalated to Network Support.
Search of equipment database provides client’s location, equipment configuration, including version of software installed. This is confirmed.
It is assessed that services are degraded and in violation of client agreements.
Following internal agreements, this Incident is associated the existing Problem.

29. Day in the life of the ITIL Help Desk
Client is given the Incident number and told that it has been assigned to the Network Support.
Is there anything else we can help you with?
No, thanks for your help.

30. Network Support Investigation of Lincoln Hall Networking Issues
Search of the equipment database, shows that all clients reporting incidents are connected to the same network switch.
Network Support is unable to remote into the switch, support personnel is dispatched to reboot the equipment.
Equipment is tested and verified operational.

31. Network Support Investigation of Lincoln Hall Networking Issues
Problem is updated with workaround.
Following internal agreements, Help Desk is notified of workaround.
Help Desk contacts affected clients, they report no additional incidents.

32. Network Support Investigation of Lincoln Hall Networking Issues
This is the fourth time in two weeks that this network switch has had a problem.
It is decided that the equipment needs to be replaced.
An emergency outage is scheduled for the next day.
Approval is given.

33. Network Support Investigation of Lincoln Hall Networking Issues
New equipment is configured according to information found in the equipment database.

34. Emergency Outage
New equipment is put in place, tested and verified working.
Equipment database is updated to reflect the new equipment is now in place.
The Problem is updated with permanent solution and resolved.
All related Incidents are resolved.

35. Overview of ITSM
Violation of SLA
Incidents
Problem
Known solution
Deviations from expected or planned service performance as outlined in the SLA.
Contact with the help desk is initiated. If the incident is related to a known solution, immediate resolution is possible. If the incident is related to an unknown solution, a problem is generated.
Problems are investigated and a known solution is created.
Once a known solution is created, the problem is resolved and the known solution is made available to the help desk for the current and future incident resolutions.

36. ITIL Service Support

37. Questions?