The publication of ITIL 2011 has brought several new or revamped processes to light. One of those is the Strategy Management for IT Services process. This Strategy process is not actually new. It represents the formalization of best practice guidance for managing strategies contained in earlier editions of the ITIL publications. The purpose of this newly minted process is to use a company’s perspective, position, plans and patterns to ensure better management, governance and control of the IT services an organization provides to support the business outcomes. The basic principles of the Strategy Management process include helping to identify the overall business strategy and then tie an underpinning IT strategy (including an IT service strategy) or manufacturing strategy to the business outcomes through integration and alignment activities. Once an IT strategy emerges in relation to the business strategy, the organization can then decompose the IT strategy into IT tactics and

The other day someone asked me if a Problem Record should be opened for all Major Incidents. Not necessarily – the goal of a Major Incident is still to restore service when a major event occurs that has significant impact on the business. Incident Management is not necessarily looking for a permanent solution but for some level of regained productivity. If viable and necessary, raising a Problem Record will engage the necessary resources to find the root cause (if not already known) and find a permanent solution to remove the error (if one is available). However, sometimes the root cause of a Major Incident is immediately known and a permanent solution not viable at the time. Here is a practical example – we have hurricanes in Florida that can cause massive power outages. We know the root cause and the permanent solution is to repair the power lines. This will likely take some time. Do we need a Problem Record to capture that information? Maybe, if there is a need to document th