Creating and Supporting Services – Plan, Protect and Optimize!

Would you buy a product or service that did not include some type of warranty? If the manufacturer or reseller does not explicitly set the expectations, then you will form them for yourself. It is the same with the customers of your IT services. Either IT clearly sets the expectations, or end-users will develop them on their own. Best practice tells us that during the negotiation and acceptance of Service Level Agreements, IT commits that services not only meet business and customer outcomes but also that they will meet requirements for availability, capacity, continuity and security.

Ok… that is good. Best practice tells us to include these so called “non-functional” requirements early in the lifecycle of a service. In reality these warranty requirements are often considered somewhat in the Strategy/Design stage but more often than we would like to admit the majority of the work and effort for security and availability are performed reactively in the Service Operation lifecycle stage.

The lifecycle of a service consists of activities performed in Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition and Service Operation. In each of these lifecycle stages there are many processes and activities. For example, Incident and Problem Management processes are primarily performed in the Service Operation lifecycle stage. Here is a simple test. Ask your team or managers or IT practitioners this question:

In which of these lifecycle stages would you place the “Capacity Management” and “Availability Management” processes or activities?

The answer that I get more frequently than not is that the majority of activity for Capacity, Availability, Continuity and Security are performed in “Service Operation”. No…. we don’t want this. These requirements and design activities should be early on in the Strategy/Design stage. These requirements should be included along with the functional requirements and with the same amount of rigor and emphasis as the functional requirements for a service. Warranty requires that we, as service providers, agree to specified levels of availability, capacity, IT service continuity, and Information Security. If 80% or more of the activity for warranty is performed in Service Operation it is likely that the service provider is very reactive and not able to meet the needs of changing business demands in a timely or cost effective manner. These organizations will sometimes break down from reactive mode to chaos where business value and customer confidence take a hit.

Moving from common practice to best practice presents many challenges. Best practice tells us that

care must be taken, however, not to set up standards or documentation requirements that create excessive bureaucracy without consistently returning better services to the business and/or customer. The goal should be to put just enough definition, measurement and control of design activities in place to successfully manage the work and improve results, but no more.

For more information, education or certification in these areas click here: “Plan, Protect and Optimize”

Four Service Characteristics

Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.” Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group. As a service provider, we can’t stop there! We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer. Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include: Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods. Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you. You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you. ...

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of this best practice has changed. See ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Updated Definitions in ITIL 4: Process Owner: In ITIL 4, the concept of 'processes' has expanded into broader 'practices.' Consequently, the Process Owner is now often referred to as the 'Practice Owner.' This individual is accountable for the overall design, performance, integration, and improvement of a specific practice within the organization. They ensure that the practice achieves its intended outcomes and aligns with the organization's objectives. Process Manager: Now commonly known as the 'Practice Manager' in ITIL 4, this role is responsible for the day-to-day management of the practice. The Practice Manager ensures that activities are carried out as intended, manages resources assigned to the practice, and oversees the practitioners performing the work. Process Practit...

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