Do you assume that all IT service management programs must adhere to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)?    In truth, there are several other frameworks available and efforts underway.     Most are variations of or are rooted in ITIL but may apply to a specific environment or context.   Some are very comprehensive, while others advocate a “lighter” approach.    A service lifecycle is an ongoing theme.    None are meant to be highly prescriptive. Which is right for you?   Of course the answer is “it depends” on your goals, resources and business models.   To meet the needs of organizations that were overwhelmed by the enormity of the 2000+ pages of the IT Infrastructure Library, renowned ITSM expert Malcolm Fry published “ITIL Lite”.   This approach  makes service management more realistic for organizations with fewer resources by focusing on the essentials.        ITIL Lite is an official ITIL publication.   ( http://www.theitillitebook.com ). For years, Microsoft has  also

Prioritizing Changes Originally Published in 2011 The Professor recently received the following question: Having put together a spreadsheet of information that I need to assess the impact of a change,  what I need to do next is figure out how to assess the impact of a change as being high, medium, or low? Any guidance you can give me on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.” The  Service Transition book provides great guidance on assessing the impact of changes (ST 4.2.6.4). This section provides 7 questions that must be answered to fully understand the impact. Many of these questions are answered using information in your spreadsheet. Others you may want to consider adding.  Who RAISED the change? What is the REASON for the change? What is the RETURN required from the change? What are the RISKS involved in the change? What RESOURCES are required to deliver the change? Who is RESPONSIBLE for the build, test and implementation of the change?

A student recently asked for resource references for about Business Relationship Management (BRM). BRM is emerging as a critical process in several prominent service management frameworks and standards.   Recently, BRM was formalized in the 2011 edition of Service Strategy as part of the core ITIL library.    This is a significant addition since many believed that BRM and Service Level Management (SLM) were the same process.     While similar, BRM strategically focuses on the relationship between a service provider and it’s customer (more like an Account Executive) where SLM operationally focuses on the negotiation and achievement of service performance. The ISO/IEC 20000 standard has mandatory requirements and suggested guidance for Business Relationship Management.   Even if your organization is not considering ISO certification, the standard does define the minimum essential activities for each process, including BRM.     Put together with ITIL 2011, it’s a powerful com

Organizations looking for help defining standard changes will find it in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). A white paper Using Standard Changes to Improve Provisioning describes what standard changes are in relation to other changes as well as in relation to service requests; along with guidelines for establishing standard changes. The MOF Action Plan: Standard Changes offers a more succinct step-by-step look at how to create standard changes. There are a also a number of “MOF Reliability Workbooks” in the MOF Technical Library (e.g., Reliability Workbook for Active Directory® Certificate Services) that describe proposed standard changes for the given system or service presented in a checklist-like fashion that allows the proposed change to be verified as a standard change. The MOF Reliability Workbooks are Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that also look at things such as Monitoring Activities, Maintenance activities, and Health Risks. This and other tools such as an in

Let’s continue our discussion on IT Service Management Frameworks. Recently, we talked about the question based guidance in the MOF Solution Accelerators. Now, I would like to offer you additional information on the MOF Management Reviews. MOF Management Reviews will help organizations ensure that their technology services are on track to deliver expected business value. They offer guidance to help management set goals, evaluate progress and confirm results. The MOF Layer/Phase and the aligned Management Review is listed as such: Manage Layer Policy and Control MR) Plan Phase Service Alignment MR Portfolio MR Deliver Phase Project Plan Approved MR Release Readiness MR Operate Phase Operational Health MR The Management Reviews can be used as checklists to ensure we have completed tasks correctly. For example, the Release Readiness document offers a comprehensive review of the deliverables produced. It delivers an assessment of the readiness of the business to employ the solut

During a discussion in a recent Intro to MOF class, we talked about some of the best practice guidance from MOF that we would use in our ITSM improvement initiatives.  We had an enthusiastic “YES” that the MOF question based guidance will be a most welcome addition in our toolkit.  Let’s talk a little bit about MOF and what this guidance entails. MOF is a Microsoft Solution Accelerator that helps integrate IT best practices, governance and risk, compliance, and team accountabilities for managing key functions across the IT service life cycle. In the documents, MOF provides scripted questions to help organizations drive service improvements by process or stage or activity. For example, the MOF Reliability Accelerator offers direction on understanding, setting targets and measuring IT service reliability. It addresses creating plans for the following areas:  Confidentiality Integrity Availability Continuity Capacity Here is an example of the question based guidance from MOF 4.0 w

Microsoft has recently published two interesting whitepapers mapping its Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) to ITIL V3 and ISO/IEC 20000: Cross Reference ITIL® V3 and MOF 4.0 Using MOF for ISO/IEC 20000 I have always been a big fan of MOF - it makes sense, is filled with question-based guidance and it's free. Microsoft has graciously provided free job aids, templates and whitepapers such as the ones referenced above. I like to think of MOF as "service management for the masses." As the whitepapers describe, MOF can be used to complement ITIL implementations and/or fulfill the minimum critical activities required for ISO/IEC 20000 certification. Frankly, MOF's biggest obstacle is the big "M" that sits in front of the framework. There is a common misconception that MOF only applies to environments that are heavily invested in Microsoft technologies. The truth is that the best practices in MOF apply to any environment. The guidance is very generic and is not

Since it's adoption, there has been a slow, but steady growth in the number of organizations that are seeking, or have achieved, ISO/IEC 20000 (ISO 20K) certification. For the most part, interest in the standard is being driven by RFP requirements or perceived competitive advantage. The certificate is seen as an "award" that an organization receives for achieving best practice ITSM. While ITIL is being actively adopted, many organizations are overlooking ISO 20K because they do not perceive any value in the certification. I recently realized that we are looking at ISO/IEC 20000 in the wrong way. The standard has so much more to offer than just a certificate. It actually provides a starting place for an ITSM journey, not only the destination. ISO/IEC 20000 defines the "minimum critical activities" required to deliver high quality, aligned services. Once these activities are understood, an organization can assess which activities they already execute well and w

Since 1999, Microsoft has offered its own framework for IT Service Management. The analogy with ITIL has always been clear, which is quite obvious as both frameworks offer documented 'best practice' guidance for IT Service Management. There are plenty of interesting differences though. In a cross-reference document, Microsoft illustrates how MOF and ITIL play leap-frog. The document offers a detailed analysis of the similarities and differences of both frameworks. More information: go to MOF or download the paper here: Cross-reference MOF-ITIL .

Allow me to introduce myself - I am Professor Wise, the ITSM Professor. I have committed my academic research to IT Service Management including ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, Microsoft Operations Framework, and other resources. As I discover interesting and relevant concepts within best practices frameworks and standards, I will highlight them with you through this blog. I will also share insight and practical applications from organizations and individuals who are implementing and improving their Service Management processes. And I also encourage you to join in the conversation. I want this to be a positive place for sharing IT Service Management tips, tricks, challenges, and successes. Please email me at itsmprofessor@itsmacademy.com . I will add your question to the blog. Happy Reading!