I had a recent chat with a coworker of mine that used the CSI Model at home in a funny yet very practical way. I have her permission to use this and I hope you find this as interesting as I have. In her own words…. “In addition, to my career responsibilities I have the honor and for the most part the pleasure of being a Mom to two teenage girls. As we all have experienced in life, our work demands sometimes spill over into our home life. On occasion, I have been accused by my girls that I am NOT their boss, and to leave my work demeanor at the front door. Being so entrenched in striving for continual improvement, I figured, this model works at the office, why not see if I can improve things at home? I know – this has trouble written all over it! The CSI Approach – Using the CSI Model Step 1 - What is the vision? (Define your vision, your goals, your objectives) My vision is that my 17 year old high school junior has straight A’s on her report card for the third marking period – ...

There are several problem analysis techniques which are discussed in the V3 Service Operation book, including brainstorming. I have used brainstorming sessions often in my career. Brainstorming is used throughout the problem solving process whenever the team needs to generate ideas quickly and effectively. Some sessions have been very valuable, others not so much. What was the difference? Basically, we need some structure around the sessions and some rules of engagement. Let’s begin by defining brainstorming. This is a technique used to quickly generate a list of ideas by a team to solve problems or issues. The relevant people must be gathered together either physically and/or electronically to increase creativity and idea generation in a very short amount of time. Here are 3 different types of brainstorming methods:  Free Wheeling Brainstorming Participants call out their ideas when they occur to them and in no particular order. A recorder posts all ideas for everyone to see...

I often get questions on the differences and similarities between the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and the ITIL Application Management Lifecycle. Is the ITIL framework just another rebranding of SDLC? SDLC defines the organization’s standards for the creation and maintenance of applications. The SDLC can be divided into ten phases during which defined IT work products are created or modified. The phases range from initiation, design, development, implementation, operations & maintenance to disposition. The tenth phase, disposition, occurs when the system is disposed of and the task performed is either eliminated or transferred to other systems. The ITIL Application Management Lifecycle presents a more holistic, service-oriented view. It allows for greater alignment between the development view of the applications and the live management of those applications. This ITIL lifecycle focuses on the overall management of applications as part of IT services. Understanding the c...

🔄 Note: Since the publication of this post, ITIL has evolved significantly. In ITIL 4 , Change Management is now referred to as Change Enablement , with an emphasis on enabling frequent, agile, and value-driven change. The types of change— Standard , Normal , and Emergency —still apply, but decision-making is more decentralized with the introduction of Change Authorities . While the concepts in this post remain useful, we recommend pairing it with updated ITIL 4 guidance for a complete view. Rusty asked: I was looking for terms used for categorizing the impact of a change. I remember in Version 2 of ITIL that changes were categorized as Major, Significant, Minor, and Standard. Is that no longer done? Or is the impact also defined as the priority—High, Medium, and Low? Rusty, I’m going to give you my answer in three parts. This information can also be found in Section 4.2 of your Service Transition Book.   In ITIL V3 changes are now categorized into three distinct ...

One of the most important yet often less fully considered aspects of using Service Management is Organizational Change Management. When it comes down to it, Service Management is about people—as customers, users, providers, maintainers, supporters and a myriad of other roles. So while we get caught up in getting effective, efficient and economical services, processes and technologies in place to provide value, we must not push aside the importance of attitude, behavior and culture. We have all encountered new situations, changes in process or work flow, new technologies and other unfamiliar situations. Most people recognized from experience that different people deal with change in different manners. But we do not have to rely simply on hearsay or belief or personal experience. We can turn to experts in the field of Organizational Change Management for a way to work through the adoption of new ideas, approaches and technologies. In 1962 in his work Diffusion of Innovations, Everett...

Paul recently asked: Hello, When browsing the topic of Service Requests, I visited your site where a question was answered on the differences and similarities of Service Requests and Standard Changes. I was intrigued by the following passage: "It is important to note that not all Service Requests are Standard Changes. Service Requests can include questions, queries, complaints, and compliments. Similarly, not all Standard Changes are Service Requests. Standard Changes can include batch jobs, patches, and other low-risk changes that are not 'requestable' by the user. Any Service Request or Standard Change that presents a higher risk may require reassessment and reclassification by Change Management." I am trying to think of a term that would differentiate the one from the other. Considering that there are Service Requests that may invoke a Standard Change, I see two possibilities: it may be a Standard Change that...

You can’t always go home again, but you can use Continual Service Improvement (CSI) to meet the changing needs of your customers. I recently posted a blog about returning to a service desk I had managed and spoke about how the changing business environment had impacted management’s ability to sustain the current list of Critical success factors (CSFs) and Key Performance indicators (KPIs). The 1st question that was asked was “What should we measure?” Within the new business reality we reviewed how the corporate vision, mission, goals and objectives had changed? We spoke with service owners, business process owners, business analysts and customers and asked what was critical to them. What services that we were providing was creating the most value to them and enabling them to meet these new goals and objectives? Management then identified the gaps of “what we should measure”, to “what we can measure”. From this a more customer focused list was developed. The overriding objective...

One of the things that troubles me at times is how often people try to make the world more complex than it needs to be. The world is really a rather simple place if you take the time to step back and avoid complexity. I recently read a statement that made think upon this problem again. The opposite of “simple” is “elaborate”, not “complex”— Dan Roam, The Back of the Napkin What people call complex, may in reality be elaborate. They confuse the two ideas. This can lead to issues in the delivery of Business and IT Services to customers. If someone believes a service is too complex they can often be less willing to make the effort to provide the service, or support it or improve it. Most likely the service is just elaborate (having lots of underpinning elements and components), not really complex (being of a nature that is difficult to understand). So how do we move away from complexity and towards seeing Service Management in terms of simplicity and elaboration? Here are several tech...

I recently posted a blog about returning to a service desk I had managed and spoke about how the changing business environment had impacted management’s ability to sustain the current list of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Key Performance indicators (KPIs). The 1st question was “What should we measure?” Within the new business reality, we reviewed how the corporate vision, mission, goals and objectives had changed. We spoke with service owners, business process owners, business analysts and customers and asked what was critical to them.  We could then determine the services that were creating the most value  and enabling them to meet these new goals and objectives. Management then identified the gaps of “what we should measure”, to “what we can measure”. From this, a more customer-centric list was developed. The overriding objective of these new service measurements was to provide a meaningful view of the IT service as experienced by our customers. The thre...

Thinking about ISO/IEC 20000 certification? Here are the steps involved. 1. Questionnaire : The service provider contacts one or several Registered Certification Bodies (RCBs). Each RCB will send a questionnaire with information needed to submit a quotation. Based on the quotations, the provider can select a RCB. 2. Application for assessment : An application form is completed and returned to the chosen RCB. A lead auditor is assigned and an initial visit scheduled. The auditor will explain the assessment process, an audit program will be agreed and the assessment date selected. 3. Optional pre-audit : This is a high-level evaluation to determine where the company stands in compliance with ISO/IEC 20000. The auditor will point out any areas of concern to give the provider an opportunity to improve before the initial audit. 4. Initial audit : In this session the scoping statement is agreed upon and the auditor plans the certification audit. Documentation and evidence of com...

In speaking with colleagues and practitioners, I have found that one of the greatest difficulties for companies to overcome in a Service Management implementation is the desire to be more complex and unbalanced than is absolutely necessary. One of the most basic and underlying elements of good Service Management is the achievement of balance in how we approach the delivery of value to the customers and users through services. Balance helps us to find an equitable point that brings value to the customers and users without throwing out the efforts and actions needed to keep IT going. When I speak of balance, I am referring to finding the middle ground between extremes. These include balances like the amount of time and effort spent between Incident Management and Problem Management; or perhaps the balance between flexibility and stability; or even the challenges of being proactive versus reactive; customer/service-centric versus technology-centric. There are a multitude of these types ...

As a Professor, I realized long ago how important words can be. Not just the words themselves but also the definitions and contexts in which those words should be properly used. When we think about the vocabulary of ITSM (and it is quite an extensive technical vocabulary) we must remember that it is vital that we are all using the terminology in the same way. To help us get on the same page for the language of ITSM, one thing an organization can do is to create an enterprise glossary. Such a collection of terms helps people to use terminology and vocabulary correctly and in its proper context. Common usage of terminology also leads to consistency of thinking and action. A glossary is defined as: A list of words relating to a specific topic with the definitions of the words provided. An enterprise glossary is therefore a collection of words used throughout and across an organization or enterprise to help establish consistent definitions wherever the vocabulary might be used. A single...

Earlier in my career I had the pleasure of managing a Service Desk. This function is the unsung hero of IT support! We had a multitude of measurements and metric that were taken every day and then meticulously charted, reported and analyzed. At the time it’s what we did. I recently had the opportunity to visit my old Service desk and found to my horror, that many of these metrics were no longer being used. I also was informed that customer satisfaction had not dropped significantly and that some of the KPI still being measured were well within an acceptable range. Now that I no longer am in the thick of it, I took some time to really think about what was it we were measuring and what did it really mean. As an organization we did all of the industry best practices measurements. Speed of answer Call duration Number of calls per day/week/month and analyst Abandoned calls Number of tickets opened versus number of tickets closed Percentage 1st call resolved Customer satisfaction ...

Data is a critical asset of every business. It needs to be managed properly in order to deliver services effectively. If we do not manage our data, we will be maintaining and collecting data that is not needed. Data quality, integrity and security of information may be compromised. We are painfully aware of identity theft and the risk of unprotected data to our business. To effectively manage our information we must be able to answer the following questions: What data do we currently have, how is it classified, what if any are the security constraints? What data needs to be collected or created to support our business? What are our current and future needs for data storage and maintenance? Who will access the data, how will they access it? What are our disposal considerations, how long does the data need to be kept?  In the ITIL Service Lifecycle, during requirements gathering, answering these questions is essential for the implementation of new or changed servi...

Often, when we talk about implementing IT Service Management we refer to one of the Founding Fathers of the Quality Management movement, Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Most people focus on the Deming Cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act. Perhaps lesser known but just as important is the fact that Dr. Deming spoke of the changes needed within an organization’s culture to make the Deming Cycle work to its greatest effectiveness. Dr. Deming wrote and spoke of Seven Deadly Diseases that infect an organization’s culture and prohibit it from truly succeeding in achieving quality for the customer. Lack of constancy of purpose: You must remain focused on doing the right things because they are the right things to do for your customer and to achieve quality. ITSM is not a fad it is a way of behaving. Emphasis on short-term profits: Cutting costs can bring short-term profits and are easy to achieve. But cutting costs can only go on for so long, before you have cut to the bone and have nothing left to cut....

Too often, IT professionals jump from strategy right into implementation without doing the proper due diligence in collecting, analyzing and recording detailed customer requirements. The ITIL Service Design book defines three levels of requirements: Functional, Management / Operational and Usability. It gives us in-depth descriptions of Functional requirements and Management/Operational requirements but leaves me a bit empty when it comes to Usability requirements. The definition is as follows, “The primary purpose of usability requirements is to ensure that the service meets the expectations of its users with regard to its ease of use. To achieve this: Establish performance standards for usability evaluations Define test scenarios for usability test plans and usability testing. I like to define this as “User-ability”. Service Design (Section 5.1.1) describes this as the ‘look and feel’ needs of the user that facilitates its ease of use. Usability requirements ar...

HDI (formerly Help Desk Institute) recently released its 2009 Practices and Salary survey and reports that an incident resolved via the telephone costs $22, while an incident resolved via self-help costs $12. Furthermore, 11 percent of the organizations surveyed report that self-help tools are prompting a decrease in the number of incidents reported to the Service Desk. Having said that, these organizations also report that only three percent of incidents are resolved via self-help. With the Baby Boomers retiring and technically savvy Gen Y joining the workforce – and, oh yeah, the economy – the time has come to get serious about self-help as a support channel. Many think the solution lies in finding and installing the right technology; however, new technology projects often fail from a lack of preparation and management. Here’s where the four Ps come in to play. Introduced in the ITIL Service Design publication, the four Ps – in the context of self-help – include: People – How can yo...

Sandy, if you have any more questions, just let me know! Standard Operations and Maintenance is really something that gets defined in the Service Level Agreement in consultation and negotiation with the customer. It is not really a determination made solely by IT or Operations. It is the customer or receiver of service that helps to establish whether an “outage” has occurred. Because we want to adhere to the terms and conditions set forth in the SLA we want strong controls in place. I think it is not a question as to whether the Change Management process will be used or not used. It is more a question of the degree of Change Management that will be used. A solid approach would be to establish a clear definition of a Service Change in the organization. ITIL says it is any “addition, modification or deletion of elements of the delivery of service” [paraphrased]. This is a broad definition and covers just about everything we do in IT. So, next we need to identify what we actually do in ...

Thanks for the great question Beverly. ITIL V3 and PMBOK Project Management are both best practices that fall under the larger umbrella of IT Service Management (or really just overall Service Management). ITIL focuses on the lifecycle of services, while PMBOK focuses on the lifecycle of projects. Services are all of the things we do to deliver value to our customers. In effect services are a type of product. Projects are temporary (short term) endeavors we undertake to accomplish specific outputs. So we can look at projects as one mechanism or vehicle for establishing and delivering services, products, solutions, etc. The decision as to undertake a project will be made as a result of ITIL Service Strategy and Service Design. The project team may then use PMBOK best practices for accomplishing the goal, objective or output identified during Strategy and Design. Conceptually this places Project Management roughly equivalent to ITIL Service Transition activities (with some overlap to Ser...

I often get asked the questions, "Where do I start with SACM? How do I implement this process?" In my experience, this is one of the most difficult processes to implement correctly. Let’s discuss the first activity of the SACM process of Planning . In this activity, decisions will be made about the scope of what needs to be controlled in your organization. What level of configuration management is required? How will that desired level is achieved? Do you gather information about a service or about specific components? Do you need to control assets which are causing your customers the most pain points? When do you establish a controlled configuration, how do you change a controlled configuration, and what amount of resources are you going to expend to manage configurations? All of these decisions must be documented and formalized within the configuration management plan. Configuration Management Plan: · Context and Purpose · Scope · Requirements · Applicable policies and stand...