ITIL has always emphasized the need for clearly defined roles for Process Owners and Process Managers. ITIL also speaks to the role of Service Owner, an individual who is accountable for and represents the the end-to-end service.    Within each process, there may also be roles that are designed to carry out certain process activities. Successful service management dictates that specific individuals are assigned to specific roles with specific responsibilities for one or more processes.     But what about the rest of us?      Where do we fit into the service management program?   What role do we play?   ITIL defines a key role for anyone that executes any activity within any process – the Process Practitioner.         The Process Practitioner Carries out one or more process activities Understands how his or her role adds to value creation Works with other stakeholders to ensure contributions are effective Ensures inputs, outputs and interfaces for activities are c

In order to create a successful foundation for our implementations of ITSM and ITIL® we can take lessons from the study of languages. The foundation of the service management best practices is a language that needs to be understood, mastered and used, just like you would learn a foreign or native tongue. When learning a new language there are two basic approaches one can take. You can study the grammatical theory and structure or you can do immersion learning. Language experts tell us that both are necessary actually to master or become fluent in a language. Immersing yourself in a language (such as ITIL) provides a conversational or daily usage basis. Think of this as having insight as to “how” the language works. Studying the theory and structure of a language (such as ITIL) provides for an understanding and knowledge basis. Think of this as having insight as to “why” the language works. Without theory there would be no usage since you would be unable to form new sentences, only

Over my years of teaching and training I have found that some of what I once knew and learned has slipped away due to age (as it does to most of us!) and due to learning new pieces of data, information, knowledge and especially wisdom (D-I-K-W). So many years ago I began to put together a collection of D-I-K-W that I thought was excellent to keep but just could no longer store in my brain. I bought a sturdy, blank, lined journal to begin putting together what has become my “Wisdom Journal”. I began to collect techniques, approaches, bulleted lists, terminology, tables, tools, methods and anything else that I thought might be useful at some point in the future. I did not really seek out particular information I simply “collected” it as I came along it in my research, class preparation or reading. Examples of the D-I-K-W I collected included information on paradigms, requirements gathering, RACI, organizational change methods, business process re-engineering, reasoning (induction

Dr. Michael Hammer and his co-author James Champy wrote the groundbreaking work Re-Engineering the Corporation. Dr. Hammer has long championed the concepts of using processes to accomplish work outputs and outcomes. Dr. Hammer spoke of three categories of work (or process output). Because a service can be defined as "work done for others," we can equate the types of work described by Hammer with the categories of services described by ITIL. The three categories of work according to Hammer are: ·     Value-Add (ITIL Core services) : This type of work (or services) provides direct value in the form of utility and warranty to the customers and users. Customers pay directly for this work or services. This work generates the revenue of your organization. This is "why you exist" and "what you do" as a business. ·     Non Value-Add (ITIL Enabling and Enhancing services) : This type of work supports, underpins and enables your Value-Add work or Core Servic

I often get asked when discussing operational activities or event management about how we should monitor our environment.   There are several methods to accomplish this depending on what you’re monitoring, what resources you have available and the criticality of what you’re monitoring.   Defining these elements will then help you choose one or more of the following methods. Active monitoring: Ongoing device interrogation to determine its status. Resource intensive. Usually used proactively for critical devices or systems Passive monitoring: Transmits event to a listening device. Most commonly used method Requires good definition of events and instrumentation of systems being monitored. Reactive Monitoring: Requests or triggers action following an event or failure Used for exceptions and normal operations Can be used to diagnose which device is causing the failure and under what conditions. Proactive Monitoring: Used to detect event patterns that can indicate

The purpose of Business Relationship Management (BRM) is to establish and maintain a business relationship between the IT service provider (SP) and the customer.   This relationship needs to be based on an understanding of the customer and their business needs (what services the customer needs now and in the future).   BRM must also help to establish an understanding of the requirements (utility & warranty) a customer is going to expect and to insure the service providers ability to meet those expectations. The customer portfolio is a database used to record all customers of the IT service provider.   It is used by many processes but is defined and maintained in the business relation management process.   It provides insight into the customer and is developed from the point of view of the business relationship manger.   It allows the service provider to understand who the customers are and make the distinction between customers and users.   This enables the BRM to be able to

One of the lesser utilized yet powerful ideas in ITIL is the concept of systems or feedback loops. ITIL defines a system as A group of interacting, interrelated or interdependent components that form a unified whole, operating together for a common purpose. There are two types of systems: ·          Open-loop systems – value of outcome has no influence on input; performs a specific activity regardless of environmental conditions ·          Closed-loop systems – value of outcome influences input; responds to changes in the environment Using these concepts we can establish a powerful approach for managing and improving the ITIL processes we have implemented. One technique is called the Monitor-Control Loop. The loop consists of a set of steps that produces feedback to help improve individual process steps, the process as a whole, the stages of the lifecycle and the lifecycle as a whole. ·          Begin the loop by conducting an individual process step by taking inputs and