Chapter 1: Service Management

what is a role?

A set of responsibilities, activities, and authorities granted to a person or team. One person or team may have multiple roles.

what does the value of the service to the customer depend on?

how well the service facilitates the outcome(s) the customer wants

what is the hub of the service lifecycle?

service strategy

at what stage are the changes in requirements at the business level identified and agreed to?

service strategy stage

what are the scenarios of a business?

1. competition 2. compliance 3. committments

what can a service model include?

1. process maps 2. workflow diagrams 3. queuing models 4. activity patterns

which generic roles should be defined?

1. process owner 2. process manager 3. process practitioner 4. service owner

what is ISO/IEC 27001?

ISO Specification for Information Security Management and the corresponding code of practice is ISO/IEC 17799

what is the standard for IT service management (ITSM)?

ISO/IEC 20000 which aligns with ITIL but is not dependent on it

who publishes COBIT?

IT Governance Institute

what is Balanced Scoreboard?

A management tool that enables a strategy to be broken down into key performance indicators (KPIs).

what are the different characteristics of the sources?

1. public frameworks and standards have been validated across diverse environments 2. knowledge of them is distributed among industry professionals 3. training and certification programs are publicly available 4. acquiring the knowledge through the labor market is more readily achievable

what drive (filter) a business?

1. substitutes 2. regulators 3. customers

what does service management enable a service provider to do?

1. understand the services they provide from the supply and demand side 2. ensure the services facilitate the outcomes their customers want 3. understand the value of the services to their customers 4. understand and manage the costs and risks of providing the services

what are the two components value is created through?

1. utility 2. warranty

how does a process structure work?

1. A process is initiated by a trigger which transforms the inputs into outputs through a series of activities carried out by people or systems with specific roles and procedures or work instructions. 2. it uses the organization resources and capabilities as process enablers 3. the owner is responsible for the process enablers 4. there are documented policies, terms of reference and objectives, and they are all controlled to meet the specific purpose 5. the process is measured against defined metrics to determine how effectively it is operating and the results are given back to drive continual improvement (the closed-loop feedback system)

What are the complementary approaches to ISO/IEC 20000

1. Balanced scoreboard 2. COBIT 3. CMMI-SVC 4. EFQM 5. eSCM-SP 6. ISO 9000 7. ISO/IEC 19770 8. ISO/IEC 27001 9. Lean 10. Prince2 11. SOC 12. Six Sigma

what are the components of the ITIL library?

1. ITIL core 2. ITIL Complementary Guidance

what are the characteristics that all processes have?

1. Measurable 2. specific results 3. customers 4. respond to a specific event

what does elements do every process consist of?

1. Process control: policy, owner, documentation, objectives, and feedback 2. Triggers 3. Process: metric, activities, procedures, work instructions, roles, improvements 4. process enablers: resources and capabilities 5. inputs 6. outputs (including process reports and reviews)

how does the service management model work?

After the requirements are met, the service strategy package is passed to the service design stage where a service solution is produced.

what is COBIT?

Control OBjectives for Information and related Technology

what do distinctive capabilities of a service provider do by offering unique value properties?

set the provider apart from its competitors and attract and retain customers

should organizations implement ITIL?

NOT ITIL but ITSM solution based on ITIL

How are KPIs used?

Performance against the KPIs is used to show how well the strategy is being achieved

what does RACI stand for?

Responsible: executes the process or activity (does the work) Accountable: has ownership of quality and the end result (ultimate owner) Consulted: provides input of knowledge and information (provides assistance) Informed: receives information about execution (needs to know)

what is CMMI-SVC?

The Capability Maturity Model Integration which is a process improvement approach that gives organizations the essential elements for effective process improvement. It is a variant aimed at service establishment, management and delivery

what is EFQM?

The European Foundation for Quality Management is a framework for organizational management systems

what happens in the service transition stage?

The design definition is passed to the service transition stage where the service is built, evaluated, tested, validated and transitioned into the live environment, were it enters the live service operation stage.The transition stage is also responsible for supporting the service in its early life and the phasing out of any services no longer required

what does it mean to be measurable?

We must be able to measure the process since the performance of the process is very important. Managers want to measure the cost and quality while people involved operationally in the process are concerned with how long the process takes and how easy it is to use.

what is utility?

Value in the form of what the customer gets from the service. Utility is what the product or service does, determining whether it is fir for purpose.

what is ISO/IEC 19770?

a Software Management standard which aligns with ISO/IEC 20000

what is SixSigma?

a business management strategy initially implemented by Motorola which has a widespread application in many sectors of the industry

what is ISO 9000?

a generic quality management standard which aligns with ISO/IEC 20000

what can profession mean?

a group of people who share common standards and disciplines based on a high level of knowledge and skills gained through education and training and measured by certifications

what is a service?

a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks

what kinds of inputs do processes work with

a prescribed set of data, knowledge and information that it transforms into the desirable outcome by using feedback as a learning mechanism for process improvement

What are the specific results?

a process exists in order to deliver a specific result which must be identifiable and countable

what is Lean?

a production practice centered around creating more value with less work

what is warranty?

a promise or guarantee that a product or service will meet its agreed requirements

what is ITIL complementary guidance?

a set of publications specifically guiding industry sectors, organizations types, operating models and technology architectures

what do the five publications in the ITIL core set describing the service life cycle cover?

a stage of the service life cycle from the initial definition and analysis of business requirements in service strategy (SS) and service design (SD), moving it into the live environment within service transition (ST), to live operation and improvement in service operation (SO) and continual service improvement (CSI)

what is a function?

a team or a group of people and the tools they use to carry out one or more processes or activities (e.g. service desk or IT operations)

what does the process manager do?

accountable for operational management of a process with responsibility for: -ensuring successful conduct of process activities -management of the process practitioners with process roles -managing process resource requirements -monitoring and reporting on process performance -identifying and promoting process improvement opportunities and entering these in the CSI register

what does a service owner do?

accountable to the customer for a particular service with responsibility for: -acting as the prime customer service contact for all service-related inquiries and issues, and an escalation point for major incidents -representing the service in change advisory board (CAB) and customer meetings -negotiating in SLA's and OLA's and making sure the service is properly defined in the service catalogue -ensuring the service is delivered as agreed -identifying opportunities to improve the service -ensuring effective service monitoring is implemented

what can a process include?

any of the roles, tools, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs

when can continual service improvement happen?

at any stage of the lifecycle based on the measurement and reporting of the efficiency, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and compliance of the services themselves, the technology used and the management processes managing these components

how should all services for a business be carried out?

based on business needs and judged by the value they provide to the organization

what is the objective of ITSM framework?

guide all types of organizations that provide IT services to business despite size, complexity or whether they are commercial service providers or internal divisions of a business

what does ISO/IEC 20000 do as a formal standard?

defines a set of requirements against which an organization can be independently audited and if they satisfy them, they can be certificated

what is eSCM-SP?

eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers helps IT service providers develop their IT service management capabilities from a serving source perspective

who are the customers?

each process delivers its main results to the customer or stakeholder, who may be internal or external, and it must meet their specific expectations

what are the responds to specific events?

each process, whether ongoing or iterative, will have a specific trigger

how many major areas does a balanced scoreboard have?

four; each of which are considered at different levels of detail throughout the organization

how does a customer get utility?

from providing new business lines or from the relaxation of existing constraints on the customer's ability to achieve their desired outcomes

how do service providers create value with assets?

in the form of resources and capabilities

what are resources?

includes IT infrastructure, people, money or anything else that might help deliver an IT service and they are considered to be assets of an organization

Where must solutions be developed?

internally or they consist of bought-in components integrated internally

what is the customer responsible for while getting their service?

investing in the necessary systems and processes needed for the wealth creation activities

what is a process?

it consists of a set of coordinated activities using resources and capabilities to produce an outcome, which directly or indirectly, creates value for an external customer or stakeholder

what does a service model do?

it describes how a service provider creates value for a given portfolio of customer contracts by connecting the demand for service from the assets of its customers with the service provider's assets

what does process control do?

it ensures that consistent repeatable processes are made, regulated and managed so that their performance is effective and efficient

what happens in the service operation stage?

it focuses on providing effective and efficient operational services to deliver the required business outcomes and value to the customer. This is where any value is measured and delivered!

what does an authority matrix do?

it indicates specific roles and responsibilities in relation to processes and activities

how is complementary material different from constant material and what counts as it?

it is more dynamic while the core material is more constant; they can be books or web-based material and they can be sourced from the wider industry rather than The Stationery Office (TSO)

what is an RACI model?

it maps the process activities to the roles involved in their execution

what does a process do?

it takes one or more define inputs and turns them into defined outputs

what does a process briefly do with inputs?

it transforms them, using enablers, to produced required outputs in a closed-loop system that allows for feedback and improvement

what is the relationship between roles and persons?

many-to-many one: an individual may perform more than one role or one role may be performed by more than one person

can warranty or utility deliver full value on their own?

no

should companies apply any specific best practice?

no they should not because they should use one based on the situation

what is a weakness of ITIL?

organizations have to adopt to and adapt the guidance it has to their specific requirements which can take a lot of effort and commitment

what patterns do the service dynamics include?

patterns of the business activities (PBAs), demand patterns, exceptions and variations

what can a process define if needed?

policies, standards, guidelines, activities and work instructions

what is the relationship between processes, roles and functions?

processes can span one or more functions and require activities to be performed by one or more roles within any function

how is value created, briefly?

providing the right services under the right conditions

what is ITIL core?

publications describing the generic best practice applicable to all types of organizations providing services a business

what is the key difference between resources and capabilities?

resources can be purchased in the marketplace while distinctive capabilities can be developed over time

what does the process practitioner do?

responsible for carrying out one or more process activities including: -working with other stakeholders to ensure their own contributions are effective -validating and ensuring the integrity of the process inputs, outputs and interfaces for their processes -keeping process activity-related records and measures

what is a process owner?

someone accountable for ensuring that all activities within a process are undertaken with responsibility for: -defining the process strategy -assisting the design of the process -ensuring the process documentation is available and current, and that all staff are trained correctly -defining policies and standards to be followed -defining KPIs and auditing to ensure the process if being followed correctly and is efficient and effective -reviewing proposed enhancement and providing input to the service improvement plan

what can a best practice draw from?

sources of a good practice

what is SOX?

the Sarbanes-Oxley framework for corporate governance

what are capabilities?

the ability of an organization, process, person, application, configuration item or IT service to carry out an activity and they are intangible assets of an organization

what are the dynamics of a service model?

the activities, the flow of resources, coordination, interactions between customer service and service provider assets (e.g. interaction between the service users and service agents)

what does continual mean in this context?

the activity is not performed on a constant basis but as a series of planned and controlled actions

what must the services reflect despite the business making the decisions?

the defined strategies and policies of the service provider and this is mainly important for external providers

what do capabilities reflect?

the knowledge and experience of an organization that are used to transform physical resources into services

what is the structure of a service model?

the particular service assets needed to deliver the service and the patterns in which they are configured

what are the specialized organizational capabilities with providing a service?

the processes, activities, functions and roles that a service provider uses to deliver services to their customers and the ability to establish suitable organizational structures, manage knowledge and understand how to create outcomes that bring value

what is PRINCE2?

the standard UK gov't methodology for service management

what does the service management life cycle approach consider?

the strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement of IT services

what does a service model describe about a service?

the structure and dynamics of it

what are the enablers of a good practice?

they are aggregates to the business: 1. employees 2. customers 3. suppliers 4. advisors 5. technologies

what does the business unit do with the resources and capabilities?

they are harnessed to provide the end service to the customer

what are sources of a good practice?

they generate business: 1. standards 2. industry practices 3. academic research 4. training and education 5. internal experience

what happens after the service model is defined?

variants of the model can be generated to tailor a service to a customer's specific needs

what does a role describe?

what an individual actually does

what is the "best practice"?

what is accepted by a wide community as the best approach for any given situation so that the actual job performance can be compared against the best approach to determine how the performance quality was lacking

what do the requirements focus on? how does ITIL help this?

what must be achieved rather than how it is done; ITIL guides how different aspects of the solution can be developed

when is warranty seen as a positive effect?

when it's available when and where required, in sufficient capacity to meet business needs, and sufficiently reliable in terms of continuity and security to be depended on can