ITIL Blog - Featuring ITIL Training and Online ITIL Resources

Service Orientated IT Management: Benefits, Costs and Success Factors

I've managed to track down three academics from the
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland who have been actively
researching real life ITIL case studies for the last four
years.

Axel Hochstein, Gerrit Tamm and Walter Brenner are names that
you will soon become very familiar with. Trust me on this.

They have built up such a mass of valuable information that
it took all of my persuasive powers to get them to grant me
permission to actually send you this exclusive material.

What I really like about this report is that their findings
are clearly presented AND are based on real life case studies.

Have you ever tried to find information based on real life case
studies around ITIL?! (It's virutally non-existant).

Here's a quick overview of this report...

==============================
SERVICE-ORIENTATED IT MANAGEMENT:
BENEFIT, COST AND SUCCESS FACTORS
==============================

Outline:-

- Benefits
- Cost Categories
- Principles
- Six Case Studies
- Success Factors
- Current Trends

Chapter 1:-

- Introduction
- Goals
- Structure of the report

Chapter 2:-

- Case Study Method
- Key Data
- Comparison (before & after ITIL)

Chapter 3:-

- Assessment of Service-Orientated IT Mgt
- Benefit Categories
- Three advantages
- Cost Categories
- Benefits outweigh the costs
- Factors for Successful Implementation

Chapter 4:-

- Conclusion and Further Research
- Recommendations

I highly recommend that you print this out and take
some quality time (say 25-35 minutes) to digest this
valuable content.

There are lots of important findings within each
paragraph that can help your ITIL Implementation
and Enhancement Projects in a number of ways:-

- Proof that ITIL works for organizations
- Ideas for Benefit and Cost Categories
- Principles to learn from and contrast against
- Critical Success Factors for Projects

Please let me know what you thought and whether you would
like to receive further information like this.

Thinking about it - if you have a case study of your own
that you'd like to share (we can 'hide' the names) then
feel free to get in touch too.

Special thanks to Axel Hochstein for his kind permission to allow me to share this information with the wider ITIL Community.

Download the Full PDF:-

Download Service_Orientated_IT_Management_ITIL.pdf


Access the Website:-

http://www.iwi.unisg.ch/

OGC Re-Assures ITIL Community About The Future

The OGC, as owners of ITIL, issued a statement on their website last week attempting to re-assure us all that the future of ITIL is safe.

I've received the most amount of e-mails I've ever received this week around the subject of 'Ownership' and 'Certification' - so I would like to highlight my responses and thoughts to everyone to help clarify the situation.

Please note, some aspects are based on the OGC's statement and some are my own opinion and therefore may not actually happen. I will differentiate between the two within the text below.

The first point is about the actual ownership of ITIL. There seems to be some confusion here. The OGC have quite clearly stated that the copyright, ownership and development of ITIL remains solely with the OGC. This is a fact.

Therefore the current ITIL Refresh (Version 3) project is still fully funded, active and continuing to make good progress. This can be evidenced by the recent "ITIL Scope and Development Plan (Part 1)", that  was published last week.

In fact, we now know that the new five core texts can be expected around February 2007.

All this is clear and factual.

What's less clear is how the future of certification and training is going to unfold.

The OGC is in the final stages of awarding the new contract for the management of the ITIL certification and training schemes. The likely winner, subject to final negotiations, is the APM Group who currently manage this for PRINCE2 (again owned by the OGC).

The OGC have stated that, "The future for ITIL qualifications is subject to change" and "Once final negotiations have concluded the OGC will make a further announcement".

We can, at this stage, only speculate as to what these announcements are likely to include - however it's clear from the statement that the OGC's committment to full and effective participation from the itSMF, EXIN, ISEB and current accredited course providers remains. To what extent and the precise terms - is also unclear for ITIL Version Three.

Some personal thoughts on this area:-

1. ITIL is significantly changing. Although it's called a refresh, there are five new core texts coming along in 2007 and these are following a lifecycle (cradle-to-grave) approach. Therefore the current ITIL Foundation and Managers (Masters) Certifications are only representative of the current Service Support and Service Delivery texts (soon to become just one text - Service Operations written by HP).

2. There are bound to be new courses available such as "Introduction to ITIL Version 3" and also a more detailed "ITIL Version 3" course. It makes sense. The whole essence of this set of best practices is being "lifecycled" so there needs to be education and courses to back this up. Employers will want confidence that their people have the knowledge that represents the full extent of IT Service Management best practice. This will not be so if we just continue to focus on Service Operations.

3. Possible approaches include:-

a) 'Slightly' enhancing the current exams to meet the new lifecycle approach and offering an 'upgrade' course for existing Foundation and Managers certificate holders.

b) Introducing brand new, more radical, courses to cover the full detail of the new texts, rendering the old certificates as 'Version 2' compliant. Effectively meaning that employers can now determine between the current and new ITIL versions.

c) Modular approach (to compliment -b- above) whereby each of the new texts has it's own 2-3 days course and you can obtain certification as a 'Practitioner' in each of those.

Because revenue streams for 2007 are 'at stake' - I'm sure the many accredited course providers are 'rubbing their hands' right now at the delicious prospect of so many new opportunities to educate a growing number of ITIL'ists.

What's key for them is how the APM Group's new control over the courses and certifications will unfold. The APM Groups apparent business model (given they only have around 20 people) is to act as a knowledgeable 'broker' between the OGC and the itSMF, EXIN, ISEB and ACP's.

This interface will have to be paid for. I.E. the APM Group will charge for various aspects of (a) becomming accredited to provide training and (b) some kind of recurring fee for every candidate that takes a course. Licensing of the ITIL brand will also need to be considered.

I hope this article has gone someway to clarifying things, as they stand at this date, but I realise that there are many aspects that require further clarification.

Please click through to the resources below to learn more.

Resources.

OGC Website

APM Group Website

OGC's Scope and Development Report

ITIL Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Acronyms.

Just in case you missed the launch - the OGC's Get Best Practice Web Site recently published a baselined ITIL Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Acronyms.

It's been baselined at V01, May 2006.

Presumably, this will now be the official point at which changes and additions to these terms and acronyms can safely be made, as new terms and enhanced definitions will no doubt appear with the advent of the new five core ITIL texts.

I anticipate there will be many new terms to add into this document - given that we will soon see books on service design, service transition, service strategies and service improvement.

Resources:-

Access the Glossary HERE.

ITIL Implementation Strategies - Free 62 Page PDF - Update

As you know I recently completed an interview via Teleseminar with Randy Steinberg who gave us nearly two hours of ITIL Implementation Strategies and tips.

Well, over 100 ITIL experts, practitioners and newbies were on the call and the response has been amazing.

You can access the full Teleseminar Audio file and other bonus items, like a complete Chapter from Randy's book, "Implementing ITIL", over at:-
http://www.AskTheServiceExpert.com 

But there's a key item that's still listed as "coming soon" and that's the full call transcript covering all the answers to the 12 questions.

Why's it taken so long?

Well, you may be interested to learn that when you talk about ITIL for nearly two hours it generates 62 pages of text.

I wanted to make sure that all this text was carefully edited and presented in a way that's easy to absorb - there's a lot of content packed in there - so I've taken the last two days to edit it fully for you!

It's very nearly ready to upload to the download area now.

I've also created plenty of bookmarks within the PDF file so you can move around the document quickly and access only the answers that you really need to - although I do recommend that you read it all end-to-end at least once.

Anyway, whilst the last few layout changes are being made, why not access the PDF bookmark summary below - just to whet the appetite.

Download ITIL-Implementation-Strategies-Call-Summary.pdf 

ITIL Implementation Proposal: Justifying the ITIL Project

Understanding how to sell ITIL to the CIO or Board is an interesting challenge that most of us have (or will) face in the early stages of our ITIL implementation prgrammes.

Many IT Service Organizations will create a Business Case, Value Case or Proposal to Implement.

An excellent example of such a proposal comes from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand).

This sample report is well written and structured and should assist you in getting started quickly with your own ITIL Implementation proposals.

The report content includes:-
1.0 Executive Overview
2.0 Introduction
3.0 Reasons for Examining this Approach
4.0 Initially Identified Requirements for Change
5.0 Scope
6.0 Objectives
7.0 Project Structure
8.0 Project Deliverables
8.1 Service Desk
8.2 Incident Management
8.3 Configuration Management
8.4 Problem Management
8.5 Change Management
8.6 Release Management
8.7 Service Level Management
9.0 Project Organisational Structure
9.1 ITIL Implementation Project Manager
9.2 Service Management Project Team (ITSM)
9.3 Implementation Teams
9.4 Steering Group
9.5 Reference Groups
9.6 Reporting Lines
10.0 Key Challenges to the Implementation
11.0 Communications Strategy and Change Management
12.0 Resource Requirements
12.1 Human Resources
12.2 Helpdesk Telephone System
12.3 Software

I imagine that even if the specific contents don't really match-up to your own commercial organizations; the titles, headings, layout and benefits bullets are very credible.

Access the Sample Proposal HERE.

For detailed advice, strategies and guidance on ITIL Implementation visit:- www.AskTheServiceExpert.com

ITIL Implementation Strategies - Free Access To ALL Resources!

The ITIL Implementation Strategies Teleseminar took place yesterday and I was extremely pleased with how everything went! Randy Steinberg, my guest for the call, packed tons of great content into the call - covering your top 12 most burning questions.

I would like to acknowledge Randy for his sterling contribution to this event and also thank everyone who sent in their most burning question.

We had so many questions, I had to group them into categories (12 in total) to ensure that we got through the content in the allotted 2 hours.

The 12 questions Randy covered in detail were:-

Q1. How can you best 'sell' ITIL to the board / Senior Management and persuade them that ITIL is the right thing to do in the first place?

Q2. How do you obtain buy-in for ITIL and overcome objections from anti-process colleagues?

Q3. How do you define and measure the ROI of ITIL in order to prove its value?

Q4. How do you maintain momentum and buy-in as the ITIL Implementation programme proceeds?

Q5. What 'soft skills' are required to implement ITIL?

Q6. How do you go about implementing ITIL at the very beginning - from scratch? What are the very fist steps I should take?

Q7. After alert monitoring, alert management and the helpdesk - where should I commence my ITIL implementation programme?

Q8. What are the main reasons why ITIL implementations fail? How can you overcome these reasons?

Q9. Can ITIL be used with other methodologies - such as CoBIT and Six Sigma? If so, how?

Q10. How do you implement ITIL in small (or not-for-profit) Organizations?

Q11. Where do you start to begin implementing the CMDB?

Q12. Where do you start to begin implementing a Service Catalog?

Randy answered all these question in detail - and then some!

I have made all the following materials freely available to you:-

- Audio Download of the Teleseminar (listen to it on your iPOD!)

- Teleseminar Executive Summary Notes (key bullets of each answer)

- Online Resource Guide (over 20 accompanying links to PDF's)

Plus, coming soon, I have the additional materials:-

- Full transcript of the Teleseminar (professionally edited)

- Mystery bonus items (you'll have to stay tuned!)

Randy also gave away two quality bonus items:-

- The Complete PDF of Chapter Three of his book, "Implementing ITIL", which provides a strategic view of all the key stages of ITIL implementation programmes.

- An ITIL'ized version of the DICE Model (Excel spreadsheet and PDf guide) which helps you to understand the overall chances of success that your ITIL Implementation projects currently face - and how you can improve your chances of success.

To access all of the above material and keep up to date with the release of the mystery bonus resources - you only have to visit:-

Ask The Service Expert

Once you have registered, you will have full and complete access as and when the materials become available.

We really want to hear your feedback!

Tell us what you think of the resources that we provided for you and the Teleseminar in general! Please visit:-

Ask the Service Expert Mini-Blog

The Raw Essentials of ITIL - In About 30 Minutes!

Do you need to quickly and effectively learn the raw essentials of ITIL - but perhaps only have 30 minutes to do it in? Quite a challenge - but it can be done.

Matthew Kayes and Kory Smith of Sietel Leeds and Associates have put together an excellent 108 page FREE presentation covering the essentials of ITIL.

This is quite a feat - they should be congratulated for combining several volumes of text into one quality presentation pack.

I believe this pack will be invaluable in providing you with a great basis for communicating ITIL to senior executives in your organisation, or perhaps for helping you to shape your thoughts on how to create your own presentation to other Service Teams.

The FREE 108 page presentation (pdf format) contains:-

- What is ITIL?
- Who is using ITIL?
- Integrated Process Workflow
- ITIL Goals
- Overview, goals and benefits of each ITIL Process
- ITIL Components
- ITIL Exam Essentials
- The Structure of ITIL
- ITIL in a Continual Service Improvement Environment
- Overview of Service Support Processes
- Overview of Service Delivery Processes
- FREE sample ITIL Exam Questions
- ITIL Security Management
- ITIL Financial Management
- ITIL Operations Assessment

Access the Pack at Foundation Success HERE.

Get 20 Hot ITIL Links - Free

Recommend a colleague to the IT Service Blog and I will e-mail you my favourite top 20 ITIL research links. Free.

My way of saying “Thanks!”

If you enjoy reading the IT Service Blog and know someone else who would find it valuable – please recemmend us.

I want to recommend a colleague – How do I do it?

It’s quick and easy to do…

- Visit Tell-A-Colleague

- Complete your name and e-mail address

- Complete at least one colleagues e-mail address

- Click the “Yes!” button. That’s it.

You will receive an e-mail containing the 20 hot ITIL links and your colleague will receive a simple e-mail containing a link to us.

Note – no e-mail addresses are stored or used for any other purpose. No, it’s not any kind of e-mail scam - it’s just a quick way of spreading the word!

We want to get as many ITIL practitioners as we can regularly visiting the IT Service Blog.

It only takes 2 minutes.

So, what do I receive?

You will automatically receive links to the following PDF reports:-

1. "Back to School - Learn ITIL from the Ground Up".

2. "ITIL - The Pre-Flight Checklist".

3. "ITIL - What it is and why you should care".

4. "Top 10 reasons ITIL Implementations are Unsuccessful".

5. "ITIL - Maximising the Business Value of IT".

6. "The New ITIL and it's potential ROI".

7. "The Pitfalls of ITIL".

8. "Supporting and Extending the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)".

9. "ITIL Guide to Software Asset Management".

10. "Incident Management Portable Process Guide".

11. "Ready to Create Your IT Service Catalog?"

12. "Accelerating ITIL Adoption"

13. "Achieving IT Governance Through ITIL and CoBIT".

14. "ITIL Survey"

15. "The Lost World Of Problem Management".

16. "The CMDB and ITIL".

17. "How to produce an actionable IT Service Catalog"

18. "ITIL Power" (Not a PDF - but a really good read. Check out the comments too!)

19. "A Business Based Assessment Approach to ITIL Maturity"

20. "Change Management Methods and Implementation Best Practices"

Claim you 20 ITIL links – plus special bonus link - here

Root Cause Analysis for Beginners (and something for the rest of us!)

When you clear out the attic (desperately searching for suitable eBay items!) you occasionally come across something of real value. Such a find is an ideal excuse to have another coffee break whilst you congratulate yourself!

Well, something similar happened to me yesterday whilst clearing down my hard drive. I didn't want to do it - but it desperately needed tidying up!

Anyway, I found a long lost sub-sub-sub directory (why do we do that?) called "Root Cause Analysis".

It only contained one PDF file.

Namely, "Root Cause Analysis for Beginners".

Suspicious that I'd neglected such an important topic in the past and wondering why I'd never expanded my collection of papers on such an important topic...I decided to open it up and cast a glance...

In there was a 9 page little gem of a white paper and I vaguely recall reading it when I came across the case study used.

Written by James Rooney and Lee Vanden Heuvel and published by the ASQ, this paper is well worth reading.

Perhaps your Problem Management team would enjoy reading it?

Highlights:-

- Root Cause Analysis in less than 50 words

- Definition of Root Cause Analysis

- The RCA four step process

- Causal Factor Chart

- Example Problem

- Example Root Cause Map

- Root Cause Summary Table

An excellent document - I recommend it to you!

My favorite quote from the paper is:-

"Identifying 'severe weather' as the root cause of parts not being delivered on time to Customers is not appropriate."

Anyone in the UK who travels on trains regularly - knows what I mean!

Resources:-

Access the White Paper Here

Learn More About Root Cause Analysis Here

What is ITIL? (Free Introductory Guide)

A great free resource if you need to provide someone in your organization with an overview of ITIL at a foundation level is this free introductory guide which is provided by the itSMF.

The 42 page introductory guide to ITIL (Version 2 – the current version) contains: -

1 Introduction
2 What is IT Service Management?
3 Why Implement Service Management?
4 The ITIL Framework
5 Service Delivery
6 Service Support
7 ICT Infrastructure Management
8 Planning to Implement Service Management
9 Application Management
10 The Business Perspective
11 Security Management
12 Related Standards and Complementary Books
13 Summary
14 Further Guidance and Contact Points

The guide is written by Colin Rudd who is one of the two authors of the forthcoming ITIL version three (refresh) book: “Service Design”.

Resources: -

Down the free ITIL Introductory Guide Here

Learn More About the ITIL V3 (Refresh) Authors Here

Learn More About My ITIL Version 3 Refresh Perspectives Here