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Real-World ITIL Configuration Management - From Start To Finish

I recently interviewed Larry Klosterboer, the author of “Implementing ITIL Configuration Management”, for over an hour on best practices in implementing ITIL Configuration Management.

Larry’s got several large scale, complex CMDB implementations under his belt and he’s not afraid to share with you what really works, his 5 step framework, tons of techniques - as well as what definitely does not work.

Now, that’s my kind of interview!

We can often learn more from past mistakes than we can from just ‘what works’.

But what I really enjoyed about the Podcast is the extent Larry’s gone to lay-out for you, step-by-step, the key stages of planning, designing, building, implementing and enhancing Configuration Management.

If you are just starting out – or someway along your CMDB journey – listen to this practical, start-to-finish guide to help you establish a clear roadmap for success, customize standard processes to your needs and avoid the pitfalls and challenges that might just stand in your way.

You’ll learn practical tips on how to plan your implementation, deploy tools and processes, administer ongoing configuration management tasks, refine ITIL information, and leverage it for competitive advantage.

Throughout, Larry highlights his approach with lots of real-world advice and examples, and helps you focus on the specific techniques that offer maximum business value in your environment.

The Podcast is split into two 30 minute segments, covering: -

• Assessing your current CM maturity and setting goals for improvement
• Gathering Requirements to align ITIL with organizational needs
• Describing the schema of your CMDB
• Identifying, capturing, and organizing configuration data
• Choosing the best tools for your requirements
• Integrating data and processes to create a unified logical CMDB
• Implementing pilot projects to demonstrate the value of CM
• Moving from a pilot to wide-scale enterprise deployment
• Defining roles for deployment and ongoing staffing
• Leveraging configuration management information
• Measuring and improving CMDB data accuracy

I also twisted Larry’s arm to 'spill the beans' and take a deeper dive into Requirements Management and running CMDB pilot projects. These two sections alone are well worth a listen.

You rarely find anyone talking so openly about these two topics.


Listen to the Podcast

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ITIL Refresh: More Clues About What Version Three Actually Means?

The CEO of the itSMF recently published an interesting article in the UK publication, Computer Weekly. Aidan Lawes' article is entitled, "A new ITIL for the integration age", with the basic premise of the article to highlight the point that ITIL best practice can assist in integrating IT Service Management with the Business and ‘alignment’ is actually the wrong goal.

Lawes states, “We should be striving for integration, not alignment. I do not believe that there is such a thing as an “IT service” any more; rather there are business services, which are wholly or partly enabled by technology. This means that those responsible for managing technology components need to understand exactly what end-to-end business processes are underpinned by them, and the scale and importance of those processes to the overall business operations and goals. Only then can the appropriate management approach be decided, which is where service management comes in.”

Lawes also mentions a very valid point and one that I know has frustrated IT Sevice Managers about ITIL for some time, he says, “In order for an approach to be recognised as best practice, it needs to be kept fresh and relevant.” This is particularly relevant when it comes the fast moving IT industry.

Some specfic references were also provided about the forthcoming ITIL refresh which positions some of the changes that we are about to see:-

Lawes states, “The core volumes will be reduced from seven to five.

- The new core volumes will be organised in more of a lifecycle approach, with working titles as follows: service strategies, service design, service introduction [note: now renamed service transition], service operation and continuing service improvement.

- Information about individual processes, previously contained within a specific volume, will now be found across several volumes, reflecting the relevant aspects at the particular stage of the lifecycle.

- In addition to these core volumes, there will be supporting books, brochures, documents and other information. Much of this will be aimed at specific target audiences such as business managers or CIOs, and provide the appropriate messages about value propositions.

- It is expected that aside from core material, further complementary material will be generated. Much of the complementary information will be quite dynamic in nature, requiring regular updating. To ensure that the latest information is available to the community, much of this material will be web-based and freely available.”

So, what about concerns that your current investment in ITIL will be wiped out or significantly eroded by the introduction of the refresh?

Lawes reiterates what Sharon Taylor and the refresh team have always maintained, “For enterprises that have invested, or are investing, in ITIL-based improvement programmes, the refresh should have minimal impact. Most of the core process definitions will not change at all.”

Resources:-

Aidan Lawes is chief executive at IT membership organisation the itSMF.

Learn more about the ITIL Refresh HERE.

Comments:-

If you would like to learn more about ITIL V3 - or you have some comment to share - simply click the comments link below. Thanks!

News

Sample Pages On ITIL V3 News...

Download News.pdf

News

Sample Pages On ITIL V3 News...

Download News.pdf

ITIL Version Three Mindmap

I have produced this rather useful ITIL Version Three / Refresh Mindmap for anyone who needs to quickly learn what's included in which tranche for the ITIL refresh project.

A Mindmap really lends itself to this type of information because it makes it faster to absorb, whilst retaining the structure and context of the message.

The headings are a reflection of the OGC's official "Scoping and Development" report (part 1) which was recently published (see link below). [Please note - this is my own work and is to be viewed for educational purposes only]. 

What really springs to life, as you click through the linkages on the map, is how well structured the new lifecycle approach is - and - how well thought through the integration between the new five core texts is going to be.

Hopefully, this will see the end of any version 2 'navigation' challenges.

The Mindmap refers to the core new texts as well as the complimentary value-add material.

You can really get a feel for what's going to be included in: Service Strategies, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement.

*How To Download and View the Mindmap*

1. To view the Mindmap you will first need to download Mindjet Mindmanager's FREE Viewier. *It's a large file*

Please visit this link to download the viewer:-

http://www.mindjet.com/us/download/mindmanager_viewers/index.php?s=2

(or visit mindjet.com and click 'downloads')

2. Next you can download the actual Mindmap here:-

Download ITIL_Refresh_Version3_mindmap.mmap

Further Resources:-

OGC Scoping and Development Report.


ISO/IEC 20000 - Free Audio Download and 40 page eBook.

Learn More About ITIL Version Three.

Are you interested in learning more about ITIL Version Three?

Great, because I've recently blogged a lot about what probably amounts to the biggest ever change we'll see with ITIL in recent years.

ITIL Version Three Resources:-

ITIL Version Three Overview & Perspectives.

A Powerpoint Slide Deck covering my own personal view on what the changes and additions are with ITIL V3. After watching Sharon Taylor's presentation in January, I decided to ensure that the main themese and messages from her presentation were available to a world wide audience. This is a good introduction to ITIL V3.

ITIL Version Three Authors - Who Are They?

Critical to the very heart of ITIL Version 3 will be the knowledge, expertise and writing capability of the five pairs of authors that are writing the forthcoming five new texts including: Service Design, Service Introduction, Service Operations, Continual Service Improvement and Service Strategies. I have put together a unique Powerpoint slide deck providing some background on each author, their photo and who they've worked for recently. Access the Profiles HERE.

ITIL Version Three - Official OGC Refresh Calendar:-

You can visit the official refresh calendar to view the latest items that are due from the ITIL Resfresh team. This calendar is now managed by the itSMF. Visit HERE.

Need to know more about ITIL V3 Refresh?

If you want to find the latest white papers, reports and news from sites other than the OGC, you can research them at this new search engine that's got ITIL and IT Service Management actually hardwired into the search code. Plus, there's handy search categories like 'White Paper' and 'Article'. Visit IT Service Today.

Keep Updated!

Simply type in you Email address into the ITIL'ize Me! box on this Blog - I will shoot you a quick Email evertime something relevant on ITIL and in particular ITIL Version Three pops up!

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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

OGC Publish ITIL Refresh Communication Calendar

The OGC, owners of ITIL, have recently published an "ITIL Refresh Communications Calendar" which is managed and updated by the itSMF.

The Calendar is a web page containing a table of recent and forthcoming key activities, publications and events - all relating to the refresh.

Here's a list of some of the things to look forward to: -

- ITIL Refresh Glossary (Now Available Here)

- "What's New?" WEB Based (Coming End of May)

- "Process Models / Mappings" WEB Based (Coming Soon!)

- Publication of Public Scope Report including Content Highlights and complimentary guidance portfolio strategy (Due End of May)

It's not terribly clear so far what is actually going to be published for public access V's internal refresh project team access - but I am assuming, unless it stated something about the project team specifically, that it's going to be for external publication.

More updates, as they become available.

ITIL Refresh Communication Calendar

*Don't forget - click on ITIL REFRESH in CATEGORIES to view all relevant past articles.

ITIL Version 3 - Author Profiles

NEW!  Recently Updated - Now contains all 10 Author Profiles.

The OGC (owners of ITIL) recently announced the successful winning authors of the next version of core texts - the so called Version 3 books.

But who exactly are these authors and will the next set of core books be 'safe' in their hands? Can we expect credible and authoratative books?

The answer - YES!

The OGC have contracted ten of the most experienced and knowledgeable Service experts in the world to create these books.

This post contains a link to a slide deck that highlights each authors background.

It's clear that each is indeed a successful and experienced expert in IT Service Management with many authors already having several core ITIL titles under their belts.

The mix of authors is interesting.

Each of the five core texts will be written by 'pairs' of authors to ensure that the writing process generates the correct blend of experience and (presumably) to encourage each author to maintain production and review deadlines so the books can be published later in 2006.

Balancing the creation of a complex and detailed set of texts along with the demands of a busy day job can be quite a juggling act - but the partnership approach, along with the authors excellent pedigree - looks set to produce another fantastic set of core titles.

In a previous post on this Blog we highlighted Sharon Taylor's recent presentation to the ITIL community and she mentioned that these texts would be evolutionary - not revolutionary - essentially ensuring that the next generation of ITIL core material is built on existing best practice - thereby protecting the investments that organizations worldwide have already made in their ITIL implementations.

Another interesting aspect is the involvement of Vendors particularly HP and Pink Elephant. Their practical experience of ITIL implementations worldwide will help assure the success of the final texts.

Access the ITIL Version Three Author Profiles here...

Download ITIL-Refresh-V3-Author-Profiles-V2.ppt