- Management Reference Guide
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Strategic Management
- Establishing Goals, Objectives, and Strategies
- Aligning IT Goals with Corporate Business Goals
- Utilizing Effective Planning Techniques
- Developing Worthwhile Mission Statements
- Developing Worthwhile Vision Statements
- Instituting Practical Corporate Values
- Budgeting Considerations in an IT Environment
- Introduction to Conducting an Effective SWOT Analysis
- IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part One
- IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part Two
- Customer Management
- Identifying Key External Customers
- Identifying Key Internal Customers
- Negotiating with Customers and Suppliers—Part 1: An Introduction
- Negotiating With Customers and Suppliers—Part 2: Reaching Agreement
- Negotiating and Managing Realistic Customer Expectations
- Service Management
- Identifying Key Services for Business Users
- Service-Level Agreements That Really Work
- How IT Evolved into a Service Organization
- FAQs About Systems Management (SM)
- FAQs About Availability (AV)
- FAQs About Performance and Tuning (PT)
- FAQs About Service Desk (SD)
- FAQs About Change Management (CM)
- FAQs About Configuration Management (CF)
- FAQs About Capacity Planning (CP)
- FAQs About Network Management
- FAQs About Storage Management (SM)
- FAQs About Production Acceptance (PA)
- FAQs About Release Management (RM)
- FAQs About Disaster Recovery (DR)
- FAQs About Business Continuity (BC)
- FAQs About Security (SE)
- FAQs About Service Level Management (SL)
- FAQs About Financial Management (FN)
- FAQs About Problem Management (PM)
- FAQs About Facilities Management (FM)
- Process Management
- Developing Robust Processes
- Establishing Mutually Beneficial Process Metrics
- Change Management—Part 1
- Change Management—Part 2
- Change Management—Part 3
- Audit Reconnaissance: Releasing Resources Through the IT Audit
- Problem Management
- Problem Management–Part 2: Process Design
- Problem Management–Part 3: Process Implementation
- Business Continuity Emergency Communications Plan
- Capacity Planning – Part One: Why It is Seldom Done Well
- Capacity Planning – Part Two: Developing a Capacity Planning Process
- Capacity Planning — Part Three: Benefits and Helpful Tips
- Capacity Planning – Part Four: Hidden Upgrade Costs and
- Improving Business Process Management, Part 1
- Improving Business Process Management, Part 2
- 20 Major Elements of Facilities Management
- Major Physical Exposures Common to a Data Center
- Evaluating the Physical Environment
- Nightmare Incidents with Disaster Recovery Plans
- Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process
- Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process – Part Two
- Automating a Robust Infrastructure Process
- Improving High Availability — Part One: Definitions and Terms
- Improving High Availability — Part Two: Definitions and Terms
- Improving High Availability — Part Three: The Seven R's of High Availability
- Improving High Availability — Part Four: Assessing an Availability Process
- Methods for Brainstorming and Prioritizing Requirements
- Introduction to Disk Storage Management — Part One
- Storage Management—Part Two: Performance
- Storage Management—Part Three: Reliability
- Storage Management—Part Four: Recoverability
- Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part One
- Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part Two
- Meeting Today's Cooling Challenges of Data Centers
- Strategic Security, Part One: Assessment
- Strategic Security, Part Two: Development
- Strategic Security, Part Three: Implementation
- Strategic Security, Part Four: ITIL Implications
- Production Acceptance Part One – Definition and Benefits
- Production Acceptance Part Two – Initial Steps
- Production Acceptance Part Three – Middle Steps
- Production Acceptance Part Four – Ongoing Steps
- Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part One – Objectives
- Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part Two – SWOT
- Case Study: Implementing an ITIL Service Desk – Part One
- Case Study: Implementing a Service Desk Part Two – Tool Selection
- Ethics, Scandals and Legislation
- Outsourcing in Response to Legislation
- Supplier Management
- Identifying Key External Suppliers
- Identifying Key Internal Suppliers
- Integrating the Four Key Elements of Good Customer Service
- Enhancing the Customer/Supplier Matrix
- Voice Over IP, Part One — What VoIP Is, and Is Not
- Voice Over IP, Part Two — Benefits, Cost Savings and Features of VoIP
- Application Management
- Production Acceptance
- Distinguishing New Applications from New Versions of Existing Applications
- Assessing a Production Acceptance Process
- Effective Use of a Software Development Life Cycle
- The Role of Project Management in SDLC— Part 2
- Communication in Project Management – Part One: Barriers to Effective Communication
- Communication in Project Management – Part Two: Examples of Effective Communication
- Safeguarding Personal Information in the Workplace: A Case Study
- Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 1: Building a Manageable Schedule
- Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 2: Tracking and Reporting Availability
- References
- Developing an ITIL Feasibility Analysis
- Organization and Personnel Management
- Optimizing IT Organizational Structures
- Factors That Influence Restructuring Decisions
- Alternative Locations for the Help Desk
- Alternative Locations for Database Administration
- Alternative Locations for Network Operations
- Alternative Locations for Web Design
- Alternative Locations for Risk Management
- Alternative Locations for Systems Management
- Practical Tips To Retaining Key Personnel
- Benefits and Drawbacks of Using IT Consultants and Contractors
- Deciding Between the Use of Contractors versus Consultants
- Managing Employee Skill Sets and Skill Levels
- Assessing Skill Levels of Current Onboard Staff
- Recruiting Infrastructure Staff from the Outside
- Selecting the Most Qualified Candidate
- 7 Tips for Managing the Use of Mobile Devices
- Useful Websites for IT Managers
- References
- Automating Robust Processes
- Evaluating Process Documentation — Part One: Quality and Value
- Evaluating Process Documentation — Part Two: Benefits and Use of a Quality-Value Matrix
- When Should You Integrate or Segregate Service Desks?
- Five Instructive Ideas for Interviewing
- Eight Surefire Tips to Use When Being Interviewed
- 12 Helpful Hints To Make Meetings More Productive
- Eight Uncommon Tips To Improve Your Writing
- Ten Helpful Tips To Improve Fire Drills
- Sorting Out Today’s Various Training Options
- Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 1
- Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 2
- 12 Tips for More Effective Emails
- Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part One
- Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Two
- Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Three
- Asset Management
- Managing Hardware Inventories
- Introduction to Hardware Inventories
- Processes To Manage Hardware Inventories
- Use of a Hardware Inventory Database
- References
- Managing Software Inventories
- Business Continuity Management
- Ten Lessons Learned from Real-Life Disasters
- Ten Lessons Learned From Real-Life Disasters, Part 2
- Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 1
- Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 2
- 15 Common Terms and Definitions of Business Continuity
- The Federal Government’s Role in Disaster Recovery
- The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 1
- The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 2
- The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 3
- The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 4
- Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 1
- Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 2
- Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 3
- Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 4
- The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part One
- The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Two
- The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Three
- The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Four
- The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
- The Origins of ITIL
- The Foundation of ITIL: Service Management
- Five Reasons for Revising ITIL
- The Relationship of Service Delivery and Service Support to All of ITIL
- Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part One
- Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part Two
- Characteristics of ITIL Version 3
- Ten Benefits of itSMF and its IIL Pocket Guide
- Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Delivery Processes
- Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Support Processes
- Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part One: Service Delivery Processes
- Case Study: Recovery Reactions to a Renegade Rodent
- Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part Two: Service Support
- Case Studies
- Case Study — Preparing for Hurricane Charley
- Case Study — The Linux Decision
- Case Study — Production Acceptance at an Aerospace Firm
- Case Study — Production Acceptance at a Defense Contractor
- Case Study — Evaluating Mainframe Processes
- Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part One: Quantitative Comparisons/Natural Disasters
- Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Two: Quantitative Comparisons/Man-made Disasters
- Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Three: Qualitative Comparisons
- Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Four: Take-Aways
- Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part One: Planning
- Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Two: Planning and Walk-Through
- Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Three: Execution
- Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Four: Follow-Up
- Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part One: Qualitative Measures
- Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part Two: Quantitative Measures
- Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part One: What Did the Team Do Well
- (d) Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part Two
During the second half of 2007, the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is scheduled to issue Version 3 of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Over the past several years ITIL has become the world-wide de facto standard for best practices of IT infrastructure processes. Because of this, there is much interest in seeing what changes will be forthcoming in the new version, in determining why a new version was needed at this time and in examining what ways Version 3 will differ from that of Version 2. Before addressing these questions, it is worth examining how Versions 1 and 2 differed from each other.
How ITIL Version 2 Differs from Version 1
In 1989 the UK’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) first published elements of what would eventually become the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Version 1. This initial version grew to over sixty volumes and covered a large variety of IT issues. Some volumes dealt with issues that were clearly less significant than others such as those addressing office acoustics, backup power supplies and cabling techniques. Ten of the books became more popular and more widely used than any of the others; these were the ones that described service support processes and service delivery processes.
Service support and service delivery each consisted of five separate IT service-oriented processes as shown in Table 1 below. The service delivery processes are described as being customer-facing because they involve interactions primarily with the customers of IT services as opposed to users. In ITIL terms, customers are those who request, sponsor and often pay for (in the form of charge-backs) specific IT services. Customers are often the managers of the personnel who actually use the IT services in question.
Table 1 ITIL Version 1 Service Processes
| Service Support (User-Facing) | Service Delivery (Customer-Facing) |
| Help Desk Management | Service Level |
| Problem Management | Cost Management |
| Configuration Management | Capacity Management |
| Change Management | Availability Management |
| Software Distribution and Control | Contingency Planning |
Another difference between the processes of service delivery and those of service support involves their planning horizons. Service delivery processes tend to be longer range in their planning, usually in the order of months or quarters, while those of service support are much shorter in their orientations, in many cases no longer than hours or days.
Listing 1: Reasons for Revising ITIL Version 1
- Eliminate duplication
- Improve consistency
- Improve consistency
- Sharpen focus
- Update guidance
By 1997 it had become apparent to many in the IT service industry, and to infrastructure managers in particular, that ITIL required upgrading. While the framework was sound and offered many useful benefits, there were several reasons supporting the need for revision. Five of the most common are listed in Listing 1. The 60 volumes of version 1 was eventually reduced to eight, and the ten service process volumes down to two.
- Eliminate duplication—The original ITIL Service Management set consisted of ten separate publications. A good amount of duplication was required for each of these publications to stand alone, and that duplication was eliminated by consolidating the ten books into two.
- Improve consistency—The original ITIL Service Management set of ten publications was written by a number of authors over a span of time. Some concepts, definitions and distinctions were interpreted and presented differently, based on the practical experience of each author. One goal of the revision of the publications in 2000-2001 was the elimination of those inconsistencies.
- Enhance navigation—Ten publications with a good amount of duplication is a lot to navigate. In addition, there were variations in how the content was organized among the original ten publications. Consolidating the ten publications into two with a consistent navigation scheme was one of the goals of the 2000-2001 revisions.
- Sharpen focus—The original ten publication had some unevenness of focus, especially with regard to infrastructure management business issues. In version 2, the focus of the materials was sharpened. For example, the original Contingency Planning publication covered business continuity as well as IT continuity, with not enough focus on the continuity of IT services. This situation, and others, was remedied in the new publications.
- Update guidance—The guidance in the publications was updated to reflect changes since 1989. Given the fact that business use of the Internet was not on anyone’s radar in 1989, it is remarkable how relevant the original publications are. However, many things changed, and the guidance was updated to take advances such as the web infrastructure and application service providers into consideration. The guidance was also updated to ensure synergy with the newly published OGC IS guides.
Table 2 shows the service processes of ITIL version 2. The first obvious difference is that the two sets of five processes for service support and service delivery were both expanded to six processes, although each expansion warrants minor clarification. The help desk in version 1 included portions of an incident management process. In version 2 the help desk was split into a service desk function and an incident management process. Software distribution and control was renamed release management and included both hardware and software upgrades.
On the service delivery side, cost management was renamed financial management to emphasize financial budgeting and accounting of IT assets, and optional charging for IT services. Contingency Planning was renamed IT service continuity to reflect the fact that this process is more that just about the planning of contingencies; it is also about managing strategies and recovery plans in the event of a disaster. Finally, security management was included, even though it has its own volume, because of its close relationship to availability management.
Table 2 ITIL Version 2 Service Processes
| Service Support (User-Facing) | Service Delivery (Customer-Facing) |
| Service Desk (function) | Service Level Management |
| Incident Management | Financial Management of IT Assets |
| Problem Management | Capacity Management |
| Configuration Management | Availability Management |
| Change Management | Security Management |
| Release Management | Service Continuity Management |
How ITIL Version 3 Will Differ from Version 2
Table 3 lists the ITIL core volumes of versions 2 and 3. The eight volumes of version 2 will be consolidated down to five. The reasons for this are to further condense the number of volumes to a more usable quantity, and to focus attention on the service management aspect of ITIL. The original foundation of ITIL was heavily based on the principles of IT service management. Version 3 re-emphasizes this notion.
Table 3 Core Volumes of ITIL Versions 2 and 3
| ITIL Version 2 Core Volumes | ITIL Version 2 Core Volumes |
| Service Support | IT Service Strategies |
| Service Delivery | IT Service Design |
| Security Management | IT Service Transition |
| ICT Infrastructure Management | IT Service Operations |
| Application Management | IT Service Improvement |
| The Business Perspective | |
| Planning to Implement Service Management | |
| ITIL Small-scale Implementation |
None of the 11 processes (plus the service desk function) of ITIL Version 3 are expected to have major revisions made to them, but their location in the new volumes will change. Most of the service support processes of version 2 will likely be included in the IT Service Operations volume; the service delivery processes will likely be split across IT Service Transition and IT Service Improvement. Developers are still finalizing ITIL Version 3 so some of the eventual changes may vary slightly from these expectations. But for those who may be putting off ITIL training and implementations of version 2 in anticipation of major wholesale with Version 3, the delay is not likely warranted. The overwhelming majority of best practices in version 2 will still apply to version3.