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📄 Contents

  1. Management Reference Guide
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Introduction
  4. Strategic Management
  5. Establishing Goals, Objectives, and Strategies
  6. Aligning IT Goals with Corporate Business Goals
  7. Utilizing Effective Planning Techniques
  8. Developing Worthwhile Mission Statements
  9. Developing Worthwhile Vision Statements
  10. Instituting Practical Corporate Values
  11. Budgeting Considerations in an IT Environment
  12. Introduction to Conducting an Effective SWOT Analysis
  13. IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part One
  14. IT Governance and Disaster Recovery, Part Two
  15. Customer Management
  16. Identifying Key External Customers
  17. Identifying Key Internal Customers
  18. Negotiating with Customers and Suppliers—Part 1: An Introduction
  19. Negotiating With Customers and Suppliers—Part 2: Reaching Agreement
  20. Negotiating and Managing Realistic Customer Expectations
  21. Service Management
  22. Identifying Key Services for Business Users
  23. Service-Level Agreements That Really Work
  24. How IT Evolved into a Service Organization
  25. FAQs About Systems Management (SM)
  26. FAQs About Availability (AV)
  27. FAQs About Performance and Tuning (PT)
  28. FAQs About Service Desk (SD)
  29. FAQs About Change Management (CM)
  30. FAQs About Configuration Management (CF)
  31. FAQs About Capacity Planning (CP)
  32. FAQs About Network Management
  33. FAQs About Storage Management (SM)
  34. FAQs About Production Acceptance (PA)
  35. FAQs About Release Management (RM)
  36. FAQs About Disaster Recovery (DR)
  37. FAQs About Business Continuity (BC)
  38. FAQs About Security (SE)
  39. FAQs About Service Level Management (SL)
  40. FAQs About Financial Management (FN)
  41. FAQs About Problem Management (PM)
  42. FAQs About Facilities Management (FM)
  43. Process Management
  44. Developing Robust Processes
  45. Establishing Mutually Beneficial Process Metrics
  46. Change Management—Part 1
  47. Change Management—Part 2
  48. Change Management—Part 3
  49. Audit Reconnaissance: Releasing Resources Through the IT Audit
  50. Problem Management
  51. Problem Management–Part 2: Process Design
  52. Problem Management–Part 3: Process Implementation
  53. Business Continuity Emergency Communications Plan
  54. Capacity Planning – Part One: Why It is Seldom Done Well
  55. Capacity Planning – Part Two: Developing a Capacity Planning Process
  56. Capacity Planning — Part Three: Benefits and Helpful Tips
  57. Capacity Planning – Part Four: Hidden Upgrade Costs and
  58. Improving Business Process Management, Part 1
  59. Improving Business Process Management, Part 2
  60. 20 Major Elements of Facilities Management
  61. Major Physical Exposures Common to a Data Center
  62. Evaluating the Physical Environment
  63. Nightmare Incidents with Disaster Recovery Plans
  64. Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process
  65. Developing a Robust Configuration Management Process – Part Two
  66. Automating a Robust Infrastructure Process
  67. Improving High Availability — Part One: Definitions and Terms
  68. Improving High Availability — Part Two: Definitions and Terms
  69. Improving High Availability — Part Three: The Seven R's of High Availability
  70. Improving High Availability — Part Four: Assessing an Availability Process
  71. Methods for Brainstorming and Prioritizing Requirements
  72. Introduction to Disk Storage Management — Part One
  73. Storage Management—Part Two: Performance
  74. Storage Management—Part Three: Reliability
  75. Storage Management—Part Four: Recoverability
  76. Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part One
  77. Twelve Traits of World-Class Infrastructures — Part Two
  78. Meeting Today's Cooling Challenges of Data Centers
  79. Strategic Security, Part One: Assessment
  80. Strategic Security, Part Two: Development
  81. Strategic Security, Part Three: Implementation
  82. Strategic Security, Part Four: ITIL Implications
  83. Production Acceptance Part One – Definition and Benefits
  84. Production Acceptance Part Two – Initial Steps
  85. Production Acceptance Part Three – Middle Steps
  86. Production Acceptance Part Four – Ongoing Steps
  87. Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part One – Objectives
  88. Case Study: Planning a Service Desk Part Two – SWOT
  89. Case Study: Implementing an ITIL Service Desk – Part One
  90. Case Study: Implementing a Service Desk Part Two – Tool Selection
  91. Ethics, Scandals and Legislation
  92. Outsourcing in Response to Legislation
  93. Supplier Management
  94. Identifying Key External Suppliers
  95. Identifying Key Internal Suppliers
  96. Integrating the Four Key Elements of Good Customer Service
  97. Enhancing the Customer/Supplier Matrix
  98. Voice Over IP, Part One — What VoIP Is, and Is Not
  99. Voice Over IP, Part Two — Benefits, Cost Savings and Features of VoIP
  100. Application Management
  101. Production Acceptance
  102. Distinguishing New Applications from New Versions of Existing Applications
  103. Assessing a Production Acceptance Process
  104. Effective Use of a Software Development Life Cycle
  105. The Role of Project Management in SDLC— Part 2
  106. Communication in Project Management – Part One: Barriers to Effective Communication
  107. Communication in Project Management – Part Two: Examples of Effective Communication
  108. Safeguarding Personal Information in the Workplace: A Case Study
  109. Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 1: Building a Manageable Schedule
  110. Combating the Year-end Budget Blitz—Part 2: Tracking and Reporting Availability
  111. References
  112. Developing an ITIL Feasibility Analysis
  113. Organization and Personnel Management
  114. Optimizing IT Organizational Structures
  115. Factors That Influence Restructuring Decisions
  116. Alternative Locations for the Help Desk
  117. Alternative Locations for Database Administration
  118. Alternative Locations for Network Operations
  119. Alternative Locations for Web Design
  120. Alternative Locations for Risk Management
  121. Alternative Locations for Systems Management
  122. Practical Tips To Retaining Key Personnel
  123. Benefits and Drawbacks of Using IT Consultants and Contractors
  124. Deciding Between the Use of Contractors versus Consultants
  125. Managing Employee Skill Sets and Skill Levels
  126. Assessing Skill Levels of Current Onboard Staff
  127. Recruiting Infrastructure Staff from the Outside
  128. Selecting the Most Qualified Candidate
  129. 7 Tips for Managing the Use of Mobile Devices
  130. Useful Websites for IT Managers
  131. References
  132. Automating Robust Processes
  133. Evaluating Process Documentation — Part One: Quality and Value
  134. Evaluating Process Documentation — Part Two: Benefits and Use of a Quality-Value Matrix
  135. When Should You Integrate or Segregate Service Desks?
  136. Five Instructive Ideas for Interviewing
  137. Eight Surefire Tips to Use When Being Interviewed
  138. 12 Helpful Hints To Make Meetings More Productive
  139. Eight Uncommon Tips To Improve Your Writing
  140. Ten Helpful Tips To Improve Fire Drills
  141. Sorting Out Today’s Various Training Options
  142. Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 1
  143. Business Ethics and Corporate Scandals – Part 2
  144. 12 Tips for More Effective Emails
  145. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part One
  146. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Two
  147. Management Communication: Back to the Basics, Part Three
  148. Asset Management
  149. Managing Hardware Inventories
  150. Introduction to Hardware Inventories
  151. Processes To Manage Hardware Inventories
  152. Use of a Hardware Inventory Database
  153. References
  154. Managing Software Inventories
  155. Business Continuity Management
  156. Ten Lessons Learned from Real-Life Disasters
  157. Ten Lessons Learned From Real-Life Disasters, Part 2
  158. Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 1
  159. Differences Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity , Part 2
  160. 15 Common Terms and Definitions of Business Continuity
  161. The Federal Government’s Role in Disaster Recovery
  162. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 1
  163. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 2
  164. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 3
  165. The 12 Common Mistakes That Cause BIAs To Fail—Part 4
  166. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 1
  167. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 2
  168. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 3
  169. Conducting an Effective Table Top Exercise (TTE) — Part 4
  170. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part One
  171. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Two
  172. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Three
  173. The 13 Cardinal Steps for Implementing a Business Continuity Program — Part Four
  174. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
  175. The Origins of ITIL
  176. The Foundation of ITIL: Service Management
  177. Five Reasons for Revising ITIL
  178. The Relationship of Service Delivery and Service Support to All of ITIL
  179. Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part One
  180. Ten Common Myths About Implementing ITIL, Part Two
  181. Characteristics of ITIL Version 3
  182. Ten Benefits of itSMF and its IIL Pocket Guide
  183. Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Delivery Processes
  184. Translating the Goals of the ITIL Service Support Processes
  185. Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part One: Service Delivery Processes
  186. Case Study: Recovery Reactions to a Renegade Rodent
  187. Elements of ITIL Least Understood, Part Two: Service Support
  188. Case Studies
  189. Case Study — Preparing for Hurricane Charley
  190. Case Study — The Linux Decision
  191. Case Study — Production Acceptance at an Aerospace Firm
  192. Case Study — Production Acceptance at a Defense Contractor
  193. Case Study — Evaluating Mainframe Processes
  194. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part One: Quantitative Comparisons/Natural Disasters
  195. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Two: Quantitative Comparisons/Man-made Disasters
  196. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Three: Qualitative Comparisons
  197. Case Study — Evaluating Recovery Sites, Part Four: Take-Aways
  198. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part One: Planning
  199. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Two: Planning and Walk-Through
  200. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Three: Execution
  201. Disaster Recovery Test Case Study Part Four: Follow-Up
  202. Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part One: Qualitative Measures
  203. Assessing the Robustness of a Vendor’s Data Center, Part Two: Quantitative Measures
  204. Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part One: What Did the Team Do Well
  205. (d) Case Study: Lessons Learned from a World-Wide Disaster Recovery Exercise, Part Two

One of the primary characteristics of a world-class IT environment is that its key processes are well-developed and robust. These processes include those that are part of the infrastructure such as change management and problem management. They could also include application development processes such as production acceptance and the software development life cycle. These processes could also include business continuity and information security. This section prescribes how to develop robust processes, regardless of their placement in IT.

Robust processes have a direct tie-in to customer satisfaction in the following manner. We can satisfy our customers by meeting or exceeding their reasonable expectations. To do this, we need to deliver quality services consistently. The quality and consistency of our services are a direct result of the robustness of our processes. The customer/supplier matrix shown below can demonstrate the importance of processes that produce the key services that key customers require.

Customer/Supplier Matrix

Key Customers

Key Services

Key Processes

Key Suppliers

Customers whose use of IT services is critical to their success and whose expectations are reasonable

IT services that are critical to a customer's success and whose delivery meets customer expectations

Processes that produce the key services that key customers require

Described in the section "Supplier Management"


The first segment of this section describes 24 characteristics associated with a robust process. The second part explains how to differentiate a formal process from that of an informal one, and the importance of doing so.

Characteristics of a Robust Process

The following is a fairly exhaustive list of attributes that characterize the robustness of a process. In this sense, robustness refers to the resiliency and durability of a process to withstand abuse, enforce compliance, and be able to measure its effectiveness. In the common vernacular of IT, it refers to a process as being bulletproof. The intent of these attributes is not to categorize the robustness of a process as all or nothing. As with many items associated with technology, the robustness of a process comes in degrees. Missing a few of these characteristics doesn't mean that a process is weakly designed or poorly executed. In general, the more of these attributes that are present, the more robust a process is.

  1. The objective is identified. An early step in creating a robust process is to state its overall objective, document it, share it with all appropriate parties, and ensure that all process-design participants agree to it and clearly understand it. The objective should answer the questions of what problem the process solves, which issues it addresses, and how the process adds value and quality to the environment.

  2. The executive sponsor is identified and involved. Each process needs to have an executive sponsor who is passionate about the successful design and ongoing execution of the process. This person provides support, resources, insight, and executive leadership. The executive sponsor arranges for any required participation or communication with other groups, either inside or outside the infrastructure. This individual is often the manager of the process owner.

  3. The process owner is identified and given responsibility for and authority over the process. This person leads the team that designs the process, identifies its key customers and suppliers, and documents its use. The process owner executes, communicates, and measures the effectiveness of the process on an ongoing basis.

  4. Key customers are identified and involved. Key customers are those individuals who are the immediate users and direct beneficiaries of the process. For example, suppose you're designing processes to request the restoration of a file or the resetting of a password. Key customers for these processes may be users who are most likely to request these services on a regular basis. Their involvement in developing the process is important to ensure practical design and ease of use.

  5. Secondary customers are identified and consulted. Secondary customers are those that may use a process less frequently than primary customers or who may be the eventual rather than immediate beneficiaries of the process. Using the example in item 4 above, if administrative assistants are making the original requests for file restorations, then their managers are likely to be the secondary customers of the process. Their consultation can be helpful because they may be the ultimate users of the process.

  6. Process outputs are identified. These are the specific deliverables or services that the process provides to the primary and secondary customers. Service metrics usually measure the quality of the delivery and the content of these outputs.

  7. Process inputs are identified. These are the specific input entities that the process requires. They may take the form of soft inputs such as data, information, or requests, or they may be hard inputs such as floppy disks, tapes, or other physical entities.

  8. Process suppliers are identified and involved. Process suppliers are the individuals who provide the specific inputs to a process. These suppliers may be

    • internal to an IT infrastructure (for example, data entry departments)

    • external to an IT infrastructure but internal to IT (such as a development group entering change requests)

    • external to IT but internal to a company (for instance, an outside user group supplying report modification information)

    • external to a company (such as hardware and software vendors who may provide details about how an upgrade is to be performed)

  9. The process is described by a sound business model. In simple terms, a robust process should make common business sense. The benefits of using the process should exceed the cost and efforts expended to design, execute, and maintain the process. The business side of a robust process sometimes involves leasing agreements, maintenance agreements, and service-level agreements.

  10. Process hierarchy is understood. Some processes have secondary processes or subprocesses underneath them. Individuals who are developing well-designed robust processes know and understand the relationships between the primary and secondary processes.

  11. Execution is enforceable. Almost any process, regardless of design, needs to be enforceable to be effective. Whenever possible and practical, software techniques such as passwords, authorizations, audit trails, or locks should enforce compliance with a process. When technical enforcement is not practical, management support, review boards, metrics, or other procedural techniques should ensure enforcement.

  12. The process is designed to provide service metrics. Most processes measure something associated with their output. Often this involves a quantitative measure such as transaction processes per second or jobs completed per hour. In addition, a robust process focuses on qualitative measures that are oriented toward the end user. These metrics show the relative quality of the service being provided.

For example, service metrics involving a report-delivery process may include not only how often the report is delivered on time, but whether it was delivered to the right individual, in the correct format, with accurate content, and on the proper media. Service metrics should measure the benefits of the process to the end users in their own terms. Designers should orient the metrics toward the customer and should focus on measuring the right thing; that is, these metrics should exhibit effectiveness.

  1. Service metrics are compiled and analyzed, not just collected. Mediocre infrastructures often invest a fair amount of time, money, and energy to collect and compile metrics; then they do little to analyze them. The real value of meaningful measurements comes from thoroughly and consistently examining these metrics for trends, patterns, and relationships and then applying the results of the analysis to improve the effectiveness of the particular service being measured.

  2. The process is designed to provide process metrics. Robust processes include not only service metrics but process metrics. The key difference between a service metric and a process metric is that a service metric focuses on how effective a process is with regard to a customer, and a process metric focuses on how efficient a process is with regard to a supplier.

  3. Process metrics are compiled and analyzed, not just collected. We need to compile and analyze process metrics, just as we do with service metrics. Analysts sometimes overlook the importance of analyzing missed process metrics when the associated service metrics are met. This could be the case in terms of a service metric involving output delivery being met, even though the job and its output had to be reprocessed numerous times. As with service metrics, the real value of meaningful process metrics comes from thoroughly and consistently examining them for trends, patterns, and relationships and then applying the results of the analysis to improve the efficiency of the particular service being measured.

  4. Documentation is thorough, accurate, and easily understood. Documentation is one of the fundamentals that clearly separate mediocre infrastructures from those that are truly world-class. Well-written documentation facilitates the training, maintenance, and marketing of key processes. Progressive shops hold appropriate staffs accountable for reading and understanding key documentation by making it part of the performance review. These shops also have their new employees test the clarity and readability of the writing while ensuring that senior analysts and technical leads have validated the accuracy of the material.

Thorough documentation eases the tasks of removing all non–value-added steps and verifying that all required value-added steps are present. Effective documentation can come in various forms, including online and hardcopy narrative procedures, diagrammed illustrations such as flowcharts or bubble charts, and web-enabled help menus. IT analysts and technical writers can evaluate documentation in a variety of ways. Future sections of this guide will explain some of these methods to evaluate documentation more formally.

  1. The process contains all required value-added steps. To use a legal analogy, value-added steps are to a robust process what the truth is to the testimony of a credible witness: The process should contain the value-added steps, all of the value-added steps, and nothing but the value-added steps. Two key attributes of a robust process are effectiveness and efficiency. Process effectiveness means that all existing steps are adding value to the end result. Key customers, suppliers, and process owners should meet prior to and after development of the documentation to identify all the value-added steps. This group should also ensure that they have inserted all value-added steps into the final process.

  2. The process eliminates all non–value-added steps. If a step is not directly contributing value to the overall objective of the process, process designers should eliminate that step. This procedure is critical to eventually automating the process. Designers need to perform two activities to completely eliminate all non–value-added steps. First, they need to identify all the steps in a process, regardless of how small, even if previously undocumented. This comprehensive list of the exact steps of a procedure is commonly referred to as the informal process. Second, they need to evaluate each of these steps closely with an eye toward eliminating any steps that don't directly contribute to the desired outcome of a process.

  3. The process guarantees accountability. Analysts should use process metrics, performance charts, and trending reports to quickly identify when a department or an individual is not following the prescribed procedure, with direct feedback to and consequences from management. For this design to work, process designers and owners need to give management sufficient tools to carry out enforcement. In turn, management needs to follow up with fair, timely, and appropriate actions to ensure process compliance in the future.

  4. The process provides incentives for compliance and penalties for avoidance or circumvention. One of the most effective incentives for compliance is efficiency. If it takes more time and effort to go around a process than to go through it, most employees choose to go through it; that is, use the process. The challenge is to remove the obstacles normally associated with using a process and to insert roadblocks for circumvention. Properly streamlining and then automating a process can encourage its use. Security measures such as passwords and locks, as well as management measures such as exception reports and accountability, can discourage circumvention.

  5. The process is standardized across all appropriate departments and remote sites. Designers may develop some processes at different remote sites at different times. This may cause the processes to have slightly different standards of implementation. For example, one of my clients had an older change-management process at a remote site based on an email system and a newer version at the central site based on an Access database system. Before optimizing either process, analysts had to agree on a standard. Nonstandard processes often come into play as a result of acquisitions, mergers, or takeovers. The technical challenge of implementing an agreed-upon standard is often much easier than the political challenge of actually reaching that consensus in the first place. This is because resolving a technical issue, for most IT professionals, is far easier and more desirable than resolving a political issue.

  6. The process is streamlined as much as possible. Streamlining a process involves removing all non–value-added steps, eliminating redundant steps, placing the steps in the most efficient sequence, and streamlining individual steps as much as possible. For long-established processes, this goal may be difficult to achieve because users have employed inefficient practices for so long. Here are three of the most common responses that IT professionals get about why a particular process cannot or should not be changed:

    • "We've always done it that way."

    • "It seems to work most of the time, so why bother changing it?"

    • "Analyst X designed this process, and only he can change it."

    This last response can occur even after analyst X has left the department.

    These explanations are not adequate justifications for keeping a process the same when improvements through streamlining are clearly warranted. Once we remove non–value-added steps, streamlining proceeds in this order: eliminate redundant steps, place the steps in the most efficient sequence possible, and streamline individual steps as much as possible.

  7. The process is automated wherever practical, but only after streamlining. Automation can end up being either beneficial or detrimental, depending on how the automation is designed and implemented. Automating a poorly designed manual process results in a poorly designed automated process.

  8. The process integrates with all other appropriate processes. Several processes within systems management naturally complement each other. For example, problem and change management are separate processes, but they often rely on each other for optimum effectiveness. Similarly, performance tuning and capacity planning are almost always closely related.

Formal Versus Informal Processes

Most IT professionals are familiar with the concept of a formal process. By this we mean a procedure or methodology in which all of the major steps are explained and documented. The write-up is normally signed by a manager in authority, disseminated to appropriate members of the staff, and made accessible for future reference in either electronic or hardcopy form. Written procedures on how to reboot servers, initiate online systems, or back up and restore data are common examples of formal processes.

An informal process is a far more detailed account of its corresponding formal process. An analogy from the culinary arts serves to illustrate this difference. Suppose you decide to duplicate a specialty of a gourmet cook by following her published recipe. You adhere precisely to each of the prescribed steps and create a dish that looks exactly like the original. But after the first bite, you know immediately that something just doesn't seem right. It's close but just a bit off the mark. Soon afterward you have the opportunity to watch this chef prepare the same dish in person. With her recipe in your hand, you note how she follows the steps in the same order as you did. But occasionally she swirls the pan briefly or adds a pinch of this and a dash of that—steps so seemingly insignificant as to almost be ignored. In this case, the recipe listing the steps is the formal process, but if the small, seemingly innocuous steps that make the dish taste just right are included in the directions, you have the informal process—the sum of all the actual detailed steps involved.

Documenting the small, critical steps of a process, little known and almost rarely recorded, is a prerequisite to effective process improvement, streamlining, and eventual automation. Shops unaware of the complete informal procedure associated with a systems management process often fail in their attempts to redesign it into a robust process due to tiny but significant steps being left out.

References

A Practical Guide to Information Systems Process Improvement (CRC Press, 2000), by Anita Cassidy and Keith Guggenberger.

IT Systems Management: Designing, Implementing, and Managing World-Class Infrastructures (Prentice Hall PTR, 2002, ISBN 013087678X), by Rich Schiesser.

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  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020