IT Management Reference Guide

The first part of this article provides information on the background and formation of the information technology service management forum (itSMF). The second part describes ten major benefits of the itSMF and its popular publication: the ITIL Pocket Guide.

Background and formation of the itSMF

The information technology service management forum (itSMF) was formed in the Netherlands in 1991 to promote IT service management principles, and to serve as a user group for the information technology infrastructure library (ITIL). ITIL was developed in 1989 under the sponsorship of the United Kingdom government, and eventually became a de facto standard of IT infrastructure processes best practices.

The following is the mission statement of the itSMF:

"The objective of the itSMF is to promote current IT Service Management expertise and practices, as an independent, not-for-profit organization."

The itSMF implements its mission by organizing local, national and international conferences, by publishing a bi-monthly magazine called Service Talk, by setting up seminars, regional discussion groups and working parties, and by issuing publications. One of the most widely recognized publications of the ifSMF is their ITIL PocketGuide.

The itSMF has the following as its four primary goals:

1. to develop and promote industry best practice in IT service management
2. to bring about professionalism within Service Management personnel
3. to provide a vehicle for helping members improve service performance
4. to provide members with a relevant forum in which to exchange information and share experiences with their peers on both sides of the industry

Members come from the following three separate areas:

1. Public Sector — central & local government, health & police authorities
2. Private Sector — banking, insurance, telecommunications, utilities, retail, transport, leisure
3. Vendors — product suppliers, consultancies, trainers, legal, recruitment, outsourcing

By 1995, the itSMF was providing helpful suggestions and dialogues about the understanding and implementation of ITIL. One of the most persistent recommendations involved the development of a condensed version of many ITIL volumes that described the best practices of various infrastructure processes. Later that year itSMF issued the first version of its popular ITIL Pocket Guide. In 1997, the first American chapter of itSMF was formed in Dallas, Texas. Since that time, dozens of other chapters have been formed in the United States and world-wide.

Benefits of itSMF

The following list summarizes the benefits of membership in the itSMF in general, and of the ITIL Pocket Guide in particular.

1. Forum for Feedback — One of the most valuable benefits of the itSMF is its ability to provide feedback about service management to and among various parties. IT service providers can supply information to each other about what works well and what does not. They can also provide feedback to vendors of service management products. Perhaps most importantly IT service providers can offer input to ITIL developers that eventually improves future versions of ITIL.
2. Localization — Another benefit of the itSMF is its localized nature. With regional user groups springing up all over, it is becoming easier to find a chapter in your area. This allows for the free exchange of information local to your area. For example, if natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes are common to a particular local, the process of IT service continuity may be of interest to service managers in these areas.
3. Globalization — On the flip side of localization is the global nature of itSMF. This affords the largest number of contributors and users of the information shared at forums. This benefit also can come into play for members wanting to survey a particular industry on either a nation-wide or world-wide basis.
4. Relevancy — The feedback exchanged at itSMF seminars is relevant to what is going on today because the participants, both IT service providers and product vendors, are sharing their experiences today. Current technologies such as wireless, voice-over-IP, radio frequency identification (RFID), and even web-enabled applettes were unheard of 15 years ago when the itSMF was just getting started. But current members using current tools help keep the forum timely and topical.
5. Practical Application — The suggestions made to itSMF, and which may find their way into newer versions of ITIL and the Pocket Guide, are practical in nature rather than theoretical or academic. They are offered up by practitioners for practitioners.
6. Condensed Content — The ITIL Pocket Guide consolidates almost 300 pages of information about infrastructure processes from the service support and service delivery volumes down to barely 40 pages. While some may point out the font size of the Pocket Guide is considerable smaller than that of the service volumes, there is no questions that the Pocket Guide effectively condenses large amounts of information into smaller, easier to understand nuggets of wisdom.
7. Stresses Key Points — One of the many benefits of the ITIL Pocket Guide is that it stresses only the key points about each ITIL process. Instead of pouring over dozens of pages of lengthy descriptions, the Pocket Guide keeps its explanations short, crisp and to the point.
8. Demonstrates Integrations — The Pocket Guide shows with diagrams and flowcharts the key integrations among the various ITIL processes. These integrations constitute many of the powerful aspects of the best practices framework, and the Pocket Guide demonstrates these relationships very effectively.
9. Ties Processes to Service Management — Another benefit of the ITIL Pocket Guide is how it closely ties the overall goals of service management to the individual goals of each ITIL process. Because the Pocket Guide is published by itSMF if offers a unique perspective on the significance of how these goals all tie together.
10. Conveniently Sized — True to its name, the ITIL Pocket Guide is small enough to fit in most any standard-sized shirt pocket. This makes it an excellent traveling companion, a convenient reference book and an effective source of finger-tip knowledge.

Summary

The itSMF and its ITIL Pocket Guide are two effective means to implement IT service management and its associated infrastructure processes in your environment. The preceding sections presented background on the formation of itSMF and described ten key benefits of using the forum and it ITIL Pocket Guide. The following two websites can provide you additional information about itSMF:

http://www.itsmf.com (international website)

http://www.itsmfusa.org (United States website)