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• Recognition that the IT exists to further the business aims of the customers of its services.
• A willingness to go that ‘extra step’ to satisfy customer needs.
• An understanding of the customers’ perspective
• Achieving a Service Culture depends on:– Senior Management support– A good understanding of why IT Services are being provided– An understanding of the impact on the business of poor service– Clear targets to aim for, and from which to progress
• The customer is the most important part of the production line.
• It is not enough to have satisfied customers, the profit comes from returning customers and those who praise your product or service to friends and acquaintances.
• The key to quality is to reduce variance.
• Managers should learn to take responsibility and provide leadership.
• Improve constantly.
• Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
Quality management is the responsibility of everyone working in the organization providing the service.
Every employee has to be aware of how their contribution to the organization affects the quality of the work provided by their colleagues, and eventually the services provided by the organization as a whole.
Quality management also means continuously looking for opportunities to improve the organization and implementing quality improvement activities.
Plan – What needs to be done
Do – Planned activities are implemented
Check – Did the activities provided the expected result
Act – Adjust plans based on information gathered while checking
Mission of Service Desk• To act as the SPOC between the User and IT Service
Provider.
• To handle Incidents and Requests, and provide an interface for other activities such as Change, Problem, Configuration, Release, Service Level and IT Service Continuity Management.
• Location of SD analysts is invisible to the customers• May include some element of ‘home working’• Common processes and procedures should exist – single
incident log• Common agreed language for data entry
‘Follow the Sun’ Option• Not a type of Service Desk but an option usually applied to
two or more Central Service Desks for global operations• Where Service Desk support switches between two or more
desks to provide 24 hr global cover.• Telephony switching needed• Multilingual staff usually required• Local conditions and cultural issues need to be considered• Clear escalation channels needed
Incident Management is a reactive task, i.e. reducing or eliminating the effects of actual or potential disturbances in IT services, thus ensuring that users can get back to work as soon as possible.
The scope of Incident Management?The scope of incident management is very wide, and can include anything affecting customer service, for example:• Hardware failure• Software error• Network faults• Information request• How do I…?• Request for equipment moves• Password re-set, changes• New starters• Request for consumables• Service extension requests• Performance issues
“An incident is any event that is not part of the standard operation of a service and that causes, or may cause, an interruption to, or a reduction in, the quality of that service”
A request from a user for support, delivery, information, advice or documentation, not being a failure in the IT infrastructure.
If a Service is requested that is not for a defined ‘standard service’, and it alters the state of the infrastructure, then it triggers a Request For Change (RFC).
An RFC is not handled by Incident Management but is dealt with formally by Change Management.
Definition — a Known Error“A known error is an incident or problem for which the root cause is known and for which a temporary workaround or permanent alternative has been identified.
It remains a known error unless it is permanently fixed by a change.”
Known Errors are the responsibility of Problem Management
EscalationIf an incident cannot be resolved by first-line support within the agreed time, then more expertise or authority will have to be involved.
• Functional Escalation (horizontal) - Functional escalation means involving personnel with more specialist skills, time or access privileges (technical authority) to solve the incident.
• Hierarchical Escalation (horizontal) - hierarchical escalation means involving a higher level of organizational authority, when it appears that the current level of authority is insufficient to ensure that the incident will be resolved in time and/or satisfactorily.
• An up-to-date CMDB to help estimate the impact and urgency of incidents.
• A knowledge base, for example an up-to-date problem/known error database to assist with recognizingincidents, and what solutions and workarounds are available.
• An adequate automated system for recording, tracking and monitoring incidents.
• Close ties with Service Level Management to ensure appropriate priorities and resolution times.
To minimize the adverse effect on the business of Incidents and Problems caused by errors in the infrastructure, and to proactively prevent the occurrence of Incidents, Problems, and Errors
Problem Control
Error Control
Proactive Problem Mgmt
Management Info
- Problem ID and Record- Problem Classification- Investigate & Diagnosis
- Error ID and Record- Error Assessment- Error Resolution Record- Error Resolution Monitoring- Error Closure
- Trend Analysis- Targeting Preventative Actions- Major Problem Reviews
• IT problems that affect IT services• Recurring Incidents/Problems• Pro-active Problem Management• Major incidents, if required• Maintaining relationships with third party suppliers
• To ensure that problems are identified and resolved• To prevent problem & incident occurrence and recurrence• To reduce the overall number of IT incidents• To minimize the impact of problems and incidents• To ensure that the right level and number of resources are
resolving specific problems• To ensure that vendors comply with their contracts
Problem Control Error Control Proactive Problem Mgmt Management Reporting
Problem Management must ensure:• Data is properly recorded• Data is regularly inspected and maintained• Known Errors are recorded in a suitable Database• Support staff are educated to capture and record
Incident Mgmt vs Problem MgmtIncident Management• Restores agreed levels of services• Aims to resolve an incident quickly, by whatever means
possible, including a workaround
Problem Management• Diagnoses the root cause of incidents• Identifies a permanent solution• May take longer than Incident Management• Problem Management assists Incident Management by
providing info about problems, known errors, workarounds and temporary fixes.
• Identify and record infrastructure information• Control information in the CMDB• Leads to improved service quality (indirectly)• Supports license management• Ensure infrastructure information is up to date• A basis for Service Management processes• Information about the status of the infrastructure• Management information
Mission of Change ManagementTo ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes, in order to minimize the impact of any related Incidents upon service.
“Not every change is an improvement, but every improvement is a change.”
What are the relationships between services and the InfrastructureCreate a CMDB• Relationships between components• Names of services linked to servers• Question Numbers for each component (link the Known
Error Database)Change Scheduling (need a change manager)• Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC)• Projected Service Availability (PSA)• During Pit Stops
Release Management aims to ensure the quality of the production environment by using formal procedures.
Release Management is concerned with implementation, unlike Change Management, which is concerned with the complete change process and focuses on risk.
Release Management works closely with Configuration Management and Change Management to ensure that the common CMDB is updated with every release.
• Service scope and description• Service hours• Measures of availability and reliability• Support details – who to contact, when, how• Respond and fix times• Deliverables and time scales• Change approval and implementation
• Designing IT services for availability• Measuring and monitoring the key areas• Optimize the availability of the infrastructure• Reducing incident frequency and duration• Corrective action for downtime• The Availability Plan• Balancing Availability and Cost
To ensure best use of the appropriate IT Infrastructure to cost effectively meet business needs … and matching IT resources to deliver these services at the agreed levels currently and in the future
Good capacity management eliminates panic buying at the last minute, or buying the biggest box possible and crossing your fingers.
Demand Management• Reactive and Proactive Capacity Management• Managing demand where capacity is limited• Resources allocated by business priority• Influence user behavior• Increased or reduced charges for specific resources or times
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Util
izat
ion
Optimum utilizationPrior to Demand ManagementAfter Demand Management
• Reduce the vulnerability of the organization• Reduce identified risks• Plan for recovery of business processes• To involve 3rd parties to mitigate risk• Reduce the threat of potential disasters• To prevent loss of Investor confidence
Possible Risks• Damage and denial of access• Loss of critical support services• Failure of critical suppliers• Human error• Technical error• Fraud, sabotage, extortion, espionage• Viruses or other security breaches• Industrial action• Natural disasters
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)Purpose:• Identify key IT services• Determine the effect of unavailability• Investigate the time before the effects are felt• Assess minimum recovery requirements• Document with the businessImpact scenarios
• A working document detailing all processes and procedures• Under stringent Change Management• Detailing individual and team responsibilities • Off-site storage essential
• To account for running IT• To facilitate accurate budgeting• As a basis for business decisions• Balancing cost, capacity and SLRs• To recover costs where required (Charging)
• Cost of implementing and running charging system• Allocation of running costs to customers• Negative reaction to IT costs and charges due to increased
visibility• Perception of poor value for money• Failure to differentiate between internal and external money• Failure to make equivalent comparisons
ITIL Certification & TrainingThe ITIL Service Manager Certification covers both Service Support and Service Delivery at a very deep and comprehensive level.
ITIL Certification & TrainingThe ITIL Practitioner Certification is a new certification level. The ITIL Service Manager training has been divided into four independent Practitioner certifications:
ITIL Certification & TrainingSome individuals choose to pursue their certification like this:
Release and
Control
Practitioner Certification
Support and
Restore
Agree and
Define
Plan and
Improve
Service Support
ServiceDelivery
Service Manager
Certification
Foundation Certification
Note: Practitioner Certification is not a prerequisite to the Service Manager Certification. Foundations Certification is the only prerequisite for either Practitioner or Service Manager Certification.