IT service management refers to the implementation and management of quality information technology
services.
IT service management is performed by IT service providers through people, process and information
technology.
The following represents a characteristic statement from the ITSM literature:
Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology and their internal
organization[;] they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide and
focus on the relationship with customers.
ITSM is process-focused and has ties and common interests with process improvement frameworks
and methodologies.
The discipline is not concerned with the details of how to use a particular vendor's product,
or necessarily with the technical details of the systems under management.
Instead, it focuses upon providing a framework to structure IT-related activities and the
interactions of IT technical personnel with business customers and users.
IT service management in the broader sense overlaps with the disciplines of business
service management and IT portfolio management, especially in the area of IT planning and
financial control.
ITSM is generally concerned with the "back office" or operational concerns of information
technology management, and not with technology development.
In this respect, ITSM may be seen as analogous to an enterprise resource planning discipline
for IT.
Context IT service management is an enabler of information
technology governance objectives.
It does not typically include project management or program management.
In the UK for example, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, a government-developed
ITSM framework, is often paired with the PRojects IN Controlled Environments project methodology
and Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method for systems development.
ITSM is related to the field of management information systems in scope.
However, ITSM has a distinct practitioner point of view, and is more introspective as
opposed to the more academic and outward facing connotation of MIS.
There are a variety of frameworks and authors contributing to the overall ITSM discipline.
There are a variety of proprietary approaches available.
Professional organizations There is an international, chapter-based professional
association, the IT Service Management Forum, which is focused on ITIL and the ITSM audit
standard ISO/IEC 20000.
There is also a global professional association, the IT Service Management Professionals Association.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library
IT service management is often equated with the Information Technology Infrastructure
Library, an official publication of the Cabinet Office in the United Kingdom.
However, while a version of ITSM is a component of ITIL, ITIL also covers a number of related
but distinct disciplines and the two are not synonymous.
The ownership of ITIL transferred from the Office of Government Commerce to the Cabinet
Office, following the move of OGC into the Cabinet Office.
On January 1st, 2014, a 51% ownership in the intellectual property of ITIL, along with
the same percentage interest in the remainder of HMG's Best Management Practice portfolio,
was assumed by AXELOS, Ltd.
The current version of the ITIL framework is the 2011 edition.
The 2011 edition, published in July 2011, is a revision of the previous edition known
as ITIL version 3.It was a major upgrade from version 2.
Whereas version 2 was process oriented, version 3 is service oriented.
Since ITIL V3, the various ITIL processes are grouped into five stages of the service
lifecycle: service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation and
continual service improvement.
Applying the practices described in ITIL can be a difficult exercise.
ITIL presents a framework of general best practices for adopting an IT service management
approach, based on practical business experience.
It is not, however, meant to be applied without careful consideration of the relevance of
the recommendations provided to the organization in question.
In most of the cases ITIL is used as a reference framework and as a tool to create a shared
terminology for IT service provision, but the degree to which it is used to define specific
day-to-day practices varies significantly from organization to organization.
The guidance provided in ITIL can be used in a number of approaches, including as an
organizing framework, enhanced by guidance from other frameworks, standards and bodies
of knowledge, focused on the practical business results required by the organization from
IT.
Alternative approaches can be found in general service delivery theory, as IT services should
always be considered as a part of a bigger business picture.
The use of the term "service management" is interpreted by many in the world as ITSM,
but again, there are other frameworks, and conversely, the entire ITIL library might
be seen as IT service management in a larger sense.
Other frameworks, concern with the overhead and limitations
Analogous to debates in software engineering between agile and prescriptive methods, there
is debate between lightweight versus heavyweight approaches to IT service management.
Lighter weight ITSM approaches include: ITIL Small-scale Implementation colloquially
called “ITIL Lite” is an official part of the ITIL framework.
FITS was developed for UK schools.
It is a simplification of ITIL.
CoPr or "copper calls for limiting Best Practice to areas where there is a business case for
it, and in other areas just doing the minimum necessary.
OpenSDLC.org is a Creative Commons ITSM/SDLC Framework Wiki.
MOF 4 covers the IT service management lifecycle with a practical focus.
In situations where the relationships between the parties do not fall neatly in bilateral
client - service provider relationship, the limitations of the standard IT service management
approaches become apparent.
The traditional approaches tend to assume that the client has a direct contact with
the service provider or providers, usually codified in a formal contract between the
parties.
However, these assumptions break down in some of the more complex multi-cloud scenarios
or in the large-scale federated e-Infrastructures in the research domain.
There are ongoing initiatives and projects that are addressing these limitations, such
as: FedSM project
DMTF CADF Working Group CSA Open Certification Framework.
Governance and audit Several benchmarks and assessment criteria
have emerged that seek to measure the capability of an organization and the maturity of its
approach to service management.
Primarily, these alternatives provide a focus on compliance and measurement and therefore
are more aligned with corporate governance than with IT service management per se.
ISO/IEC 20000.
This standard is not identical in taxonomy to ITIL and includes a number of additional
requirements not detailed within ITIL and some differences.
Adopting ITIL best practices is therefore a good first step for organizations wishing
to achieve ISO 20000 certification for their IT Service Management processes.
COBIT is comprehensive and widely embraced.
It incorporates IT service management within its Control Objectives for Support and Delivery.
Tools and ITSM platforms The information-technology research and advisory
firm Gartner defines so-called ITSM or ITSSM tools as a set of tools that
“offer a tighter integration of functions that correlates with the activities of the
broader IT support organization.
ITSSM tools leverage a business view of IT services, enabling the IT support organization
to quickly resolve or escalate issues and problems, improve root cause isolation, and
provide higher levels of business user satisfaction.
Using this business view, IT support organizations manage incidents, problems and service requests
throughout their life cycles at a more efficient and effective rate.
ITSSM tools also enable organizations to automate the workflow of process frameworks specific
to IT service support.
ITSSM tools provide modules that enable business end users to find knowledge to support/resolve
their computing-related issues or to request an IT service via an IT self-service module.
“
A number of vendors operate in the ITSM space.
A Web search for ITSM vendors results in over 100 ITSM-related software companies.
Pink Elephant can classify a basic shortlist of companies with its PinkVerify Toolset V3.0,
V3.1 or V2011 certification and verification of products' ITIL-compatibility with the general,
core and integration suitability requirements for ITIL 2011.
In August 2012, Gartner published a Magic Quadrant for ITSSM, listing and rating eleven
vendors of ITSM platforms.
Gartner also categorizes a broader overview of ITSSM functions as ITOM Software which
it sees as affected in the period 2009 to 2011 by some shifts bringing in new key players
playing together in the same landscape, where:
" The Big Four ITOM vendors dominated the worldwide market share with 47% of the ITOM
market.
However, as the overall market has increased in size from $5.1 billion in 2002 to $18.3
billion in 2011, the combined share of these vendors has decreased by nearly 15% over the
past 10 years."
Starting in 2009, the APM Group, UK, established an ITIL Software Scheme which allows IT Service
Management software ITSM tool vendors to obtain endorsement through the Cabinet Office for
an ITIL-based tool.
This endorsement allows vendors to hold a valid ISS trademark licence and use the process
compliant ITIL ‘swirl’ logo at a bronze, silver or gold level.
The ISS assessment operates through Licensed Software Assessors.
Currently there are two companies listed as Licensed Software Assesors: Pink Elephant,
and Glenfis AG.
In 1998 Pink Elephant released its PinkVerify assessment service, the 2011 version assesses
a software tool against ITIL terminology, definitions, functionality and workflow requirements
for the following 15 ITSM processes: Availability Management, Capacity Management, Change Management,
Event Management, Financial Management, Incident Management, IT Service, Continuity Management,
Knowledge Management, Problem Management, Release & Deployment Management, Request Fulfillment,
Service Asset & Configuration Management, Service Catalog Management, Service Level
Management, Service Portfolio Management.
Currently there are three tools holding the PinkVerify 2011 certification for those 15
ITIL procesess: CA Service Desk Manager Suite, Dexon Software V6 and SAP Solution Manager.
See also Definitive software library
IT as a service ITIL
IT cost transparency Service desk
References
Further reading Eric J. Feldman.
"The Eight Essential Elements of an IT Service Lifecycle".
ITSMWatch.com.
Retrieved 15 December 2007.
Atwell Williams.
"A Practical Guide to Service and Service Models".
BMC Software.
Retrieved 2 August 2012.
External links