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  • 8/8/2019 How to Get ITIL Done

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    OPALIS GUIDE

    "IT has done a terrific job ofautomating processes arounddeveloping software, but theopposite is true when it comes downto automation in operations andproduction environments.Jean-Pierre Garbani, Forrester Research

    HOW TO GET ITIL DONE

    Implementing ITIL and makingit a reality.

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    Few would argue over the crucial role of IT in todayseconomy. In our lifetime, we have witnessed ITevolve from a limited service function into a critical

    core competency of modern organizations.

    Stepping out of the shadows and into the limelighthas created new challenges for IT, however.Expectations have risen dramatically throughout alllevels of the organization and its ecosystem ofcustomers, partners, investors and stakeholders.Everyone expects and demands more from IT.

    Despite the implications of Moores Law, IT stillrepresents a significant investment for mostorganizations. Faced with increased demand andfinite resources, many organizations have set their

    sights on three broad goals:

    Reducing IT costs Increasing IT efficiency Optimizing existing IT infrastructure

    Achieving these three goals requires buy-in from topmanagement and serious effort across theorganization. Integrating and automating corebusiness processes are requisite steps.Organizations that ignore these requisites will find itincreasingly difficult, if not impossible, to extractvalue from IT investments.

    ITIL IS THE PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK

    Fortunately, a roadmap for achieving the crucialgoals already exists. The Information TechnologyInfrastructure Library (ITIL) provides a commonframework of all IT activities. This framework enablescompanies to identify, define, communicate andimplement best practices throughout their ITorganizations. ITIL also empowers IT organizationsto align themselves with the business goals of thelarger organizations they serve.

    Additionally, the adoption of ITIL often results inimproved customer satisfaction through a moreprofessional approach to service delivery and betterdelivery of third-party services throughstandardization around ITIL as the basis for servicedelivery in services procurements.

    The process of standardization and alignment isachieved primarily by defining and automating data

    center processes. Although most data center tools(monitoring, provisioning, virtualization, service desk,etc.) provide deep task automation within their

    solutions, they do not automate processes betweenapplications, departments or data silos. This creates asubstantial load of additional manual work for IT staff.

    Since most IT managers are interested in optimizingthe use of their resources by reducing the amount ofredundant work done by their staff, there is a strongmotivation to leverage ITIL processes by automatingthem to the greatest extent possible.

    Automating ITIL processes requires a platform thatorchestrates applications, automates tasks andintegrates data between systems. The automationplatform should be capable of performing theseduties simply, swiftly and effectively to ensureconsistent results and steady progress towards thegoals of reduced costs and improved service levels.

    COMMON IMPLEMENTATION HAZARDS

    The experiences of several hundred organizationsreveal that ITIL initiatives tend to stumble for a varietyof reasons. The top three causes for ITILimplementation problems are:

    1. Human Weak Link FailureIt is impractical to assume that humans will follow therules described in ITIL methodologies to a tee. To besuccessful, enterprises need to remove humans fromthe process as much as possible and instead rely onautomation technologies to better chances ofrepeatability and consistency.

    2. Process Definition Scope CreepOftentimes, enterprises do not put enough thoughtinto the constraints of the definition of processes theywant to document and enforce, rather it becomes a"what should we do" exercise versus a "what do weneed to do" exercise.

    3. Communications FailureIT personnel often fail to market their ITIL project as away to drive both internal efficiency and service levels,and try to use the ITIL label as the main message. ITILprojects are costly, therefore, IT staff should be able

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    to demonstrate up front how it will fortify corebusiness processes and make them more reliable.This demonstration will avoid lost budgets or

    abandoned projects part way through an ITILimplementation.

    There is little question about the ultimate value ofITIL to competitive organizations. Indeed, mostorganizations can rightly expect enormous benefitsfrom ITIL implementations if they are doneproperly.

    DEMYSTIFYING ITIL PROCESSES

    From the onset, IT executives must shoulderresponsibility for taking the mystery out of ITILprocesses and making a strong business case forsupporting ITIL initiatives by explaining potentialbenefits clearly and by sharing case studies ofsuccessful ITIL implementations.

    For example, one leading international provider ofintegrated logistics services with 38,000 employeesat over 1,100 locations across the world relies heavilyon its IT organization to manage the land, sea andair transportation systems that generate its 6.9billion in revenues annually.

    In this companys situation, early integration andautomation of core business processes provedcrucial to the success of its ITIL implementation.Their decision to automate routine maintenanceprocedures such as nightly shutdown and restart ofservers, database backups and Electronic DataInterchange transfers reduced IT workloads andfreed staff for other projects. This ITILimplementation now helps the company maintainhigh levels of IT service with a relatively lean ITbudget.

    Another successful example is one of Europes top10 IT services companies, an industry leader withrevenue of more than 1.1 billion and 9,000employees. One of the firms first automationinitiatives was consolidating its managed servicescenters. The secure services are based onstandardized methods, including ITIL and serviceperformance indicators. The result was that thisorganization achieved significant gains inoperational efficiency and reliability from the

    consolidation benefits that directly impact thecompanys bottom line.

    ITIL PROCESSES ARE FOUNDED ON BESTPRACTICES

    Based on a common sense approach to coping withthe real-world challenges of IT service management,ITIL is essentially a collection of best practices formanaging requests, incidents, problems, changes,and service level agreements. Ideally, ITIL enablesorganizations to effectively manage IT costs, increaseIT efficiency and optimize existing IT resources.

    Incident ManagementIncident Management

    Problem ManagementProblem Management

    Configuration ManagementConfiguration Management

    Change ManagementChange Management

    Release ManagementRelease Management

    Service DeskService Desk

    Financial Mgmt for IT ServicesFinancial Mgmt for IT Services

    Capacity ManagementCapacity Management

    IT Service Continuity MgmtIT Service Continuity Mgmt

    Availability ManagementAvailability Management

    Security ManagementSecurity Management

    Service Level ManagementService Level Management

    Service SupportService Support Service DeliveryService Delivery

    IT Service Management (ITSM)IT Service Management (ITSM)

    Daily Tasks Strategic

    The ITIL framework is built around two main pillars:Service Support and Service Delivery. Each of thesepillars has five components. Here are brief summariesof each:

    SERVICE SUPPORT DAILY TASKS

    1. Configuration Management The foundation ofIT service management, Configuration Managementunderlies all the processes within the ITIL framework.The essential goals Configuration Managementinclude identifying and defining Configuration Items(CIs), and ensuring the accuracy and completeness of

    the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

    2. Incident Management The process for handlingincidents from detection to closure, IncidentManagement is responsible for restoring serviceswiftly and with minimal impact on businessoperations.

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    3. Problem Management Responsible forminimizing negative effects of incidents, ProblemManagement helps the organization discover the

    underlying causes of incidents and identify potentialissues before they adversely affect users. Problemmanagement is also a process for analyzing trendsthat could have a negative impact on productivity.

    4. Change Management By providing astandardized approach to managing changes in theinfrastructure, Change Management ensures thatchanges will have minimal negative impact. Detailedanalyses of risk, resource requirements, businesscontinuity and impact are required for achieving anappropriate balance between the need for changeand the unavoidable consequences of change in

    complex IT environments.

    5. Release Management This process ensuresconsistency throughout rollout and version controlof hardware and software. Release Managementadopts a holistic view of IT service changes, takinginto consideration technical and non-technicalaspects of a release. In addition to providing for theconsistent distribution of hardware and softwarepackages, it ensures accuracy of the CMDB. ReleaseManagement is also responsible for legal andcontractual obligations covering software andhardware used throughout the organization.

    SERVICE DELIVERY - STRATEGIC

    1. Service Level Management This process helpsorganizations maintain and improve IT service byworking with users to develop new services andensure consistent delivery of existing servicesthrough careful monitoring of service level metrics.The goals of Service Level Management (SLM)include providing accurate metrics measuringsupport effectiveness, fostering two-waycommunication between the IT organization and thelarger organization it serves, and managing costs ofspecific services. SLM also negotiates supporttargets defined in Operational Level Agreements(OLAs).

    2. Availability Management By optimizinginfrastructure capability and its supportingorganizations, Availability Management ensurescost-effective levels of IT service consistently overtime. Availability Management is responsible for

    ensuring that promised services meet or exceed theiravailability targets.

    3. Capacity Management The primary goal ofCapacity Management is making certain that assetcapacity is available to support business objectives.Capacity Management planning is closely linked tothe business strategy of the larger organization.Capacity Management also predicts future needs foradditional capacity required to meet businessobjectives that are likely to arise. PerformanceManagement, Workload Management, DemandManagement and Application Sizing and Modelingcan also play important roles in the ongoing CapacityManagement process.

    4. Financial Management for IT Services Thisincreasingly crucial process provides the foundationfor managing the IT organization as a business withinthe larger business organization. FinancialManagement for IT is primarily concerned withunderstanding the true costs of IT services, trackingTotal Cost of Ownership (TCO) and forecasting futureIT spending. By providing accurate accounting for thecosts of IT service delivery and by projecting futurecosts credibly, Financial Management enables thebusiness organization to make better, more rationaldecisions on a consistent basis.

    5. IT Service Continuity Management Responsiblefor ensuring continued support of Service LevelAgreements following interruptions and outages, thisprocess generates recovery plans for providing serviceto agreed levels on an agree schedule. The IT ServiceContinuity Management process defines theprocedures necessary for returning IT to agreed levelsafter an outage, monitors infrastructure assets foravailability and actively realigns or redeploysresources after an outage to achieve the best possibleservice levels.

    NET TAKEAWAY

    As IT services move from the periphery to the virtualcenter of commercial ecosystems, it becomesincreasingly apparent that ad hoc systems ofinterdependent platforms and applications cannothope to keep pace with the demands of a globaleconomy driven by information.

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    ITIL processes represent a logical alternative. ITIL isa serves as a practical framework for raising andmaintaining the quality of IT service management.

    The benefits of using ITIL include reduced IT costs,improved IT customer satisfaction, increasedproductivity and more effective utilization of IThuman resources.

    Although ITIL initiatives are more likely to succeedwith support from top management, ITIL processescan provide direct and immediate benefits to CIOs,IT directors, IT managers and IT service providers.The potential for ITIL initiatives to play significantroles in managing costs and increasing productivityputs ITIL on the radar of investors, analysts and themedia.

    Automation is a critical element in the success of ITILimplementations. Organizations with a seriouscommitment to ITIL processes are likely to invest intechnology that orchestrates applications,automates routine tasks and integrates databetween various systems. Organizations thatattempt to mount ITIL implementations without firstinvesting in these automation capabilities are likelyto face a higher risk of failure.

    With ITIL gaining traction, a new industry hasemerged to facilitate and support ITIL initiatives.

    Several vendors offer products and servicesdesigned expressly to leverage the power of ITILprocesses to improve service levels, balanceresources and control costs. The ability to discerncritical differences between these vendors and makeappropriate choices based on real-world businessneeds will become increasingly important over thenext two to three years.

    OPALIS SOLUTIONS

    Opalis Solutions automate best practices in ServiceSupport, those being the processes that make upthe daily operations in IT. Opalis Solutions forIncident Process Automation, Problem ProcessAutomation, Configuration Process Automation,Change Process Automation and Release ProcessAutomation provide organizations will the tools toorchestrate applications, automate tasks, andintegrate data between systems.

    Opalis provides the capabilities to automate thepeople, processes and technology required toimplement best practices, reduce costs andimprove service levels.

    Incident ManagementIncident Management

    Problem ManagementProblem Management

    Configuration ManagementConfiguration Management

    Change ManagementChange Management

    Release ManagementRelease Management

    Service DeskService Desk

    Financial Mgmt for IT ServicesFinancial Mgmt for IT Services

    Capacity ManagementCapacity Management

    IT Service Continuity MgmtIT Service Continuity Mgmt

    Availability ManagementAvailability Management

    Security ManagementSecurity Management

    Service Level ManagementService Level Management

    Service SupportService Support Service DeliveryService Delivery

    IT Service Management (ITSM)IT Service Management (ITSM)

    Daily Tasks Strategic

    ABOUT OPALIS

    Opalis Software, Inc. is the expert provider ofenterprise infrastructure software that enables theintegration and automation of data center operations.With Opalis, companies can connect disparateenvironments and automate routine processes in away that's simple, fast, and effective. Currently, morethan 550 global companies, including Toyota, HarleyDavidson, StateStreet, Nokia, Xerox, BlueCrossBlueShield, and Woolworths, rely on Opalis serversoftware and integration packs to quickly and easilymanage the critical components of their data centers.IT staff can automate processes without scripting orthe need of professional services to stay productiveand focus on other critical performance managementtasks.

    Opalis is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario,Canada, and has strategic industry partnerships withEMC, VMware, HP, CA, IBM, Microsoft, NetIQ, BMC,

    Symantec, and Cognos.

    For more information, please visit www.opalis.com.

    Automation is Crucial to Successful ITIL Initiatives Page 5 of 5Copyright (c) Opalis Software, Inc. 2006.