A Business Value Of Service Transition Information Technology Essay

A Business Value Of Service alteration randomness Technology EssayPlan and manage the capacity and resources needful to package, build, quiz and deploy a dispense with into intersection and establish the attend specified in the customer and stakeholder requirementsProvide a consistent and rigorous framework for evaluating the expediency capability and risk pro blame before a natural or castrated supporter is released or deployedEstablish and maintain the integrity of all(prenominal) identified return assets and configurations as they evolve through the Service enactment stageProvide good-quality cognition and information so that channelize, Release and Deployment focus can expedite effective decisions about promoting a release through the test environments and into productionProvide economic repeat adequate build and installation mechanisms that can be utilise to deploy releases to the test and production environments and be rebuilt if required to restore usefulne ssEnsure that the service can be managed, operated and supported in accordance with the requirements and constraints specified inwardly the Service Design.(Service spiritual rebirth 2.4.1)Objectives Of Service changeoverManage resources to enable the transition of a service into production within the predicted cost, quality and time estimatesEnsure that there is minimal unpredicted extend to on the production services, operations, and support organization sum up the customer, exploiter and service management staff satisfaction with the service transition practices, including deployment of the bracing or varietyd service, communications, release bread and butter, training and intimacy transferIncrease veracious use of the services and underlying applications and technology solutionsProvide clear and comprehensive plans that enable the customer and business salmagundi projects to range their activities with the service transition plans(Service Transition 2.4.1)Business Val ue Of Service TransitionService Transition likewise adds value to the business by improvingThe ability to adapt quickly to new requirements and market developments (competitive edge)Transition management of mergers, de-mergers, acquisitions and transfer of servicesThe success rate of castrates and Releases for the businessThe predictions of service aims and warranties for new and changed servicesConfidence in the degree of conformance with business and governance requirements during changeThe variation of actual against estimated and approved resource plans / budgetsThe productivity of business and Customer staff because of better planning and use of new and changed servicesTimely cancellation or changes to maintenance contracts for both hardware and software product when comp binglents are disposed of or de-commissionedUnderstanding the level of risk during and after change for example, service outage, disruption or re-work(Service Transition 2.4.3)Basic SACM Concepts class Ite m (CI)A soma Item (CI) is an asset, service component or other token that is, or will be, under the ascendance of Configuration precaution.CI Types includeService Lifecycle CIs (e.g. Business fibers service management plans service lifecycle plans Service Design Packages (SDPs) release and change plans test plans)Service CIs (e.g. Service capability assets management, organization, forgees, knowledge, people service resource assets financial capital, systems, applications, information, selective information, infrastructure and facilities, people service posers service packages release packages service acceptance criteria)Organization CIs (e.g. Business strategy policies regulatory or statutory requirements products shared by more than one group internal CIs tangible and impalpable assets that are required to deliver and maintain the service and infrastructure)External CIs (e.g. External customer requirements and agreements releases from suppliers or sub-contractors and exter nal services)Configuration ModelConfiguration instruction delivers a required logical model of the services, assets and the infrastructure by recording the relationships between CIs.RelationshipsA relationship is a link between two CIs that identifies a dependency or connection between them. For example, applications whitethorn be joined to the servers they run on IT services be in possession of m each links to all the CIs that contribute to them.Configuration centering Database (CMDB)A selective informationbase used to manage configuration records throughout their lifecycle. The CMDB records the attributes of unmarriedly CI, and relationships with other CIs. A CMDB may also contain other information linked to CIs, for example incident, problem or change records. The CMDB is maintained by Configuration anxiety and is used by all IT Service Management processes.Configuration Management System (CMS)The CMS holds all of the information for CIs within the designated scope. The CMS maintains the relationships between all service components and any related service management records / documentation. Typically, the CMS will also hold selective information about employees, suppliers, locations and business wholes, customers and users.(Service Transition 4.3.4.2)Definitive Media Library (DML)The exact configuration of the DML is specify during the planning activities. The definition includesMedium, physical location, hardware and software to be used, if unploughed online. Some Configuration Management support tools incorporate software libraries, which can be regarded as a logical part of a DMLNaming conventions for file store areas and physical mediaEnvironments supported (e.g. Test and live environments)Security arrangements for submitting miscellaneas and issuing software, plus backup and reco very proceduresThe scope of the DML (e.g. Source code, object code from controlled builds and associated documentation) memory board period cleverness plans for th e DML and procedures for monitoring growth in sizeAudit proceduresProcedures to interpret that the DML is protected from erroneous or unauthorized exchange (e.g. Entry and spill criteria for degrees)(Service Transition 4.3.4.3)The Configuration Management System (CMS) holds all the information for CIs within the designated scope. Some of these events will have related specifications or files that contain the contents of the item (e.g. software, document). For example, a service CI will include the details such as supplier, cost, purchase date and renewal date for licenses and maintenance contracts and the related documentation such as SLAs and underpinning contracts.The CMS is also used for a wide range of purposes, for example asset data held in a CMS (CMDB data) may be do available to external financial asset management systems to perform specific asset management process reporting outside of Configuration Management. The CMS maintains the relationships between all service c omponents and any related incidents, problems, Known Errors, change and release documentation and may also contain corporate data about employees, suppliers, locations and business units, customers and users.(Service Transition 4.3.4.3)SACM ActivitiesManagement PlanningThere is no standard template for determining the optimum approach for SACM. The management team and configuration management should decide what level of Configuration Management is required for the selected service or project that is delivering changes and how this level will be achieved. This is documented in a configuration management plan.Configuration IdentificationDefine and document criteria for selecting Configuration Items (CIs)and the components that compose themSelect the CIs and the components that compose them based on documented criteriaAssign unique identifiers to CIsSpecify the relevant attributes of each CISpecify when each CI is placed under Configuration ManagementIdentify the owner responsible for each CIConfiguration get a lineConfiguration control ensures that there are adequate control mechanisms over CIs while maintaining a record of changes to status, approvals, location and custodianship/ ownership. Without control of the physical or electronic assets and components, the configuration data and information there will be a mismatch with the physical world.Status Accounting ReportingEach asset or CI will have one or more discrete states through which it can progress. The significance of each state should be defined in terms of what use can be made of the asset or CI. There will typically be a range of states relevant to the individual asset or CIs.Verification AuditThe activities include a series of reviews or audits to ensureThere is conformity between the documented baselines (e.g. agreements, interface control documents) and the actual business environment to which they referTo verify the physical existence of CIs in the organization or in the DML and spares stores, the functional and operational characteristics of CIs and to check that the records in the Configuration Management System (CMS) match the physical infrastructureChecking that release and configuration documentation is present before making a release(Service Transition 4.3.5)Updates to asset and configuration information are triggered by change pass alongs, purchase orders, acquisitions and service requests. Some of the more noteworthy interfaces are modification Management identifying the repair of proposed changes pecuniary management capturing key financial information such as cost, depreciation methods, owner and user (for budgeting and cost allocation), maintenance and repair costsITSCM knowingness of assets the business services depend on, control of key spares and softwareIncident/problem/error providing and maintaining key diagnostic information maintenance and provision of data to the Service DeskAvailability management detection of points of failureService Asset C onfiguration Management Practical ApplicationAudit your PCs to see if what you actually have is what has been recorded. Is there more than one PC per person? Can this be justified? Are there any extras which could be disposed of?Define those service components which are truly critical these are most likely your CIs and start tracking them and their relationships.Discover where configuration information is already organism maintained, and leverage any information of value in creating a single virtual repository. Are there relationships between components in one repository and those in another? These should be tracked.place textBasic Change Management ConceptsService ChangeA Service Change is a change to an existing service or the introduction of a new service. It is the addition, modification or removal of authorized, planned or supported service or service component and its associated documentation.Normal ChangeAny change that follows the normal change process is considered a no rmal change. Normal changes can include changes to services, the service portfolio, service improvement projects, etc. regular ChangeA pre-approved change that is low risk is relatively gross and follows a procedure or work instruction for example, provision of standard equipment to a new employee. They are logged and tracked using a different mechanism, such as a Service Request. pinch ChangeAn emergency change is a change that must be introduced as soon as possible for example, to resolve a major incident or implement a certificate patch. The Change Management process will normally have a specific procedure for handling Emergency Changes.Remediation planningNo change should be approved without having explicitly addressed the question of what to do if it is not successful. Ideally, there will be a back-out plan, which will restore the organization to its sign situation, often through the reloading of a baselined set of CIs, especially software and data. However, not all changes are reversible, in which case an alternative approach to remediation is required.Change Advisory BoardThe Change Advisory Board ( literary hack) is a body that exists to support the authorization of changes and to assist Change Management in the assessment and prioritization of changes.Emergency Change Advisory BoardEmergency changes are sometimes required and should be designed carefully and tested before use or the impact of the emergency change may be greater than the original incident. Emergency changes may document some details retrospectively. The number of emergency changes proposed should be kept to an absolute minimum, because they are generally more disruptive and prone to failure.Emergency change authorizationDefined authorization levels will exist for an emergency change, and the levels of delegated power must be all the way documented and understood. In an emergency it may not be possible to convene a full CAB meeting. Where CAB approval is required, this will be pro vided by the Emergency CAB (ECAB).Change Management Practical ApplicationCreate a CAB and begin place meetings to assess changes.Develop a change model that provides an authority model for assessing and authorizing changes based upon the change type.Determine if there are any changes made without being assessed by the CAB. Did any of these result in degradation or loss of service? Consider changing the categorization of these in the future to be include with those the CAB assesses.Ensure timelines for change assessment are documented and agreed in SLAs, OLAs, and UCs.Change modelA repeatable way of dealing with a particular category of change. A change model defines specific pre-defined steps that will be followed for a change of this category. Change models may be very straightforward, with no requirement for approval, or may be very complex with numerous steps that require approval (e.g. major software release).Change process models and workflowsOrganizations will find it help ful to predefine change process models and apply them to appropriate changes when they occur. A process model is a way of predefining the steps that should be taken to handle a process (in this case a process for dealing with a particular type of change) in an agreed way. Support tools can accordingly be used to manage the required process. This will ensure that such changes are handled in a predefined path and to predefined timescales.Changes that require specialized handling could be treated in this way, such as emergency changes that may have different authorization and may be documented retrospectively.The change process model includesThe steps that should be taken to handle the change including handling issues and unexpected eventsThe chronological order these steps should be taken in, with any dependences or co-processing definedResponsibilities who should do whatTimescales and thresholds for completion of the actionsEscalation procedures who should be contacted and whenTh ese models are usually input to the Change Management support tools in use and the tools then automate the handling, management, reporting and escalation of the process. workout of types of request by service lifecycle stageType of change with examplesDocumented work proceduresSSSDSTSOCSIRequest for change to service portfoliosNew portfolio line itemTo predicted scope, Business Case, baselineService pipelineService change managementRequest for Change to Service or service DefinitionTo existing or planned service attributesProject change that impacts Service Design, e.g. forecasted warrantiesService improvementService change managementProject change proposalBusiness changeNo impact on service or design baselineProject change management procedure drug user access requestUser access procedureOperational activityTuning (within specification/constraints)Re-boot hardware on failure if no impact on other services be after maintenanceLocal procedure (often pre-authorized)Seven Rs Of Change ManagementWho RAISED the change?It is important to have the information on who is representing the Change in case further clarification about the Change is needed. There are also instances where the priority of a Change can be affected by the prepare or department where the Change originated.What is the REASON for the change?It is important to know why the change is being requested. Some examples could includeQualityPerformance conformanceMaintenanceDefectsWhat is the RETURN required from the change?What benefit can the organization, department, support personnel or customer expect from the change?What are the RISKS involved in the change?All changes have a risk which could range anywhere from processing being delayed to the entire organization not being able to provide service to its customers. It is important to come across what the risk is so that appropriate precautions can be taken in the timing and execution of the change.What RESOURCES are required to deliver the change?In every change there are a number of resources that need to be considered such asHumanFinancialExternalInternalWho is RESPONSIBLE for the build, test and implementation of the change?It is important to identify all the parties involved in bringing a change to acknowledgment and that the managers are informed as to the role their people will play in implementing the change.What is the RELATIONSHIP between this change and other changes?The complication of the interaction, dependencies and relationships of changes cannot be overemphasized. It is not uncommon to have parallel multiple changes that can affect each other at any point in their critical paths. It is essential to understand this and to accommodate for it in order to avoid an increase in unplanned outages and failure in your change process.(Service Transition 4.2.6.4)Change Management ActivitiesRecord RFCThe change is raised by a request from the initiator an individual or a group.Review RFCChange Management should briefly co nsider each request and filter based onReasons To AcceptReasons To RejectPracticalImpracticalNew RFCRepeats of earlier RFCsInformation completeAlready acceptedInformation exactRejectedHas the necessary budgetary approvalStill under considerationIncomplete submissionsInadequate descriptionWithout necessary budgetary approvalAssess quantify ChangeThe issue of risk to the business of any change must be considered prior to the authorization of any change. Many organizations use a simple matrix to categorize risk.Authorize ChangeFormal authorization is obtained for each change from a change authority that may be a role, person or a group of people.Plan UpdatesCareful planning of changes will ensure that there is no ambiguity about what tasks are included in the Change Management process, what tasks are included in other processes and how processes interface to any suppliers or projects that are providing a change or release.Coordinate Change ImplementationAuthorized RFCs should be pas sed to the relevant technical groups for building of the changes.It is best practice to do this in a formal way that can be tracked.Review Close RecordOn completion of the changeResults are reportedEvaluation takes placeIf successful, the record is closedIf failed, the record is closed(Service Transition 4.2.6)Change Management RelationshipsBusiness Change ManagementChanges to any business or project deliverables that do not impact IT services or components may be subject to business or project change management procedures rather than the IT service Change Management procedures. However, care must be taken to ensure that changes to service configuration baselines and releases do follow the Change Management process. The Change Management team will, however, be expected to liaise closely with projects to ensure smooth implementation and consent within the changing management environments.Project ManagementProject management must work in partnership to align all the processes and pe ople involved in service change initiatives. The closer they are aligned, the higher the probability that the change effort will be travel forward for as long as it takes to complete. Change Management representatives may attend relevant Project Board meetings.Supplier ManagementEffective Change Management practices and principles must be put into place, in conjunction with Supplier Management, to manage supplier relationships effectively to ensure smooth delivery of service. Effort also should be put into finding out how well the partners themselves manage change and choose partner and sourcing relationships accordingly.Service Asset Configuration ManagementThe Configuration Management System provides reliable, quick and easy access to accurate configuration information to enable stakeholders and staff to assess the impact of proposed changes and to track changes work flow. This information enables the localize asset and service component versions to be released to the appropriat e party or into the correct environment. As changes are implemented, the Configuration Management information is updated.Problem ManagementProblem Management is another key process as changes are often required to implement workarounds and to fix known errors. Problem Management is one of the major sources of RFCs and also often a major contributor to CAB discussion.IT Service ContinuityIT Service Continuity has many procedures and plans that should be updated via Change Management to ensure that they are accurate, up to date and that stakeholders are aware of changes.Security ManagementSecurity Management interfaces with Change Management since changes required by security will go via the Change Management process and security will be a key contributor to CAB discussion on many services. Every significant change will be assessed for its potential impact on the security plan.Capacity Demand ManagementCapacity and Demand Management are critical aspects of Change Management. Poorly m anaged demand is a source of costs and risk for service providers because there is always a level of dubiety associated with the demand for services. Capacity Management has an important role in assessing proposed changes not only the individual changes but the total impact of changes on service capacity. Changes arising from Capacity Management, including those set out in the capacity plan, will be initiated as RFCs through the change process.(Service Transition 4.2.7.3 and 4.2.7.4)NOTESThe goal of Release and Deployment Management is to deploy releases into production and establish effective use of the service in order to deliver value to the customer and be able to handover to service operations.Release and Deployment Management aims to build, test and deliver the capability to provide the services specified by Service Design and that will accomplish the stakeholders requirements and deliver the intended objectives.The following objectives are also important for the Release and Deployment Management processEnsure knowledge transfer to enable the customers and users to optimize their use of the service to support their business activitiesEnsure that skills and knowledge are transferred to operations and support staffEnsure minimal unpredicted impact on the production services, operations and support organizationEnsure that customers, users and service management staff are satisfied with the service transition practices and outputs(Service Transition 4.4.1)Basic RDM ConceptsRelease PolicyIncludes the unique identification, numbering and naming conventions, roles, responsibilities, time tables, absolute frequency and other requirements pertaining to how releases will be handled.Release UnitIdentifies the portion of the service or infrastructure that is normally released together in accordance with an organizations release policy. The unit may vary, depending on the type or item of software and hardware.Release PackageThe package may contain multiple release units such as hardware, software, applications and documentation.Release Design OptionsService Design will define the approach to transitioning from the current service to the new or changed service or service offering. customary options areBig bang vs. phasedBig bang option the new or changed service is deployed to all user areas in one operation.Phased approach the service is deployed to a part of the user base initially, and then this operation is repeated for subsequent parts of the user base via a scheduled rollout plan.Push and leave outA push approach is used where the service component is deployed from the centre and pushed out to the target locations.A pull approach is used for software releases where the software is made available in a central location but users are free to pull the software down to their own location at a time of their choosing or when a user workstation restarts.Automation vs. manualAutomation will help to ensure repeatability and consistency. If a m anual mechanism is used it is important to monitor and measure the impact of many repeated manual activities as they are likely to be inefficient and error-prone.Release and Deployment ModelsModels enable consistency and repeatability when preparing releases for deployment and will incorporate a variety of criteria and guidelines.DIKW represents the hierarchical progression from data to wisdom.Data is a set of discrete facts about eventsInformation comes from providing context to dataKnowledge is composed of the tacit experiences, ideas, insights, values and judgments of individualsWisdom gives the ultimate discernment of the material and having the application and contextual awareness to provide a strong common sense judgmentService Analytics InstrumentationService Analytics is useful to model existing infrastructure components and support services to the higher-level business services. This model is built on dependencies rather than topology causality rather than correlation. In frastructure events are then tied to corresponding business processes. This is as far along the DIKW hierarchy as modern technologies allow. It is well understood that no computer-based technology can provide wisdom. It requires people to provide evaluated understanding, to answer and appreciate the Why? questions.(Service Transition 4.7.4)Specifically within ITSM, Knowledge Management will be focused within the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) concerned, as its name implies, with knowledge. Underpinning this knowledge will be a considerable quantity of data, held in a central logical repository or Configuration Management System (CMS) and Configuration Management Database (CMDB). However, clearly the SKMS is a broader concept that covers a much wider base of knowledge, for exampleThe experience of staffRecords of peripheral matters (e.g. Weather, user numbers and behavior, organizations performance figuresSuppliers and partners requirements, abilities and expectationsTypi cal and anticipated user skill levels