Service Transition and Support: A CA Service Management Process Map

Transcription

1 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT Service Transition and Support: A CA Service Process Map JUNE 2009 Malcolm Ryder ARCHITECT CA SERVICES

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 SECTION 1: CHALLENGE 2 Simplifying ITIL How to Use the CA Service Process Maps 2 SECTION 2: OPPORTUNITY 4 Service Transition and Support Develop Strategy 5 Preparation and Planning 6 Knowledge Transfer 6 Monitor and Report 7 SECTION 3: BENEFITS 7 Benefits A Key to Achieving IT Service Excellence 11 SECTION 4: CONCLUSIONS 11 Conclusions SECTION 5: ABOUT THE AUTHOR 11 About the Author Copyright 2009 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. ITIL is a Registered Trademark and a Registered Community Trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This document is for your informational purposes only. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document As Is without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised of such damages.

3 Executive Summary Challenge The Information Technology Infrastructure Library version 3 (ITIL V3) process framework approaches IT Service (ITSM) in terms of the lifecycle of a service. The Service Lifecycle is an organization model providing insight into the way ITSM is structured, and embodies critical guidance for IT organizations seeking to improve service quality and align more closely with business goals to create value for the business and its customers. However, ITIL V3 best practice guidelines across the five phases of the service lifecycle are complex and challenging to interpret. Moreover, they are not designed to provide definitive advice about implementing ITSM processes. Many IT organizations consequently undertake an ITIL journey without a firm idea of their goals and the path to achieve those goals. One of the key ITIL management processes, Service Transition Planning and Support, presents its own special challenges. Participants in the effort to bring a new service to availability must co-operate; therefore they must see the business benefit in sharing authority across functions or reorienting their responsibilities, while maintaining the efficiency of their specialties. Opportunity The primary objective of the Transition Planning and Support process is to plan and coordinate resources to ensure specifications for the service design are realized and, starting with the transition phase, to identify, manage and limit risks that could interrupt the service in operation. CA has developed a unique approach to representing the ITIL framework and its interdependent IT Service (ITSM) processes at a high level in the form of an easy-to-use subway map. This map is an ideal starting point for understanding and communicating about ITIL in support of successful program planning and implementation. Benefits Following the Transition Planning and Support map provides guidance to: Improve business process capabilities Effectively upgrade the IT infrastructure in timely alignment with business needs Foster the efficient delivery of multiple IT services Improve the quality of technical support TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 1

4 SECTION 1: CHALLENGE Simplifying ITIL The ITIL V3 process framework focuses on the service lifecycle and the way that service management components are structured and linked. It embodies critical guidance for IT organizations that are seeking to improve service quality and align more closely with business goals But, the ITIL V3 best-practice guidelines across the five phases of the service lifecycle are complex and challenging to interpret. Moreover, they are not designed to provide definitive advice about implementing IT Service (ITSM) processes. Many IT organizations consequently undertake an ITIL journey without a firm idea of their goals and the path to achieve those goals. CA ITSM Process Maps illustrate at a high level how best to navigate a journey of continual service improvement guided by strategic controls throughout the service lifecycle. Each map describes the relevant ITIL processes and activities you ll need to work with to reach your goals. CA has developed a unique approach to charting the ITIL journey through a visual representation of the ITIL framework and its interdependent ITSM processes modeled after an urban subway system. This three-part map (Figure A) presents an easy-to-navigate, high-level view of the ITIL terrain. IT executives, strategists and implementers can use these Service process maps along with the family of CA Service process map technology briefs that expand on them. The maps and technology briefs provide a common reference point for understanding and communicating about ITIL and help you with program planning and implementation. How to Use the CA Service Process Maps CA s Service process maps (Figure A) illustrate every process (or track), each activity (or station) and the key relationships that are relevant to navigating continuous IT service improvement. The ITIL quality cycle takes the form of a circle with each Plan-Do- Check-Act (P-D-C-A) step as a process integration point (junction) on the line. Junctions serve both as reference points when assessing process maturity, and as a means to consider the implications of implementing a process in isolation. Strategic controls (Service Portfolio, Demand and Financial ) are needed to reduce risk and optimize integration across the service lifecycle, as illustrated on the three points of the triangle centered in the P-D-C-A quality circle (seen more easily in Figure B). These strategic controls help in evaluating, prioritizing and assuring the appropriate levels of financial and human resources for existing and new services. This paper is part of a series of Service Process Map technology briefs. Each brief explains how to navigate a particular ITIL process journey, reviewing each process activity that must be addressed in order to achieve process objectives. Along each journey careful attention is paid to how technology plays a critical role in both integrating ITIL processes and automating ITIL process activities. 2 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT

5 Assess & Classify Assets Monitor Demand Maintain Policy Analyze Performance Build Plan Manage Issues Meet Business Requirements Report Achievements Monitor Services Methods/ Techniques Assess Risk Determine Vulnerabilities Set Security Controls Specify Continuity Requirements Forecast Requirements Document Service Definition Demand Service Portfolio Build Catalog Analyze Contents Test Proactive Revise Service SLAs / OLAs Review Business Service Views Financial Technical Service Views Publish Live Services Catalog Operational Services Build Model/Trend Customer Satisfaction Test Adjust and Tune Monitor Performance Maintain Business Services Manage Security Incidents Review and Audit Mitigate Risk Optimize Availability Design SLA Framework Service Catalog Service Level IT Service Continuity Capacity Info. Security Availability Deliver Required Resources Key Intersections Strategic Controls Strategic Inputs Continual Service Improvement Service Validation and Testing Service Asset and Configuration Change Transition Planning and Support Release and Deployment RFC Analysis Planning Prioritize Key Intersections Schedule Change Strategic Controls Strategic Inputs Continual Service Improvement Develop Strategy Preparation and Planning Evaluation/ Decision Knowledge Transfer Categorize Impact Analysis CAB Review Execute (Emergency/ Standard) Build Schedule Monitor and Report Coordinate Resources Maintain Accurate Service Configurations Business Responsiveness Preparation Status Reports Demand Configuration Control Identify Configurations Manage and Plan Audit Service Portfolio Manage Build/Release Financial Assure Quality Report/ Closure Perform Tests Verify Deploy Adopt Best Practices Validate & Verify Ensure Release Value Problem Incident Event Request Fulfillment Knowledge Access Service Request (Incl. Self-Service) Verify Provide Rights Access Request Key Intersections Strategic Controls Strategic Inputs Continual Service Improvement Monitor / Track Informed Decisions Executive Policy Problem Control Deliver Standardized Services Secure Service Access Error Control Transfer/ Disseminate Transform to Usable Knowledge Demand Fulfillment Record Service Portfolio Store Info. Known Errors Prevent and Eliminate Problems Resolve Review/ Action Automate and Control Financial Capture Info. Approval (Financial, Compliance) Resolve/ Recover Restore Service Raise Incident Record Investigate Diagnose Escalate Select Response Work Around Filter / Correlate Detect (Incl. Fault Detection) FIGURE A THREE MAPS CA has developed three maps: Service Design, Service Transition and Service Operation since most ITSM discussions focus on these critical ITIL disciplines. Service Design Info. Security Capacity Service Catalog Availability PLAN DO CHECK ACT Service Level Service Transition Change Release and Deployment Transition Planning and Support PLAN DO CHECK ACT Service Validation and Testing Service Operation Request Fulfillment Access PLAN DO CHECK ACT Incident Event Problem IT Service Continuity Service Asset and Configuration Knowledge FIGURE B SERVICE TRANSITION MAP The Service Transition map represents a journey of developing and improving capabilities for the transition of new and modified services to production. Service Transition Release and Deployment Schedule Change Evaluation/ Decision CAB Review Execute (Emergency/ Standard) Maintain Accurate Service Configurations Audit Adopt Best Practices Service Validation and Testing Planning Business Responsiveness Validate & Verify Transition Planning and Support Develop Strategy Impact Analysis DO Preparation Status Reports Service Portfolio CHECK Ensure Release Value Preparation and Planning Perform Tests Build Schedule Verify Knowledge Transfer Change RFC Analysis Prioritize Categorize PLAN Demand Configuration Control Manage Build/Release Financial ACT Deploy Monitor and Report Coordinate Resources Report/ Closure Identify Configurations Manage and Plan Assure Quality Service Validation and Testing Key Intersections Service Asset and Configuration Change Transition Planning and Support Release and Deployment Strategic Controls Strategic Inputs Continual Service Improvement Service Asset and Configuration TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 3

6 Finding the Right Path to IT Service Excellence Many organizations have not formalized a Transition Planning and Support discipline. This is not so much due to a level of difficulty in carrying out the functions; instead, it is because many of the functions are active already but are not strategically coordinated to optimize their beneficial influence on driving future state development in alignment with the business. Key points in this optimization include: Enabling Business-Oriented Investment Decisions Managing Service Components using Business Priorities Ensuring that Services are Compliant One of the main outcomes of the Transition Planning and Support effort is a decrease in lost or conflicting opportunities to update the infrastructure with business-enhancing capabilities. However, this comes about through bringing multiple contributing disciplines out of their silos to push progress together with less redundancy and fewer gaps in process. SECTION 2: OPPORTUNITY Transition Planning and Support concerns itself with proactively making the significant interrelated factors of value, quality and risk visible across the full lifecycle of a new deployment of a service. Service Transition and Support The Service Transition and Support process is responsible for planning and coordinating resources to ensure specifications for the service design are realized and, starting with the transition phase, to identify, manage and limit risks that could interrupt the service in operation. As a direct approach to managing demand and expectations for services, Transition Planning and Support concerns itself with proactively making the significant interrelated factors of value, quality and risk visible across the full lifecycle of a new deployment of a service. Stakeholders are able to assess gains, responsibilities and trade-offs before the deployment is in effect. Consequently, Transition Planning and Support ensures that the new deployment of services will present lower risk to the infrastructure and business, and will experience more immediate effectiveness of user adoption. Transition Planning and Support concerns itself with proactively making the significant interrelated factors of value, quality and risk visible across the full lifecycle of a new deployment of a service. The ultimate goal of Transition Planning and Support track (Figure C) is a full coordination of resources required to newly and successfully deploy a service. The subway map for this journey plots the key stations along the course in this way: Develop Strategy Preparation and Planning Knowledge Transfer Monitoring and Reporting 4 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT

7 FIGURE C FIGURE C The Transition Planning and Support track represents management s attention to how resources are identified and aligned with the requirements for fostering a rapid adoption of an upcoming new service deployment. Transition Planning and Support Develop Strategy DO Service Portfolio CHECK Preparation and Planning Knowledge Transfer Demand Financial PLAN ACT Monitor and Report Coordinate Resources Develop Strategy Effectively implementing the management process for Transition Planning and Support is of course a prerequisite to using the process well. For this, the key is to inform identifiable stakeholders of the purpose of the process, emphasizing the objective to co-ordinate, not to replace, their contributions. In addressing a business-orientation, the strategy management practice is the most familiar territory where process owners collaborate on common objectives. This means visualizing and sharing a framework in which process owners can see themselves collaboratively driving benefits with other contributors under controlled circumstances. This will generate the business justification and motivation for beginning the new resource coordination. However, to demonstrate sustainability, a project portfolio management approach is frequently the right level of information and description to show how the collaboration will have familiarity and accountability. There, the familiarity can readily be expressed in the following shared terms: High-level requirements Scope Policies Organizational responsibilities Anticipated Resources Individual processes and procedures with touch points or hand-offs A view of roles, processes and standards will allow stakeholders to anticipate what the approach means to them in terms of responsibilities and costs in their budgets and schedules. With that prerequisite done, attention can turn strategy from the generic mode of conduct to particular deployments. But first the other steps of the full journey should be described. TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 5

8 Preparation and Planning Resource coordination calls for identifying, streamlining, fitting, and tracking across the capacities of people, procedures and tools to provide and consume timely information. The objective at this station is to align resources for generating the targeted outcomes of the deployment. Different stakeholders have different targets, but the big advantage to pursue here is a focus on a standardized model of the service to be delivered. With the common model of the service in hand, all parties understand that they are working on the same thing and can identify what they need to be effective contributors or users. A Configuration System (CMS) is a shared utility that stakeholders can use to reference the model of the service to be deployed. The data in the CMS, which is used to describe and record the model, resides in a configuration management database (CMDB). Planners are thereby able to consistently refer to the characteristics of the target service that are most pertinent to the particular stakeholders, and relate those back to the relevant supporting resources for developing and deploying the service. Two key items that come from this are service design specifications and formal requests for managed change (RFCs). Preparation and Planning benefits greatly from the efforts of the Service Asset and Configuration process to maintain and validate service specifications with the CMS. Because deployments are ineffective if they cannot be adopted and absorbed by the target customer, timing is a critical success factor and should be represented in terms of schedules where lead time is provided for accommodating anticipated stakeholder impacts of the deployment as it progresses from design to implementation. Meanwhile, managers of the organization s Service Desk should be able to provide key information about what kinds of risks are associated with different kinds of services. Knowledge Transfer Information that drives production of the service deployment is well accounted for in the first two stations, but equally important is information about the usability, supportability and operational requirements that will be the new (future) state brought about with the deployment. At the knowledge transfer station, advance notification, progress reports and education should be coordinated with each other to establish high awareness and higher comfort with both the upcoming deployment event and aftermath. A combination of scheduled and on-demand information delivery about the service deployment should be established and maintained for stakeholders, organized for user-friendliness per the stakeholder s respective role. A knowledgebase and a communications campaign are two prominent tools that can establish resource-efficient maintenance of awareness. 6 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT

9 Monitor and Report The ability to determine the actual impacts of deployment efforts is naturally important in terms of identifying incidents or problems caused by the deployment. However, for the Transition Planning and Support effort, the focus of monitoring and reporting is two-fold: on the progress of the deployment lifecycle such as timing and testing; and, on establishing relevant criteria for post-deployment validations and risk mitigation. As with much of Transition Planning and Support, the resources for this are probably already active, and the work to be done now is to coordinate them and if necessary to reconcile them so that cause and effect relationships underlying deployment success or service quality are more visible. ITIL v3 is distinguished by its emphasis on IT s strategic alignment to business benefit. So, to cut to the chase, how do the above steps combine to raise the value of IT services? SECTION 3: BENEFITS Benefits IT Services are the building blocks of business processes and business services. A successful delivery of a service will feature the right thing arriving at the right place at the right time for the right reason. The business uses multiple services to support its own performance and growth Executives own the service portfolio, set service goals and control the investment in the service. This executive demand and influence thus should begin the origination of the service as an adopted and implemented success factor for the business. ITIL v3 refers to the implementation of services as a transition, for a single key reason: the service implementation takes the service user from an older or current state to a different future state of operational options and constraints. This transition may include re-use, augmentation, modification, and replacement of the incumbent operational techniques. Thus it is appropriate to have the variety of possible impacts visualized and accommodated by time, skills and attention before the deployment occurs. The executive view of a successful service implementation includes concerns about the control, compatibility and delivery of the service. These three factors translate, respectively, into management of the quality, risk, and value of the provided service, as deliberately generated from end-to-end of the lifecycle of the service. ITIL v3 describes Service Design, Service Transition (deployment), and Service Operation as three major phases in the service lifecycle. Within Service Transition, the Transition Planning and (Transition) Support effort is a high-level management process that links the appropriate design of the service to the smooth operability of the service. The goal of Transition Planning and Support is to plan and coordinate resources to ensure specifications for the service design are realized and, starting with the transition phase, to identify, manage and limit risks that could interrupt the service in operation. TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 7

10 In effect, Transition Planning and Support provides a sturdy bridge between IT Governance and Business Service. The key deliverables of Transition Planning and Support will be A strategy for transition An integrated set of transition plans Training, knowledge transfer, and communications Verification of deployment through monitoring and reporting FIGURE D Surrounding the business demand for services are multiple perspectives that bring management processes for projects, changes and releases into cooperative responsibilities. COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF DEMAND Managing business demand for services requires strategically prioritizing the use of resources to generate fulfillment and support. This support of IT Governance includes: Tying the business case for a service to the project management to build a new or improved service. Maintaining this relationship makes it possible to compare the expected ROI with the service design and implementation project. This provides transparency for business users and helps ensure that IT and business goals stay aligned and that the benefits that have been stated in the business case are tracked and realized. Traceability from development through to deployment in the service portfolio. All project and development activity for building or maintaining a service can be related directly to the release published in the service catalog. This linkage provides visibility into in the process and investment in delivering services, including an assessment of risk versus value (target benefit). Business Service is an approach that links IT infrastructure to the business services it supports, and provides comprehensive and integrated management of the entire infrastructure. As part of that infrastructure management, which underpins any service, managing the entire change life cycle is fundamental to successfully delivering services. 8 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT

11 In the big picture of transition, we expect Service Designs and RFCs to drive production of the appropriate implementations for the business. Proper implementations will pass muster for acceptance both in terms of the risks they present and the compliance of the actual deployment to the design. FIGURE E Service definitions live in the configuration management database (CMDB). Existing services and dependencies are stakeholders in transitions, and they may also be models for proposed new services. CMDB SUPPORT OF DEPLOYMENTS Service Transition (deployment) is supported by the configuration management database (CMDB). The CMDB s data provide the context to understand the impact of a change before it is made, and it provides a basis for validating the actual state of deployed services against the intended state. The design of a service represents a balanced business view of IT in a consistent model to assure that business and technology are integrated. It goes beyond the usual CMDB focus on configuration management to encompass stakeholders, design, metrics, service level agreements, controls, security and service lifecycles. A service s defined configuration is maintained within the CA CMDB. This configuration is shared by all participating applications. The service design will link end users, the service and IT components. TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 9

12 Change management is a primary consumer of the service information found in the CMDB, using it as a basis for determining if a proposed service design is new or enhanced, and if the design s likely impact if instantiated carries any particular risks to existing infrastructure, relationships and services. STRATEGY. Transition Planning and Support must acquire information about the identified requirements of resources ranging from the current IT environment, business timeframes, budgets and people. This information, in a gap analysis, must lead to an understanding of the feasibility and viability of the proposed service transition, expressed as a manageable production effort. PREPARATION AND PLANNING. By associating the change activity with a specific plan for a Release, and leveraging project portfolio management to coordinate the resources for the change activity, Transition Planning and Support will prepare and manage the building (or procurement), testing and actual deployment of the proposed service. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER. Communicating the transition plan is critical to assuring that stakeholders in the transition are able to respond appropriately at the points where the deployment reaches their roles. This requires transforming data (in specifications and plans) into useful role-oriented information. Since this communication will more likely be a process or campaign than an event, the ongoing and on-demand availability of the information is a prime concern both in managing the transition and in understanding, after the fact, what has actually been deployed. Thus, conversion of the information to knowledge documents, and follow-on management of that knowledge, is an important key to the successful transfer of the knowledge amongst stakeholders. That in turn facilitates the hand-off of support responsibility to operations and the more immediate adoption of the service by its consumers. MONITOR AND REPORT. Validation of the transition success requires that the effects of actual utilization will be tracked and measured in a timely manner, to confirm that the expected outcomes of the deployment are being met. An overview of concerns addressed by Transition Planning and Support is shown in the table below. PLANNER CONSUMER OPERATIONS Design Specifications Justification and ROI Validation criteria Build or Procure Projects Schedules Policies and Procedures Train and Inform Communications Knowledge Metrics and Requirements Verify Delivery Completeness Compliance Supportability 10 TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT

13 A Key to Achieving IT Service Excellence Automating ITSM through technology can help your organization reduce the amount of resources required to achieve ITIL v3 best practices. This assists your IT department in improving the quality of its services while embarking upon a continuous IT service excellence program focused on fostering business growth. As you reach the end point of the Planning and Support journey outlined in the CA Service Transition process map, your organization should have a better handle on the steps needed to promote successful service deployments. Specifically, bringing deployment efforts in line with ITIL best practices can help you: Improve business process capabilities Effectively upgrade the IT infrastructure in timely alignment with business needs Foster the efficient delivery of multiple IT services Improve the quality of technical support SECTION 4: CONCLUSIONS Conclusions Transition Planning and Support facilitates ITSM by managing the deployment of services needed by the business. However, doing so requires rigorous processes, appropriate communication plans and support commitments as well as an outline detailing where to start and how to proceed through the journey. Following the steps outlined in the CA Service Transition process map gives organizations a clear view of how their Transition Planning and Support journey will take shape and illustrates the key stops en route to achieving effective resource coordination. This journey results in: Consolidated deployment process Better planning and resource allocation Improved risk management Stronger integration with other ITSM and ITIL best practices SECTION 5: ABOUT THE AUTHOR About the Author Malcolm Ryder has over 25 years experience in the IT industry, with expertise in the areas of service delivery and support and IT strategy. For the last 15 years, Malcolm has worked in consulting and solution strategy roles with a heavy emphasis on service management systems, with vendors, service providers and end-user customers. Malcolm has been a co-developer of multiple market-leading commercial ITSM solutions since the mid 80s. To learn more about the CA ITIL solutions, visit ca.com/itil. TECHNOLOGY BRIEF: SERVICE TRANSITION AND SUPPORT 11

14 CA, one of the world s largest information technology (IT) management software companies, unifies and simplifies the management of enterprise-wide IT for greater business results. Our vision, tools and expertise help customers manage risk, improve service, manage costs and align their IT investments with their business needs. MP Learn more about how CA can help you transform your business at ca.com