Towards a Method for IT-Service Management (Research in Progress)

Transcription

1 Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM) , Oslo, Norway Towards a Method for IT- (Research in Progress) Heiko Kattenstroth, David Heise Research Group Information Systems and Enterprise Modelling Institute for Computer Science and Business Information System (ICB) University of Duisburg Essen Germany Institut für Informatik und Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)

2 Motivation & Problem IT management a task of remarkable complexity Analysis and assessment of IT requires knowledge: about IT artifacts, heterogeneous IT infrastructures, ever changing technologies, manifold interdependencies and about the business! Hence, requires involving people with different professional backgrounds. Demand for approaches that reduce complexity, accomplish transparency, foster communication. 2

3 Motivation & Problem IT as key solution for IT? Introduction of the abstraction IT service represents outcome of the IT organisation serves to manage relationship between business and IT thus, acts as a reference for different stakeholders use of a service-abstraction in enterprise modelling promising promotes consistent support along the life cycle fosters adequate interpretation of (IT) services serves as foundation for software development increases reuse of IT services (e.g., as part of Portfolio ) General idea: Extend a method for multi-perspective enterprise modeling to address the requirements and challenges of IT service management by developing a domain-specific modelling language (DSML) 3

4 Conceptual Background: Enterprise Modelling Strategy Net Value Chain Organisational Chart enterprise models integrate models of the action system with models of information systems semi-formal modelling languages with graphical visualisation (often domain specific modelling languages (=DSML)) reducing complexity through purposeful abstraction Business Process overcoming language barriers by modelling concepts that correspond with the technical language of the domain joint design of information system and organisational action system IT Resource Diagram Object Model 4

5 Conceptual Background: Enterprise Modelling Illustration of a Prototypical Enterprise Model 5 Information System Organisation Strategy Senior Operations IT IT Operations Back Office Payment and Settlement accounts (decomposition) only superficially s for the (decomposition) business context requires ERP Software runs on Front Office Asset Sales Corporate Finance Results of an Retail analysis Brokerage of current state of the art: ERP-System What would be a reasonable conceptualisation? received runs on ERP Respond to uses Private Banking answered ERP Update History uses Increase customer satisfaction through an attractive value proposition closed Legend service concept overloaded and not precisely defined no explicit concepts to reduce complexity limited (unclear) support along the life cycle of IT < C. Care Staff > < C. Care Staff > services Value Chain Core Enterprise Activity Goal Business Process Type Aggregated Business Process Business Process Event (Message) Information System Software IT hardware resource part of comprises MEMO Perspective Principle Levels of Analysis

6 Research Objectives of our Research in Progress Prepare the extension of a multi-perspective enterprise modeling method by concepts and heuristics to support IT service management: 1. Develop and illustrate idealised support for entire life cycle 2. Analyse and discuss first design alternatives Follows a specific design research process (FRANK 2010): 1. Identification and justification of domain-specific scenarios, requirements and of design goals 2. Reconstruction of key concepts of the domain 3. thereby: Iterative design of DSML and process models 4. (optional: development of a corresponding information system) 6 5. Initial evaluation by comparing the method s features against its requirements and design goals

7 Illustration of the Solution Overview 1 received (decomposition) < C. Care Staff > Respond to Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D... s Description Input Output answered Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Level (decomposition) < C. Care Staff > Update History Requirements Analysis closed Send personalized answer to customer,... ID (#), result (Bool) Delivery notice (bool) Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 s / workday inherited Level Agreement (preliminary) Candidates Required Functionality 2 draft Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D Discount draft Get payment method Calculate discount Add to loyality program Send Lead Mgmt. Track Lead Credit Rating external Mapping Check Credit Rating Send overdraft Appointment Check availability Set reminder Campaign Handler sms mms Catalog 3 s SLA # s resolved in time [%] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] # Avg. Load [#msg / day] Negotiation Head of Care IT Department Owner 4 s SLA? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty: Risk: Incorrect s Visibility: high medium Risk: Internal fraud Visibility: high medium Risk: Incorrect Data Visibility: high medium Assessment Head of Care IT Department Owner Helpdesk Helpdesk 5 Build 6 Monitoring / Accounting #41 (: #342) Product -created : Date -category : Integer Submit Cancel Messages Utilization Availability Average costs / instance Average duration 1.20 $ 02:54 minutes CMDB 7 runs on DBMS requires -description : Text CRM Software Log -created : Date «uses» «interface» messaging runs on DBMS requires Purchase Costs License Costs per year $ Accounting

8 Illustration of the Solution Overview 1 received (decomposition) < C. Care Staff > Respond to Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D... s Description Input Output answered Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Level (decomposition) < C. Care Staff > Update History Requirements Analysis closed Send personalized answer to customer,... ID (#), result (Bool) Delivery notice (bool) Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 s / workday inherited Level Agreement (preliminary) Candidates Required Functionality 2 draft Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D Discount draft Get payment method Calculate discount Add to loyality program Send Lead Mgmt. Track Lead Credit Rating external Mapping Check Credit Rating Send overdraft Appointment Check availability Set reminder Campaign Handler sms mms Catalog 3 s SLA # s resolved in time [%] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] # Avg. Load [#msg / day] Negotiation Head of Care IT Department Owner 4 s SLA? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty: Risk: Incorrect s Visibility: high medium Risk: Internal fraud Visibility: high medium Risk: Incorrect Data Visibility: high medium Assessment Head of Care IT Department Owner Helpdesk Helpdesk 5 Build 6 Monitoring / Accounting #41 (: #342) Product -created : Date -category : Integer Submit Cancel Messages Utilization Availability Average costs / instance Average duration 1.20 $ 02:54 minutes CMDB 8 runs on DBMS requires -description : Text CRM Software Log -created : Date «uses» «interface» messaging runs on DBMS requires Purchase Costs License Costs per year $ Accounting

9 Illustration of the Solution Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal 1 Requirements Analysis (decomposition) s (decomposition) Level Agreement (preliminary) < C. Care Staff > < C. Care Staff > received Respond to Retrieve history Description answered Update History closed Send personalized answer to customer,... Candidates Required Functionality Send response Input ID (#), result (Bool) Notify R & D Output Delivery notice (bool)... Required Performance Delivery within 90 minutes Future Requirements Multi channel approach Expected Load 50 < x < 250 s / workday Level inherited 9

10 Illustration of the Solution Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal 2 Mapping Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D Discount draft draft Get payment method Calculate discount Add to loyality program Send Lead Mgmt. Track Lead Credit Rating external Check Credit Rating Send overdraft Appointment Check availability Set reminder Campaign Handler sms mms Catalog 10

11 Illustration of the Solution Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal 5 Build #41 (: #342) Product Submit Cancel -created : Date -category : Integer Messages «uses» runs on DBMS requires -description : Text CRM Software Log -created : Date «interface» messaging 11

12 Illustration of the Solution Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal 6 Monitoring / Accounting Utilization Availability Average costs / instance Average duration 1.20 $ 02:54 minutes CMDB runs on DBMS requires Purchase Costs License Costs per year $ Accounting 12

13 Illustration of the Solution Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal 6 Monitoring / Accounting Utilization Availability Average costs / instance Average duration 1.20 $ 02:54 minutes CMDB How to design a DSML that supports such analyses? runs on DBMS requires Purchase Costs License Costs per year $ Accounting 13

14 Design of a DSML in support of IT Development of such a method requires reconstructing the key concepts of the ITSM domain Key domain concepts are IT service and (IT) service level agreement General conceptualisation in Enterprise Modelling (business context) Indicator Risk refers to occurs for Organisational Role 1..* responsible for IT name : String description : String lifecyclestatus : LifeCycleType supports has 1..* 1..* Business Process Functionality description : String Indicates reuse from existing modelling languages realizes satisfies Goal Requirement description : String priority : OrdinalScale 14

15 Design of a DSML in support of IT Development of such a method requires reconstructing the key concepts of the ITSM domain Key domain concepts are IT service and (IT) service level agreement However, various open research questions What is a an appropriate conceptualisations of IT service? Which relations between IT services need to be differentiated? Is it necessary to conceptualise functionalities a service? What is the right level of abstraction to describe (IT) services? How to model service level agreements (SLAs) in general and juridical aspects in particular? 15

16 Reconstruction of key domain concepts IT On the one hand, IT understood by all stakeholders... An IT service describes any (IT-related) outcome of the IT organisation that is used by a customer. IT name : String description : String lifecyclestatus : LifeCycleType belongs to 1..1 Category categoryname : String description : String 16

17 Reconstruction of key domain concepts IT on the other hand, common definition lacks a precise semantic, thus does not allow for elaborated analyses or transformations We identified at least three reasonable types of IT s outcome of an IT process (e.g., Help Desk, Maintenance ) outcome of an Information System (e.g., Invoice Printing ) functionality of a Software (e.g., as in SOA) IT name : String description : String lifecyclestatus : LifeCycleType 17 Support IS SW Do supporttier you see : Integer any further reasonable conceptualisations signature : InterfaceDescriptionof contactpoint : String standard : Standard IT service? IT Process Information System Software

18 Reconstruction of key domain concepts Associations of IT Various relations of IT suggested in literature, among others related to, core, enhancing, associate, IT service is part of (another IT ) ad 1) differentiation into core, supporting, IT s rather a context specific role (instead meta types) ad 2) we suggest to differentiate between aggregation and utilisation similar to aggregates IT What about similar IT services (to uses avoid redundancy and support higher levels of abstraction)? replaces pot. additive to 18

19 Reconstruction of key domain concepts Associations of IT To avoid redundancy and to support higher level of abstraction, the use of generalisation/specialisation seems to be promising. replaces aggregates variation point Specialisation specialised by IT uses description : String variation : VariationType variability : VariationDependency specialised into pot. additive to but: semantics and operationalization of service variation points has not been clarified yet 19

20 Reconstruction of key domain concepts Level Agreement As an additional concept SLA servicelevel : OrdinalValue escalationprocedure : String freqofreview : FrequencyType isinternalcontract : Boolean governs 1..* IT name : String description : String lifecyclestatus : LifeCycleType supports Business Process or as a key interface between IT and business? IT name : String description : String lifecyclestatus : LifeCycleType governs 1..* SLA servicelevel : OrdinalValue escalationprocedure : String freqofreview : FrequencyType isinternalcontract : Boolean supports Business Process as well as various further questions guiding our research 20

21 Questions, Answers & Discussion Development of an Enterprise Modelling Method for IT received s SLA < C. Care Staff > Respond to Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D... runs on DBMS Description Input Output s answered Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Level < C. Care Staff > Update History in time [%] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] # Avg. Load [#msg / day] -created : Date requires -description : Text CRM Software Product -category : Integer closed Send personalized answer to customer,... ID (#), result (Bool) Delivery notice (bool) Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 s / workday inherited Submit Log -created : Date Level Agreement (preliminary) Candidates Required Functionality Head of Care IT Department Owner Helpdesk Cancel Messages «uses» «interface» messaging s SLA Retrieve history Send response Notify R & D Get payment method Calculate discount Add to loyality program runs on DBMS requires Track Lead Send Risk: Incorrect s Visibility: high medium Risk: Internal fraud Visibility: high medium Risk: Incorrect Data Visibility: high medium Utilization Availability Average costs / instance Average duration Check Credit Rating Purchase Costs License Costs per year Send overdraft 1.20 $ 02:54 minutes Check availability Set reminder sms mms Head of Care IT Department Owner Helpdesk CMDB Accounting Domains and their professional languages Business Process 2 Action System IS Organisation Strategy Net Enterprise Modelling Value Chain Diagram Business Process Map Organisational Chart Rating DB1 Data Billing DB2 Application Admin IT Resource Diagram Business Process Diagram Object Model Development of a DSML for ITSM Design Alternatives for Meta Model enriched by IT concepts 1 (decomposition) (decomposition) Requirements Analysis 2 Mapping draft Discount draft Appointment Lead Mgmt. Credit Rating external Campaign Handler Catalog 3 # s resolved Negotiation 4? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty:? - Uncertainty: Assessment 5 Build 6 Monitoring / Accounting #41 (: #342) 21 $

22 References Frank U (2006) Towards a Pluralistic Conception of Research Methods in Information Systems Research. ICB Research Report. 7. Universität Duisburg-Essen Frank U (2008) The MEMO Meta Modelling Language (MML) and Language Architecture. ICB Research Report. 24. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen Frank U (2010) Outline of a Method for Designing Domain-Specific Modelling Languages. ICB Research Report. 42. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen Frank U, Heise D, Kattenstroth H, Ferguson D, Hadar E, Waschke M (2009) ITML: A Domain- Specific Modeling Language for Supporting Business Driven IT. In: Proc. of the 9th OOPSLA workshop on domain-specific modeling (DSM '09), Helsinki. Frank U, Heise D, Kattenstroth H (2009) Use of a Domain Specific Modeling Language for Realizing Versatile Dashboards. In: Tolvanen J, Rossi M, Gray J, Sprinkle J (Hrsg.) Proc. of the 9th OOPSLA workshop on domain-specific modeling (DSM '09), Helsinki. 22