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1 By Ramon Smitherman, Dream Catchers, Inc. Executive Summary Many companies today are in the mode of buying technology and then figuring out how to adopt their operations to fit its processing requirements. While change is inevitable, one has to ask, Is this a change for the better? Companies across Europe and other countries (such as Canada and Australia) have developed a corporate style based on the widespread adoption of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Best Practices model. These companies first work on aligning IT with their business objectives and then define Best Practices for each of the IT Support and IT Delivery processes. Then the selection of technology that supports those processes is undertaken. The question that arises is: How does one effectively select technology to support the defined Best Practices? This paper offers a brief overview of ITIL and discusses how HP OpenView supports the ITIL standard. Information is provided to show what is required in making a technology selection in support of ITIL Best Practices. Additionally the relationship between ITIL and HP OpenView is discussed, showing how a tool can work with and support the ITIL standard. ITIL and product compliance are addressed from two perspectives: 1. Criteria that tools should adhere to. 2. HP OpenView s support of those criteria. With regard to the Selection of tools, two perspectives are offered: 1. Tool Verification - is it valid, does it make sense in the real world. 2. Tool Selection Methodology an approach geared toward multi-vendor complex environments. About ITIL ITIL, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is the most widely accepted IT-process management framework in the world. It is owned by the OGC (Office of Government Commerce), formerly known as CCTA, which is an UK government department, and was developed during the late 1980s. ITIL describes the processes needed to manage the IT infrastructure efficiently and effectively in order to guarantee the service levels agreed upon by the IT organization and its clients ITIL is based on the collective experience of commercial and government practitioners worldwide. This set of best practices has been combined into one reliable, coherent approach, and is fast becoming the defacto standard used by the world s leading businesses. itsmf, a non-profit organization that acts as the official ITIL user organization, is dedicated to promoting and helping to set standards for best practices in IT Service. Recently the individual processes which ITIL addresses have been re-published into 7 major volumes available in either book or CD-ROM format. Each publication describes a set of vital IT Service processes. (e.g. Change management, Problem management, etc.) Page 1 of 9

2 Besides the ITIL framework, the OGC has developed a related project management methodology called PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments version 2), a system analyses, specification, and design methodology called SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method), and CRAMM (CCTA Risk Analysis & Method). ITIL and ITSM are they different? ITIL processes are one of the four key elements of a successful IT Service implementation. The other elements include organizational components, people components, and technology components. It is the collective of these that define IT Service and ensure the operational excellence of an organization. Coordinating each of these 4 elements with ITIL requires a broad understanding of each in light of the vision of IT Service. Proprietary Extensions While the vast majority of users have realized the benefits of ITIL as published, there are some circumstances where vendors such as HP and Microsoft have sought to extend the standard with proprietary extensions. The following is a brief synopsis of each. Microsoft The Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) is one of the several enterprise frameworks that have been developed by Microsoft. All are focused on supporting the complete IT lifecycle. Microsoft has distinguished phases in this lifecycle for Planning, Preparation, Building and Deployment, and Operations. For each phase a framework is available. These are respectively Planning Services, Readiness Framework, Solutions Framework, and Operations Framework. The MOF-framework can best be described as a set of models, guidelines, and best practices. The similarities with ITIL are striking. For application hosting and management of distributed environments, MOF offers valuable enhancements to ITIL. Microsoft s acquisition of NetIQ s Operations Manager is an example of MOF-supporting technology for Windows environments. Hewlett-Packard HP s IT Service Reference Model is built on HP s experience in service management, ITIL and industry best practices. This model is used to guide customers as they refocus their efforts on service management instead of technology management, and on customers instead of users, and on the integration of processes, people and technology. The model is designed to reflect the need to run IT as a business rather than merely running IT within a business. Thus, the ITSM Reference model has several processes not found in ITIL. Technology that supports ITIL Criteria Tool Compliance according to ITIL The ITIL library includes a book called IT Infrastructure Support Tools. It describes in detail the criteria the IT Service tools supporting the Service Support processes should adhere to. Although it was written in 1992, most of its criteria are still valid for today s technology. Each Service Support process is captured in great detail. The general criteria considered are: Conformity with ITIL Page 2 of 9

3 Data structure and handling Integration with products Openness Usability Service levels Backup and restore Control and Security Vendor and Product Credibility Costs Organization specific requirements and constraints These topics are divided in multiple sub criteria. For the purposes of this section we will expound on Data Structure and Handling, Integration, and Openness. Other criteria in the list above will be addressed in subsequent papers. Data Structure and Handling Integration Openness ITIL provides for each Service Support process the logical data schema to which a corresponding management tool should comply. By comparing such schema available from management tool vendors to the one ITIL provides the differences become easily recognizable. For example, some vendors provide no feature to build all kinds of relationships between Configuration Items. In fact these tools only help manage the inventory, ignoring the configuration of the IT infrastructure. Flat file systems are typical of tools that cannot support ITIL, as complex relationships of entities cannot be established. The OpenView solution using a relational database is capable of defining complex relationships and is therefore very suitable for ITIL support. Also given by ITIL are the integration aspects to which a tool solution should adhere. The data flows required to bridge between the various processes are described in detail. Products that leave it up to the end user to build these bridges can therefore hardly be considered ITIL compliant. Besides the integration between the Service Support processes, ITIL also recommends integration capabilities with other tools and technology of IT and of other parts of the organization. HP OpenView has accomplished the vast majority of integration with the single Java Console release in version 7.0. Currently HP is providing tighter integration of all the add-on components of OpenView to further enhance its support of ITIL. Critical to supporting ITIL is the integration of the Service Desk with the various monitoring components of OpenView. The Service Desk and OpenView solutions offer a very natural integration; making the solution suite an end-to-end ITIL based tool set. Multiple platform-support, usage of industry standards such as ODBC and XML, Webbased and Web-enabled, and Open API s, are a few examples of criteria which must be followed by today s ITIL compliant tools. These characteristics heavily determine the ease of migration and integration, and enable future growth. HP OpenView is known as one of the most open enterprise management solutions in the market today. With ODBC compliant relational databases, and published APIs, HP OpenView has realized an explosive growth of 3 rd party extensions, all of which utilize the open APIs supporting the common architecture that supports ITIL. Page 3 of 9

4 Need for and end-to-end architecture The majority of IT organizations are still divided into IT-silos. The silo mentality is supported by the notion of buying best-of-breed tools and technology for each silo. The theory is that IT can integrate the tools internally or purchase middleware to accomplish the integration of the tools. What is not understood is the need for a common configuration database built on relational database technology. For ITIL processes to work they need a common collective of information that can be represented in a myriad of relationships between the various elements and incidents. When an IT environment is characterized by N-tier applications and multi-vendor shops, this need for a common collective data base becomes even more critical the lack of integrated information is a key reason IT managers have a hard time committing to high availability figures for the services being delivered An end-to-end system and service management architecture is needed to realize the benefits of ITIL Best practices. Service managers or process managers are functions that are still considered new. In fact, some companies are even seeing the emergence of a chief processing officer as a new operational - rather than IT - function. Enterprise Systems (ESM) Tools Converge with Service Tools ESM Tools Most widely known and implemented are the tools and technology that support the operational activities to manage an IT infrastructure. These tools directly support the ITIL processes for Capacity, Availability, Security, and Operations. Indirectly they support processes such as IT Service Continuity, Service Level, and Financial of IT Services. In the following section a mapping of ITIL Functions with the features of HP OpenView demonstrate how an integrated, end-to-end approach works. IT Service tools Software for Helpdesks, Service Desks, Call Centers, etc., is the best-known example of an IT Service tool. Such tools deal with management and service level responsibilities. Additionally, Configuration and Asset tools, and the technology to support Release are also examples of IT Service Tools. In Application development environments Configuration, Change, and Release tools are tightly integrated and used to improve quality and efficiency of software projects,. ESM Convergence on ITSM Mature IT organizations provide us with good examples of how the technology of Enterprise Systems and IT Service work hand-in-hand and complement each other. Network tools, for example, can fill and update a Configuration database. They also can forward alerts and events to Service Desk applications, which can open service calls and assign those calls to predefined specialists. Sophisticated Enterprise Systems tools even come with functionality to define business services, and relate these to Service Levels as set up in the Service Level tools. HP OpenView and ITIL Criteria Compliance HP OpenView was one of the early adopters of IT Service and has a rich implementation of features that support ITIL. The long-term architectural plans for OpenView depict a true end-to-end strategy whereby the fullness of ITIL can be realized. Page 4 of 9

5 The diagram below shows the HP OpenView Solutions Map. Overlaying that in red is a diagram showing the 10 ITIL processes. These processes are divided into the two groups of IT Service Support and IT Service Delivery. The top half of the red ring represents the ITIL functions that support IT Service Delivery. They are relevant to the upper portion of the HP OpenView architecture diagram. The bottom half of the red ring represents the ITIL functions that support IT Service Support. They are relevant to the elements in the lower portion of the HP OpenView architecture diagram. The central point is an integrated Service Desk. This corresponds to the Common Database as described by ITIL. The HP OpenView Service Desk is the corresponding Service component of the OpenView Architecture. Capacity Financial IT Service Delivery Availability Service Level IT Service Continuity Integrated Service Desk Incident Release Problem IT Service Support Configuration Change Page 5 of 9

6 The table below correlates the Architecture of OpenView to the Functions of ITIL and lists the corresponding OpenView tools. Following the table is a description of each of the OpenView Architectural components. OpenView Architecture Component Fault Performance ITIL Function Incident, Problem Capacity, Availability, Change OpenView Supporting Tools Network Monitoring Tools (5), Operations, ECS, TeMIP, Application SPIs Internet Services, Performance Insight, Performance Manager, Problem Diagnosis, Storage Optimizer, Transaction Analyzer Service Configuration Operations, Service Reporter, Service Navigator, Service Desk Customer Experience Service Level Internet Services, Web Transaction Observer, Service Information Portal Service Delivery Configuration Service Activator, TeMIP Framework Service Usage Financial, Capacity Dynamic Netvalue Analyzer, Enterprise Usage Manager, Storage Area Manager OpenView Architecture Components Fault Through a flexible Java-based console - information regarding services, events, and performance are delivered to the right person at the right time, and in a format that makes the most sense. A single fault management console offers out-of-the-box fault management for over 200 different network, systems, applications, and storage devices; enables you to configure new templates and offers application groups to manage any device; and provides heterogeneous security event management and security partner solutions. Performance An adaptive infrastructure ensures that applications, systems, storage devices, and networks run at peak performance with minimal support costs. Through Real-time performance measurement, IT organizations can immediately understand whether applications and systems are overloaded, and creating a negative experience for its users. Historical data collection and trending allows IT to spot utilization trends that, left unnoticed, will create performance and availability problems down the road. Service IT Service (ITSM) is the alignment of IT and business objectives, and the assurance of specific performance and availability for business-critical IT services. HP OpenView software optimizes IT service delivery and support workflow. In summary, ITSM is the intermediate step between infrastructure management and the adaptive infrastructure that companies desire to achieve. Customer Experience Quality of Service from a customer point of view. Instrument service measurements from multiple, external points of view with Web Transaction Page 6 of 9

7 Observer (WTO) and HP OpenView Internet Services (OVIS) Integrate with "bottoms-up" instrumentation to answer both "what happened?" and "why?" Offer customer personalized, secure views of their managed service(s) Close the SLA lifecycle by making assessment information available to operations, IT management, and the customer. Delivery HP offers management software that enables organizations to provision resources relative to business processes and priorities, and constantly balance those resources as requirements change. Unlike other vendors, HP offers software that enable provisioning across the entire data center, spanning your networks, systems, applications, and storage. Usage HP 's usage management software provides vital insight into the precise utilization of IT resources. Armed with knowledge of service and resource consumption, IT can appropriately allocate costs and provide for improved cost control. Accurate usage information becomes particularly important in the shared-resource world of data center consolidation. Integration of this usage data with fault, performance and capacity management tools provides complete confidence in the ability to meet service level agreements and ensures the agility needed to maximize business results and thus the return on IT investment. Example Application of OpenView to ITIL Functions The following are examples of how HP OpenView specifically functions in support of ITIL functions. Viewing the Enterprise Having all configuration and incident information in a common database, a management console can be viewed showing a holistic topology of IT Infrastructure, business objects, and relationships. The benefits of this are automated root cause analysis, priority based service support, and impact analysis. state changes are propagated through business rules to depict how availability and performance problems affects the business process, customer, service, that depend on the IT infrastructure Page 7 of 9

8 Bridging the Gap IT / Business Assurance Having the capability to link a business s infrastructure to its services and then to align the services with its business goals and objectives is the ultimate goals of IT Service. HP OpenView in combination with ITIL Best Practices provides the final link in bridging the gap of IT/Business Assurance. The diagram below exemplifies not only the connections from infrastructure to services to Business but also implies the need for an end-to-end architecture. The TOPP referenced earlier in this paper is a recommendation for a four-part model to ensure the success of an enterprise that wishes to have a complete architecture for IT infrastructure and IT Service. ITIL Tool Selection Versus ITIL Tool Verification There are two approaches by vendors regarding the selection of tools. A brief description of each is presented below. Tool Verification There are companies (e.g. Pink Elephant) that offer a service whereby they evaluate a tool and approve it based on compliance to ITIL stated criteria. In Pink Elephant s case, vendors hoping to represent their products as having increased value contract for the Pink Verify service. Hewlett-Packard announced in August of 2002 that is had achieved Enhanced Pink Verify status. Enhanced Pink Verify Status helps to validate that HP OpenView solutions are compatible with best practices for the following ITIL process areas: service level management, incident management, problem management, change management, and configuration management. 1 1 Hewlett-Packard, Press Release, August 5, 2002, HP Increases Value of Service-Driven with Pink Elephant Page 8 of 9

9 Tool Selection Methodology Other companies (e.g. MacKay USA) offer a methodology for selecting tools that fit a company s need for ITIL implementation. Recognizing the dynamics that companies face, the methodology addresses the following issues: How compliant is compliant Tools which rely on extensions by many third party tools Companies with existing tools from many vendors Corporate Maturity and ITIL Readiness of the Organization While having a stamp of approval on a tool shows that some diligence has been done, it does not define the full scope of decisions a company faces when selecting a tool to support their business objectives and ITIL implementation needs. Summary HP OpenView is in a leadership position for compliance with ITIL and in having an end-to-end IT Service solution offering. (Note that 3rd Party extensions or enhancements to OpenView may or may not support the ITIL standard.) One aspect of the OpenView Solution suite that provides the most value in terms of an end-to-end solution and ITIL compliance is the tight integration of all components. This is essential to ITIL compliance and in ensuring a common view of the Enterprise and natural workflow within IT processes. Page 9 of 9