Proposal of the improvement of actual ITIL version based on comparative IT Service Management methodologies and standards The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework Anel Tanovic*, Fahrudin Orucevic** *Department for management of access networks and terminal devices, BH Telecom d.d. Sarajevo Obala Kulina Bana 8, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** Department of Computer Science and Informatics University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Zmaja od Bosne bb, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina anel.tanovic@bhtelecom.ba, forucevic@etf.unsa.ba Abstract: - The result of research includes professional and scientific contribution. The professional contribution of this research is the creation of a new model that can be immediately implemented in the business environment of any organization and in this way it is given an incentive for many companies to introduce an improved model of ITIL to accelerate their business processes and to achieve better business results. The scientific contribution of this research is the creation of a new performed model for IT service management which is derived from six different methodologies and standards for the management of IT services which becomes the first such research that has ever been done. The result of this research will be presented to the Cabinet Office which is the international organization that cares about upgrading of ITIL for the final adoption of the model which is the product of this research. The result of a research is also an opening of new future researches that should happen in this scientific area in the near future. Key-Words: - The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework, new process model, Cabinet Office, final upgrade of ITIL, Service Portfolio Management. 1 Introduction The main goal of this research is to improve the existing model of ITIL 2011 framework through comparative analysis with other IT service management frameworks and standards. The result of comparative analysis should be new models of ITIL framework for which will be done new measurements of the implementation. These results will be compared and based on this will be chosen new improved model of ITIL framework. The results of the comparative analysis may serve as a basis for future research related to the improvement of each of the frameworks or standards which are mentioned in this paper. Recent research in this area show that there are many disadvantages in the existing ITIL 2011 framework especially in Service Operation phase which is responsible for relationship with end users. This research is divided into five parts. The first part describes previous research, research methodology and test environment. The second part of research describes the implementation of all IT Service Management frameworks and standards in test environment. The third part describes a comparative analysis of results and gives a proposal for new models. The fourth part of the research describes measurements of final models for ITIL and the selection of the improved model for ITIL 2011 framework. The last part of the research describes in details the improved model of ITIL 2011 framework and shows future directions of research. This paper is the fifth and last part of the research. Section 2. of the paper describes all phases and processes of the improved model of ITIL 2011 framework. Section 3. is the conclusion of the paper in which are described benefits of an improved model of ITIL framework and directions for the future research in this area. 2 The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework Figure 1. shows the improved model of ITIL 2011 framework. The total number of processes in all five phases is 26 with eleven new added processes. New added processes have the strong relationships between themselves and with other existing processes [7], [8]. The improved model of ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 280
ITIL 2011 framework has achieved for 9.68% better results than the old model of ITIL 2011 framework. This means that the Quality of IPTV/VoIP service has been improved for 9.68% which we can consider as an excellent result [1]. Service Strategy phase is responsible for translating business requirements from the management of the company into the requirements of the IT department by defining the business processes within the organization [1], [2]. This phase is responsible the management with finances, demands of users, for making portfolio of services and finally for definition of business relationships between organization units. The most important role of this phase is making the strong relationship between the management of the company and IT department. The total number of processes in this phase is five: 1. Define a strategic plan and the information architecture This process is responsible for translating business requirements into service offer, defining business risks that may affect the achievement of IT goals, showing to management of all business investments that are associated with IT and supporting the effective management of information and design of the data model which is valid for whole company [1]. The process is Financial Management for IT services, Demand Management, Define the IT processes, organization and relationships, and Service Level Management. 2. Financial Management for IT services This process is responsible for forecasting and cost analysis for all individual systems, definition of the relationship between organizational units in the same company which are responsible for the design of services and for determination of financial resources that the organization can invest in the procurement of new IT services or components from old IT services [2]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Service Portfolio Management, Design Coordination and Supplier Management. 3. Demand Management - The process is responsible for defining the market demand for IT services, defining user requirements for new services, defining user requirements for solving the problems in IT service, defining management requirements for the operation of individual systems and defining the requirements of certain vendors for the implementation of some procurement [2]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Service Portfolio Management, Define the IT processes, organization and relationships, and 7-Step Continual Service Improvement Process. 4. Service Portfolio Management - The process is responsible for defining the set of services that organization offers to its customers, for defining the business catalog for technical, application, service desk and operation systems of some IT service. The main role of this process is the definition of one service or the definition of the set of services which is offered to customers [2]. processes: Design Coordination and Define and manage service levels. 5. Define the IT processes, organization and relationships This process is responsible for the submission of proposals for the establishment of a new organizational structure in company, for establishing a connection between operational activities and management decisions, for establishing a connection with the shareholders of the company, for the definition of criteria which are important for the establishment of a contract between the individual organizational units and for the definition of criteria for the establishment of contracts with customers [1]. The process is Define a strategic plan and the information architecture, Design Coordination, Transition Planning and Support, Assurance Customer Relationship Management, and 7- Step Continual Service Improvement Process. Service Design phase is responsible for translating the strategy into the design activities for a new or changed IT service. The process is also responsible for the definition of service catalogues, definition of contracts with users and suppliers, definition of capacity, availability, continuity and information security for all systems that are the part of IT service and finally for the management of relations with suppliers [1], [3]. The total number of processes in this phase is eight: 1. Design Coordination - The process is responsible for the planning of new services, for providing a support in the ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 281
design and implementation of new services, for coordinating and monitoring the activities of design, for connecting all design processes in a single unit that transmits the result to the Service Transition phase, and for editing technical and organizational activities for the design of new services [3]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Define and manage service levels, Service Level Management, Capacity Management, Availability Management, IT Service Continuity Management, Establish ISMS + Implement and operate ISMS + Monitor and review ISMS + Maintain and improve ISMS, and Supplier Management. 2. Define and manage service levels This process is responsible for defining the IT service catalogue for technical systems, application systems, Service Desk systems and operation systems [1]. The process ensures that there is a common understanding in all layers of the company about results that some service should achieve, and to achieve that reports about the work of any of the services come on time to the management of the company. processes: Service Portfolio Management and Service Level Management. 3. Service Level Management - The process is responsible for creating the contract with the customer, for creating the contract between the individual organizational units, and for creating the contract with outside companies. In this way, this process attempts to establish a relationship between the organization and customers and to increase the level of satisfaction of the end user [3]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Establish ISMS + Implement and operate ISMS + Monitor and review ISMS + Maintain and improve ISMS, Supplier Management, Transition Planning and Support, and Assurance Customer Relationship Management. 4. Capacity Management - The process is responsible for defining the current and future hardware and software capacities for all technical systems, application systems, Service Desk systems, and operation systems that some IT service has currently available [3]. The process is responsible for ensuring the performance of services to be brought to a certain level or across all of the agreed levels in Service Level Agreements, which is achieved by controlling the performance and capacity of services and resources. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: IT Service Continuity Management and Transition Planning and Support. 5. Availability Management The process is responsible for defining the spatial and temporal availability of IT services and for defining the availability of individual systems. The main goal of this process is to ensure that the availability of IT services achieve the agreed level of availability of IT service or even overtake the agreed level of availability of IT service [3]. The process is connected with IT Service Continuity Management process. 6. IT Service Continuity Management - The process is responsible for defining the replacement of redundant systems of IT service [3]. IT Service Continuity Management process is responsible for the creation of replacement IT systems in order to provide security when it comes to the continuous operation of IT services and, as such, actually defines continuity plans for all individual systems. The process is Establish ISMS + Implement and operate ISMS + Monitor and review ISMS + Maintain and improve ISMS and Supplier Management process. 7. Establish ISMS + Implement and operate the ISMS + Monitor and review the ISMS + Maintain and improve the ISMS - The main objective of this process is to establish a stable system of managing information security which is reflected in the implementation of four steps: establish Information Security Management System [1], design and implement Information Security Management System, monitor and review Information Security Management System, maintain and improve Information Security Management System. The process is Assurance Customer Relationship Management, Assurance Service Management & Operations, Assurance Resource Management & Operations and Fulfillment Service Management & Operations. 8. Supplier Management - The process is responsible for defining the criteria for the ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 282
realization of all individual purchases, then for managing relationships with suppliers, for making categorization of suppliers, for making the evaluation of suppliers, and for making the contracts with suppliers [3]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Financial Management for IT services, Define a strategic plan and the information architecture, Define the processes, organization and relationships, and Service Level Management. Service Transition phase is responsible for the design, implementation and testing of new or changed IT services and for making a decision about the releasing of a new or changed IT service into production. Education of users also plays an important role before making a decision about the releasing of a new or changed IT service into production [1], [4]. Processes that are the part of this phase are: 1. Transition Planning and Support - The process is responsible for planning the expansion of technical systems, application systems, Service Desk systems and operation systems. The process gives instructions to the Change Management process about the realization of some change on some particular part of IT service and to the Service Asset and Configuration Management process about the design of some service [4]. The process of planning new IT services affects on definition of changes to existing IT services that are already in production, affects to the design of new IT services and affects to the decision about releasing of new services into production. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Change Management, Service Asset and Configuration Management, and Change Evaluation. 2. Change Management - The main objective of this process is the realization of effective and rapid changes in controlled IT architecture. The process tries to respond to the demands of clients in a controlled business environment and to reduce the number and impact of incidents and problems that may arise in this environment [1]. The mechanism of automation tasks for elimination of incidents and problems becomes stronger during the implementation of this process. The process is Service Asset and Configuration Management and Change Evaluation. 3. Service Asset and Configuration Management - The process is responsible for identifying, controlling, storing and reporting for individual configuration units and their interrelationships. The process is directly responsible for the design of process diagrams and database model diagrams for all individual systems [4]. The output of this process is transferring to the next phase of implementation of IT service. processes: Change Management and Release and Deployment Management. 4. Release and Deployment Management - The main task of this process is to implement the hardware and software infrastructure of each technical system, application system, Service Desk system and operation system. All design specifications must be translated into the implementation during the realization of this process [1]. The result of this process is one implemented IT service or just its component which should be tested in detail before making the decision about releasing of IT service into production. The process is Change Management, Service Asset and Configuration Management and Service Validation and Testing process. 5. Service Validation and Testing The main goal of this process is to produce a tested service which should meet all customer needs. The process of testing should be separated from the implementation process and the result of this process should be a document that is returned to the planning, design and implementation of IT service, with the defined set of recommendations for improving the implementation of IT service [1]. The process is connected with Change Evaluation process. 6. Change Evaluation - The main task of this process is to decide whether an implemented IT service can be put into production and to define the criteria for the releasing of IT services into production [4]. The decision about releasing of IT services into production plays a very important role and as such should be made in conjunction with the Transition Planning and Support process and Change Management process. ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 283
processes: Transition Planning and Support, Change Management and Service Asset and Configuration Management. 7. Educate and train users The process is responsible for establishing regulations for the education of users of IT service, for enabling fast and efficient transfer of knowledge connected to the work of IT service across all layers of the company, for examining end user satisfaction with the offer of IT service, and for defining specific training for employees who need to be responsible for the management of individual systems [1]. The process is Define a strategic plan and the information architecture, Design Coordination, Transition Planning and Support, Assurance Customer Relationship Management and 7- Step Continual Service Improvement Process. Service Operation phase has experienced the greatest changes in the creation of an improved model of the ITIL 2011 framework. The phase is still responsible for solving customer requirements and their incidents and problems after the release of IT service into the production [1], [5]. It is now possible through this phase: defining criteria for connection of new users, supervising of new user s connections to IT service and monitoring of their satisfaction, monitoring performance of employees who are responsible for the connection of services and detailed testing of customer equipment before making a decision that the same equipment could be connected to end users. The phase is responsible for the management of the following processes: 1. Assurance Customer Relationship Management - The process is responsible for training employees on the Service Desk, for the categorization of events to incidents and problems, for the management system of incidents which contain incidents that occurred during the normal work of IT service, for the management system of problems which contain problems that occurred during the normal work of IT service, and for training of employees who participate in the process of joining the IT service for the end user [1]. The process is Assurance Service Management & Operations, Request Fulfillment, Assurance Resource Management & Operations and Fulfillment Service Management & Operations. 2. Assurance Service Management & Operations - The process is primarily responsible for providing estimates of solving incidents which are incurred by individual users, for detailed testing of customer equipment before a making decision about its releasing into production, for developing and controlling a system responsible for tracking connections of new users on IT services, for monitoring connections of users on IT service and for monitoring the performance of IT services for which the service is recently connected [1]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Assurance Customer Relationship Management, Request Fulfillment and Assurance Resource Management & Operations. 3. Request Fulfillment - The process is responsible for the processing and implementation of user requirements for IT service and additional options of IT service and for analysis of management requirements about the investment. All user requests that are characterized as incidents or problems are returning back to the corresponding processes from Service Transition phase [5]. The process is Assurance Customer Relationship Management, Assurance Service Management & Operations, and Assurance Resource Management & Operations. 4. Assurance Resource Management & Operations This process is responsible for the development a system for monitoring the connections of users to IT service, for the development a system responsible for monitoring users of IT service, for the development a system for monitoring the work of staff responsible for the connection of users to IT service, for the detailed analysis of terminal devices work and for prediction, classification and resolving any problems that could happen in technical systems, application systems, Service Desk systems and operation systems [1]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Assurance Customer Relationship Management, Request Fulfillment and Assurance Service Management & Operations. ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 284
5. Fulfillment Service Management & Operations - The process is primarily responsible for the organization of user s connections to IT service, then for measurement of end users connections to IT service in different time periods, for working with outside companies that are responsible for the delivery of user devices and for the working with media which is responsible for the release of the promotion of IT services [1]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Establish ISMS + Implement and operate ISMS + Monitor and review ISMS + Maintain and improve ISMS, Assurance Customer Relationship Management, Assurance Service Management & Operations, Request Fulfillment and Fulfillment Service Management & Operations. Continual Service Improvement phase is responsible for giving instructions for the improvement of all previous phases of ITIL life cycle or for the improvement just one group of the processes or just one process. The phase is responsible for defining the metrics that can be used to measure the performance of individual phases or processes [6]. Only process from this phase is 7- Step Process Continual Service Improvement Process. The objectives of this process are continually improving of IT services in order to meet business needs, identifying and implementing improvements throughout the life cycle and the implementation of process with clearly defined goals. The process should provide a clear set of recommendations for the improvement of each system [1], [6]. The process is connected with these ITIL processes: Define a strategic plan and the information architecture, Design Coordination, Transition Planning and Support and Assurance Service Management & Operations. 3 Conclusion The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework is obtained through measurements on a reference model of IPTV/VoIP service. The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework is universal and should be applied in any business environment. The significance for releasing into production of the new improved model is for organizations that currently do not have high level of implemented business processes. This research and developed an improved model of ITIL should be a stimulus for many companies to introduce an improved model of ITIL and in this way accelerate their business processes and achieve better results in general. The new improved model of ITIL 2011 framework will be introduced into Telecom operator in which is completed this research which means that this research has practical background. Future research in this area will be conducted in two directions. The first one is aimed at creating a totally improved model of ITIL 2011 framework through the implementation of this model in many business environments. The aim of this research is to perform the implementation of the only remaining process of the improved model of ITIL 2011 framework which did not achieve a satisfactory result of the implementation. This process is Service Portfolio Management. The second future type of research will be focused on improving of other IT Service Management frameworks and standards: CobiT, etom and ISO/IEC 20000. This is the direction in which research has already started and as a result produced several improved models for etom and ISO/IEC 20000 standard. The aim of this research is to enable organizations to have a larger set of improved frameworks and standards for the management of IT services and to enable organizations to implement just one framework or standard which is the most convenient for their business environment. The result of this project is an improved model of ITIL 2011 framework which is derived from five other frameworks and standards for the management of IT services. This is the first such study that has ever been done. Before this research, the largest number of frameworks and standards that were used in comparative analysis was three, and this research has increased the number of complementary frameworks and standards to six. The result of research will be presented to Cabinet Office as an international organization that cares about upgrading ITIL [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. Acknowledgment The authors wish to thank the management and specialists from BH Telecom, University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Electrical Engineering and itsmf Bosnia and Herzegovina for the advice and help during the implementation of this project. References: [1] J. van Bon, A. de Jong, A. Kolthof, M.Pieper, R. Tjassing, A. van der Veen, and T. Verheijen, Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL 2011, The Office of Government Commerce, September 2007. ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 285
[2] S.Taylor, M. Iqbal, and M. Nieves, ITIL Version 3 Service Strategy, The Office of Government Commerce, July 2011. [3] S.Taylor, V. Lloyd, and C. Rudd, ITIL Version 3 Service Design, The Office of Government Commerce, July 2011. [4] S.Taylor, S. Lacy, and I. Macfarlane, ITIL Version 3 Service Transition, The Office of Government Commerce, July 2011. [5] S.Taylor, D. Cannon, and D. Wheeldon, ITIL Version 3 Service Operation, The Office of Government Commerce, July 2011. [6] S.Taylor, G.Case, and G.Spalding, ITIL Version 3 Continual Service Improvement, The Office of Government Commerce, July 2011. [7] P. Brooks, J. van Bon, and T. Verheijen, Metrics for IT Service Management, The Office of Government Commerce, April 2006. [8] R. A. Steinberg, Measuring ITIL: Measuring, Reporting and Modeling the IT Service Management Metrics That Matter Most to IT Senior Executives, Trafford Publishing, January 2001. Figure 1. The improved model of ITIL 2011 framework ISBN: 978-960-474-316-2 286