What is Service Design?
Service Design covers
the fundamentals of designing services and processes. It provides a
holistic design approach to help an organization deliver better
services.
Designing a service to meet
an organization’s strategic and customer needs requires coordination and
collaboration. Aim for high service maturity when designing services
rather than the completion of an IT project. The higher the service maturity
the higher customer and user satisfaction will be.
The five key aspects of
Service Design are:
1-)
Designing the
service solution
2-)
Management
information systems and tools
3-)
Technology
4-)
Processes
5-)
Measurements and
metrics
Approach all aspects with
service oriented thinking and decision making.
Service Level Management
The service level management
(SLM) process focuses on researching and understanding requirements. Areas
include:
·
defining,
negotiating, agreeing upon and documenting IT service targets
·
monitoring,
measuring and reporting on how well the service provider delivered the agreed
upon targets
When targets are appropriate
and met, then the business and IT have a better chance of becoming
aligned.
Agreed upon targets are
often spelled out in service level agreements (SLAs). Monitoring,
measuring and reporting on SLA's in this way provides close links to Continual
Service Improvement (CSI).
SLAs are agreements to
provide specific services at a defined level of quality (warranty) for a
specific price. SLAs typically need negotiation of agreements with other
internal organizations (OLA's) or external suppliers (Underpinning
Contracts).
Negotiating SLAs to ensure
service commitments are met, service level management works with the
following warranty processes:
·
capacity
management
·
availability
management
·
security
management
·
service
continuity management
Service level management is
accountable for monitoring conformance to the SLAs and take action if there is
a breach of the SLA. This means working with the service desk, incident
management, and problem management.
Customer satisfaction is not
determined only by SLA performance. Therefore service level management
should meet with customers face-to-face on a regular basis. This helps to
maintain a positive relationship address any concerns the customer may have.
Service Catalog Management
Service catalog management
ensures that an accurate and up-to-date service catalog is available to
all parties authorized to see it. All parts of IT Service Management, as well
as customers and users, use the service catalog. Accuracy and availability
are essential.
Service catalog management
must work closely with service portfolio management as new services move from
the pipeline into the catalog and older services are retired. It also helps
define how services can be requested and what options are available
(gold/silver levels, for instance). The service catalog should document all
defined services.
The service catalog
generally comprises two views:
a business service view that
is visible to the customer
a technical service view
that is visible only to IT personnel.
This enables the customer to
choose services based on their business requirements. At the same IT
personnel can use their view to determine what technical services they need to
support a given business service.
Capacity
Management
ITIL capacity management is responsible for ensuring
that adequate capacity is available at all times to meet the agreed needs of
the business in a cost-effective manner. The capacity management process works
closely with service level management to ensure that the business’ requirements
for capacity and performance can be met. Capacity management also serves as a
focal point for any capacity issues in IT Service Management. Capacity
management supports the service desk and incident and problem management in the
resolution of incidents and problems related to capacity.
Successful capacity management requires a thorough
understanding of how business demand influences demand for services, and how
service demand influences demand on components. This is reflected by the three
subprocesses of capacity management: business capacity management, service
capacity management, and component capacity management. It is required that
capacity management develop a capacity plan, which addresses both current
capacity and performance issues, as well as future requirements. The capacity
plan should be used throughout IT Service Management for planning and budgeting
purposes.
Capacity management is responsible for defining the
metrics to be captured during service operation to measure performance and use
of capacity. This includes monitoring tools, which can provide input to the
event management process. Capacity management may be called upon to perform
tactical demand management, which involves using techniques such as differential
charging to change users’ behavior so that demand does not exceed supply. Other
activities of Capacity management include sizing (working with developers to
understand capacity requirements of new services) and modeling (building
statistical representations of systems).
Capacity
Management Definitions
Before implementing capacity management, it’s
important everyone is on the same page. One way for an organization to
accomplish this is to learn and own the definition. Capacity management
introduces new ideas and terms that should be discussed before they are
implemented, includingcomponent, capacity plan, capacity
report, capacity management information system, and performance.
A component is the underlying
structure behind a service. For example, it is the database behind the
application or the server underneath the website. It is a component that must
be purchased, built, maintained, and monitored. Improving performance often
involves a replacement, upgrade, or load balancing of the individual component.
The capacity plan contains
different scenarios for predicted business demand and offers costed options for
delivering the service-level targets as specified. This plan allows service
designers to make the best choices about how to provide quality service at an
affordable price point.
The capacity report is a document that provides other IT management with data regarding service and resource usage and performance. This is used to help other managers make service-level decisions or decisions regarding individual components.
The capacity report is a document that provides other IT management with data regarding service and resource usage and performance. This is used to help other managers make service-level decisions or decisions regarding individual components.
The capacity management information system
(CMIS) is the virtual repository used to store capacity data.
Dashboards are one way to store and report on capacity data.
Performance is
how quickly a system responds to requests. For example, how quickly an
application processes data and returns a new screen is one indicator of its
performance.
Availability
Management
Availability Management
ensures that infrastructure, tools, roles etc. are appropriate
for the agreed targets. It also works with the design teams to ensure
that availability is designed into services.
Part of the process is to
identify vital business functions (VBFs) which IT services support. This will
help clarify which approach to availability to take:
·
prevention (making
sure, as far as possible, that unavailability never happens)
·
recovery
(developing plans to restore service rapidly in the event of an outage).
Availability management
views availability from the user’s perspective, from end to end. This means identifying
single points of failure and designing resilience into any infrastructure
supporting the service. Availability management serves as a focal point for all
issues in IT Service Management related to availability.
Availability management
handles specifying which metrics to use to measure availability.
And, monitors availability to ensure that the SLA targets are met.
IT service continuity
management (ITSCM) focuses on supporting the overall continuity of the
business. We define ITSCM as the process responsible for managing risks that
could seriously impact IT services.
Risks so
serious they could threaten the very survival of the business.
This activity is often
referred to as disaster recovery (DR). But, the use of the term ITSCM
should show that there is a corresponding business continuity management (BCM)
process. ITSCM supports the BCM process.
ITSCM must work closely with
BCM to perform risk analysis and business impact analysis (BIA). This
analysis determines how different types of disruptions impact the business. The
business areas determined to suffer the greatest impact need the most
focus from the service continuity teams.
ITSCM is responsible for
development and deployment of the service continuity plan. This includes
regular testing and training of all personnel associated with the
plan. ITSCM also works with change management to ensure that continuity
plans are updated as the operational model changes.
The information security
management (ISM) process focuses on aligning IT security with business
security. Information security is an activity that happens as part of
corporate governance.
We use information
security to protect data stores, databases, and metadata. It protects the
interests of people who rely on this information, and it protects the systems
that deliver the data.
Information security
management works closely with service level management to ensure that the
business’s needs for security are documented in service level agreements.
Information security
measures include the following:
·
Preventive:
Preventing security breaches. This is primarily accomplished via access
controls.
·
Reductive:
Minimizing the impact of potential security incidents using measures such as taking
regular back-ups.
·
Detective:
Ensuring instantaneous awareness of security breaches which do occur.
·
Repressive:
Preventing further damage as the result of a breach such as by
quarantining servers that are compromised.
·
Corrective:
Repairing any damage done, such as by restoring from a backup
Supplier management works
with third parties, such as suppliers, to negotiate contracts for
products or services. Supplier management monitor conformance
to the contract conditions and address any breaches. At renewal, supplier
management will determine whether to renew, renegotiate, or end the contract.
The objectives of supplier
management is to ensure alignment of contracts with the needs of
the business. It is also responsible for ensuring suppliers are meeting
their commitments. The supplier and contract management information system
(SCMIS) holds supplier and contract details.
The central principles in
design coordination are balance, prioritization and integration with
project management. Balance and prioritization address the utility and warranty
of a service, as well as the needs of the service throughout its
lifecycle.
Design coordination oversees
all activity in the Service Design phase of the service lifecycle. Its aim is
to ensure that a holistic, integrated approach is taken to the design of
services. This is necessary because of the variety of disciplines involved in
Service Design and the need to take a consistent approach.
Design coordination is
accountable for the production of the service design package (SDP). The
SDP is a comprehensive description of how a new or changed service is to
be designed, built, tested, deployed, and operated. The SDP is the handoff from
the Service Design phase to the Service Transition phase.
Design coordination handles
managing resources needed by the Service Design phase of the lifecycle.
This includes:
·
planning to
ensure that adequate resources are available
·
scheduling
access to resources among the many projects that may be in this phase at any
one time
It is accountable for
the performance and improvement of the Service Design phase of the
lifecycle.
What is ITIL Service Strategy?
ITIL Service Strategy helps organizations understand
the merits of using a market-driven approach. To succeed
organizations must deliver and support services and products that their
customers need. Service Strategy helps them to do this
by encouraging a practice of service management for managing IT
services.
No organization acts in a vacuum. Customers always
have alternatives. Even government and nonprofits where social
services compete for tax dollars and contributions.
Competitive forces demand that an IT organization do
its job better than the alternatives. What service strategy is about
is positioning your organization as non-optional.
Service Strategy process areas include:
·
service portfolio management
·
financial management for IT
services
·
demand management
·
business relationship management
·
strategy management for IT
services
Service Portfolio Management
Service portfolio management (SPM) is a means by
which you can dynamically and transparently govern resource investment. The
goal of SPM is to maximize value to the business while managing risks and
costs. We do this by ensuring that the content of the service
portfolio is in line with the organization’s service management strategy.
In cooperation with the change management process
it evaluates proposed services. As well as major changes to
existing services.
Service Portfolio Management is a cradle to grave
process.
It monitors services in the pipeline.
First as they proceed through funding, then through design,
development, testing, and deployment. Once operational it monitors to
ensure we are achieving expected returns. And finally, when the service
has reached the end of its useful life, it works with Service Transition
processes to ensure an orderly retirement and preservation of essential
records and assets.
Financial Management for
IT Service
Financial management for IT services ensures we
track and associate IT investment and spending with the services
provided.
Why do we need to do this? We want to deliver
the best quality service at the lowest possible cost. We want to create
business value and increase the opportunity to take on extra projects
that result in even greater value to the business.
The three major activities which take place within
financial management for IT services are:
·
Accounting
·
Budgeting
·
Charging
(the “ABCs” of financial management).
Accounting involves applying cost accounting
principles to IT spending. We do this to answer the question, “What does
it cost to provide each service?”
We use Budgeting to show the funding
required to support the defined services at a given level of business activity.
The budget assures that IT Service Management will have adequate funding to
deliver promised services.
Charging is the process of assuring that IT Service
Management will “capture” value. That is, that the consumers of services
are aware of the cost of providing services to them.
Demand Management
ITIL Demand Management helps a business understand
and predict customer demand for services. Every business is subject to cyclical
behavior. This means that demand for services can grow or shrink with the
business cycle. In deciding whether to provide a service, IT Service Management
must understand the patterns of business activity (PBAs) related to the
service. While it is important to avoid having inadequate capacity, excess
capacity is also a business risk, involving expense which typically cannot be
recovered, since customers cannot be expected to pay for capacity they are not
using.
PBAs are typically thought of in terms of
transaction volumes. ITIL suggests other factors be considered as well, such as
the source of the demand, special needs such as enhanced security, and
tolerance for delay. The job of demand management is to identify appropriate
PBAs and to associate them with user profiles (UPs). This becomes important
input to the capacity management process in the Service Design lifecycle phase.
According to ITIL, the purpose of demand management
is to understand, anticipate, and influence customer demand for services. As a
process, it is part of the ITIL service strategy stage of the ITIL
lifecycle. Service strategy determines which services to offer to prospective
customers or markets. The decisions that are made in the service strategy stage
affect the service catalog, the business processes, the service desk, the
required capacity, and the financial requirements of the service provider.
As part of the service strategy stage, demand management rationalizes and optimizes the use of IT resources. It ensures that the amount of technical and human resources that has been budgeted matches the expected demand for the service. If the prediction is too low, the agreed-upon service levels may not be delivered. If the predictions are too high, resources will have been allocated to a service that will not be used (or paid for). Demand management bridges the gap between service design, capacity management, and business relationship management to ensure that the predictions are accurate.
Demand management is a process within ITIL that is more supportive of other processes than a self-contained process. Unlike incident management, for example, the activities inside demand management are not visible to the customer. When service demand is not properly balanced, it affects nearly every part of the ITIL lifecycle.
As part of the service strategy stage, demand management rationalizes and optimizes the use of IT resources. It ensures that the amount of technical and human resources that has been budgeted matches the expected demand for the service. If the prediction is too low, the agreed-upon service levels may not be delivered. If the predictions are too high, resources will have been allocated to a service that will not be used (or paid for). Demand management bridges the gap between service design, capacity management, and business relationship management to ensure that the predictions are accurate.
Demand management is a process within ITIL that is more supportive of other processes than a self-contained process. Unlike incident management, for example, the activities inside demand management are not visible to the customer. When service demand is not properly balanced, it affects nearly every part of the ITIL lifecycle.
Business Relationship Management
ITIL business relationship management works
closely with service portfolio management and strategy management. It
helps IT services to inform and implement the strategy and service
selection.
Participants in this process seek to form a
relationship with customers to understand their needs for service.
This involves:
·
ensuring
that services provided are delivering the value expected by the
customer
·
understanding the customer’s environment
well enough to identify opportunities for new services or new applications of
existing services
·
being aware of changes in the customer’s
business environment which may impact service needs
The most important key performance indicator (KPI)
for business relationship management is customer satisfaction.
Strategy Management for IT
Services
ITIL strategy management for IT services seeks to
enable IT Service Management to become a strategic asset to the
organization. It’s not enough to align IT with the business; IT should
also integrate with the business.
Any service provider, to be successful, must
have a thorough understanding of the market space in which they
operate. They must know what their strengths and weaknesses as a provider
are, as well as what opportunities are available. Strategy management for IT
services seeks to answer questions such as the following:
·
Who are our customers?
·
What business outcomes do they need?
·
How do the services we provide support
those outcomes?
·
How can we position ourselves to be the
only logical provider of these services?
·
What market spaces do we operate in?
·
Are there ways to expand our current
service offerings into new markets?
·
Are there unmet needs in our current
market spaces for which we can develop services?
What is Service Transition?
ITIL service transition helps plan and manage the
change of state of a service in its lifecycle. Managing risk for new,
changed and retired services protects the product environment. This helps
the business deliver value to itself and its customers.
Curating service knowledge helps all stakeholders
make informed, reliable decisions and support challenges with service
delivery. Both managing service risk and curating service knowledge are
integral to service transition.
During service transition, the following
organizational elements need support:
·
Service Strategy
·
People
·
Process
·
Technology
·
Suppliers of the service
·
Organizational culture
·
Governance
·
Risk
No change is without risk. In fact, change can
create extra risk. When transitioning services, focus on communication planning
for awareness and compliance. One of the biggest challenges in service
transition is changing people’s behavior to accommodate a new or different
service. People have a psychological need to feel safe and comfortable with
changes to them and around them.
What is Service Operation?
Service operation encompasses
the day-to-day activities, processes, and infrastructure responsible for
delivering value to the business through technology.
In Service Strategy, Service
Design, Service Transition and Continual Service Improvement, we create value.
But, no service is consumed and no business activity is experienced.
Because users can access the service during Service Operation, we need high
support levels to keep service consumption at high-levels. No customer wants to
pay for a service that does not perform as needed or is not available for
usage.
Consumerization
and service experience is a key factor in Service Operation. The goal of
Service Operation is to maintain day-to-day services to the point that
there are no issues. When issues do occur Service Operation principles dictate
response based on business priority. Service feedback from Service
Operation throughout the ITIL service lifecycle enables continual service
improvement.
