A Business Based Assessment Approach to ITIL Maturity Rick Leopoldi

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A Business Based Assessment Approach to ITIL Maturity Rick Leopoldi An IT Service Provider Paradigm A primary focus of IT Service Management (ITSM) is the application of the ITIL best practices

1 A Business Based Assessment Approach to ITIL Maturity Rick Leopoldi An IT Service Provider Paradigm A primary focus of IT Service Management (ITSM) is the application of the ITIL best practices framework to enable IT to be a more effective service provider across the enterprise. This leveraging of a best practice framework is meant to be one that is, by its very nature, operating within a Continuous Service Improvement Program (CSIP). ITSM addresses the need to align the delivery of IT services closely with the needs of the business. This requires a transformation of the Business - IT paradigm such that the requirements of the business drive the needs of the IT processes to support them with the necessary people expertise, in accordance with organizational culture being applied enterprise wide, and managed by a set of measurements and metrics that are reported on a regular basis. An effective CSIP will help enable that over time IT will continue to provide and improve service quality to the business. At present, the majority of ITIL and ITSM Maturity Assessment methods focus on people, process, technology/tools, organization and information factors and typically use a derivative of the IT Service Capability Maturity Model (CMM) with maturity phases such as Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimizing. Consider however the major focus of these Maturity Assessments. Typically, they are done introspectively within IT. That is, evaluating internal IT people, processes, technology/tools, and information factors with organizational considerations being considered as they relate internally to IT and IT infrastructure. One can make a convincing case that such assessment methods do not fully and directly maximize the congruence of the primary focus of ITIL to enable it to operate as effectively as possible in accordance with the basic nature of IT Service Management. This is based on an assumption that a primary requirement of IT as a service provider is to achieve its goal of aligning the delivery of IT to meet business requirements as defined and driven by the business.

2 An Alternative ITSM Maturity Assessment Approach Given the primary requirement stated above, let us consider an alternative or supplemental approach to the typical Maturity Assessment methods. The measurements and metrics perceived by the business as providing value must be a primary focus objective for IT since it is the Customer, and not the IT Service Provider that determines the actual value of IT Services to the business. Therefore adherence to this focus should be used in whole or in part for any baseline that is part of any Maturity Assessment in addition to those typical Assessment methods employed. Presented below is a basic list of those measurement metric questions that relate to direct and indirect, tangible and intangible business benefits that can be realized. This list is not exhaustive but is rather a starter set that could be used as part of the qualification method for assessing CMM Maturity quantifications for how well IT is performing as a service provider from a business perspective. Service Level Management Is the quantity and quality of IT services required being managed? Is service as previously agreed being delivered? Are services being provided at affordable costs? Is the interface with the business and users being managed? Availability Management Is availability and reliability of IT service being managed effectively? Are the business needs for access to IT services being satisfied? Is the availability of IT infrastructure, as documented in SLAs, being provided at optimum costs? Capacity Management Are business forecasts more accurate? Is there an increased knowledge of current and future technologies? Is there an increased ability to demonstrate cost effectiveness? Is there an increased ability to plan and implement the appropriate IT capacity to match business need? Financial Management for IT Services Is there effective stewardship of the IT finances? Does the business believe the financial management process is effective? Are customers satisfied with costs and charges of services?

3 IT Service Continuity Management Can IT Services be delivered and can they be recovered to meet business objectives? Is there awareness throughout the organization of the Business and IT Continuity Plans? Incident Management Are incidents resolved quickly with minimal impact to the business? Is IT service quality maintained? Is IT and Business productivity improving? Is user satisfaction being maintained? Problem Management Has service quality improved? Has the impact of Problems been minimized? Has the cost to Users of Problems been reduced? Change Management Is there a repeatable process for making Changes? Are Changes made quickly and accurately and driven by business need? Is there a provision for protecting services when making Changes? Does the process deliver efficiency and effectiveness benefits? Release Management Has there been a better quality of software and hardware Is there a repeatable process for rolling out software and hardware Releases? Are Releases implemented swiftly and accurately based on business driven requirements and needs Are releases cost effective? Configuration Management Is there better control of IT assets? Is there better support of the delivery of quality IT services? Has economic service provisioning been enhanced? Is there support, integration and interfacing to all other ITSM processes?

4 Conclusion Given that it is not the IT Service Provider that determines the actual value of IT Services to the business but rather the value is one of the perception by the business, the primary requirement is to enable IT as a service provider to achieve its goal of aligning IT service delivery to meet business requirements as defined and driven by the business. An alternative or supplemental approach to the typical Maturity Assessment methods needs to adhere to an approach where measurements and metrics perceived by the business as providing value must be a primary focus objective for IT. This would include as part of the qualification method for assessing CMM Maturity quantifications, how well IT is performing as a service provider from the business perspective.

About the author Rick Leopoldi, specializes in delivering business oriented consulting service solutions that assess, plan, architect and design, and implement solutions across an enterprise-wide

5 About the author Rick Leopoldi, specializes in delivering business oriented consulting service solutions that assess, plan, architect and design, and implement solutions across an enterprise-wide heterogeneous environment and data center operations to align IT to business requirements. Mr. Leopoldi has been an IT Service Management Managing Business Consultant having more than 40 years of experience in IT. For the past 30 years he has developed and delivered process, methods, and technology infrastructure consulting solutions for major organizations worldwide and specializes in ITIL and ITSM best practices. He has held various senior level positions with companies such as CA, FoxIT, IBM, HP, CompuCom and Fujitsu consulting. Rick is a certified ITIL V2 Service Manager and V3 Expert. In addition to hosting a premier ITSM website, Rick has authored two books. One is on ITSM Implementation and the other an HDI Focus Book on Service Level Management and Service Catalog. In addition, he has published more than 60 articles, whitepapers, and reference papers that appear regularly in ITSMWatch.com, SearchCIO.com, TechTarget.com and TechRepublic.com to name a few. Rick presents on a regular basis at many national and local conferences such as itsmf, HDI, CMG, ASMI, BrightTalk and GMIS. His proprietary ITSM Assessment methodology was licensed and utilized by Proctor and Gamble. Mr. Leopoldi holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Lehman College in New York and a Master's degree in Business Administration/Computer Science from the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

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6 SoftExpert ITSM is a powerful but easy-to-use, modular and cost-effective ITIL based software suite for automating and improving IT service requests, incident and problem management, configuration management, and IT human resources.. IT Strategy Service Catalogue SoftExpert ITSM allows organizations of all sizes and in every industry to improve IT governance, optimize service levels, boost productivity and reduce related costs, aligning IT infrastructure management with strategic business objectives. BPMN Based Process IT KPIs SoftExpert ITSM software incorporates ITIL and other widely adopted best practice frameworks, integrating service requests, incident and problem management, configuration management and IT human resource management in a single platform, bringing together the best in management practices and the best in technology. Incident Management Operational Portals

About SoftExpert SoftExpert is a market leader in software and services for enterprise-wide business process improvement and compliance management, providing the most comprehensive application suite

7 About SoftExpert SoftExpert is a market leader in software and services for enterprise-wide business process improvement and compliance management, providing the most comprehensive application suite to empower organizations to increase business performance at all levels and to maximize industry-mandated compliance and corporate governance programs. Founded in 1995 and currently with more than 2,000 customers and 300,000 users worldwide, SoftExpert solutions are used by leading corporations in all kinds of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, life sciences, food and beverage, mining and metals, oil and gas, high-tech and IT, energy and utilities, government and public sector, financial services, transportation and logistics, healthcare, and many others. SoftExpert, along with its extensive network of international partners, provides hosting, implementation, post-sales support and validation services for all solutions to ensure that customers get the maximum value from their investments. SoftExpert Excellence Suite The Roadmap for Business Excellence and Enterprise Compliance More information: sales@softexpert.com Copyright 2015 by SoftExpert Software All rights reserved. No part of this material may be changed, copied or reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of SoftExpert.

IT Services Management Service Brief

IT Services Management Service Brief Business Impact Analysis Prepared by: Rick Leopoldi June 19, 2002 Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Duplication of this document or extraction of content is strictly