DeSot 2010-Process Mapping of CMMI-SVC and ITIL

PROCESS MAPPING OF CMMI FOR SERVICES (CMM-SVC) ANDIT INFRASTRUCTURE LIBRARY (ITIL)

By

Julie A. DeSot

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the

University of Maryland University College, in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Management

2011

Advisory Committee:

James P. Gelatt, Ph.D.

Kathleen F. Edwards, Ph.D.

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Abstract

Title of Dissertation: PROCESS MAPPING OF CMMI FOR SERVICES(CMM-SVC) AND IT INFRASTRUCTUREINFORMATION LIBRARY (ITIL)

Julie A. DeSot

Doctor of Management, 2011

Dissertation Advisory Committee: James P. Gelatt, Ph.D.

Kathleen F. Edwards, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there were enough commonalities

between two service process frameworks in which to create a conceptual model in the form of a

comprehensive map. The two service process frameworks chosen for this study are the

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Capability Maturity Model

Integration for Services (CMMI-SVC). The research was focused on service process

frameworks as they related to delivering services to customers.

As organizations adopt service process frameworks to realize cost savings and

performance efficiencies, organizations and service professionals are exposed to numerous

frameworks to choose from and in which to work. Employees do not stay with one firm

throughout their careers, and service professionals will most likely be employed by several

organizations throughout their careers. With this movement to different organizations through

their career, service professionals will more than likely need to work with different frameworks.

Organizational mergers and partnerships provide experiences of the knowledge gap of the two

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frameworks that needs to be bridged. The research set out to determine what similarities exist to

map the two processes to each other.

The research was conducted by reviewing the publications provided by the developers of

the service process frameworks, research articles, books, white papers, case studies, and industry

journal articles. The data was compiled into matrices, analyzed and reviewed. What emerged

was a comprehensive matrix that was converted into a graphic conceptual model. The

conceptual model is a graphic map of the two service process frameworks. The conceptual

model is anticipated to provide corporate managers and service professionals with a device to

determine the commonalities between ITIL and CMMI-SVC, as well as the uniqueness of the

two service process frameworks. The findings determined that there were indeed direct

commonalities that can map each of the 24 CMMI-SVC Process Areas to ITIL’s five Core

Components. The conceptual model, mapping, can be utilized as a tool for organizations and

professionals to apply, understand and work with either or both of the service process

frameworks.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my husband, Charles DeSot, for his support during the quest for my

doctoral degree. Your passion and support for my education and professional growth is

unwavering. Chuck, you have been my guiding light and pillar to lean on. Thank you for

understanding when research and studying occupied my time.

Thank you to my dissertation committee, Dr. James Gelatt, Dr. Kay Edwards, Dr. Irmak

Renda-Tanali and Dr. Rana Khan. You provided many insights that pushed my thinking beyond

what I thought were my limitations. Dr. James Gelatt, as my dissertation chair, you supported

me through the past three years and countless versions of my dissertation. Thank you for your

support and guidance; I am looking forward to the lessons you have taught me and beginning the

next chapter of my professional career. Thank you to my professors throughout my journey: Dr.

Malcolm Odell, Dr. Saad Laraqui, Dr. Husein Abdul-Hamid, Dr. Mara Alexander, Dr. Patrick

W. Fitzgibbons, Dr. Thomas Mierzwa, Dr. Subash Bijlani, Dr. Irmak Renda-Tanali, Dr. Rana

Khan, Dr. Kay Edwards and Dr. James Gelatt. Thank you to Dr. Batsheva Salberg and Ken

Williams for your reviews, honest comments and feedback, and insight.

I would also like to thank the University of Maryland University College for providing

the practitioner with such a wonderful doctoral program. UMUC has been a pillar in my

education beginning with my Associate Degree that I earned while Overseas when my husband

was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford. UMUC’s dedication to providing education to all aspects

of students, to include military family members stationed overseas and non-traditional students is

just one way that UMUC stands out among the crowd. I would like to add an additional thank

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you to Monica Graham whose dedication to the DM program is apparent in all the assistance she

has provided through the past three years.

Lastly, I’d like to thank my DM program colleagues. You have all been so wonderful in

your support and studying for our comprehensive exams. I have cherished the time I have spent

with you and in getting to know you. Good luck in your future endeavors.

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Contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ i

Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ iii

List of Figures & Tables ................................................................................................................ vi

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1

Abbreviations & Acronyms ........................................................................................................ 1

Research Problem ....................................................................................................................... 2

Management Significance........................................................................................................... 5

Research Methodology ............................................................................................................... 6

Organization of the Dissertation ................................................................................................. 7

Chapter 2: Review of Literature ..................................................................................................... 9

Introduction................................................................................................................................. 9

Critical Review ........................................................................................................................... 9

Business Process Frameworks................................................................................................. 9

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM)........................................................ 10

ITIL........................................................................................................................................ 13

CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC) ........................................................................................ 18

Case Studies .............................................................................................................................. 22

Case Studies – ITIL ............................................................................................................... 22

Case Studies – CMMI............................................................................................................ 24

Summary of Findings................................................................................................................ 25

Chapter 3: Analysis & Discussion ................................................................................................ 26

Research Question and Findings Warrant................................................................................. 26

Findings & Conclusions............................................................................................................ 28

Conceptual Model..................................................................................................................... 32

Summary................................................................................................................................... 37

Chapter 4: Conclusion & Future Implications .............................................................................. 38

Analysis..................................................................................................................................... 38

Implications of Trends .............................................................................................................. 41

Implications for Management Practice ..................................................................................... 44

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Areas for Further Research ....................................................................................................... 47

Summary................................................................................................................................... 48

References..................................................................................................................................... 49

Appendix A – Sample Page from CMMI-SVC Decision Analysis and Resolution..................... 53

List of Figures & Tables

Figure 1 - ITIL v3 Components .................................................................................................... 15

Figure 2 - Scope of Research ........................................................................................................ 27

Figure 3 - Conceptual model......................................................................................................... 33

Figure 4 - Sample Page from CMMI-SVC Decision Analysis and Resolution............................ 53

Table 1 – ITIL Core Components................................................................................................. 15

Table 2 - CMMI® for Services, Version 1.2 (CMMI-SVC, V1.2) .............................................. 19

Table 3 - ITIL V3 Core Components............................................................................................ 34

Table 4 - CMMI-SVC (V1.2) Process Areas................................................................................ 34

Table 5 - Companies receiving CMMI Appraisals, by Company Size......................................... 41

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Abbreviations & Acronyms

The Abbreviations & Acronyms section is provided prior to any discussion based on the heavy

usage of abbreviations and acronyms due to the nature of the subject information. .

Abbreviation /Acronym

Meaning

CMMI-SVC Capability Maturity Model Integration for Services

IT Information Technology

ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library

ITSM Information Technology Service Management

OGC Office of Government Commerce

PM Project Management or Project Manager

PMI Project Management Institute

PMBOK® Project Management Book of Knowledge (published by PMI)

PMO Project Management Office

SCAMPI Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement

SDLC Systems Development Lifecycle

SEI Software Engineering Group

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Research Problem

The services industry is dominating the global economy. As a result, organizations and

service professionals are exploring opportunities to improve their services and service offerings.

The services industry comprises more than 80% of the US and global economy (Forrester, 2008).

Improvement of services can lead to attracting and retaining customers, allowing an organization

to meet its financial and strategic goals. Organizations need to meet the needs of their customers

while also maintaining their economic goals. The IT industry is not immune to this economic

trend. IT service customers expect the systems to be available when they need the system and

receive a high-level of customer and technical support. Organizations are trying to meet their

strategic and financial goals, and attract and keep customers. Service process frameworks are

one such method that organizations can use with Porter’s Five Competitive Forces, and meet

strategic and financial goals. Frameworks provide a means for organizations to view their

systems and process as a whole, rather than individual tasks and areas. This is in line with

Senge’s (1990) Fifth Discipline and systems thinking, regarding the breakdown of brilliant and

innovative organizations due in part to the lack of working as in a holistic manner and functions

to continue to be worked in a diverse manner. Adopting a service orientated process framework

or model of industry best practices and processes is a viable solution. There are numerous

process frameworks available to a services department or organization. Organizations need tools

and resources to understand and compare/contrast the different frameworks to understand which

frameworks best suits their particular situation.

Although not a service process framework, a quick discussion of the Systems

Development Life Cycle (SDLC) provides insight into the reasoning behind the growing desire

to design the services offering holistically within the development of the product. The SDLC is

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a methodology with a set of 5 to 10 phases used for the development of systems and applications.

SDLC supports many different development methodologies and models. The phases may be

given different names and some may be combined, depending on the organization’s beliefs and

usage. Phases include:

1. Initiation2. System Concept Development3. Planning4. Requirements Analysis5. Design

6. Development7. Integration & Test8. Implementation9. Operations & Maintenance10. Disposition

The service management of IT is typically associated with the operations and

maintenance phase of the SDLC, although service process frameworks promote a holistic

approach in which service management should be addressed in all phases of the SDLC. Over the

past few years, the focus being given to the service management of IT has been increasing. In

the past, focus was more on the development and implementation/deployment of IT systems and

less focus was provided throughout the operations and maintenance (O&M) phases. Typically

when issues arose, IT support personnel fixed the issue to get the system back online without

focusing on the root cause analysis of the issue(s). The research conducted by Partners in IT

(2007) showed that 80% of the respondent companies experienced system downtime issues; and

of those, 38% experienced serious downtime issues. IT support personnel are spending a large

amount of their time fixing problems and “putting out the fires.” SDLC can be utilized in a

variety of manners.

To measure and improve IT processes, as well as to align IT services to business

requirements, the IT industry has accepted several process frameworks. These frameworks

include:

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Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI)

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

Six Sigma

ISO 9000

CobiT

Each of these frameworks has an area of focus, such as: services, IT development, business

process, manufacturing process, etc. CMMI consists of several constellations depending on the

focus area, such as software development (CMMI-DEV), acquisitions (CMMI-ACQ), and

services (CMMI-SVC). Some of the frameworks are more flexible in their applicability, such as

CMMI-SVC can be applied to any service industry. Other frameworks are not as flexible, yet

practitioners have tried to apply processes to industries or areas of focus that the framework was

not designed. For example, Six Sigma is a business process framework, not IT development;

when applied to IT projects it is a difficult application because there is less quantifiable data

available for many IT projects. ISO 9000 is considered more of a management standard and not

specific to IT. ITIL is specific to IT services management (ITSM). These process frameworks

may overlap in a few areas and may be complementary, and for that reason, many organizations

that adopt frameworks tend to adopt more than one framework (Violina, 2005 & Anthes, 2004).

The focus of this paper is on services frameworks and determine if they are similar

enough to create a direct mapping. The chosen frameworks are the Information Technology

Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Capability Maturity Model Integration for Services (CMMI-

SVC). Both frameworks have a related focus surrounding services management. Each is a

framework for service organizations and process improvement in providing those services.

CMMI-SVC was created to be utilized by any service organization, regardless of industry or

service focus. However, ITIL is specific to providing IT-related services. This paper is not

technology focused, although ITIL is focused in the IT services domain; the paper is focused on

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service process frameworks. In addition to providing an overview of each framework, a

mapping of the two frameworks will be presented as a conceptual model to analyze the

correlation of the two models.

The expectation is that the mapping will provide a correlation between particular CMMI

Process Areas and ITIL Core Components. The mapping of these two service process

frameworks is not intended to build a completely new framework. The intent is to present the

commonalities and uniqueness of the two frameworks. This mapping can be utilized to

determine which framework best suits an organization’s unique needs and to bridge the

knowledge gap between the two frameworks. While the Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

considers CMMI-SVC as a framework for all service industries and ITIL is a framework focused

on the IT service industry, the components and core process areas of both frameworks can be

directly correlated.

Management Significance

The reason for creating this mapping is to show the similarities and differences between

the two frameworks. This mapping is intended to help both individuals (service professionals)

and organizations (corporate managers). Senge (1990) contends that to change habits of

fragmented views of the world, organizations and professionals need to use a language that

consists of system-wide connections. This mapping provides a translation guide of the languages

of two service process frameworks.

As an individual leaves an organization that has been using either of the frameworks, and

begins work for another organization that uses another framework, the mapping will assist the

individual in making a successful and efficient transition. Individuals no longer stay with one or

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two organizations their entire career and must be flexible enough to learn different ways of

conducting business based on the organization’s strategy, culture, and techniques.

Combining the mapping and the information garnered during a review of Porter’s (2008)

Five Competitive Forces can influence the strategy of an organization regarding the adoption of a

service process framework. Organizations that are merging and use different frameworks will be

able to use the mapping during the stages of merging the two organizational cultures and also to

set up a framework for after the merge. The map can be utilized as a tool to bridge the language

differences between two services frameworks, such as when two companies are partnering for a

temporary assignment and each company uses the other framework. The map can also be used

in comparing each process framework during the decision process of determining which

framework to adopt, or even how to merge the two frameworks into a blended-framework.

Research Methodology

Literature and case study reviews were conducted to provide an overview of both

frameworks. The information extrapolated from these reviews was coded using an iterative

process of categorizing and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Grounded theory

approach takes data that is generated by observations and searches for themes (Saunders, Lewis,

and Thornhill, 2007, p. 488-489). Research conducted in this manner requires the data be

analyzed as it is collected, and the conceptual model is developed during this analysis and guides

additional research (Saunders, et, al, 2007, p. 488-489). As data was collected for CMMI-SVC

and ITIL, it was entered into a series of matrices to provide an understanding of each framework

and for conducting the analysis of the data to determine gaps and connections between the two

frameworks.

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The results of the analysis are expected to determine the similarities and differences

between the two frameworks and provide a resource for understanding how to bridge the gap

between the two frameworks. In other words, the conceptual model, or mapping, is anticipated

to provide the corporate manager and services professional with a device to determine the

commonalities between CMMI-SVC and ITIL, as well as the uniqueness of the two service

process frameworks. Usages for this information include companies undergoing a merger in

whereby one organization utilizes ITIL and the other CMMI-SVC; organizations utilizing one

model yet are mandated (such as by a government contract) to utilize the other model; service

professionals transitioning from one framework to another (i.e., such as changing to work for

another organization).

The mapping will provide individuals with a tool for understanding the language of both

frameworks. Many articles and reports discuss each framework, and may discuss similarities /

differences among frameworks, but lack in providing a tool that supports migrating from one

framework another. The resulting mapping will show how the components and core process

areas of both frameworks are correlated, even though CMMI-SVC is considered a framework for

all service industries and ITIL is considered a framework for IT service industry. Organizations

and individuals can utilize this mapping in a number of situations, to include moving from one

organization using one of the frameworks to another organization using the other framework,

merging the two frameworks, and merging organizations using each of the frameworks.

Organization of the Dissertation

This dissertation is organized in four chapters and includes appendices which include

further information about specific items of interest. Chapter 1: Introduction-- provides the

reader with an overview of the research to include the thesis statement, management relevance,

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and research methodology. Chapter 2: Review of Literature -- provides a review and discussion

of the current literature and case studies concerning the IT Service industry and service-based

process frameworks. A critical review is conducted of this literature and a summary of findings

is presented. Chapter 3: Analysis & Discussion, transitions into the conceptual model and

provides the reader with the framework mapping, along with a discussion to explain the mapping

diagram. Implications provides conclusions and implications for management and looks at

trends that may impact this topic in the future.

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Chapter 2: Review of Literature

Introduction

The IT user community is becoming more knowledgeable and demanding (organizations

want to tie IT directly to business goals, objectives, and requirements) and the difficult economic

situation is causing organizations to find ways to cut IT service costs while still delivering the

necessary customer service, application functionality, and systems in order to conduct business.

As stated in Chapter 1, this paper utilizes literature review as its primary research gathering and

used grounded theory to analyze the information and create a conceptual model.

The literature review has been divided into the following core topic areas:

Business Process Frameworks Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Capability Maturity Model Integration for Services (CMMI-SVC)

The review begins by providing a definition of business process frameworks. It then

provides a high-level discussion on IT Services Management (ITSM). ITSM is a process-based

practice for managing and providing services through IT. The third topic section delves into

ITIL which is an ITSM process framework that has been gaining in popularity. The forth topic

section delves into CMMI-SVC. CMMI-SVC is a services focused process framework and is

part of the CMMI portfolio.

Critical Review

Business Process Frameworks

Frameworks consist of a set of practices, theories and concepts and are re-usable guides

to performing tasks. Right Track (2010) defines process frameworks as a “series of steps and

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strategies used to achieve specific management goals and results.” Mackenzie (2000) describes

process as a "time dependent sequence of events," based on his experience as a management

consultant and business theorist on organization design process models. Frameworks are sets of

general principles and specific tools and techniques, to see the parts as a whole and for seeing

patterns of change (Senge, 1990). Process frameworks provide industry accepted models

containing steps and practices that are reusable, which can lead to scales of efficiencies. For

example, the Project Management Institute's project management process framework (PMBOK)

provides a set of accepted steps and events in which a project manager should undertake for each

project.

Right Track (2010) suggests that process frameworks can be used to improve

performance and productivity in both people and services provided. Being familiar with the

steps or events that will be utilized, as well as the learning curve realized by-reusing a process

framework, creates efficiencies and effectiveness. This is especially important in the IT industry

that is a fast paced environment with limited resources (Right Track, 2010). In the current state

of the economy with limited resources, organizations looking to save money and are investigated

using process frameworks to provide resource-saving efficiencies. Right Track provides IT

Management consulting and produces a web site (www.ittoolkit.com) with resources such as

white papers for the IT service management industry. Although each project experience is

unique, each time the project manager utilizes the project management process framework, the

project manager becomes more comfortable, knowledgeable, and effective in managing projects.

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM)

The services management of IT has been receiving an increase in attention over the past

few years. Previously, the attention to IT projects occurred during the development and

http://www.ittoolkit.com/

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implementation phases. That attention waned once the project went into Operations and

Maintenance (O&M). However, organizations and the user community are demanding more

focus on the services management of IT systems. ITSM provides the discipline for managing IT

systems and the related IT services (Partners in IT, 2007). ITSM can be summarized as focusing

on the delivery and support of IT services (i.e., software, service delivery of IT infrastructure

services, etc.) while ensuring these services are aligned with the business requirements of the

organization.

The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) is an industry accepted approach to

developing and modifying software systems. Although several models have been developed, the

basic phases in the SDLC include: planning; analysis / requirements definition; design;

implementation; integration and testing; acceptance, installation and deployment; and operations

and maintenance. IT Service Management has typically been thought of as the operations and

maintenance (O&M) phase of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC). However, when

implemented properly services management influences each of the phases and should be actively

addressed in each phase.

In a study conducted by Partners in IT (2007), 80% of UK companies that responded said

they have downtime problems with IT systems, and of those 80%, 38% have serious downtime

system unavailability / unscheduled outages and issues. ITSM provides a process-focus for

increasing the services management for the user community. The processes are intended to

decrease the amount of downtime and other service related issues experience by organizations

and their user community. Dorfman (2008, p. 15), as a principal consultant at a professional

service firm, has realized that supporting IT has moved from a cost center to a "major strategic

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component of corporate governance." Norfolk (2005, p. 2) explains governance as “the overall

and rigorous supervision of company management so that business is done competently, with

integrity and with due regard for the interests of all stakeholders.”

There are many industry accepted process frameworks. Each of these frameworks has an

area of focus, such as services, IT development, business process, manufacturing process, etc.

Using the frameworks definition described in the section Business Process Frameworks and

classification by industry, other frameworks include:

Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CobiT) Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Six Sigma ISO 9000

(Anthes, 2004 and Violino, 2005).

Even with specific focus classifications, many of the frameworks overlap and complement each

other (Violino, 2005). In fact, many organizations that implement any of these frameworks tend

to implement more than one framework, depending on the areas needing improvement. It has

been the experience of this author as a management and IT consultant, that many of these

multiple-process implementations are undertaken by organizations without guidance or tools by

which to understand the combining of the processes. Organizations typically figure it out on

their own, as their project moves along. Some of the frameworks are more flexible in their

applicability; according to SEI’s (2009) publications CMMI-SVC, for example, can be applied to

any service industry. Some frameworks are not as flexible, yet practitioners have tried to apply

processes to industries or areas of focus that the framework was not designed. For example, Six

Sigma is a business process framework, not IT development; when applied to IT development

projects it is a difficult application because there is less quantifiable data available for many IT

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projects than Six Sigma requires for business process projects. ISO 9000 is considered more of

an enterprise-wide standard and not specific to IT, and Information Technology Infrastructure

Library (ITIL) is specific to IT services management (ITSM) (Anthes, 2004).

Iijma (2007) provides an overview of several IT industry standards in such a manner to

assist his readers in determining which to implement. For many of the standards, Iijma (2007)

mentions U.S. Federal Acts, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which contributed to the

interest and adoption of standards reporting and record keeping. Implementing industry

standards provide the governance needed to gather appropriate information as required by these

acts. Iijma (2007) describes ITIL as an uncomplicated standard to implement, based on his

experience of developing and overseeing the strategy, metrics, and review of IT organizations

and using the Core Publication guidebooks to implement the defined processes. Iijma (2007)

holds an ITIL Foundations certification and has published materials associated with the

management and metrics of IT. CMMI is described in Iijma’s (2007) article in general terms,

not a specific constellation, and as such does not provide the reader with a detailed view of the

CMMI-SVC. As with other authors, Iijma’s (2007) article portrays CMMI as a broader reaching

standard than ITIL, which is focused for the IT realm.

ITIL

Although ITIL has been in existence since the 1980s, its popularity has been mostly in

the United Kingdom, where it originated. ITIL is becoming widely adopted in the U.S. as an

industry accepted framework for IT Services Management. ITIL intends to assist organizations

with the IT Services Management, which not only includes services to internal and external

customers, but also includes aligning IT with business strategy and goals (Dorfman, 2008).

“ITIL 3 embraces the concept of the IT service life cycle, and the need to manage services

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through recurring cycles of design, implementation, adoption, operation, feedback and

improvement” (Dorfman, 2008, p. 16).

ITIL is a framework which provides guidance and templates for organizations to develop

or improve processes for providing IT services (Violino, 2005). The framework consists of five

core components, and each contains specific key processes and activities. The five components

are:

1. Service Strategy2. Service Design3. Service Transition4. Service Operation5. Continual Service Improvement

The five components work independently of each other as well as complement each other.

Figure 1 shows the relationship among the components.

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Figure 1 - ITIL v3 Components

(ITIL, 2008)

These core components are linked to their key processes and activities, and roles as show in

Table 1 – ITIL Core Components below.

Table 1 – ITIL Core Components

CoreComponents

Key Processes & Activities Key Roles &Responsibilities

Description

Service Strategy Strategy Generation

Financial Management

Service Portfolio Management(SPM)

Demand Management

Business RelationshipManager (BRM)

Product Manager (PM)

Chief Sourcing Officer(CSO)

Development ofstrategies, policiesand standards forIT services

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CoreComponents

Key Processes & Activities Key Roles &Responsibilities

Description

Service Design Service Catalogue Management(SCM)

Service Level Management(SLM)

Capacity Management

Availability Management

IT Service ContinuityManagement (ITSCM)

Information Security Management(ISM)

Supplier Management

Service DesignManager

IT Designer/Architect

Service CatalogueManager

Service Level Manager

Availability Manager

IT Service ContinuityManager

Capacity Manager

Security Manager

Supplier Manager

New services orchanges areplanned anddeveloped

ServiceTransition

Change Management

Service Asset and ConfigurationManagement (SACM)

Knowledge Management

Transition Planning and Support

Release and DeploymentManagement

Service Validation and Testing

Evaluation

Service Transition StageOperational Activities

Various option exist forthis component

Typically involves staffinvolved in multiplelifecycle stages

Managing theintroduction ofchanges developedin the servicedesign stage

ServiceOperation

Event Management Process

Incident Management Process

Request Fulfillment Process

Access Management Process

Problem Management Process

Common Service OperationActivities

Service Desk Function

Technical ManagementFunction

ApplicationManagement Function

IT OperationsManagement Function

Day-to-daydelivery ofservices andimplementation ofthe servicedelivery processes

ContinualServiceImprovement

7-Step Improvement Process

Service Measurement

Service Reporting

CSI Manager

Carried out throughoutthe lifecycle

Monitoring andidentifying ways toaddress issues anddesign serviceimprovements intothe nextimplementationcycle

(Source: itSMF, 2007 and Dorfman, 2008)

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Marquis (2006) provides a discussion of what ITIL is and isn’t from the perspective of

framework versus a “solution in a box.” Although other resources reviewed for this paper

discuss the high-level view of ITIL, Marquis provides the most comprehensive discussion at the

organizational level. Marquis (2006) discusses the possibility that ITIL may not be for all

organizations. Both Dorfman (2008) and Marquis (2006) inform the manager that ITIL is a

flexible framework in which not all core components and processes need to be adopted.

Organizations need to become familiar with the different aspects of ITIL and evaluate which

would provide benefit to their organization and which will not provide benefits. Organizations

need to also be aware of over-doing the adoption and either adopting processes that do not add

value or getting caught up in over-analyzing processes (Anthes, 2004). New processes, or

changes to current processes, will need to be adopted. In order for these processes to become the

new norm, all stakeholders (or their representatives) need to have an active role in the project of

adopting ITIL.

An organization can pick and choose which components, processes, and activities would

provide the organization with the best benefit. Gupta (2008) reports that many organizations are

implementing Service Operation key processes that focus on the operation and management

aspects of serving the IT solution. Implementing ITIL in this manner is not a holistic approach,

and only addresses what traditionally has been thought of as “services” portion of IT. As the

discussion of IT Service Management in this paper has shown, all aspects of the life cycle should

be considered when evaluating the services provided to the user community / customer. Gupta

(2008), based on the holistic approach of the Service Design component and the “Build to

Manage” philosophy of ITIL, recommends that management in organizations change their

mindset from “managing what was built” to a mindset of “building to manage” and utilizing each

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core component to not only meet the goals of the process but to look ahead at how meeting the

goals of one area will feed into other areas. As discussed in section Research Problem, SDLC is

a model organizations utilize in the development of IT applications and products. Gupta (2008)

suggests that organizations reference each of the phases during the ITIL adoption and

implementation to assist in creating the holistic approach that ITIL can provide and to ensure that

each area of the IT lifecycle is touched by ITIL, and not just the operations cycle.

CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC)

CMMI-SVC, one of the CMMI models called constellations, was introduced in February

2009. CMMI originally focused on developing products and software. This model was

renamed CMMI-DEV and another model CMMI-ACQ was added, along with CMMI-SVC.

CMMI-SVC focuses on meeting the needs of the service industry (any service industry). The

service industry continues to grow and dominate the global economy. The “…CMMI-SVC

model provides an alternative, more streamlined approach to evaluating and improving the

development of service systems that may be more appropriate in certain contexts” (SEI, 2009,

p.8).

SEI developed CMMI-SVC by utilizing the existing CMMI models (SEI, 2009). Those

familiar with other CMMI models will find similarities in the structure and deliverables of this

model. SEI (2009) also utilized other service-based models and industry accepted standards,

although an adopter of CMMI-SVC does not need to be familiar with the services models in

which SEI utilized.

The 24 process areas, process area purpose statements, and corresponding maturity levels are

shown below in Table 2 - CMMI® for Services, Version 1.2 (CMMI-SVC, V1.2) Of these 24

19

process areas, 16 are CMMI Model Foundation (CMF) process areas, 7 are service-specific

process areas and 1 is an addition (SEI, 2009). The adoption of any CMMI constellation should

be conducted in a staged process of the five maturity levels. According to SEI (2009),

certification follows the path of the maturity levels. Although the 24 process areas can seem

daunting to implement, utilizing the maturity levels in adoption roadmap can ease overwhelming

concerns.

The maturity levels provide different sets of processes that an organization can adopt to

improve overall performance (SEI, 2009). This allows an organization to introduce new and/or

changed processes to its workforce in a phased manner. The phased manner is intended to allow

the organization’s team members to accept the change, deal with the change, and be ready for

additional change to the way they work and conduct business. The adoption of the CMMI-SVC

framework is assisted by the use of the “Process Area Sheets,” that include components such as

purpose statement, introductory notes, specific goals, generic goals, etc. (see Appendix A –

Sample Page from CMMI-SVC Decision Analysis and Resolution). The “Process Area Sheets”

walk the manager through each Process Area to develop the goals and roadmap for the

organization for each Process Area.

Table 2 - CMMI® for Services, Version 1.2 (CMMI-SVC, V1.2)

Process Area Purpose Statement MaturityLevel

ConfigurationManagement (CM)

Establish and maintain the integrity of work productsusing configuration identification, configurationcontrol, configuration status accounting, andconfiguration audits.

2

Measurement andAnalysis (MA)

Develop and sustain a measurement capability used tosupport management information needs.

2

Project Monitoringand Control (PMC)

Provide an understanding of the project’s progress sothat appropriate corrective actions can be taken whenthe project’s performance deviates significantly from

2

20

the plan.

Project Planning(PP)

Establish and maintain plans that define projectactivities

2

Process and ProductQuality Assurance(PPQA)

Provide staff and management with objective insightinto processes and associated work products.

2

RequirementsManagement(REQM)

Manage requirements of the project’s products andproduct components and to identify inconsistenciesbetween those requirements and the project’s plansand work products.

2

Supplier AgreementManagement (SAM)

Manage the acquisition of products and services fromsuppliers.

2

Service Delivery (SD) Deliver services in accordance with serviceagreements.

2

Capacity andAvailabilityManagement (CAM)

Ensure effective service system performance andensure that resources are provided and used effectivelyto support service requirements.

3

Decision Analysisand Resolution(DAR)

Analyze possible decisions using a formal evaluationprocess that evaluates identified alternatives againstestablished criteria.

3

Integrated ProjectManagement (IPM)

Establish and manage the project and the involvementof relevant stakeholders according to an integrated anddefined process that is tailored from the organization’sset of standard processes.

3

Incident Resolutionand Prevention (IRP)

Ensure timely and effective resolution of serviceincidents and prevention of service incidents asappropriate.

3

OrganizationalProcess Definition(OPD)

Establish and maintain a usable set of organizationalprocess assets and work environment standards.

3

OrganizationalProcess Focus (OPF)

Plan, implement, and deploy organizational processimprovements based on a thorough understanding ofcurrent strengths and weaknesses of the organization’sprocesses and process assets.

3

OrganizationalTraining (OT)

Develop skills and knowledge of people so they canperform their roles effectively and efficiently.

3

Risk Management(RSKM)

Identify potential problems before they occur so thatrisk-handling activities can be planned and invoked asneeded across the life of the product or project tomitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives.

3

Service Continuity(SCON)

Establish and maintain plans to ensure continuity ofservices during and following any significantdisruption of normal operations.

3

Service System Analyze, design, develop, integrate, verify, and 3

21

Development (SSD) validate service systems, including service systemcomponents, to satisfy existing or anticipated serviceagreements.

Service SystemTransition (SST)

Deploy new or significantly changed service systemcomponents while managing their effect on ongoingservice delivery.

3

Strategic ServiceManagement(STSM)

Establish and maintain standard services in concertwith strategic needs and plans.

3

OrganizationalProcess Performance(OPP)

Establish and maintain a quantitative understanding ofthe performance of the organization’s set of standardprocesses in support of achieving quality and process-performance objectives, and to provide process-performance data, baselines, and models toquantitatively manage the organization’s projects.

4

Quantitative ProjectManagement (QPM)

Quantitatively manage the project’s defined process toachieve the project’s established quality and process-performance objectives.

4

Causal Analysis andResolution (CAR)

Identify causes of defects and problems and takeaction to prevent them from occurring in the future.

5

OrganizationalInnovation andDeployment (OID)

Select and deploy incremental and innovativeimprovements that measurable improve theorganization’s processes and technologies. Theseimprovements support the organization’s quality andprocess-performance objectives as derived from theorganization’s business objectives.

5

(SEI, 2009)

As mentioned above, there are seven service-specific process areas that focus on

practices specific to services. These process areas are:

1. Capacity availability and management2. Service continuity3. Service delivery4. Incident resolution and prevention5. Service transition6. Service system development7. Strategic service management processes

22

CMMI-SVC contains process areas that provide an overall foundation for improving

effectiveness and efficiencies anticipated from the adoption of a process framework, as well as

industry (i.e., services) specific process areas. This can be viewed as providing the holistic

approach to services management which several of the articles reviewed for this dissertation

have expressed as an idea to address.

Case Studies

Case Studies – ITIL

Organizations that have implemented ITIL have documented their experience in white

papers, success stories, and case study articles. Beckett (2006) provided information regarding

Unilever’s experience with its ITIL implementation. A key factor to a successful adoption and

acceptance of the ITIL process was the organization’s recognition that this wasn’t just an

implementation of procedures and processes, but a change in people’s behaviors…a change in

the way they conduct their work (Becket, 2006). This success factor was determined by

Unileaver’s research and discussions with others that have already implemented ITIL (Beckett,

2006). At the time of the writing of Beckett’s (2006) article, Unilever was finalizing its

implementation and had already seen a 6% increase in profits for the first quarter. Some of this

increase in profits can be attributed to the cost avoidance that accompanied the adoption of ITIL

in Unilever (Beckett, 2006). Unilever decided to implement ITIL in order to break the IT silos

with the initial goal to “design and implement six integrated processes across the organization,

enabling IT to deliver common, affordable, consistent, reliable and scalable services to the

business” (Beckett, 2006, p. 24). Although without the IT-specificities, CMMI-SVC also

provides the consistent, repeatable processes for service providers.

23

A separate goal of Unilever was to achieve CMMI’s Maturity Level 4 compliance of

CMMI by the end of 2006, which meant that the ITIL framework as implemented by Unilever

has to be designed based on the processes put forth by CMMI framework (Beckett, 2006). The

Process Areas that correspond to Maturity Level 4 can be found in Table 2. A motivating factor

for choosing to implement a model may be due to mandates and contract requirements. CMMI,

as a goal, was to use the framework to benchmark the performance of Unilever’s processes

(Beckt, 2006). In summary, Unilever was able to customize their ITIL implementation to

include CMMI process requirements and customization to other systems already in place at

Unilever (Becket, 2006).

NYK Logistics implemented ITIL, using a subscription-based managed service by

Partners in IT (2008). Key reasons for implementing ITIL include growth of the company by

mergers and acquisitions and the need for consistent, reliable, and repeatable processes (Partners

in IT, 2008). As mentioned in the Unilever discussion above, CMMI® also provides consistent,

reliable, and repeatable processes. As NYK Logistics grew through its acquisitions and mergers,

it realized that there processes between the IT areas were inconsistent and complex, causes issues

and problems due to multiple email systems, applications, and service delivery (Partners in IT,

2008). ITIL was a way to streamline these multiple processes into a consistently delivered IT

services throughout all aspects of the organization and align IT with business goals.

In 2007 and 2008, Raytheon implemented ITIL within its AWIPS project. AWIPS, the

Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, is used by the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration / National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS) to analyze and

disseminate operational weather data (Nappi and Ritchie, 2008). Nappi and Ritchie (2008)

24

presented an overview and lessons learned at a GTSI Technology Leadership Series. GTSI

provides comprehensive IT solutions and services for government agencies, and sponsors the

Technology Leadership Series. The series allow organizations within the IT solutions industry

can share information and develop strategic partnerships (Nappi and Ritchie, 2008).

Management leadership and the customer visibly supported the project, with goals such as

customer focus, best practices adoption, metrics-driven decisions, and optimum service (within

cost constraints) (Nappi & Ritchie, 2008).

The AWIPS implementation of ITIL was managed using Project Management Institute’s

(PMI) project management best practices, and also was combined into the ISO 20000

improvement plans (Nappi & Ritchie, 2008). PMI has set industry standards for project

management and manages the Project Manager Professional (PMP) certification for project

managers.

Case Studies – CMMI

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) maintains published appraisal reports on its

web site at http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/pars.aspx. At the time this dissertations is being written,

16 organizations have been published as meeting and passing the Standard CMMI Appraisal

Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) for CMMI-SVC. The SCAMPI process consists of

an organization’s Process Areas reviewed by a SEI certified appraiser

(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi). These organizations are listed as either meeting or working on

Maturity Levels 2 and 3. No case studies or lessons learned are posted on SEI’s web site as of

the writing of this version of this paper. Organizations have been contacted asking to provide

any insight or lessons learned during their implementation as well as what lead to their choice of

CMMI-SVC. Organizations need the time to implement and utilize the framework prior to

http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/pars.aspx

25

engaging in the approval process; due to the recentness of CMMI-SVC release, organizations

have not had the elapsed time to adequately utilize the process prior to undergoing the appraisal

process. There are a large number of organizations that have been certified to teach or assist an

organization in implementing CMMI-SVC.

Summary of Findings

A recurring theme is much of the research reviewed for this paper is that these service

process frameworks are not about just a system or a process; its management and leadership

making decisions, working with others, and implementing a new way of thinking and conducting

business. It’s about changing mindsets from services as an afterthought or as something to focus

on after implementation; and thinking about services and weaving it into all the phases of the

program application, be it IT services or IT application.

26

Chapter 3: Analysis & Discussion

Research Question and Findings Warrant

Many articles and industry experts discuss the importance of processes and/or standards

to manage project life cycles, as well as the IT life cycle, to include the services aspect. Many

benefits can arise from adopting an industry accepted process framework including gaining

efficiencies in each of the phases of the project life cycle. There are also some discouraging

factors as well, such as the cost, time, and effort to adopt and implement frameworks. Service

process frameworks assist organizations and service professionals in the implementation of a

new way of thinking and conducting business; and assist management and leadership in making

decisions. Service process frameworks, such as ITIL and CMMI-SVC, provide a holistic view

of developing and providing services.

Although ITIL is IT industry specific and CMMI-SVC is non-industry specific, are there

similarities to map the two processes to each other? Case studies of organizations that have

adopted ITIL or CMMI-SVC, along with literature reviewed provide basic information and

further understanding across both service process frameworks. The UK Office of Government

Commerce (OGC) developed and published ITIL literature. Software Engineering Institute

(SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University developed and published the CMMI-SVC publications.

These official publications were reviewed and data gathered by this researcher to provide an

understanding of each of the service process frameworks and the components within each

framework. A constraint of this comparison will be that many of the case studies are for

organizations that have successfully implemented a framework (usually in the form of a “success

story” or “white paper”) and as such may be biased and focus on success. Another constraint is

27

the lack of CMMI-SVC implementation case studies, as this process framework was introduced

less than two years prior to this research.

The purpose and scope of the research was described in Chapter 2 – Literature Review.

The scope was limited to the Capability Maturity Model Integration for Services (CMMI-SVC)

and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service process frameworks. The purpose of the research

was to garner data about the two service process frameworks to disseminate that data to provide

managers and service professionals with a tool to compare and contrast the two service process

frameworks.

Figure 2 - Scope of Research

The data collected were entered into a series of matrices to organize and understand the data as it

related to each of the service process frameworks. The matrices provided a platform to

document and analyze the data to determine similarities and gaps. The findings lead the author

to conclude that commonalities do indeed exist between the two service process frameworks to

allow a direct mapping of the frameworks to each other. The mapping is a tool for organizations

and professionals to utilize, understand, and work with either or both of the service process

frameworks.

Capability MaturityModel Integration forServices (CMMI-SVC)

IT InfrastructureLibrary (ITIL)

28

Findings & Conclusions

The initial findings, as mentioned above, did suggest that there were enough

commonalities between the two service process frameworks that a direct mapping could be

created. Therefore, the matrix for each of the frameworks was further developed into one

combined matrix that was utilized to develop the conceptual model, and thus the direct mapping.

The conceptual model, or mapping, is anticipated to provide corporate managers and service

professionals with a device to determine the commonalities between CMMI-SVC and ITIL, as

well as the uniqueness of the two service process frameworks.

Since ITIL has only five Core Components and CMMI-SVC has 24 Process Areas, it was

more efficient to use ITIL’s five Core Components as the starting point and dividing CMMI-

SVC’s Process Areas into those five areas. The first Core Component is the Service Strategy.

Key processes and activities for this core component are strategy generation, financial

management, service portfolio management, and demand management. Description of this

component includes key words such as strategies, policies, standards, defined business outcomes,

and service level package. Taking these key processes, activities, and descriptive words and

paralleling against the purpose statement of each CMMI-SVC Process Area, the following

process areas were matched to Service Strategy, based on having descriptions related to

processes, policies, planning, and service level:

Organizational Process Definition (OPD) Strategic Service Management (STSM) Integrated Project Management (IPM) Project Planning (PP) Capacity and Availability Management (CAM) Requirements Management (REQM)

29

These core components and process areas have functions that build the foundation of the services

package. One could also describe these items as the beginning stages to developing the services

package.

The second core component is Service Design. It takes the planning and foundation from

the Service Strategy and begins the design of the services package. Key processes and activities

include: Service Catalog Management, Service Level Management, Capacity Management,

Availability Management, IT Service Continuity Management, Information Security

Management, and Supplier Management. Descriptors from ITIL publications for the Service

Design Core Component include new services developed, changes developed, and service

solution produced with a Service Design Package. Based on this information the following

CMMI-SVC Process Areas were paired with Service Design:

Supplier Agreement Management (SAM) Service Continuity (SCON) Service System Development (SSD) Measurement and Analysis (MA)

Descriptors of these Process Areas include establish, design, and develop. This area builds from

the Service Strategy area, taking the planning and strategy development and moving to designing

the service package, which includes metrics, acquisition process, continuity process, and the

actual designing and developing of the service system.

The third Core Component discussed is the Service Transition. This Core Component

includes the following key processes and activities: Change Management, Service Asset and

Configuration Management, Knowledge Management, Transition Planning and Support, Release

and Deployment Management, Service Validation and Testing, Evaluation, and Service

30

Transition Stage Operational Activities. The ITIL descriptors for Service Transition include

managing changes, evaluation of services, and transitioning the services from development to

operational use. The CMMI-SVC Process Areas that were matched to Service Transition are:

Measurement and Analysis (MA) Configuration Management (CM) Organizational Innovation and Deployment (OID) Service System Transition (SST) Quantitative Project Management (QPM)

Managing, measuring, evaluation, control, and transition are among the CMMI-SVC descriptors

for these Process Areas. Moving from the previous area of designing and developing the

services package, this area focuses on the transition from development to operational usage, and

how to measure and analyze the services as they are provided. The information gathered in these

areas can be used for future improvements to the service package, be it in the form of updating

processes or updating the tools used to provide the services.

The fourth Core Component, Service Operation, focuses on the actual delivery of the

services in operational mode. The ITIL key processes and activities for Service Operation are:

Event Management, Incident Management, Request Fulfillment, Access Management, Problem

Management, and Common Service Operation Activities. The paired CMMI-SVC Process

Areas are:

Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) Incident Resolution and Prevention (IRP) Risk Management (RSKM) Service Delivery (SD)

Capturing incidents, defects, and problems, and identifying causes of those items; resolution of

issues; problem identification and management; and measurement against service level

31

agreements are some of the terms used to describe these Process Areas. This section of Service

Operation focuses on the items necessary to actually deliver and maintain the services package.

Several of the processes and activities prepare for the next component, which is Continual

Service Improvement. Metrics and information from areas such as problem / incident logs are

used to update processes or tools or to improve the customer experience.

The fifth Core Component is Continual Service Improvement. The ITIL key processes

and activities are the 7-step Improvement Process, Service Measurement, and Service Reporting.

ITIL descriptors include monitor, identity solutions, identify service improvements, and identify

opportunities from weaknesses or malfunctions. The CMMI-SVC Process Areas that were

paired with Continual Service Improvement are:

Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR) Organizational Process Focus (OPF) Organizational Process Performance (OPP) Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA) Project Monitoring and Control (PMC) Quantitative Project Management (QPM)

Key descriptors for these Process Areas include: analyze decisions, process improvements,

measure and evaluate quantitative measures of service performance, measure and evaluate

objective measures service package, identify and correct performance deviations, and measure

against performance objectives. This section takes information from the previous four areas,

evaluates the information and determines areas for improvement. Areas for improvement can

include improvements in the service processes, service package, service deliver, service tools,

and also the customer product or service.

32

One CMMI-SVC Process Area that did NOT map to ITIL is the Organizational Training

(OT) Process Area. This Process Area focuses improving the skills of the people providing the

services, as compared to ITIL’s Continual service Improvement which focuses on improving the

services. This could be related to the five maturity levels of CMMI-SVC. In order for an

organization to move from one level to the next and to become certified in each level, the people

conducting the processes and providing the services based on CMMI-SVC as well as the

organization’s processes must meet the standards as set forth by SEI. The Organizational

Training Process Area provides a formal mechanism for organizations to develop a plan for

developing the skills of the people providing the services.

Conceptual Model

The conceptual model, mapping of ITIL and CMMI-SVC (Figure 3) was developed from

the information in the comprehensive matrix and the information presented in the previous

section Findings & Conclusions. As mentioned previously, the data were organized into two

matrices, one for the ITIL v3 Core Components and component description, as shown in Table 3 -

ITIL V3 Core Components, and the other matrix for CMMI-SVC Process Areas and corresponding

purpose statements, as shown in Table 4 - CMMI-SVC (V1.2) Process Areas.

33

Figure 3 - Conceptual model

(Adapted in part from ITIL, 2008 and SEI, 2009)

The analysis used CMMI-SVC’s 24 Process Areas and related purpose statements and

ITIL’s 5 Core Components and related descriptions. Of the 24 CMMI-SVC Process Areas, 23

have been mapped to corresponding ITIL Core Components. CMMI-SVC’s Organizational

Training process area focuses on training for improvement of utilizing the process framework,

and thus does not directly map to ITIL’s core component of Continual Service Improvement.

ITIL’s core component “Continual Service Improvement” focuses on monitoring the services,

such as through metrics measurements and reports, in which to improve services provided.

34

Table 3 - ITIL V3 Core Components

Core Components Description

Service Strategy Development of strategies, policies and standards for ITservices

Requirements & defined set of business outcomes areidentified and agreed upon w/in a Service LevelPackage (SLP)

Service Design New services or changes are planned and developed Service solution is produced together with a Service

Design Package (SDP)

Service Transition Managing the introduction of changes developed in theservice design stage

Service is evaluated, tested, and validated Service is transitioned into the live environment (enters

Service Operation Stage)

Service Operation Day-to-day delivery of services and implementation ofthe service delivery processes

Service is in the live environment

Continual Service Improvement Monitoring and identifying ways to address issues anddesign service improvements into the nextimplementation cycle

Identifies opportunities for the improvement ofweaknesses or failures anywhere within any of thelifecycle stages

(ITIL, 2008)

Table 4 - CMMI-SVC (V1.2) Process Areas

Process Area Purpose Statement

Capacity and Availability Management(CAM)

Ensure effective service system performance and ensurethat resources are provided and used effectively to supportservice requirements.

Causal Analysis and Resolution (CAR) Identify causes of defects and problems and take action toprevent them from occurring in the future.

35

Configuration Management (CM) Establish and maintain the integrity of work productsusing configuration identification, configuration control,configuration status accounting, and configuration audits.

Decision Analysis and Resolution(DAR)

Analyze possible decisions using a formal evaluationprocess that evaluates identified alternatives againstestablished criteria.

Integrated Project Management (IPM) Establish and manage the project and the involvement ofrelevant stakeholders according to an integrated anddefined process that is tailored from the organization’s setof standard processes.

Incident Resolution and Prevention(IRP)

Ensure timely and effective resolution of service incidentsand prevention of service incidents as appropriate.

Measurement and Analysis (MA) Develop and sustain a measurement capability used tosupport management information needs.

Organizational Innovation andDeployment (OID)

Select and deploy incremental and innovativeimprovements that measurable improve the organization’sprocesses and technologies. These improvements supportthe organization’s quality and process-performanceobjectives as derived from the organization’s businessobjectives.

Organizational Process Definition(OPD)

Establish and maintain a usable set of organizationalprocess assets and work environment standards.

Organizational Process Focus (OPF) Plan, implement, and deploy organizational processimprovements based on a thorough understanding ofcurrent strengths and weaknesses of the organization’sprocesses and process assets.

Organizational Process Performance(OPP)

Establish and maintain a quantitative understanding of theperformance of the organization’s set of standardprocesses in support of achieving quality and process-performance objectives, and to provide process-performance data, baselines, and models to quantitativelymanage the organization’s projects.

Organizational Training (OT) Develop skills and knowledge of people so they canperform their roles effectively and efficiently.

Project Monitoring and Control (PMC) Provide an understanding of the project’s progress so thatappropriate corrective actions can be taken when theproject’s performance deviates significantly from the plan.

36

Project Planning (PP) Establish and maintain plans that define project activities

Process and Product Quality Assurance(PPQA)

Provide staff and management with objective insight intoprocesses and associated work products.

Quantitative Project Management(QPM)

Quantitatively manage the project’s defined process toachieve the project’s established quality and process-performance objectives.

Requirements Management (REQM) Manage requirements of the project’s products andproduct components and to identify inconsistenciesbetween those requirements and the project’s plans andwork products.

Risk Management (RSKM) Identify potential problems before they occur so that risk-handling activities can be planned and invoked as neededacross the life of the product or project to mitigate adverseimpacts on achieving objectives.

Supplier Agreement Management(SAM)

Manage the acquisition of products and services fromsuppliers.

Service Continuity (SCON) Establish and maintain plans to ensure continuity ofservices during and following any significant disruption ofnormal operations.

Service Delivery (SD) Deliver services in accordance with service agreements.

Service System Development (SSD) Analyze, design, develop, integrate, verify, and validateservice systems, including service system components, tosatisfy existing or anticipated service agreements.

Service System Transition (SST) Deploy new or significantly changed service systemcomponents while managing their effect on ongoingservice delivery.

37

Strategic Service Management (STSM) Establish and maintain standard services in concert withstrategic needs and plans.

(SEI, 2009)

Since ITIL has fewer components, it was used as the basis or starting point to match up

CMMI-SVC process areas. Key words and phrases from each of the components and process

areas definitions and descriptions were connected, similar to using a thesaurus.

Summary

Although ITIL is specific to the IT services industry, CMMI-SVC Process Areas map

directly to ITIL’s Core Components. Specifics within ITIL’s core components will, obviously,

be more geared toward providing services for IT, and as such there may need to be IT-specific

items incorporated within the usage of CMMI-SVC. This is not a downfall of CMMI-SVC,

however, as it was designed to be utilized for any service industry and as such allows for

industry specificities. The focus of the research was on the service process frameworks and not

on the industry that the services are being provided, such as IT.

At the top level of investigation that was conducted into each of the service process

frameworks, direct commonalities were revealed. This revelation assists in the usage of the two

different service process frameworks, allowing organizations and professional individuals to

move comfortably and efficiently from one framework to the other. This commonality may also

remove some of the discomfort when a person is requested to utilize one of the frameworks

although they are versed in the other framework. Service professionals are able to be flexible in

their knowledge, which can lead to an increase in their portfolio, extracting the best particulars

from each of the frameworks.

38

Up to this point, this dissertation has discussed current literature and publications

describing the service process frameworks, analyzed and compiled the data and information, and

developed the conceptual model. In the next chapter, the paper moves into analysis and

implications for management. The research boundaries for this dissertation were present, and the

next chapter looks at trends that may impact this topic in the future as well as future research

possibilities.

Chapter 4: Conclusion & Future Implications

Analysis

As organizations are working towards meeting their strategic and financial goals, they are

implementing service process frameworks to realize cost avoidance and performance

efficiencies. Service process frameworks provide a re-usable set of processes and procedures to

accomplish particular tasks. Service process frameworks provide re-usable set of processes and

procedures for organizations and service professionals for providing efficient and effective

services to customers. Many process frameworks exist; some were created for specific usages

while others were created in a flexible-use manner. The Capability Maturity Model Integration

for Services (CMMI-SVC) was created to support those that provide Services to customers,

whereas The Information Technology Information Infrastructure Library (ITIL) was created to

support those that provide IT Services to customers.

Throughout the research of this dissertation, several themes developed. The main themes

from the research were:

IT Service Management (ITSM) should be holistic approach Service process frameworks provide a holistic, systems thinking view of

providing services and developing those services

39

Service process frameworks are structured, related activities or tasks to produceservice for customers

The focus of the research is on processes, not on technology CMMI-SVC is non-industry specific, whereas ITIL is IT industry specific

From the research and these themes, several key propositions were distilled regarding service

process frameworks. Process frameworks are about management and leadership making

decisions, not on the technology being supported or the technology being used to provide the

services. Management has the ability to make decisions to include aspects of service

management as early in the process as the generation of strategies. These decisions are

connected to the next proposition of holistic and systems thinking approach to service support.

Service support should be woven into all phases of a program application, which in turn will

provide a holistic approach to services management.

The conceptual model introduced in Chapter 3: Analysis & Discussion provides a

mapping of the commonalities between CMMI-SVC and ITL, as well as the uniqueness of the

two service process frameworks. The conceptual model was created from information provided

by the publishers of CMMI-SVC and ITIL. That information was reviewed and analyzed, as

well as information from other sources within the ITSM and process management environment.

The analysis of the data led the author to determine that commonalities exist between the two

service process frameworks, which lead to a direct mapping of the components of the two service

process frameworks. It is anticipated that this mapping will become a tool that organizations

and service professionals can utilize to provide an understanding or bridge the gap of their

understanding of each of the frameworks. An understanding of both service process frameworks

can assist organizations and professionals to work with either or both of the service process

40

frameworks. To do so in its current, or near current form, the conceptual model will be provided

to the publishers of CMMI-SVC, publishers of ITIL, and ITSM resources.

Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) web site provides resources for

each of their CMMI constellations, to include mappings to other frameworks and industry

resources, such as Project Management Institute’s (PMI) project processes. SEI's web site

provides only presentations and CMMI publications regarding CMMI-SVC, and does not

provide a mapping of CMMI-SVC to any other process framework or other industry resources. A

future research agenda includes contacting SEI and providing a presentation of the mapping. The

endorsement and publication of the mapping on SEI could promote the usage of CMMI-SVC by

practitioners familiar with ITIL and other process frameworks who otherwise would not entertain

learning the CMMI-SVC framework.

This mapping can assist organizations and service professionals to decide to adopt a

process framework to realize cost savings and cost avoidance. A review of the mapping may

provide a frame of reference that service process frameworks can be broken-down into easy to

understand and define chunks. When looking at a process framework as a whole can be

intimidating, whereas being presented with a simplified graphic can reduce apprehension. Along

with providing the mapping and presentation to SEI, other presentations and articles created from

this dissertation will be presented to appropriate industry resources for publication and

presentation. It will also be provided by the author within her consulting portfolio.

Future recommendation for possible new use of this mapping includes adding additional

service process frameworks into this mapping. Although mapping and comparisons of other

service process frameworks do exist, the author is suggesting adding to this mapping to create a

41

comprehensive process framework mapping. Additional information of this recommended use is

discussed in the section Areas for Future Research.

Implications of Trends

Rizzuto (2010) provides an overview of the CMMI Process Maturity Profile for September 2010.

The CMMI Process Maturity Profile is located at

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/casestudies/profiles/cmmi.cfm. The profile and Rizzuto’s article

provides data on CMMI-DEV, which is the CMMI constellation for software development. Due

to the young age of CMMI-SVC, there is no specific usage trend data. This is still a worthy

review as it provides insight into the adoption trends within the CMMI realm, and may lead to

insight into adoption of business process frameworks.

The September 2010 CMMI Process Maturity Profile (aka “Profile”) lists 4,863

companies reporting CMMI adoption and appraisal data in September 2010 as compared to

3,863 companies the prior year (Rizzuto, 2010). The breakdown percentage of companies

receiving CMMI appraisals categorized by size from September 2009 and September 2010 are

listed in Table 5. The adoption of CMMI is higher among small companies as compared to the

percentage of adoption by companies with more than 200 employees.

Table 5 - Companies receiving CMMI Appraisals, by Company Size

Company Size September 2010

4,863 Companies

September 2009

3,863 Companies

<100 Employees 60% 56%

101 – 200 Employees 17% 19%

>200 Employees 23% 25%

(Rizzuto, 2010)

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/casestudies/profiles/cmmi.cfm

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These numbers reflect the number of companies that have requested and received appraisal for

their CMMI adoption. There are an unknown number of organizations practicing CMMI

methodologies and have not undergone the CMMI SCAMI appraisal process. Some

organizations will never undergo the appraisal process as it is an expensive and time consuming

process. The author labels these organizations as “CMMI equivalent.”

The adoption rate trend for ITIL is unlike the adoption rates for CMMI. A study

performed and reported by Computer Economics (ITIL, 2009) reported that larger organizations

tend to expand their ITIL initiatives more so than smaller companies. A major difference in the

reports of adoption rates is that CMMI adoptions in these reports are based on the SEI certified

appraisals and are established according to the five maturity levels mandated by SEI. ITIL can

be adopted partially, incrementally, or fully as there are no mandates for organizational adoption.

Certification for ITIL is provided to individuals and CMMI certification is provided to

organizations. According to Computer Economics (ITIL, 2009) survey, adoption rates of ITIL

have increased from 24% in 2006 to 41% in 2008. However, that trend is not expected to

continue, as the same survey (ITIL, 2009) showed a decline rate in the percentage of

organizations considering ITIL from 40% in 2006 down to 21% in 2008.

Although CMMI was developed in the United States by SEI, its adoption has not been

contained within US-based organizations. In his 2010 article, Rizzuto reports that Mike Phillips

of CMMI stated international growth was larger than domestic growth for 2010. Brazil,

Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Egypt and Taiwan have an increase in the number of companies that

have the CMMI appraisal as compared to previous years (Rizzuto, 2010). The CMMI process

frameworks are internationally accepted and adopted. The same can be said of ITIL. ITIL was

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developed in the UK in the late 1980s (ITIL, 2008). The international adoption of ITIL had a

slow start and is now gaining in popularity in the United States (ITIL, 2009).

The user of software technology is a growing trend for both ITIL and CMMI-SVC

adoption. . Adoption of a process framework can be accomplished by studying the official

publications and attending training. Software is becoming available that assists organizations

and service professionals in adopting the process framework, preparing for certification or

accreditation (depending on the framework adopted), and operating within the process

framework. Below is a non-comprehensive list of a few software solutions for CMMI and ITIL.

Based on CMMI-SVC’s recent creation and publication date, most software packages focus on

other CMMI constellations and it is expected that as CMMI-SVC matures, software packages

will begin to address CMMI-SVC adoption and operation.

DataDrill – http://www.distributive.com CENTRE CMMI Software - http://www.cmmi-software.com/ processMax – www.pragmasystems.com ServiceWise - http://www.techexcel.com/products/itsm/extentsions/itil.html BMC - http://www.bmc.com/solutions/esm-initiative/IT-Infrastructure-Library-

ITIL.html ProcessWorx ITIL & ITSM Software - http://www.processworx.com/

The uses and benefits of software tools include improving processes; measure and assess

performance; automate data collection, reporting, dashboards, and metric collecting; apply best

practices and provide templates, policies, procedures, forms, and other resources. While there

are many benefits for originations and individuals to make use of software in the adoption and

operation of process frameworks, there are warnings regarding the use. Mike Phillips, director

of special programs at SEI, warns that software tools should not be used as a substitute for

evaluating the organizational processes (Hardy, 2006).

http://www.distributive.com/

http://www.cmmi-software.com/

http://www.pragmasystems.com/

http://www.techexcel.com/products/itsm/extentsions/itil.html

http://www.bmc.com/solutions/esm-initiative/IT-Infrastructure-Library-ITIL.html

http://www.bmc.com/solutions/esm-initiative/IT-Infrastructure-Library-ITIL.html

http://www.processworx.com/

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Implications for Management Practice

Adopting a service process framework provides management and service professionals

with structured, related activities in which to conduct tasks to produce service for customers.

The service process framework is a vehicle for management to introduce a new way of

conducting business and providing services, while realizing cost avoidance and performance

efficiencies. The related activities of the process framework are re-usable activities or events.

As people repeat these activities, the learning curve takes affect and performance efficiencies are

realized. Managers are able to manage according to the defined activities in the process

framework and service professionals are able to provide services according to those defined

activities. Customers will benefit from consistent service support levels.

Although ITIL is UK-based and CMMI-SVC is US-based, the adoption of each of the

frameworks does not seem to be limited by their nation of creation. The limiting factor seems to

be the lack of measuring benefits (ITIL Implementation, 2009). Process improvement is known

for improving efficiencies and effectiveness, however, it is also a non-tangible benefit to an

organization and professionals. In situations such as the current economic conditions,

organizations have traditionally focused on spending limited funds on projects that provide

quantitative benefits. Although, the ITIL Implementation (2009) article did find that

organizations that already implemented ITIL are taking advantage of the economic downturn and

the available time their personnel have to bolster their ITIL implementation.

The adoption of CMMI appraisal and certification as a competitive advantage over larger

organizations that have not gone through the appraisal process and are not CMMI certified. The

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competitive advantage for using ITIL also exists. Another similar competitive advantage over

competitors is to have both processes in an organization’s arsenal. Rivalry among competitors

(Porter, 2008) may drive organizations to adopt a process framework. Mentioned previously in

this paper, contract requirements may include the use of a service process framework. This falls

in line with Porter’s (2008) competitive force of ‘bargaining power of buyers.’ The author of

this dissertation has seen an increase in the requirement of service process frameworks for

Federal government contracts. Buyers may have the leverage to require the use of a particular

process framework based on the buyer’s purchasing power (Porter, 2008). The trend for

organizations, large and small, to adopt a service process framework can stem from either or

both of the trends of competitor rivalry and buyer power.

Another “new way of doing business” that service process frameworks influence is the

comprehensive way of approaching the development of the services offering. Addressing

services in a holistic manner includes not only providing services, but also developing the

services offerings (especially in conjunction of project development that will need services

provided upon project completion). Common practice has been to develop the services portion

of a project or offering as an afterthought or after completion of the project. As mentioned in

Chapter 1: Introduction, services are provided in the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) phase

of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), and as such, the development of the services

offering package has been conducted when the O&M phase begins. Service process frameworks

provide the guidance and ability to address the services offering package throughout the

development of the product or project.

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Service process frameworks can provide productivity efficiencies, cost avoidance, and

increased customer service. There are several frameworks available to organizations and service

professionals. The conceptual model provided in this dissertation is anticipated to assist

organizations and service professionals in understanding and bridging the gap between CMMI-

SVC and ITIL. Service professionals do not stay with one organization for their entire career.

This is management implication in which the conceptual model mapping of the two service

frameworks can assist service professionals. As they move from organization to organization,

they may need to learn new or different ways of conducting their jobs, to include utilizing

different service frameworks. If a service professional is competent in one of the frameworks

and moves to an organization that utilizes the other framework presented in this paper, the

conceptual model developed in this dissertation provides a resource in which to take their current

understanding of the one framework and apply it to the learning of the other framework.

Another implication for management to utilize the conceptual model is at the

organizational level. Organizations merge, partner with other organizations, and are engaged in

meeting contractual obligations. In a given merger, one organization may use ITIL while the

other uses CMMI-SVC. The conceptual model can be utilized during the process of transferring

the newly merged organization to one or the other service process framework. The organization

and the employees need to be able to transition their working knowledge of the familiar process

framework into the other. Although training may provide basic knowledge of the process

framework, the conceptual model helps the employees understand the commonalities between

the two frameworks and provide for a smooth, efficient transition for the employees to the “new”

framework. In the partnering and contractual situations, an organization may need to understand,

and use temporarily, a different framework than the service process framework that they

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normally utilize. The conceptual model not only helps with the understanding and connections

of the two service process frameworks, it also helps with the speed at which the organization(s)

can begin to utilize one or the other framework for the temporary situation.

Areas for Further Research

The conceptual model provided in this dissertation mapped ITIL’s five Core Components

with CMMI-SVC’s 24 Process Areas; which is at the highest module breakdown for both service

process frameworks. This level was chosen mostly out of time constraints for the completion of

this paper. Further research can be conduction by adding the next module level of ITIL’s Key

Processes and Activities. This would mostly be additions to the graphic conceptual model as the

Key Processes and Activities correspond to only one ITIL Core Component.

ITIL provides Key Roles & Responsibilities based on each of the five Core Components.

CMMI-SVC requires roles and responsibilities to be determined and captured in the Process

Area sheets; however, CMMI-SVC does not distinctly provide specific roles and responsibilities

for each of the Process Areas. Further research could be conducted using the conceptual model

and adding the ITIL Key Roles & Responsibilities in such a manner that assists practitioners to

determine roles and responsibilities in the adoption of CMMI-SVC. This could, in turn, produce

a new conceptual model focused on roles and responsibilities in services process frameworks.

A third possible area for further research includes adding other process frameworks,

whether service related or not, to the conceptual model. This would expand the usage of the

conceptual model to a larger audience based on the fact of the multitude of process frameworks

available and in use. The conceptual model would expand and may need to become an

interactive tool as opposed to a static graphic.

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Summary

The author of this dissertation set out to answer the question “Although ITIL is IT

industry specific and CMMI-SVC is non-industry specific, what are the similarities to map the

two processes to each other?” The scope was limited to the Capability Maturity Model

Integration for Services (CMMI-SVC) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), with the purpose to

provide organizations, managers, and service professionals with a map to compare and contrast

the two services process frameworks. The significance of this research was to bridge the

knowledge gap between the two frameworks and assist organizations and service professionals to

work with either or both of the frameworks.

Although ITIL is IT industry specific, the focus on the research was on processes, not

technology. Process frameworks are re-usable structured, related activities and events in which

to accomplish tasks. Service process frameworks focus on producing and providing services to

customers. Several literature resources reviewed for this dissertation also included the notion of

approaching services management holistically. In other words, addressing the services that will

be provided to customers throughout the life cycle of the project or product development, instead

of developing the services offering package at the point in which the services package needs to

be implemented.

The literature reviewed led the author to conclude that commonalities exist between the

two frameworks in such a manner that can be directly mapped. The result was the conceptual

model which mapped the 24 Process Areas of CMMI-SVC and the five Core Components of

ITIL. The expectation is that this process framework can be used by corporate managers and

service professionals to determine and understand the commonalities and uniqueness’s of the two

service process frameworks.

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Appendix A – Sample Page from CMMI-SVC Decision Analysis and Resolution

Figure 4 - Sample Page from CMMI-SVC Decision Analysis and Resolution

(SEI, 2009)

DeSot 2010-Process Mapping of CMMI-SVC and ITIL

Documents

Transcript of DeSot 2010-Process Mapping of CMMI-SVC and ITIL