Top 10 Success Considerations For ITSM Programs · industry best practices to deliver services that...
Transcript of Top 10 Success Considerations For ITSM Programs · industry best practices to deliver services that...
Top 10 Success Considerations For
ITSM Programs A Checklist For ITSM Program Success
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When establishing an IT Service Management (ITSM) improvement program, the
most common questions that arise tend to be: “How do we get started? What is the
goal? What critical knowledge do we need from People, Process, Product and
Partners perspectives etc. This is understandable, especially, since the ITSM program
is a people project, supported by tools and processes. However, many times, this
program is mistaken for ITSM tool implementation, or process documentation
projects. To understand why this is a mistaken identity, lessons from hundreds of
customer engagements will be elaborated upon.
Sometimes, well-intended ITIL initiatives also fall short of expectations due to skipping
over minor factors during the initial assessment. This can be avoided by using a high-
level checklist to identify if a gap exists in your current or future ITSM program
strategy. Only through such assessments can critical gaps be filled and a roadmap be
developed to fill those gaps in a logical and strategic manner.
In this white paper, Top 10 Considerations For Successful ITSM Programs, author
and ITIL expert Troy DuMoulin provides an excellent summary of key considerations
you and your IT Service Management process improvement teams need to consider
to ensure successful outcomes.
Executive Summary
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Table Of Contents
1 The First Step ................................................................................ 4
2 Evaluation Checklist For ITSM Programs .............................….. 6
2.1 Project Governance Plan ........................................................ 6
2.2 People Plan ............................................................................ 7
2.3 Process Plan ........................................................................... 8
2.4 Technology Plan ...................................................................... 9
3 About Pink Elephant ……………................................................... 11
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1) THE FIRST STEP
So you have taken the ITIL® Foundations course and possibly even one or two of the
intermediate level certifications and have now been asked to setup and establish an
IT Service Management (ITSM) improvement program!
Congratulations, you have been entrusted with a key element of your organization’s
plan to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.
Now the key question is: How do you get started on this major task and what critical
knowledge do you need to consider from a People, Process, Product and Partner
perspective?
The First Step Is To Understand The Goal!
ITSM programs are really people change initiatives, but that they are frequently
mistaken for an ITSM tool implementation or process documentation projects.
Because of this mistaken identity, many frustrated IT leaders have invested significant
resources, time and money and received very little benefit or return for their efforts. To
avoid becoming an unfortunate statistic, it is critical that you start your journey with a
good understanding of the goal you are being asked to achieve and to make sure
others especially your manager does as well.
The following lessons-learned from hundreds of customer engagements provide
insight into why this to goal is often not understood or realized:
• ITSM/Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) projects are actually
transformation programs requiring significant shifts in behavior and cultural change
across multiple groups that need to define new ways to work in a common manner
• Process documentation is not worth the paper it is printed on without the political
ability and organizational will to enforce its use
• An ITSM tool alone will never enforce new behaviors or best practices
• Most organizations fail at their initial process improvement efforts by focusing on
the technology or tool elements of the project and underestimate the effort
required to address the less tangible people and governance issues required to
support transformation effort
• Most projects reveal clear, early people-related warning
signs that the project is at risk but these signs were
missed, ignored or not managed
• IT professionals prefer to focus on the tangible project
deliverables that are within their control rather than
wrestling with the people challenges related to attitude,
behavior and culture
Certainly these two elements are necessary and even
critical but they are still only enablers – not the goal
itself.
The Goal of ITSM is to get disparate functional
groups to work in a common manner based on accepted
industry best practices to deliver services that their
customers want and value. ITSM is a people project supported
by tools and processes, not a tool or process
project supported by people!
• Documenting processes is a necessary step due to a quirk of human nature that
believes that unless a practice is written down, agreed to and enforced, it remains
un-defined and open to argument and interpretation
• The Service Management tool certainly contributes to the goal by lifting the
process from paper and making it tangible, visible, measureable and hopefully
more efficient (though not always the case)
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Contrary to popular belief
and practice, ITIL projects
are not all about
documenting processes or
buying and configuring an
ITSM tool!
The first step is to realize that the true goal of an ITSM initiative is to establish a
common and efficient approach for the various functions within the IT value chain in
order to deliver stable and reliable IT Services to the customer. Process
documentation and the underlying IT tools are simply a means to an end, not the end
themselves.
To avoid repeating these common mistakes, your ITSM program must target the true
goal, have the leadership support and address critical success factors.
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2) EVALUATION CHECKLIST FOR ITSM PROGRAMS
The following tables represent a high-level checklist for you to use when developing
or evaluating your ITSM program approach. Use this checklist as the basis for
determining if a gap exists in your current or future ITSM program strategy.
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2.1. Project
Governance
Plan
Checklist
1) Effective Project
Controls &
Roles
You are applying formal Project Management practices,
resources and have controls, and project governance is in
place
The membership, authority and effectiveness of the projects’
sponsorship and senior steering committee match the
organizational scope of the project
People’s time, resources and funding are available to the
project for the full lifecycle (Plan, Build, and Deployment)
2) Management Of
Change Strategy
Both internal and external stakeholders have been identified
and included in a formal management of change plan to
move attitude, behavior and culture to the future state
There are ongoing practices to identify, assess and manage
people risks related to the project
3) Integrated
Project
Plans
The process, tool and management of change aspects of
the program are managed as one integrated and
interdependent work tasks
There is a clear understanding of which process and tool
elements must be designed and configured as shared
across multiple process areas
4) Continual
Service
Improvement
(CSI) Strategy
A CSI strategy and process is defined, including the
definition of a consistent and effective measurement
framework to ensure the processes continue to meet
business needs
You have identified specific people within the organization to
develop ITSM subject matter expertise, to support current
and future service improvement
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2.2. People Plan Checklist
5) Awareness &
Communication
Strategy
The vision is clear, and there is widespread understanding of
the vision and objectives of the program as it relates to
strategic business and enterprise IT goals
A plan and means exist to build to an adequate level; the
knowledge ITSM principles to support the ITSM program
objectives and deliverables
Key stakeholders have been identified and their individual
communication needs defined and scheduled into the overall
project plans
An education/certification plan is approved and funded to
equip the project resources with the knowledge needed to
design and/or review the project artifacts and deliverables
Deployment workshops have been scheduled and
developed to train IT staff on the company specific process,
policies, tasks, and tools required as part of their jobs
6) Ongoing
Process
Ownership &
Management
Roles
New process ownership and management roles are defined
and resourced at the start of the program, and included in
the design, build and deployment tasks of the project
An ongoing process governance structure/council has been
established to provide oversight and approval to proposed
changes and to support future improvements
External suppliers are integrated into the process ownership
and management structure
There is a plan and means to adjust the department,
individual and external contract reward systems to align with
ITSM goals
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2.3. Process Plan Checklist
7) Policies,
Processes,
Roles & Metrics
The goal and objectives of the processes have been defined
and agreed to
Enterprise polices have been defined to establish
expectation and support compliance
High-level workflows have been documented and
incorporated into training and communication deliverables
Process integration is understood and incorporated into
requirements management, design and automation activities
Detailed role descriptions have been documented
establishing the accountability, responsibility, and
communication expectations for the new and changed roles
Detailed procedures, business rules, escalation policies, and
process forms have been defined as required, based on the
workflow, and automation requirements generated from the
high-level process documentation and roles
Key process classification structures, artifacts, decision
criteria, work instructions are defined – (e.g.: priority matrix,
categorization criteria, risk matrix, service catalog structures
and Configuration Management Database object models)
Critical success factors and key performance indicators
have been selected to support the process and policy goals
and objectives
Process measures are presented on management
dashboards and reports, and support continual process
improvement
2.4. Technology
Plan
Checklist
8) The Tool
Supports ITIL
Best Practices
The tool requirements are driven by process requirements
and not the other way around
Where possible all process participants use the same tool
Current and future process integration requirements are
taken into account for selection
Process module integration is understood to be of higher
value than best of breed point solutions
Tool customization is avoided where the proposed change
will break the original intent of the software
9) Ongoing Tool
Administration
& Improvement
Structures &
Processes
A function has been established to install, configure and
administer IT Management tools used by enterprise IT
processes
A process exists to receive, assesses, approve and prioritize
changes to the ITSM tool
10) Tool
Configuration
& Testing
Done In
Parallel With
Process
Design
The tool configuration is done in parallel, and in coordination
with the process design and documentation efforts
Separate development, production and training
environments exist to support new or updated process
design development and testing without impacting
production
The development environment is used to prototype and test,
process and policy designs as part of the process-building
phase
Testing plans include process, technical and user
acceptance testing, based on functional requirements, non-
functional requirements, and usability criteria
Testing plans include integrated testing to determine the
impact on other processes already deployed within the tool
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2.4. Technology
Plan
Checklist
10) Tool
Configuration
& Testing
Done In
Parallel With
Process
Design
Testing plans include process, technical and user
acceptance testing, based on functional requirements, non-
functional requirements, and usability criteria
Testing plans include integrated testing to determine the
impact on other processes already deployed within the tool
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3) ABOUT PINK ELEPHANT Pink Elephant is proud to be celebrating 20 years of ITIL experience – more than any other
supplier. Operating through many offices across the globe, the company is the world’s #1
supplier of ITIL and ITSM conferences, education and consulting services. To date, more than
350,000 IT professionals have benefited from Pink Elephant’s expertise. Pink Elephant has
been championing the growth of ITIL worldwide since its inception in 1989, and was selected
as an international expert to contribute to the ITIL V3 project as authors of V3’s Continual
Service Improvement book and through representation on the International Exam Panel. For
more information, please visit www.pinkelephant.com.
Service Lines
Pink Elephant’s service lines each provide different, but complementary business solutions:
PinkCONSULTING: Using the ITIL best practices approach as a springboard, Pink Elephant
provides end-to-end solutions – from assessments, to strategic planning to implementation,
continuous improvement and beyond. Experienced consultants work hand-in-hand with
customers every step of the way
PinkONLINE: Use Pink Elephant's online ITIL Implementation Tool Kit and gain access to
various services that support a service management improvement program, including
PinkATLAS, containing over 1,000 process deployment documents
PinkEDUCATION: Pink Elephant is the most prolific creator and widespread distributor of ITIL
training, and leads the way with education based ITIL V3’s service lifecycle approach. Pink is
internationally accredited with EXIN, APMG and PEOPLECERT, independent examination
institutes that manage the ITIL certification program. The Project Management Institute (PMI)
has also recognized Pink as a Registered Education Provider
PinkCONFERENCES: Pink Elephant is the world’s largest producer of ITSM conferences and
delivers several major events per year to thousands of IT professionals