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The Malta Independent | Thursday 5 November 2015
ITIL Problem Management – are Maltese IT organisations ready for its challenges and benefits? mented ITIL Problem Management process, it transpired that Maltese organisations were quite aware of the benefits of ITIL Problem Management and were able to note challenges that could hinder any successful implementation of such process. The study also highlighted the fact that there is an interesting link between ITIL Problem Management, Risk Management and Service Improvement. Something that is not so common to find in large firms and organisations. It was confirmed that proper ITIL Problem Management required both backing of top management as well as the necessary human resource to make it function well. When analysing Maltese organisations on ITIL Problem Management, it was evident that such process helped organisations to reduce repetitive calls from their respective Service Desk. Moreover, many of them had fewer calls
Daniel Mangani
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nformation Technology today plays a major role in every organisation’s daily life with direct effect not only on the everyday operations but also on the business development and accomplishments. To compliment this, standard frameworks are today considered as an essential tool required in supporting businesses to reach their objectives. As an example, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is now considered as an important framework enabling several organisations to adopt best practices intended to provide outstanding IT service. At the same time, ITIL provided solid best practices that enabled organisations to manage their IT operations and services. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the UK defined ITIL in the mid 1980s, particularly intended for business to efficiently manage their IT environments. The main aim started off to align business and Information Technology together. Based on five core processes - Incident Management, Problem Management, Configuration Management, Change Management, and Release Management, ITIL strives to offer uninterrupted and best possible service to its users. Quite positively, ITIL does not impose organisations to implement all the framework specifications. Such
freedom and flexibility of implementing ITIL is considered one of the top reasons why ITIL is still very relevant even today, particularly within SMEs. Quite commonly, one of the first processes that many organisations opt to implement is ITIL Problem Management. In its definition, the ultimate goal of ITIL Problem Management is “to minimise the adverse impact of Incidents and Problems on the business that are caused by errors within the IT Infrastructure, and to prevent recurrence of Incidents related to these errors. As in similar common situations, it is useless solving just the ‘problem’ without addressing its source. In this case, ITIL Problem Management focuses a lot in seeking to get directly to the root cause of what is causing the Incidents and at the same time initiate actions to improve or correct the situation. Despite its size, Malta is not an exception and estranged to this scenario. Even though not popular as in other countries, several Maltese IT organisations endorsed the ITIL standard framework, and from these several have implemented ITIL Problem Management as one of their first processes to be put into practice. Nonetheless, Maltese organisations also face both challenges and benefits in doing so, which to a certain extent they are often different from other much larger countries. Unfortunately, similarly to the rest of the world, no documentation and references exist on ITIL implementations in Malta. This is quite a handicap for researchers as information can only be obtained through grapevines or informal contacts. In a recent research study that I happened to complete on Maltese organisations that have imple-
reaching 3rd line of support as the majority of calls were supported directly through the 1st line. Concluding, ITIL Problem Management leaves ample space for holistic discussions on the subject. Despite Malta achieves excellent results in the IT industry (such as ranking first overall in the European e-government benchmark) and notwithstanding its geographical size could be of an advantage, little is done to take the full advantages of ITIL Problem Management. ITIL Problem Management can easily stimulate forums and open discussion on common ‘problems’ and issues. This will give the opportunity to the IT industry and professions to openly discuss certain problematic issues that hinder success. Sometimes a problem for one organization could be a history for another and by sharing such information one can save time, effort and of course money.
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The Malta Independent | Thursday 5 November 2015
EU Code Week 2015 by eSkills Malta Foundation
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oding is becoming a key competence which will have to be acquired by all young students and increasingly by workers in a wide range of industries and professions. Coding is what makes it possible for us to create computer software, apps and websites. Your browser, your OS, the apps on your phone, Facebook, and various other social media platforms are all made with code. In its simplest form coding will allow anyone to create a website, blog or even build a simple phone app. Above all however coding enables us to understand more about the technology which is constantly reshaping our world.Today we live in a world that has been affected by rapid advances in technology. The way we work, communication shop and think has changed dramatically. Learning to code helps us make sense of how things work, explore ideas and make things for both work and play. Basic coding skills will also be needed for many jobs in the near future. 90% of professional occupations nowadays require some ICT competence. The demand for ICT workers is growing annually by 3% and the number of graduates from computer science is not keeping pace. As a result many ICT vacancies cannot be filled. If
The Malta Independent ICT Feature plays a major role in every organisation’s daily life with direct effect not only on the everyday operations but also on the business development and accomplishments. MITA Communications and PR Team
this issue is not seen to both at a European and national level then we may be facing a shortage of up to 825,000 ICT professionals by 2020. The EU Code Week was launched in 2013 by the Young Advisors for the Digital Agenda. The European Commission supports EU Code Week as part of its strategy for Digital Single Market. EU Code Week is backed by coding movements such as CoderDojo and RailsGirls. Many partners of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs organise events during EU Code Week. In 2014 150,000 people participated in 4,200 coding events in 36 countries in Europe and beyond. “Digital skills are essential for a true Digital Single Market and help
us understand how our increasingly connected world is built. Coding is not just about computer programming, it’s also about improving problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity which are needed for the jobs of today and the future.”Andrus Ansip, Digital Single Market Vice-President. The third edition of EU Code Week took place between the 10 and 18 October 2015. Celebrating how to create with code during Code Week has spread worldwide this year. 48 countries participated in the Code Week. Apart from the 28 EU Member States programming events were held in Albania, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Egypt, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Korea, Kosovo, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, and the US. Millions of children, young adults, adults, parents, teachers, entrepreneurs and policy makers came together in events and classrooms to learn to create with code. In Malta, the eSkills Malta Foundation, in collaboration with MCAST, organised a series of short courses on various subjects such as how to develop your first mobile app, how to build a site or blog, how to design a logical network, and also on how to use Python and C#. These eight sessions were open for everyone (with basic computer skills) and were free of charge. The sessions were well attended and the participants were presented with a certificate of attendance.
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he eSkills Malta Foundation in collaboration with MCAST Institute of ICT organised coding sessions as part of the EU Code Week 2015 during October. All sessions were open for youths/adults with some knowledge of computing. Information Technology today
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