Your Ultimate Guide to ITIL® Concepts and Processes
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library offers a streamlined approach for enterprises to address their IT service management needs. The successful alignment of customer demand alongside business requirements with technology services provides unique opportunities for improving efficiency, value, and productivity. As a result, enterprises have to deal with ITIL® concepts and processes from time to time. Most important of all, the effective alignment between organizational requirements and IT services could establish the foundation for ensuring the required competitive advantage for accomplishing business success. Businesses can leverage the ITIL® framework and associated processes for implementing a collection of ITSM best practices to support businesses in effective alignment of business goals with IT service delivery. The following discussion provides a detailed guide regarding the different ITIL® processes and concepts required for enterprises.
Why Discuss about ITIL® Training Courses and Certifications?
Before diving into the details of ITIL® framework, it is important for organizations to look into the reasons for emphasizing on ITIL® training courses and certifications. Basically, ITIL® helps in effective management of IT services in an industry. So, why bother about certifications? Here are the important reasons for which businesses need to turn their attention towards ITIL® certifications. 1. ITIL® certifications help IT professionals in identifying the best practice methodology with a systematic approach and the assurance of adding professional value. 2. Businesses could also use ITIL® certifications as a benchmark for evaluating the skills of IT professionals in identifying, planning, and supporting IT services in a business, thereby leading to better productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. 3. ITIL® certified professionals are capable of adding improved business value by focusing on customer requirements and user experience. Enterprises can rely on the specific levels of certification in the ITIL® 4 scheme such as, 1. ITIL® 4 Foundation Level certification 2. ITIL® 4 Managing Professional certification 3. ITIL® 4 Strategic leader certification 4. Master Level certification The importance of ITIL® certifications has been growing profoundly with the radical growth in interest around ITIL® and its adoption. According to a survey of Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) professionals, around 44% of the respondents suggested having comprehensive knowledge of ITIL® 4. On an overall basis, around 78.5% of respondents in the survey stated that they already have knowledge regarding ITIL® 4. The survey also questioned respondents regarding their intention to appear for the ITIL® 4 Foundation qualification.
Interestingly, around 41% of respondents implied that they have already appeared for ITIL® 4 exams while another 29% of respondents suggested plans for taking an ITIL® 4 exam. Therefore, it is quite clear that ITIL® certifications are perceived as suitable instruments for professional career development in ITSM domain.
Understanding the Basics of ITIL® Now, let us focus on what ITIL® is before going deeper into the ITIL® concepts and processes in this guide. ITIL® or Information Technology Infrastructure Library is the set of best practices tailored for IT service delivery. The basic objective of the IT best practices focuses on supporting businesses in the alignment of IT services with business and customer requirements. The services included in the purview of the ITIL® framework include IT-related assets and accessibility. In addition, ITIL® also covers the IT resources that are capable of delivering value and advantages to customers. ITIL® processes help in standardization of the stages of selecting, planning, delivering, and offering support for IT services to improve efficiency. At the same time, ITIL® also focuses on maintaining predictability in the levels of service. The history of ITIL® goes back to the 1980s, when it started off as a government initiative in the UK. ITIL® was basically employed as a set of standards required for improving IT performance. Subsequently, the standards have been adopted in the following years by governmental as well as non-governmental agencies. The ITIL® concepts and standards started gaining popularity. Over the years, the world witnessed the rise of many other versions of ITIL®, such as ITIL® v2 and ITIL® v3. The most recent version of ITIL® was released in 2011 and is known as ITIL® 2011. ITIL® framework served an important role in achieving the objectives of delivering valuable service offerings, achieving business goals of a specific organization, and addressing the needs of customers.
Which Businesses Can Use ITIL®? The importance of ITIL® for a business also draws attention towards discussions on target audience for using the ITIL® framework. The ITIL® framework is suitable for organizations of varying sizes throughout different industry verticals and countries all over the world. Although ITIL® processes are commonly evident in large enterprises, they can also add value to small and mid-size organizations. Smaller enterprises could opt for a specific subset of processes in ITIL® with higher possibilities of achieving significant and tangible returns on efforts. According to a study by Macquarie University, three notable ITIL® processes have achieved significant adoption rates among organizations worldwide. The three significant processes in ITIL® under concern include incident management, problem management, and change management. Significant Principles of ITIL® ITIL® is beneficial for business on the grounds of ensuring compliance with specific key principles. The notable ITIL® concepts and key principles include the following, 1. Delivery of maximum possible value to customers 2. Optimization of resources and capabilities according to business requirements 3. Facility of services that are reliable and useful 4. Planning the ITIL® processes with certain goals in mind 5. Clear definition of roles for every task
Key Terminology in ITIL®
The capabilities of a business to leverage all these concepts of ITIL® depend on certain important terms defining the ITIL® landscape. Here is a look at some of the notable ITIL® terms which businesses should check for in the ITIL® 4 Foundation elearning with certification exam. Capabilities Capabilities in the ITIL® terminology refer to the specialized skills and abilities that enterprises could implement for resources to deliver additional value. Functions Functions are also one of the notable additions in ITIL® concepts. They are selfcontained subsets of an organization aimed at achieving particular tasks. Functions can also take the form of a group of people along with the tools used by them. Processes Processes are also another important term that you would come across in ITIL® training courses and certifications. They are structured sets of activities tailored for achieving particular objectives. Here are the four fundamental characteristics of processes in ITIL®, 1. Processes help in transformation of inputs to outputs. 2. Processes are measurable. 3. Processes can help in delivering results to a particular customer or stakeholder. 4. Processes are triggered through particular events.
Resources The resources in ITIL® are the raw materials used for contributing to service. The resources generally include staff, money, time, and equipment.
Roles Roles in ITIL® are the pre-configured collections of privileges and responsibilities, and individuals or teams could take on certain roles. Service Assets Service assets in ITIL® concepts are the resources and capabilities that service providers must allocate for offering a service.
Service Management Service management basically points out the specialized skills and capabilities for delivering value to customers in the form of services. Services Services are the generally accepted approaches for delivering value to customers without imposing any particular costs or risks on them. Value, Utility, and Warranty Organizations could identify the value of the service by taking a look at the two components of warranty and utility. Generally, services should have a warranty and utility for depicting the value for customers. Utility of service is generally referred to as fitness for purpose. Utility is basically the ability of concerned service to remove limitations or to improve performance for the customer. On the other hand, warranty refers to fitness for use and is basically the ability of services for reliable operations.
ITIL® Framework With a clear understanding of basic terms in the ITIL® ecosystem, businesses could anticipate the comprehensiveness of ITIL®. The next step in understanding ITIL® framework would refer to the five distinct stages or categories in the framework.
Each of the following elements in the ITIL® framework has a significant role in all ITIL® training courses and certifications. 1. Service Strategy 2. Service Design 3. Service Transition 4. Service Operation 5. Continual Service Improvement The individual stages in the ITIL® lifecycle of the components of the ITIL® framework include various processes. The ITIL® processes in each component define the fundamental functionality achieved with each aspect of the ITIL® framework. Enterprises must ensure that candidates for different ITSM roles have a profound knowledge of individual stages in the ITIL® framework. Let us take a deeper dive into the ITIL® framework for developing a clear understanding of ITIL® concepts and processes.
1. Service Strategy The basic objective of the service strategy in the ITIL® framework refers to the facility of a strategic approach for addressing the service lifecycle. The strategy must align effectively with business objectives. Most important of all, the service strategy component in the ITIL® framework focuses on designing utility and warranty of the concerned service.
As a result, it can ensure that the service is ideal for purpose and use. The service strategy component in ITIL® helps in ensuring utility and warranty of services as they define the value in the delivery of services to customers. It is also important to dive into the subcategories of service strategy component to understand its significance for enterprises. Service Portfolio Management
Service Portfolio in service strategy is one of the most critical ITIL® concepts as it defines the complete set of services under the management of a concerned service provider. The three major components of the service portfolio in ITIL® include the service pipeline, service catalog, and retired services. Service portfolio management helps in organization of processes for identification, description, evaluation, selection, and chartering of services. Demand Management
Demand management is also one of the prominent ITIL® processes for enterprises. The process is largely associated with a detailed understanding of customer demand and influencing its dynamics. Demand management focuses on user profiles for characterizing various common groups of users for a particular service. It also focuses on classification of the various patterns of business activity, which point out the different ways in which users across various user profiles access a service in the course of a specific time period. Financial Management The financial management aspect is one of the prominent aspects of ITIL® framework that enterprises could look out for. Notable ITIL® certifications such as the ITIL® 4 Managing Professional (MP) Transition with Certification Exam focus on financial management comprehensively. It offers a reliable approach for understanding the costs and opportunities related to IT services alongside ensuring their effective management. Financial management focuses on three fundamental activities of accounting, budgeting, and charging. Accounting process in financial management deals with monitoring the way in which service providers spend money. Budgeting process is associated with planning the expenditure of money by a service provider. Finally, the charging process in financial management deals with obtaining payment from customers for the services offered to them. Strategy Operations
Strategy operations are undoubtedly one of the crucial ITIL® processes for defining the IT service strategy of enterprises. The fundamental aim of strategy operations focuses on effective and efficient execution of various critical tasks. Some of the critical tasks included in the scope of strategy operations include fulfillment of user requests, resolution of problems and service failures, and the execution of routine operational tasks.
2. Service Design The Service Design stage in the lifecycle of IT services in ITIL® concepts focuses on design of services alongside other supporting elements required for introducing the services into live environment. Service design focuses on four critical elements, representing the areas under concern that are imperative for designing a service. The four elements refer to people, products, processes, and partners. The ‘people’ aspect in service design refers to the organizational structures and human resources needed for supporting the concerned service. The ‘products’ aspect refers to technology and other infrastructure requirements for supporting the service. Partners in the case of service design point out to third parties for offering additional support in the case of a particular service. The ‘processes’ in context of service design point out the processes for service management needed to support the service. Interestingly, the service design lifecycle phase includes seven distinct ITIL® processes as follows, Service Catalog Management Service catalog is an important aspect of ITIL® as it is the subset of all services offered to users and customers. Basically, the service catalog is the only part of the service portfolio accessible to customers. Service catalog generally serves as the entry portal for all information services available in the live environment. Service Level Management
Service level management is also a profound element you would encounter in ITIL® training courses and certifications. It deals with security and management of agreements among service providers and customers about the level of performance or utility and the level of reliability or warranty related to particular services. Service level management helps in creating Service Level Agreements or SLAs between the provider and customers. On the other hand, Operational Level Agreements or OLAs refer to performance agreements that are almost similar to SLAs in nature. Availability Management Availability Management is also one of the significant ITIL® processes that enterprises have to take into account for efficient ITSM. The availability management process focuses on managing and achieving specific availability required agreed upon in Service Level Agreements. The definition of availability in ITIL® refers to ability of a system, configuration item, or service for executing its function according to requirements.
Capacity Management Capacity Management fundamentally deals with ensuring that service providers have the ability to meet or exceed the business requirements at all times with better cost-effectiveness, in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The ‘capacity’ in ITIL® refers to the maximum throughput that a device, service, or system could handle. Capacity management deals with three prominent activities such as Business Capacity Management, Component Capacity Management, and Service Capacity Management. Service Continuity Management Service Continuity Management is a formidable requirement in the case of top ITIL® certifications such as ITIL® 4 Strategic leader certification. Service continuity management process focuses on ensuring that service providers are always providing services according to minimum agreed-upon service levels.
IT Service Continuity Management leverages techniques such as Management of Risk (MOR) and Business Impact Analysis (BIA). The IT Service Continuity Plan is the most significant product of service continuity management. The IT Service Continuity Plan is the most fundamental aspect of the general business continuity plan. IT Security Management As the name implies, IT Security Management is an unavoidable aspect when it comes to ITIL® concepts. The scope of IT security management deals primarily with safeguards for five fundamental traits of information assets. The five traits include references to confidentiality, non-repudiation, integrity, availability, and authenticity. Confidentiality provides the assurance about availability of an asset to relevant parties. Non-repudiation trait offers the assurance about requirement of approval for reversing transactions after completion. Integrity focuses on assuring users that a specific asset is not subject to modification by unauthorized parties. Availability aspect in IT assets points out the scope of accessing or using the assets according to requirements. The final aspect of authenticity refers to assuring the genuineness of transactions and the identities of parties in a specific transaction. Supplier Management The scope of supplier management in ITIL® processes deals with achieving value for money from services of third-party suppliers. Supplier management is almost similar to Service Level Management, although with external suppliers in the equation rather than internal suppliers and internal or external customers. Supplier management deals with management of contract negotiations, renewals, contract terminations, supplier evaluation, and performance reviews.
3. Service Transition Enterprises could find promising applications of Service Transition in their IT services management lifecycle. As a matter of fact, it is a critical component of ITIL® 4 Foundation e-learning with certification exam. It focuses on development and
deployment of IT services with an emphasis on coordinated implementation of changes in services and service management processes. In the service transition phase, the service design is developed, tested, and shifted to production for achieving desired value. Service transition deals with change management, such as controlling assets and configuration items related to the new and modified systems, testing, transition planning, and service validation. As a result, it can ensure that all users, the production environment, and support personnel are ready for production release. The different ITIL® processes in the scope of service transition phase of ITIL® lifecycle include the following, Change Management The objective of change management in ITIL® primarily revolves around controlling lifecycle of all changes with least possible disruption. Evaluation Evaluation process in service transition is easily one of the formidable elements in ITIL® concepts. The evaluation process involves assessment of changes such as introduction of new services or changes in existing services before moving the changes to next phase of the service lifecycle. Project Management Project management process aims at planning and coordination of resource utilization for deploying major releases in the predicted estimates of cost, quality, and time.
Release and Deployment Management The release and deployment management process focuses on planning, scheduling, and controlling the movement of releases towards testing and live environments. As a result, it can ensure integrity of the live environment and release of correct components. Service Validation and Testing
Service validation and testing are also some of the notable ITIL® concepts. It helps in verifying that deployed releases and associated services comply with customer expectations. Service validation and testing also ensure that IT operations can support the new service. Service Asset and Configuration Management The service asset and configuration management process focuses on maintaining information regarding configuration items for delivering IT service. Knowledge Management The objective of knowledge management points out to collection, analysis, storage, and sharing of knowledge and information in an organization. As a result, it can improve efficiency of enterprises without additional needs for rediscovering knowledge.
4. Service Operations The fourth stage in the ITIL® lifecycle focuses on service operations and deals primarily with addressing expectations of end-users. It can work effectively for balancing costs and identifying any possible problems. Service operations deal with addressing user requests, resolution of problems and service failures, and implementing general operations. The service operations category includes five ITIL® processes and four different functions. The processes in service operations include event management, request fulfillment, access management, incident management, and problem management. The functions in service operations include application management, technical management, IT operations management, and service desk function.
5. Continual Service Improvement The final stage in the ITIL® framework is one of the prominent ITIL® concepts for managerial executives. The primary objective in continual service improvement focuses on using quality management methods for inferential learning. CSI focuses on continuous improvement of efficiency and results of IT processes and services
with respect to continual improvement concepts. The different steps in continual service improvement include the following, 1. Identification of improvement strategies 2. Definition of metrics 3. Data collection 4. Data processing 5. Data analysis 6. Presentation and utilization of information derived from data 7. Leveraging the information for continuous improvement
Conclusion On a concluding note, it is clear that ITIL® concepts are crucial for every modern enterprise. The ITIL® framework not only provides the best practices for managing IT service delivery in an organization but also ensures continuous improvement of IT infrastructure of enterprises. In the long run, enterprises have to familiarize with ITIL® processes and functions to evaluate the skills of IT professionals. NetCom learning is an ITIL® Authorized Training Partner and have been providing official training on ITIL® to organizations with latest content. Prepare your teams to leverage ITIL® best practices and align your IT services with business needs. With our ITIL® training courses and certifications, pride the right guidance to your teams on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business transformation and drive growth using the world’s most recognized IT service management framework utilizing best ITIL® practices. Get the best ITIL® training for your employees- contact us now!