Howdy y’all from Austin, Texas where I met with ITIL® dudes and spoke at the itSMF Local Interest Group on “Implementing ITIL in a Cross Functional Environment.” We worked through the considerations of implementing ITIL in various industries, including banking, insurance and utilities. (I’m plum tuckered out by those of you now thinking “But you can’t ‘implement’ ITIL.” It’s time to paint your back white and run with the antelope. That’s Texas slang for “stop arguing.”)
What’s important to remember is that the ultimate reward of an ITIL initiative—and IT general—is improved business. During the session, an attendee from the utility industry gave an example of the increased commingling of IT and business. In the past, an electricity meter was read by an inspector who traveled to the meter to visually inspect it. Today, that job belongs to IT with the data automatically fed into the billing system, which may bill customers and automatically trigger payment from customers’ banks.
In another example of IT taking over the performance of business processes at the same company, IT now handles requests for service, such as establishing new connections, and automatically routes calls for assistance, such as when a power line is down, to the closest technician.
These scenarios exemplify the true integration between IT and the business and fit the V3 model perfectly.
As we moved from the event to the social hour, V3 was the hot topic. While many agreed that the Service Centric model is the right direction, there was concern over impact on existing initiatives. For example, “I am heavily involved in an implementation of change, incident, problem and configuration management and I want to know if my processes are supported in V3.” They are, of course, supported. They may look a little different and they may be expanded a little, but all the processes you have grown to know and love are supported. I promise you.
If you’re still concerned, you may be interested in this “unofficial” mapping of ITIL v2 to V3, which I presented at an ITIL V3 launch event in Chicago. It’s inserted here to help you get your bearings while you wait for the “official” mapping to be released.
Robert Stroud’s Unofficial Mapping of ITIL V2 Processes to ITIL V3 Books
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ITIL V2 Process |
Primary ITIL V3 Book |
|
Service Support |
|
Change Management |
Service Transition |
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Configuration Management |
Service Transition |
|
Incident Management |
Service Operation |
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Problem Management |
Service Operation |
|
Release Management |
Service Transition |
|
Service Desk |
Service Operation |
|
Service Asset and Configuration Management including the CMDB |
Service Transition
CMDB is part of the Configuration Management System (CMS) |
|
Fault Management (ICT Volume) |
Service Operation |
|
New–Knowledge Management in Service Transition |
|
Service Delivery |
|
Availability Management |
Service Design |
|
Capacity Management |
Service Design |
|
Financial Management |
Service Strategies |
|
IT Service Continuity Management |
Service Design
Referenced in Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement |
|
Service Level Management |
Service Design |
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Asset Control |
Service Operation |
|
NEW–Service Catalog in Service Design |
I always learn from the ITIL practitioners I meet in my travels. Some advice I picked up in Texas: If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’. And never squat with your spurs on.
On to the next rodeo.
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