Relationship Between Processes

Configuration Management

Configuration management is an integral part of all other Service Management processes. With current, accurate and comprehensive information about all components in the infrastructure the management of Change, in particular, is more effective and efficient. Change management can be integrated with Configuration Management. As a minimum it is recommended that the logging and implementation of Changes be done under the control of a comprehensive Configuration Management system and that the impact assessment of Changes is done with the aid of the Configuration Management system. All Change requests should therefore be entered in the Configuration management database (CMDB) and the records updated as the Change request progresses through to implementation.

The Configuration management system identifies relationships between an item that is to be changed and any other components of the infrastructure, thus allowing the owners of these components to be involved in the impact assessment process. Whenever a change is made to the infrastructure, associated Configuration Management records should be updated in the CMDB. Where possible, this is best accomplished by use of integrated tools that update records automatically as Changes are made.

The CMDB should be made available to the entire Service Support group so that Incidents and Problems can be resolved more easily by understanding the possible cause of the failing component. The CMDB should also be used to link the Incident and Problem records to other appropriate records such as the failing Configuration item (CI) and the User. Release Management will be difficult and error prone without the integration of the Configuration management process.

The Service Delivery processes also rely on the CMDB data. For example:

• Service Level Management needs to identify components that combine together to deliver the service so that underpinning agreements can be set up
• Financial Management for IT needs to know the components utilised by each business unit especially when charging is in place
• IT Service Continuity and Availability Management need to identify components to perform risk analysis and component failure impact analysis

Change Management

The Change management process depends on the accuracy of the configuration data to ensure the full impact of making Changes is known. There is therefore a very close relationship between Configuration management, Release Management and Change Management.

Details of the Change process are documented in SLAs to ensure that Users know the procedure for requesting Changes and the projected target times for, and impact of the implementation of Changes.

Details of changes need to be made known to the Service Desk. Even with comprehensive testing there is an increased likelihood of difficulties occurring following Change implementation either because the Change is not working as required or expected, or because of queries on the change in functionality.

The Change advisory board (CAB) is a group of people who can give expert advice to the Change management team on the implementation of Changes. This board is likely to be made up of representatives from all areas within IT and representatives from business units.

Changes may often result in the need for new hardware, new versions of software, and/or new documentation, created in-house or bought in, to be controlled and distributed, as part of a new ‘packaged Release’. The procedures for achieving secure, managed rollout should be closely integrated with those for Change management and Configuration management. Release procedures may also be an integral part of Incident Management and Problem Management, as well as being closely linked to the CMDB in order to maintain up-to-date records.

Incident Management

There should be a close interface between the Incident Management process and the Problem Management and Change management processes as well as the function of the Service Desk. If not properly controlled, Changes may introduce new Incidents. A way of tracking back is required. It is therefore recommended that the incident records should be held on the same CMDB as the Problem, Known error and Change records, or at least linked without the need for re-keying, to improve the interfaces and ease interrogation and reporting.

Incident priorities and escalation procedures need to be agreed as part of the Service Level Management process and documented in the SLAs.

Problem Management

The Problem Management process requires the accurate and comprehensive recording of Incidents in order to identify effectively and efficiently the cause of the Incidents and trends. Problem Management also needs to liaise closely with the Availability Management process to identify these trends and instigate remedial action.

Service Desk

The Service Desk is the single point of contact between service providers and Users, on a day-to-day basis. It is also a focal point for reporting Incidents and making service requests. As such, the Service Desk has an obligation to keep Users informed of service events, actions and opportunities that are likely to impact their ability to pursue their day-to-day activities. For example, the Service Desk might act as the focal point for Change requests from Users, issuing Change Schedules on behalf of Change management, and keeping Users informed of progress on Changes. Change Management should therefore ensure that the Service Desk is kept constantly aware of Change activities.

The Service Desk is in the direct firing line of any impact on the SLAs and as such needs rapid information flows.

The Service Desk may be given delegation to implement Changes to circumvent incidents within its sphere of authority. The scope of such Changes should be predefined and the Change management function should be informed about all such Changes. Prior approval of Change Management is essential before Changes of specification of any CI are implemented.

Service Level Management

The Service Level Management (SLM) process is responsible for ensuring Service level agreements (SLAs) and underpinning Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) or contracts are met, and for ensuring that any adverse impact on service quality are kept to a minimum. The process involves assessing the impact of Changes upon service quality and SLAs, both when Changes are proposed and after they have been implemented. Some of the most important targets set in the SLAs will relate to service availability and thus require Incident resolution within agreed periods.

SLM is the hinge for Service Support and Service Delivery. It cannot function in isolation as it relies on the existence and effective and efficient working of other processes. An SLA without underpinning support processes is useless, as there is no basis for agreeing its content.

Capacity Management

Capacity Management is directly related to the business requirements and is not simply about the performance of the system’s components, individually or collectively. Capacity Management is involved in Incident resolution and Problem identification for those difficulties relating to capacity issues.

Capacity Management activities raise Requests for Change (RFCs) to ensure that appropriate capacity is available. These RFCs are subject to the Change management process, and implementation may affect several CIs, including hardware, software and documentation, requiring effective Release Management.

Capacity Management should be involved in evaluating all Changes, to establish the effect on capacity and performance. This should occur both when Changes are proposed and after they are implemented. Capacity Management should pay particular attention to the cumulative effect of Changes over a period of time. The negligible effect of single Changes can often combine to cause degraded response times, file storage problems, and excess demand for processing capacity.

Financial Management for IT Services

Financial Management is responsible for accounting for the costs of providing IT service and for any aspects of recovering these costs from the Customers (charging). It requires good interfaces with Capacity Management, Configuration management (asset data) and Service Level Management to identify the true costs of service. The Financial Manager is likely to work closely with the Customer Relationship Manager and the IT Directorate during the negotiations of the IT department budgets and individual Customer’s IT spend.

Availability Management

Availability Management is concerned with the design, implementation, measurement and management of IT services to ensure the stated business requirements for availability are consistently met. Availability Management requires an understanding of the reasons why IT service failures occur and the time taken to resume service. Incident Management and Problem Management provide a key input to ensure the appropriate corrective actions are being progressed.

The measurements and reporting of IT availability ensures that the level of availability delivered meets the SLA. Availability Management supports the Service Level Management process in providing measurements and reporting to support service reviews.

IT Service Continuity Management

IT Service Continuity Management is concerned with managing an organisation’s ability to continue to provide a pre-determined and agreed level of IT Services to support the minimum business requirements following an interruption to the business. Effective IT Service Continuity requires a balance of risk reduction measures such as resilient systems and recovery options including back-up facilities. Configuration management data is required to facilitate this prevention and planning. Infrastructure and business Changes need to be assessed for their potential impact on the continuity plans, and the IT and business plans should be subject to Change management procedures. The Service Desk has an important role to play if business continuity is invoked.

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management is about developing and nurturing a good professional working relationship between Customers and IT service providers. Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs) need to interface with all the other ITIL processes. For example, the CRM facilitates the interaction between the Customer and IT departments during the annual SLA/financial negotiations, and is involved in resolving Customer discontent with the service being provided.

ICT Infrastructure Management

ICT Infrastructure Management functions are involved in most of the processes of Service Support and Service Delivery where more technical issues are concerned.

Application Management

CCTA plans to produce guidance that discusses the major processes required to manage applications throughout their lifetime. Service Management is typically concerned with a product (software/hardware) at a particular point in time to support the service requirements of the business. But it should be more than this. It delivers a maintainable service for the business – this means delivering the skills, training, and communications with the application. Applications Management considers the issues from feasibility through productive life to final demise of the application.

Security Management

The Security Management function interfaces with IT Service Management processes where security issues are involved. Such issues relate to the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of data, as well as the security of hardware and software components, documentation and procedures. For example, Security Management interfaces with Service Management to assess the impact of proposed Changes on security, to raise RFCs in response to security problems; to ensure confidentiality and integrity of security data and to maintain the security when software is released into the live environment.

Environmental infrastructure processes

Changes to the environment may affect the quality of service, and Changes to the infrastructure may have implications for the environmental infrastructure. It is recommended that all relevant aspects of the environmental infrastructure be brought under Configuration management control and subjected to the Change management procedures described in this book.

Project Management

When implementing new processes in an organisation there are benefits to running the activity as a project. Accordingly, this book refers to Service Management Projects that are implemented to introduce new processes or to improve the current processes for the delivery or support of IT services.

There are a variety of structured project management methods that can be adopted. Within ITIL when we discuss project management if we need to draw on a particular method we will use PRINCE2 which is owned by CCTA and widely adopted throughout UK Government bodies, the Public and Private sectors, and internationally.