IT service management

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"ITSM" redirects here. For the backup system, see
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager.
IT service management (ITSM or IT services) is a
discipline for managing information technology (IT)
systems, philosophically centered on the customer's
perspective of IT's contribution to the business. ITSM
stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered
approaches to IT management and business
interaction. The following represents a characteristic
statement from the ITSM literature:
Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus
on technology and their internal organization[;] they
now have to consider the quality of the services they
provide and focus on the relationship with customers.
[1]

No one author, organization, or vendor owns the term

"IT service management" and the origins of the
phrase are unclear.
ITSM is process-focused and in this sense has ties
and common interests with process improvement
movement (e.g., TQM, Six Sigma, business process
management, CMMI) frameworks and
methodologies. The discipline is not concerned with
the details of how to use a particular vendor's
product, or necessarily with the technical details of
the systems under management. Instead, it focuses
upon providing a framework to structure IT-related
activities and the interactions of IT technical
personnel with business customers and users.
ITSM is generally concerned with the "back office"
or operational concerns of information technology
management (sometimes known as operations
architecture), and not with technology development.
For example, the process of writing computer
software for sale, or designing a microprocessor
would not be the focus of the discipline, but the
computer systems used by marketing and business
development staff in software and hardware
companies would be. Many non-technology
companies, such as those in the financial, retail, and
travel industries, have significant information
technology systems which are not exposed to
customers.
In this respect, ITSM can be seen as analogous to an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) discipline for IT
although its historical roots in IT operations may
limit its applicability across other major IT activities,
such as IT portfolio management and software
engineering.
Contents
[hide]
1 Context

2 Frameworks

3 Professional organizations

4 Information Technology Infrastructure Library

5 Other frameworks and concern with the

overhead
6 Governance and audit

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links
[edit] Context
This article is written like a personal reflection
or essay rather than an encyclopedic
description of the subject. Please help improve
it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (May
2009)
IT Service Management is an enabler of information
technology governance (or information management)
objectives.
The concept of "service" in an IT sense has a distinct
operational connotation, but it would be incorrect
then to assume that IT Service Management is only
about IT operations. However, it does not encompass
all of IT practice, and this can be a controversial
matter.
It does not typically include project management or
program management concerns. In the UK for
example, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a
government-developed ITSM framework, is often
paired with the PRojects IN Controlled Environments
(PRINCE2) project methodology and Structured
Systems Analysis and Design Method for systems
development.
ITSM is related to the field of Management
Information Systems (MIS) in scope. However,
ITSM has a distinct practitioner point of view, and is
more introspective (i.e. IT thinking about the delivery
of IT to the business) as opposed to the more
academic and outward facing connotation of MIS (IT
thinking about the 'information' needs of the
business).
IT Service Management in the broader sense overlaps
with the disciplines of business service management
and IT portfolio management, especially in the area
of IT planning and financial control.
[edit] Frameworks
There are a variety of frameworks and authors
contributing to the overall ITSM discipline.[2] There
are a variety of proprietary approaches available.[3]
[edit] Professional organizations
There is an international, chapter-based professional
association, the IT Service Management Forum
(ITSMF), which has a semi-official
relationship[weasel words] with ITIL and the ITSM audit
standard ISO/IEC 20000. There is also a global
professional association, the IT Service Management
Professionals Association (IT-SMPa).
[edit] Information Technology Infrastructure
Library
Main article: Information Technology Infrastructure
Library
IT Service Management is often equated with the
Information Technology Infrastructure Library,
(ITIL) an official publication of the Office of
Government Commerce in the United Kingdom.
However, while a version of ITSM is a component of
ITIL, ITIL also covers a number of related but
distinct disciplines and the two are not synonymous.
The current version of the ITIL framework is the
2011 edition. The 2011 edition, published in July
2011, is a revision of the previous edition known as
ITIL version 3 (published in June 2007).It was a
major upgrade from version 2 (2001). Whereas
version 2 was process orientated (split in 2 groupes:
service support and service delivery), version 3 is
service orientated. Since ITIL V3, the various ITIL
processes are grouped into 5 stages of the service
lifecycle: service strategy, service design, service
transition, service operation and Continual service
improvement (or CSI). The use of the term "Service
Management" is interpreted by many in the world as
ITSM, but again, there are other frameworks, and
conversely, the entire ITIL library might be seen as
IT Service Management in a larger sense.
[edit] Other frameworks and concern with the
overhead
Analogous to debates in software engineering
between agile and prescriptive methods, there is
debate between lightweight versus heavyweight
approaches to IT service management. Lighter weight
ITSM approaches include:
ITIL Small-scale Implementation[4] colloquially
called ITIL Lite is an official part of the ITIL
framework.
FITS was developed for UK schools. It is a
simplification of ITIL.
 Core Practice (CoPr or copper) calls for
limiting Best Practice to areas where there is a
business case for it, and in other areas just doing
the minimum necessary.
OpenSDLC.org A Creative Commons
ITSM/SDLC Framework Wiki
MOF 4 Microsoft Operations Framework covers
the IT service management lifecycle with a
practical focus