Basic understanding on ITSM

ITSM

Information Technology Service Management

ITSM is a process where IT teams/ organization manage the end to end delivery of IT services to customers. This includes all the processes and activities to design, create, deliver, and support IT services. 

The ITSM process is aligned with an international standard i.e. ISO/IEC 20000 and it can also be aligned with ITIL best practices. It helps organization to achieve business goals and to deliver the IT services more efficiently and effectively. It helps in improving the services in a continuous way. 

ISO: International Organization for Standardization

IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission

In fact the ISO/IEC Organization develops and publishes the standards which are globally accredited and followed. For more information please refer to https://www.iso.org/about-us.html

So, in the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 is a service management system (SMS) standard.  It specifies requirements for the service provider to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and improve an SMS. The requirements include the design, transition, delivery and improvement of services to fulfill agreed service requirements between the organization and customer. Later the standard has been revised to 2018 version i.e. ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018. We will know what the change occurred in 2018.

For effective service management system (SMS), ISO/IEC 20000 is designed based on PDCA (Plan, Do, Check & Act) methodology.

Plan: The SMS needs a proper plan before implementing. It should be established by agreeing and documenting the SMS. Also it includes policies, objectives, plans, processes and procedures to fulfill all service requirement.

Do: Do is nothing but a clear implementation of those policy, process and procedures. Implementing and operating the SMS for design, transition, delivery and improvements of the services.

Check: Here, the SMS needs to be monitored, reviewed, measured to report the outcomes or results.

Act: Taking appropriate action on the results to continually improve performance of the SMS and Services.

Using or implementing a standard based process gives many benefits as;

• A standard helps in reducing risks in organizations.
• It enhances productivities, quality of delivering services.
• Helps in continual service without any disruption.

Below are the ITSM Processes mentioned just on a brief, as we cannot keep all the standard information here because those are copyrighted materials. So, lets look in to the 2011 edition standard for an overall understanding. Later 2018 edition changes will be bring in to the notice. 

The entire Service Management System mentioned below for reference describes primary clauses and sub clauses

Clause 4: Service Management System General Requirements

• Management Responsibility
• Governance of processes operated by other parties
• Documentation Management
• Resource Management
• Establish & Improve SMS

Clause 5: Design and Transition of New or Changed Services

• Plan new or changed services
• Design and development of new or changed services
• Transition of new or changed services

Clause 6: Service Delivery Process

• Service level management
• Service reporting
• Service continuity and availability management
• Budgeting and Accounting for Services
• Capacity management
• Information Security Management

Clause 7: Relationship Process

• Business relationship management
• Supplier management

Clause 8: Resolution Process

• Incident and service request management
• Problem management

Clause 9: Control Process

• Configuration management
• Change Management
• Release and deployment management

We can cover some important sub clauses in later post. Although all the clauses and sub clauses are important and keeps the organization compliance to standards.

If you have any further questions and suggestions please feel free to post it below.

-DR