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Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

What is ITIL?

ITIL is a set of well-defined guidelines that helps Software professionals to deliver the best IT services. ITIL guidelines are the best practices that are observed, gathered, and put together over time for delivering quality IT services. The full form of ITIL is Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Popular IT services covered by ITIL are Cloud services, backup, network security, Data processing and storage, managed print services, IT consulting, Help desk support, IOT etc.  

 Features of ITIL

Here are some important features of ITIL

One language/terminology.

ITIL is a means to deliver a consistent quality.

Focus on IT. However, it is just not only suitable for IT.

Existing activities and how to optimize them.

Related process and tasks (roles).

What ITIL is not?

ITIL is not a complete blueprint, but just bricks and material from which you can build your own building depending upon your business needs.

It is not a quick fix, but a set of processes that you need to build into the mind-set of your employees, and that must be continually updated and improved.

It is not only another method of control but a way of setting up your organization so that it works towards the goals without controlling management.

Evolution of  ITIL

ITIL was orginally introduced in the 1980s as an initiative by the UK Cabinet Office in an effort to improve the quality of IT services while saving costs for the government. But, the original version of ITIL is far different from the current version, which is now owned by Axelos (a non-government entity).

ITIL has evolved through the years, starting with ITIL v1 which was adopted by organizations worldwide in the 1990s. By the year 2000, ITIL had grown in popularity and became the basis for Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF).

ITIL HISTORY

ITIL is a Library which is Used in Managing IT Services and Continuously Improving It Support and Service Levels.

The main goals of ITIL is to ensure that IT services align with business objectives, even as business objectives change.

ITIL was Continuously improving and growing since it was introduced in late 20th century in more than 30 volumes.

In2000, the second version of ITIL was published by grouping them into sets that mapped to different aspects of IT management, services, and applications. Around this time, Microsoft standardized on ITIL to help develop its Microsoft Operations Framework.

The main essential parts of ITIL is the configuration management database (CMDB), which provides the central authority for all components—including services, software, IT components, documents, users, and hardware—that must be managed to deliver an IT service.

ITIL principles helps ensure you can get to the root cause of problems in your environment as quickly as possible and that you have the right visibility into the systems and people to prevent future problems.

 PRINCIPLES

  Focus on value :

Focusing on value is about recognizing services for what they are, a vehicle for value. It is the outcome of the service which is of value to the customer, not the service itself.

  Start where you are :

It was American tennis player Arthur Ashe who first said “Start Where you are,Use what you have,Do what you can” It was a new expression, but the sentiment was already an old one.Outside of a start-up, few business opportunities happen in a “greenfield” site; an empty space where there is no pre-existing capability.

Progress iteratively with feedback :

We can’t do everything at once.Trying to tackle too many things at once is a recipe for staff burnout. Aim to deliver small chunks of value early, have the customer validate what you are doing to make sure you really are heading in the right direction, build on what you have done based on what you have learned from the customer.

  Collaborate and promote  visibility :

The collaborate and promote visibility principle is closely connected to the think and work holistically principle (which we will look at next). For people to collaborate effectively on projects which span many teams, they must all understand the holistic perspective they must see the bigger picture

  Think and work holistically :

This holistic perspective is particularly important when change is applied: a minor change to one step in the value stream can have a profound impact on upstream and downstream steps, so changes must be assessed from a whole-view perspective. Often, a well-intentioned improvement made by one team in isolation can break a value chain

  Keep it simple and practical :

A simple process will be able to handle 80% of variation. Adding decisions and actions to support non-mainstream demands will only complicate the process and slow it down for the 80%. It’s better to apply general exception handling e.g. mainstream demand is handled by a simple, standardized process and the less frequent outliers are handled on a case-by-case basis.

  Optimize and automate :

Optimize and automate is about using people and Automation effectively. The number of people you have is often the primary constraint on progress, so technology should be used to its full potential to ensure your people can avoid people wasting time on simple, repetitive tasks and focus on the complex decisions, creative endeavours, and problem-solving tasks which require human intervention.

PROCESSES

Service Strategy :

The service strategy stage facilitates organizations to strategize and set business goals to meet customer demands and needs.

Service Design :

This stage in the lifecycle includes the design of service management processes, technology, infrastructure, products, processes, and functions.  

Service Transition :

Risk and impact of any change must be taken into consideration, which is where this stage begins. Transition planning and support is focused on maintaining current functionality while deploying new organizational changes with minimal risks.  

Service Operation :

Service Operation is the stage where day-to-day operational tasks would fall. This stage is responsible for monitoring infrastructure and application related services and enables businesses to meet the needs of their customers and staff.

Continual Service Improvement :

The quality check of continual service improvement ensures that throughout the lifecycle, improvement is the end goal. This is also part of service continuity management.

Benefits of ITIL Processes :

Stronger alignment between IT and the organization as a whole

Clearer expectations for both the IT service desk and their customers

Reduced costs

Improved resource utilization

Greater visibility of assets

Better management of risks,system failures, and service disruptions

Improved service level and testing.

 MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Problem Management :

  Problem management is the process of identifying and managing the causes   of incidents on an IT service. It is a core component of ITSM frameworks.

The closer you get to real incident experts, the less you actually hear the question: “What caused the incident?”  Sure, you’ll hear it plenty from executives, and customers, and the press. But the experts know better.

Incident Management :

   An incident management process is a set of procedures and actions taken to respond to and resolve critical incidents: how incidents are detected and communicated, who is responsible, what tools are used, and what steps are taken to resolve the incident.

IT Service Management :

   IT service management -- often referred to as ITSM  is simply how IT teams 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 core concept of ITSM is the belief that IT should be delivered as a service.

 THE FUTURE

ITIL will continue to help organizations ensure that they are supporting the best processes for their environment. As the underlying capabilities of businesses continue to change rapidly, ITIL processes should change with them. For example, an ITIL Change Approval Board (CAB), which typically reviews whether changes should go into production, may have to adapt to the speed of change by adapting to a policy-driven approval process.