Neither ITIL nor COBIT give much time to handling R&D.  COBIT has "PO3 determine technological direction," and ITIL recommends having a "technical management" function, but to my knowledge that's as close as they get to discussing how to learn about what technology is on the horizon.   I think something that's missing from frameworks is ensuring that people have enough time to think about the "new stuff" that's coming up, technologically.  We use companies like Gartner to help us learn about what's coming up, but "you don't know what you don't know."

 
I have been doing some research into "IT Governance," trying to understand which of our available resources are authoritative on the subject.  The main sources I've found are EDUCAUSE ECAR (research) articles, Gartner articles on "IT Governance," and last but not least ISACA's Governance section.

This month we have been finalizing our ITSM tool configuration (we use Remedy) and we have been conducting training for the department.  Can you tell?  The web site has been a little quiet.
We are offering several sections of six different types of training this month.

Happy New Year all! I hope that everyone had a fabulous holiday and is enjoying the chilly weather that this January has brought us so far. The Wake Forest Fellow’s wasted no time getting back to business and enjoyed yet another inspirational leadership luncheon last Thursday the 7th. Hailing from the town of Spindale, North Carolina, Karen McNeil Miller, current president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was the feature of our most recent luncheon, and provided the Fellow’s with not only a delicious meal, but quite a large serving of wisdom, advice and anecdotal enjoyment as well.

I haven't been posting as much, in part because we are in the midst of an ITSM tool upgrade: we've moving from Remedy 5.5 to Remedy 7.5.  This upgrade is better thought of as a "re-implementation" because so much has changed between Remedy 5.5 and 7.5.

In the hopes that it might be helpful for others learning Remedy 7, here I'm going to describe how to use the Remedy 7 "data load console."

Well it has been a few weeks since my last entry so for the sake of catching up I am going to briefly summarize a few of the most recent happenings in the world of Information Systems at Wake Forest University.
 

We are hoping to partner with taruu.com in offering an ITIL v3 Release, Control, and Validation class at Wake Forest University.  These classes are very expensive, but they are cheaper when offered on-site.  We want to fill up the class!  We will offer the class at our cost to any other University faculty, staff, or student able to attend.

If you're a student, faculty, or staff member at any higher education institution, please consider attending our February 2-4, 2010 ITIL v3 Foundations training.  The class only costs $600; we offer this class to help develop the higher education community for IT Service Management.

In spring 2008, I took the ITIL v2: Release & Control course from Global Knowledge.  Our department is about to move off campus, so in packing I found my notes from that class.  Here's a summary of the class:

Configuration Management

Configuration items are

• Used to deliver a service
• Uniquely identifiable
• Manageable
• Configurable

You need to understand a CI's scope and detail.

Configuration management activities:

A couple of weeks ago the Fellows had the opportunity to meet with another intriguing and inspiring Wake Forest community leader. On a blue-skied and sunny Tuesday morning I made my way over to a place that I wish I could say I frequented a little more often; Reynolda Village. With the vibrantly colored leaves and just slightly chilled November air there is truly no better time to experience the village.