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:

I've been trying to understand what "enterprise architecture" is.  My main resource has been Gartner, which defines enterprise architecture as how you get from your strategy to "effective change."  In other words, enterprise architecture defines the framework you will use to enact your strategy.  First you should have a strategy, then you should have an enterprise architecture, then you should have an "operational plan" (think: project or program of projects).

I try once a week, for an hour, to go through my print and electronic subscriptions.  It's a habit I picked up from Tom Limoncelli: you get an hour, and then you throw out everything you didn't get to.  It's now been a month or so since I've last gone through my print subscriptions; here are some highlights:

The OGC is removing the ITIL v2 certifications.  I got an email through Loyalist about it.  Here's the specific timeline:

• V2 Foundation to cease 30 June 2010
• V2 Manager to cease 31 August 2010
• V2 Practitioner to cease 31 Dec 2010
• Foundation Bridge to cease 31 Dec 2010

In the September/October 2009 issue of "The Forum" e-newsletter from itSMF, Reginald Lo from Third Sky writes about "Techniques for Understanding what the Customer Values in a Service."

This article rehashes content from Service Strategy, but for me it's a helpful reminder of this three-part statement:

(name of service) PROVIDES VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER WHEN (outcome supported) WITHOUT (constraint)

We're conducting our fall ITIL foundations training today through Thursday.  Today we covered the core concepts, the Service Lifecycle, Organizing for Service Management, and Service Strategy.  Tomorrow's an even bigger day, with Service Design, Service Transition, and Service Operation!
I teach the ITIL foundations training course for a couple of reasons: to help our department develop its IT Service Management capabilities, to help the higher education community meet one another and learn from one another, and (last but not necessarily least) so that I don't forget all my ITIL knowledge!
If you're interested, our next training class will be February 2-4.  We need at least 8 students enrolled to be able to offer the class.

Wednesday's webinar is at http://www.brighttalk.com/webcasts/6666/attend.  Participants included IT staff from Clemson, Emory, Georgia State and California State - Fresno.

"Capacity management" seems to be overlooked in ITIL implementations--capacity management gets pushed way down the implementation plan, or is seen mainly as an input to event management (for alerts about disk filling up) and service level management (for making promises to users about what capacity will be available).

There are several videos from Charles Sturt University in Australia on YouTube about ITIL.  See them via this YouTube search.

A couple of weeks ago at the itSMF USA Higher Education SIG group on LinkedIn, I created a discussion topic:

Creating an IT Strategy

At the itSMF Fusion 2009 conference, I heard three different talks that related to creating an IT Strategy:

• http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/219

• http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/222

• http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/223

To over-simplify, a common thread between these three talks was that an IT strategic plan can become a communications tool for IT and the business, so that everyone understands where IT is going.

Does your University currently have an IT strategic plan? If so, how did you create it and how do you maintain it? Can you share it or link to it?

If your University does not have a plan, what are you doing to develop an IT strategic plan? How does your IT department communicate its vision with the rest of the University?

Here's a summary of the responses: