Two more CAB-related documents are now available at the bottom of the change management page.

We have probably all heard the Lord Kelvin quote, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”. So why not place more emphasis on measuring performance of our IT infrastructure? ITIL gives us key performance indicators, KPIs, as guidance, but I wonder what percentage of university IT departments track where they perform relative to defined indicators. My guess is that nearly all departments do some, but few departments are doing this on a large scale department wide. But why not? Especially since this feedback would foster improvement efforts.

We just posted two additional templates on the site:

• Technology Evaluation Form, posted under Service Portfolio Management. We use this form to evaluate a technology request to determine high-level risks.
• Service Acceptance Criteria, posted under Change Management. We use this template as a checklist to go through before any significant service modification goes live.

Sooner or later a Continual Service Improvement Program is going to have to deal with ITSM tools. Many organizations forget the "Four P's" of people, processes, products, and partners and go straight for the product: the tool that will support your IT Service Management. "Let's buy ITIL!" :-)

Lately I have been thinking about topic of how best practice frameworks fit together. Whether you follow the PMBOK, ITIL CMMI, COBIT, and the list goes on, a good chance exists that you will find times when the schools of thought overlap as well as contradict one another. It is fair to say that all models inevitably have both evangelists and critics, but it is my belief that all the proclaimed “best practice” models have at least some good takeaways. So, to dismiss any one model altogether is a bit close-minded.

Have you heard the "ITIL" buzz word and want to know more? Are you interested in ITIL and how it could benefit your organization? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions ... then today is your lucky day! You are invited to participate in one of the upcoming ITIL v3 Foundations courses that Wake Forest University will offer:

• July 14-16, 2009
• October 27-29, 2009
• February 2-4, 2010

Please go to the class description page for more information and to register.

Predecessors/Before You Begin

ITIL recommends setting Critical Success Factors (CSFs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), metrics, and measurements for processes and services. Metrics are used throughout ITIL's Service Lifecycle but they have particular importance to Continual Service Improvement.

Metrics

Continual Service Improvement recommends a connection from an organization's vision into metrics through the following continuum:

• Vision
• Mission
• Goals
• Objectives
• Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
  

Information technology service management is the practice of managing an IT infrastructure by employing a service-oriented perspective. A best practice framework known as ITIL offers guidelines on how to manage an IT portfolio by viewing it as a collection of services that provide value to customers. ITIL orients its guidance around the lifecycle of a service beginning with conceiving a strategy, followed by designing the service, and subsequently transitioning the service into an operational mode.

Our change management procedure was created out of audit concerns. We wanted to ensure that changes to productions were properly approved and documented. Many Universities adopt change management for the same reason--to satisfy audit requirements.