What is ITIL?

ITIL, the IT Infrastructure Library, describes the best way of operating an IT infrastructure that will deliver the services required by users. To use an analogy, it is the IT equivalent of a power station's operating manual. The station's manual defines what services (power outputs) are demanded, how the machinery is constituted to deliver that requirement, and how it all operates; it also outlines procedures if there are service interruptions, equipment failures and slowdowns, how faults are recognised, diagnosed and fixed, and how any equipment changes are managed.

A power station has hardware--buildings, machinery, cables, etc.; software--operating procedures, documented equipment lists, etc.; and services--the facilities management, the water supply, etc. All these things have to be known, documented, co-ordinated and managed for the power station to operate properly.

Similarly an IT infrastructure has its hardware, software and services components which need to be known, co-ordinated and managed for the IT infrastructure to operate properly. ITIL is a formalised description of the best practices to use whendoing this. It describes the best way to manage an IT infrastructure so that it focuses on delivering services that best meet the needs of its customers. Developed in the UK, ITIL has been adopted around the world and is becoming a de facto standard.

What is ITIL?

Aimed at improving the alignment between an organisation and the IT systems that support it, ITIL represents a comprehensive group of management procedures for an organisation to use when controlling its IT operations and processes.

It is a way to manage an IT infrastructure so that the focus is on the needs of its users--a public or private sector organisation--rather than on technology. It defines a way of managing IT services to help managers continually try to improve those services. ITIL procedures are supplier-independent and apply to all aspects of an IT infrastructure, built up from a view of operational management and control by processes. The ITIL framework looks at managing IT services by dividing them into service delivery and support activities.

** Service delivery is about making the standard of service match the requirements of end-users in terms of availability, cost, and performance.

** Support activities help ensure that the service delivery infrastructure works properly and service level agreement (SLA) goals are met reliably and affordably.

The support areas focused on include configuration data, incident and problem reporting, monitoring and fixing, release and change management, and running a service desk. Service management is defined by ITIL as "the process of maintaining and gradually improving business-aligned IT service quality, through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring, reporting and reviewing IT service achievements and through instigating actions to eradicate unacceptable levels of service."

ITIL is internationally recognised and is a constantly evolving set of best IT practices in IT service management. These are described in a set of eight reference books explaining, in effect, how best to operate an IT infrastructure. The two keystones of the set are devoted to fundamental aspects of an IT infrastructure: service delivery and service support, collectively called service management.

The full set may be purchased in three media formats: a book; CD-ROM; and intranet license. This full set is the official definition of ITIL and constitutes a systematic approach to planning, provisioning and supporting IT services.

The eight books are:

1. Service Support

2. Service Delivery

3. Planning to Implement Service Management

4. Application Management

5. ICT Infrastructure Management

6. Security Management

7. Software Asset Management

8. The Business Perspective: The IS View on Delivering Services to the Business

Book 3 is the starter book and explains the steps necessary to identify potential benefits from using ITIL in an organisation. IT staff may gain certified expertise in ITIL by passing examinations with three certificates available at foundation, practitioner, and manager levels.

ITIL History

ITIL was developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s by the CCTA (Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency) when IT professionals saw the need to develop a comprehensive framework for all areas of IT service management. It came to fruition in 1988 and has been promoted as an IT service management standard since the mid 1990s. ITIL guidance is set down in publications which have undergone a series of updates. The latest update was in 2000 and is represented by the eight books cited earlier. An update is being developed currently.

ITIL is now the most widely-accepted approach to IT service management in the world and has been described as a de facto standard.

The widespread adoption of ITIL ideas has led to the provision of supporting products from a variety of vendors and non-commercial bodies.

ITIL Users

ITIL is now used by hundreds of public sector organisations and business corporations around the world. The NHS, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, AXA, ABN Amro and British Airways are just some of the many enterprises using it.

Many world-class IT and business consulting and service organisations offer services matched to ITIL recommendations and requirements and have ITIL-certified personnel.

What ITIL Is Not

ITIL is not a product and nor is it a service. It is a set of methods to be used in managing an IT infrastructure so that it delivers better service to its customers. The idea is to change the focus of an IT department's management from looking mainly at technology issues to seeing what its customers really want and meeting those requirements in a constantly improving way.

It is about how you organise an IT department and its processes and aims to make sure the right service is delivered to the end-user by getting the best out of existing IT resources. It is not a guaranteed way of developing applications that will automatically function correctly with sufficient capacity for all the users. Nor is ITIL an IT project development and management tool.

ITIL describes the necessary components to create an IT service management strategy. It does not say how these components should be integrated andimplemented, what the products are that might be used, or what external services might be purchased.

Issues Addressed by ITIL

The need for ITIL is based on the relative lack of controls in business IT processes.

Increasingly, ITIL is being seen as a way to put good governance in place, and to look at problems and issues that the business community see IT being affected by.

ITIL encourages IT managers to look at IT issues that are causing poor service delivery and find ways to improve it. For example, there may be different ways of dealing with disruptions in IT service:

** A help desk and procedures for line-of-business application interruption,

** A second help desk for desktop PC issues,

** A third help desk for network problems.

By using an ITIL approach, management would realise that having three different functions and processes carrying out a common task (dealing with problems caused to users by IT technology issues) creates unnecessary cost through duplication. It would also add complexity through having separate processes. By applying ITIL principles, it would help managers provide an integrated and centralised resource to cover all IT service interruption issues.

ITIL increases IT service dependability by ensuring that processes work properly and are repeatable. In other words, using standardised or systematic methods, rather than ad hoc ways of doing things that vary with the standards of people carrying them out and the type of service issue being dealt with. The ITIL approach ensures groups of related service issues are managed in the same repeatable and dependable way. Service delivery and service interruption problem handling can be measured and modified in a reliable manner.

ITIL helps managers understand and present the costs of delivering IT services in relation to the benefits they bring to users. The business can then more easily decide which services are important in terms of costs incurred and benefits delivered.

ITIL encourages an attitude of continual improvement because it focuses on service delivery and meeting users' real needs. It is prescriptive about methods of managing but flexible concerning product use.

SOA and ITIL

Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a software concept that is increasingly being put into everyday IT practice. It is concerned with an IT system delivering services through the use of software agents or providers. There are standard interfaces for services such that software agents can be changed to achieve different service levels or desired outputs. (This contrasts with object-oriented programming (OOP) where the consuming software and the providing software are closely-coupled and can't be separated in the same way).

The real point about SOA is that it is an approach to IT meant to create a more agile and responsive business.

The responsiveness includes responding to, or better supporting, the business environment and its conditions. This requires monitoring, reporting, and action, and ITIL service management focuses on exactly that.

View SOA as a way of designing an IT infrastructure--of architecting software services--that can be used underneath or inside an ITIL framework to make a desired outcome happen.

ITIL and BS15000

How does ITIL relate to British and International service standards?

BS15000 is a British Standard, called a 'Specification for Service management', which defines the requirements for an organization to deliver managed services of an acceptable quality for its customers. It is based on a 'top-down' approach whereas ITIL is based on a 'bottom-up' approach.

BS15000 complements ITIL and has become an ISO standard: ISO/IEC 20000.

There is a formal certification scheme for BS15000. There isn't such a scheme for ITIL and there is no test of or certificate of ITIL compliance for a business. That's because ITIL is based on a continuous improvement concept.

ITIL Benefits

The whole point of ITIL is to make the IT infrastructure do what the business, or organisation, wants it to do. The IT effort is focused on helping the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives.

By using ITIL a business will know what needs to be done to understand what service delivery means and what the support priorities are.

ITIL provides a focus on service delivery, support and management that is shared by customers or users (both internal and external), the IT department, and vendors. On a rigorous and systematic basis, it facilitates better understanding, co-ordination and collaboration.

Communication between the IT department and its customers is improved through the use of ITIL.

Any weaknesses in the service delivery processes are revealed by monitoring and can then be worked on, strengthened or changed.

Return On Investment (RoI)

ITIL is not a product or a purchased service such as outsourcing. It is a 'journey' for management to undertake to help it make sure IT delivers services and value to the public or private sector organisation. It is unlikely that it is easy or simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for public or private sector organisation. It is unlikely that it is easy or simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for public or private sector organisation. It is unlikely that it is easy or simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for or services) to be paid for public or private sector organisation. It is unlikely that it is easy or simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for public or private sector organisation. It is unlikely that it is easy or simple to extract quantitative return on investment (RoI) data from adopting the ITIL way. There is no set of items (products or services) to be paid for. There may be, and indeed often are, qualitative data, such as an improved perception of the IT department's professionalism and responsiveness. As a result of ITIL implementation IT products may be purchased and projects implemented that do have measurable quantifiable benefits. For example:

** A company in New South Wales, Australia, implemented software to track, record and monitor IT service incidents and problems, and also to manage IT component changes. Estimated savings were $8.2 million over three years.

** A large financial services firm implemented ITIL in its IT storage area. Active incidents decreased by a factor of four. Storage capacity purchase requests decreased thanks to better use of existing capacity. A request for 16TB of capacity for a project was shrunk to just 200GB as the ITIL-influenced capacity management process showed that 16TB was a vast over-commitment.

** A large entertainment and media business also implemented ITIL in its IT storage area. Active incidents decreased by a factor of four or more.

Unexpected storage outages were virtually eliminated.

ITIL Influencers

A prime influence is the UK's OGC. (The CCTA merged into the OGC in April, 2001.)

Others of influence include the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), an independent, not-for-profit and independent group of users and vendors; also, the British Standards Institute and the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

For further information contact http://www.itil.co.uk.www.asg.com

John Connor, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, ASG.