Originating in England in the late 1980's, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) describes the world's most widely accepted approach to IT service management (ITSM). ITIL defines twelve processes involved in managing IT infrastructure and delivering IT services throughout an enterprise. ITIL also defines the relationships between the various processes and how they interact with each other. The Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) is implementing ITIL-ITSM processes across the organization as a way to improve the delivery of IT services and centralize enterprise-level IT Service Management processes. The result will be reliable, high-quality, well-managed IT services and the establishment of central ownership and responsibility for IT Service Management within COT.
Background
In September 2005 a formal program was established to re-engineer the way COT delivers services to its customers. This initiative is referred to as the ITIL Program with its primary goal to re-engineer the IT Service Management functions of COT and ensure that ITIL and ITSM-based methods and procedures are used with emphasis on Change Management, Configuration Management, Release Management, Incident Management, Problem Management and Service Level Management throughout all COT divisions and branches.
ITIL Program Objectives
- Transform COT into a service oriented process driven organization
- Increase service reliability by automating where it makes sense, eliminating redundancy and single points of failure where possible
- Decrease the adverse impact to service and infrastructure that software releases and configuration changes have on customer satisfaction
- Reduce unplanned outages
- Create enterprise wide procedures for Change Management, Configuration Management, Release Management, Incident Management, Problem Management and Service Level Management processes
- Establish a Change Advisory Board
- Develop an ITIL / ITSM Training Plan and identify key individuals for specific classes and certifications
Progress, So Far
The most visible activities to date include the establishment of the COT Change Advisory Board, installation and training of the Change software module, deployment of new Asset Management procedures, ITSM Foundation certification training and refresher training for Incident software. Prior to September 2005, the earliest ITIL initiatives included the upgrade of Remedy Helpdesk software and the reorganization of COT's Help Desk into the new Service Center. COT's new Service Center is based entirely on ITIL principles and best practices. Many COT employees have had the opportunity to participate in ITIL classroom training, process mapping and other activities, and much more is planned for the future. To date 82 employees have received their ITSM Foundation certification.
The next planned phases of the ITIL program are: Configuration Management, Creation of a CMDB, Problem Management, Release Management, and Upgrading current IT Service Management Toolset.
Click for additional information about COT's leading-edge ITIL initiative.