SS

Figure 1.1 Sourcing of service management practice

Public frameworks and standards are attractive when compared with proprietary knowledge:

 Proprietary knowledge is deeply embedded in organizations and therefore difficult to adopt, replicate, or transfer even with the cooperation of the owners. Such knowledge is often in the form of tacit knowledge, which is inextricable and poorly documented.

 Proprietary knowledge is customized for the local context and specific business needs to the point of being idiosyncratic. Unless the recipients of such knowledge have matching circumstances, the knowledge may not be as effective in use.

 Owners of proprietary knowledge expect to be rewarded for their long-term investments. They may make such knowledge available only under commercial terms through purchases and licensing agreement s.

 Publicly available frameworks and standards such as ITIL , COBIT , CMMI, eSCM-SP, PRINCE2 , ISO 9000 , ISO/IEC 20000 , and ISO/IEC 27001 are validated across a diverse set of environment s and situations rather than the limited experience of a single organization. They are subject to broad review across multiple organizations and disciplines. They are vetted by diverse sets of partners, supplier s, and competitors.

 The knowledge of public frameworks is more likely to be widely distributed among a large community of professionals through publicly available training and certification . It is easier for organizations to acquire such knowledge through the labour market.

Ignoring public frameworks and standards can needlessly place an organization at a disadvantage. Organizations should cultivate their own proprietary knowledge on top of a body of knowledge based on public frameworks and standards. Collaboration and coordination across organizations are easier because of shared practices and standards. According to research by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the value to the UK economy from standards is estimated to be about £2.5 billion per annum.4

The following public frameworks and standards are relevant to service management :

 ISO/IEC 20000

 ISO/IEC 27001

 Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®)

 Control Objectives for Information and related Technology ( COBIT ®)

 Projects in Controlled Environments ( PRINCE2 ®)

 Project Management Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK ®)

 Management of Risk (M_o_R®)

 eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers (eSCM-SP™)

 Telecom Operations Map (eTOM®)

 Six Sigma™.

Organization s find the need to integrate guidance from multiple frameworks and standards. Expectations on the effectiveness of such integration efforts should be reasonably set as suggested by the following expert on standards:

‘Frameworks like standards invariably form part of larger complex business system s and as such relating them to each other rigorously requires a systems discipline. Without this you are left with a few cross-references, some guidance notes, and a lot of “tacit knowledge” gluing them together.’

Paul McNeillis, head of professional services at the British Standards Institution 4

1.2.3 ITIL and good practice in service management

The context of this publication is the ITIL framework as a source of good practice in service management . ITIL is used by organizations worldwide to establish and improve capabilities in service management. ISO/IEC 20000 provides a formal and universal standard for organizations seeking to have their service management capabilities audited and certified. While ISO/IEC 20000 is a standard to be achieved and maintained, ITIL offers a body of knowledge useful for achieving the standard.

The ITIL Library has the following component s:

 The ITIL Core: best practice guidance applicable to all types of organizations who provide services to a business .

 The ITIL Complementary Guidance: a complementary set of publications with guidance specific to industry sectors, organization types, operating model s, and technology architecture s.

The ITIL Core consists of five publications (Figure 1.2). Each provides the guidance necessary for an integrated approach as required by the ISO/IEC 20000 standard specification :

 Service Strategy

 Service Design

 Service Transition

 Service Operation

 Continual Service Improvement.

Figure 1.2 The ITIL Core

Each publication addresses capabilities having direct impact on a service provider ’s performance . The structure of the core is in the form of a lifecycle . It is iterative and multidimensional. It ensures that organization s are set up to leverage capabilities in one area for learning and improvements in others. The core is expected to provide structure, stability and strength to service management capabilities with durable principles, methods and tools. This serves to protect investments and provide the necessary basis for measurement, learning and improvement.

The guidance in ITIL can be adapted for use in various business environment s and organization al strategies. The Complementary Guidance provides flexibility to implement the Core in a diverse range of environments. Practitioners can select Complementary Guidance as needed to provide traction for the Core in a given business context, much like tyres are selected based on the type of automobile, purpose, and road conditions. This is to increase the durability and portability of knowledge assets and to protect investments in service management capabilities.

1.2.3.1 Service Strategy

The Service strategy volume provides guidance on how to design , develop, and implement service management not only as an organizational capability but also as a strategic asset . Guidance is provided on the principles underpinning the practice of service management that are useful for developing service management policies, guideline s and processes across the ITIL Service Lifecycle . Service Strategy guidance is useful in the context of Service Design , Service Transition , Service Operation , and Continual Service Improvement . Topics covered in Service Strategy include the development of markets, internal and external, service asset s, Service Catalogue , and implementation of strategy through the Service Lifecycle. Financial Management , Service portfolio management , Organizational Development, and Strategic Risk s are among other major topics.

Organizations use the guidance to set objective s and expectations of performance towards serving customer s and market space s, and to identify, select, and prioritize opportunities. Service Strategy is about ensuring that organization s are in a position to handle the costs and risk s associated with their Service Portfolio s, and are set up not just for operational effectiveness but also for distinctive performance. Decisions made with respect to Service Strategy have far-reaching consequences including those with delayed effect.