Continual Service Improvement
(Continual Service Improvement) A stage in the Lifecycle of an IT Service and the title of one of the Core ITIL publications. Continual Service Improvement is responsible for managing improvements to IT Service Management Processes and IT Services. The Performance of the IT Service provider is continually measured and improvements are made to Processes, IT Services and IT Infrastructure in order to increase Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Cost Effectiveness. See also Plan–Do–Check–Act.
Continuous Availability
(Service Design) An approach or design to achieve 100% Availability. A Continuously Available IT Service has no planned or unplanned Downtime.
Continuous Operation
(Service Design) An approach or design to eliminate planned Downtime of an IT Service. Note that individual Configuration Items may be down even though the IT Service is Available.
Contract
A legally binding Agreement between two or more parties.
Control
A means of managing a Risk, ensuring that a Business Objective is achieved, or ensuring that a Process is followed. Example Controls include Policies, Procedures, Roles, RAID, door locks, etc. A control is sometimes called a Countermeasure or safeguard. Control also means to manage the utilization or behaviour of a Configuration Item, System or IT Service.
Control perspective
(Service Strategy) An approach to the management of IT Services, Processes, Functions, Assets, etc. There can be several different Control Perspectives on the same IT Service, Process, etc., allowing different individuals or teams to focus on what is important and relevant to their specific Role. Example Control Perspectives include Reactive and Proactive management within IT Operations, or a Lifecycle view for an Application Project team.
Cost
The amount of money spent on a specific Activity, IT Service, or Business Unit. Costs consist of real cost (money), notional cost such as people’s time, and Depreciation.
Cost Benefit Analysis
An Activity that analyses and compares the costs and the benefits involved in one or more alternative courses of action. See also Business Case, Return on Investment.
Cost Effectiveness
A measure of the balance between the Effectiveness and Cost of a Service, Process or activity. A Cost Effective Process is one that achieves its Objectives at minimum Cost. See also KPI, Return on Investment, Value for Money .
Countermeasure
Can be used to refer to any type of Control. The term Countermeasure is most often used when referring to measures that increase Resilience, Fault Tolerance or Reliability of an IT Service.
Crisis Management
(IT Service Continuity Management) Crisis Management is the Process responsible for managing the wider implications of Business Continuity. A Crisis Management team is responsible for Strategic issues such as managing media relations and shareholder confidence, and decides when to invoke Business Continuity Plans.
Critical Success Factor
Something that must happen if a Process, Project, Plan, or IT Service is to succeed. KPIs are used to measure the achievement of each CSF. For example a CSF of ‘protect IT Services when making Changes’ could be measured by KPIs such as ‘percentage reduction of unsuccessful Changes’, ‘percentage reduction in Changes causing Incidents’, etc.
Culture
A set of values that is shared by a group of people, including expectations about how people should behave, their ideas, beliefs, and practices. See also Vision .
Customer
Someone who buys goods or Services. The Customer of an IT Service provider is the person or group that defines and agrees the Service level targets. The term Customers is also sometimes informally used to mean Users, for example ‘this is a Customer-focused Organization’.
Dashboard
(Service Operation) A graphical representation of overall IT Service Performance and Availability. Dashboard images may be updated in real time, and can also be included in management reports and web pages. Dashboards can be used to support Service Level Management, Event Management or Incident Diagnosis.
Deliverable
Something that must be provided to meet a commitment in a Service Level Agreement or a Contract. Deliverable is also used in a more informal way to mean a planned output of any Process.
Demand Management
Activities that understand and influence Customer demand for Services and the provision of Capacity to meet these demands. At a Strategic level Demand Management can involve analysis of Patterns of Business Activity and User Profiles. At a tactical level it can involve use of Differential Charging to encourage Customers to use IT Services at less busy times. See also Capacity Management.
Dependency
The direct or indirect reliance of one Process or Activity on another.
Deployment
(Service Transition) The Activity responsible for movement of new or changed hardware, software, documentation, Process, etc. to the Live Environment. Deployment is part of the Release and Deployment Management Process.
Design
(Service Design) An Activity or Process that identifies Requirements and then defines a solution that is able to meet these Requirements. See also Service Design .
Detection
(Service Operation) A stage in the Incident Lifecycle. Detection results in the Incident becoming known to the Service provider. Detection can be automatic, or can be the result of a user logging an Incident.
Development
(Service Design) The Process responsible for creating or modifying an IT Service or Application. Also used to mean the Role or group that carries out Development work.
Development Environment
(Service Design) An Environment used to create or modify IT Services or Applications. Development Environments are not typically subjected to the same degree of control as Test Environments or Live Environments. See also Development.
Diagnosis
(Service Operation) A stage in the Incident and Problem Lifecycles. The purpose of Diagnosis is to identify a Workaround for an Incident or the Root cause of a Problem.
Differential Charging
A technique used to support Demand Management by charging different amounts for the same IT Service Function at different times.
Document
Information in readable form. A Document may be paper or electronic. For example, a Policy statement, Service Level Agreement, Incident Record, diagram of computer room layout. See also Record.
Downtime
(Service Design) (Service Operation) The time when a Configuration Item or IT Service is not Available during its Agreed Service Time. The Availability of an IT Service is often calculated from Agreed Service Time and Downtime.
Driver
Something that influences Strategy, Objectives or Requirements. For example, new legislation or the actions of competitors.
Economies of scale
(Service Strategy) The reduction in average Cost that is possible from increasing the usage of an IT Service or Asset.
Effectiveness
(Continual Service Improvement) A measure of whether the Objectives of a Process, Service or Activity have been achieved. An Effective Process or activity is one that achieves its agreed Objectives. See also KPI.
Efficiency
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