(Continual Service Improvement) A measure of whether the right amount of resources has been used to deliver a Process, Service or Activity. An Efficient Process achieves its Objectives with the minimum amount of time, money, people or other resources. See also KPI.
Environment
(Service Transition) A subset of the IT Infrastructure that is used for a particular purpose. For example: Live Environment, Test Environment, Build Environment. It is possible for multiple Environments to share a Configuration Item, for example Test and Live Environments may use different partitions on a single mainframe computer. Also used in the term Physical Environment to mean the accommodation, air conditioning, power system, etc.
Environment is also used as a generic term to mean the external conditions that influence or affect something.
Error
(Service Operation) A design flaw or malfunction that causes a Failure of one or more Configuration Items or IT Services. A mistake made by a person or a faulty Process that affects a CI or IT Service is also an Error.
Escalation
(Service Operation) An Activity that obtains additional Resources when these are needed to meet Service level targets or Customer expectations. Escalation may be needed within any IT Service Management Process, but is most commonly associated with Incident Management, Problem Management and the management of Customer complaints. There are two types of Escalation, Functional Escalation and Hierarchic Escalation.
eSourcing Capability Model for Service providers
(Service Strategy) A framework to help IT Service providers develop their IT Service Management Capabilities from a Service Sourcing perspective. eSCM–SP was developed by Carnegie Mellon University, US.
Estimation
The use of experience to provide an approximate value for a Metric or Cost. Estimation is also used in Capacity and Availability Management as the cheapest and least accurate Modelling method.
Evaluation
(Service Transition) The Process responsible for assessing a new or Changed IT Service to ensure that Risks have been managed and to help determine whether to proceed with the Change.
Evaluation is also used to mean comparing an actual Outcome with the intended Outcome, or comparing one alternative with another.
Event
(Service Operation) A change of state that has significance for the management of a Configuration Item or IT Service.
The term Event is also used to mean an Alert or notification created by any IT Service, Configuration Item or Monitoring tool. Events typically require IT Operations personnel to take actions, and often lead to Incidents being logged.
Event Management
(Service Operation) The Process responsible for managing Events throughout their Lifecycle. Event Management is one of the main Activities of IT Operations.
Exception Report
A Document containing details of one or more KPIs or other important targets that have exceeded defined Thresholds. Examples include SLA targets being missed or about to be missed, and a Performance Metric indicating a potential Capacity problem.
Expanded Incident Lifecycle
(Availability Management) Detailed stages in the Lifecycle of an Incident. The stages are Detection, Diagnosis, Repair, Recovery, Restoration. The Expanded Incident Lifecycle is used to help understand all contributions to the Impact of Incidents and to Plan how these could be controlled or reduced.
External Service provider
(Service Strategy) An IT Service provider that is part of a different Organization to its Customer. An IT Service provider may have both Internal Customers and External Customers.
External Sourcing
See Outsourcing.
Facilities Management
(Service Operation) The Function responsible for managing the physical Environment where the IT Infrastructure is located. Facilities Management includes all aspects of managing the physical Environment, for example power and cooling, building Access Management, and environmental Monitoring.
Failure
(Service Operation) Loss of ability to Operate to Specification, or to deliver the required output. The term Failure may be used when referring to IT Services, Processes, Activities, Configuration Items, etc. A Failure often causes an Incident.
Fast Recovery
(Service Design) A Recovery Option that is also known as Hot Standby. Provision is made to Recover the IT Service in a short period of time: typically less than 24 hours. Fast Recovery typically uses a dedicated Fixed Facility with computer Systems, and software configured ready to run the IT Services. Fast Recovery may take up to 24 hours if there is a need to Restore data from Backups.
Fault
See Error.
Fault Tolerance
(Service Design) The ability of an IT Service or Configuration Item to continue to Operate correctly after Failure of a Component part. See also Resilience, Countermeasure.
Fault Tree Analysis
(Service Design) (Continual Service Improvement) A technique that can be used to determine the chain of events that leads to a Problem. Fault Tree Analysis represents a chain of events using Boolean notation in a diagram.
Financial Management
(Service Strategy) The Function and Processes responsible for managing an IT Service provider’s Budgeting, Accounting and Charging Requirements.
Fit for Purpose
An informal term used to describe a Process, Configuration Item, IT Service, etc. that is capable of meeting its objectives or Service levels. Being Fit for Purpose requires suitable design, implementation, control and maintenance.
Fulfilment
Performing Activities to meet a need or Requirement. For example, by providing a new IT Service, or meeting a Service request.
Function
A team or group of people and the tools they use to carry out one or more Processes or Activities. For example the Service Desk.
The term Function also has two other meanings:
An intended purpose of a Configuration Item, Person, Team, Process, or IT Service. For example one Function of an e-mail Service may be to store and forward outgoing mails, one Function of a Business Process may be to dispatch goods to Customers.
To perform the intended purpose correctly, ‘The computer is Functioning’.
Governance
Ensuring that Policies and Strategy are actually implemented, and that required Processes are correctly followed. Governance includes defining Roles and responsibilities, measuring and reporting, and taking actions to resolve any issues identified.
Gradual Recovery
(Service Design) A Recovery Option that is also known as Cold Standby. Provision is made to Recover the IT Service in a period of time greater than 72 hours. Gradual Recovery typically uses a Portable or Fixed Facility that has environmental support and network cabling, but no computer Systems. The hardware and software are installed as part of the IT Service Continuity Plan.
Guideline
A Document describing Best Practice, which recommends what should be done. Compliance with a guideline is not normally enforced. See also Standard.
High Availability
(Service Design) An approach or design that minimizes or hides the effects of Configuration Item Failure on the users of an IT Service. High Availability solutions are designed to achieve an agreed level of Availability and make use of techniques such as Fault Tolerance, Resilience and fast Recovery to reduce the number of Incidents, and the Impact of Incidents.
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