The ITIL® Process Framework
ITIL stands for The Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It is a set of IT best practices such as IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM). ITIL elaborate processes, procedures, tasks and worksheets which are organisation or technology specific. ITIL’s systematic approach able to help businesses to manage risk, strengthen customer relations, establish cost-effective practices, and build steady IT environment that allowed businesses to grow, scale and changed.
History of ITIL
The united Kingdom’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) realised the importance of acknowledge IT as a service and apply consistent practices across the entire IT service lifecycle. Therefore, the development of the Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management methodology begins. CCTA release the first version of ITIL in 1989 and name it as ITIL V1.
In the year 2000, the CCTA joint into the office of Government Commerce then release the second version of ITIL in the following year namely ITIL V2.
7 years later (2007), ITIL was updated to the next version which is ITIL V3 and was updated in the year 2011 to resolve errors and inconsistencies from the feedbacks of user community.
In 2013, The UK Cabinet Office and Capita PLC established Axelos. Axelos currently taking role in ITIL development. The last ITIL guidelines was announce in 2017. ITIL 4 was then release with related modules throughout 2019 and 2020.
What is ITIL use for?
ITIL has been widely practice by most businesses over the years in various industry with its proven concept. ITIL is a framework used to standardize the selection, planning delivery and maintaining the overall lifecycle of an IT services within a business. The goal is to improve efficiency and achieve expected service delivery.
What is ITIL Process Framework?
Each revision version of ITIL delivers updated documentation and certifications to prepare organizations for the most current infrastructure landscape and the types of services offerings. ITIL’s framework is not a mandatory checklist to implement best practices. Organisations should evaluate and implement the aspects that are most significant to meet their business needs.
In ITIL V3 the framework provides a broader look at IT services and added guidelines on the service lifecycle. It is also outlining ways for businesses to continuously improve services. The framework core publications present best practices for each major phase of ITSM. These core concepts are as follows:
Source Axelos ITIL V3/2011
Service Strategy
Elaborate Business Goals and how to align business objectives with goals set. There are four building blocks of the service strategy stage: perspective, position, plan, and pattern. There are 5 processes within the service strategy lifecycle stage:
- Strategy Management for IT Services
- Service Portfolio Management
- IT Financial Management
- Demand Management
- Business Relationship Management
Service Design
ITIL Service Design is the second stage of the ITIL Service Management Lifecycle. This stage show guidelines and best practices for designing new IT processes, services and preparing them for a live environment. The service management team tails the strategy defined in the first stage of the service management lifecycle to guide their design decisions and ensure services align with the overall goals of the organisation. In this stage, the implementation, integration and impact of the new service are considered for all stages of the service lifecycle. Service design carries measurable business value, include:
- Reduce the cost of ownership
- Accurate and strategic decision-making
- Improved processes and performance
- Higher service quality and consistency
Service Transition
The third stage where advises on change management and release practices and also guides users through environmental interruptions and changes. This stage includes:
- plan and manage the capacity and resources required to package, build, test and deploy a release into production.
- Established the service specified in customer and stakeholder requirements
- Provide a consistent and rigorous framework for evaluating the service capability and risk profile.
Service Operation
Fourth stage that guide on ways to manage IT services on Daily, monthly and yearly basis. The objective of this stage is to ensure that IT services are delivered optimally. The Service Operation lifecycle stage includes fulfilment of user requests, resolving service failures, fixing problems and carrying out routine operational tasks. Main processes that within Service Operation are:
- Event Management
- Incident Management
- Request Fulfilment
- Access Management
- Problem Management
- IT Operations Control
- Facilities Management
- Application Management
- Technical Management
Continual Service Improvement
Newly introduce modules in V3 on how to introduce improvements and policy within the ITIL process framework. Organisation outline a set of service improvement processes to ensure the ideas for improvement are identified and implemented continuosly, as described below:
- Service Review
- Process Evaluation
- Definition of CSI Initiatives
- Monitoring the CSI Initiatives
ITIL V3 Certification Overview:
ITIL 4 introduce various framework integration and approaches toward service management and operating models. ITIL 4 objective is to help businesses navigate the new era of digital services with the latest technology. ITIL 4 framework is introducing a holistic approach to service management and focus on the end-to-end service management from demand to value.
Source: AXELOS, “ITIL Foundation, ITIL 4 Edition” (2019)
ITIL 4 involve of two key components:
- The four dimensions model
- The service Value System (SVS)
Four Dimensions Model
The Four Dimensions Model is a revised version of the 4P’s Model that was categorized in ITIL V3, which included people, products, partners, and processes. The Four Dimensions Model addresses a holistic approach to service management:
- Organizations and people
- Information and technology products
- Partners and suppliers
- Value streams and processes
Service Value System (SVS)
The Service Value System (SVS) signifies how all the components and activities of an organisation work together to enable Value Creation. The elements of SVS include:
- Guiding Principles
- Governance
- Service Value Chain
- Continual Improvement
- Practices
The ITIL 4 Certification scheme is as follows:
Source: Axelos ITIL 4 Certification Scheme
Who Uses ITIL?
ITIL is a globally recognised framework with proven track record to assist businesses to build a reliable IT environment while ensuring high quality of customer service yet constantly improving the IT-enabled services. ITIL helps your businesses to create accurate, repeatable processes and keep consistent quality deliveries. ITIL has been widely adopted over decades by any size of businesses and industry including government sectors, education systems as well as non-governmental organizations.
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