Saturday, May 2, 2015

CIS3008 ITSM

ITSM 3008

 


CIS3008
North Dakota




Executive summary
Information technology services are of immense importance to the organization and should be managed in such a way that all business functions can run smoothly without leading to any issues pertaining to IT services. In the present context Information technology department of North Dakota has been considered to evaluate the IT related services in the organization. ITSM is one of the key tools for the business organizations in order to manage needs into effective manner and to enhance customer satisfaction level smoothly. ITIL V3 service strategy phase would involve customer relationship, service portfolio management and financial management aspects for ITD of North Dakota. Service design process for the IT service management would include assignment of roles and responsibility and decision making for outsourcing. North Dakota should consider the decision for outsourcing in order to implement low cost IT services in the organizational context. Decision need to be taken for implement of ISO/IEC 20000 certification and looking into perceived benefits for North Dakota it is advisable to implement ISO/IEC 20000 certification.










Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.0 Introduction

Information technology service management is an important system for managing IT services of the organization in smooth manner. In the present context ITSM services used for North Dakota would be evaluated so as to understand the major benefits of ITSM at North Dakota. Further service strategy used through ITIL V3 strategy phase would be evaluated for Information technology department (ITD) of North Dakota. Service design of North Dakota would be explored in order to understand the roles & responsibilities of IT support stakeholders along with benefits & limitations of outsourcing for IT services pertaining to the organization. Finally present paper would look into the ISO/IEC 20000 certification and would assess the viability through benefits & limitation analysis for North Dakota ITD department. Conclusions and recommendations would be presented to deputy CIO of the company in order to make appropriate decision on the IT service management issues pertaining to the organization based on the recommendations mentioned in the present paper.  

2.0 Importance of ITSM in North Dakota

Management of information technology services in smooth and effective manner would require implementation of information technology service management system to be implemented in organizational context (Bon, 2007). For any organization major role of ITSM is to simplify the business processes so that entire IT infrastructure and IT services are aligned and business processes are taking place in smooth manner. Some of the key benefits of ITSM for ITD of North Dakota would include workflow automation, minimizing service delivery time, improving service quality, building competitive advantage and providing service support for the organization in conformity with the business needs of the customers.
First key benefit of implementing ITSM in ITD of North Dakota would automate the workflow in organization wherein various business processes implemented in the organizational context would be smoothly managed. Request tracking for any IT related service would be carried out in automatic manner by ITD of North Dakota. Resolution for the issue faced would be provided by allotting the call to the concerned person and after resolution of the call it would be closed automatically asking for the user feedback regarding call process. Hence starting from the call log process to call closure would be done without any human intervention and this would help in order to smoothly manage the workflow for the organization.
By eliminating the human intervention from the IT service issue resolution process it would be possible for ITD department of North Dakota to considerably reduce overall time consumed in resolution of the call. Hence there would be faster services provided to the IT users and lesser time would be wasted in resolving a call and waiting for the system or human to intervene in the issue logged in into IT system of the organization. ITSM systems would be closely monitoring service quality from the each and every call resolved through the present system would be checked for service quality through feedback obtained from users.
ITD of North Dakota can attain competitive advantage through ITSM in the organization as this would lead to lower cost and better service management in the organizational context. By automating work task and making fast delivery entire work processes in the organization would add to an efficient system. North Dakota would be able to foster high level of efficiency along with managing competitive advantage to compete against the competitors of the organization (England, 2008).  
Role of information technology service management would be to provide the service support for the clients in accordance with their business needs. ITSM has the ability to assess and understand the business needs of consumers and accordingly information technology services would be delivered for the organization’s client so as to fulfill their organizational requirements. Entire IT and non IT related system requirements would be fulfilled through maintenance of single contact point with the ITD department of North Dakota.
Hence overall it can be said that ITSM system managed in the organizational context for ITD of North Dakota would be helpful in building competitive advantage, providing good service quality, reducing delivery time, managing automated workflow and developing competitive advantage for the organization based on which ITD department of North Dakota can manage their business operations and client base in efficient manner.

3.0 Service strategy- ITIL V3 service strategy phase

Service strategy domain is the base for the ITIL V3 strategy phase in the organizational context wherein there are four major elements of the strategy phase included in the strategy design. This phase of the service strategy would include the objective setting for the organization and setting a plan in order to achieve these objectives of the organization. The four important phases for ITIL V3 strategy phase would include service portfolio management, financial management and business relationship management. Further present section would suggest for the possible improvements in the IT service strategy process of the organization as well (Knapp, 2010).
Service portfolio management part of the service strategy phase for the organization would include appropriate mix of services in order to meet business requirement of customers. Exact match needs to be created between customer requirement and services delivered by the ITD department of North Dakota. In order to develop perfect match between consumer requirement and services delivered by the organization it is important that customers would be engaged in continuous communication for taking feedback and accordingly service delivery should be improved to develop exact match. It has been observed that North Dakota ITD department does not take care of the strategic objectives of the organization. From the survey conducted for customer satisfaction pertaining to ITD department of North Dakota it was determined that more than 99% of the consumers are being serviced with high customer satisfaction. The major focus of the ITD department for North Dakota is on the development of strong customer relationship, engaging in continuous feedback mechanism and providing technological directions for the client base of the organization.
Financial management part of the service strategy phase for the organization would strive for the arrangement of funds in order to establish service infrastructure for the organization and developing cost efficiencies in service management for IT (Kolthof, 2007). Financial audits are being carried out in the organizational context so as to understand overall cost structure followed in the organization and continuous efficiency management programs developed in the organization. One of the major aspects for the financial management in the organization is to ensure that adequate funding is made available for development of IT service infrastructure. Service strategy phase has its focus on accounting, budgeting and charging activities so that income exceptions are effectively managed in the organizational context. Unit costs are being managed in such a manner that costing can be efficiently managed and cost pertaining to consumers can be forwarded to them. This would manage overall cost for the organization and efficient funds would be made available for the IT service infrastructure of the organization.   
Management of customer relationship with the IT service provider would be an important aspect as this would manage high customer satisfaction by delivering appropriate solution for IT services as desired by the customers (Buchsein and Dettmer, 2008). The major set of aims for which business relationship management is being implemented in ITIL V3 service strategy would include understanding consumer requirements, establishing effective communication, developing feedback mechanism and enhancing customer satisfaction through efficient complaint management system for the services provided by the organization. ITD department of North Dakota understand important of customer relationship management and this can be revealed through survey conducted in the organization wherein it was found out that more than 90% of the consumers rate ITD as the most trusted business partner and would like to carry out future businesses with ITD only.
ITIL V3 service strategy phase has another objective to recommend various improvements in the IT service strategy processes pertaining to the organization. A set of changes for the IT service strategy can be implemented in organization where focus should be on the strategic importance of the IT service strategy of the organization so that service strategy of the organization can be developed in organization in such a way that aims and objectives of the organization can be fulfilled. Strategic aims of the organization need to be assessed and accordingly service delivery should be enhanced in such a manner that organizational objectives are efficiently attained through improvement proposed in the IT services provided by the organization (Rovers and Haren, 2012).

4.0 Service design

Service design part of the information technology service management function for ITD would include two major aspects which are assignment of roles and responsibilities for various system stakeholders and making decision pertaining to the outsourcing process for IT services. Roles and responsibilities of various system stakeholders are appointed in order to define system workings in effective manner. 4.1 Roles and responsibilities

There would be five major stakeholders of the present system under service design strategy to whom various responsibilities pertaining to ITSM would be allocated and these roles and responsibilities can be given as under:
1.    System admin: System administrator would ensure the availability of various systems and network element in order to develop smooth business functioning. System admin would build the system rules regarding transfer of asset, transfer of data, installation and other aspects related with the systems. System admin would be responsible for tracking the system performance on regular basis (Hlvey and Melby, 2005).
2.    Service analyst: Service analyst would track the performance of services imparted in the organizational context by conducting service audit. Inefficient services would be identified and based on the organizational processes these services would be improved to bring higher efficiency in the system.
3.    Process coordinator: Process coordinator would analyze the organizational processes and policies. Further role of process coordinator would be to modify processes of organization as per IT infrastructure available in the organization.
4.    Change owner: Change owner in the system would perform the function of initiator for the change request. Form filled by change owner would be considered as the initiation request for change and this change request would be assigned to change management team in the organization. Changes implemented by change management team would be reviewed and feedback would be provided on the changes so that IT service infrastructure and IT processes followed in the organization are in exact congruence with each other.
5.    Operational analyst: Operational analyst for ITD department of North Dakota would have the role to manage day to day operations of an organization. Operational analyst would monitor daily expense activities for the IT service department and recruitment of employees for managing IT services with the organization.

4.2 Outsourcing advantages

Outsourcing of IT related services for ITD department of North Dakota would offer several advantages which can be considered in order to evaluate the decision of outsourcing in the organizational context. By outsourcing the IT services of the organization it would be possible to put higher focus on the core activities of the organization (McBride, 2000). Outsourcing activities would involve external partners in the process of service delivery pertaining to IT service delivery infrastructure hence overall risk for IT services would be shared with service provider. Managing outsourcing for IT related services in the organization would help in order to maintain lower costing structure for the organization wherein investment in the IT service infrastructure can be reduced. Managing outsourced IT services would help the organization in order to manage lower staff for IT services and hence in accordance to that training and development expenses can be saved. Technology cost can be significantly shifted to the service provider agency.

4.3 Outsourcing disadvantages

There are several disadvantages of outsourced IT services as well and these should be considered before making decision for the outsourcing of IT services in organizational context. Some of the major disadvantages of outsourcing would include higher dependence on service provider; risk to data, issues faced in process alignment and delayed service delivery instances. Third party providing IT related services would be solely responsible for managing IT related service and organization would lose their control from IT services in the organization. Information contained in the system of the organization would also be at risk by going for outsourcing as external service provide would be having complete control of the system. By implementing IT service outsourcing there would be difficulties faced in the alignment of IT service infrastructure and processes developed in the organizational context. Finally the major negative consequence of the outsourcing for the IT services of ITD of North Dakota would be in terms of delayed service delivery instance and reduction in user satisfaction towards IT services of the organization. By outsourcing there would not be proper quality and time management aspects implemented in the organization hence there would be higher time consumed in each issue resolution which would further reduce customer satisfaction level towards IT related services (Sharon and Ivor, 2012).

5.0 ISO/IEC 20000 certification

Adopting ISO/IEC 20000 certification is an important decision for ITD of North Dakota which needs to be taken after proper consideration of the benefits and limitations of the ISO/IEC 20000 certification in context to present organizational context.

5.1 Benefits of ISO/IEC 20000 certification

Major benefits identified for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification for the ITD department of North Dakota would involve below mentioned:
§  Assessing consumer demand: Consumer demand for the service requirement would be the major focus area for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification wherein consumer needs would be properly assessed. Further with instant change in any service requirement for the organization by following ISO/IEC 20000 certification it would be easy for ITD of North Dakota to manage the service requirement with high ease.
§  Higher focus on service parameter: Service would be the major focus area for ISO/IEC 20000 certification wherein services would be delivered to the customer base depending upon the requirement of the consumers. And business objectives would be aligned such that there is high degree of attention towards the service delivery for the consumer segment. A synergy would be created between service elements of the business processes and business strategy followed by the organization (Eric, 2007).
§  Continuous improvements: ISO/IEC 20000 certification has proper monitoring processes in place which emphasis on the continuous service improvement for the organizational IT services. A continuous feedback and improvement system is being maintained in the organization wherein feedback obtained from users would be implemented and users would be involved in continuous communication process with the organization.
§  Reliability for delivery of services: Processes and policies in ISO/IEC 20000 certification would be such that it would foster much higher level of reliability in service delivery aspect for the organization.

5.2 Limitations of ISO/IEC 20000 certification

There are several limitations for implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification which would give motivation for not obtaining ISO/IEC 20000 certification for ITD of North Dakota. Some of the major limitations which are observed in context of ITD of North Dakota can be given as under:
§  High compliance requirements: There are several compliances which need to be fulfilled by the organization implementing ISO/IEC 20000 certification in the organization. These compliances may require key changes in the business processes and this would lead to significant resources invested for business process re-engineering. Hence for organizations which can’t compromise on the business processes it would be really difficult to implement the ISO/IEC 20000 certification (Atwell, 2012).
§  Initial phase for ISO/IEC 20000 certification: ISO/IEC 20000 certification is in its initial phase of development wherein entire standards and processes for these certifications are yet to be developed. There can be drastic changes in the policies and processes adopted for ISO/IEC 20000 certification in some time which may again led to changes in the business processes and IT service infrastructure implemented by the organization.
§  High cost implications: Implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification would require high amount of cost for the implementation of certification. This high amount of cost would be invested in system design, process re-engineering and training aspects for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification.
Hence depending upon the benefits and limitations for the implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification it can be advised that ITD department of North Dakota should implement ISO/IEC 20000 certification in order to enhance service quality level and ensure continuous improvement in IT services of the organization. Continuous improvement in the service quality level of the organizational services would be ensured by providing business solution as per consumer need and aligning organizational objectives as per the consumer requirements (Dugmore, 2006).  

Conclusion and recommendations to deputy CIO

Present paper has explored the area of information technology service management in specific context for information technology department of North Dakota. In the first part of present paper importance level of information technology service management was assessed for ITD department of North Dakota. It was established that ITSM has high level of importance for ITD and some of the major importance factors concerning to the organizational environment would include providing service according to consumer business needs, automated workflow, reducing service delivery time and enhancing customer service quality thereby contributing to overall high level of customer satisfaction for the organization.
Second part of the present paper talks about ITIL V3 service strategy phase includes three major factors for the service strategy of the organization which includes service portfolio management, customer relationship management and financial management (Dugmore, 2006). These three parameters would be important in order to implement the service strategy of the organization so as to gain high competitive advantage by managing low cost and high level of customer service for the organization. Fourth part of the current paper evaluates the service design for the current level of IT service management in ITD of North Dakota. Service design parameter would include two important aspects which are defining roles & responsibilities of various stakeholders working in the It environment. Several key roles such as system administration, service analyst, operation analyst and process coordinator etc were analyzed for their level of responsibility in the organization (Eric, 2007). Further important strategic decision pertaining to outsourcing of the IT services for North Dakota was determined based on the benefits and limitations of outsourcing activities. It was made out that benefits of outsourcing are much more in comparison to the limitations hence it is advisable for the organization to make benefit from outsourcing of IT services. Fifth part of the current paper was related with the decision making for adoption of ISO/IEC 20000 certification in the organizational environment. Based on the various benefits such as focus on quality, continuous improvement and strategy based on service parameter it was decided that ITD department of North Dakota should adopt ISO/IEC 20000 certification so that organization can be directed towards continuous service excellence path.  
From the present paper after analysis of various IT service management aspects several key recommendations can be made which would help in successful IT service implementation for the organization and can be given as mentioned below:
§  ITSM has high level of importance in ensuring customer satisfaction level for the organization hence ITSM should be properly managed
§  ITIL V3 has three major aspects and it is important for North Dakota that they should manage these three aspects i.e. customer relationship management, financial management and service portfolio management. Out of the three major emphasis of the organization should be towards service portfolio management
§  ITD department of North Dakota should strive continuously so as to make improvement in IT services area
§  Roles and responsibilities of IT stakeholders should be defined properly at the time of system design only. Further each stakeholder should be provided with proper training so as to carry on with their responsibilities
§  Looking into benefits of outsourcing activities it is recommended for ITD of North Dakota that outsourcing should be implemented for management of IT services (Eric, 2007)
§  ISO/IEC 20000 certification should be adopted in the organizational environment so as to enhance focus of the organization towards service element.

References

Bon, V (2007). Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL V3. Van Haren Publishing
Buchsein, R and Dettmer K (2008). ISO/IEC 20000 – IT Service Management. Benefits and Requirements for Service Providers and Customers. iET Solutions
Dugmore, J (2006). Achieving ISO/IEC 20000 - The Differences Between BS 15000 and ISO/IEC 20000. BSI Group [1]. p. 124. ISBN 0-580-47348-1.
Dugmore, J (2006). "BS 15000 to ISO/IEC 20000 What difference does it make?". ITNOW 48 (3): 30. doi:10.1093/combul/bwl017
England, R (2008). Introduction to Real ITSM. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Hlvey, J and Melby, B (2005) Information Technology Outsourcing Transactions: Process, Strategies, and Contracts. John Wiley & Sons.
Knapp, D (2010).The ITSM Process Design Guide. CPDE, ITIL ExpertTM. J. Ross Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-60427-049-5.
Kolthof, A (2007). Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL V3: an introduction, Volume 3. Van Haren Publishing
McBride, D (2000). A guide to help desk technology, tools & techniques. Course Technology
Rovers, M and Haren, V (2012). ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011: A Pocket Guide. Van Haren Publishing
Sharon T and Ivor M (2012). ITIL Small Scale Implementation. The Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-330980-5



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