Question : Use of ITIL Philosophy in support environment
Hi Bob, we are supporting a client since last 5 years in maintaining their ERP applications which involves a lot of process and functional consulting, in addition to technical support. How would ITIL framework be applicable in such environments? Which functions and which processes do you think would be more relevant to implement to make our services ITIL compliant?
Schin, if you are already supporting the ERP and looking at ITIL V3 Life-Cycle, the question is what phases of the life cycle would be appropriate given that you are already supporting the application. Example, Service Strategy would not apply, Service Design would not apply, Service Transition you have already done, so the only one left that would apply is Service Operations.
SERVICE OPERATION
Service Operation is directly dependent on and influenced by the outcomes of the previous life-cycle phases. The service packages from these life-cycle phases are used to set up the policies, procedures, operational documents, and work processes of the application support team.
Service Operation is where the application support team provides value by performing the services specified in the Statement of Work at the agreed-to service levels. In this phase, the application support team performs the day-to-day operational activities necessary to provide application support services. The team uses a Service Management tool to gather and report on the status of all work and ensure compliance with agreed service level goals.
APPLICATION SUPPORT
The application support team’s day-to-day service interaction with business users and customers is consistent with the service desk function. The team’s application management and maintenance activities are consistent with the application management function.
The application support team functions as the service desk for the applications within their scope of responsibility. The team acts as the single point of contact for all work events associated with the application, such as incidents, service requests, and change requests. The team is responsible for managing all customer inquiries from receipt to resolution.
The application support team is responsible for managing application enhancements and maintenance requests through their entire life-cycle. The team is responsible for designing, testing, and improving the applications. The team’s quality control procedures ensure that any functional changes to the application satisfy the customer’s stated quality requirements. The team ensures that the application is available to the business users during the required hours of operation.
The team receives and acknowledges application support trigger events. Examples of these trigger events are notifications from:
The team reviews all trigger events and creates an appropriate work event (incidents, service requests, change requests) in the Service Management tool. When appropriate, the team notifies the source of the trigger event that a work event was created and then closes the trigger event.
The team quickly restores normal service when there is an interruption to a service or a reduction in the quality of service. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures incident status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
The goal of this process is to minimize any negative business impact that may result from an incident. The team is also responsible for ensuring that service quality and availability are maintained in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
The team identifies the root cause of an incident, determines a resolution, and then ensures that the incident does not occur again. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures problem status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
The team balances the goals of Problem Management and Incident Management. The goal of Incident Management is to restore service as quickly as possible. The goal of Problem Management is to implement permanent solutions.
The team manages service requests (support calls) that are received from the application users. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures support call status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
It is important to distinguish between incidents and support calls. Incidents are unplanned and require Change Management approval prior to resolution.
Schin, if you are already supporting the ERP and looking at ITIL V3 Life-Cycle, the question is what phases of the life cycle would be appropriate given that you are already supporting the application. Example, Service Strategy would not apply, Service Design would not apply, Service Transition you have already done, so the only one left that would apply is Service Operations.
SERVICE OPERATION
Service Operation is directly dependent on and influenced by the outcomes of the previous life-cycle phases. The service packages from these life-cycle phases are used to set up the policies, procedures, operational documents, and work processes of the application support team.
Service Operation is where the application support team provides value by performing the services specified in the Statement of Work at the agreed-to service levels. In this phase, the application support team performs the day-to-day operational activities necessary to provide application support services. The team uses a Service Management tool to gather and report on the status of all work and ensure compliance with agreed service level goals.
APPLICATION SUPPORT
The application support team’s day-to-day service interaction with business users and customers is consistent with the service desk function. The team’s application management and maintenance activities are consistent with the application management function.
The application support team functions as the service desk for the applications within their scope of responsibility. The team acts as the single point of contact for all work events associated with the application, such as incidents, service requests, and change requests. The team is responsible for managing all customer inquiries from receipt to resolution.
The application support team is responsible for managing application enhancements and maintenance requests through their entire life-cycle. The team is responsible for designing, testing, and improving the applications. The team’s quality control procedures ensure that any functional changes to the application satisfy the customer’s stated quality requirements. The team ensures that the application is available to the business users during the required hours of operation.
The team receives and acknowledges application support trigger events. Examples of these trigger events are notifications from:
The team reviews all trigger events and creates an appropriate work event (incidents, service requests, change requests) in the Service Management tool. When appropriate, the team notifies the source of the trigger event that a work event was created and then closes the trigger event.
The team quickly restores normal service when there is an interruption to a service or a reduction in the quality of service. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures incident status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
The goal of this process is to minimize any negative business impact that may result from an incident. The team is also responsible for ensuring that service quality and availability are maintained in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
The team identifies the root cause of an incident, determines a resolution, and then ensures that the incident does not occur again. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures problem status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
The team balances the goals of Problem Management and Incident Management. The goal of Incident Management is to restore service as quickly as possible. The goal of Problem Management is to implement permanent solutions.
The team manages service requests (support calls) that are received from the application users. Throughout this process the application support team tracks and captures support call status data in the Service Management tool. Activities within this process are:
It is important to distinguish between incidents and support calls. Incidents are unplanned and require Change Management approval prior to resolution.