We have seen discussions concerning ITIL framework ever since the development of the methodology in the later years of the 1980’s. Over the last twenty plus years ITIL has quickly become the de facto standard in Service Management all over the world.

Oddly enough the ITIL started as a simple guide to aid the Government of the United Kingdom. Yet the ITIL framework has since then proven to be extremely useful to organizations worldwide in all sectors, this has been made possible mainly through the adoption as a bias for consultancy, education and software tools support by many Service Management companies. Amazingly, ITIL is now known globally.

We know how the ITIL came about and the circumstances under which it was developed, now lets take a closer look at the actual framework and talk briefly on how is can be used, when is can be used, and where it can be used.

We will begin with a short explanation of what the framework is so that we can get a good idea of why it is useful, and then we will take a closer look at the details or aspects of the ITIL Framework.

ITIL as a Best Practice Framework

The ITIL Framework as a methodology, documents industry best practice guidance. The framework had indeed proven its value over and over again from the very start of its lifetime.

At first the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, or the CCTA, gathered information on exactly how organizations actually addressed Service Management, they analyzed this information and went on to filter or pick of the issues that would prove as useful to the CCTA as well as to its customers based in the central Government of the United Kingdom.

Other organizations soon caught on and found that the guidance itself was vastly applicable and the markets that were outside of the Governments were soon created by the service industry.

This turned out to be very good for organizations as they would not have to change anything about their business’s, all they would need to do is to prepare their organizations IT Services for implementation.

What does the ITIL Framework actually do?

Being true its nature the ITIL Framework describes the contours of organizing Service Management. It constructs models that are designed to show the goals, activities, inputs and outputs of a variety of processes, which can also be incorporated with in Information Technology organizations.

One thing ITIL does not do is “cast in stone” each and every action that is required by an organization on a day to day basis. This is due to the fact that no organization will have the exact same actions that need to be performed every day; this is something that differs depending on the organization. What it does do is focus on the best practice that is able to be utilized in many different ways to meet the needs of an organization.

ITIL can now be used within various organizations along with the existing methods and activities in their Service Management, due to the practices that can be utilized to suit needs. The use of ITIL does not mean we are adopting a completely foreign and new way of thinking and acting.

It merely gives an organization the framework in which is needed to place existing methods and activities in a more cleanly structured context. If there is a lack of communication and cooperation between varying IT functions they can be eliminated or at the very least minimized by emphasizing the relationships between the processes with this very useful framework.

By emphasizing the relationships between the processes, any lack of communication and cooperation between various IT functions can be eliminated or minimized.

The framework in more detail

The ITIL framework is known for providing best practice, these practices can then be adopted by an organization. This can help an IT service management to;

• Align Information Technology Services with their current and projected needs of the organization
• It can aid in improving the actual quality of the current Information Technology Services
• It can help to reduce the costs of providing the Information Technology Services.

{qbapagebreak title=ITIL Publication}

ITIL Publication

A. Best Practice for Serve Delivery This covers the planning processes that are required to deliver good quality Information Technology Services. The actual planning processes consider aspects that have a moderate to great impact on the quality of future Information Technology services.

B. Best Practice for Service Support This publication covers supportive processes that are required in order to maintain the quality of Information Technology services during the daily operations of an organization. These support processes consider aspects that have a present to short-term impact on the quality of the organizations Information Technology services.

C. The Business Perspective This covers areas that enable the Business-Information Technology alignment for present day IT services as well as future Information Technology services in the organization. The areas that are addressed include, Business Relationship Management or BRM, Supplier Relationship Management or SRM, Review, Planning and Development of Information Technology and Liaison, Education and Communication of Information Technology.

D. Planning to Implement Service Management This covers all areas related to implementing and improving ITIL processes with in the organization. It also addresses the areas related to ITIL process adoption, like organizational change, cultural change, and project management and process improvements.

E. ICT Infrastructure Management This publication covers areas that are related to managing the ICT infrastructure. The ICT infrastructure provides the underlying support infrastructure used to provide the Information Technology services. The areas that are covered include management and administration, Design and Planning, Technical Support, and Development and Operations.

F. Application Management This publication covers the lifecycle phases such as requirements, design, build, deploy, operate, and optimize. It also includes some guidance on Information Technology Service Management considerations for the application lifecycle phase.

G. Security Management This publication covers the Information Technology Security Management process that addresses the security aspect of the organizations information, Information Technology services, and the ICT infrastructure. The Security Management process includes aspects that address how to plan, implement, evaluate, maintain, and also how to control.

Conclusion

From the information above it is easy to see how and why ITIL has taken off with such success.  There are publications that address all of the Information Technology issues that that may exist with in an organization, this allows the ITIL to be helpful no matter what the nature of your organization may be, it relates specifically to the IT of an organization, rather then to the product or nature of the organization.

Such a versatile tool was much needed and now we are seeing it in action all over the globe. Over the span of a few more years ITIL is going to take-off in a direction that can only be good for us.