SERVICE DESK

 Function not a Process
 Central Point of Contact – Increase user perception and satisfaction
 Support for business goals
 Log ALL Incidents
 Provide First Line support
 Second Line support – Generalists / Ops Support
 Third Line support – Specialists
 Produce measurement metrics
 Categorise Incidents

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT

 Incident is an event not part of standard service
 Incident causes disruption
 Incident causes a reduction in service
 An incident has a ‘Life Cycle’
1. Detection and Recording
2. Classifiaction and Support
3. Investigation and Diagnosis
4. Resolutioon and Recovery
5. Closure
Note! The Expanded Incident Life Cycle is part of AVAILABILITY MANAGEMENT and focuses on the Availability of the system MTBSI, MTTR, MTBF.

 IMPACT = EFFECT
 URGENCY = SPEED
 PRIORITY = Based on IMPACT and URGENCY

 ESCALATION
1. Functional  - Across support teams (Competence)
2. Hierarchical  - Up Management line (Authority)

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT

 Problem is unknown underlying cause of one or more incidents.
 Known Error is when the root cause is known and a workaround has been found.
 To find the root cause we need to undertake ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS.
 Two main elements of Problem Management
1. Error Control
2. Problem Control
 Proactive as well as Reactive – Known Error Database
 RFC are required to resolve Known Errors

CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

 All CIs are held in a CMDB this is NOT the DSL
 Configuration Items are RECORDS and as such are made up of ATTRIBUTES
 There are always 2 Key Attributes
1. Unique Identifier
2. CI Type ID
3. There may be a VARIANT attribute
 CMDB is not an ASSET register because CMDB records RELATIONSHIPS between CIs (Parent-Child).
 The Base Level is the lowest level, which CIs are UNIQUELY identified.
 The Baseline is a SNAPSHOT in time of the CMDB.

 Status Accounting is the reporting of all current and historical data of each CI. e.g. Life Cycle of hardware component
1. Ordered
2. Delivered
3. Tested
4. Installed
5. Under Repair
6. Retired

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

 Requests For Change – details of requested change
 Forward Schedule of Changes – details of changes scheduled for implementation
 Projected Service Availability – details of changes to agreed SLA’s because of FSC
 Change Category
1. MINOR – Change Manager approval
2. SIGNIFICANT – Change Advisory Board approval
3. MAJOR – Board approval
4. URGENT/EMERGENCY – CAB/Emergency Committee (EC) approval
 Change Process
1. Register, Accept, Prioritise
2. Category, Authorise
3. Build, Test, Schedule   Note! Not necessarily FULL testing
4. Implement, Back out
5. Review, Close

RELEASE MANAGEMENT

 Overall HOLISTIC view of a change to an IT service (Roll Out)

 Definitive Software Library – Library where ALL authorised versions of software are stored and protected. A  Physical library or storage repository where master copies of software versions are kept.  This one logical store may consist of one or more physical software libraries or filestores.

 Definitive Hardware Store – An area set aside for the secure storage of definitive hardware spares.

 Release definitions
1. Release - a collection of authorised changes to an IT service
2. Release Unit – Portion of IT Infrastructure normally  released together
3. Roll-out – deliver, install and commission an integrated set of new or changed CIs across logical or physical parts of the organisation.

 Release Types
1. Delta – Partial release of CI’s that have changed or are new since last release.
2. Package – Individual releases FULL units, DELTA or both are grouped together to form a Package Release.
3. Full – All components of the release unit are built, tested, distributed and implemented together.
 

SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT

 Service Catalogue is a list of offerings
 Service Level Requirements deals with AMOUNTS (response Metrics)
 Service Level Agreement is a CLIENT / SUPPLIER Non Technical document NOT a Contract
 Operational Level Agreement Internal Technical or Non Technical document
 Underpinning Contract is with 3rd Partys
 Cost Focus
 Demings Quality Circle – Plan  Do  Check  Act

Financial Management for IT Services

 A COST MODEL must be defined and agreed BEFORE you can CHARGE
 CHARGE Types
1. At Cost
2. Cost Plus
3. Going Rate
4. Market Rate
5. Fixed Price
 An OVERHEAD is the TOTAL cost of INDIRECT materials e.g. Wages and Expenses
 CAPITAL Costs apply to Fixed Substantial assets of the organisation e.g. Building
 OPERATIONAL Costs result from Day to Day running of  IT Services section e.g. Staff Costs
 DIRECT Costs are those that can be traced in FULL to a product, service, cost centre or department e.g. direct wages of a member of Staff or Staff Type i.e. Contractors
 INDIRET costs cannot be traced directly to and in full to a product, service or department.  It may be a cost spread across a number of departments.  It’s an APPORTIONED cost or OVERHEAD.
 Cost Types – THE SPA
 Efficiency and Effectiveness are related to COST.

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT

 Business Capacity Management – FUTURE business requirements
 Service Capacity Management – CURRENT Service delivery
 Resource Capacity Management – UNDERLYING resource components
 Demand Management – Differential Charging
 Modelling
1. TREND
2. ANALYTICAL
3. SIMULATION
4. BASELINE (What if?)
 Application Sizing – Supply v Demand, Cost v Capacity
 There are Capacity THRESHOLDS that when exceeded generate ALERTS

IT SERVICE CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT

 Reduction in the VULNERABILITY of the IT service
 RISK Analysis – Threats to assets CRAMM
 Countermeasures – Recovery Options
1. Do Nothing
2. Manual Backup
3. Reciprocal Arrangements
4. COLD   Gradual Recovery > 72 hrs
5. WARM   Intermediate Recovery 24 to 72 hrs
6. HOT    Immediate recovery 0 to 8 hrs
 Note! Cold, Warm and Hot recovery options should be at a REMOTE location
 Increases customer confidence and can reduce Insurance premiums.

AVAILABILITY MANAGEMENT

 ABILITY but NOT VULNERABILITY
 Availability of service
 Reliability – Maintainability}  OLA Managed
 Serviceability    SLA Managed
 Security is Confidence, Integrity and Availability