2008, Rania Al-Maghraby 1

Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
A Project Management Perspective on ITIL

V3

Rania Al-Maghraby PMP, ITIL, M.Sc., Project Manager, Egypt


Be keen for what benefits you. Seek God's help. Never give up.
Mohammed (PBUH)


Abstract

This paper is a trial to view the ITIL

V3 framework for IT service management from a project

management perspective, highlighting the aspects of project management in ITIL

V3 that represent
intersection points between project management and IT service management, viewing project
management from the point of view of PMIs PMBOK

Guide, and IT service management from the

point of view of ITIL

V3 framework, towards the objective of successful integration of ITIL

processes within PMP

processes. Preceding this correspondence is an overview, collected from

literature, on ITIL

and IT service management, focusing on the ITIL

V3 framework.


What is ITIL

?

According to the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) provides a
framework of best practice guidance for IT service management and since its creation, ITIL

has
grown to become the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world.

ITIL

is a public framework that describes best practice in IT service management. It provides a

framework for the governance of IT, the service wrap, and focuses on the continual measurement and
improvement of the quality of IT service delivered, from both a business and a customer perspective.
This focus is a major factor in ITILs worldwide success and has contributed to its prolific usage and to
the key benefits obtained by those organizations deploying the techniques and processes throughout
their organizations.


History and Objectives

The primary objective of service management is to ensure that the IT services are aligned to the
business needs and actively support them. It is imperative that the IT services underpin the business
processes, but it is also increasingly important that IT acts as an agent for change to facilitate business
transformation.

ITIL

was published between 1989 and 1995 by Her Majestys Stationery Office (HMSO) in the UK
on behalf of the Central Communications and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA)now subsumed
within the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). Its early use was principally confined to the UK
and Netherlands. A second version of ITIL

was published as a set of revised books between 2000 and

2004.

The initial version of ITIL

consisted of a library of 31 associated books covering all aspects of IT

service provision. This initial version was then revised and replaced by seven, more closely connected
and consistent books (ITIL

V2) consolidated within an overall framework. This second version

became universally accepted and is now used in many countries by thousands of organizations as the
basis for effective IT service provision. In 2007, ITIL

V2 was superseded by an enhanced and

consolidated third version of ITIL

, consisting of five core books covering the service lifecycle,

together with the Official Introduction. (See the ITIL

V3 Components section for details.)

2008, Rania Al-Maghraby 2
Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
IT Service and Service Management


Service Definition

According to itSMF, A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes
customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks.

The outcomes that customers want to achieve are the reason why they purchase or use the service. The
value of the service to the customer is directly dependent on how well it facilitates these outcomes.

A simple example of a customer outcome that could be facilitated by an IT service might be: Sales
people spending more time interacting with customers facilitated by a remote access service that
enables reliable access to corporate sales systems from sales peoples laptops.


Service Management Definition

According to itSMF, Service Management is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for
providing value to customers in the form of services.

These specialized organizational capabilities include all of the processes, methods, functions, roles
and activities that a service provider uses to enable it to deliver services to its customers.

Service management is concerned with more than just delivering services. Each service, process, or
infrastructure component has a lifecycle, and service management considers the entire lifecycle from
strategy through design and transition to operation and continual improvement.

The inputs to service management are the resources and capabilities that represent the assets of the
service provider. The outputs are the services that provide value to the customers.

Adopting good practice can help a service provider to create an effective service management system.
Good practice is simply doing things that have been shown to work and to be effective. Good practice
can come from many different sources, including public frameworks (such as ITIL, COBIT, and
CMMI), standards (such as ISO/IEC 20000 and ISO 9000), and proprietary knowledge of people and
organizations.


IT Service Management (ITSM)

Wikipedia: IT Service Management (ITSM) is a discipline for managing information technology (IT)
systems, philosophically centered on the customer's perspective of IT contribution to the business.
Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology and their internal organization,
they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide and focus on the relationship with
customers.

ITSM is process-focused and in this sense has ties and common interests with process improvement
frameworks and methodologies. The discipline is not concerned with the details of how to use a
particular vendor's product, or necessarily with the technical details of the systems under management.
Instead, it focuses on providing a framework to structure IT-related activities and the interactions of IT
technical personnel with business customers and users.

ITSM is generally concerned with the back office concerns or operational concerns of information
technology management, and not on technology development. For example, the process of writing
computer software for sale, or designing a microprocessor is not the focus of the discipline, but the
computer systems used by marketing and business development staff in software and hardware
companies would be. Many non-technology companies, such as those in the financial, retail, and travel
industries, have significant information technology systems which are not exposed to customers.

2008, Rania Al-Maghraby 3
Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
ITIL

V3 Components


Exhibit 1 shows the service lifecycle within the processes of ITIL

V3 framework for service

management.



Exhibit 1 ITIL

V3The Service Lifecycle

Service Strategy

The achievement of strategic goals or objectives requires the use of strategic assets. The Service
Strategy guidance shows how to transform service management into a strategic asset.

Key Processes and Activities

In addition to Strategy Generation, Service Strategy also includes the following key processes:

Financial Management: Financial Management covers the functions and processes
responsible for managing an IT service providers budgeting.
Service Portfolio Management (SPM): SPM involves proactive management of the
investment across the service lifecycle, including those services in the concept, design
and transition pipeline, as well as live services defined in the various service catalogues
and retired services.
Demand Management: The purpose of Demand Management is to understand and
influence customer demand for services and the provision of capacity to meet these
demands. At a strategic level this can involve analysis of patterns of business activity and

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Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
user profiles. A Service Level Package (SLP) defines the level of utility and warranty for
a Service Package and is designed to meet the needs of a pattern of business activity.
Service Design

Guidance on designing IT services, along with the governing IT practices, processes and policies, to
realize the strategy and facilitate the introduction of services into the live environment, ensuring quality
service delivery, customer satisfaction, and cost-effective service provision.

The role of Service Design within the business change process can be defined as: The design of
appropriate and innovative IT services, including their architectures, processes, policies and
documentation, to meet current and future agreed business requirements.

Service Design starts with a set of business requirements, and ends with the development of a service
solution designed to meet documented business requirements and outcomes and to provide a Service
Design Package (SDP), which defines all aspects of an IT service and its requirements through each
stage of its lifecycle, for handover into Service Transition.

Key Processes and Activities

Service Catalog Management (SCM): The Service Catalogue provides a central source of
information on the IT services delivered to the business by the service provider
organization. The purpose of SCM is to provide a single, consistent source of information
on all of the agreed services, and ensure that it is widely available to those who are
approved to access it.
Service Level Management (SLM): SLM negotiates, agrees and documents appropriate IT
service targets with the business, and then monitors and produces reports on delivery
against the agreed level of service. The main information provided by the SLM process
includes Service Level Agreements (SLA), Operational Level Agreements (OLA) and
other support agreements, and the production of the Service Improvement Plan (SIP) and
the Service Quality Plan.
Capacity Management: The purpose of Capacity Management is to provide a point of
focus and management for all capacity and performance-related issues, relating to both
services and resources, and to match the capacity of IT to the agreed business demands.
The Capacity Management Information System (CMIS) is the cornerstone of a successful
Capacity Management process.
Availability Management: The purpose of Availability Management is to provide a point
of focus and management for all availability-related issues, relating to services,
components and resources, ensuring that availability targets in all areas are measured and
achieved, and that they match or exceed the current and future agreed needs of the
business in a cost-effective manner. The Availability Management process should be
based around an Information System (AMIS), which assists in the production of the
Availability Plan.
IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM): The purpose of ITSCM is to maintain the
appropriate on-going recovery capability within IT services to match the agreed needs,
requirements and timescales of the business, through service continuity and recovery
plans.
Information Security Management (ISM): The purpose of the ISM process is to align IT
security with business security and ensure that information security is effectively
managed in all service and Service Management activities.
Supplier Management: The purpose of the Supplier Management process is to obtain
value for money from suppliers and to ensure that suppliers perform to the targets
contained within their contracts and agreements, while conforming to all of the terms and
conditions.



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Service Transition

Guidance for the development of capabilities for transitioning new and changed services into
operations, ensuring the requirements of Service Strategy, encoded in Service Design, are effectively
realized in Service Operations while controlling the risks of failure and disruption.

Service Transition delivers this by receiving the Service Design Package (SDP) from the Service
Design stage and delivering into the Operational stage every necessary element required for ongoing
operation and support of that service. If business circumstances, assumptions or requirements have
changed since design, then modifications may well be required during the Service Transition stage in
order to deliver the required service.

Key Processes and Activities

The whole lifecycle processes are:
Change Management: The purpose of the Change Management process is to ensure that
standardized methods are used for the efficient and prompt handling of all changes, that
all changes are recorded in the Configuration Management System, and that overall
business risk is optimized. Change management delivers, to the business, reduced errors
in new or changed services and faster, more accurate implementation of changes.
Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM): The purpose of SACM is to
identify, control and account for service assets and configuration items (CI), protecting
and ensuring their integrity across the service lifecycle.
Knowledge Management: The purpose of Knowledge Management is to ensure that the
right person has the right knowledge, at the right time to deliver and support the services
required by the business.

Processes focused on Service Transition, but not exclusive to this stage, are as follows:

Transition Planning and Support: The goals of Transition Planning and Support are to
plan and coordinate resources to ensure that the requirements of Service Strategy encoded
in Service Design are effectively realized in Service Operations, and to identify, manage
and control the risks of failure and disruption across transition activities.
Release and Deployment Management: The goal of the Release and Deployment
Management process is to assemble and position all aspects of services into production
and establish effective use of new or changed services. Release and Deployment
Management covers the whole assembly and implementation of new/changed services for
operational use, from release planning through to early life support.
Service Validation and Testing: Successful testing depends on understanding the service
holisticallyhow it will be used and the way it is constructed. The key purpose of service
validation and testing is to provide objective evidence that the new/changed service
supports the business requirements, including the agreed SLAs. The service is tested
explicitly against the utilities and warranties set out in the service design package,
including business functionality, availability, continuity, security, usability and regression
testing.
Evaluation: Ensuring that the service will be useful to the business is central to successful
Service Transition and this extends into ensuring that the service will continue to be
relevant by establishing appropriate metrics and measurement techniques.


Service Operation

Guidance on achieving effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery and support of services to ensure
value for the customer and the service provider. Strategic objectives are ultimately realized through
Service Operations. It is only during this stage of the lifecycle that services actually deliver value to the
business.

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Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta

Key Processes and Activities

Event Management: An event may indicate that something is not functioning correctly,
leading to an incident being logged. Event management depends on monitoring, but it is
different. Event management generates and detects notifications, whilst monitoring is
about checking the status of components even when no events are occurring. Response to
an event may be automated or may require manual intervention. If actions are needed then
a trigger, such as an SMS message or an incident being automatically logged, can alert
support staff.
Incident Management: An incident is an unplanned interruption to an IT service, or a
reduction in the quality of an IT service. Failure of a configuration item that has not yet
impacted service is also an incident. The purpose of Incident Management is to restore
normal service as quickly as possible, and to minimize the adverse impact on business
operations.
Request Fulfillment: The purpose of Request Fulfillment is to enable users to request and
receive standard services, to source and deliver these services, to provide information to
users and customers about services and procedures for obtaining them, and to assist with
general information, complaints, and comments.
Access Management: The purpose of the Access Management process is to provide the
rights for users to be able to access a service or group of services, while preventing access
to non-authorized users.
Problem Management: Problem Management includes diagnosing causes of incidents,
determining the resolution, and ensuring that the resolution is implemented. The key
objectives of Problem Management are to prevent problems and resulting incidents from
happening, to eliminate recurring incidents and to minimize the impact of incidents that
cannot be prevented. Problem Management also maintains information about problems
and the appropriate workarounds and resolutions.


Continual Service Improvement

Guidance in creating and maintaining value for customers through better design, introduction and
operation of services, linking improvement efforts and outcomes with Service Strategy, Design,
Transition, and Operation.

Key Processes and Activities

7-Step Improvement Process: The 7-step improvement process covers the steps required
to collect meaningful data, analyze this data to identify trends and issues, present the
information to management for their prioritization and agreement, and implement
improvements. The 7-Step Improvement Process is continual and loops back to the
beginning.
Step 1 - Define what you should measure
Step 2 - Define what you can measure
Step 3 - Gather the data
Step 4 - Process the data
Step 5 - Analyze the data
Step 6 - Present and use the information
Step 7 - Implement corrective action
Service Measurement: An integrated Service Measurement Framework needs to be put in
place that defines and collects the required metrics and raw data, and supports the
reporting and interpretation of that data.
Service Reporting: A significant amount of data is collated and monitored by IT in the
daily delivery of quality service to the business, but only a small subset is of real interest
and importance to the business.


2008, Rania Al-Maghraby 7
Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
In addition, the itSMF says It is intended that the content of these core books will be enhanced by
additional complementary publications and by a set of supporting web services (the outer circle in
Exhibit 1).



Adoption of ITIL

Framework

Cervera (2005) states that: Standard frameworks are general purpose. In order to be useful to a wide
and heterogeneous set of organizations they provide best practices expressed in general terms. It is your
task to convert that into actionable pieces of work. After understanding the process as described in the
framework, you will have to determine how you want it to be carried out in your organization's context,
determine the roles that will be responsible of executing it, the tools that will be used to facilitate it and
the documents, information, objects, etc... that it must deliver.

In that way, ITIL

represents a framework of processes that embody best practices, but it doesnt entail
the exact methodology of applying these processes, as this will be specific to every organization
applying ITIL

processes for its IT service management.

Adoption of ITIL

framework for IT Service Management in a certain IT Service Provider organization

depends on the specific needs of this organization, and the level of complexity of its processes. ITIL

adoption can also be integrated with other frameworks that may be in application within the
organization, like CMMI

or PMP

frameworks.

In what follows, a suggested integration of ITIL

V3 framework within the PMP

framework for
project management is presented, by fitting each ITIL

V3 process in the corresponding stage of

project management. Some of the project management aspects that are visible in ITIL

V3 concepts are
also highlighted.

Project Management Aspects of ITIL

V3

Service as a Project

According to PMIs (2004) PMBOK

Guide, A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a

unique product, service, or result.

This implies directly that service delivery is one of project kinds, where the deliverable is the actual
service being requested by the customer.

The major characteristics that distinguish a project according to the PMBOK

Guide and how service

delivery satisfies them can be demonstrated as follows:

Temporary: A project is a temporary endeavor, with a beginning and an end, and this is
clear from the service life cycle depicted in Exhibit 1. The service passes through
successive phases during its lifecycle beginning from the requirements received, until the
delivery to customer, while the continual improvement and support surrounds all
activities.
Unique Product or Service: The deliverable of a project is said to be unique, not repeated
like in operational activities, and this is satisfied by the IT service being delivered to a
specific customer in response to specific needs.
Progressive Elaboration: The project execution is said to be iterative and continually
elaborating in response to changes, and this can be satisfied through the continual service
improvement and service transition processes in the ITIL

V3 framework.

Considering the IT Service delivery as a project indicates a necessary resemblance or correspondence
between the concepts and principals of project management and those of IT Service Management. In
the next section, these intersection points are outlined, viewing Project Management from the point of
view of the PMBOK

Guide, and IT Service Management from the point of view of ITIL

V3
framework.

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Project Management Processes Reflected in ITIL

V3 Processes

According to the itSMF explanation of the service lifecycle: [Exhibit 2] illustrates how the service
lifecycle is initiated from a change in requirements in the business.



Exhibit 2 Key Links, Inputs & Outputs of the Service Lifecycle Stages

These requirements are identified and agreed within the Service Strategy stage within a Service Level
Package (SLP) and a defined set of business outcomes. This passes to the Service Design stage where a
service solution is produced together with a Service Design Package (SDP) containing everything
necessary to take this service through the remaining stages of the lifecycle.

The SDP passes to the Service Transition stage, where the service is evaluated, tested, and validated,
the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is updated, and the service is transitioned into
the live environment, where it enters the Service Operation stage.

Wherever possible, Continual Service Improvement identifies opportunities for the improvement of
weaknesses or failures anywhere within any of the lifecycle stages.

By reference to the PMBOK

Guidedescription of project management processes, and comparing

these to the set of service management processes described within the ITIL

V3 framework, we can see

the correspondence outlined in Exhibit 3:



PMBOK

Guide

ITIL
Initiating Planning Executing Monitoring &
Controlling
Closing
Service
Strategy
Service Portfolio
Review to check
alignment with
strategy,
portfolio balance,
financial value
Reconsideration
within regular
Service Portfolio
Reviews


2008, Rania Al-Maghraby 9
Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress EMEA Proceedings St.J ulians, Malta
maximization,
and the suitable
priority.
(Chartering)
Service
Design
Service Catalog
Management

Service Level
Management and
generating SLAs
and OLAs
(Contracting)
Capacity
Management

Availability
Management

IT Service
Continuity
Management

Information
Security
Management

Supplier
Management
(Procurement)
IT Service
Continuity
Management

Service
Transition
Transition
Planning and
Support

Release and
Deployment
Management

Release and
Deployment
Management

Service
Validation
and Testing


Change
Management

Service Asset and
Configuration
Management

Knowledge
Management
Evaluation

Service
Operation
Event
Management

Incident
Management

Request
Fulfillment

Access
Management

Problem
Management


Continual
Service
Improvement
Continuous
improvement of
all activities
during all stages
of the service
lifecycle whenever
the opportunity
exists


Exhibit 3 Correspondence Between PMBOK

Guide Processes and ITIL

V3 Processes


Other aspects of project management visible within ITIL

V3 IT service management framework

include the following:


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Alignment with Strategy: The Service Strategy guidelines define a set of processes that
makes Service Management a strategic asset. This is a bidirectional effect; since the
Service Management vision affects the strategy laid out by the organization, as well as
this vision being aligned with the general frame of the organization mission and strategy.
The result of this integration is the reflection of Service Management objectives in the
decision-making process at the top-level management.
Service Portfolio Management: The Service Strategy also defines the process of Service
Portfolio Management (SPM), which is in analogy to the project portfolio management.
This dictates techniques and methods for prioritization, selection and resource allocation
for existing and on hold services/projects, as well as balancing the portfolio for desired
distribution based on several criteria like market, service/project size, and long or short
term. The maximization of the overall financial value of the whole portfolio is one of the
key objectives of portfolio management, which is considered within the Financial
Management process of the Service Strategy.
Customer Satisfaction: The satisfaction of the customer is a pivotal objective in service
management and project management, aiming at fulfilling the needs of the customer and
delivering a high quality service or product, with the strategic objective of building a wide
customer base that is supported by mutual trust and loyalty. This is achieved through
continuous communication with the customer during the service life cycle/project
execution, to gain his commitment at every stage.
Knowledge Base Utilization: The concept of Service Knowledge Management System
(SKMS) in ITIL

V3 for referencing and adding to historical information is consistent

with the concept of lessons learned documentation in project management for the same
purpose of future reference and addition in order to capitalize on the gained knowledge
and experience within the same organization.
Project Team Involvement: The project progress through the several processes during its
lifecycle is carried out by the project team, headed by the project manager, and being
coordinated with the project stakeholders. IT Service Management as well involves
several roles and responsibilities to perform the activities of every process in the ITIL

V3 framework. The service provider organization assigns every activity or function to the
corresponding group within the organization units.

Conclusion

Integration of the ITIL

V3 processes with the PMP

processes answers the question that some project

managers pose regarding when to apply a specific ITIL

V3 process during the project lifecycle, in case

both frameworks are used to guide the management of a project of delivering IT service.

In this paper a proposed mapping and integration between the processes of the two frameworks is
introduced, that takes in consideration the actual activities that should be performed in applying each
process. The set of processes that are applicable in a certain case depends on the specific project needs.



References

Cooper, Robert G., Edgett, Scott J . & Kleinschmidt, Elko J . (2001). Portfolio management for new
products, 2nd edition. Perseus Publishing.
Cervera, L. R. (2005, 30 August). Create your methodology based on a standard framework (Part 2).
Retrieved December 9, 2007 from http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/LRC011806.pdf.
IT Service Management Forum (itSMF). (2007). An introductory overview of ITIL

V3, version
1.0.
Lezcano, J ean-Marc. (2007, October). ITIL & CIM: benefits of a dialog. Proceedings of
DMTFs SVM07 Conference, France.
Project Management Institute (PMI). (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK

guide) Third Edition. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Wikipedia (2007, 7 December). IT service management. Retrieved December 9, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT_Service_Management