The 5 ITIL Processes And Their Definitions

Information Technology Infrastructure Library or ITIL for short has 5 stages in its lifecycle:

◈ Service Strategy
◈ Service Design
◈ Service Transition
◈ Service Operation
◈ Continual Service Improvement

These stages are linked with each other and cover the Free ITIL Foundation Overview course. They are necessary to form a perfect ITIL Service Management plan. Every stage covers a different part of the content. Basic ITSM training provides an overview of all these stages to the individual seeking to improve their skill in the following field. For the ITIL processes to work properly, it should have the accompanying content. If this is not done, the whole process and all the other stages will collapse.

IT service managers these days are required to be knowledgeable about all the ITIL processes and the service owner should be able to implement all these stages effectively because the owner will ultimately be taking the helm of the service and its lifecycle. Roles and responsibilities when handling ITIL service management are covered in ITIL foundation certification courses available to all IT service management personnel.

What Does ITIL Do For You?

A lot of organizations these days consider processes, capabilities, people and their technology to be not physical but strategic assets. These assets make the organization and give it the identity it is known by in the world. These capabilities, resources and products can help create an advantage in the market if the effective alignment is done.

This is where ITIL plays a majorly important role. The world has dubbed ITIL as the most widely accepted approach to IT service management. Individuals and organizations can conclude what types of changes are required by the organization to transform and grow into a better version of them.

The main goal that ITIL seeks to achieve is improvement in how IT delivers and supports various valued services from businesses. It’s not just about technology or process management, it also aims on improving people by improving their capabilities, processes and technology. ITIL improves the value of an organization, by improvement in resources, capabilities for employees and customers.

ITIL Process 1: Service Strategy

This is the core stage of the ITIL lifecycle, without the organization having a solid IT strategy to go along with the business strategies that an organization follows, the service is less likely to succeed. This process is the pillar on which the rest of the processes stand as it also provides the other stages with a direction to follow.

The service strategy is the initial link that connects business strategies with IT strategies of an organization. This stage further includes return on investment, financial management, demand management process and service portfolio management.

ITIL Process 2: Service Design

The Service Design stage in the process is the stage where both planning and designing of IT strategies takes place. To introduce new services, they are planned and designed in this stage in order to build a greater vision for the organization. If an IT service is well designed, it should have no trouble transitioning into a love environment.

This stage mainly includes:

◈ Service level management
◈ Service Catalog Management
◈ Capacity Management
◈ Service continuity management
◈ Availability management
◈ Supplier management processes
◈ Information security management

It service manager of an organization must be familiar with all of these to facilitate the organization in different endeavors.

ITIL Process 3: Service Transition

This is the stage where previously designed strategies are built, tested, verified and implemented after which they are sent to operations. This stage includes:

◈ Planning and support
◈ Service assets and configuration management
◈ Change management
◈ Service validation
◈ Release and deployment management
◈ Testing evaluation
◈ Knowledge management processes

ITIL Process 4: Service Operation

This is the process where your designed services come to life as they are tested and implemented in live environments. This is the now or never phase for the service as customers start to use and the service and give feedback about it. This stage includes:

◈ Incident management
◈ Event management
◈ Problem management
◈ Request fulfillment
◈ Access incident management

ITIL Process 5: Continual Service Improvement

This is where all the previous stages come together. This process in turn acts as a protective layer for the ITIL process as this process is the sole analyzer of improvements that can be made to enhance customer experience and employee understanding of how the customer would prefer the service to work.

With so many things that an organization can take advantage of with ITIL, ITSM training for individuals seeking employment with them has become necessary. There are numerous portals allowing for individuals to learn ITSM and get ahead in the IT world.

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Overview of ITIL Service Design

ITIL Service Design is more or less known as the blue print phase. Well as we know the ultimate end product of Service Strategy is business case and this will be the input to the Service Design. The main purpose of Service Design is to design IT services together with the governing IT processes, practices and policies to realize the service providers strategy and then to facilitate the introduction of these services into supportive environments ensuring customer satisfaction, quality service delivery and cost effective service provision.

In Service Design we come across eight processes which are:

1. Service Catalog Management
2. Service Level Management
3. Capacity Management
4. Availability Management
5. IT Service Continuity Management
6. Information Security Management
7. Supplier Management
8. Design Coordination

Out of these eight processes Design Coordination is the new process added to the new syllabus. The main objective of Design Coordination is to coordinate between different processes with the Service Design stage to produce a Service Design Package.

By adopting and implementing standard and consistent approaches for Service Design will – Reduce total cost of ownership, – Improve Consistency of service, – Improve quality of service, – Improve service alignment, – Ease the implementation of new or changed service and Improve service performance. In Service Design we also come across the four P’s which are:

1. People {Includes Employees, Stakeholders}
2. Processes
3. Products {Includes Technology, Service and tools}
4. Partners {Manufactures, Vendors and Suppliers}

In Service Design we come across terms like Service level requirement (SLR), Service level agreement (SLA), Operational level agreement (OLA), Contract and Underpinning contract (UP/UPC). At times people get confused between Operational level agreement (OLA) and Underpinning contract (UP/UPC), Please understand that it’s in the Underpinning contract (UP/UPC) where the third party would be involved. Say for example you buy a mobile from AT&T on a contract and you have an issue with the actual mobile itself you will not contact the mobile manufacturer regarding the issue you will still get in touch with AT&T because the contract is through AT&T.

We also will look at the different Supplier categories which are:

1. Strategic: Normally these relationships would be managed by the senior management level within the service provider organization
2. Tactical: These relation would be managed by the middle management level
3. Operational: These relation would be managed by the junior management level
4. Commodity: If not from this place from another place which could be easily available (Example- Stationary).

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What Are ITIL Certifications & Are They Worth It?

What is ITIL

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) is a set of best practices designed to describe common approaches that IT service management (ITSM) can take to align IT services with business needs and deliver value to the organization.

The current version of ITIL offers a series of professional certifications designed to validate an individual's level of competency in specific areas that ITIL covers, or to demonstrate an individual's level of competency in the overall set of ITIL best practices.

As with many professional certifications, determining the precise value of earning an IT credential is difficult to calculate. However, it is widely understood that a combination of tangible and intangible factors make certifications a worthwhile investment of time and money for both organizations and individuals.

This article discusses the value of ITIL certifications to both organizations and individuals within the context of these various tangible and intangible factors. Data in this article is based on survey results from respondents with various degrees of ITIL certification, who shared specific organizational improvements that were made possible due to the knowledge gained while earning their ITIL certifications. These specific organizational benefits are clear examples of the value of ITIL certifications.

What Are ITIL Certifications?

The official ITIL certification program currently consists of 12 certifications that attest to the holder's knowledge from a very basic level up to a level indicating significant overall mastery.

ITIL Foundation

The official ITIL certification training program currently consists of 12 certifications that demonstrate an individual’s knowledge from a very basic, introductory level up to an advanced level that indicates overall mastery.

Gain fundamental ITIL best practices knowledge to prepare for ITIL Foundation certification with our ITIL Foundation course

ITIL Intermediate Certifications

The ITIL Intermediate certifications are the next step after earning an ITIL Foundation certificate. The intermediate certifications are divided into two paths: Lifecycle and Capability.

Expand on the concepts learned in ITIL Foundation with our lifecycle and capability courses.

Intermediate Lifecycle Path

The ITIL Intermediate Lifecycle consists of the following five certification courses:

◈ Service Strategy
◈ Service Design
◈ Service Transition
◈ Service Operation
◈ Continual Service Improvement

Earning any of these certifications proves that the holder has demonstrated a solid understanding of that aspect of the ITIL best practices. To earn any of the ITIL intermediate lifecycle certifications, individuals must pass a challenging exam that asks how they would handle very realistic scenarios using ITIL best practices.

Generally, the ITIL Intermediate Lifecycle certifications are appropriate for management and decision makers in an organization, as the courses that support these certifications generally take a management-level approach to coverage of the ITIL best practices.

Intermediate Capability Path

The other side of the ITIL Intermediate certifications is known as the Intermediate Capability Path. The capability path consists of the following certification courses:

◈ Planning, Protection, and Optimization
◈ Release, Control, and Validation
◈ Operational Support and Analysis
◈ Service Offerings and Agreements

As with the lifecycle certifications, to earn any capability certification, individuals must pass an exam covering that specific topic.

The ITIL Intermediate Capability certifications are appropriate for those who regularly perform various hands-on IT activities, as the courses that support these certifications tend to take a more detailed look at ITIL best practices.

Advanced ITIL Certifications

ITIL Expert

Once a candidate has earned the ITIL Foundation certificate plus at least 17 ITIL v3 or newer credits from the available ITIL intermediate certifications, the individual is eligible to take a course called Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC). MALC, like the intermediate certifications, requires that the individual pass a challenging exam. Once individuals pass the MALC exam and have the required number of credits, they are awarded the ITIL Expert certificate. The ITIL Expert credential indicates that the individual has a strong, high-level understanding of the ITIL best practices and how they're used to help organizations, as well as the skills to manage the planning and implementation of IT Service Management.

ITIL Master

ITIL Master is a specialized level of certification beyond ITIL Expert for individuals who have in-depth practical experience with implementing ITIL best practices. In order to achieve ITIL Master, an individual is required to describe and defend real-life projects they have completed using ITIL best practices.

View our full ITIL Training course catalog

Survey Details

In order to assess the value of ITIL certifications to individuals and organizations, a survey was created and targeted to individuals who have earned various ITIL certifications. The purpose of the survey was to assess both the tangible and intangible value of these certifications, and it focused on various ITIL Intermediate certifications and ITIL Expert. The value of ITIL Foundation was not assessed because that is a basic, common, entry-level certification. The value of ITIL Master was not assessed because it is a new certification that was relatively unknown in the market at the time of this survey. The survey consisted of five questions.

The survey was sent to 117 people known to have earned at least one ITIL intermediate certification. Many of the respondents have earned multiple ITIL certifications, including ITIL Expert.

Overall, the survey was designed to be simple, easily completed within a few minutes, and aimed towards identifying whether or not there was some benefit of ITIL certifications to individuals and organizations.

Analysis - The Value of ITIL Certifications to Individuals

Responses to the survey showed clearly that earning intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications is valuable to individuals.

Of the 117 participants, 76.5 percent indicated that earning ITIL intermediate and advanced certifications made them more marketable compared to others in the job market. This is significant because recent economic conditions have made it crucial for applicants to prove that they have significantly better credentials and experience than those they're competing against for limited jobs.

Of the respondents, 58.8 percent indicated that the ITIL intermediate credentials resulted in an improved ability to compete with others in the job market. This question was intended to assess whether the pursuit of ITIL intermediate and advanced certifications resulted in a new skill set that made respondents more competitive than others. Clearly, there is an effect here, given that over 50 percent of the respondents indicated that, due to pursuit of ITIL intermediate and advanced certifications, they were better able to compete with others in the job market.

Individuals occasionally pursue ITIL certifications as a means to qualify them for specific roles in an organization. The survey indicated that over 50 percent of the respondents qualified themselves for a specific role by earning advanced and intermediate ITIL certifications. This represents significant value and speaks to the extent to which organizations value the knowledge and experience gained when an individual earns advanced ITIL certifications. Clearly, employers respect these certifications if they are willing to assign key roles to people based on their ability to earn these certifications.

A regular criticism of ITIL certifications is that they fail to generate new knowledge in individuals. The survey results showed the opposite of this belief: 70.6 percent of respondents indicated that they developed specific beneficial knowledge and expertise, which is a clear indication of value to individuals in terms of learning new and useful information.

Respondents also overwhelmingly indicated that earning advanced and intermediate ITIL certifications resulted in direct application to work activities and projects. Of the respondents, 76.5 percent showed that these certifications held value for them in the form of being able to directly apply knowledge learned in pursuit of the certification to specific work activities.

Another key aspect of the responses to this question is that all respondents indicated that at least one aspect of individual value was present for them. In other words, none of the respondents indicated that the ITIL advanced and intermediate certifications lacked value.

Analysis - The Value of ITIL Certifications to Organizations

There is much debate in the IT world about the value of certifications to organizations, and this debate often includes the value of ITIL certifications. Value has intangible aspects, and it's often difficult to adequately assess value. This survey assessed several aspects of the value of ITIL certifications to organizations by asking respondents how earning these certifications helped their employers.

Forty-seven percent of respondents indicated that their employers experienced improved efficiency in terms of cost and time, while 55 percent indicated improvements in overall effectiveness. Efficiency is a matter of an organization conducting its activities while minimizing waste. Effectiveness is a matter of conducting the right activities to support business activities. Clearly, organizations found value in terms of efficiency and effectiveness since they encourage employees to earn intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications.

◈ Finding: Organizations found value in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, since they encourage employees to earn intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications.

The next two statements also assessed efficiency and effectiveness, but in different ways. First, improved overall organizational quality is primarily an assessment of efficiency, and 41 percent of the respondents indicated value to their employers in this area. Improved alignment within the business is an indicator of effectiveness, or doing the right things, and 52 percent indicated that overall business alignment improved as a result of their pursuit of intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications. This is significant because IT organizations regularly struggle with efficiently using limited resources and budgets, and often suffer from regular conduct of activities that the business does not find valuable.

◈ Finding: Individuals earning advanced and intermediate ITIL certifications helped their employers in the areas of efficiency and effectiveness and, therefore, have value to organizations.

The next statement asked respondents if earning advanced and intermediate ITIL certifications improved the perception of IT within the business. Thirty-five percent of respondents indicated that it did. Of course, this issue is not as important as overall efficiency and effectiveness, but it was important enough that over one-third of respondents indicated improvement in this area. Some IT organizations suffer from a negative perception by the business, which can limit overall IT effectiveness.

◈ Finding: The knowledge gained by earning ITIL certifications can help organizations overcome negative perceptions of IT.

Often, businesses must compete with other businesses for work, and demonstrating a measure of knowledge and expertise with ITIL best practices can result in one organization winning work over less experienced organizations. Thirty-five percent of respondents indicated that their earning the advanced and intermediate ITIL certifications resulted in a business ability to pursue new work or contracts.

◈ Finding: The clear value statement is that when an organization's employees develop knowledge of ITIL best practices through earning intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications, it can have a direct impact on an organization's revenue.

Only 23.5 percent of respondents felt that the knowledge they gained provided their employers with an overall form of risk management. A generally held belief in the IT industry is that employees earning certifications is one form of risk management available to organizations.

◈ Participants in this survey did not see as strong an effect in the area of risk management as in other areas assessed in this survey.

Finally, 47 percent of respondents indicated that the knowledge they gained allowed them to directly address one or more specific issues, projects, or activities. The benefit for employers here is clear: their employees learned something when they earned these certifications that they could apply directly to activities at work.

◈ Finding: Certification is often held to be theoretical; however, this survey indicates true value to employers in the form of developing in their employees the ability to accomplish important and significant things for the organizations.

Additionally, 100 percent of the respondents indicated that the costs, in terms of time and money, to earn intermediate and advanced ITIL certification were worthwhile.

Analysis - Specific Organizational Improvements

Respondents to the survey were given the ability to enter free-form responses detailing specific organizational improvements that have occurred due to the knowledge gained in the pursuit of intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications. There were numerous specific improvements noted by the respondents. Some of the responses to this question included:

◈ Massive process implementation and improvements.
◈ We have used ITIL for process development and documentation supporting ISO 27001.
◈ The knowledge I gained from the ITIL certifications helped me in standardizing and putting together processes across our IT organization in order to improve our effectiveness in serving our customer base.
◈ Improved overall organization health and ability to work within IT budgets that were not increasing for several years.
◈ Due to the new rare skill set available to the business unit with my certification, the officers responsible are able to pursue organizational changes in alignment with ITIL framework, for better efficiencies and effectiveness. Personally, I am also able to convince others of the process changes needed to bring efficiencies in the responsibilities that I own with more conviction.
◈ Re-organization of our IT department to better facilitate service management in the business - New Project proposal and filtering processes 
- Additional testing and validation improvements - Additional business support and change/release buy in

◈ IT department transparency. The IT department is now more of a partner with the business. The business knows what IT is doing.
◈ Implementation of change management and improvement in alignment with business.
◈ We centralized 11 regionally dispersed service desks into one and increased the coverage to 24/7 resulting in reduced costs to provide commonly expected service desk functions.
◈ I don't use ITIL to help my employer, but I do consult with our customers in helping them with their organizational improvements in all process areas.
◈ Have formed a new IT Service Management team that I am leading. Have onboarded remaining IT support teams onto common Incident Management process. Working on Problem and Change Management. Have stood up CMDB.
◈ My company has recently established an internal 'center of excellence' for ITIL. I am a member of its steering committee.
◈ Transition a very siloed model into a service desk (depot) model. Currently integrating incident management with problem management, and designs have been set in place for access management to transition into the service desk.
◈ The organization was able to generate additional revenue and reduce information technology expenses through following ITIL best practices.
◈ My department was better able to get control of requests of the IT department. This made our customers happier and ended up with fewer requests that weren't being handled. This reduced delays experienced by the business and saved them money.
◈ We were able to align several initiatives that were not going well by implementing aspects of governanceasgovernance as described by ITIL.
◈ The organization is responsible for various services. We were able to more effectively manage diverse services including everything from desktop support, to mainframe systems, to cloud computing in a consistent manner that resulted in predictable costs and quality for the business.

This survey collected numerous responses that indicated specific and real actions that had value to organizations that were directly related to an employee's experience earning intermediate and advanced ITIL certifications.

What Does This Mean?

Simply put, this survey demonstrated that ITIL certifications hold significant value for both individuals and employers. That value can be demonstrated by clear benefits to individuals as well as clear, documentable benefits to organizations. In addition, these benefits are scalable across individuals, industries, and environments.

The Future

We intend to conduct this survey periodically in the future and continually improve it. Ideally, we'll expand this to a broader audience and will further tailor the survey questions to elicit responses that allow a continued determination of whether ITIL certifications generate value for both individuals and employers.

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How to Turn Resistance into Support for Lean Six Sigma

One phrase in Lean Six Sigma that may be heard more than any other is “culture change.” Most organizations today are undergoing some form of culture change, and 75 percent of all major or cultural changes fail to achieve their goals. Experience shows when strength and culture collide, culture has a higher probability of winning.

Change takes time and commitment. While some resistance to change is inevitable, there are ways to accelerate change through best practices using tactical tools to gain acceptance, change old habits and greatly increase the bottom line.

A Plan for Change

“For new technology to be embraced, people have to believe that it has 10 times the advantages of what people were previously doing,” according to Peter Drucker. Drucker, considered a management guru, has written numerous books on management issues and practices, including Megatrends. What are the implications of his statement?

◈ Management must really sell its ideas/solutions.
◈ People must see the benefit of the solution and that benefit must far outweigh the status quo.
◈ People get ingrained into a way of doing things that is hard to break.

Lean Six Sigma tools provide a technical solution, but what provides organizational acceptance? Successful changes require dual strategies.

The ‘Change Equation’

“Stakeholder” is a word frequently used in continuous improvement programs. However, Lean Six Sigma project teams must keep in mind there are two groups of stakeholders – those who are impacted by the change and those – typically leaders – who can speed or impede progress. Influencing stakeholders can be understood through the change equation:

DxVxP > R

This model implies that to overcome inevitable resistance to most change (R), there must be some level of dissatisfaction with the status quo (D), a clear behavior-based vision of where to go (V) – or the desired state, and a clear path (process or plan) to get there (P). Practically stated, teams will need to answer these questions:

1. Why change?
2. What will change?
3. How will it change?

Need for Change and Dissatisfaction with Status Quo

A comprehensive change acceleration plan includes articulating the need for a particular change. Within DMAIC, project teams identify reasons for the target process in the Define stage – essentially building a business case for the project. As more feedback and process data become available in the Measure and Analyze phases, teams can re-address the dissatisfied component of the change equation, ultimately refining these arguments when solutions become clear (Improve). For example, a stakeholder might support working on a clearly broken process (Define, Measure, Analyze) but may not support the specific proposed change (Improve).

Teams must provide evidence the status quo is not good enough through addressing whether the current process or service is truly broken and articulating the benefits of change. An effective tool to use is a threats and opportunities matrix (Figure 1). Similar to a force field analysis, this version has four columns.

Figure 1: Threats and Opportunities Matrix

The threats and opportunities matrix helps develop a compelling argument by identifying ramifications of not making the change – or all of the bad things that would happen without changing. It also identifies benefits and opportunities of making the change. Many times the opportunities will be the antithesis of the threats; however, teams should go beyond the obvious. Sometimes viewing the issue from a different perspective can lead to additional reasons for making the change.

As a team makes a case for change, it should pay close attention to the matrix headings. If threats for making the change are identified, essentially a case is being made for not changing. With that in mind, a team should be as specific as possible. The more reasons for change the better, as different arguments will compel different stakeholders. The right argument will eventually match with the right stakeholder.

Identifying arguments against change will help the team understand potential pockets of resistance. The key is to externally communicate arguments for making the change and utilize their assessment of arguments against the change to develop rebuttals or enhance the solution.

People Are Influenced in Different Ways

Most studies indicate that influence approaches can be categorized into three strategies – data, sensory or incentive/de-incentive. Stakeholders influenced by data will probably respond well to a detailed, positive cost/benefit analysis. Sensory stakeholders may benefit from a simulation of the new process or a benchmarking visit to an organization that successfully implemented a similar change. Finally, stakeholders most influenced by incentives will most likely respond to an incentive plan rewarding behavioral changes, or the resulting de-incentive for lack of change or support. Leveraging multiple approaches in influencing stakeholders will have a higher probability of success.

Using the completed threats and opportunities matrix, a team can identify possible strategies to influence resistant stakeholders. For each threat or opportunity, identify one data element and one sensory element that would validate the threat or opportunity. Then, identify an incentive/de-incentive approach that might push stakeholders to make the change.

Creating a Behavior-Based Vision

Teams start shaping the vision for the desired state in the early stages DMAIC, but they will not be able to make that vision behavior-based until solutions are clearly defined in the Improve phase. An effective vision statement will inform stakeholders about what will actually be different in the desired state, and what they will be doing in the new environment. Using a mission/results/actions (MRA) aatrix such as the table below will help craft that vision.

Mission/Results/Actions (MRA) Matrix
Mission	Results	Actions (Behaviors)

A solid vision should include a higher level, strategic mission or objective for the change/solution. This statement should be concise and agreed on by the team.

The vision should not stop there, however. Teams should identify and communicate organizational and individual performance expectations or results. These should be specific, measurable descriptions of what is to come, and should include both organizational goals (e.g., cycle time will be reduced by 50 percent) and individual goals.

Finally, teams should give the stakeholder a line of sight to the desired state by articulating what each stakeholder will be doing differently – their actions or behaviors – in the new environment.

Once the objective or mission of the change is agreed upon, teams should use a T-diagram to compare results and behaviors for both the current and future environments.

Figure 2: Methods for Communicating the Vision

Creating the vision is important, communicating it is more important. Teams should take advantage of a variety of communication vehicles to “paint their picture” of the desired state. Sensory approaches are most effective. These communications tools include process mapping, simulations, models and training.

Communicating the Path to the Desired State

How does anyone move from the current state to the desired state? The path component of the change equation comes into play as solutions take form during the Improve phase. Some stakeholders will be concerned about the ability to get to the desired state or potential roadblocks and disruptions along the way. Incorporating a clear path into the communication plan is essential.

There are a number of familiar project planning, management and communication tools, such as Gantt charts, work breakdown structures, and multi-generational planning, as well as clearly documented roles and responsibilities. These same tools should be leveraged to communicate the change plan to key stakeholders. That leveraging can take the form of asking questions – an excellent way to easily communicate the plan to make the desired state a reality.

Taking Pulses of Levels of Support and Resistance

People resist change for a variety of reasons, including technical, political and cultural reasons.

◈ Technical: They do not know how to do the new stuff; they would have to invest time, money, effort or equipment to make the desired change; they feel they cannot do it; they truly feel the new solution is not as good as the status quo.

◈ Political: Real or perceived fear of losing autonomy, authority, respect, power, etc.

◈ Cultural: The change just does not feel right; stakeholders are used to or comfortable with the status quo; peer pressure, fear of standing out.

Like an iceberg, where only a small portion can been seen above water, most of the resistance that teams actually see is just the tip of the problem. Usually a great amount of resistance remains an undercurrent. Specifically, stakeholders tend to surface their technical reasons for resisting change – “it’ll cost too much” or “we’ll have to spend a lot of time in training.” What they often do not surface are their political and cultural reasons for resisting. Teams can use good, old fashioned interviews and feedback mechanisms to uncover technical reasons for resistance. They will need to use observation and other insights to identify political and cultural reasons for resistance.

Here are a few techniques to assess the level of support (or resistance) for their specific change effort and to identify possible reasons for that support or resistance.

Consider the following important questions:

◈ Who are the key stakeholders?

◈ What is their current level of support for this change?

◈ What level of support is needed from them to ensure success?

◈ Why are they supportive or resistant?

◈ What is the source of their resistance?

The most appropriate tool for this is the stakeholder analysis. This tool takes many forms; however, they all should accomplish the same goal use guidelines similar to the following:

1. Identify key stakeholders

2. Determine their current level of support for the project (on a 1-5 scale)

3. Determine the level of support needed for the project to be successful (on a 1-5 scale)

4. Identify reasons for resistance or any concerns

A typical 1-5 scale would show 1 as strongly resistant, 3 as neutral and 5 as strongly supportive. It is important to gain agreement on what each of these levels means, and keep the assessment behavioral-based. This scale can easily be adapted for more advanced analysis. For example, prioritizing stakeholders in terms of their potential impact on the success of the change effort is often helpful.

Bringing It Together in an Influential Plan

To accelerate change, teams need to focus both on coming up with a solid solution and a plan to gain acceptance. Teams need to answer the why, what and how questions for key stakeholders. In addition, teams need to assess levels of support and/resistance to their proposed change in order to effectively match influence strategies with specific stakeholders.

The goal in developing an acceptance strategy for a proposed change is to turn resistance into support. Teams must develop a detailed communication plan. It comes down to assessing the levels of support or resistance to change, answering critical stakeholder questions and building a solid acceptance strategy.

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ITIL Certification Cost & Benefit Analysis

What is ITIL?

ITIL refers to a detailed set of practices for managing IT service management, commonly known as ITSM. These practices apply to any type or size of organization that wants to align IT with severally business strategy, while delivering value and maintaining a minimum competency level. ITIL practices include a range of processes and procedures, tasks, and checklists that aid in demonstrating compliance, measuring improvement, and avoiding common pitfalls – all to deliver the best quality services to the end user.

The preeminent ITSM and service delivery framework across the globe, ITIL is currently owned and maintained by AXELOS, a joint venture between Capita and the United Kingdom’s Cabinet Office. (Note that ITIL used to be shorthand for Information Technology Infrastructure Library, but today it’s known primarily and officially as ITIL.)

ITIL is used across the world and in a wide variety of industries, with internationally known companies like IBM, HBSC, and even NASA implementing ITSM strategies. For many companies, the biggest benefits of ITIL are its versatility and scalability: companies can take as little or as much as they’d like from ITIL, and they can also combine it with practices that follow other popular frameworks like Six Sigma, COBIT, and TOGAF.

Pursuing ITIL certifications

While you can certainly study up or apply ITIL principles and practices in your own company, you can also pursue official ITIL certifications, which indicate familiarity, knowledge, and even mastery of ITIL principles put into practice. Importantly, ITIL certifications are available only to individuals, not to an entire organization. For instance, if a company claims they are ITIL certified, they may in fact comply with a related, but different, standard of the ISO/IEC 20000, or they may simply be promoting any number of employees within the company do hold ITIL certifications.

Levels of ITIL certifications

So how does certification work? ITIL certification is divided into five levels of certifications. One person may only seek an entry- or medium-level certification, while a project manager or CIO may seek to obtain Expert or Master status in ITIL. Of five levels, the first four levels are based on number of credits and passing examinations. Reaching the Expert certification, the 4th-highest level, requires 22 combined credits. Achieving the ultimate Master level, however, does not rely on credits and instead has its own criteria.

Here are the five ITIL certification levels:

Foundation: the entry level. With no pre-requisites, anyone can sit for this exam.

Practitioner: this second level is the newest addition to ITIL certifications. Sitting for this exam requires passing the Foundation level. This level is not a pre-requisite for upper level certifications, but its 3 credits upon passing do count towards the overall credits needed for Expert certification.

Intermediate: this level is based on modules within two categories. Candidates can choose topics within both categories:

◈ Service Lifecycle, with modules focused on Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement.
◈ Service Capability, with modules focused on Operational Support and Analysis; Planning, Protection, and Optimization; Release, Control, and Validation; and Service Offerings and Agreements.

Expert: pre-requisites include 17 credits from the previous 3 levels. Passing the Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) exam grants an additional 5 credits, making a student eligible for the Master-level certification with 22 credits.

Master: the ultimate ITIL certification, a candidate must demonstrate ITIL mastery by completing Expert certification (22 credits minimum), demonstrating minimum 5 years’ experience in a management or leadership role, submitting a proposal for ITIL service improvement, submitting a work package wherein the candidate successfully applied ITIL practices to a real-world business case, and completing an interview with an ITIL assessment panel.

Pricing of ITIL certifications

Current ITIL owner Axelos oversees and maintains the ITIL framework and accredits training and exam institutions. There are hundreds of ITIL accredited training organizations (ATOs) that deliver training and certification examinations, which are available on the Axelos website.

A candidate for ITIL certification may choose from certification providers who are accredited by AXELOS for providing the training and examinations. Non-accredited providers may cost less, but their content and results may not be as reliable or vouched for. Pricing varies depending on country you reside and whether you’re taking an in-person course, online option, or an in-house training within your company. Candidacy for the Master-level certification alone is $4,000.

Benefits of ITIL certifications

Digital services are the de facto product these days: more and more companies are buying into – and selling – digital services, instead of tangible, heavy, customized options. Digital services typically rely on ongoing project management that focus on the service’s objectives while also paying attention to inevitable issues in developing, delivering, and maintaining the service. A good IT service management approach is knowing exactly how to integrate all these ever-changing factors into your development process.

As ITIL strives to address this inherent potential and risk, common business advantages that result in an ITIL approach include:

◈ Decreasing time, money, and other resources spent on the entire service development lifecycle
◈ Improving the overall quality of the end product
◈ Boosting staff morale
◈ Increasing customer satisfaction.

Businesses may see explicit improvements, too, such as:

◈ A better, more tangible understanding of your customers, their needs, and their expectations
◈ Development of a guide that predicts and reacts to a service’s issues
◈ Increased productivity
◈ Improvement management of resourced
◈ Risk management that minimizes or prevents service disruption
◈ A stable development environment that isn’t rigid, allowing for flexibility
◈ Better alignment across IT and other business departments

Considerations for ITIL certification

Industry experts as well as those certified in ITIL often agree that certification behooves both the individual and the company.

◈ 76% of those surveyed said that intermediate and advanced certifications made them more marketable, and nearly 59% said that they were better able to compete with an intermediate-level ITIL certification.

◈ 70% reported developing new knowledge and expertise. (This is significant because a common complaint of ITIL certification maintains that new knowledge acquisition is rare.)

◈ 55% felt they had improved their overall effectiveness on the job, and 47% reported that their employees improved efficiency in cost and time. (This indicates that an ITIL-certified employee may have a larger impact on colleagues and teams.)

◈ 23.5% felt that their knowledge helped employees improve their overall risk management. (This is surprisingly low, especially when many proponents of ITIL say that certification can help mitigate risk.)

Large, global companies can often more easily justify the cost of ITIL certifications for a number of employees. In such companies, it’s common for any IT professional, from sysadmins to project managers to CIOs, to obtain some level of ITIL certification. These same companies often also have dedicated ITIL coaches and mentors.

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), on the other hand, often have a hard time justifying the cost of fully certifying and implementing ITIL. But experts say these SMBs may want to consider the opposite: a failed IT project is often much more disastrous to your bottom line than the proactive approach of ITIL certification.

It may never be a complete guarantee that an ITIL certification is worth the investment, both for you and your company. With anything, you’ll often get out of the process exactly what you put into it. But, because ITIL builds on previous experience, you can try it out with entry-level certifications before fully committing to the long-term promise of ITIL Mastery.

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Measuring Project Performance

It’s happened to nearly every project manager sometime in their career. They’re given the requirement to provide detailed performance reporting on a project and end up spending most of their time entering hours worked into work packages in Microsoft Project and estimating percent complete on these packages – on a daily basis. Whether the requirement for that level of reporting was real or perceived, the project manager finds that he’s unable to manage the day to day activities of his project because he’s too busy trying to measure the project’s performance.

When a successful company invests time, money, and other resources in a project, its primary concern is always what it is getting in return for its investment. It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure these projects stay on schedule and within their approved budget. Performance measurement provides the project manager with visibility to make sure he is operating within the approved time and cost constraints and that the project is performing according to plan. It also alerts management if a project begins to run over budget or behind schedule so actions can quickly be taken to get the project back on track.

As the Project Management Office (PMO) manager it is your responsibility to ensure that project performance is being captured and reported. It is also your responsibility to ensure that the level of reporting is achievable and doesn’t unnecessarily overburden or distract the project managers.

Your PMO should define the size of the work packages in your work breakdown structure (WBS). There are two typical standards; 4 to 40 hours and 8 to 80 hours. You should decide which size best fits your organization based on typical project size and level of management detail. I personally prefer the 4 to 40 as a work package cannot exceed the work of one person over a week.

Additionally your PMO should have a standard for applying credit for work performed. There are three common approaches to this. One rule is to apply a percent complete to work packages; however, this is somewhat subjective and leads to percent completes of 99.5, then 99.6, then 99.7 – we’ve all either been in this situation or seen it. A second rule is only giving credit when 100% of the work is completed on a work package, this is called the 0/100. The work package receives no credit even if it’s 3/4 complete. This solves the problem with the previous rule; however, it leads to less accuracy when performing earned value calculations. The third option is to give 50% credit when work on a work package is started and 100% when the work is completed. This is the rule I typically follow as it gives credit for earned value management and is easy to apply in the field.

Next, you should determine what earned value metrics you want to track and present to management. Although you can easily calculate most all earned value metrics (i.e. PV, EV, AC, SV, CV, SPI, CPI, EAC, ETC, etc) you don’t necessarily need to track all these values and you definitely don’t want to present them all to management. Management just needs a quick view of the project’s performance using only some of these values and would be overwhelmed if they had a complete list. For most projects I track the Schedule Variance (SV), Cost Variance (CV), Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Cost Performance Index (CPI). These four values provide a reliable measurement of the project’s performance.

Schedule Variance (SV): If SV is zero, then the project is perfectly on schedule. If SV is greater than zero, the project is earning more value than planned thus it’s ahead of schedule. If SV is less than zero, the project is earning less value than planned thus it’s behind schedule.

Cost Variance (CV): If CV is zero, then the project is perfectly on budget. If CV is greater than zero, the project is earning more value than planned thus it’s under budget. If CV is less than zero, the project is earning less value than planned thus it’s over budget.

Schedule Performance Index (SPI): If SPI is one, then the project is perfectly on schedule. If SPI is less than 1 then the project is behind schedule. If SPI is greater than one then the project is ahead of schedule. A well performing project should have its SPI as close to one as possible.

Cost Performance Index (CPI): If CPI is one, then the project is perfectly on budget. If CPI is less than 1 then the project is over budget. If CPI is greater than one then the project is under budget. A well performing project should have its SPI as close to one as possible.

You should set thresholds for these values at which their status will change to an alert. For example, if the SPI falls below 0.9 then the project’s schedule should change to a yellow status. If the SPI falls further and dips below 0.8 then the project’s schedule should change to a red status. Additional earned value calculations can be performed if there is a problem with the project’s cost or schedule – this will give the project manager a better understanding of the problem and determining a path for correction.

Measuring project performance is an important part of project and program management. It allows the PMO and project manager to identify cost and schedule problems early and take steps for remediation quickly. It starts with setting the standards for the size of work packages, applying credit for work performed, and which earned value metrics to track, which should be included in the project’s Cost Management Plan. Measuring project performance provides the organization with a clear picture of the health of its projects and can instill confidence in the project teams. Additionally, these performance measures can help the PMO establish continuous improvement initiatives in areas where projects commonly perform at lower levels. The usefulness of measuring project performance is evident and as long as organizations do not become overwhelmed with them, these measures will remain important contributors to organizational success.

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How Much Training Is Needed to Create Good Black Belts?

One would think that with the levels of standardization and process efficiency we drive in Lean Six Sigma that there would be consensus on how much training a certified Black Belt should receive. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, despite the herculean efforts by the American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP), there is not even a consensus on what constitutes the “true” body of knowledge of Six Sigma; many consulting companies and corporations simply teach their versions. This leads to a huge divergence in what Black Belt certification means. Most hiring managers are left to look at the applicant’s pedigree to assess qualifications.

Part of this confusion is historical. When companies in the United States were first adopting Lean and Six Sigma in the early 1980s, the standards for certification were incredibly high. At Texas Instruments in 1992, for example, candidates were expected to attend approximately 1,000 hours of training and complete more than 30 projects before they were eligible to sit for certification (patterned after a thesis defense). Later, as Six Sigma became more mainstream, the requirements became less stringent. At GE in 1997, for example, training was a standard four weeks (160 hours) and candidates were expected to complete two projects, which were vetted by their businesses. This trend has continued and, today, many programs are one or two part-time weeks and candidates then take an exam. In the early days, significant effort was made to differentiate Lean and Six Sigma from the status quo approaches to quality and the programs were technically rigorous. Today the emphasis is more on balance and accessibility. Unfortunately, this means that all Black Belts are not equally qualified for all roles.

Another reason for the diversity is the demands of the industries we have extended Lean Six Sigma to cover. In engineering-intensive product-focused industries (e.g., aerospace and automotive), the focus of Lean and Six Sigma was focused principally on the analytical and reliability side of Six Sigma. The teams generally had solid engineering and scientific backgrounds so demanding that Black Belts master experimental design and reliability statistics was not a challenge. But today, Lean and Six Sigma are found in nearly all industries and the quality needs of these industries are broader than the products they create. In the service industries, by contrast, the focus tends to be on people skills and descriptive statistics. In these industries the solution to problems is not nearly as difficult as is the defining of these problems clearly so that there is an urgency for creating solutions. Even in companies were a blended approach is favored (e.g., GE), the Six Sigma body of knowledge still remains specific to the industry and application.

Still another reason for the apparent diversity is the leadership of the various deployments. Everyone has his or her own intrinsic biases and these color how we choose to manage our deployments. Maybe it was what you were taught, the business’ needs as you see them or even a sense of unrealistic expectation (“I had to learn to compute ANOVA results by hand so everyone else should, too!”). No matter the source, these biases influence what we choose to emphasize and downplay, and this drives choices about which tools are important and in what order tollgate deliverables are to be completed.

The diversity in Black Belt knowledge is far from accidental. This means that basing your training content off of that used at another company or in another industry is very likely to fail. There aren’t universal standards because each company’s program must serve its customers, deliver its products or must participate in its unique regulatory environment. Lean and Six Sigma are not academic disciplines, they are pragmatic business approaches and as such must be unique to the businesses they serve. Success demands a balance of technical tools and applications with practical hands on application of these tools in real world scenarios. This is, after all, why we call them Black Belts and not process engineers. If you shortchange either the level of rigor or the level of practical application, your Black Belts will struggle. If, on the other hand, you over-emphasize either of these, your Black Belts will also struggle. The key is balance.

Balance is achieved by knowing your company and its needs so start with the strategy. Who are your customers? How do your customers make money and how does the product or service you provide help them achieve that goal? What are your long-term and short-term improvement goals and aspirations? If you discover that your customers want only cost and cycle time improvements, teaching modeling, DFSS and maybe even elements of DMAIC are a waste. If on the other hand, your customers expect innovation and extreme reliability, you cannot skip these topics. It’s all a matter of where you are in the quality journey and what is critical today. (Remember, it’s a journey not a destination.)

Once you have a plan, then consider who you will train. Six Sigma requires a certain level of mathematical sophistication and while everyone can master the concepts, some are better prepared than others. Those whose education has focused on the more concrete applications of mathematics (e.g., accounting or engineering) will require more time to master modeling than those whose education was more theory-based (e.g., physical science or economics). And those whose education did not demand mastery of higher mathematics (e.g., liberal arts and business) will require still more time. It’s not a matter of if your candidates can become good Black Belts but rather how much you must invest to get them there.

Many people make the mistake of “dumbing down” quality principles to match the current capabilities of their audience; this is a recipe for failure. Teams applying Lean and Six Sigma in transactional, non-engineering-intense disciplines need more training and coaching – not less. You can assume fewer things about their preparation but the problems they will encounter as they apply their art are no simpler so don’t handicap them with Lean Six Sigma “light.” It is also important to understand the personality profiles of your candidates. Certain people are more comfortable with inquiry whereas others must be coached not to jump to solutions. Everyone can learn Six Sigma but not in the same amount of time or in the same manner.

Finally, remember that the moniker “Black Belt” was purposefully chosen to distinguish practitioners of Six Sigma from quality engineers or industrial engineers. Someone can become an engineer through rigorous study and mastery of a body of knowledge without ever actually applying this learning to real-world problems. Not so with a Black Belt. To become a Black Belt, one must demonstrate a practical mastery of the art. In fact, most experts in Lean and Six Sigma consider the practical application more important than mastery of the body of knowledge. Lean Six Sigma is not an academic discipline and delivering results always trumps expert knowledge.

Maxwell Gladwell argues in his book Outliers that to truly master a subject, one must devote more than 10,000 hours to the field. This is probably true for Lean Masters and Six Sigma Master Black Belts. For ordinary project managers and Black Belts, I have found that less time is required to become practically competent, but the study and application should still be significant. Reasonable training on the Lean Six Sigma body of knowledge for the average candidate requires 100-160 hours plus an additional 40-100 hours of hands on coaching in the practical application of these tools and concepts. Add to that the independent application of Lean Six Sigma in two or more projects (~250 man each) and 1,000 hours (six months of full-time employment) is not unreasonable. When we short change our Black Belt candidates on training, mentoring (especially mentoring) or practical experience we should not be surprised when they struggle.

Most companies rush the process, perhaps with the aid and advice of well-meaning consultants who assume any shortcomings in training will be made up in mentoring. And then the companies expect miracles. To get the full effect of continuous improvement you must be in the game for the long-haul. Invest time in developing your team and great things will come.

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Keeping Up with Change: A Three Dimensional View

Change happens every day. In today’s business world, it is the only thing that is consistent. But why change? And why are some people better at it than others? And in an environment where everything is changing, why is it so difficult for some companies to change?

To answer these questions, it is important to consider several factors that are necessary in order to successfully implement change within an organization. These factors fall under three dimensions:

1. The reason or cause of change
2. The effects of change
3. The business and organizational environments for implementing change.

By considering all three dimensions, practitioners more effectively can understand the scope of change in its entirety.

Why Change?

In the 1950s and ’60s, large companies developed business plans for the next one, three, five and, in some cases, 10 years. Today, most companies do not or cannot plan beyond 12 months. Advancements in technology have made an increasing number of resources available to all companies, large and small, and they have in turn opened up new markets around the globe. Because change is so prevalent, long-term plans may become outdated and possibly obsolete within months. Business plans must be reviewed, updated and revised quarterly.

Factors of Change

Change involves many components. Some, such as customers or competitors, initiate or are the cause of change. In other cases there are things that affect the implementation of change, such as processes and motivation. In still other cases, the environment contains elements that can promote or inhibit the success of change. The factors that follow will be discussed in terms of the three dimensions of change: reason or cause; effects or influences; and the environment.

1st Dimension: Reasons for Change

While there can be any number of reasons for change, there are three common causes: industry, customers and competition.

Industry — From time to time, every industry initiates change for any number of reasons, including standardization, new technology, quality or availability. For example, some industries have a governing board that sets forth standards that all competing companies within that industry must adhere to. In other cases, governments can regulate quality or availability of products or services. Industries also set the boundaries in which a company is trying to excel. Each industry has its own character in terms of business execution style, rate of change, application of technology and growth. This affects how a company implements change by guiding or favoring certain types of change.

Customers — The end customer is often a cause of change. Customer demands are monitored by a company’s customer service and business development department. If demands are widely held, the company may be forced to make changes to accommodate those demands, whether they are changes to the existing product or developing something new. Often the customer has a need, but may not know what will satisfy this need.

The business and social culture of the customer also influences change. Different customers may have different values or priorities, which can vary the level of formality, rapid response, quality, price and reliability they expect.

Competitors — Competition is a major instigator of change. If a competing company introduces a new product or adds new technology to an existing product and customers decide that there is value to the change, often all companies in the industry will be affected by the introduction. It might cause new development of a competing product or integration of the new technology. In either case, the primary reason for changing is to keep up with the competition.

2nd Dimension: Influences of Change

The second dimension looks at the organization where change will take place. Characteristics of the organization such as attitudes, work ethic and processes have a direct influence on the successful implementation of change.

Organization — Within an organization, the chemistry of the collective unit reflects an attitude toward change. In some cases it might be open to change. In other cases the attitude might be one of antagonism, denial, reluctant acceptance, skepticism or hopeful acceptance. This attitude can be the result of many influences, including age, industry and prior history.

Attitude also can be guided by perception within the organization. If the change is viewed as positive, the attitude can be quite favorable. But if the change is perceived to be negative, the attitude of the organization may become a significant obstacle during implementation. One example of the influence of attitude might occur if management proposes a change that appears inconsistent with the company’s strategic vision. The perceived conflict in objectives may bias the initial attitude. If an explanation or rationale is not given showing how the change relates to corporate strategy, the negative attitude may continue and grow into opposition.

In addition to the chemistry and attitude of an organization, work ethic can have a significant impact on change. If the work ethic is proactive, change will be embraced and incorporated almost immediately. If the work ethic is more reactive, there is less of a chance that change will be fully implemented. Typically a reactive environment is one where an organization is fighting fires. Only if someone with authority steps up and makes a difficult priority call will effort to incorporate change take precedence over daily efforts.

Process — One of the most important factors influencing the implementation of a change within an organization is process. What are the current behaviors of the organization? Management’s behavior in terms of priorities, decision making styles and responsiveness can influence the organization undergoing change as well as those that interact with that organization. Most changes in the organization are initiated by management. Those in the organization that are impacted by change look to see if:

◈ The change to be implemented is consistent with stated priorities.
◈ Decisions by management reflect those priorities.
◈ Management is responsive to questions that arise during the implementation of the change.

If at any time daily operations or a crisis takes precedence over the change, the organization’s perception of the change may turn more negative as a result.

For organizations that develop or manufacture products, any existing development processes that have been introduced as a result of Six Sigma, Lean, CMMI or other internal processes may impact the implementation of change. Most development processes are designed for repeatability and standardization. By definition, change is inconsistent with these. That does not mean that change is necessarily in conflict with process, but care must be taken so that any change introduced is in a structured, documented and repeatable manner. On the other hand, the change must not be bogged down in existing processes or debates. Any delay in implementing change as a result of process can result in a negative perception of the intended change, the process or both.

3rd Dimension: Environment

The environment where change is targeted will have a huge impact on its acceptance or rejection. The motivation for change within the environment and the culture in which the change will take place both play a role.

Motivation — Why is the organization or management interested in making the change? The goal of all change is to strengthen the organization. But the reason for change could be the result of some previous failure. It could also be to improve an area that is currently performing only at an “adequate” level. Or the change could be part of an area that is new to the organization. How is the motivation for change perceived by the organization in each of these cases?

There often are two distinct motivations associated with a proposed change. One is the primary motivation being marketed (internally or externally) with the change. A second motivation is the perceived rationale for the change. This motivation may not be explicitly stated or marketed. It may start at the grassroots worker level, and can be positive or negative. The point is that it may coexist with the stated motivation and in some cases, run contrary to the stated motivation.

Culture — Culture in a work environment relates to the socio-environmental influences. These influences reflect how the organization executes its daily tasks, everything from communication to social networks to management style. Culture is multifaceted and complex. Some examples follow:

◈ Management styles: The style of management used in an organization can have a huge impact on change. A supervisor who is a leader will be more successful than one who is a manager. Leaders know and understand the importance of implementing change and their role in making it happen. But leaders are rare in most organizations; managers make up the overwhelming majority of supervisors. While autocratic managers can be just as successful as participatory manager, it is the latter that will have significantly more buy-in from the employees. The manager who is more “hands-on” will be successful implementing change.

◈ Team, clique or individual work relationships: Today, the team approach is widely used. However, while some organizations profess a team approach, actual implementation may not reflect that approach. In some instances cliques form; these may be divided into groups of “doers” and “non-doers” or “watchers.” Or, the team may be nothing more than a collection of individuals, each member of the team working independently for the greater cause of the team.

◈ Open or closed environments: An open work environment describes a situation where there usually is high turnover among employees. But it might also describe an environment where there is continual growth and learning. A closed environment has minimal competition (usually contract or sole-source business) and is stable. The business may involve little change or is moderately slow to change.

There are many factors that contribute to the culture of an organization. Some are derived from the industry, service, product and size of the organization. The three examples here are representative of some of the aspects that should be taken into account when considering the environment intended for change.

Evaluate the Situation Before Making Change

While change can be difficult, it represents an integral part of today’s business cycle. Businesses are required to change at an incredible rate in order to compete and grow. Unfortunately, in many cases, organizations propose and implement change solely as an action to get from Point A to Point B.

To ensure successful implementation, any change should be evaluated and adapted to address the unique business environment of the organization. The change agents must consider the three dimensions of change, the reason, its influences and the environment.

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Back to Basics – ITIL Change Management Process

Digital transformation is a high priority activity for most IT leaders now. Businesses undergo similar transitions on a regular basis that differ in risk and impact. Seamless operation is a gift for any business to improve efficiency. Therefore, it is important to streamline this process to ensure minimal disruption or downtime. The ITIL change management process is a precursor to release management and this includes detailed assessment & planning before the change is actually released.

Objectives

◈ Reduce risk and impact
◈ Retain current working state
◈ Streamline communication and approvals
◈ Effective change planning
◈ Reduce incidents due to change execution

Examples – Windows patch, new software installation, changes to network infrastructure components, changes to ERP application

Change Management process flow

ITIL Change management process follows different stages that include every change detail. Following is the change management process flow

Request for Change

The first step is to request for a change with valid justifications. A Change record is created in one of the following scenarios

◈ Incident causes a new change
◈ A known problem leads to a change
◈ End user requests a new change
◈ Change manager creates a change as result of an ongoing maintenance

Request for Change (RFC) proposal contains following information along with necessary details

Change evaluation and planning

Change assessment committee evaluates submitted RFC and suggests necessary changes. This is followed by Change planning that follows a standard procedure such as

◈ Prioritizing a change – Prioritize change request and determine change type depending on risk and impact
◈ Scheduling a change – Schedule the change based on release window. Decide on the planned start date and end date
◈ Roll out plan – Implementation activities and approach
◈ Back out plan – Back out activities in case of any failure

Change approvals

Effective communication is the key to managing approvals on time. Automate approval process to reduce manual effort and save time. For example, major change requires CAB approval as well as management’s whereas standard changes are pre-approved and do not require any approval.

Change implementation & review

Release management takes care of the actual deployment. It includes build plan, test plan and batching. Change review happens post implementation to determine whether it’s a success. Review of completed changes helps in revisiting and modifying existing change management process if necessary.

Types of changes

Let us look at different types of changes and some of the common examples for each change type.

Major change 

Major changes are high impact and high risk items that might affect production systems. This requires CAB approval as well as management approval. This has a huge impact on ongoing business operations and also has financial implications. Therefore, RFC contains a detailed proposal on cost-benefit, risk-impact analysis.

Examples – migration from one datacenter to another; replacing an existing enterprise solution, ERP.

Standard change 

Standard changes are usually pre-approved changes and have low impact & low risk. These changes occur in a regular interval and follow the standard template. CAB approval is not required as these changes are evaluated and approved initially.

Examples – OS upgrade, deploying patch, setting up an user account etc.

Minor change

Minor changes are generally normal changes that do not have a major impact and are less risky to execute. These are non-trivial changes that undergo every stage of change lifecycle including CAB approval. Eventually, minor changes are converted to standard changes in future.

Examples – application performance improvement, website changes.

Emergency change

Emergency changes are unexpected interruptions that need to be fixed as quick as possible. This does not follow the conventional workflow whereas retrospective RFC is created post implementation. Emergency CAB (ECAB) is responsible to manage approvals. Review is completed later to avoid potential infrastructure risks in future and detailed documentation is done post implementation.

Examples – security fix, server outage.

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5 Advantages of Using ITSM Software

You know that using IT service management has been a huge advantage for your business, but have you given your IT department the proper tools to support the framework? There are plenty of advantages to using ITSM software—here are 5 of the most important.

5. Standardization and Integration

You know that ITSM in general is supposed to help you standardize your IT procedures across departments and divisions. In a lot of ways, using software specifically designed to support those functions is a logical extension of an ITSM framework. It’s always easier to do a job when you have the right tools at your fingertips—and ITSM tools like workflow management software help your IT staff do their jobs. Not only that, but these software solutions can also work across an organization so the benefits, like streamlining processes, can be realized in other parts of your company too.

4. Improved ROI

You’ve invested a lot in an IT service management framework so it really needs to pay off. ITSM can improve a business’s ROI—that’s no secret. But one of the best ways to ensure the return on your investment in ITSM is to employ software specifically designed for the job. IT professionals know what they need to do, but they also need the right tools to get it done. As an added bonus, software solutions will be implemented in every department of a business to ensure everything is consistent, standardized, and integrated. That means that when you employ an ITSM framework along with a software solution, it won’t just be the IT department that benefits—and that translates into a better ROI. In addition to that, many ITSM software solutions are suites of programs, which means that you’re getting not just one tool, but a whole set of them. Each tool can help your company with a different task, and these tools are designed to work together seamlessly.

3. Higher Efficiency

IT professionals are good at what they do, but ask any of them and they’ll say that the right tools make their lives easier. Why make the job harder by not offering them software that can help them better manage workflows, search through data and reports in short order, and keep track of incidents? Program capabilities also allow teams to look at their workflow processes in more detail, which in turn can point to the places where procedures could be simplified. Workflow management software may even allow you to automate some steps of a procedure—which means less time and effort, and a smaller margin of error.

2. Visualization

If you want to know what your workflow process looks like, you don’t need to scribble it all out on paper; ITSM software can do that for you. By allowing you and your employees to visualize workflows quickly and easily, these programs can make it very obvious where a process can be simplified—by moving steps around, by eliminating unnecessary ones, or even by automating them. ITSM software can also help you run cost-benefit analyses quickly and easily, which means you spend less time guessing if the changes to procedures will save you time and money.

1. Reduced Costs

Perhaps most importantly, ITSM software can help your business reduce costs. The efficient delivery of services helps your employees save time and money, and the ability to visually review your workflow and determine what changes make sense allows you to make adjustments to processes and procedures that will save money. ITSM software might seem like a big investment upfront, but the benefits far outweigh the costs.

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