What is ITIL?

History of ITIL

ITIL was created in the 1980's by the UK governments CCTA (Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency) with the objective of ensuring better use of IT services and resources.

The ITIL concept emerged in the 1980s, when the British government determined that the level of IT service quality provided to them was not sufficient. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), was tasked with developing a framework for efficient and financially responsible use of IT resources within the British government and the private sector.

The earliest version of ITIL was actually originally called GITIM, Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management. Obviously this was very different to the current ITIL, but conceptually very similar, focusing around service support and delivery.

Large companies and government agencies in Europe adopted the framework very quickly in the early 1990s. ITIL was spreading far and, and was used in both government and non-government organizations. As it grew in popularity, both in the UK and across the world, IT itself changed and evolved, and so did ITIL.

In year 2000, The CCTA merged into the OGC, Office for Government Commerce and in the same year, Microsoft used ITIL as the basis to develop their proprietary Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF).

In 2001, version 2 of ITIL was released. The Service Support and Service Delivery books were redeveloped into more concise usable volumes. Over the following few years it became, by far, the most widely used IT service management best practice approach in the world.

In 2007 version 3 if ITIL was published. This adopted more of a lifecycle approach to service management, with greater emphasis on IT business integration.

What is ITIL?

ITIL is a series of documents, originally created by the Office of Government Commerce, a governmental department in United Kingdom. These are used to help implement an efficient framework for IT Service Management (ITSM).

This 'ITIL framework' essentially defines how to organize the system and network management departments within individual organizations. The concepts within ITIL support IT service providers in the planning of consistent, documented, and repeatable processes that improve service delivery to the business.

ITIL addresses the organizational structure and skill requirements for an IT organization by presenting a comprehensive set of management procedures with which an organization can manage its IT operations.

ITIL: Information Technology Infrastructure Library. ITIL is an integrated set of best-practice lifecycle recommendations with common definitions and terminology. It is actually divided into a series of five documents/books, which are known commonly as 'sets' or 'volumes'. The volumes themselves describe what are often termed 'disciplines', covering individual subjects and approaches.

Conceptually, the driving volume is 'Service Strategy', which offers a view of ITIL that aligns business and IT so that each brings out the best in the other. The remaining four volumes are Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.

An established and well defined certification scheme is also in place to support ITIL. This comprises three disctinct levels: Foundation, Practitioner and Manager. This is discussed in a separate section of this portal.

ITIL Central

ITIL is now a worldwide phenomena, used by organizations of all shapes and sizes, and with a growing army of certified individuals. This website was produced to offer information and support, at both corporate and personal levels. When fully developed, it will provide a focal point for news, interaction and of course access to a wide range of support products and services.

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Trend Analysis: PMP Topics to Know

A trend analysis, in its simplest terms, is a tool and technique you can use within the project management process. Okay, do you feel like you’ve got it now? Just joking – of course you don’t, let’s spend some time discussing trend analysis and why it is a good PMP topic to know.

PMP Trend Analysis: Defined

Beyond the simple definition provided above, a trend analysis is a mathematical tool you can use to assess your project data to determine how it is doing and forecast how it will continue to do.

It is common to see a trend analysis represented in graphical form. This way you can easily see the way your project is trending. See that trending – this means is your project on track, improving, or falling behind, as we discussed above.

Please, disregard the subject of the analysis, but here is a sample of a trend analysis as well as thorough discussion on what the data indicates. Again, this is just a helpful example, the content is not relevant to the PMP exam.

Trend Analysis: A Topic to Know

Remember in addition to understanding what a trend analysis is, it is equally important to understand how each topic relates back to the overall project management processes.

A trend analysis is a tool and technique used during the monitor and control phase of the project life-cycle (or process group). You will use it in the integration, time, cost, and risk knowledge areas.

If you are asking yourself, what is a tool and technique? These are the actions or items that are applied to an input to get the intend output.

Think about it, the integration knowledge area wants to understand how the 47 processes of project management work together – thus it would make sense that you want to analyze how that work is progressing.

Same with time, cost, and risk. You will want to know if your project is tracking in the direction you planned. You would not want your schedule or budget to be falling behind and know nothing about it.

Back to the definition of tool and technique, if we use the time knowledge area, we can use a trend analysis to assess our project schedule and create an output of a project change request if our project is currently falling behind schedule.

Using the trend analysis is critical to help your project complete on time, within budget, with the intended scope.

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PRINCE2 Certification and PMP

How PRINCE2 can compliment PMP and the PMBOK Guide

PRINCE2 - PRojects IN Controlled Environments - is a major worldwide project management methodology. It takes a different approach than Project Management Professional (PMP)® , but the goal of both is to improve project performance.PMP® is generally well-accepted worldwide, it is by far the leading approach in North America. PRINCE2 on the other hand is de-facto standard method for project management in the United Kingdom, with a strong presence in Europe, Australia, and other typically English-speaking countries.

The process, clarity and strengths of PRINCE2 are balanced by the depth of the PMBOK Guide® . PRINCE2 can be studied by itself as it is a scalable, practical, process-based methodology providing “what” you need to do in project management with its step-by-step guidance.  Those who pass PMP® often ask – after they have completed their certification – “Where do I actually start? How do I put all of this together to actually run a project?”  PRINCE2 becomes useful to at this point because, as a methodology, it can shape and direct that knowledge.

Here are a two approaches to getting value out of PRINCE2.  PRINCE2 was designed in an integrated manner, so a Project Manager can get the most out of it when it is used in its entirety.  But there are elements of PRINCE2 that can be lifted and applied directly in any project environment. 

Approach 1: Use PRINCE2 for its unique approaches and insights into project management

◉ Read the PRINCE2 manual, or read the manual and take a PRINCE2 course

◉ Get a grasp of how the “package” as a whole works

◉ Focus on the elements that can be most easily transplanted into your current environment, for the greatest value

◉ The most straightforward elements are: Product Descriptions, Change Control, Issue Management, Quality Reviews and Work Packages (all discussed under “The Strengths of PRINCE2”)

◉ None of these require “permission” from authorities outside the project, so they are easily implemented by the Project Manager (or by project teams, or in sub-projects)

◉ As these approaches and techniques become accepted by stakeholders and others on the project, consider using other aspects of PRINCE2

◉ Because of PRINCE2’s integrated approach, if you use most of PRINCE2’s approach to a specific piece in the first round of implementation, you can add features in almost a plug-and-play manner

◉ Features like Project Boards can be powerful when implemented, but usually require greater buy-in and commitment from stakeholders to succeed — so put these off until greater interest is shown by management. (It is helpful to have more senior managers attend a PRINCE2 Foundation or Overview course to understand its potential.).

Approach 2: Use PRINCE2 as the proven, low-cost basis for your company’s methodology

◉ Get to know PRINCE2 and consider using it as the core of your company’s new project management approach — perhaps along the lines of “PMP® and PRINCE2 – Together”

◉ Suggest it to management, selling it through its credibility wherever it has been implemented (internationally, including such organizations as the United Nations Development Programme and NATO), and its open (no-fee) availability

◉ Remind management that, when used in an integrated manner, it will support your company’s fulfillment of any future “maturity” plans

◉ Propose that a small group create a prototype project management methodology built around PRINCE2, to build understanding and to plan out how to integrate it into your organization’s environment

◉ Your core group should consider getting themselves accredited in PRINCE2, so you are confident your team understands how to use it effectively.  (You will become the Project Office/ resource team for all future work under PRINCE2. You will also learn a lot by using PRINCE2 to set up your methodology: learning-by-doing)

◉ Remember that you will need to bring parts of the PMBOK Guide® into this methodology to make it complete, so while you’re learning about PRINCE2, think forward towards how you will combine the two.  PRINCE2 doesn’t have to be used “as-is” — but understanding how to implement it to cover critical quality areas will help ensure that your company will meet later “maturity” accreditation requirements.

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ITIL Certification Vs Six Sigma: Learn The Differences

Every service industry including information technology requires that the services they deliver are of high quality. To ensure quality service management, two methods are being employed widely – IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Six Sigma. Both have their own advantages. But, most organizations prefer using both of them together.

It would be a good idea for IT professionals to earn the ITIL certification which will provide insight about applying ITIL to combine its benefits with Six Sigma. Although they have differences, the one thing common about them is their focus on customer satisfaction. Let us see them in detail here.

What are ITIL and Six Sigma?

ITIL is a framework used to support and deliver IT-based services. The ITIL model has many components. Service support includes change management, problem management, release management, incident management and configuration management. Service delivery includes capacity management, availability management, financial management, service level management and service continuity management. Each of these components has some recommended procedures and practices that can be adopted in total or individually.

Six Sigma is greatly used outside IT management for the improvement of operational processes. This formal approach evaluates which processes are important to your business, uses the methodology to improve the processes and their results and measures the quality of output for the processes. It blends well with the concept of IT service management and gives importance to economic savings. Prioritization and customer satisfaction are chief aspects of Six Sigma.

Difference between ITIL and Six Sigma

In a normal scenario, ITIL and Six Sigma are not used together in the real sense. But, they are used in combination as a complimentary set of practices to improve businesses to a large extent.

Six Sigma is mostly based on calculations, formulas and the analysis of business processes so as to improve them. It focuses on how to improve processes, ITIL deals more with the theory and guidelines required to find out the ‘what’ of the processes.

ITIL methods help businesses determine what should be done to improve processes. On the contrary, Six Sigma helps businesses determine the cause of an issue or where the process went wrong. It then finds out how this can be fixed. It creates a way to measure the services tangibly. Since Six Sigma employs statistical analysis, it is better to try process improvements on a trial basis to see if the benefits are scalable.

Combining the Approaches

Even with these differences, these two approaches when combined offer a lot of advantages. ITIL specifies what should be done in an organization but, not how. So, the IT professionals in the organization have to determine the process flow and make detailed work instructions themselves. In addition, Sig Sigma tells how to find the root cause of problems and how they can be fixed. With the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of quality improvement determined, the two approaches together improve the quality of IT service support and delivery.

Six Sigma can be used in the improvement of the organization’s existing processes that are already using the ITIL framework or just migrating to it. If it is in the migrating stage, the organization can use the strategy of analyzing the risk, finding out what needs to be done to make the processes ITIL-compatible and then use a business case to define how it will migrate to ITIL-compatible state.

As both the approaches of ITIL and Six Sigma are important to the success of a business, attending ITIL training along with Six Sigma will prove extra beneficial. Experts believe that this gives knowledge to implement Six Sigma to provide an ITIL compatible process which is in sync with the business goals of the organization.

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ITIL: Information Security Management

Information Security Management (ISM) ensures confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiation, integrity, and availability of organization data and IT services. It also ensures reasonable use of organization’s information resources and appropriate management of information security risks.

Information Security Manager is the process owner of this process.

Information security is considered to be met when:

◉ Information is observed or disclosed on only authorized persons

◉ Information is complete, accurate and protected against unauthorized access (integrity)

◉ Information is available and usable when required, and the systems providing the information resist attack and recover from or prevent failures (availability)

◉ Business transaction as well information exchanges between enterprises, or with partners, can be trusted (authenticity and non-repudiation)

ISM Security Policy

It is required for ISM security policies cover all areas of security, be appropriate, meet the needs of business and should include the policies shown in the following diagram:

ISM Framework

ISM Process

The following diagram shows the entire process of Information Security Management (ISM):

Key elements in ISM Framework

ISM framework involves the following key elements:

CONTROL

The objective of Control element is to:

◉ Establish an organization structure to prepare, approve and implement the information security policy

◉ Allocate responsibilities

◉ Establish and control documentation

PLAN

The purpose of this element is to devise and recommend the appropriate security measures, based on an understanding of the requirements of the organization.

IMPLEMENT

This key element ensures that appropriate procedures, tools and controls are in place to underpin the security policy.

EVALUATION

The objective of Evaluation element is to:

◉ Carry out regular audits of the technical security of IT systems

◉ Supervise and check compliance with security policy and security requirements in SLAs and OLAs

MAINTAIN

The objective of Maintain element is to:

◉ Improve on security agreements as specified in, for example, SLAs and OLAs

◉ Improve the implementation of security measures and controls

PREVENTIVE

This key element ensures prevention from security incidents to occur. Measures such as control of access rights, authorization, identification, and authentication and access control are required for this preventive security measures to be effective.

REDUCTIVE

It deals with minimizing any possible damage that may occur.

DETECTIVE

It is important to detect any security incident as soon as possible.

REPRESSIVE

This measure is used to counteract any repetition of security incident.

CORRECTIVE

This measure ensures damage is repaired as far as possible.

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Project Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping is done to map the interest of your stakeholders. It is a process of systematically analyzing and gathering qualitative information to determine whose interest should be taken into account.

Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping is important because it helps project leaders and managers to access a stakeholder's interest, positions, alliances and knowledge related to the project.

When Stakeholder Analysis need to be done?

Stakeholder analysis should always be done at the beginning of a project. Such analysis is helpful in the drafting of a log frame. Log frame is nothing but a general approach to project planning, monitoring, and evaluation in the form of a 'logframe matrix'. Whenever log frames are reconsidered during the life cycle of a project, a stakeholder analysis will be useful. Which means whenever mid-term reviews or annual monitoring is handled, stakeholder analysis should be the part of it.

Stakeholders Categorization

Stakeholders are categorized into two categories

Internal stakeholders	External stakeholders
Within the organization: Employees and Management	Outside the organization: Government & Trade Association

Process for Stakeholder Analysis

Following are the primary aspect needs to be considered for stakeholder analysis

Step 1) Identify your stakeholders: Your boss, your team, senior executives, prospective customers, your family, etc.

Step 2) Assess how those stakeholders could be impacted or have an effect on the organization

Step 3) Prioritize your Stakeholders-

StakeHolder Type	Action
High power, interested people	Manage closely
High power, less interested people	Keep satisfied
Low power, interested people	Keep informed
Low power, less interested people	Monitor with minimum effort

Step 4) Identify areas of conflicts (organization vs. stakeholder, stakeholder vs. stakeholder)

Step 5) Prioritize, reconcile and balance stakeholders

Step 6) Align significant stakeholder needs with organizations strategies and actions

Things to take care while dealing with stakeholders

◉ Could you eliminate processes, which do not add stakeholder value?

◉ How would you communicate with stakeholders?

◉ Do your communications encourage stakeholder exchange?

◉ Do you communicate the stakeholder the value of the deal?

Important questions to ask during Stakeholder Analysis Mapping

Different attribute check for stakeholder	Question to ask your stakeholders
Identification of stakeholder	Who is paying for the project? Who will receive the deliverables or profits from the project? Both from your organization and client organization who will work with you to implement the project? Identify the expert for the project domain in the organization.
Interest	What direct benefit do stakeholders expect to get from the project? What outcomes do stakeholders expect as a result of the project? What changes do stakeholders need to make as a result of the project? Are there any conflicts of interest amongst the stakeholders?
Influence	What legitimate authority do stakeholders have in the organization? Who controls the project assets and resources? What degree of influence or negotiation power do your identified stakeholders carry in the organization?
Impact	How much impact stakeholder could have on the project and does this going to affect the success of the project

Also, you need to figure out when stakeholders will become involved in the following-

◈ Project Vision

◈ Project Scope Definition

◈ Business Process Analysis

◈ Needs Elicitation

◈ Requirement Validation

◈ Design reviews

◈ User Acceptance Testing

You can create a "Participation Matrix Table" for the stakeholders as given below

Participation Type	Inform	Consult	Partner	Control
Needs Assessment
Planning
Implement
Monitoring & Evaluation

Tips to manage your Stakeholders

◈ Do not complain. Accept stakeholders as they are

◈ For guaranteed success, get the key leadership involved.

◈ Make sure, you involve your stakeholders early in the business analysis process

◈ In case of a sensitive issue, ensure full confidentiality to all stakeholders to win their trust.

◈ To avoid conflicts, help all stakeholders in realizing their personal gains from the project.

◈ Stakeholders mapping and analysis always helps.

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6 Reasons to Why Become PRINCE2 Certified

It does not matter if you’re already a project manager or someone aspiring to become one, being PRINCE2® qualified is a crucial step to enhancing your career prospects. PRINCE2 provides benefits to the managers and directors of a project and an organization, for the controllable use of resources and the ability to manage business and project risk more effectively.

If you want to boost your management career, this is one of the best qualifications you can take. So no excuse not to get started with this prestigious accreditation. The first level can be explored online at Processexam.com

Why Should Study Prince2 Certification

1. It’s a Global Industry Standard

PRINCE2® qualifications are recognized and respected around the world, and best practice for project management. It has become an essential benchmark of capability within the industry and is considered a key qualification for those looking to build their project management careers. So aside from strengthening your skills to potential employers domestically, it also opens up many opportunities across the globe.

2. Improve Employment Prospects

PRINCE2 is the de facto project management standard. It provides the skills to make you confident about successfully managing projects. That's because PRINCE2 uses a common language, systems, and procedures. This allows you to control resources and risks. PRINCE2's checks lead to fewer mistakes, but the lessons log teaches you and your team how to learn from them.

3. Prince2 Qualifier earn High Salary

Through our work helping the unemployed back to work a recent survey of those who successfully found work with their new PRINCE2 accreditation the average salaries paid were between £33,000 and £55,000 per annum.

4. Qualified Prince2 Manager manage projects more successfully

Being a successful project manager is dependent on good relations with the Business Development team. When developing project proposals, many clients will be eager to engage software development work where they see that the Project Manager is PRINCE2® qualified and has structured the delivery aspects of the proposal with an eye on the use of PRINCE2® methods, reducing the project risks for the potential client.

5. Work on larger projects

Many organizations with large project team’s grade project managers on the size of the project that they can be trusted to manage. Typically a formula is arrived at for calculating this grading, and one of the key factors in achieving a high score and getting allocated the juiciest projects is your level of project and programmer management accreditation.

6. Gain Project Management Skills

Project management methods, may not be needed when trying to deliver small projects. Small projects can be satisfied with just strong team leadership, energy and the engagement of excellent staff.

You can go global with job prospects once you have a PRINCE2 certification to flash on your CV. Since this programmer course will make you with essential project management core competencies, you can land up on various project management job profiles with prominent international brands. This competence will qualify you to manage any project challenges head on being completely confident on the path to undertake. If you have been working for a while as an unqualified project manager then with a PRINCE2 certification on your resume you will be evaluated by a multi-talented professional, and you will have the scope to work for meaningful and growth-oriented job designations such as:

◈ IT Project Manager
◈ Service Delivery Manager
◈ Project Manager, Software Development
◈ IT Program Manager
◈ Technical Project Manager
◈ Customer Project Manager
◈ National Senior EQA Scheme Officer
◈ Project Management Analyst
◈ Implementation Project Manager
◈ Service Improvement Manager
◈ PRINCE2 Consultant
◈ Innovation Delivery Manager

Today employers that are aiming to recruit creative and talented professionals consider PRINCE2 as a secure bet.  For them, a professional with this certification is someone that can manage any business crisis and emerge successfully. The primary objective of most esteemed and profit making organization is to reduce cost and yet ensure that their staffs are well trained to deliver high-class projects with quality work within a predetermined deadline. Hence, for them, PRINCE2 has become the benchmark for effective project management.

You can save time, money and effort with PRINCE2. So no matter what the industry, company size, project size or even methods already in use, you can tailor PRINCE2 to work efficiently.

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Project Integration Management

What is Project Integration Management?

Project Integration management is mainly concerned with the processes required to ensure that the various activities of the project are co-ordinated properly.

In other words, Project Integration Management process comprise of activities like identifying, defining, combining, and coordinating various processes related to project.

Project Integration management includes following activities.

Process	Project Stage	Key Deliverables
Develop project charter	Initiating	Project Charter
Develop Project Management Plan	Planning	Project Management Plan
Direct and Manage Project Work	Execution	Deliverables
Monitor and Control Project Work	Monitoring and Control	Change Requests
Perform Integrated Change Control	Monitoring and Control	Change request status updates
Close Project or Phase	Project closure	Final product

We will see this all process step by step below:-

Project Charter

The project charter is an integral part of Project Integration Management, without a project charter, a project cannot start. It formally authorizes and defines the objectives of the project. It includes name, description, and deliverables of the project, usually written by a higher authority than a project manager.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Develop project charter	Expert Judgement	Project Charter
Business case
Contract
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Project Management Plan

Project plan development uses the outputs of the other planning processes to produce a consistent, logical document that can be used to guide both project control and project execution. Project Management Plan is used to direct project execution, documenting project planning assumption, communicating among stakeholders, for better project control, etc.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project charter	Expert Judgement	Project Management Plan
Output from planning processes
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Direct and Manage Project Work

It is a process where the work will be executed as defined in the project management plan and implementing changes with respect to project requirement.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan	Expert Judgement	Deliverables
Approved change requests	Project management information system	Work performance information
Enterprise environmental factors		Change Requests
Organizational process assets		Project management plans updates

Monitor and Control Project Work

This stage includes tracking, reviewing and reporting the progress of the project in order to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan	Expert Judgement	Change Requests
Performance reports		Project management plans updates
Enterprise environmental factors		Project document updates
Organizational process assets

Perform Integrated Change Control

It is the phase where the impact of any change is assessed against the project. It requires to be assessed across the whole of the project. In this process, the actual work is analyzed against the projected plan and makes an adjustment if they are not inline or in sync.

The difference between the "monitor & control project work" and "integrated change control" is that Perform Integrated Change Control emphasis on managing any change to project scope while the former one focuses on managing the way that such scope is executed.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan	Expert Judgement	Change Requests status updates
Work performance information	Change Control Meetings	Project management plans updates
Change Requests		Project document updates
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Close Project or Phase

It is the phase of formal completion of the project related activities.

Inputs	Tools & Techniques	Outputs
Project management plan	Expert Judgement	Final product, service or result transition
Accepted deliverables		Organizational process assets updates
Organizational process assets

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