White Paper

ITIL Made Easy

ITSM Processes and Best Practices

www.cherwell.com

The main goal of IT service management (ITSM) is to build or improve the relationship between IT, end users, and
business leadership in order to achieve business goals. Successful implementation of ITSM may require a new way
of thinking along with significant cultural shifts for all stakeholders and the business. The success of IT service
management can be measured by how well IT integrates the services they provide with the goals of the business.
Finding ways to address IT service delivery challenges, such as the inability to keep pace with customer demand,
an overwhelmed team, poor communication, and mediocre service quality, can be difficult given limited budget
and resources.
IT organizations must correct these inefficiencies while remaining mindful of cost and resource allocations. This white
paper will discuss how intelligently integrating the right people, processes, and technology automation solutions
can help you overcome these obstacles. Combining this integration with a tested and proven best practice framework,
such as ITIL, enables IT organizations to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, elevate service quality, and
demonstrate the value IT brings to the business.

IT Challenges
Challenges abound when it comes to implementing IT service management processes and delivering high quality
service to your end users. Cumbersome manual processes and limited or overly complex technology can be
a challenge for the successful delivery of IT services. The right people, processes, and technology are the key
to successful ITSM. One of the greatest challenges for IT departments is getting these three areas effectively
working together to ensure favorable outcomes. Implementing a new technology solution without evaluating staff
skills and defining processes is ineffective and further complicates the problem rather than solving it.
For example, imagine your organization is hiring several new people without a new hire process. Without a process,
hiring managers wont know what must be done to onboard a new hire or who is responsible for getting it done.
The new hire requires access to various systems, an identification card, equipment, a telephone, and a desk. Now,
imagine the company is bringing on 20 new people under 15 different managers, and not a single manager has
a clear understanding of the process for new hires. Proper integration of people, process, and technology can help
alleviate the complexity and allow the organization to seamlessly onboard new employees.
You will quickly realize cost and time savings from defined and automated processes, but carefully choosing and
implementing the right processes at the right time for your business is critical to success.

Reduce Risk with the Right People, Processes, and Technology

Skilled team members, well-defined processes, and affordable automation solutions place successful implementation
of ITSM within reach for most IT organizations.
Here are some key principles to keep in mind as you strive to integrate people, processes, and technology to improve
overall service delivery:

Understand that a tool alone will not result in perfect service delivery. The tool is only as good as the
processes you put in place and the people who use and support it.

Design processes that fit your business and culture before choosing a solution. Choosing the right
technology depends on your culture and the process it automates.

Secure the right people, and ensure they understand and support your business goals. They must be
committed, qualified, and fit your business culture. Ask yourself if they are the right people (are they
skilled, friendly, collaborative?).

Define what you want to get out of the technology before choosing and implementing it. Make sure
the tool fits your processes rather than redefining your processes to fit the tool.

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Adopt the Right Processes

Poorly defined and unenforced IT processes have long caused a rift between traditional IT organizations and business
leaders. Unfortunately, there is no universal approach or perfect solution to defining and implementing IT service
management processes. However, evaluating your business goals, departmental budgets, resource constraints, and
organization culture will help you determine what processes are most practical to adopt and guide your implementation.
The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of IT service management best practices designed to support business
requirements. Relying on the guidelines provided by ITIL and implementing the processes that suit your business
needs will bridge the gap between business and technology.
ITIL is comprised of five basic publications that describe best practices for each phase of the IT service lifecycle:
1.

ITIL Service Strategyoutlines business goals and customer requirements

2. ITIL Service Designencompasses transitioning strategies into plans that help the business
3. ITIL Service Transitionexplains implementing services within the business environment
4. ITIL Service Operationdefines key processes related to IT service management
5. ITIL Continual Service Improvementhelps ITIL users evaluate and plan IT service improvements
Bear in mind, you dont have to implement every ITIL process, nor do you need to follow each process exactly
as presented by ITIL; rather, establish and adapt processes based on your business requirements.
In this section well review four of the most commonly implemented ITIL processesIncident, Problem, Change, and
Configuration Managementand evaluate how to assemble appropriate team members in an effort to align processes
with your business goals. Following this discussion, well provide guidance to help you choose the appropriate
software solution to automate your ITSM processes.

Incident Management
Incident Management is an ITSM process tasked with restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible
and minimizing adverse impact by resolving incidents as quickly as possible.
Incident Management provides the following business benefits:

Decreases IT costs by reducing incident occurrence

Maintains consistent service levels with faster incident detection and resolution

Increases productivity across the organization by restoring normal operation quickly

Identifies training opportunities and service improvements

Reduces incident impact on the business and user with improved monitoring

Eliminates lost incidents

Improves user satisfaction

Documents IT service management value

Assemble the Incident Management Team The People

The Incident Management team plays an essential role in keeping the business operational by restoring service as quickly
as possible. The Incident Management team is comprised of:

Incident ManagerThe Incident Manager drives and continually improves the Incident Management Process
through team leadership, reporting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to management, managing first and
second line support, monitoring the Incident Management system, and enforcing the Incident Management
process workflow.

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

First Line SupportFirst Line Service Desk Technicians are the single point of contact for end users seeking
information and reporting service disruptions. These technicians perform initial support and attempt to
restore a failed service as quickly as possible. If they escalate the incident to other support personnel, they
continually monitor the resolution, update the status, and communicate with the end user as needed.

Level 2 SupportSecond Line Support Technicians typically have more advanced knowledge and may
become responsible for incidents that First Line Support is unable to resolve. They may interact with third
party experts to help restore normal service as quickly as possible.

Improve Efficiency The Incident Management Process

An incident can arise from anywhere and will follow a process intended to restore service as quickly as possible:

Logging

Escalation (if necessary)

Categorizing

Resolution

Prioritizing

Closure

Diagnosis

Communication

Measure Achievement
Establishing the right metrics and KPIs enables you to determine whether you are meeting your goals, the areas in which
you excel, and those in which you lag. Each business is unique, and the metrics and KPIs you monitor should be specific
to your organizations goals, size, and industry relevance. In addition, these may change as your organization matures.
Some important Incident Management metrics/KPIs include:

Total incidents reported (per category, priority, person, organizational unit, etc.)

Status of incidents

Time between incident creation and resolution

Incidents and SLA (reached, breached)

Average cost per incident

Re-open rate

Incidents handled without escalation

First call resolution

Configuration Items (Cls) experiencing recurring incidents

Incidents by time of day

Problem Management
Problem Management addresses the lifecycle of problems. Success is achieved by quickly detecting and providing
solutions or workarounds to problems in order to minimize impact on the organization and prevent their recurrence.
Problem Management differs from Incident Management in that its main goal is finding the cause of an incident,
minimizing the impact on the business, and preventing recurrence. Problem Management can be thought of as the
proactive wing of Incident Management. The best approach for Incident Management is to restore the service as
quickly as possible, but ensure that all details are recorded. This enables Problem Management to analyze the root
cause(s). Fixing a problem is a first and important step, but preventing the problem from recurring reduces incidents
and frustration, improves efficiency, and lowers costs.
Problem Management provides the following benefits to a business:

Maintain continuous service levels

Increase service availability

Improve service quality

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Decrease time to resolution

Reduce incidents

Increase productivity

Repeatable workarounds

Improve monitoring, allowing performance against SLAs to be accurately measured

Improve management information on aspects of service quality

Improve efficiency and staff utilization

Reduce costs

Assemble the Problem Management Team The People

The Problem Management team is responsible for minimizing the business impact and preventing recurrence.
The Problem Management team is comprised of:

Problem ManagerThe owner is responsible for all aspects of the Problem Management process
coordination, including:
-- Liaising with problem resolution personnel
-- Ensuring compliance with SLAs
-- Ownership and management of the Known Error Database (KEDB)
-- Closure of problems
-- Coordinating major problem review

Problem Solving TeamThis team may include internal technical support team members or external
suppliers and/or vendors

Reduce Downtime and Disruptions The Problem Management Process

In order to identify and deal with the root cause of an incident, the Problem Management team follows a process that
supports a proactive approach, including:

Detection

Known Error Record

Logging

Resolution

Diagnosis

Closure

Workaround

Measure Achievement
The main objective of Problem Management is to reduce the number of incidents, reduce business impact, and prevent
recurrence. In order to celebrate process success or identify shortcomings, some important Problem Management
metrics/KPIs include:

Total number of problems during a specific period of time

Problems reported by (category, organizational unit, person, etc.)

Problems resolved within SLA targets

Percentage of problems exceeding SLA targets

Trends associated with a problem backlog

Average cost of managing a problem

Number of major problems during a specific period of time

Average time to resolve problems

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Change Management
Change Management best practices enable the IT organization to make changes that are responsive to business
needs without disrupting service. An organization should be able to make changes rapidly, but services should remain
stable and available. Change Management is a mechanism by which service improvements and other changes are
implemented and controlled through standardized procedures.
Some of the benefits of an automated Change Management process include:

Reduce time to implement changes

Estimate accurate change costs

Improve management information

Minimize service disruption

Assemble the Change Management Team The People

Change Management team members must be armed with the skills to minimize service disruption. The team
is comprised of:

Change Advisory Board (CAB)A group of business and technical representatives who perform change
assessments, prioritize, and schedule changes. The Change Manager is typically the head of the Change
Advisory Board (CAB) and members may include customers, management, developers, consultants,
technical staff, and non-IT office staff.

Change ManagerThe Change Manager is the owner of the Change Management process, leads CAB
meetings, identifies relevant CAB members, creates and manages the Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC),
acts as liaison in order to coordinate changes, reviews implemented changes, closes RFCs, and delivers
management reports.

Minimize Risk The Change Management Process

In an effort to drive seamless change control, the Change Management process prioritizes the following steps:

Logging a change

Approval

Reviewing the change

Implementing the change

Evaluation

Closure

Measure Achievement
The effectiveness of Change Management can be difficult to measure, as it becomes complex to gather data
associated with the progress of a change. However, the following metrics can help you gauge the impact of your
Change Management process:

Number of successful changes implemented

Benefits of changes vs. negative impact prevented

Reduction in the number of service disruptions

Reduction in unauthorized changes

Decrease in change request backlog

Incidents associated with changes

Average time to implement a change

Change success rate

Number of disruptions (incidents, problems) caused by failed changes

Frequency and volume of change

Ratio of planned vs. unplanned change

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Configuration Management
Configuration Management ensures the Configuration Items (CIs) required to deliver services are properly controlled,
and that accurate and reliable information about them is available when and where it is needed. This information
includes details of how the CIs, including services, have been configured, and the relationships between them.
A Configuration Management System (CMS) tracks the relationships between CIs. It is an essential tool in Change
Management because it allows you to assess the impact of a proposed change system-wide, reveals hidden
dependencies, and helps you avoid unintended consequences.
Other benefits of Configuration Management include:

Improve efficiency and stability through better visibility of CIs

Reduce risk and improve security because every CI is recorded and monitored

Increase asset deployment speed

Improve compliance with business rules, monitoring, and auditing, including warrantee
and license tracking

Identify CI duplication

Detect configuration errors

Develop accurate budgets

Assemble the Team The People

The size and distribution of your IT infrastructure will determine the size of the Configuration Management team. The
team could consist of one person who performs all activities or multiple members who share responsibilities. At the
minimum, the team must include a Configuration Manager:

Configuration ManagerThe Configuration Manager is responsible for the execution of the Configuration
Management process and either performs or delegates the responsibilities. This includes:
-- Running the process
-- Overseeing interactions with other relevant processes
-- Gathering requirements
-- Availability of data
-- Critiquing the process
-- Performing process audits and continuous process improvements

Increase Control The Configuration Management Process

The availability of infrastructure and service information is essential to other ITIL processes. In order to guarantee
accurate and up-to-date data, Configuration Management follows these process steps:

Plan CMDB and Configuration Item (CI) data

Identify CIs

Identify CI attributes

Maintain accurate data

Regularly audit and update data for accuracyA discovery tool can be configured
to perform this task automatically for network CIs

Measure Achievement
Managing CIs that are vital to your business is an essential part of the IT departments responsibilities. The following
metrics/KPIs will help measure the effectiveness of your Configuration Management process and how it supports other
Service Management processes:
Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Number of incidents, problems, changes associated with specific CIs

Percent decrease in issues due to improved CMDB accuracy

Improved speed of service delivery/service repair (for example through better identification
of asset location and dependencies)

Improved customer satisfaction

Reduction in software and hardware costs due to better control (for example, reduction
in duplication or reduction in licenses)

Find a Solution to Support Organization Goals The Technology

IT inefficiency can cripple a business. Fortunately, ITIL has defined processes that will help IT operate as a key
contributor to overall business success. Identifying and defining the processes that support your business goals should
always take precedence. Once defined, IT service management software enhances your ability to deliver services
quickly and with fewer human resources by automating process activities and enforcing process compliance.
Therefore, applying a technology solution that is flexible enough to adapt to your process automation needs is essential.
Consider the following when seeking a solution:

Adaptability/configurabilityIn order to provide the greatest efficiency and also foster

buy-in from the people who will use it, it should be adaptable to your needs.

Self-service portalAllow customers to report incidents without having to get on the phone
or send an email.

Knowledge ManagementProvide a means for recording and disseminating solutions.

Real-time analyticsBy spotting trends and common problems in real-time, solutions

can be discovered and provided in real-time, thus preventing problems in the future.

ITIL process alignmentAny solution should align with industry best practices, which thereby
enables the use of a common language and reduces miscommunication.

AutomationAn automated solution enables standardized, repeatable processes, allows integration

with third party tools such as Event Management and Asset Discovery, and provides greater efficiency
in spotting trends and common issues.

Role-based permissionsSecurity controls to restrict access.

Data accuracyMaintained in a single, centralized CMDB that is shared by all ITIL processes.

Set SMART Goals

When setting out to hire the right staff, implement that perfect technology solution, or execute your business-aligned
process, adopt the SMART model to achieve quick and quality wins. SMART goalsSpecific, Measurable, Actionable,
Relevant, and Time-Boundprovides a set of standardized, business criteria for achieving an objective.

SpecificClearly define your goal.

MeasurableEstablish tangible metrics to measure progress.

ActionableEnsure the goal is attainable given your resources and capabilities.

RelevantSet goals that you are prepared and able to achieve using your and your
teams skills and resources

Time-BoundEnsure you have enough time to achieve the goal and set deadlines
that will prompt urgency and motivation

For example, lets revisit our earlier example of onboarding new hires. What is a SMART goal associated with getting
the right people, processes, and technology in place to onboard new employees?
Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SMART goal: HR will establish a new employee onboarding process by September 1st that ensures all new hires have
the following things ready for them by 9:00 a.m. on their first day: equipment (laptop, ID, phone, and system access),
desk assignment, and new hire paperwork (payroll, benefits, and policies).
Now, lets break down how this goal aligns with SMART methodology:

SpecificThe goal outlines exactly what is required and when it is due to be accomplished.

MeasurableYou can measure the progress and success of this goal easily. For example, you can monitor
all new hires over a one month period to determine whether they were effectively on-boarded prior to
beginning work.

ActionableThe goal has actionable steps that are easy to assign to the appropriate owners across the
organization.

RelevantThe time frame given and the details of the goals are realistic for the HR organization to
accomplish by the specified due date.

Time-BoundThe goal has a clear deadline: September 1st.

The practice of setting clear and achievable ITSM objectives is one of the most effective ways to implement process
improvements. SMART goal-setting provides transparency that will help you and the team understand complex IT
initiatives and ultimately experience their benefits.

Achieve ITSM Success

Todays modern IT organizations strive to deliver stellar customer service in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Integration and automation must be a top priority with people, processes, and technology harmoniously working
together. For some, achieving this can seem overly complex. But, with the right formula that includes skilled people,
well-thought-out process, and carefully selected automation technology, gaining the competitive edge is within reach.
In fact, simplifying process, remaining flexible in implementation, and automating where it makes sense is much better
than forcing rigid constraints on your staff and customers.
Once you have defined your ITSM processes, using the ITIL framework as your guide, you can choose a solution that is
adaptable to your business needsone that supports your processes, fits your budget, adjusts to your communication
style, is configured without coding, and measures IT effectiveness and progress.
Now, you really have only one question to answer: How might improving the integration of people, processes, and
technology move your organization ahead?

Copyright 2016 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names referenced are used for identification purposes only and are or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.