Begin a project
Develop a project plan for how your clients should expect to change an IT process to adopt the best practice standards. (A formal project management methodology like PRINCE2, Projects in Controlled Environments, is very complementary to ITIL because it has similar origins.)
Our organization uses The Project Success System, a project management methodology from Young, Clark, and Associates (YCA), for all development projects, and we chose to use it for our ITIL implementation as well.
The project plan should allow for the development of multiple drafts of your deliverables and several checkpoints for reviews by your client’s organization to ensure that they buy in to the new way of managing IT services.
During
the course of your project, you’ll identify process activities that should be
monitored and measured. Your selection of these activities will be dependent on
your client’s goals for the process and will support the client’s desire to meet
the ITIL best practice criteria.
Measure
Once the project has concluded and the changes
to the IT process have been implemented, it’s time to take measurements of
various tasks—which ITIL helped you identify—throughout the process. For
example, you might want to measure in percentage the reduction in time to
respond to a help desk call after implementing changes to the process. By
measuring these tasks, you’ll be able to determine whether the process will
reach your client’s desired results. If the results aren’t being achieved, now
is the time to make some adjustments to the newly revised process. If you’re
satisfied with the results, perform another self-audit to ensure that the
process has reached a defined, controllable state of maturity.
Continuous improvement
No process is ever perfect, so
explain to your clients the importance of continuous improvement efforts. As the
process is tested over time, employees will suggest further refinements.
Likewise, when you help your client select another process to work on, there
will be a natural tendency to revise processes—even those that have been deemed
to be in control.
The overall implementation of ITIL best practices isn’t
something that can or will happen overnight. In most cases, adopting these best
practices will require a culture change for your client’s organization, in
addition to the anticipated changes to the process itself.
Play video
Good article and simplified introduction.
Any chance you could contact me please for a chat or email exchange
Thanks
Posted by John F McDermott on Tuesday, July 22 2003 10:16 PM