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Whether you are a qualified practitioner or a complete ITIL® novice ITIL.uk.com is an exhaustive resource bringing together the best information available on the web for IT Service Management, ITIL® certification and ITIL® training.
To discover more about ITIL® please click on a link below, or scroll down the page:
Quite simply IT Service Management refers to any aspect of IT service provision. The three key objectives of Service Management are:
To align IT services with the current / future needs of the business and it's customers
To improve the quality of the IT services delivered
To reduce the long-term cost of service provision
What is ITIL®?
ITIL® (the IT Infrastructure Library) is a set of best practices for IT Service Management.
This framework defines how Service Management is applied within specific organisations and has emerged as the most widely accepted approach to the management and delivery of IT Services in the world.
The framework has been developed by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in recognition of organisations' growing dependency on IT. The ethos behind ITIL® recognises the importance of IT in order to satisfy corporate aims and meet business needs, this leads to an increased requirement for high quality IT services which ITIL® seeks to deliver.
Drawn from the public and private sectors internationally it is supported by a comprehensive qualification scheme, accredited training organisations and implementation/ assessment tools. The best practice processes promoted in ITIL® both support and are supported by the British Standards Institution’s Standard for IT Service Management (ISO20000).
Service Management processes are at the heart of ITIL® are considered as two core areas:
Service Support
Service Delivery
Service Desk*
Incident Management
Service Level Management
Problem Management
Financial Management
Configuration Management
Capacity Management
Change Management
IT Service Continuity Management
Release Management
Availability Management
*Note that the Service Desk is a function not a process.
ITIL® has been adopted by a disparate range of organisations right across the board including; local and central government, energy, public utilities, retail, finance and the manufacturing industry.
How Can ITIL® Help You?
Each organisation is unique in terms of business, culture, structure, environment and processes, therefore ITIL® cannot provide a magic formula to ensure service improvements. However, since the concepts have been successfully applied throughout many diverse organisations it does offer a structured, scalable approach which can easily be adapted to achieve:
A more reliable and consistent level of service availability with fewer incidents and quicker resolution times
Services capable of controlling, evaluating and absorbing high rates of change with minimal disruption to service
Service levels which are agreed, measurable and cost justified
Reduced expenditure in developing processes, procedures and job instructions
Better communication and information flows between IT staff and customers
Assurance to the IT Director that staff are provided with appropriate standards and guidance
Greater productivity and better use of skills and experience
There are also benefits to the customer/ users of the IT services, such as:
Reassurance that IT services are provided in accordance with documented procedures, which can be audited
The ability to depend upon IT services, enabling the customer to meet business objectives
The provision of clearly defined contact points within IT services for enquiries or discussions about changing requirements
The knowledge that detailed information is produced to justify charges for IT services and to provide feedback from monitoring of service level agreements
For any organisation to realise these benefits it typically requires a major commitment to changes in practices.
To gain a deeper insight whether this outlay can be expected to provide a return, and what might be the nature of that return see our white paper: ITIL® best practice - Is it worth it?
How Does ITIL® Interface with PRINCE2 Standards?
Both PRINCE2 and ITIL® have been developed by the OGC, they are compatible and are used successfully by numerous organisations, however some organisations discover a gap between their service and project management. By seamlessly integrating your PRINCE2 and ITIL® functions you can effectively manage the notoriously difficult task of bringing new IT services into the ‘live' environment, improve operational efficiency and deliver tangible benefits that can be measured against your bottom line.
ITIL®
is a Registered Trade Mark, and a Registered Community Trade
Mark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is Registered
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
