TY B.Sc.

IT Semester VI

IT Services Management
(Module 4)
Q.1. Service Operation | Fundamentals |
Meaning
 Service Operation is the stage in the IT Service Management (ITSM) lifecycle where IT services are
delivered to customers. The main objective of Service Operation is to ensure the effective and efficient
delivery of IT services to meet customer expectations and business needs.
 Service Operation includes several key processes, such as Incident Management, Request Fulfillment,
Access Management, and Event Management, which work together to ensure the effective delivery of
IT services.
 For example, consider a large retail organization that relies on IT services for its daily operations. If a
cash register system goes down, the Incident Management process will be activated to restore the
service as quickly as possible. The process may involve identifying the cause of the issue, assigning
ownership, and communicating with stakeholders until the issue is resolved.
 Service Operation is focused on maintaining service availability, minimizing downtime, and delivering
value to customers. By effectively managing incidents, fulfilling requests, and controlling access to IT
services, organizations can ensure the smooth delivery of IT services and maintain customer
satisfaction.

Fundamentals of Service Operation

1) Customer Focus:
Service Operation must be centred on delivering value to customers and meeting their expectations for
service quality, reliability, and availability. For example, a retail organization may survey its customers
to understand their satisfaction with IT services, and use the feedback to make improvements.
2) Process Alignment:
Service Operation must align with the overall IT Service Management processes, including Service
Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, and Continual Service Improvement. For example, a bank
may have a well-defined Incident Management process that is integrated with Problem Management
and Configuration Management to ensure the effective resolution of incidents and the prevention of
future occurrences.
3) Service Integration:
Service Operation involves the integration of multiple processes and activities to deliver IT services
effectively. For example, an IT organization may use a single tool to manage incidents, access requests,
and events, providing a unified view of service operation activities.
4) Continual Service Improvement:
Service Operation must be continuously improved based on customer feedback, performance data, and
best practices. This helps to ensure that IT services meet changing business needs and customer
expectations. For example, an airline may regularly review its Request Fulfilment process and make
improvements based on feedback from customers and internal stakeholders.
5) Automation:
Service Operation can be supported by technology, such as automation tools and systems, to improve
efficiency and effectiveness. For example, an IT organization may use an automated monitoring system
to detect and respond to incidents in real-time, reducing downtime and improving service availability.
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6) IT Operations Management:
Service Operation requires the effective management of IT operations, including the management of
infrastructure, systems, and services, to ensure the delivery of high-quality IT services. For example, a
healthcare organization may use IT Operations Management to ensure that its electronic health record
systems are available and accessible to patients and healthcare providers.
7) Service Reporting and Monitoring:
Service Operation requires regular reporting and monitoring of IT services to ensure that they are
delivered effectively and efficiently. This includes monitoring service performance, identifying and
resolving incidents, and tracking service requests. For example, a government agency may use service
reporting and monitoring to ensure that its IT services meet performance and availability targets, and
to identify areas for improvement.

Q.2. Service Operation Process

Service Operation includes several key processes and activities, including:
1) Service Level Management:
This process is responsible for defining and maintaining Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the
IT organization and its customers. SLAs specify the level of service to be delivered, such as availability,
response time, and resolution time.
2) Incident Management:
This process is responsible for quickly resolving service disruptions to restore normal service
operations. This includes identifying, documenting, and categorizing incidents, assigning ownership,
and communicating with stakeholders.
3) Problem Management:
This process is responsible for identifying the root cause of incidents and implementing permanent
fixes to prevent future occurrences. This helps to minimize the impact of incidents on the business.
4) Request Fulfilment:
This process is responsible for managing and fulfilling service requests from customers. This includes
managing requests for new services, changes to existing services, and the closure of services.
5) Access Management:
This process is responsible for controlling who has access to IT services and ensuring that access is
granted in compliance with security and privacy policies.
6) Event Management:
This process is responsible for monitoring events that occur in the IT infrastructure, such as hardware
failures or software errors. The process identifies potential incidents and triggers appropriate action to
prevent or resolve incidents.
7) Configuration Management:
This process is responsible for maintaining a complete and accurate record of all IT components,
including hardware, software, and services. This helps to ensure that the IT infrastructure is properly
maintained and that changes can be managed effectively.
8) Release and Deployment Management:
This process is responsible for planning, testing, and deploying changes to the IT infrastructure. This
includes new releases of software, hardware upgrades, and other changes.

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Q.3. Challenges & Risks In Service Operation
Service Operation in IT Service Management (ITSM) can present several challenges and risks that need
to be managed in order to ensure the effective delivery of IT services. Some of the common challenges
and risks in Service Operation include:
1) Service Disruptions:
IT services can be disrupted due to various factors, such as hardware or software failures, network
outages, or human error. Service disruptions can result in business downtime and impact customer
satisfaction.
2) Lack of Visibility:
It can be difficult to understand the status of IT services and identify potential issues. This can result in
a lack of visibility into service performance and hinder the ability to resolve incidents quickly.
3) Resource Constraints:
IT organizations may face resource constraints, such as a shortage of skilled personnel or limited
budget, that can impact their ability to deliver effective IT services.
4) Inconsistent Service Delivery:
IT services may not be delivered consistently across different business units or customer groups. This
can result in inconsistent service quality and impact customer satisfaction.
5) Complexity of IT Environment:
The complexity of IT environments can make it difficult to manage and maintain IT services effectively.
This can result in increased downtime and decreased service quality.
6) Resistance to Change:
IT organizations may face resistance from customers to changes in IT services, such as new releases of
software or hardware upgrades. This can impact the ability to deliver new services and improve existing
services.
7) Data Privacy and Security:
IT services can be vulnerable to data breaches, security threats, and other privacy risks. Ensuring data
privacy and security can be a challenge in Service Operation.

Service Operation Principles:

INTERNAL IT VIEW VERSUS EXTERNAL BUSINESS VIEW:

The most fundamental conflict in all phases of the ITSM Lifecycle is between the view of IT as a set of IT
services (the external business view) and the view of IT as a set of technology components(internal IT
view).

 The external view of IT is the way in which services are experienced by its users and customers.
They do not always understand, nor do they care about, the details of what technology is used to
manage those services. All they are concerned about is that the services are delivered as required
and agreed.

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 The internal view of IT is the way in which IT components and systems are managed to deliver
the services. Since IT systems are complex and diverse, this often means that the technology is
managed by several different teams or departments – each of which is focused on achieving good
performance and availability of ‘its’ systems.

 Both views are necessary when delivering services. The organization that focuses only on
business requirements without thinking about how they are going to deliver will end up making
promises that cannot be kept. The organization that focuses only on internal systems without
thinking about what services they support will end up with expensive services that deliver little
value. The potential for role conflict between the external and internal views is the result of many
variables, including the maturity of the organization, its management culture, its history, etc.
This makes a balance difficult to achieve, and most organizations tend more towards one role
than the other. Of course, no organization will be totally internally or externally focused, but will
find itself in a position along a spectrum between the two. IT Service Management.

 Building Service Operation with a balance between internal and external focus requires a long-
term, dedicated approach reflected in all phases of the ITSM Service Lifecycle. This will require
the following:
 An understanding of what services are used by the business and why.
 An understanding of the relative importance and impact of those services on the business.
 An understanding of how technology is used to provide IT services.
 Involvement of Service Operation in Continual Service Improvement projects that aim to
identify ways of delivering more, increase service quality and lower cost.
 Procedures and manuals that outline the role of IT Operations in both the management of
technology and the delivery of IT services.
 A clearly differentiated set of metrics to report to the business on the achievement of service
objectives; and to report to IT managers on the efficiency and effectiveness of Service Operation.
 All IT Operations staff understand exactly how the performance of the technology affects the
delivery of IT services and in turn how these affect the business and the business goals.

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 A set of standard services delivered consistently to all Business Units and a set of non-standard
(sometimes customized) services delivered to specific Business Units – together with a set of
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that can meet both sets of requirements.
 A cost strategy aimed at balancing the requirements of different business units with the cost
savings available through optimization of existing technology or investment in new technology
– and an understanding of the cost strategy by all involved IT resources.
 A value-based, rather than cost-based, Return on Investment strategy.

 Involvement of IT Operations staff in the Service Design and Service Transition phases of the
ITSM Lifecycle.
 Input from and feedback to Continual Service Improvement to identify areas where there is
an imbalance and the means to identify and enforce improvement.
 A clear communication and training plan for business. While many organizations are good at
developing Communication Plans for projects, this often does not extend into their operational
phase.

OPERATION STAFF INVOLVEMENT IN SERVICE DESIGN AND SERVICE TRANSITION:

 Service Operation staff are involved in Service Design and Service Transition and potentially also
in-Service Strategy where appropriate. One key to achieving balance in Service Operation is an
effective set of Service Design processes.

 These will provide IT Operations Management with:

 Clear definition of IT service objectives and performance criteria
 Linkage of IT service specifications to the performance of the IT Infrastructure
 Definition of operational performance requirements
 A mapping of services and technology
 The ability to model the effect of changes in technology and changes to business requirements
 Appropriate cost models (e.g. customer or service based) to evaluate Return on Investment
and cost-reduction strategies.

 Service Design is a phase in the Service Management Lifecycle using a set of processes,
not a function independent of Service Operation.
 As such, many of the people who are involved in Service Design will come from IT
Operations Management.
 This should not only be encouraged, but Service Operation staff should be measured on
their involvement in Service Design activities – and such activities should be included in
job descriptions and roles, etc.
 This will help to ensure continuity between business requirements and technology
design and operation and it will also help to ensure that what is designed can also be
operated.
 IT Operations Management staff should also be involved during Service Transition to
ensure consistency and to ensure that both stated business and manageability
requirements are met.

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 Resources must be made available for these activities and the time required should be
taken into account, as appropriate.

OPERATIONAL HEALTH:

 The IT Infrastructure is like an organism that has vital life signs that can be monitored to check
whether it is functioning normally.
 This means that it is not necessary to monitor continuously every component of every IT system
to ensure that it is functioning.
 Operational Health can be determined by isolating a few important ‘vital signs’ on devices or
services that are defined as critical for the successful execution of a Vital Business Function.
 This could be the bandwidth utilization on a network segment, or memory utilization on a major
server.
 If these signs are within normal ranges, the system is healthy and does not require additional
attention.
 This reduction in the need for extensive Service Operations And Service Operation Principles
103 monitoring will result in cost reduction and operational teams and departments that are
focused on the appropriate areas for service success.
 However, as with organisms, it is important to check systems more thoroughly from time to time,
to check for problems that do not immediately affect vital signs. For example, a disk may be
functioning perfectly, but it could be nearing its Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) threshold.
 In this case the system should be taken out of service and given a thorough examination or
‘health check’. At the same time, it should be stressed that the end result should be the healthy
functioning of the service as a whole.
 This means that health checks on components should be balanced against checks of the ‘end-to-
end’ service. Operational Health is dependent on the ability to prevent incidents and problems
by investing in reliable and maintainable infrastructure.
 This is achieved through good availability design and proactive Problem Management. At the
same time, Operational Health is also dependent on the ability to identify faults and localize them
effectively so that they have minimal impact on the service.
 This requires strong (preferably automated) Incident and Problem Management. The idea of
Operational Health has also led to a specialized area called ‘Self-Healing Systems’.
 This is an application of Availability, Capacity, Knowledge, Incident and Problem Management
and refers to a system that has been designed to withstand the most severe operating conditions
and to detect, diagnose and recover from most incidents and Known Errors. Self-Healing
Systems are known by different names, for example Autonomic Systems, Adaptive Systems and
Dynamic Systems

COMMUNICATION:
 Good communication is needed with IT teams and departments, with users and internal
customers, and between the Service Operation teams and departments themselves.
 Issues can often be prevented or mitigated with appropriate communication. An important
principle is that all communication must have an intended purpose or a resultant action.

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 Information should not be communicated unless there is a clear audience. In addition, that
audience should have been actively involved in determining the need for that communication
and what they will do with the information.

 Together with a description of the typical audience and the actions that are intended to be taken
as a result of each communication. These include:

 Routine operational communication

 Communication between shifts
 Performance reporting
 Communication in projects
 Communication related to changes
 Communication related to exceptions
 Communication related to emergencies
 Training on new or customized processes and service designs
 Communication of strategy and design to Service Operation teams.

 Although the typical content of communication is fairly consistent once processes have been
defined, the means of communication are changing with every new introduction of technology.
The list of alternatives is growing and, today, includes:

 E-mail, to traditional clients or mobile devices

 SMS messages
 Pagers
 Instant messaging and web-based ‘chats’
 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) utilities that can turn any connected device to an
inexpensive communication medium
 Teleconference and virtual meeting utilities, have revolutionized meetings which are now held
across long distances
 Document-sharing utilities.

 The following points should be noted:

 Communication is primary and the means of communication must ensure that they serve this
goal. For example, the need for secure communication may eliminate the possibility of some of
the above means.
 The need for quality may eliminate some VoIP options. It is possible to use any means of
communication as long as all stakeholders understand how and when the communication will
take place.

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DOCUMENTATION:

IT Operations Management and all of the Technical and Application Management teams and
departments are involved in creating and maintaining a range of documents. It includes the
following:

 Participation in the definition and maintenance of process manuals for all processes they are
involved in. These will include processes in other phases of the IT Service Management Lifecycle
(e.g. Capacity Management, Change Management, Availability Management) as well as for all
processes included in the Service Operation phase.

 Establishing their own technical procedures manuals. These must be kept up to date and new
material must be added as it becomes relevant, under Change Control. The procedures should
always be structured to meet the objectives and constraints defined within higher-level Service
Management processes, such as SLM.

 Participation in the creation and maintenance of planning documents, e.g. the Capacity and
Availability Plans and the IT Service Continuity Plans.

 Participation in the creation and maintenance of the Service Portfolio. This will include
quantifying costs and establishing the operational feasibility of each proposed service.

 Participation in the definition and maintenance of Service Management tool work instructions
in order to meet reporting requirements.

EVENT MANAGEMENT:

 Event is defined as detectable occurrence that has significance for the delivery of IT service.
Event Management ensures that all CIs are constantly monitored and define a process to
categorize these events so that appropriate action can be taken if required.

Why to have event management?

 Events are typically notifications created by an IT service, configuration item or monitoring tool
 Effective service operation is dependent on knowing the status of the infrastructure and
detecting any deviation from normal or expected operation.
 This is provided by good monitoring and control systems, which are based on two types of tools:
- Active monitoring tools that poll key configuration items to determine their status and
availability. Any expectations will generate an alert that needs to be communicated to the
appropriate tool or team for action
- Passive monitoring tools that detect and correlate operational alerts or communications
generated by configuration items.

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PURPOSE/ GOAL/ OBJECTIVE :

The purpose of event management is

To manage events throughout their life cycle. This life cycle includes coordination activities to
detect events. Make sense of them and determine the appropriate control action.

The objectives of event management

 To provide the entry point for the execution of many service operation processes and activities.
In addition, it provides a way of comparing actual performance and behaviour against design
standards and Service Level Agreements.

SCOPE : Event Management can be applied to any aspect of Service Management that needs tobe
controlled and which can be automated.

These include :

 Configuration Items:
 Some CIs will be included because they need to stay in a constant state (e.g. a switch on
a network needs to stay on and Event Management tools confirm this by monitoring
responses to ‘pings’).
 Some CIs will be included because their status needs to change frequently and Event
Management can be used to automate this and update the CMS (e.g. the updating of a file
server
 Environmental conditions (e.g. fire and smoke detection)
 Software licence monitoring for usage to ensure optimum/legal licence utilization and
allocation
 Security (e.g. intrusion detection)
 Normal activity (e.g. tracking the use of an application or the performance of a server)