Welcome to 2006 and another edition of Real World ITIL! It’s good to be back after a long holiday break because there’s a lot of ITIL work to do this year and it’s time to get busy. As we noted in our last blog entry, we’ve got some implementation deadlines looming within the next few months and there’s plenty to do before then.

Our current project involves implementing six ITIL process areas at a ‘version 1.0′ level to act as a sort of ITIL ‘jump start’ for the company-in-question. Of course, what the team is really designing is a single, integrated system of workflows that serves six different infrastructure delivery needs.

One of these needs is to ensure that proper standards, methods, controls and reporting have been established concerning the accessibility of the company’s production systems. ITIL’s Availability Management (AM) process is intended to meet this need and thus it is our subject for this week.

In the present case, we have some real world constraints on timelines and also on how quickly the organization can absorb change. We have therefore divided the implementation of AM into a few distinct phases in order to keep our scope tight (and therefore achievable). These phases are subject to change, of course

Phase 1 (4-6 months): Basic Availability Management

• Define a ‘Version 1.0′ Availability Plan at a component level (without use of a CMDB , which is under construction)
• Define and implement standard ‘availability windows’ in the production environment for changes and maintenance activities driven by the infrastructure group (making sure to synchronize these windows with the Change Management system)
• Design and implement basic, non-automated workflows for: measuring and reporting of Availability metrics for management purposes, improving availability following the occurrence of Incidents and Problems (reactive mode only) and maintenance of the Availability Plan document
• Develop requirements for tool sets to automate AM and review available tools
• Establish clear working relationships with Service Level Management (SLM) and Change Management (CM) at a fundamental level
• Make recommendations for Availability specifications in the company?s new Service Catalog
• Designate and implement a minimal dedicated staffing model to operate the workflows
• Plan Phase 2 with focus on continuous improvement of the existing model

Phase 2 (4-6 months): Intermediate

• Evolve the Availability Plan to express a product and service perspective (beyond just components)
• Define and implement standard ‘availability windows’ in the production environment for changes and maintenance activities driven by the applications group
• Evolve the workflows developed in Phase 1 to become more integrated with the other ITIL areas (especially the Configuration Management team, which is currently building a CMDB )
• Adjust the Availability specifications in the nascent Service Catalog using real world operational experience
• Strengthen interrelationship with SLM and CM by implementing appropriate Operating Level Agreements. Begin providing routine, periodic AM reports to SLM using manual methods.
• Build relationships with other ITIL areas as appropriate
• Continue operating AM with minimal staff commitment and implement two virtual ‘Boards’ - an Availability Architecture Board and an Availability Management Board for policy and oversight
• Select and acquire an automation tool to support AM
• Plan Phase 3 with focus on continuous improvement of existing model

Phase 3 (future): Advanced

• Develop full partnership with an evolved SLM function, including participating in the design of future Service Level Agreements and the Service Catalog
• Implement full reliance on the Configuration Management Database (CMDB )
• Implement methods and processes for proactive governance of factors affecting the availability of production systems
• Make the AM staff as ‘virtual’ as possible (because AM has become part of the organizational consciousness) but maintain the two virtual Boards
• Fully automate AM processes, analyses and measurement systems to the greatest extent possible
• Plan future evolution and continuous improvements

This list, of course, is only a general framework for implementing AM (there may be some essential items missing). There certainly are many other ways of implementing AM in an effective manner. However, we think this phased approach will get the company where it needs to be within the given constraints. We intend to succeed through taking manageable steps, achieving quick wins where possible, and by stressing early end-user adoption of the ITIL concepts and processes.

In our next article, we’ll discuss certain of these line items in greater detail. Until then, thanks for reading Real World ITIL! We’ll see you back here next time.

Regards,
Scott (your moderator)

Technorati Tags: “configuration management” “itil” “it infrastructure library” “infrastructure management” “availability management” “software implementation” “implementation training”

—–