So what’s up? How are things going? I hope everyone had a good holiday full of quality family time and turkey. Such is life-all holidays must come to end, and we all have to get back to work.

So when last we chatted, we were discussing some benefits of undertaking a strategy to construct a service catalog and CMDB in a joint effort. The first benefit that I mentioned was the ability to identify the composition of a service, which includes Hardware, Software, Manpower Governance, Standards, etc. Let me elaborate. One of the biggest challenges for IT is to gain a universal understanding of what a service is. You might laugh but a common reaction when first trying to define a service is skepticism and uncertainty. A common feeling is that if the item can not be shoved in a rack or is not the latest flashy piece of technology, it is worthless or a waste of money. The reality is that IT functions in the realm of the tangible. So there is not the typical warm-heart welcome when someone brings up the concept of a ’service’.

So how does one get around this?

By defining a service with the items within the CMDB, individuals can better solidify relationships and the composition of a given service. This allows items that were not tangible to become tangible and have identity. In addition this provides an additional (service) layer to be integrated with the CMDB structure from day one, which provides IT with a very powerful data structure that includes a complete set of views (including business, customer and IT).

Any questions?

Well until next time; remember to use your powers for good.

Also, check out our new White Paper on “How To Develop a Service Catalog”.

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Okay, so last time we had a chance to chat, I made the statement that running CMDB and Service Catalog projects can increase the acceptance of operating in a service-oriented fashion. If you recall, my reasoning was largely due to how foreign a service concept is to IT. So I proposed that by building a data model that integrates the service catalog and CMDB, one can establish a familiar reference point for IT which brings the adoption rate into acceptable portions.

In addition to creating an approach for adoption, you can now create an environment of continuous momentum as the Service Catalog and CMDB projects feed off each other. On one side the CMDB gains enterprise-level exposure and identity of importance. Alternatively, the Service Catalog goes from a simple document that requires continuous maintenance to a credible, customer-facing vehicle for IT to use to manage business relationships with its customers.

So does it sound good? Is there any interest in the challenge? Let me know your thoughts? I would love to help out. Take care, and until next time, keep up the good work.

Also, don’t forget to register for Evergreen’s change management webinar and learn how to Take Change Management from Firefighting to Fire Prevention

Check out our new White Paper on “How To Develop a Service Catalog”.

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In the past few weeks I’ve been getting my first close look at HP / Peregrine software’s ServiceCenter Service Catalog module in the 6.2 release that’s just out, and frankly it’s changing my standard opinion about Service Catalog tools, and “ITIL software” in general.

My old stock answer to “which software should I use for ITIL?” is that you could “do” ITIL with almost any of the toolsets out there advertising. I’ve personally worked with Remedy, Peregrine, Mercury, some of IBM’s Tivoli stuff, some of CA’s products, plus other niche or point products like NewScale. And the painful honest truth was, you still had to do a bunch of “make your own” integration and customization to make any or all of these products really work in an ITIL environment.

But, with HP’s acquisition of Peregrine and Mercury, things are already looking much better. The 6.2 ServiceCenter suite has a really strong, “straight out of the box” Service Catalog module that allows easy configuration for your unique set of IT Services and Products (and doesn’t require Admin skills to build the Services and Products), it’s tightly integrated with other modules like Service Management, Incident Management and Change Management, and frankly I haven’t been able to find a big hole in the product at all.

So, I’m usually very reluctant to talk glowingly about any software vendor’s product, because I know from painful experience that they all have holes and quirks and time-consuming workarounds. And I’m sure that’s true with the new ServiceCenter suite. But, I haven’t found any yet.

It’s looking like I may be managing a project to use ServiceCenter 6.2 ServiceCatalog soon, so watch this space and I’ll keep you posted.

Also, check out our new White Paper on “How To Develop a Service Catalog”.

Till next time, keep up the good work.

Scott Braden

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I had a frustrating conversation with one client I’ve worked with quite a bit in the past, who wants to have us back to help them build a Service Catalog, including Service Level Agreements, OLA’s, and a bunch of other related things. One of those things is a web-based IT request portal for security and application access that automates the multiple approvals, keeps everything auditable so the compliance folks are happy and reduces everyone’s workload.

As you might guess, this is not a small task, so our friend is playing the budget game. Since it’s December now, they don’t know how much money they’ll get for 2007, nor do they know which competing projects will get delayed, or reduced, or enlarged or accelerated.

I asked him, “wait a minute, you’re the guys that are planning all this stuff, and you don’t know which ones are going to get done until that month rolls around?” Well… yes, and here’s why - their money for big projects comes from the business, so IT is the “doers” but they are not the “controllers.”

If the business decides that project C is suddenly more important than project A, then IT has to re-shuffle dollars and resources.

“So Scott,” he said, “it’s not us that’s out of control - the business can’t stick to their own plans and budgets.”

Hmmmm… and if we can’t count on our masters - the business - to stick to plans and timelines… how do we expect to force them to live with SLA’s that we come up with, that are (too often) based on nothing more solid than “we’ve always done it that way.”

So at the heart of it, where ITIL and especially Service Level Management (and the related topic of The Business Perspective) are taking us, is a real heart-to-heart sit down talk with our bosses to say, “hey chief, we know we can do a better job, but we’re gonna need you to help us out by defining some agreements and sticking to them.”

If the idea of saying that to your CEO or other senior VP’s makes you nervous… it should.

Also, check out our new White Paper on “How To Develop a Service Catalog”.

Till next time, keep up the good work.

Scott Braden

Which comes first, Change and Configuration, or Service Catalog and Service Level Management?

This is a trick question. I’ll give you the answer later. And it’s also the actual decision we’re facing right now as Phase 1 of this client’s ITSM initiative wraps up and Phase 2 planning is in full gear. Based on the current state assessment, I personally think the most business value “bang for the buck” is in improvements to Change and Configuration Management.

But there are some important reasons why SLM and Service Catalog are important too. Those reasons are key Directors in the organization, who have a vote in the budgeting decision for Phase 2. And they also have specific objectives of their own that they want to get completed as soon as possible.

Our project sponsor understands all of this, and agrees that from the ITIL perspective, and more importantly from the business value point of view, Change and Configuration should be tackled next. But he also understands that “The other Directors understand why Change and Configuration Management are important, but they don’t see why they need to be addressed first. However, what they do understand is why their Service Level Management and Service Catalog goals are immediately important.”

So, the answer to the trick question is this. The one that comes first is the one that the customer wants and is willing and able to fund. Ultimately, business value is in the eye of the beholder.

As a consultant, it’s my duty to help the client understand their options clearly, as well as the costs, trade-offs and expected benefits associated with each option. But it’s up to the customer to say “Ok, I understand, we’re starting with plan B.”

Also, check out our new White Paper on “How To Develop a Service Catalog”.

Don’t forget to register for Evergreen’s change management webinar: Take Change Management from Firefighting to Fire Prevention

Keep up the good work,

Scott Braden

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This week we finished up the first phase of an ITIL / ITSM improvement project in sunny Tampa. This has been a great place to work, first of all because the client wasn’t “broken” in their processes. They just needed a few tweaks in processes and some education and conversation around ITIL and why to do things in a slightly different way.

So this past Tuesday we gave our end-of-project wrap up presentation to the CIO and the senior staff, which went well, including a brief demonstration, lots of conversation about “what we can do next,” and a somewhat surprising insight from the CIO.

As background, this CIO has, like most CIO’s, been struggling with ever-increasing business demand for services from IT, but ever-tightening budgets. So throughout our project a key assumption / constraint has been “don’t expect to get more headcount to support ongoing work, even if you can justify it on a business value basis.”

This all changed on Tuesday. We were discussing the interrelationships between Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management and the new use of the knowledgebase tool that’s built into HP ServiceCenter. When she understood the linkage between a strong knowledgebase, first-call resolution of Incidents and the workload impact to second and third level resources, the CIO said “I want that knowledgebase to grow rapidly, even if we have to add headcount to the Service Desk to make it happen.”

So the CIO of one energy company in Florida sees the value… do you?

Also, check out our new White Paper on “Developing the Business Value for ITIL”.

Till next time, keep up the good work.

Scott

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