ITIL

When following ITIL guidelines, companies should begin by evaluating their IT departments. Their first task is to identify those processes and areas most in need of improvement. They must then develop a model process for the IT department to adopt.

Those processes that quickly lead to noticeable improvements in service for customers or users should be prioritized to achieve “quick wins”. These processes are described in the Service Delivery and Service Support chapters of ITIL.

The Service Support chapter describes ongoing processes within an IT organization. These can be viewed as baseline or added processes and include incident and problem management, as well as change, release and configuration management. Service Delivery comprises service level, financial, capacity, availability and continuity management. Key areas include planning, coordination and control of IT services, as well as clear definition of service level agreements.  

theGuard! ServiceCenter comes with a comprehensive and proven solution for implementing ITIL-compliant processes – and defining and optimizing corresponding IT service processes. Powerful system management functions improve efficiency of IT systems and reduce downtime.

theGuard! ServiceCenter enables the establishment and ongoing management of an effective IT organization capable of supporting strategic business goals. The solution also links IT services with system management capabilities to deliver up-to-the-minute overviews of the IT landscape.

The ServiceDesk component of theGuard! ServiceCenter comprises all key functions of a helpdesk solution, such as support for escalation, a knowledge database, and a Web-based interface for support staff and customers. The helpdesk functions within the ServiceCenter also correspond to ITIL’s definition of an incident management system. The solution also includes monitoring, inventorization and component management capabilities.

All key ITIL-compliant service processes can be performed with the help of the powerful functionality included in theGuard! ServiceCenter (see theGuard! ServiceCenter and ITIL).

For Service Support, features include pre-configured solution workflows for incident, problem and change management. The ServiceCenter also offers integrated IT component management functions, providing valuable support for service-driven management and automation of system configuration.

In-depth service level management capabilities are available for the primary functions defined by ITIL under Service Delivery. The SLA components perform real-time analysis to help identify potential bottlenecks. SLAs can also be continuously checked against the actual quality of service provided. Via capacity and availability management functionality, in-depth tests are carried out on performance and uptime. Flexible reporting facilitates efficient resource utilization, and enables effective planning of future IT investment.

Ongoing analysis of weaknesses guarantees service continuity in line with ITIL definitions.