Service Delivery – The Other Half
John Perks, Principal Consultant, PARTNERS IN IT
Service Delivery is the often neglected "other half" of the ITIL pair.
Whilst most managers' bookshelf or desk will have a copy of Service Support, few have a copy of Best Practice for Service Delivery, unless they obtained it for their ITIL Managers certificate. But this is the book that has so much to recommend for establishing and maintaining Services.
The chapter most readers will be interested in is Service Level Management, which guides the reader through the steps to establishing a Service environment for their organisation. This chapter also has excellent examples of a Service Catalogue and Service Level Agreement, complete with guidance on the attributes that could be included. Any organisation would develop a strong foundation by implementing this advice straight out of the book.
Financial Management for IT Services offers useful advice on how to make the budget stretch, and also shows how IT can communicate with the business in language they understand. In combination with Service Level Management it lays out the framework for selling the IT services to the business for the true cost of maintenance. It also offers guidance on relating to Change Management, and how to ensure that changes and projects are budgeted. The other three core chapters, Availability Management, Capacity Management and IT Service Continuity Management are very much as any seasoned IT veteran would anticipate. But they are salted throughout with nuggets of wisdom that makes a careful re-read worth the effort.
All of the core chapters have role descriptors for the owners of the function, so readers can identify individuals in their organisation with the skills and personality to fulfil the responsibilities. But perhaps the best part of this volume is in the "extras", all the annexes and appendices. Here the reader will find such gems as a template for the "IT Service Continuity Management Generic Recovery Plan", or a whole appendix detailing suggestions and advice for communicating with the business.
The Best Practice titles are available on paper, CD-ROM, online subscription and as a PDF pack, and every IT manager should have access to both volumes. From advice on daily management to advice applicable for business cases, they are an indispensable tool for IT management.
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