ITIL Service Transition - Publication Review by Stuart Rance

'ITIL Service Transition' provides guidance on how to manage many different kinds of transition. Following this guidance will help to ensure that the requirements from service strategy, developed in service design, are effectively realized in service operation while controlling the risks of failure and subsequent disruption.

The main focus of this publication is on the introduction of new and changed services, but the scope also includes transition of service provider capabilities such as management information systems and tools, technology and management architectures, processes, and measurement methods and metrics. For each new or changed service, all of these aspects are defined in a service design package which is created during the service design stage of the service lifecycle and implemented during the service transition stage. ITIL Service Transition also discusses insourcing, outsourcing and retirement of services, and aspects of organization and stakeholder management needed to ensure the success of service transitions.

The configuration management system (CMS) and service knowledge management system (SKMS) described in this publication underpin all aspects of service management, throughout the entire service lifecycle. They provide controlled access to up-to-date data, information and knowledge that IT staff need to provide services and to make informed decisions, and support organizational learning and development.

Some service transition processes have a wide scope with interaction across the whole of the service lifecycle:

Change management
Service asset and configuration management
Knowledge management.

Other service transition processes are concerned specifically with the management of service transitions:

Transition planning and support
Release and deployment management
Service testing and validation
Change evaluation.

All of these service transition processes interact with each other, to provide value to the service provider and their customers. This value can be seen in:

Improved estimation of cost, timing, resource requirements and risks for new and changed services
Improved expectation setting for all stakeholders, including customers, users, suppliers, partners and projects
Reduced risks and increased numbers of successful changes
Reduced cost and impact of failed changes
Improved control of service assets and configurations.

The guidance in ITIL Service Transition is relevant to all IT organizations, from the smallest internal IT department to the largest external service provider, in both public and private sectors, and in all kinds of industry. It is concerned not just with operational aspects of change, but with the full lifecycle management of all aspects of service transition.

Large-scale IT change is often driven through project or programme initiatives. These may be seen to be outside 'change management', and not considered a service management concern until it is time to implement. However, experience teaches us that this approach rarely yields the best possible benefit to the business. Programme and project managers will find the guidance in ITIL Service Transition useful when planning service testing and validation, release and deployment.

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