ITIL 4 CDS Student March 2021 - Compressed
September 23, 2022 | Author: Anonymous | Category: N/A
Short Description
Download ITIL 4 CDS Student March 2021 - Compressed...
Description
ITIL 4 Create Deliver Support Course Student Handbook Ver. 4.0
Ducis Management Consulting Private Limited www.ducisgroup.com
Ducis Management Consulting Consulting Private Limited, (Ducisgroup) is off officially icially authorized as an Accredited Training Training Provider for for ITIL ITIL® ® certification courses, courses, by PEO PEOPLECER PLECERT T ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited.
The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights
•
reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the written permission
•
of Ducisgroup.com. Ducisgroup.com.
Permission can be requested at www.ducisgroup.com ITIL® 4 Create, Deliver Del iver and Support course on these pages are offered by D Ducisgroup.c ucisgroup.com om
• •
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 2 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................. 5 5 ITIL 4 Certification Scheme .......................................................................................................................5 THE ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support .....................................................................................................7 About the Syllabi .....................................................................................................................................8 Class Introduction............................................... ................................................................................................ ................................................................................... .................................. 10 Course Overview ................................................................................................... ................................................ ................................................................................... ................................ 11 About the Certification examination ............................................................................... ............................ .......................................................................... ....................... 11 ITIL 4 Foundation Brief Re-Cap ............................................................................... ............................ ................................................................................... ................................ 12 1. Plan & Build Bu ild a Service Value Stream for CDS .............................................................................. 19 19 1.1 Concepts and challenges ................................................................ ............ ...................................................................................................... .................................................. 19 a) Organisa Organisational tional structure structur e ............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................. ............................................ ................................... .............. 19 b) Integrated/collaborative teams ................................................................................................................ 22 c) Team capabilities, roles, competencies ..................................................................................................... 25 d) Team culture and differences ................................................................................................................... 28 e) Working to a customer-orientated mindset ............................................................................................. 31 f) Employee satisfaction management .......................................................................................................... 35 g) The value of positive communications ...................................................................................................... 37 1.2 Using a ‘shift left’ approach .............................................................. approach .............................................................................................................. ................................................ 40
1.3 Planning and managing resources in the service value system ........................................................... 42 a) Team collaboration and integration .......................................................................................................... 42 b) Workforce planning ................................................................................................................................... 42 c) Results based measuring and reporting .................................................................................................... 46 d) The culture of continual improvement ..................................................................................................... 47
1.4 Value of IT across a cross the service value system: ...................................................... ...................................................................................... ................................ 49 a) Integrated service management toolsets ................................................................................................. 49 b) Integration and data sharing ..................................................................................................................... 51 c) Reporting and advanced analytics ............................................................................................................. 53 d) Collaboration and workflow ...................................................................................................................... 57 e) Robotic process automation (RPA) ........................................................................................................... 60 f) Artificial intelligence and machine learning ............................................................................................... 63 g) Continuous integration and delivery/deployment (CI/CD) ................ ......................... ................. ................ ................ ................ ................. .............. .....68 h) Information models .................................................................................................................................. 72
2. Contribution Contribu tion of ITIL P Practices ractices in CDS .......................................................................................... 75 75 2.1 Using a value stream to design, develop and transition new services ................................................. 76 2.2 Contribution of ITIL IT IL practices to a value stream for a new service ................................................ ...................................................... ......99 a) Service design ............................................................................................................................................ 99 b) Software development and Management .............................................................................................. 102 c) Deployment management ....................................................................................................................... 104 d) Release management .............................................................................................................................. 106 e) Service Validation and testing ................................................................................................................. 107 Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 3 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL f) Change Enablement ................................................................................................................................. 109
2.3 Using a value stream s tream to provide user support ................................................................................. ................................ ................................................. 112 112 2.4 Contribution of ITIL practices to a value stream for user support ..................................................... 120 a) Service desk ............................................................................................................................................. 120 b) Incident management ............................................................................................................................. 122 c) Problem management ............................................................................................................................. 124 d) Knowledge management ........................................................................................................................ 126 e) Service level management ...................................................................................................................... 128 f) Monitoring and event management ........................................................................................................ 130
3 Creating, Delivering & Supporting Services S ervices ............................................................................... 131 131 3.1 Coordinating and prioritizing activities ...................................................... ............................................................................................ ...................................... 132 a) Managing queues and backlogs .............................................................................................................. 132 b) Prioritizing work ...................................................................................................................................... 134 3.2 Value of the service value system ................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ... 140 a) Buy vs build considerations ..................................................................................................................... 140 b) Sourcing options ...................................................................................................................................... 144 c) Service integration and management (SIAM) ......................................................................................... 145 Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................................................... 149 149 Sample Test One............................................................................................. On e......................................................................................................................... ............................ 152 152 Sample Test Answers ....................................................................................................................... .................................................................. ......................................................... .... 163
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 4 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL INTRODUCTION
ITIL 4 Certification Scheme
The ITIL 4 Foundation would be the Certification at the t he beginner level. It is a pre-requisite for any professional desirous moving to the advanced levels. On successful completion of the ITIL Foundation level ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP) targets IT practitioners working within technology and digital teams across businesses. The Managing Professional (MP) stream provides practical and technical knowledge about how to run successful IT projects, teams and workflows. ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL) recognizes the value of ITIL, not just for IT operations, but for all digitally enabled services. Becoming an ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL) demonstrates that the professional has a clear understanding of how IT influences and directs business strategy. To obtain the designation ITIL Managing Professional or ITIL Strategic Leader, the professional must complete all modules in each stream, with ITIL Strategist DPI being a common module for both streams. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 5 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL There are four ITIL 4 Specialist publications, which build on the concepts introduced in ITIL 4 Foundation. Each of these publications focuses on a different aspect of service management. ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support Support addresses the cultural and team management aspects of product and service management; provides an overview of the tools and technologies which support service management; and demonstrates how to integrate management practices into end-to-end value streams. ITIL 4 Drive Stakeholder Value provides Value provides guidance on establishing, maintaining, and developing effective service relationships at appropriate levels. It leads organizations on a service journey in their service provider and consumer roles, supporting effective interaction and commu communication. nication. ITIL 4 High Velocity IT addresses IT addresses the specifics of digital transformation and helps organizations to evolve towards a convergence of business and technology, or to establish a new digital organization.
ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve helps to align product and service management with modern business requirements;
drive successful organizational transformation;
and
embed
continual
improvement into an organization’s behaviour at every level. level. The ITIL 4 Specialist publications are supported by the ITIL management practice guides, which provide detailed practical recommendations for all 34-general management, service management, and technical management practices. They include pragmatic, hands-on guidance that can be applied in the context of all four ITIL 4 Specialist publications
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 6 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL THE ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support The purpose of the ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support Qualification examination is:
to provide the candidate with an understanding on how to integrate different value
•
streams and activities to create, deliver and support IT-enabled products and services, and relevant practices, methods and tools to provide the candidate with an understanding of service performance, service quality
•
and improvement methods. The purpose of the ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support Qualification to assess whether the candidate can demonstrate sufficient understanding and application of ITIL 4 to the creation, delivery and support of services, as described in the syllabus below, to be awarded the ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support qualification. The ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support qualification is one of the pre-requisites for the designation of ITIL 4 Managing Professional which assesses the candidate’s practical and technical knowledge about how to run successful, m odern IT-enabled services, teams and workflows. The target audience for this qualification is:
individuals continuing their journey in service management ITSM managers and aspiring ITSM managers ITSM practitioners managing the operation of IT-enabled & digital products and services,
•
•
•
and those responsible for the end-to-end delivery
existing ITIL qualification holders wishing to develop their knowledge.
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 7 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL About the Syllabi Candidates who want want to understand practices in detail should read these in their own time The detailed breakup of the syllabi along with Marks distribution is given below
No. Learning Outcome
Assessment Criteria
marks
1.1 Understand the concepts and challenges relating to the following across the service value system:
a) Organisational structure b) Integrated/collaborative teams c) Team capabilities, roles, competencies
4
d) Team culture and differences e) Working to a customer-orientated mindset f) Employee satisfactio satisfaction n managemen managementt g) The value of positive communica communications tions 1.2 Understand how to use a ‘shift left’ approach approach
3
1.3 Know how to plan and manage resources in the service value system: 1. Understand how to plan and build a service value stream to create, deliver and support services
a) Team collaboration and integration
4
b) Workforce planning c) Results based measuring and reporting d) The culture of continual improvement 1.4 Understand the use and value of information and technology across the service value system:
a) Integrated service management toolsets b) Integration and data sharing c) Reporting and advanced analytics
4
d) Collaboration and workflow e) Robotic process automation (RPA) f) Artificial intelligence and machine learning g) Continuous integration and delivery/deploym delivery/deployment ent (CI/CD) h) Information models
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 8 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 2.1. Know how to use a value stream to design, develop and transition new services
3
2.2 Know how the following ITIL practices contribu contribute te to a value stream for a new service
a) Service design b) Software development and Management 2. Know how relevant
c) Deployment management d) Release management
ITIL practices
e) Service Validation and testing
contribute to
f) Change Enablement
creation, delivery
2.3 Know how to use a value stream to provide user
and support across
support
the SVS and value
2.4 Know how the following ITIL practices contribu contribute te to
streams
5
a value stream for user support
3 5
a) Service desk b) Incident management c) Problem management d) Knowledge managemen managementt e) Service level management f) Monitoring and event management 3.1 Know how to co-ordinate, prioritiz prioritize e and structure work and activities to create deliver and support services, including: 5 a) Managing queues and backlogs 3. Know how to create, deliver and support services
b) Prioritizing work 3.2 Understand the use and value of the following across the service value system:
a) Buy vs build considerations
4
b) Sourcing options c) Service integration and management (SIAM)
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
Page 9 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Class Introduction Instructor Introduction
Student Introduction
Students are requested to share with the class:
•
Name
•
Profession
•
Role
•
Background in IT
•
Familiarity with ITIL
•
Expectations Expectatio ns from the course
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
10 of Page 10 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Course Overview This Module provides guidance for professionals in IT and service management who are required to build and maintain a broad professional portfolio. In many cases, the content of these sections may be familiar, as they relate to: communications, people, organizational structure, structure, and staying aware of new opportunities. These particular areas are emphasized in ITIL 4 because they are as important for success as processes, practices, and technical knowledge. To be successful in the provision of IT and digitally-enabled products and services, it is important to develop understanding and practical practical application of a broad range of guidance. The content in this course is written as an introduction with the aim of helping helpi ng the development of the reader’s professional expertise
AXELOS®, ITIL® and the swirl logo are registered t rademarks of AXELOS Limited. Reproduction of this material requires the permission of AXELOS Limited
About the Certification examination Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
11 of Page 11 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Type
Multiple Choice, 40 questions. Each question is worth one mark.
Duration
Maximum 90 Minutes for all candidates
Provision additional
for
Candidates completing an exam in a language that is not
time
their mother tongue have a maximum of 105 minutes to
relating to Language
complete the exam and are allowed the use of a dictionary
Pre-requisite
The Pre-requisite is ITIL 4 Foundation Certificate
Supervised
Yes
Open Book
No
Pass Score
28/40 or 70%
Delivery
This exam is available in an Online or Paper based format
ITIL 4 Foundation Brief Re-Cap
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
12 of Page 12 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The key components of the ITIL 4 framework are the ITIL service value system (SVS) and the four dimensions’ model. model. The ITIL service value system The ITIL SVS represents how the various components and activities of the organization work together to facilitate value creation through IT-enabled services. The structure of the ITIL SVS is shown below The core components of the ITIL SVS are:
•
the ITIL service value chain
•
the ITIL practices
•
the ITIL guiding principles
•
governance
•
continual improvement
The ITIL service value chain Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
13 of Page 13 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The central element of the SVS is the service value chain, an operating model which outlines the key activities required to respond r espond to demand and facilitate value realization through the creation and management of products and services. The service value chain is shown in Figure below. The ITIL service value chain includes six value chain activities which lead to the creation of products and services and, in turn, value. The activities are:
•
plan
•
improve
•
engage
•
design and transition
•
obtain/build
•
deliver and support.
The ITIL practices
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
14 of Page 14 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Practices are sets of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing accomplishing an objective. The ITIL SVS includes 14 general management practices, 17 service management practices, and three technical management management practices. These are outlined in Table below
General management
Service management
practices
practices
Technical management practices Deployment
Architecture management
Availability management
management Infrastructure and
Continual improvement
Business analysis
platform management
Information security
Capacity and performance
Software development
management
management
and management
Knowledge management
Change enablement
Measurement and reporting
Incident management
Organizational change management
IT asset management Monitoring and event
Portfolio management
management
Project management
Problem management
Relationship management
Release management Service catalogue
Risk management
management
Service financial
Service configuration
management
management Service continuity
Strategy management Supplier management
management Service design
Workforce and talent management
Service desk Service level management Service request management Service validation and testing
The ITIL guiding principles Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
15 of Page 15 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The ITIL guiding principles are recommendations that can guide an organization in all circumstances, regardless of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure. The seven ITIL guiding principles are: value: Everything that the organization does needs to map, directly or indirectly, Focus on value:
•
to value for the stakeholders.
Start where you are: are: Do not start from scratch and build something new without
•
considering what is already available to be leveraged. lev eraged. feedback: Do not attempt to do everything at once. Progress iteratively with feedback: Do visibility: Working together across boundaries produces results Collaborate and promote visibility: Working
•
•
that have greater buy-in, more relevance to objectives, and increased likelihood of longterm success. holistically: No service, or element used to provide a service, stands Think and work holistically:
•
alone. practical: If a process, service, action, or metric fails to provide value Keep it simple and practical: If
•
or produce a useful outcome, eliminate it. automate: Resources of all types, particularly HR, should be used to their Optimize and automate: Resources
•
best effect.
Governance Governance is the means by which an organization is directed and controlled. The role and position of governance in the ITIL SVS will vary depending on how the SVS is applied in an organization.
Continual improvement Continual improvement is a recurring organizational activity performed at all levels to ensure that an organization’s performance continually meets stakeholders’ expectations. ITIL 4 supports continuall improvement continua i mprovement with the ITIL continual improvement model, outlined in Figure
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
16 of Page 16 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
The four dimensions’ dimensions’ model model To support a holistic approach to service management, ITIL defines four dimensions that collectively are critical to the effective and efficient facilitation of value for customers and other stakeholders in the form of products and services. The four dimensions (are:
•
organizations and people
•
information and technology
•
partners and suppliers
•
value streams and processes.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
17 of Page 17 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The four dimensions represent perspectives which are relevant to the whole SVS, including the entirety of the service value chain and all ITIL practices. The four dimensions are constrained or influenced by several external factors that are often beyond the control of the SVS.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
18 of Page 18 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 1. Plan & Build a Service Value Stream for CDS 1.1 Concepts and challenges a) Organisational structure Create Deliver and Support covers the integration of several proven areas of ‘IT’ work work
•
Design
•
build and test
•
Launch
•
Run and support of products and services servi ces
The core proposition of ITIL 4 is that this work is all part of a single value chain, with a variety of different types of work passing through it (referred to as value streams). From a business or customer perspective all of this work is a single entity and there should not be any divisions or ‘silos’ involved in delivering delive ring it. The ‘ITIL - best practice’ processes have evolved developed over the years. These have included commercial tools, methods, benchmarks, sourcing models and more. While many approaches have been successfully applied over the years, a distraction has been at times a doctrinarian approach of “ITIL Says”. Says”. Therefore, there is a need to re-focus on the key contributing factors that deliver success with service management – – people people management, customer focus, communications, organizational structure, people-skills and capabilities, team dynamics and culture.
ITIL defines an organization as “a person or a group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities, authorities, and an d relationships to achieve its objectives. objectives.””
Service relationships require many varied interactions between individuals and groups within and between organizations. Individuals and organizational structures: Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
19 of Page 19 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL interact with information and technology participate in value streams and processes work with partners and suppliers.
• •
•
An important decision is how to group the individuals to create, deliver and support products and services. Different organizations may have different organizational structures. Some are hierarchical; others more closely resemble a network or matrix. Many organizations arrange individuals by their specialized activities, skills, expertise, and resources. Though this is a common approach,, it can lead to the individuals working in isolated sil approach silos, os, with little understanding of what others do or how they do it. Cross-functional Cross-functional structures may share a focus on the product and/or service for which they are responsible, but they can leave the organization without a comprehensive overview of their portfolio, portfolio, which may may result in duplicated efforts/services. The typical organizational structure structure of an organization ccomprises omprises of the following:
•
Functional
•
Divisional
•
Matrix
•
Flat
Functional: These are typically hierarchical arrangements of lines of authority or technical technical
•
capability. These determine how power, roles and responsibilities are assigned, and how work is managed across different management levels. The organization may be divided into internal groups based on functional areas e.g. HR, IT, finance, marketing, etc. etc.
Divisional: Divisionally based organisations arrange their activities around market,
•
product or geographical groups. Each division may have its own profit and loss accounting, account ing, sales and marketing, engineering, production, etc. etc.
Matrix: The structure in which the reporting relationships are set up as a grid, or matrix,
•
with pools of people who can move across teams as needed. Employees often have dual reporting relationships - generally to both a functional manager and to a functional (or performance) manager, and to a product, project, or programme of work work
Flat: Some organisations aim to remove hierarchies of authority and management. This
•
can be useful by removing barriers of decision making that can slow down progress. As organisations grow and more teams are required to manage specific rresponsibilities, esponsibilities, this this can become challenging to maintain. maintain.
Functional
• Hierarchical, formal lines of authority, determine power, roles and responsibilities
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
20 of Page 20 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL • Often based on functional areas like HR, IT finance, marketing etc. • Based on markets, products, geography etc. Divisional
• Each division may have profit & loss l oss accounting, accounting, sales, marketing, engineering, etc. • Grid of relationships • Pools of people who move across teams.
Matrix
• Often has dual reporting lines (e.g. functiona f unctionall and product) • Can provide more speed and agility • Very little hierarchy • Removes decision making barriers, enabling fast decisions
Flat • Challenging to maintain as organization grows
The key differences differ ences between the various organizational structures can be described using the following characteristics:
grouping/teaming criteria location (co-located/distributed) relation to value streams (responsible for specific steps or fully f ully responsible for the end-
• • •
to-end value stream) authority team members’ responsibility and authority sourcing of competencies
•
•
Historically, organisational structures have generally been functional and hierarchical in nature, with military style lines of command and and control. In the digital service economy, the need for agility and at the same time resilience r esilience has become vital for organizations’ success. In order to fulfil this need, organizations are adopting new ways of structuring resources and competences.
In keeping with changing times and the need to adapt to more flexible and responsive ways of working such as Agile and DevOps, organisations have adopted new approaches to organisational Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
21 of Page 21 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL structure, which is more ‘servant’ and cross-functional cross -functional – – often often this involves more applications of matrix and flat structures.
Servant leadership: Leadership that is focused on explicit support of people in their roles
Servant leadership is based on 2 key principles - that managers are:
There to meet the needs of the organization first and foremost (not just their individual
•
teams)
That to do that they are there to ‘serve’ and support the people working for them by
•
ensuring that they have the relevant resources and organisational support to get their jobs done. In Servant leadership
Managers focus on the needs of the organization, not just their team Managers ‘serve’ and support the people they lead by ensuring they have the right
• •
resources and support
Often used with cross-functional/matrix organization structure Cross-functional organizations organizations use combinations combinations of matrix and flat structures
• •
If you’re thinking of moving to a crosscross-functional servant model the “ITIL guiding principles” could help you. This cross functional will involve major organizational and cultural change
b) Integrated/collaborative teams There has been a lot of attention over the last few years on collaboration and teamwork. teamwork.
Cooperation is working with others to achieve your goals, which may be part of a common goal. Collaboration is ‘the action of working with someone to produce or create something’. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
22 of Page 22 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Cooperation and collaboration are vital for effective and valuable teamwork and service relationships. Collaboration is especially useful for creative and entrepreneurial work in a complex environment. Cooperation is important for standardized work with a clear separation of duties, especially where people from multiple organizations are working together. Collaboration is typically used in start-ups start- ups as the shared idea of the organization’s mission unites individuals individuals and inspires them to collaborate. In attempts to adopt start-up culture for larger organizations, leaders often aim to move to collaborative teamwork, and often fail. In an HBR article titled, “There’s a difference between cooperation and collaboration,” it was argued “… Managers mistake cooperativeness for being collaborative,” adding, “… most managers are cooperative, friendly, willing to share information – – but lack the ability and flexibility to align their goals and resources with others in real time time.” .” Understanding what cooperation and collaboration mean; needs to be agreed and the behaviours necessary for effective teamwork defined, recognized, and reinforced. The table details the differences between collaboration collaboration and cooperation
Collaboration Work together towards a shared goal / objective Shared and integrated goals Everyone succeeds or fails together
Cooperation Separate goals can lead to silo working Aligned goals Individuals and teams succeed independently
Goals and resources aligned in real
Cooperative, friendly, willing to share
time
information
Technology is necessary but not
Technology is necessary but not
sufficient
sufficient
Needs respect, trust and transparency
Less need for trust and transparency
Needs multi-channel communication communicat ion (standups, face-toface, active listening, tool-
Needs effective communication communication
mediated, etc.) Everyone needs to understand how
Everyone needs to understand their
they contribute to the big picture
own role
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
23 of Page 23 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Collaboration
Cooperation
Need to understand PESTLE factors
Need to understand PESTLE factors for
for all stakeholders
own role
Aligning to type of work Behavioural science enables us to define any of the pieces of work underpinning the operation of a service or product as either - algorithmic or heuristic.
An algorithmic task involves a person following a defined process, driven by a set of
•
established instructions, along a consistent pathway until the work is concluded.
Heuristic work, conversely, is fundamentally more dependent on human inventiveness.
•
’Heuristic’ involves enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves themselves The table below provides the subtle differences between Algorithmic tasks and Heuristic work
Algorithmic tasks
Heuristic work
Follows a defined process, with
Depends on human understanding
established instructions
and intervention
Follow the rules
Learn or discover what is needed
Clear inputs, outputs, instructions,
Needs flexibility, information,
branches etc.
knowledge and experience
Reassignment and handover between
Collaboration,, swarming and DevOps Collaboration
teams where needed
often appropriate
People doing the work may recognize
New insights can be recorded for
opportunities to improve how it is opportunities done. This should be part of their role.
future use, moving some work to algorithmic (removing ‘toil’) ‘toil’)
Toil: Work that is manual, repetitive, automatable, tactical, devoid of enduring value, linearly scaling Behavioural science enables us to define any of the pieces of work underpinning the operation of a service or product as either (1) algorithmic or (2) heuristic. 1. An algorithmic task involves a person following a defined process, driven by a set of established instructions, along a consistent pathway until the work is concluded. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
24 of Page 24 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 2. Heuristic work, conversely, is fundamentally more dependent on human inventiveness. ’Heuristic’ involves enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves themselves
c) Team capabilities, roles, competencies Technology has moved into the centre of business. As such it is becoming a mainstream business function, the requirements for IT and technology people and roles are correspondingly seeking more generic business and management competencies. Traditional IT roles were technically focussed in areas such as programming, business analysis, technical support, designers etc. Newer roles require more flexibility and regular change. Many IT and ITSM roles now require business skills such as:
•
Ability to manage and motivate a team
•
Relationship management
•
Negotiation
•
Supplier and contract management
A role is a set of responsibilities, activities and authorizations authorizations granted to a person or team, in a specific context.
A single person may, as part of their job, fulfil many different roles. A single role may be contributed to by several people.
A job is a position within an organization that is assigned to a specific person. person.
In the present work environment Service Managers are required to use several commercial skills to specify, buy, negotiate and manage these relationships. Skills in procurement and contract Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
25 of Page 25 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL management are in high demand. A business and entrepreneurial mind-set is becoming more of a requirement, even within internal service management organisations. This is required to identify new ways of working, delivering services and solving problems, which may exploit new technologies or also which may involve creative and innovative thinking and customer interaction. Thus, Professional ITSM competencies include:
Business and commercial skills
•
Specify, buy, negotiate, manage supplier relationships
•
Get people together and motivate/agree way forward
•
Write and promote/sell a business case
•
Produce marketing/promotional marketing/promotional materials, present and ‘sell ‘sell’’ services services
Relationship management skills
•
Contact/liaison
•
demand capture
•
value demonstration
•
feedback
•
communication communicat ion flow
Innovation
•
Entrepreneurial mindset
•
identify new ways of working
•
Problem solving skills
•
Ability to exploit new technologies
The other Professional ITSM competencies include
Communication Communication skills o Written & verbal, ability to establish working relationships o Essential for working with colleagues, customers, managers and all other stakeholders Market and organization knowledge o Knowledge of specific industry, including competitors, relative costs and capabilities Management and administration documentation, logistics, building teams, recruit and d develop evelop staff o Delegation, documentation,
•
•
•
•
Leadership o Ability to influence, motivate and support Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
26 of Page 26 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Anyone can be a leader, it’s not just managers managers o Every team needs some leaders to help create the required culture
o
A broad set of competencies can be developed by:
•
Specific training - business analysis, programming, ITIL etc.
•
•
Job descriptions that include full technical and non-technical skills Recognizing non-IT experience (team management, procurement, etc.)
•
Including ‘soft’ skills like communication and leadership in role descriptions
•
Performance management, rewards rewards and appraisals reflect full range of skills skill s
•
Opportunities for training and development in all areas
•
Encouraging Encouragin g CPD (Continuing (Continuing professional development)
•
Role based models, based on job descriptions, with career paths
•
Competency based models focussed on generic capabilities
•
Hybrid role and competency based models combining both
Professional IT and service management competencies The structuring and naming of roles differs between organizations. The roles defined in ITIL are neither compulsory nor recommended. The ITIL practice guides describe each role using a competency profile based on the model shown in table below:
Competency code
Competency profile (activities and skills) Leader Decision-making, delegating, overseeing other
L
activities, providing incentives and motivation, and evaluating outcomes. Administrator Assigning and prioritizing tasks, recordkeeping, ongoing reporting, and initiating basic
А
improvements. Coordinator/communicator Coordinatin Coordinating g multiple C
parties, maintaining communication between stakeholders, and running awareness campaigns. Methods and techniques expert Designing and
М
implementing work techniques, documenting procedures, consulting on processes, work analysis, and continual improvement.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
27 of Page 27 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Technical expert Providing technical (IT) expertise and
Т
conducting expertise-based assignments. assignments.
d) Team culture and differences Team culture is how people work together towards a common goal and how they treat each other. These attributes could be positive or negative. While teams can have different cultures; all are influenced by overall organization culture culture
Team Culture: A team culture is made up of the values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours shared by a team.
Culture is a difficult concept to grasp because it’s generally unspoken and unwritten. It’s about dynamics between humans. Different teams within a company can manifest their own culture. But they’re generally influenced by the company culture as a whole. Often it is the unwritten – – ‘how we do things here’ – – or ‘how we’ve always done things here’ here’ In an effective team culture, team members understand where the work of their team fits in the total context of their organization's strategic plan and success goals. The characteristics can be summarized as:
•
Team members understand how the team contributes to the organization
•
People feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves
•
Engagement and work satisfaction are increased
•
People understand how they can achieve personal AND organization goals
Organizations need strong, collaborative teams at all levels mutually responsible for shared outcomes. Teams need to have a strong and agreed shared vision, with good and open communication giving and receiving feedback from each other. They need to understand their impact on each other while continually learning and improving, removing barriers to success. Service provider organizations focusing on value creation will display these common characteristics:
Value, quality and operational excellence focus
•
•
Client, customer and consumer orientation Investment in people and communication/collaborative tools
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
28 of Page 28 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Strong team composition within a structured organization Continuou Continuouss alignment with the vision, mission and strategic s trategic objectives.
• •
What does good look team culture look like? It is i s where:
People collaborate, share knowledge, and support support each other
•
•
Feel safe, speak up and accept challenges Trust and empowerment
•
Cultural fit, what is it?
People’s beliefs, values and needs match the work environment environment Diversity
•
•
What does bad culture look like?
Many rules and processes Lack of empowerment and autonomy Results in poor quality products and services
• • •
It is possible to grow and evolve a team’s culture over time. It all starts with honestly identifying where the team is now and the desired outcome and future state that desired for it. Change requires ownership and action as a united team. These are simple guidelines for a positive team culture:
We need to create and share a vision Meet regularly – regularly – discuss discuss problems, build relationships
•
•
•
Create leaders, not managers. Mentoring, leading by example
•
Encourage informal teams
•
Cross-training to provide overall organizational understanding understanding
•
Social integration – integration – get get to know people personally
•
Provide feedback
•
Promote a culture of learning
What does cultural fit mean and why is it important? Cultural fit is the ability for an employee or a team to comfortably work in an environment that corresponds with their own beliefs, values, and needs. Therefore, an employee deemed a good Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
29 of Page 29 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL cultural fit is more likely to enjoy their work and their workplace, be happier, commit long term, and be more productive, and more engaged. Having a diverse approach supports good culture as it allows the team or organization to see their work from a broader perspective. Each person brings their unique combination of experience, perspective, skills, and knowledge to the team. The team is thus greater than the sum of its individual parts. There are pitfalls while hiring for cultural fit, as bias can creep in as human nature is to gravitate towards like-minded individuals with a similar personality or beliefs. How to develop and nurture good team culture cultur e It is possible to grow and evolve a team’s culture over time. Firstly, this will require identifying the team’s current culture and deciding what the desired future outcome is. Change requires ownership and action as a united team. This is a lot easier with good leadership and supportive management. ITIL guiding principles and the continual improvement model can be very useful tools for implementing change. The following are simple guidelines for f or a positive team culture:
•
Incorporating Incorporatin g the vision into the team culture
•
Regular meetings
•
Create leaders
•
Encouraging Encouragin g informal teams
•
Cross-training employees
•
Integrating socially
Providing feedback Promoting a culture of learning
• •
These are some guidelines and recommendations. Some may not be relevant in certain organizations or in some some context. should be reviewed and adapted to fit regiona regional, l, national, and organizational characteristics. A continual improvement culture A culture of continual improvement is important as it helps with the following:
Improves customer experience
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
30 of Page 30 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
Embeds good practice
•
Reduces costs
•
Improves operational efficiency
•
Develops employee experiences
•
Accelerates delivery
•
Removes waste and repetitive tasks
•
Reduces risk
Continual improvement does not happen by itself, or simply because there is a process or workflow defined for it, or because there is an improvement register in place. The real benefit of continual improvement comes when the organization has a culture that supports, promotes, and empowers all parties to implement continual improvement in their daily work. Continual improvement should not be thought of as a tool or process. It should be embedded in the culture of the organization.
A collaborative culture Cooperation means working with others to achieve shared goals. There is a risk that individuals or teams who are cooperating instead work work in silos. sil os. As a result, the individual or team goals are achieved but the organizational goals are missed. Collaboration is the process through which a person works with others to create or achieve a common goal or product. From a business perspective, collaboration is a practice where individuals work together to achieve a common, shared goal/objective. Cooperation and collaboration are vital for effective and valuable teamwork and service relationships. Collaboration is especially useful for creative and entrepreneurial work in a complex environment. Cooperation Cooperation is important for standardized work with a clear separation of duties, especially where people from multiple organizations are working together. Collaboration is typically used in start-ups start- ups as the shared idea i dea of the organization’s mission unites individuals and inspires them to collaborate. In attempts to adopt start-up culture for larger organizations, leaders often aim to move to collaborative teamwork, and often fail.
e) Working to a customer-orientated minds mindset et Customer orientation - Putting the customer first Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
31 of Page 31 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
A customer-oriented organization places customer satisfaction at the core of each of its business decisions. Customer orientation is defined as an approach to sales and customerrelations in which staff focus on helping customers to meet their long-term long- term needs and
Essentially this means observing the wishes and needs of the customer, anticipating them and then acting accordingly. Studies have shown that satisfied, loyal and committed employees are more enthusiastic towards customers, which ultimately leads to more satisfied, loyal and committed customers. This relationship is a key enabler as part of the service value chain. Roughly described: the more enthusiastic and engaged the employees, the more loyalty will be earned with the customer, and the higher the profits or success in reaching objectives. A service mindset is an outlook that focuses on creating customer value, loyalty and trust. An organisation with this outlook aims to go beyond simply providing a product or service. It wants to create a positive and and indelible imprint in its customer's, or prospect’s, mind. To do this, a business has to care about the customer or prospect experience and work continuously at enhancing it. Business relationship managers, service and support staff and service owners are front-line communicators communica tors of a company's customer-orientation. However, efforts to implement i mplement customerorientation strategies should encompass a strong training component for all employees occupying customer contact or cross functional roles. This also requires staff to be empowered to use a wider range of individual initiatives to solve customer problems. For example, a service engineer for a computer products retailer might be empowered to resolve product defects at a customers' work site under certain cert ain conditions. The engineer therefore must be aware of at least basic principles of professional communications and customer service, as his/her approach influences a customer's perception of the company'. company'.
The success of an organisation is dependent on the way in which it anticipates the wishes and needs of its customers. For most organisations, customers are crucial for survival. Customer Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
32 of Page 32 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL orientation should therefore also be an important focus of an employee or team. In competitive markets the emphasis should be not just on the winning, but also on the retention, of loyal and profitable customers. Customer expectation and orientation is essential for success. Gaining insight into the expectations and satisfaction satisfaction of customers enables organizations to find new ways to deliver and improve services. Monitoring customer satisfaction produces important information that makes it possible improve the way services are delivered. When it is clear to your organization what customers are or are not satisfied with, clear objectives and improvements can be implemented. Service desk is now a practice, so we must must be careful about saying “service desk teams”. teams”. Customer mind-set is required beyond front line staff. It I t is the designer putting the needs of the customer first, on the product manager prioritizing value-adding features, it is the release manager understanding how a release will impact existing customers. Customer expectation and orientation is essential for success. Gaining insight into the expectations and satisfaction satisfaction of customers enables organizations to find new ways to deliver and improve services. The customer oriented ap approach proach has the following characteristics: characteristics:
•
Place customers at the core of business decisions
•
Observe and anticipate the wishes and needs of customers
•
Care about customer experience and continually enhance it
•
Don’t just create products pr oducts & services, create a positive impact on customers
•
Every customer is unique, understand their individual needs and wants
•
‘Focus on value’ value’
It is critical to the success of service relationship that all involved in the service provision and consumption act responsibly, considering the interests of others and focusing on the agreed service outcomes. This can be called ‘service empathy’ empathy’ Service empathy: “The ability to recognize, understand, predict, and project interests, needs,
intentions and experience of another party, in order to establish, maintain and improve service relationship.”
Service empathy is cognitive, where a person can relate. An example can be where service support agent is not expected to share user’s frustration; but it is expect ed that he (or she) is able to recognize and understand it, express sympathy and adjust adj ust support actions accordingly. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
33 of Page 33 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Service empathy is an element of service mindset, but not the only one. Service mindset also includes shared principles that drive organization’s organization’s behavior and define organization’s attitude towards the service relationship and other parties involved. Service Mindset: An important component of organizational culture, which defines organization’s behaviour in service relationships. Service mindset includes shared values and
guiding principles adopted and followed followed by the organization.
Customer experience Adopting a customer-oriented strategy is key to success. Customer orientation puts the customer at the beginning, centre and end of every transaction. It shifts the organization’s focus from the product to the customer, meaning the organization must have a deep understanding of the customer’s needs and expectations. Organizations must be able to deliver the strategy throughout the various stages of the service and customer lifecycle. From trainee to CEO, it is important that every employee in the organization is completely committed to the strategy. Everyone has an important part to play when it comes to customer service and retention. Steps to help an organization become customer oriented: (CVP). This should be a simple short statement of Create a customer value proposition (CVP). This
•
what is delivered to the customer and how it delivers value for them. This defines at the strategic level the expected benefits, which are promised to be delivered to the customer, in return for their loyalty. journey – this Map the customer experience journey – this involves looking at the whole end-to-end
•
experience of dealing with the service organization, seen from the custom er or user’s perspective. ‘Touchpoints’ ‘Touchpoints’ are the various events and times when the customer interacts with the service organization – organization – From From demand through to build, test and delivery. •
people. Hire people for their attitude, train them for skills is Recruit customer-friendly people.
the approach here. Empathy, good communication and problem-solving abilities are the
qualities to look for. well . How your employees feel at work has a major impact on how they Treat employees well.
•
deal with customers. teams. All parts of the organization should gain a full understanding of Train and coach teams.
•
the customer, product and industry they support. Formal training and on-the-job coaching must also focus on the ‘soft’ skills; communications, teamwork, positive influencing, writing skills, business and administrative skills. talk. Senior managers must embrace the customer service concept and take to Walk the talk. Senior
•
the frontline and meet directly with users and customers periodically. Companies with the best customer-orientated customer-orientated culture value ‘servant leadership’ where senior managers Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
34 of Page 34 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL exist to provide guidance and direction, but the employees are empowered to make decisions on their own.
Listen to the Voice of the Customer (VOC). An honest appraisal of progress from
•
customers is critical. This can be achieved by conducting conducting surveys, having direct meetings and by gathering customer comments. an d channels for feedback data. Balanced data. Balanced scorecards of metrics Use a broad set of inputs and
•
can measure performance across a range of customer experience elements to drive improvements, e.g. key business outcome delivery, customer satisfaction, net promoter score, SLA performance, service availability.
Empower staff . Make sure customer facing teams have the authority to carry out
•
requests, make changes or resolve common customer complaints without further escalation. Also avoid silo mentality by encouraging different departments and functions functions to work closely together.
f) Employee satisfacti satisfaction on management The true potential of an organization can only be realized when the productivity of individuals and teams are aligned, and their activities integrated to achieve the goals of the organization. Happy and satisfied staff are needed for happy and satisfied customers. So, organizations need to measure employee satisfaction satisfaction to understand how well they are meeting the employees’ changing needs and expectations. Employee morale and engagement can influence productivity, employee retention, and customer satisfaction and loyalty. They need to be monitored and managed on an ongoing basis. Employee satisfaction surveys can measure many attributes: leadership, culture, morale, organizational climate, culture, the organizational structure, and job activities. Employee needs and expectations continue to change, so organizations need to conduct employee satisfaction measures that gather regular feedback, to understand how well they are meeting employee needs and expectations. There are three aspects to this:
Understanding Measurement
• •
•
Improvement Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
35 of Page 35 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Employee morale and engagement can influence productivity, employee retention, and customer satisfaction and loyalty. They need to be monitored and managed on an ongoing basis. Employee satisfaction surveys can measure many attributes: leadership, culture, morale, organizational climate, culture, the organizational structure, and job activities. Without measurement, we don’t know if there is improvement; we don’t know what is
meaningful.
The following are the various feedback f eedback types for measurement of employee measurement Employee surveys surveys – these – these are can be run locally or at organisational level (see below). There are often several levels at which this information is derived, from formal annual surveys, to more informal infor mal and regular ‘watercooler’ feedback discussions. Regular meetings meetings – – natural feedback often comes from conversations. Regular one-to-one meetings are a good source of feedback, depending on the relationship between parties. Meetings can provide more granular detail than surveys in a natural way Unstructured meetings meetings – often – often the best way to get real honest information – information – coffee coffee discussions, corridor or elevator chats, bar room or ‘journey chats’ (e.g. when 2 colleagues travel together) – all of these unstructured formats are used for much of the real conversations that happen in organisations. Reviewing sickness and attrition attrition – an – an indicator of poor morale can be high levels of sickness or staff movement our of a team. Monitoring these levels and identifying any changes is a useful technique to monitor for any issues.
Staff driven metrics metrics – – some organisations let their teams submit their own ‘morale indicators’ on a regular basis. This involves team members discussing and agreeing on a regular ‘score’ ‘score’ that that reflects their overall morale. This can be useful to normalise opinions, although this can be challenging in teams with strong or influential individuals. Once we measure various aspects of employee satisfaction we need to identify actions to improve commitment and trust. Continual improvement relies on reporting data and outputs from various sources to identify whether an objective has been achieved or will or will not be achieved. Organizations similarly use measuring and reporting to drive improvement activities and then track progress against the stated objectives. Reliable metrics should support good business decisions. Many business Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
36 of Page 36 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL decisions are often made with insufficient or irrelevant data. Metrics should clarify facts and experience to drive positive change. It is important to set appropriate objectives and related metrics, as metrics drive behaviour. Incorrectly calibrated metrics can lead to inappropriate behaviour to meet targets. The targets may also be inappropriate for the overall business or customer experience. It is also essential to develop good metrics that relate to the overall business. It is important to be clear about the difference between outputs and outcomes. Organizations often integrate multiple factors into their performance management systems. For example, a results-based approach may be more applicable to regional retail managers, who focus on setting and achieving quarterly sales goals, than for baristas, who focus on making drinks and engaging with customers. Setting and measuring individual performance goals 1. Establish goals in a face-to-face meeting. Create a set of goals for each organization, function, team, and individual employee. 2. Ensure that the goals are measurable and documented. This will make it easier for the individual to track their progress. 3. Express the goals in specific terms. 4. Adapt the goals to the individual. 5. Adjust any goals that prove to be unrealistic. Measuring Team Performance 1. Ensure that the team's goals are aligned with the organization's goals. 2. Begin with the team's customers and the work process that the team follows. 3. Measure both team and individual performance. 4. Qualitative and quantitative measures are needed. 5. Measures must continue to change and evolve to ensure that there are changes in behaviour to drive continual improvement. A good performance measure provides management with the ability to make changes and to discover whether those changes improve the outcome for f or the customer.
g) The value of positive communications
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
37 of Page 37 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL In a world where routine, repetitive IT work is rapidly moving to automation; interaction and communication still relies on people. Communication is happening all the time, and is needed with customers, suppliers, colleagues, staff. Human interaction and communication communication is where real people still stand apart, ahead of the machines. The ability to communicate effectively is a key business skill and is fundamental to success within service management. Good human communication is about being efficient, responsive, professional, and effective. Effective human communication is enhanced by establishing positive relationships that avoid unnecessary unnecessary issues and stress. This can form the basis for the successful delivery of services. In many cases this requires a recognition of the intellectual and emotional needs of the people engaging in the communication. communication. Service management, sales, and customer support roles depend upon building positive relationships, which include trust, empathy, proximity, and shared goals. All communication creates opinions of the value of the team, and the service provider. It is therefore important to consider how to manage and coordinate communication. Examples where communication are required:
Small team to communicate about projects Service desk agents to communicate communicate about incidents
• •
Communication principles Individuals at work need to communicate regularly and effectively with others, which requires a rounded set of communication skills. Some people are more natural communicators than others. Regardless, every stakeholder needs to achieve a basic level lev el of competence and effectiveness in communicating. Communication requires an acknowledgement of the perspective of others. Good communication requires people to be flexible enough to use appropriate content and tone to achieve the desired objective. The fundamental principles required for good communication communication can be summarized as follows: Communication is a two-way process; successful communication is an exchange of information and ideas between two or more parties.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
38 of Page 38 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL We are all communicating, all the time, People convey messages about their mood,
•
attitude and emotional state using language, tone of voice, body language, dress, and manners.
Timing and frequency matter, successful communication needs to consider of the best
•
time to make contact.
There is no single method of communication that works for everyone. It is important to
•
recognize and utilize different preferences and methods.
The message is in the medium. Choose a method of communication that is appropriate
•
for the importance of the message that is being communicated. A minor point may be communicated via messaging or email. Big issues or questions require direct discussion and should not be carried out via email. Understanding, recognizing and implementing these principles is essential when building positive relationships with colleagues, customers, and stakeholders. Good communications help to get the job done, ensuring a pleasant and rewarding exchange for all concerned.
The medium is the message" - Marshall McLuhan
This statement signifies that the characteristics of the medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself. Example:
Termination notice sent by whatsapp Delay in service of major change intimated by tweet
• •
Promotion information sent by email. Increase in salary by personal call
• •
Getting the correct communication communication across over the ri right ght medium is thus very important.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
39 of Page 39 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
1.2 Using a ‘shift left’ approach approach Shift Left is a term that arose out of software testing circles. “Shift Left is a practice intended to find and prevent defects early in the software delivery process. The premise is to improve quality by moving tasks to the left as early in the lifecycle as possible.” possible.” It is relevant in i n areas of IT and service servi ce management. Shift Left involves moving work closer to its source. The value stream design principle is that highly-interdependent tasks should be combined rather than performed as a sequence of specialized tasks. Shift Left is an integrated approach to improving the flow, efficiency, and effectiveness of work. It is used to move the delivery of work to the most optimum team or person based on improving lead times, resolution times, customer satisfaction, and efficiency. In development environments, this means moving bug-fixing activities to the frontline of build and test teams earlier in the lifecycle. In support environments, this means moving repair or problem-solving activities from the higher-level technical teams to generalist frontline teams. Testing software closer to the requirements gathering step means reducing the number of defects that are found in the production step and, consequently, lowering the cost of resolving those defects by a significant factor. Research has shown that defects identified in the production step are far more expensive to fix than those that are identified in the design phase.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
40 of Page 40 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Shift Left is applicable in numerous management practices, including the release management, deployment management, service validation and testing, service request management, and service desk practices. Shift Left is not limited to the service provider’s tasks. It can also be applied to shift tasks to the service consumer if the service consumer is willing and able to acquire the necessary competencies and take responsibility for performing the tasks. In software testing, where the term ‘Shift Left’ was first used, testing is not organized as a separate task that is performed after the software code has been developed. Rather, testing is performed as an integral part of each step of software development, starting with testing the requirements and design. There is a shift from tester to testing. testing . Similarly, information security can also be shifted left by embedding information security tasks into the daily work of development devel opment and operations. This contrasts with the traditional approach of giving these responsibilities to a specialized Information Security Officer who controls whether products and services conform to requirements. requirements. This is often referred to as DevSecOps. The same principles can be applied within other domains. For example:
The division of tasks across first-line, second-line, and third-line support can be
•
reorganized so that first-line service agents are capable of managing more challenging calls.
Change approval judgements can be taken by knowledgeable developers, rather than a
•
separate change advisory board. The key elements involve reviewing feedback and measurement to assess the current flow of work and adjusting the ways that work is organized and delivered by moving testing closer to coding, automating where possible, and moving support activities closer to the customer. In an organization that is suffering from poor customer feedback and frequent project interruptions and which has demand for reduced service delivery resolution times, Shift Left can address those areas of need. When done well, a Shift Left approach should should lead to the following improvements:
Faster resolution times, leading to increased productivity for the consumer and,
•
therefore, increased customer satisfaction
A reduced number of interruptions and, therefore, an increase completed projects.
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
41 of Page 41 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A reduction in cost per incident due to the availability of a self-service that provides for
•
high-volume requests and can offer relevant and accurate resolutions to common issues
An increase in the variety of tasks that all team members can perform, leading to
•
improved employee satisfaction and retention
1.3 Planning and managing resources in the service value system a) Team collaboration and integration
From a business perspective, collaboration is a practice where individuals work together to achieve a common, shared goal/objective. Collaboration is essential across teams to improve business outcomes and customer experience. Good collaboration involves the following:
•
Transparency and visibility of work
•
Flexible small teams
•
Workflow mapping
•
Constant use of feedback
•
Use of methods for focusing and managing content and communication.
Many existing social media have features that are being adopted for collaboration and data collection. Dynamic graphic workflow tools also support improved efficiency and collaboration collaboration in IT and service management toolsets
b) Workforce planning
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
42 of Page 42 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL “In today’s talent-based talent -based economy, the workforce itself is arguably the most important tangible asset of most organizations. Despite its importance, this asset is often not carefully planned, measured or optimized,” optimized,” -The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). A good workforce planning strategy should identify the roles and associated knowledge, as well as the skills, abilities, knowledge, and attitudes needed to keep the organization running day today. It should also address the emerging technologies, leadership, and organizational change capabilities required to position the organization for continue future success and growth “The purpose of the workforce and talent management practice is to enable organization,
leaders, and managers to focus on creating an effective and actionable people strategy so that the organization can achieve its mission, goals, and strategic objectives.”
A good workforce planning strategy should identify: the roles and their related knowledge, skills, abilities, knowledge, and attitudes that are required to keep an organization functioning. It should also address the emerging technologies, leadership, and organizational changes required to continue the organization’s future growth and success. The focus is on creating an effective and actionable actionable people strategy so that the organization can achieve its mission, goals, and strategic objectives. This can be summed up as:
To keep the organization running To exploit emerging technologies To provide leadership and organizational change capabilities
• • •
To position the organization for future success and growth
•
Workforce Planning involves
Strategies for recruiting, retaining, developing, and managing employees Understanding how human human resources will be used to meet business goals Identification of staff as well as skills and competence
•
• •
Simplistically, workforce planning and talent management is a set of specific workforce strategies for recruiting, retaining, developing, and managing employees. Workforce planning is understanding how human resources of an organization will be used to meet understanding mee t your organizations business’ goals. This can include determining how much resource (person hours) are needed for Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
43
163
43 of Page 43 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL a project/program, identifying the skills these resources need today and tomorrow, and how the staff’s individual skills will be utilized to ensure that the organization meets it goals and continues to improve performance. Workforce and talent management when viewed from the six value chain activities:
•
Plan: Understand current and future skills requirements, and staff turnover Plan: Understand Improve Improve:: Continually adapt to meet evolving business needs Engage:: Understand & forecast changing demand for services and how this will impact Engage
•
•
workforce transition : Understand competences needed for Agile, DevOps, etc. define Design and transition:
•
training plans Obtain/build:: Training, mentoring, succession planning, recruiting or sourcing skills Obtain/build support: Measure how knowledge, abilities and attitude impact practices Deliver and support:
• •
Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable improvement and efficiency of a job. People’s competence can be T-shaped, T -shaped, Pi-shaped, Comb-shaped
Broad general S e c i a l i s
T-shaped individuals are experts in one area, with knowledge of other areas. E.g., A developer or tester who also has knowledge of accounting, or other business applications
A pi-shaped person is one who is strong is two (or more) areas, plus the knowledge of other areas.
E.g.,
someone who can both design and develop is desirable for many agile
Broad general knowledge S e c i a l i s
S e c i a l i s
organizations, as well as someone who has good testing skills.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
44 of Page 44 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Broad general knowledge A Comb-shaped individual is strong in more
than
two
areas
and
knowledgeable of other areas. For example, someone who can both
S p e c i a l i s m
S p e c i a l i s m
S p e c i a l i s m
S p e c i a l i s m
gather requirements, design, and develop and has a good knowledge of the adjacent areas.
Although a clear focus on one competence creates deeper understanding, it can be dangerous to have just one area of profound expertise since the value of any single domain within this selfrenewing industry can erode rapidly. According to Fredrick Herzburg (HBR How Do You Motivate Employees January 2003) the top four motivational factors for people at work are: Achievement •
Responsibility Interesting work Recognition
• • •
Understanding
this
can
allow
organizations
leverage
this
to
increase
employee
satisfaction/engagement,, benefiting the customer, employee, and the organization. satisfaction/engagement The true potential of an organization can only be realized when the productivity of individuals and teams are aligned, and their activities integrated to achieve the goals of the organization. Employee needs and expectations continue to change, so organizations need to conduct employee satisfaction measures that gather regular feedback, to understand how well they are meeting employee needs and expectations. There are three aspects to this:
Understanding Measurement Improvement
• • •
It has been said “Without measurement, we don’t know if there is improvement; we don’t know what is meaningful” So why do measure? measure? Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
45 of Page 45 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
To identify current and planned future state
•
To measure achievement of improvements, changes, or plans
•
To measure progress towards goals or objectives
•
To support business decisions
•
To drive behaviours
•
To understand how well services are meeting customer needs/expectations To identify opportunities for improvement
•
c) Results based measuring and reporting Performance can be considered to be the accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy. Performance measurement can be based on behavior or results.
Behaviours should be measured when
There is no clear relationship between behaviours behaviours and results If outcomes are too far in the future If results are not in control of those we are measuring
•
• •
Results should be measured when
There is a clear link from behaviours to results Easiest way to translate strategic objectives into measured actions
• •
•
Good when people have skills and abilities needed to complete their work and can correct their own behaviours
Motivates people to improve, allows autonomy on how to deliver the results re sults
•
How to set and measure performance goals 1. Establish goals in a face-to-face meeting. Work out a set of goals for each organization, function, team, or individual employee. 2. Be sure the goals are measurable and documented. This makes it easy for people to tell how they're doing. 3. State the goals in specific terms. 4. Suit goals to the individual.
5. Adjust goals that turn out to be unrealistic. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
46 of Page 46 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Measuring Team Performance 1. Ensure that the team's goals are aligned/linked to the organization's goals or goals for the service. 2. Begin with the team's customers and the work process the team follows to satisfy their needs. 3. Measure both team and individual performance. 4. Qualitative and quantitative measures are needed. 5. Measures must continue to change and evolve to ensure that there are changes in behaviours that drive continual improvement.
d) The culture of continual improvement The need for a continual improvement ‘culture’ ‘culture’ There is no doubt that continual improvement is a good thing – thing – as as this works towards embedding good practice, cost reduction, improving operational efficiency, improving customer experience, developing employee experience speeding up delivery, removing waste and repetitive tasks, reducing risk etc. The challenge with Continual Improvement is that this does not happen by itself, or simply because there is a process or workflow defined for it – it – or or because there is a ‘CSI register’ in place. Organisations can force the use of these processes – – including including in some cases the need for staff to make a target number of suggestions every month. However, this still does not often provide valuable or useable content – – the real benefits of continual improvement come when the organisation as a whole has a culture that supports, promotes and empowers all parties to just do this naturally, as part of their approach to daily work.
Continual improvement should not be thought of as a practice or process, as a workflow or just as some key artefacts artefacts or tools – continual continual improvement improvement should be embedded in all of these things, as the ‘way we do things here’ – as the culture of the organisation.
The elements of a continual improvement culture
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
47 of Page 47 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Some organisations have an excellent positive culture – culture – it it is tangible when entering their offices and meeting their people. In many cases this has evolved over time due to the influence i nfluence of some key people and their approach – approach – sometimes sometimes this is understood and often not. In many cases the culture changes when key people change. Great organisations are able to recognise and embed the elements that drive this culture, regardless of the influence of individuals. The key elements of a continual improvement culture are:
Transparency – – as as much as possible to create a culture that is open, sharing and based
•
on trust. example – this Management by example – this needs to be shown by all and leaders in particular, where
•
words and promises are followed up and acted upon. trust – – establishing a ‘comfort zone’ where people feel enabled and supported Building trust
•
in trying out new ideas, making suggestions, experimenting. The comfort zone should certainly contrast with any toxic past culture where people where perhaps criticised or ostracised for having apparently ‘dumb’ ideas. ideas. Active encouragement of positive behaviours in Recruitment – ensuring Recruitment – ensuring that the right sort of people with suitable skills are hired Onboarding – – brand brand values and expectations should be clearly and practically applied Onboarding
•
•
from the start of employment culture – Meeting culture – all participants should understand good meeting behaviours – –
•
timeliness, listening, focus on agenda, professionalism, follow up
Language and taxonomy taxonomy – taxonomy – taxonomy can be used to drive and enforce poitive behaviours
•
– removing – removing bias, clarifying exact definitions, encouraging clarity and precision expectations –clearly –clearly defined defined as not not just ‘permitted’, ‘permitted’, but wholly Continual improvement expectations
•
expected of all people involved
Success – Success – this this needs to be constantly marketed/celebrated marketed/celebrated across all teams
•
It is also important to provide clarity on continual continual improvement artefacts and initiatives – – there there should be no doubt that this is a way of working that is expected. There is a need to clarify a clear set of expectations expectations about how this works:
How to raise an improvement idea What happens with these ideas – ideas – all all are reviewed and actioned one way or another
•
•
•
What the decision timescales are – are – and and how the outcome will be communicated
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
48 of Page 48 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL What other sources of input are- e.g. customer, employee feedback, business
•
management, users, service management teams It is also important to provide clarity on continual continual improvement artefacts and initiatives – – there there should be no doubt that this is a way of working that is expected. There is a need to clarify a clear set of expectations expectations about how this works:
•
How to raise an improvement idea
•
What happens with these ideas – ideas – all all are reviewed and actioned one way or another
•
What the decision timescales are – are – and and how the outcome will be communicated
•
What other sources of input are- e.g. customer, employee feedback, business management, users, service management teams
1.4 Value of IT across the service value system: a) Integrated service management toolsets IT service management (ITSM) tools help regulate how IT services are delivered within a company. These are usually based on budgets, people, processes, and outcomes. These have been available for decades. The features are:
Automate records and workflow management Act as engagement and communication tools Support a holistic information model for service management.
• • •
The majority of these toolsets are designed to automate service management practices recommended by ITIL, and they are constantly evolving to adopt new technologies. The most used functionality of these toolsets
Systems of record and systems of engagement Used to raise, classify, prioritize, escalate and resolve issues, requests and changes for
•
•
items and areas of business and technology infrastructure (including people, IT, departments, services, functional areas). Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
49 of Page 49 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Real-time management of expectations for delivery and fulfilment, approval, escalation
•
and consumption
Other administrative functions around inventory, finance and lifecycle lif ecycle management.
•
The value of these toolsets is in the real time dynamic ability to manage volumes of work which range from small and simple to complex and large, and to provide reporting and business analytics on performance, trends, improvements, costs and risks. In addition, the toolsets offer accountability and audit trails on the delivery of work and management of ‘service’ assets and resources. Organizations of various size and reputation use these toolsets in some form or another to optimize routine record keeping, and demonstrate some levels of accountability, consistency and control. However, most organizations have only made use of the basic functions in the toolsets (incident management, SLM, inventory management) and ignored the opportunities for multifunctional integration across processes. As such the opportunity of end-to-end value stream integration that the toolsets provide has rarely been met. However, new challenges and opportunities arise, there is a greater requirement to make use of this functionality and integration. Service management toolset expectations expectations Service management toolsets are expected to provide:
Effective automation of workflows including: o combining standardized pre-defined models and flexibility to allow for
•
customization;
seamless integration of workflows between different practices, value chain activities
o
and organizations to enable end-to-end value stream management o end-to-end automation of product and service lifecycles, lif ecycles, covering all stages.
Effective inventory, monitoring and event management, includin including g intelligent
o
discovery, change and event detection, capacity monitoring, consumption and transactionss monitoring for technology solutions used both inhouse and by third transaction parties
Effective integration with: o other organizations’ toolsets toolsets o other information systems used in the organization o other information systems used for service management
•
networks and communication channels used by the organization and its social service consumers, suppliers and partners
o
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
50 of Page 50 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A high level of service warranty, including o information security o availability o performance o capacity o compliance
•
continuity accessibility
o o
Conformance to evolving architectural and technical requirements and standards Advanced analytics and reporting.
•
•
b) Integration and data sharing Service design frequently relies reli es upon integration between multiple systems. When integrations are part of the design of a service, it is important to understand understand the different levels at which the integration may be modelled, including:
application integration: applications applications are made to interact with each other. enterprise integration: integrated applications applications are aligned to provide value. business integration: existing business services are aligned.
•
•
•
A number of integration methodologies have evolved over time. Selection of an integration methodology requires the consideration of multiple factors such as reliability, fault tolerance, cost, swap-ability, complexity, expected evolution, security, and observability. The design of good integration relies on a clear understanding of the stakeholders affected by the integration; the integration should be designed in a way which supports their work methods and needs. The nature of integration varies in the following manner:
Some situations simply require a one-time hand-off from one system to another, for
•
example, a one-time call to a control system to change a parameter.
Some require an ongoing, two-way process of alignment between two systems, for
•
example, examp le, where a support agent might collaborate with an external supplier’s representative when each uses a separate ticketing system. When data is passed from one system to another, it is vital to ensure that compliance is maintained with regulatory obligations, such as privacy, security, and confidentiality. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
51 of Page 51 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Integration topologies topologies Integration design requires an understanding and consideration of the different topographical approaches approach es to integrating multiple systems. There are two generally accepted topologies: Point-to-point integration: It It involves directly linking pairs of systems. This may be suitable for simple services with a small number of integrated systems. However, there are several drawbackss to this approach: drawback
The number of connections grows quickly in proportion to the number of integrated
•
systems, requiring n(n-1) integrations to be implemented. Note that a bi-directional integration effectively counts as two separate integrations.
The number of different integration protocols and methods may be high, which increases
•
the complexity. Publish-subscribe:: Itis an alternative topology in which messages are published by systems to an Publish-subscribe event broker, which forwards the message to the systems which have been designated as its recipients. The features are:
There is better scalability, and the looser coupling reduces the complexity of
•
implementation, (the publishing system does not even need to be aware of the subscriber).
Reliability may be a challenge, particularly when the publisher is not aware that a
•
subscriber has not received a message.
The broker architecture may be in the form of a bus, in which the transformation and
•
routing is done by adapters local to each integrated system, (or hub and spoke), where it is centralized.
More scalable.
•
Integration approaches Where a service implementation is dependent on multiple integrations, it is important to consider the delivery approach for the integrations. ‘Big Bang’ approach approach:: A ‘Big Bang’ approach involves the delivery of every integration at once. Integration projects delivered using this approach can become excessively large and complex, which can lead to issues with, for example, troubleshooting. As a result, the approach is suited to simple service implementations, with fewer integrated systems, and simpler, lower-risk integration. integration. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
52 of Page 52 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Incremental delivery: Incremental delivery is an agile approach for the integration of multiple components, in which new integrations are introduced separately in a predefined order. It reduces the scale of each individual delivery into production, which enables troubleshoot troubleshooting ing and resolution of post-deployment issues. This approach can be used in most circumstances. However, because the overall service remains incomplete until each integration is in place, service testing may require extensive simulation to account for undelivered ele elements. ments. Direct integration with the (value) stream: This approach allows individual integrations to be deployed as soon as they are ready, in no pre-determined pre -determined order. This provides greater agility and enables rapid initial progress, as with incremental delivery. This approach may necessitate significant simulation to facilitate adequate testing. Global testing of the entire service, and even the subsets of functional chains within it, can only be done late in the service implementation. implementation.
c) Reporting and advanced analytics Advanced analytics is the autonomous autonomous or semi-autonom semi- autonomous ous examination of data or content using high level techniques and tools that go beyond traditional business intelligence (BI) to discover new or deep insights, i nsights, make predictions, or generate recommendations. Some of the advanced analytic techniques are:
•
Data/text mining
•
Pattern matching
•
Forecasting
•
Visualization
•
Semantic analysis
•
Sentiment analysis
•
Network and cluster analysis
•
Multivariate statistics
•
Simulation
•
Complex event processing
•
Neural networks
•
Graph analysis
•
Machine learning.
Data science, predictive analytics, and big data are growing areas of interest among researchers and businesses. This is because within many organizations, there is a vast amount of raw data but very little useful information. Data on its own is useless; information can provide answers to questions such as what, how, where, who, and why? Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
53 of Page 53 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Information is data that has been transformed into meaningful insight, statistics, reports, forecasts, and recommendations. In order to transform raw data into i nto valuable information, it is important to follow a process. This process is known as data analytics, also known as BI Data: Information that has been translated into a form that is efficient for movement or processing Data analytics is the method of examining data sets, often using specialized software, to draw conclusions about the information they contain. Data analytics technology and techniques are widely used in industry. There is a typical path that organizations follow to get the most from their data:
Data engineering: where data is i s processed using programming languages such as Python,
•
R, Java, SQL, Hadoop, and is made ready for analysis.
Data science: where data is analysed and insight is gained using tools such as R, Azure ML,
•
Power BI, and so on.
Big Data “Big Data” is a concept central to the Data Revolution. While it has multiple and varied vari ed definitions; four characteristics stand out:
Volume – Volume – The The size of data being generated, used and processed Velocity Velocity – – The The Speed at which Data is accumu accumulating lating Variety Variety – – This This refers to the sources of origin text, graphics, video,
• •
•
Veracity – – This This refers to the uncertainty of the data, due to bias or abnormality of data Veracity
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
54 of Page 54 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Big Data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work and think “Big data” has no official definition. It refers to huge volumes of data that are created and captured and cannot be processed by a single computer, but rather requires the resources of the cloud to store, manage, and parse. This size of data is on the order of a petabyte or one million gigabytes. Big data changes changes the nature of business, markets, and and society. In the twentieth century, value shifted from physical infrastructure like land and factories to intangibles such as brands and intellectual property. That now is expanding to data, which is becoming a significant corporate asset, a vital economic input, and the foundation of new business models. “Big Data” is the engine of Digital growth. A concept central to the Data Revolution, it is a term volume with multiple and varied definitions. Big Data can be defined by the so-called so-called “Four Vs”: volume variety (originating (massive and passively generated); variety (originating from both individuals and institutions at multiple points in the data value chain); velocity velocity (generally (generally operating in real time); and veracity and veracity (referring to the uncertainty due to bias, noise or abnormality in data). Big data is largely invisible to most people, even as it increasingly informs and shapes decisions of business, government, and individuals. Big data may exist only as digital bits, but it comes from the material world and serves the material world. Big data is enabling quantification and analysis of human life, from the macro down to the micro level — that is, from the global scale down to the individual. It will present new opportunities for governments, businesses, citizens, and organizations.
In the space of just 40 years, the measure of data has gone up from KiloBytes to Yottabytes
It goes without saying that a unique technology-fuelled global transformation is underway. The worldwide increase in digital connectivity, the global scale of highly personalized Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
55 of Page 55 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL communications services, and advances in data analytics have coalesced to create a powerful platform for change. In this networked world, people, objects and connections are producing data at unprecedented rates, both actively and passively. This explosion of data is relatively new. As recently as the year 2000, only one-quarter of all the world’s stored information was digital. The rest was preserved on paper, film, and other analog media. But because the amount of digital data expands so quickly -- doubling around every three years -- that situation was swiftly inverted. Today, less than two percent of all stored information is non-digital. ““Big data” is not just the data itself but rather an ecosystem from sensors to storage to computational analytics to human use of the information and analyses. Big data has been enabled by the exponential increase in cloud storage and a three-million-fold decrease in storage costs since 1980, while the cost of computational power and software has also plunged dramatically over the past thirty years. Today, big data is managed by literally millions of servers in massive “server farms” operated by Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other high -tech companies, with software algorithms that, for example, enable instant Google searches, Bing predictive airfare analytics, and Amazon personal book suggestions based on analysis of past purchases.” Banning Garrett Big Data Is Changing Your World... More than You Know. The real revolution is not in the machines that calculate data but in data itself and how we use it. The amount of stored information grows four times faster than the world economy, while the processing power of computers grows nine times faster. According to “Data Never Sleeps 6.0” report from report from Domo, every MINUTE the following happens:
15,000 Songs are downloaded from ITUNES 4,333,560 Youtube videos are viewed
• •
•
Netflix streams 97,222 hours of content 400 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube
•
694,444 mails are sent by Mailchimp
•
1,389 Uber rides are ordered
•
49,380 Videos are uploaded to Instagram
•
25,000 GIFS are sent on Facebook Messenger
•
473,400 tweets are sent on Twitter
•
4.2 Million videos are viewed on Snapchat
•
The cost of running their own big data servers encouraged many system administrators to seek more scalable, cost-effective solutions. The cloud has been utilized for the storage and processing of big data. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
56 of Page 56 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The more complex the data, the bigger the challenge of finding value within it. Understanding and assessing the complexity of data is important when deciding whether a solution is appropriate, and in mapping out the best approach. The following criteria can be used to analyze whether an organization is ready for big data:
1. Data size: size: gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes or exabytes. Volume is not the only consideration, as data should also be organized into thousands or millions of rows, columns, and other dimensions. structure: data relating to the same subject but from different sources may be 2. Data structure: provided in different structures. type: structured data, like the entries in a customer order database, may vary by 3. Data type: alphabetical, numerical, or other data type. Unstructured data can exist in many forms, including freeform text, conversations on social media, graphics, video, and audio recordings. 4. Query language: language: database systems use query languages for requesting data from the database. sources:: the greater the number of data sources, the higher the probability of 5. Data sources differences in internal data structures and formats. Occasionally, data may be submitted with no specific format. Data from different sources must be harmonized to in order to be accurately compared. rate : the data may increase in volume 6. Data growth rate: v olume and variety over time. There are four steps when generating useful dashboards dashboards and reports: sources . Data may be stored in different databases, in a 1. Connection to the various data sources. data centre, in the cloud, and so on. A connection must be made to the platform used to store the data. (ETL). The goal is to create one storage 2. Data extraction, transformation and loading (ETL). space complete with the compatible and valid version of the data from each data source. data . User queries must be performed rapidly and efficiently. 3. Querying the centralized data. visualization. The results of the queries run on the extracted, transformed, and 4. Data visualization. loaded data from the different data sources is displayed in a format that users can consume, per their needs and preferences.
d) Collaboration and workflow
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
57 of Page 57 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Collaboration is the process whereby a person or persons works with another to produce something. From a business perspective, collaboration is a practice where individuals work together to achieve a common, shared sha red goal/objective. The ever-increasing adoption of an agile approach to managing work, particularly within software development, has triggered a related uptake in the use of tools and methods that support it, including: visible:: the use of physical boards and maps, colour, and graphics to Making work visible •
visualise the work on hand, to display how the team plans to handle it, and to plot and record its journey through the workstream. Work or issues that are hidden from view vi ew may be delayed or left unresolved because no one is aware of them or they fall outside allotted areas of responsibility, or because few individuals possess the knowledge or the availability to fix them. forums: Although email still predominates in the work place for Working in topic-based forums:
•
the management of work, its characteristics of personal folders, duplicated messages, and lost attachments hidden within vast, nested email chains mean time is frequently wasted in the search for important information. information. Good collaboration tools utilize a forum approach, where individuals and teams can take part in direct discussion. They facilitate topic-based areas, mini projects and campaigns, and so on, which are available only to individuals involved in the discussion; this helps to improve efficiency and avoids time wasted on searching for documents. workflows: Transparency can lead to greater communication and collaboration Mapping workflows:
•
across teams, negating a common challenge within big organizations. Issues and problems do not follow the typical reporting lines of organizations, so there is a constant need to improve collaboration by checking for gaps, omissions, or potential blockages that can go unnoticed between or across teams.
Working in small teams and sprints: sprints : This is a key element in agile and DevOps, where
•
small integrated teams work on discrete packages of work as end-to-end value streams. Tools and cross-team methods should dynamically reflect the nature of these teams, which are often in operation for a finite period of time as part of a matrix resourcing model or due to flexible ways of managing issues, such as swarming. mechanisms: Communication should not be overly formal or Using simple feedback mechanisms:
•
complicated. Communication that is simple and easy to comprehend is more often noticed, read and acted upon. The collection of customer and employee feedback should be instantaneous and intuitive.
Collaboration and ‘social media’ features: features : As more individuals use social media in their
•
private and working lives, certain social media features f eatures are being adopted by work-based tools. Many individuals are used to social media features such as ‘like’, ‘retweet’, or ‘share’, which provide useful data. Furthermore, emojis can also be used to represent Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
58 of Page 58 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL feedback responses Tools and capabilities capabilities Many of the tools used for collaboration are designed to resemble interfaces that the user is familiar with from social media, including: wall: This is a feature of many social media platforms, particula Communications wall: particularly rly those
•
dedicated to communication. A communications wall can be used as a central area for general communication. communication. folders : These can relate to specific topics with only one or two Topic-based forums and folders:
•
users, to a large team or topic-based area, to projects, operational areas, lifecycle areas, or special interest groups. surveys: Support software usually provides the capability to gather instantaneous Event surveys:
•
customer feedback via a survey. The response to surveys is often low, although this can be improved with thoughtful survey design utilizing brevity and simplicity.
•
Portals: Actionable portals for requesting services or reporting issues are becoming more Portals: prevalent, reducing the inefficient use of email. Good design and user experience is important for successful adoption.
Self-help:: Knowledge bases that provide solutions directly to the user can be useful for Self-help
•
simple and low risk issues.
Social media functions: functions: Collaboration tools that provide simple and effective means for
•
users to respond and provide feedback.
Workflow in ITSM tools A recent development and improvement in many IT and service management tools is the capability to build, map, and manage process workflows dynamically within the products. Workflow automation automation saves time, money, and effort, allowing your IT support teams to focus on the day job of helping people. This is frequently delivered via a locked-down development interface, whereby changes to workflow elements can be made without the need for scripts or coding, meaning they can be delivered by less technical frontline individuals. The interfaces for these administration tools are usually designed in familiar process mapping formats with swim lanes and action boxes, decision points, parallel streams, and dependences. Some pointers for creating workflows Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
59 of Page 59 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
Use consistent language and naming conventions
•
Define your dependencies
•
Map out all tasks and put them in order
•
Identify task roles and owners
Review the new workflow
•
e) Robotic process automation (RPA) Robotic process automation (or RPA) is a form of business process automation techno technology logy based on metaphorical software robots (bots) or artificial intelligence (AI) workers. RPA is a potential way for organizations to streamline business operations, lower staffing costs, and reduce errors. Through the use of software robots, repetitive and mundane tasks can be automated, allowing resources to be deployed on higher value activities elsewhere. Robots are typically low cost and easy to implement. They do not require the redevelopment re development of existing systems or involve complex integration within existing systems. The potential benefits are clear, as RPA allows for consistent, reliable, and predictable processes to be implemented in a cost-efficient way. This consistency can lead to fewer errors in key processes, increases in revenue, better customer service, which leads to greater customer retention. Where is RPA used? The types of processes where RPA can yield the most benefit tend to be high volume, error prone, and sensitive to faults. Processes that are rules-based and which do not require complex decisionmaking are open to automation through RPA. More sophisticated RPA tools incorporate Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence I ntelligence (AI). These tools transcend a rote-based approach for one that can adapt and react to a variety of inputs. The design and development of RPA plays a part in how robust it is when dealing with change. Nonetheless, there are limits. l imits. The development of RPA often requires configuration and scripts to define the required inputs and outputs. Though these scripts are straight-forward to construct, construct, requiring little in the way of technical expertise, they should be treated as software assets, and Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
60 of Page 60 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL need to be managed as any other software asset. Testing, configuration management, and change management apply apply to RPA, as they do to any other software. RPA technologies Generally, there are three types of RPA technology: automation: This focuses 1. Process automation: This f ocuses on automating tasks that depend on structured data, for example, spreadsheets. automation : This works with unstructured data, for 2. Enhanced and intelligent process automation: example, email and documents. This type of automation can learn from experience and applies the knowledge it gathers to other situations. platforms: These understand 3. Cognitive platforms: These understand customers’ queries and can execute tasks which previously required human intervention. Enterprises are beginning to employ RPA, together with cognitive technologies such as speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning, to automate perceptual-based and judgment-based tasks that were traditionally assigned to humans. The integration of cognitive technologies and RPA is extending automation to new areas, which can help the organization to become more efficient and agile as they adopt digital transformation. RPA software and hardware automates repetitive, rules-based processes that were usually performed by humans sitting in front of a comput computer. er. The table below shows the steps in manual, RPA and cognitive robotic processes:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
61 of Page 61 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Benefits of a successful RPA programme. These can be categorized in the following: cost: After the robots are deployed, the only costs are related to servicing Lower labour cost:
•
and maintaining the software. throughput: As robots can do manual tasks hundreds of times faster than a Increased throughput: As
•
human, including developing, testing, and deployment of software, the time to market for new products can be reduced, which speeds up return on investment. Robots are also constantly available throughout the year. •
accuracy: Robots are able to achieve near-perfect accuracy, which increases Increased accuracy: excellence throughout the value streams, value chain and service value system. This
provides a more consistent experience with a standard level of output, deeper insights into business/IT performance and customer experience, and a reduction in the level of human error. RPA considerations The impact of RPA on applications and environment is great. There is a concerted approach in strategic thinking, governance, control, and judicious application to support an overall strategy for RPA. RPA implementation should should be approached with the same caution as would any service or tool. It needs proper planning, analysis, design, and governance processes, including the following considerations: Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
62 of Page 62 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Garbage in, garbage out out:: The use of robots to run key processes is a challenge if there are no standard processes to follow. ITIL guiding principles: principles: for example, Optimize and automate, and Keep it simple and practical. Identify areas which have the most potential for automation and prioritize automation accordingly. Develop the right skills in the right people: people : For example, how to arrange and use RPA efficiently and effectively. Determine realistic ROI expectations: expectations: Design a sound business case and explain costs, risks, and benefits to the board of directors. Enable strong collaboration between the business and IT: IT: Special consideration should be given to RPA project owners and IT, as neither business area can work independently. independently. Execute automation: automation: Treat automation as a roadmap with short iterations.
f) Artificial intelligence and machine learning Artificial intelligence intelligence (AI), someti sometimes mes called machine machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans. "Artificial intelligence" is often used to describe machin machines es that mimic "cognitive" functions functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem solving"
Implementation of AI technology requires significant investment in hardware, software, and expertise. The emergence of a new generation of cloud based services has made AI much more mainstream. AI technology is increasingly available from major vendors, consumed as public cloud services, and all major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) now offer a range of services to address many different use cases. These service place leading AI offerings at the end of API calls, and hence many organizations are now consuming them to underpin the digital services they deliver to their users. Some service management tool vendors now provide AI driven features as part of their offering, with examples such as conversational tools for end-users and support agents, automated classification or routing, and language tools such as translation and sentiment analysis. One benefit of these services is that they are typically designed and configured specifically for service management use cases. This can enable them to deliver more immediate value than a generalized AI tool, which may require additional work to align to the required use cases. These Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
63 of Page 63 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL may be underpinned by the vendor’s own AI software, or it may harness the technology of specialist AI vendors. However, an on-premise AI implementation may still have significant advantages. AI requires a significant amount of computing power and processing time to function. This may lead to high charges from public cloud vendors who bill on this basis. Hence, particularly at scale or over time, tim e, it may be more economical to use dedicated on-site hardware. Indeed, a number of vendors now provide servers and software dedicated to AI.
Applications and value AI technology offers a broad set of new tools to the service designer, and it is possible to anticipate many new innovations in the application of AI in service management. Some examples of common applications of AI in service design and delivery include:
Process and decision automation: automation: The use of AI to determine the appropriate process
•
branch to follow based on analysis of the known facts. processing: Interpretation of unstructured text for purposes such as Natural language processing:
•
translation, summarization, summarization, or sentiment analysis. a nalysis. interfaces: To enable customers or service agents to interact with the Conversational interfaces:
•
service management tooling using normal written or spoken language. A common example being “chatbots” for automated self -service. -service.
Predictive analysis: analysis: Projection of the future state of a metric or situation, enabling
•
proactive decision making. Discovery:: Identification of useful insights from large collections of information, such as Discovery
•
log files, knowledge bases, or previously recorded tickets The growth of ‘AIOps’ ‘AIOps’ AIOps stands for artificial intelligence for IT Operations. The term AIOps was originally derived from Algorithmic IT Operations. AIOps platforms was first described by Gartner in 2017. AIOps refers to the practice of combining big data, analytics, and machine learning in the field of IT Operations. Instead of siloed teams monitoring their own parts of the infrastructure, the idea is to collect all the important monitoring data in one place and use machine learning to identify patterns and detect abnormalities. This can help IT operation to identify and resolve high severity incidents Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
64 of Page 64 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL faster, and even help them to detect potential problems before it happens. It can also be used to automate routine routine tasks so that IT operation teams can c an focus on more strategic work. AIOps aims to bring artificial intelligence intelli gence to IT operations to address the following:
Modern trends in the ongoing evolution of infrastructure, such as the growth of software
•
defined systems. Increase in the rate at which infrastructure is reconfigured and reshaped.
•
Collecting observational data, such as events, log files, and operating metrics, and
•
engagement data, such as customer request and service desk tickets These insights may be used to drive some or all a range of common outputs, outputs, such as:
Issue detection and prediction, helping the service organization to respond more quickly
•
to incidents.
Proactive system maintenance and tuning, reducing human effort and potential error.
• •
Threshold analysis, enabling a more accurate picture of the normal range of operation of a system.
Some organizations have also started to use AIOps beyond IT operations, to provide business managers with real time insights of the impact of IT on business, keeping them informed and enabling them to make decisions based on real time and on relevant rel evant data.
Machine learning (ML) is the scientific study of algorithms and statistical models that computer systems use to perform a specific task using patterns and inference. It is a subset of artificial intelligence. intelligence.
ML is based on the principle of systems responding to data, and, as they are continually exposed to more of it, adapting their actions and outputs accordingly. Where machine learning is used to Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
65 of Page 65 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL underpin services, this essentially means that it becomes the basis for decision making, in place of paths which are defined by instructions created by human service designers.
Supervised vs unsupervised learning
“Supervised learning is the machine learning task of learning a function that maps an input to an output based on example input-output input-output pairs” - Stuart J. Russell, Peter Norvig (2010) in Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Supervised learning is the most commonly commonly encountered machine learning approach. It is used where both the starting points (inputs) and expected ending points (outputs) are well defined. Supervised learning can be represented as a simple equation: Y = f(X) In this equation, X represents inputs, and Y outputs. The job of the machine is to learn how to turn X into Y, effectively building the function defined here by ‘f’. ‘f’. As part of this learning process, a supervisor needs to determine:
The learning algorithm to be used. The sample data set used to train the machine.
• •
In the context of an IT service this may, for example, be rows of structured data from the system of record such as an ITSM toolset, each of which covers a ‘known good’ previous decision of the outputs made by a human, based on a range of inputs. Supervised learning is well-suited to classification problems (for example, identifying emails that are spam) and regression problems (for example, analysing when a variable metric is likely to reach a specific threshold). “Unsupervised learning is a type of self --organized organized Hebbian (a neuroscientific theory) learning that helps find previously unknown patterns in data set without pre-existing labels. It is also known as self-organization and allows modeling probability densities of given inputs ” Bousquet, O.; von Luxburg, U.; Raetsch, G., eds. (2004). Advanced Lectures on Machine Learning Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
66 of Page 66 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Unsupervised learning requires input data, but it does does not use existing output data from previous decisions, and there is no supervisor. Instead, the machine learns from the input i nput data alone. Unsupervised learning is well-suited well-suited to ‘clustering analysis’ (the identification of inherent groupings in data) and ‘dynamic baselining’, which is the prediction of future behaviours of a metric based on its past behaviour. In the context of a digital service unsupervised learning may, for example, be able to detect previously unknown correlations between causes and effects, such as a likelihood that failure Y will occur when failure X occurs.
Benefits and limitations of machine learning Benefits of machine learning
The ability to derive valuable results from quantities of data which would be difficult for
•
humans to process.
Enable improvements in the efficiency or accuracy of decision-making
•
Limitations of machine learning
Dependency on data The algorithms used For supervised systems, the quality of training.
•
•
•
The performance of a machine learning system is entirely dependent on its data, the algorithms used within it, and, for supervised systems, the quality of training. If the input data contains inherent bias, this can directly distort results, an issue which has led to some high-profile high -profile media coverage where machine learning systems have exposed and propagated racial bias in source data, for instance. Selecting and implementing the correct algorithm is important and requires a good knowledge both of data science principles, and also a strong understanding of the nature of the data set itself (including aspects such as its outliers). Training a supervised system requires the supervisor to have a clear understanding of what results are actually correct. Another significant challenge faced by machine learning systems is the potential for a lack of transparency in the processing of data. In contrast to deterministic algorithmic systems, where the behaviours are defined by humans and can be investigated, the behaviours of a machine Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
67 of Page 67 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL learning system may be difficult to account for, particularly where there are a lot of input parameters. Deep learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning based on artificial neural networks. This learning can be supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised, and relies on computing systems modelled on the biological neural networks found in animal brains. These systems learn by considering examples, gradually tuning the weighting factors driving their processing in each instance.
Deep learning uses multiple layers to progressively extract higher level features from the raw input. So the first layer of the neural network processes a raw data input like the amount of the transaction and passes it on to the next layer as output. The second layer processes the previous layer’s information by including additional information, to get an output for another layer of processing.
g) Continuous integration and delivery/deployment (CI/CD) Introduction to CI/CD
integration n (CI) is the practice of merging all developers' working copies to Continuous integratio a shared mainline several times a day. Each check-in or shared copy is then verified verif ied by an automated build, allowing teams to detect problems early.
CI/CD refers to Continuous Integration, and either Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment. These are descriptive terms for a collection of practices primarily associated with software engineering, which are central to the philosophy of Lean, agile software development.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
68 of Page 68 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Continuous delivery (CD) is a software engineering approach in which teams produce Continuous software in short cycles, ensuring that the software can be reliably released into a production environment at any time.
The adoption of these practices has grown rapidly, and it is important to understand the defining characteristics of CI/CD, and the wider context of evolving system development practices when implementing services which are underpinned by software so ftware development. ‘Continuous Delivery’ describes the practice of making frequent, typically small deployments of code into the production environment. ‘Continuous Deployment’ is sometimes used to describe the automation of this process. CI/CD is, effectively, a practical methodology for delivering software in an agile manner, consistent with the set of principles defined in the Agile Manifesto, which can be summarised as follows:
satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of value. welcoming changing requirements, even if late, and harnessing change for competitive
•
•
advantage
delivering working software frequently, with a preference for shorter timescales daily collaboration between developers and the business stakeholders of the services to
•
•
which they contribute
•
using motivated individuals, supporting supporting them, and trusting them to get the job done
•
favouring face-to-face communication communication
•
regarding working software as the primary measure of progress
•
promoting sustainable development, so that a consistent pace can be maintained indefinitely
enhancing agility though continuous attention to technical excellence and good design relying on self-organising teams, on the basis that they will produce the best architecture,
•
•
requirements and designs
reflecting regularly, as a team, on how to become more effective, and adjusting behaviour
•
appropriately. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
69 of Page 69 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
CI/CD should not be confused with DevOps. While the establishment of CI/CD is inherent to its adoption, DevOps has a much broader context, encompassing team organization and culture in addition to any specific mechanics for system delivery Goals and value measurements CI/CD has a primary goal of enabling smaller, high-frequency deployment of changes to systems. This is intended to reduce risk (by making each deployment less complex) while simultaneously increasing the velocity of delivery of value (by enabling useful changes to be delivered more quickly to consumers). The agile movement views large, complex projects as ineffective due to the following:
The complexity of large production deployments increases the risk of introducing new
•
issues, and makes troubleshooting more difficult.
•
Long periods between releases reduce the opportunity opportunity to deliver value quickly. This leads to opportunity costs, and reduces an organization’s ability to adapt its services to new, emergent conditions.
Linear development frameworks reduce the opportunity to interact on a regular basis
•
with consumers, increasing the chances that a solution will be delivered that is suboptimal for the consumer’s needs. needs.
Small changes are easier to comprehend, consume, test, troubleshoot and (where
•
necessary) roll back. CI/CD teams often define their success on: production systems quickly, ef efficiently, ficiently, and reliably. Ability to deliver code changes to production Identification and removal of bottlenecks which would reduce the speed of delivery. Strong focus on automation of aspects of delivery which would otherwise require
•
•
•
significant manual effort.
The CI/CD pipeline pipeline A key component of the implementation of CI/CD is the pipeline. This term defines the set of tools, integrations, practices and guardrails which allow a continuous and substantially automated flow of changes, from their initial design and development, through to deployment into production. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
70 of Page 70 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL This flow is typically broken up into three different diff erent stages: phase): This stage encompasses coding practices such as version Build automation (the CI phase):
•
control and the merging of multiple developers’ changes into one branch. branch. automation – In Test automation – In this stage each change is automatically tested and validated as part
•
of the flow chain from development. automation – This Deployment automation – This stage involves the automation of the actual process of
•
moving code from pre-production environments to the production service. A significant focus for organizations or teams implementing CI/CD is the reduction of pieces of work requiring manual effort which, if unchanged, would would impede the flow of the CI/CD pipeline without delivering a proportional amount of specific value. This kind of work is sometimes referred to as ‘toil’. Google’s Site Reliability Engineering Engineering handbook defines toil as work which exhibits some or all of a set of certain characteristics: •
Manual – Manual – Work Work which requires hands-on time from humans. Repetitive Repetitive – – Work Work which is being done not for the first or even second time, but which is
•
done over and over again
Automatable – – Work Work which could be achieved by a machine just as well as by a human,
•
rather than requiring specific human judgement
Tactical Tactical – – Work Work which is interrupt-driven and reactive rather than strategy-driven and
•
proactive
Devoid of enduring value – value – Work Work which does not make any permanent improvement in
•
the service, instead leaving it in the same state after the task has finished
Linearly scaling – scaling – Work Work which scales up in proportion to the service size, traffic volume,
•
or user count. When designing and implementing a service which relies on the effective operation of CI/CD practices, it is important to either eliminate or avoid toil. Failing to do so can limit the scalability of the service, and unnecessarily increase the cost of delivering it, particularly as the service grows. Aligning CI/CD to ITIL ITIL The core aspects of Agile software development, and by extension CI/CD, are closely aligned to each of the ITIL guiding principles: value: Agile development is intended to deliver early and continuous value to Focus on value:
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
71 of Page 71 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL the customer.
Start where you are: are : Agile is built on the concept of continuous, incremental
•
development rather than large releases after lengthy development cycles. feedback : Agile advocates continuous Progress iteratively with feedback : continuous feedback loops. visibility : Good Agile product delivery requires effective Collaborate and promote visibility:
•
•
visualisation of work to all delivery participants, as well as constant interaction with the consumer of the delivered service. holistically: Agile development focuses on the big picture of the business Think and work holistically: Agile
•
and consumer goals of the work. practical : Agile development is founded on lean principles. As such, Keep it simple and practical:
•
non-productive, low value activities are regarded as waste, and are eliminated.
Optimize and automate: automate: Continuous feedback loops and reduction of toil are
•
fundamental to good Agile practices. When working with CI/CD processes and the teams responsible for them, in designing and implementing services, people and teams should actively seek opportunities to enhance the success of those elements.
CI/CD doesn’t suit every situation situation Agile approaches such as CI/CD are well suited to situations where there is a high uncertainty about present and future requirements for a service, and where risks associated with errors or failure are low impact or can be managed quickly. In these cases, the iterative nature of CI/CD enables the ongoing development of the service to respond to, and drive, an increasing understanding understandin g of the customer’s demands and the best way to deliv deliver er value to them. them. However, plan-based approaches approaches such as the waterfall method may still be more suitable in some situations, for instance instance where there is a high certainty about the rrequirements equirements of the service, or where safety criticality demands the use of large batch deployments which are not well suited to the agile approach. In practice, particularly in larger and more complex organizations, a service will often be dependent on multiple elements which are delivered using different approaches.
h) Information models
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
72 of Page 72 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL As digital transformation progresses, the business operations of organizations continually become more closely aligned to, and dependent on, their technology systems and services. As this happens, information can increasingly become a constraint on the effective delivery of services. Factors which can contribute to this issue:
the organization may distribute information inconsistently and sporadically across
•
multiple IT systems and beyond (some, for instance, may exist in physical media, while other critical data and knowledge may only exist in people’s heads) heads)
the quality of the information may be overestimated or unclear multiple systems, increasingly running on multiple infrastructure types, may be critical to
•
•
the operation of the organization’s services, but it may not be clear how these are critical. critical.
Inconsistent terminology may be used across different parts of the organization.
•
An information model is used by organizations to combat this type of challenge, developing a shared understanding of the organization’s information, terminology, systems and structure. structure.
The value of such a model is multi-faceted. It can be a key enablement tool for transforming processes and practices, for integrating technologies, for gaining an accurate overview of strengths and weaknesses in the service framework, and for driving informed decisions at multiple levels of the organizational hierarchy. Anatomy of an Information Model Model
An information model in software engineering is a representation of concepts and the relationships, constraints, rules, and operations to specify data semantics for a chosen
Typically, it specifies relations between kinds of things, but may also include relations with individual things. It consists of some key elements
Definitions of key facts, terminology, activities and practices within the organization. Structural representations of key components of the organization’s technology and
• •
business services, and the relationships between them. The ideal level of detail held within a model will vary not just between organizations, but also between different areas within an organization. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
73 of Page 73 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Areas of business which are undergoing more rapid change or more significant investment warrant more detail in an information model than areas which are relatively static. Information Model Examples •
DMTF ): A set of open standards setting out a Common Information Model (managed by DMTF): common (and growing) definition of management information across a wide range of IT infrastructure, including modern cloud and virtualization technologies. Frameworx:: A set of ‘best practices and standards that when adopted enable a service Frameworx service -
•
oriented, highly automated and efficient approach to business operations’. Particularly focused on telecommunications, and managed by TM Forum, it is a widely used framework in that industry.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
74 of Page 74 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
2. Contribution of ITIL Practices in CDS In this chapter we will see how to:
document a value stream to understand how work flows across the organization understand an archetype value stream to create a new service understand an archetype value stream to support a live service.
•
•
•
This chapter will help practitioners understand:
the role of a value stream in the SVS the taxonomy of a value stream
• •
how to describe the steps in a value stream how to apply common mathematical modelling techniques to streamline a value stream consideration considerationss when designing a value stream.
• •
•
Practitioners need to understand that understand that value streams are simple, but not necessarily simplistic, representations of work. There are many different value streams, because various types of work follow different routes. They can either represent a design or ideal pattern of activity or reflect the actual, observable patterns of activity. The same resources, such as individuals, tools, suppliers, or processes, can appear in different parts of the value stream; for example, a support agent can be part of user engagement, support investigation, and the deployment of a fix to restore service
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
75 of Page 75 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
2.1 Using a value stream to design, develop and transition new services
ITIL service value chain. It is an operating model for service providers that covers all the key activities required to effectively manage products and services.
The ITIL service value chain includes six activities:
•
engage
•
Plan
•
Improve
•
design and transition
• •
obtain/build deliver and support
A value chain can: can:
Mention one, some, or all value chain activities, depending depending on the context. Repeat value chain activities, depending on the work in progress.
• •
A value stream is a series of steps an organization undertakes to create and d deliver eliver products and services to consumers. A value stream can be visualized as journeys through activities in the service value chain, for a specific scenario or type type of demand. Each value stream may follow its own journey. A value stream is itself made up of one or more steps. A step is comprised of one or more actions that accomplish a specific objective. Through the value stream model, the organization processes units of work, which may change depending on the context, and the level of granularity. A value stream is a series of steps an organization undertakes to create and deliver products and services to consumers
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
76 of Page 76 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Through the value stream model, the organization processes units of work, which may change depending on the context, and the level of granularity. For example, the execution of a value stream to create a new service triggered by a consumer request:
At the value stream level, the unit of work can be defined as, the consumer request that
•
needs to be fulfilled, which might change to, the service portfolio item that is being created, during the execution of the value stream. At the step level, the unit of work can be defined as, the requirements that need to be
•
assessed, which might change to, the design characteristics defined in the service design package, during the execution of the value stream. A value stream can be described using fields such as:
•
Name
•
Owner
•
Description
•
•
Demand Trigger
The diagram below shows the relationship between value chain activities, the value stream, the steps in a value stream, the actions within a step, and the tasks within an action.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
77 of Page 77 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
A large enterprise can include several distinct organizations managed with certain level of autonomy, autonom y, where it is possible to treat every one of them as a service value system with its own value chain and value streams. However, it is unlikely that self-sufficient service value systems will be established at the level of teams. Each step of the value stream can be described as a process, or as a value stream for a lowerlevel organization.
Processes and value streams: The key differences between value streams and processes have to do with their focuses and how they are used. Many sets of interrelated activities that transform inputs into outputs could be considered a process. Value streams are focused around the flow of activity from demand or opportunity to customer value. So, process taxonomy, and management tools and techniques are applicable to value streams, however many processes are not value streams .
Each step in a value stream could be reframed as a process, and some may represent value streams of a lower-level organization. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
78 of Page 78 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Cascade value streams to lower level value streams and/or processes allowing organizations to:
Focus on value for the higher-level value stream, combining value streams and processes
•
of participating parties.
Progress iteratively with feedback from other organizations and teams in the value
•
stream. Collaborate and promote visibility into how work flows across the organizations and
•
teams.
Think and work holistically by understanding how the wider organization or ecosystem
•
works and benefits from work being done by the participating parties. Value stream considerations When describing a value stream, the following considerations should be taken into account:
1. A value stream can be documented from either of two perspectives:
A value stream can be designed to reflect the aspirations of the service provider. After
•
the value stream has been documented, it can be compared against observed behaviours. Deviations between the design and the observed results will likely trigger the continual improvement practice.
A value stream can reflect actual work patterns. The documentation can assist in
•
optimizing the value stream to make it more effective, reduce the time taken to convert demand into value, automate repeatable work, explore how the value stream reflects the reality of how work is observed.
2. A value stream always starts with demand, and always ends with value being created or restored for one or more stakeholder. Thus, it is highly desirable to maintain an outside outside-in tone or language when documenting the value stream. 3. A value stream can loop around and repeat value chain activities, reflecting the context and the environment in which work is performed. However, a value stream can be as flexible as the organization needs it to be. For example, the organization can add in another stage during the work similar to a waterfall approach, , or as iterative loops between value chain activities. 4. Value streams are a representation of work, as viewed at a certain level lev el of granularity. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
79 of Page 79 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 5. There are several factors to consider when deciding what constitutes a separate step in a value stream, and what should be included within an existing step. These include the level of detail that would be represented in the value stream. The inclusion of multiple value chain activities could also affect the value stream.
Designing a service value stream It’s important to think holistically when starting to plan out a piece of work to build a new service. There may be existing structures, team and processes within your organisation which you need to consider as part of the approach – approach – e.g. e.g. a project team or teams, project office, technical teams and a service desk. These may be using project management methodologies, methodologies, technical standards and service management processes as part of their daily work, all of which are useful and valuable v aluable for their needs
The following section describes one of many approaches to design a value stream. Practitioners are highly encouraged to adapt this approach to the needs of their organization, or to explore the use of other approaches. 1. Define the use case, or scenario, for the value stream, by describing: a) The demand (preferably in non-technical terms) b) The trigger created by the demand c) The outcomes created by the value stream d) Value in the context of the value stream (value ( value can be created or restored) 2. Document the steps required to traverse the service value chain from demand to value. 3. Map the steps from no. 2 above to the service value chain 4. If necessary, decompose steps into actions and tasks
5. Identify the practices and associated resources that contribute to the successful completion of each step, action, or task including: a) Operational and management teams, or individuals b) Tools and technology c) Information and data (records, forms, or other artefacts) d) Any partners and suppliers that create outputs or outcomes using their own resources
The 5 steps above should be completed in a collaborative way. At the first stage of documentation, it is not necessary to get all the details correct, but to establish a broad and
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
80 of Page 80 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL general understanding (or a “baseline”) of the work needed to respond to demand and generate value. Once a baseline has been established, the value stream can be further explored and optimized by:
•
Creating simple simulations to test the flow fl ow of work Eliminating work that does not create meaningful outputs, outcomes or benefits
•
Shifting work left
•
Delaying work that can introduce variance in quality, cost, or timeliness
•
Introducing feedback loops and escalation mechanisms to improve the quality of the
•
outputs and benefits produced by the value stream
Identifying opportunities to automate steps, actions, or tasks to speed up flow of work Identifying and managing bottlenecks and constraints (which may even include
•
•
redesigning the value stream around the constraint)
Introduce triggers to review, and if necessary, improve the value stream. Reviews can be
•
ad-hoc
Describing A Step of the Value Stream When describing a step in a value stream, the questions that need to be answered include:
Name of the step – – What are we calling the step? Can the step be described in non-
•
technical language and avoid acronyms and jargon so that anyone reviewing the value stream can easily understand what it’s meant to accomplish.
The input trigger(s) - What will cause the step to start, or when will the step start? Information needed - What information - whether obtained from an external stakeholder,
•
•
a previous step in the value stream, or drawn from other organisational resources - is required to create the defined outputs or outcomes? When will the information be available to the step?
Practice contributions - what tools, technologies, people, and other resources can the
•
organization’s practices contribute contribute to ensure the successful completion of the step? step?
Actions and tasks - what needs to occur in order to act on the incoming trigger and achieve
•
the required output? What can be executed in parallel and what have pre-requisites? How long does each action or task take?
Constraints - what policies (which may be defined by the service provider, or by external
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
81 of Page 81 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL stakeholders) does the step have to comply with? What resource constraints does the organisation face?
Outputs - Why does the step exist - What outputs does the step need to provide? What
•
value does that create for the service provider, its consumers, or other stakeholders?
Estimated or Target Lead Time – – How long should a unit of work take to complete the
•
step, including time spent waiting in a queue?
Value Stream Mapping Value stream mapping is required to build an end-to-end end-to -end picture of how the service will be used and experienced – ideally – ideally involving all of the stakeholders as mentioned above – – and and from a customer and business-outcome perspective. There are various ways to achieve this, although in essence this requires work to map out a holistic and complete view of the end-to-end end-to- end service ‘process’ seen from a customer viewpoint at the centre. There can be other views related to this which are more technology of process focused about this should start with a user journey. Often this is done in a project room or boardroom with large l arge sheets of paper or writing on boards to show a complete picture – picture – also also one that might be difficult to easily represent and update if done digitally. The physical maps helps to show all areas as well as being highly collaborative with a group of people – people – it it is also a good transparent way to make the work of the group visible to a wide group of people who may pass and see it regularly. A key advantage of the mapping exercise is the ability to see potential points of failure - areas of high risk, blockage and weakness in the value stream, particularly if these are not a technical element. For example, there may be a dependency on a specific process or person who is out of the control of the organisation, or who is not skilled, or a supplier who does not understand the value stream etc. These areas of risk may not be clearly owner or accounted for in traditional silo-ed organisations, although they will inevitably become points of failure if not attended to. The mapping highlights these points of failure and can then initiate action to mitigate these ri risks. sks. Without visualisation and a collaborative approach, these risks are not always identified or raised by individual teams, yet they still need to be owned and mitigated. Examples of points of failure might be individual’s availability, delayed responses, low -value administration, bureaucratic approval stages, mounting work queues, misunderstood priorities, administration, invisible requirements. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
82 of Page 82 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Value stream mapping helps organizations by:
Visualizing more than just the single-process level, i.e. assembly, welding, etc., in
•
production. The flow from opportunity to value is visible and clear
Making the sources of waste in each value stream more visible
•
•
Providing a common language for talking about value streams and processes
•
Making decisions needed about the flow apparent, so they can be discussed
•
Otherwise, many details and decisions on the work floor just happen by default
•
Tying together Lean concepts and techniques, which discourages using just one or two
concepts or techniques in isolation
Forming the basis of an implementation or improvement plan. By helping organizations
•
design how the end-to-end flow should operate, value stream maps become a blueprint for implementation
Demonstrating the linkage between the information flow and the material flow
•
Key metrics when analysing a value stream There are several important metrics which can be defined at the value stream, step, action, and task level: Time: This is the amount of time required to complete a discrete unit of work, 1. Cycle Time: converting input(s) into output(s). For example, if it takes 5 minutes to fill in a new incident form, then we say that the cycle time is 5 minutes Time: This is the amount of time a discrete unit of work waits in a queue before it is 2. Wait Time: This worked on. For example, an incident ticket waits (on average) 4 hours before work on it begins Queue: The number of discrete units of work waiting to be operated on by the step, 3. Queue: action, or task Time: This is the sum of Cycle Time(s) and Wait Time(s) from start to finish. It 4. Lead Time: represents the total time required to complete a discrete unit of work, from when it enters the queue to when the work completes Progress: The number of discrete units of work currently being operated on, but 5. Work in Progress: The which are not yet completed Throughput:: The rate at which work enters or exits the system (that is, the scope of work 6. Throughput under consideration, which could be the service value system, the value stream, a value stream step, action, or task) The term “Process timing” originates from Little’s Law,
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved
www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
83 of Page 83 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL “states that the long-term average number L of customers in a stationary system is equal to the long-term average effec tive tive arrival rate λ multiplied by the average time W that a customer spends in the system”. sy stem”.
Little’s Law can be simplistically represented as: as: Work In Progress = Throughput x Lead Time or Work In Progress = Throughput x (Cycle Time + Wait Time) Liitle’s Law, a theorem by John Little states Little states that the long-term average number L of customers in a stationary system is equal to the long-term long-term average effective arrival rate λ multiplied by the average time W that a customer spends in the system This mathematical representation works for simple systems, and in complicated environments where more than one activity, step, or task is taking place simultaneously, it might be more difficult (but not impossible) to apply this model.
High level value stream for a new service
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
84 of Page 84 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A value stream for a new service ser vice might be represented simplistically, and at a very high-level as:
The same value stream can be represented (more accurately, and with a significantly higher complexity) at a more granular level as:
Complex representation of a value stream
Regardless of complexity of the environment, Little’s Law leads to the following considerations when designing a value stream, step, or action:
It is advisable to minimize the number of times work is "handed off”. Hand-offs Hand -offs create
•
queues, and queues create waiting time, thereby increasing i ncreasing lead time. Reduction is often accomplished accomplish ed by increasing the level of automation, or by up-skilling staff to increase the range of tasks they can work on.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
85 of Page 85 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Throughput, especially in the context of external events and triggers, is often not in
•
control of the service provider. However, the use of statistical modelling functions can help estimate the pattern of activity. activity. For example, a supermarket supermarket cannot predict the exact number of shoppers visiting each hour of the business day, but can use statistical models to create estimates
In simple systems, Wait Time can be expressed as a function of Cycle Time. for a new unit
•
of work is (Cycle Time x units of work already in the system). For example, if it takes 10 minutes to complete a unit of work, one unit is currently being worked on and three units waiting to be worked on, then:
The next unit of work to enter the system will spend 10 minutes/ unit x (1 + 3) units =
o
40 minutes in the queue.
The Lead Time for the next unit of work would be 40 minutes Wait Time + 10 minutes
o
Cycle Time = 50 minutes.
Depending on level of granularity and nature of the work, Cycle Time can be assumed to
•
be fixed and predictable.
To create more predictable Cycle Time, it may be necessary to limit the Work In Progress.
•
MODEL VALUE STREAMS FOR CREATION, DELIVERY AND SUPPORT We now explore the two common value streams models that can be found in nearly all organizations: 1. Development of a new service: Organizations Org anizations often find it necessary to create, modify or retire services. In this value stream, we will examine common patterns of work required to create a new service – – something that requires significant effort and coordination across the organization. 2. Restoration of a live service: In modern, complex IT organizations, failure is to be expected and must be dealt with quickly. In this value stream, we will examine the typical activities we expect when detecting and resolving failures, and how such activities can be leveraged to improve the service. It is important to note that these value streams model need to be adapted to the needs of each organization depending on context and complexity. Development of a new service In this value stream archetype, we examine typical activities that organizations undertake to create or significantly modify an existing service. This archetype is agnostic to the nature of the service and can be used to describe a value stream to create services provided to consumers
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
86 of Page 86 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL within the organization or external to the organization. The typical considerations when designing this value stream include:
How will the work be managed – – in in large increments using sequential stage-gated phases
•
(waterfall), or in small increments that provide fast feedback and the opportunity to change specifications at short notice (agile), or a mix of both. It might be necessary to create separate value streams depending on how work is managed, and to describe different project management methodologies methodologies in each value stream
Establishing the right level of oversight to maintain focus on business outcomes, and not the
•
outputs
Establishing the right level of bureaucracy to ensure effective coordination of activities
•
between various organizational units, and between the organization and its partners, suppliers, customers, users, and other key stakeholders stakeholders
Joining up all the activities from all the practices required to create a new service, to create
•
an end-to-end, holistic vision for the work
Ensuring that the organization has a clear understanding of the customer’s intended goals
•
and expectations, and to track each of them from start to finish to ensure that the service supports the required outcomes. The organization should avoid introducing conflicts or inconsistencies inconsistenc ies when translating customer needs into service specifications (both functional and non-functional)
Understanding the customer’s journey from demand to value, and defining requirements
•
from the customer’s point point of view rather than relying only on internal perspectives or prior experience of team members This value stream describes the journey from demand six key steps: 1. Understand and document service requirements 2
2. Decide whether to invest in the new service
3 5 1
4
6
3. Design & architect the new service to meet customer requirements 4. Build, configure, or buy service components 5. Deploy service components components 6. Release service to customers and users
AXELOS®, ITIL® and the swirl logo are registered trademarks of AXELOS Limited.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
87 of Page 87 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The value stream needs to consider all activities in the end to end value stream that takes demand and helps to co-create value. The value stream may represent activity from many different teams like the project office, integrated product teams, separate SILO’d teams doing architecture, design, development, infrastructure, testing, release etc.
The value stream must be designed to enhance the entire customer journey, not just the
•
individual touchpoints.
The outside-in approach considers everything from the customer viewpoint; as opposed
•
to IT-centric inside-out approach based on requirements only
One needs to Involve all stakeholders in the value chain as early as possible including
•
customers, not just IT staff Summary of points for creating a value stream strea m for new services:
Inputs / triggers: triggers: What will cause the value stream to start, or when will it start? How will
•
the value stream be recognised and classified? •
Stakeholders:: Who are the customers, users, suppliers, partners, colleagues involved? Stakeholders For the design and build and then for the ongoing delivery of the product
Information Information:: What information is required to create the defined outputs or outcomes?
•
How will this information be accessed and used? Practices:: Which relevant (ITIL 4) practices and other work activities are required to be Practices
•
used and integrated?
Resources Resources:: What tools, technologies, people, and other resources, does the organization
•
have to execute the value stream? What roles and responsibilities do resources have at each step of the value stream? Activities:: What steps are needed from the incoming trigger to achieve the required Activities
•
output? What steps can be executed in parallel or have pre-requisite steps, activities, or sub-processes? How long does each step take? Constraints:: What policies from various sources does the value stream need to comply Constraints
•
with? Outputs:: Why does this value stream exist? What outputs and outcomes does the process Outputs
•
need to create? What value does that create for the service provider, its consumers, or other stakeholders? Demand The value stream is triggered by demand to create or modify an existing service. Demand might originate from any of the following: f ollowing:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
88 of Page 88 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
A consumer who could be a sponsor, customer or user
•
An external stakeholder which could be a supplier or a reg ulator
•
A business function like sales or marketing
•
Members of the organizations governing body
Acknowledging and documenting the request Any request for new product or service features starts by acknowledging and documenting the demand. It is a common practice to use business case methods to collect and assess requirements. It is important to remember that the objective is the collection of enough information to submit the business case.
Successful completion of this step requires the organization organization to engage with the requestor, as well as other stakeholders like marketing and sample users (using surveys and polls) to fill in the business case template with high-level information about the requirement, benefits (both quantitative and qualitative), costs, and risks. This information is also supplemented by high-level estimates from various technical and service management teams, who consider the cost of development, release, operations and support. Practices that commonly contribute to this step include:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
89 of Page 89 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Business Analysis: Provides resources to document the business case, and to perform a
•
viability assessment
Configuration Management: Provides information on current live services and service
•
component to provide context when describing the demand
Relationship Management: Provides resources to manage the requestor’s expectations
•
and rapport with the service provider
Service Level Management: Provides information on current services to provide context
•
when describing the demand
Service Portfolio Management: Provides information on current, retired, and future
•
(planned) services
Assessing the requirements Once the request has been refined and documented in the business case, it might be necessary to refine the initial cost, benefit, and risk assessments to allow the organization to plan the work.
This
would
detailed
require
more
discussions
with
various internal teams, and possibly
ongoing
conversations with customers and
other
stakeholders.
external Once
completed, the business case can be considered by the management team, and a “go/no--go” “go/no
decision
provided. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
Business Analysis: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to work with
•
various specialist teams to gather additional information and assessments, and will perform a viability analysis against customer requirements documented in the business case template
Configuration Management: Provides information on currently operational configuration
•
items
Infrastructure and Platform Management: Provides supplementary assessments on how
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
90 of Page 90 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL infrastructure components of the new service might be engineered and developed, and its impact to ongoing application management activities, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary
Problem Management: Provides information on current errors and workarounds that
•
might have an impact on the new features
Project Management: Provides administrative and technical resources to complete the
•
business case assessment. This overview can be used to fill out the Value Stream Step template provided in the previous.
Risk Management: Provides information on current enterprise risks that may be impacted
•
(positively or negatively) by the new features
Service Design: Provides supplementary assessments on how the new service might be
•
designed to meet internal standards and policies around utility, warranty, brand, and other criteria, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary
Service Desk: Provides supplementary assessments on how the new service might impact
•
current customer and user support channels, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary •
Service Financial Management: Provides tools and policies to calculate the return on investment (ROI) the new features might provide
Service Level Management: Provides information on current service levels provided by
•
the app and underlying infrastructure, and the changes the new functionality might introduce
Service Portfolio: Provides the resources necessary to allow the Service Owner to
•
complete the viability assessment and decide on whether to authorize the investment in the new service
Software Development and Management: Provides supplementary assessments on how
•
software components of the new service might be engineered and developed, and its impact to ongoing application management activities, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary Designing the Service
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
91 of Page 91 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Once the decision has been made to create or modify the existing service, it will be necessary to review the existing service if any, and modify the design to accommodate accommodate the new features. f eatures. For example:
Integration of the account review system with the payments system Increase the business, service, and technology capacity Assess additional infrastructure required to maintain current service level targets around
• •
•
utility and warranty
There is also a need at this stage to translate the requested features and updated service design into software and infrastructure designs and specifications. Depending on the methods used to develop software and infrastructure components, this might mean creating an initial backlog of epics and user stories. Practices that commonly contribute to this step include:
Architecture Management. Availability Management: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to
•
•
describe the potential demand for the service, and the technical, service, and business capacity needed to meet that demand, and to document the same in the Service Design Package
Business Analysis.
•
Capacity and Performance Management: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources
•
needed to describe the potential demand for the service, and the technical, service, and
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
92 of Page 92 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL business capacity needed to satisfy that demand while maintaining expected levels of performance, and to document the same in the Service Design Package
Configuration Management: Provides information on currently operational services and
•
configuration items
Information Security Management: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources r esources needed
•
to design the measures needed to ensure that confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information as well as authentication and non-repudiation of customers and users is in line with organizational policies, and to document these measures in the Service Design Package
Infrastructure and Platform Management. Project Management. Service Continuity Management: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to
•
•
•
design the measures needed to ensure that the availability and performance of the new service are maintained at sufficient levels in the case of a disaster, and to document the same in the Service Design Package
Service Design: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to design the
•
customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) when interacting with the new service, and document the same in the baseline service design package
Service Level Management. Software Development and Management. Supplier Management: Assists in interactions with partners and suppliers, and in selecting
•
•
•
new suppliers to source service components components
Creating and validation service components
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
93 of Page 93 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Once the design package has been baselined, work to obtain or build service components can begin. A service component is often a technical component, such as software, servers, storage, networks, and so on. In many cases, there can also be non-technical service components (depending on the nature of the service) that also need to be managed to deliver a product or service, such as new team structures, new roles, critical skills and competencies, knowledge base articles, training documentation, and vendor contracts. Thus, it is critical to acknowledge and “configure” both the technical, and non-technical, non-technical, aspects of products and services, which can include
•
Technical integration between the applications Modification of existing back-end and client applications
•
Increase the processing capacity and infrastructure
•
Update and communicate training documents for customer support agents, and provide
•
simple scripts to help customers
Update and communicate communicate release notes that can be used to promote the new service Begin marketing the upcoming changes to products and services, without committing to
•
•
specific features
Update the service design package to reflect agreed-upon changes made while obtaining
•
or building service components Practices that commonly contribute to this step include:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
94 of Page 94 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
Configuration management.
•
Infrastructure and Platform Management.
•
Project Management.
•
Release Management: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources to create and communicate the release plan, and to update maintain the plan as development and deployment activities progress
Risk Management. Service Portfolio Management. Service Validation and Testing: Provides the technical skills, tools, and other resources
• • •
needed to document test cases, carry out automated and manual testing, and provide feedback and reports from testing activities
Software Development and Management. Supplier Management.
• •
Preparing to Deliver
Once service components have been built, work to deploy and release service and service components into the live products and services can begin.
Due to the mixed nature of service components, the organization may need to utilize different approaches approach es for example:
Software components leverage the CI/CD toolchain and are immediately deployed into
•
production with a feature flag that prevents users from accidentally accessing new or changed features.
Infrastructure components (server, storage, or network configurations) are developed
•
and deployed just prior to launch. Internal documentation is developed over the course of the Obtain/ Build step and are
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
95 of Page 95 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL distributed just prior to launch
Marketing documentation can be developed using stable software features, and in
•
conjunction with release plans At this stage, two more important pieces of work can also be considered:
Planning the release of the service: Once the majority of the development and
•
configuration work is completed, it is possible to finalize the release plans.
Creating customer collateral (flyers, emails, posters, advertisements, etc.) to build
•
awareness of the new features, and to promote their benefits Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
Change Enablement: Provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to submit a
•
Requests for Change (RFCs), assess and approve RFCs, and to schedule changes to various service components
Configuration management.
•
•
Deployment Management. Early -Life Incident Management: Agrees the duration, channels, and methods to provide Early-Life
•
Support (ELS)
•
Knowledge Management
•
Problem Management
•
Project Management.
•
Release Management
•
Service Desk
•
Supplier Management
Making new features available to customers
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
96 of Page 96 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Once all the service components have been deployed, the organization is ready to make them available to end users. While the release was planned in the previous step, it is being implemented in this step. Releases of service components can be more than technical procedures. It might be necessary to carefully coordinate technical and non-technical work, such as sales and marketing campaigns. In this step, the service serv ice components components are provided with Early Life Support (ELS) for a short period of time, before they move into a “business as usual” mode. ELS can take many forms and is dependent on the needs of the organization and its customers, with options such as:
Dedicated ELS team drawn from across the value v alue stream.
•
•
Super-users: Super-users are often drawn from the community of customers and users, and act as promoters and champions within their organizations, on community forums, social media, and other channels.
Onsite, in-person support staff: Early life support can also be implemented through the
•
use of IT staff making themselves available at customer locat locations ions (or “on “on--site”).
Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
Configuration management Incident Management
• •
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
97 of Page 97 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
Infrastructure and Platform Management
•
Problem Management
•
Project Management
•
Relationship Management
•
Release Management
•
Service Desk
•
Software Development and Management
•
Supplier Management
Once the service components have been released, customers and users can interact with them through the service relationship, thus generating the required outcomes outcomes and co-creating value. It is conceivable to extend this value stream to include additional activities after the components components have been released, for example:
Engaging with the requestor to identify any gaps in the new service, or unanticipated
•
outcomes, costs and risks that were not identified during the execution of the value stream serv ice, value stream, and contributing practices Identifying opportunities to improve the service,
•
Points to Consider
A value stream always starts with demand, and always ends with value being created or
•
restored for one or more stakeholder
A value stream can loop around and repeat value chain activities, reflecting the context
•
and the environment in which work is performed. However, a value stream can be as flexible as the organization needs it to be. For example, the organization can add in another stage during the work similar to a waterfall approach, or as iterative loops between value chain activities.
There are several factors to consider when deciding what constitutes a separate step in a
•
value stream, and what should be included within an existing step
Exercise Working in groups of 3-4 people
What are the main activities you expect to see in a value stream to create a new service?
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
98 of Page 98 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Which practices would contribute contribute to this value stream
•
2.2 Contribution of ITIL practices to a value stream for a new service
a) Service design
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
99 of Page 99 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
The purpose of the service design practice is to design products and services that are fit for purpose, fit for use, and that can be delivered by the organization and its ecosystem.
Service Design includes planning and organizing people, partners and suppliers, information, communication, technology, and practices for new or changed products and services, and the interaction between the organization and its customers. It is important that a holistic, results-driven approach to all aspects of service design is adopted, and that when changing changing or amending any of the individual elements of a service serv ice design, all other aspects are considered. It is for this reason that the coordination aspect of service design with the whole organization’s SVS is essential. es sential.
Designing a new or changed product or service should not be done in isolation, but should consider the impact it will have on:
•
other products and services
•
all relevant parties, including i ncluding customers, customers, users, and suppliers
•
the existing architectures architectures
•
the required technology
•
the service management practices practices
•
the necessary measurements and metrics.
Service design ensures that the products and services created:
•
are business- and customer-oriented, focused, and driven
•
are created for users to have a good experience
•
are cost-effective
•
meet the information and physical security requirements of the organization and any external customers
•
are flexible and adaptable, yet fit f it for purpose at the point of delivery
•
can absorb an ever-increasing demand in the volume and speed of change
•
meet increasing organizational and customer demands for continuous operation
•
are managed and operated to an acceptable level of risk.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
100 of Page 100 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Package:: Service Design document(s) defining all aspects of an IT Service Service Design Package and its Requirements through each stage of its Lifecycle. Lifecycle.
A service design package (SDP) may be produced for each new IT Service, and updated periodically, or during major changes and IT Service Retirement. Defining the SDP. There are several key considerations to define an SDP:
Design and document a service design strategy, including the agreed number of different
•
service design packages packages available.
It is important to make sure that all four dimensions of service management are covered
•
within service design packages.
Engage with the relevant stakeholders to agree the parameters for each practice by level
•
of service design package.
Develop a communications and training strategy to ensure the service design packages
•
can be embedded effectively into the process of designing and provisioning services.
Embed the process of using the service design packages into value stream relating to
•
design/transition, obtain/build, and deliver/support. deliver/ support. The Service Design contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides supplementary assessments on how the new service might be designed to meet
•
internal standards and policies around utility, warranty, brand, and other criteria, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary •
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to design the customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) when interacting with the new service, and document the same in the baseline service design package package
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
101 of Page 101 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
b) Software development and Management Software is Software is a set of instructions that tell the physical components (hardware) of a computer how to work.
Software and infrastructure are service components that are combined with other service components or resources to form products and services. Software is a crucial part of business: It can provide value to customers through technology- enabled business services. Software development becomes critical as most modern services become not software-aided, but software-enabled. Software Development is the design and construction of applications according to functional and non-functional requirements requirements and correction correction and enhancement of operational application according to changing functional and non-functional requirements. requirements.
The purpose of the software development and management practice is to ensure that applications meet internal and external stakeholder stakeholder needs, in terms of functionality, reliability,, maintainability reliability maintainability,, compliance, and an d auditability auditability..
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
102 of Page 102 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL With the rate of change modern services servi ces are experiencing, services become ever-changing. It is usual for the modern application to be modified throughout its lifecycle. This means that all the activities which used to form maintenance are now part of development process. Maintenance is the modification of the application as part of development, development, for both correction and enhancement purposes.
Quick-fixes are often preferred to proper but time-consuming changes. The high rate of change in software may lead to an accumulated amount of rework that will have to be done at some point, known as a technical debt. Technical Debt : The total rework backlog accumulated by choosing workarounds instead of system solutions that would take longer.
In case of software development and management, it’s total amount of rework needed to repair substandard substanda rd (changes to) software. SDLC model: the sequence in which the stages of the software development lifecycle are executed. The major stages are:
•
establish requirements
•
design
•
code
•
test
•
run/use the application.
There are three models of the SDLC:
Waterfall model: each stage of the development lifecycle is executed in sequence,
•
resulting in a single delivery of the whole application for use.
Incremental model: after the requirements and priorities for the whole application have
•
been established the application is developed in parts (builds).
Iterative or evolutionary model: after the requirements and priorities for the whole
•
application have been partially established, the application is developed in separate builds such as in the incremental model, but because the requirements could not be fully f ully established at the start, the design, coding, testing or the use of a build may lead to refinement of the requirements, leading to refinement of part of the application in another build.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
103 of Page 103 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Like any other ITIL management practice, software development and management contribute to multiple value streams. Remember, no value stream is made up of a single practice. Software development and management management combines with other practices to provide high-quality services servi ces to consumers. The main value chain activities to which software development and management contributes are Obtain/build; Deliver and support
Provides supplementary assessments on how software components of the new service
•
might be engineered and developed, and a nd its impact to ongoing application management activities, and will contribute to the business case assessment as necessary.
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to create and refine an initial list of
•
epics and user stories, in line li ne with the specifications in the service design package
Provides the engineering skills, tools, and other resources needed to create new
•
application features, and to integrate new systems and other software components components into the existing service
Provides IT application management resources to run the relevant software components components
•
c) Deployment management The deployment management practice practice enables the transition of products, services, and service components between the environments. Environment : A subset of the IT infrastructure that is used for a particular purpose.
List of example environments for an organization that develops software
Environment
Purpose
Development/Integra
Developing and integrating software
tion Test
Testing service components Testing releases including products, services and other configuration
Staging
items
Live/Production Live/Product ion
Delivering IT services to service consumers
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
104 of Page 104 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
The purp purpose ose of the deployment management practice is to move new or changed hardware, software, documentation, processes, or any other component to live environments. It may also be involved involved in deploying components to to other environments for testing or staging
Deployment Management provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to deploy various service components (both technical technical and non-technical) into the live environment Like any other ITIL management practice, the deployment management practice contributes to multiple value streams. It is important to remember that a value stream is never formed from a single practice. The deployment management practice combines with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
Obtain and build Design and transition
• •
The contribution of the deployment management practice to the service value chain is shown in
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
105 of Page 105 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
d) Release management
The purpose of the release management practice is to make new and changed services and features available for use.
The Release Management Practice contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
It provides the skills, tools, and other resources to create and communicate the release
•
plan, and to update maintain the plan as development and deployment activities progress
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources to finalize the Release (Launch) plan,
•
working with other groups in the organization (for example, Sales and Marketing) departments to communicate these plans to users and customers
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources to execute the Release (Launch) plan,
•
working with Sales and Marketing departments to ensure the release is successfully completed
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
106 of Page 106 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
•
plan
•
improve
•
design and transition
•
obtain/build
•
deliver and support.
e) Service Validation and testing
The purpose of the service validation and testing practice is to ensure that new or changed products and services meet defined requirements.
The service validation and testing practice includes dealing with risk and uncertainty that new or changed products and services bring and establishing and executing the appropriate tests to eliminate risk and uncertainty and overall improve the product or service. The more complex a system the greater the testing required. However, exhaustive testing of even simple systems is not typically possible given time and cost constraints. So, choosing what to test is important.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
107 of Page 107 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Based on the service validation, test strategy, and test plans are developed and executed. A test strategy defines an overall approach to testing. It can apply to an environment, a platform, a set of services, or an individual service. Testing should be performed equally on both in-house in -house developed systems and externally developed solutions. The test strategy is based on the service servi ce acceptance acceptan ce criteria and should align with the requirements of appropriate stakeholders to ensure testing matches the risk appetite and is fit for purpose. There are various types:
Assertive and exploratory (investigative) testing An Investigative Testing approach (Exploratory) (Exploratory) Continuou Continuouss Testing o Testing the Ideas o Testing the Artefacts o Testing the UX and UI Designs o Testing the Architecture and Code Designs o Testing the Code
• •
•
o
o o o o
Testing the Operational Software Testing on Different Environments Testing the Release Pipelines Testing in Production Testing the Services Beyond Production
Risk-based testing
•
Testing quality o Correctness vs Goodness o Perceived Quality o Different perspectives of quality
•
. The Service Validation and testing Management Practice contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides the technical skills, tools, and other resources needed to document test cases,
•
carry out automated and manual testing, and provide feedback and reports from testing activities
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
108 of Page 108 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The service validation and testing practice contributes contributes to multiple value streams. It is important to remember that a value stream is never formed from a single practice. The service validation and testing practice combines with other practices to provide high-quality services ser vices to consumers. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
design and transition
•
obtain/build.
•
The contribution of the service validation and testing practice to the service value chain is shown
f) Change Enablement
The change enablement practice aims to ensure that changes to services and their components are controlled and that they meet the organization’s change-related change -related needs
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
109 of Page 109 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Authorized changes should enable the desired outcomes and meet the organization’s requirements regarding change throughput (the number of changes made and the speed of change realization) and risk management. Flexibility and agility permeate this practice because they are key aspects of a modern organization. organization. The change enablement practice incorporates three premises:
Changes are planned and realized in the context of value streams. The practice is
•
integrated into value streams and ensures that changes are effective, safe, and timely in order to meet stakeholders’ expectations. expectations.
The practice does not aim to unify all the changes planned and carried out in an
•
organization into one big picture: in a digital environment, where hundreds of changes may be happening simultaneously, this is neither possible nor required.
The practice should focus on balancing effectiveness, throughput, compliance, and risk
•
control for all changes in the defined scope. Definition: Practice success factor : A complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfil its purpose. A practice success factor (PSF) is more than a task or activity; it includes components from all four dimensions of service management. The nature of the activities and resources of PSFs within a practice may differ, but together they ensure that the practice is effective. The change enablement practice includes the following PSFs:
•
ensuring that changes are realized in a timely and effective manner
•
minimizing the negative impacts of changes
•
ensuring stakeholder satisfaction with changes and change enablement
•
meeting change-related governance and compliance requirements.
The focus is:
Ensuring that changes are realized in a timely and effective manner. The focus of the
•
change enablement practice is the effectiveness and timeliness of the changes. Change effectiveness can be measured by the levels of outputs and outcomes of the change. In the context of change outputs, effective change can be described as ‘a change that successfully transforms resources from the initial state to the pre- defined target state’.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
110 of Page 110 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL However, the target state is rarely the goal of the change; the target state enables an outcome.
Minimizing the negative impact of changes. Changes are sources of disruption and risk.
•
The change enablement practice is expected to keep risks to an acceptable level.
Ensuring stakeholder satisfaction. Many stakeholders have an interest in changes. The change enablement practice ensures that stakeholders are identified and that their
• •
expectations are captured, considered, and met as appropriate. The Change Enablement Practice Practice contributes in the following f ollowing manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
It provides the skills, tools, and other resources needed to submit a Requests for Change
•
(RFCs), assess and approve RFCs, and to schedule changes to various service components The change enablement practice contributes to multiple value streams. The change enablement practice combines with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
•
obtain/build
•
design and transition
•
deliver and support
•
improve.
The contribution of the change enablement practice to the service serv ice value chain is shown in Figure
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
111 of Page 111 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
2.3 Using a value stream to provide user support
Restoration of a live service In this value stream model, we examine typical activities that organizations undertak undertake e to support an existing service. This archetype is agnostic to the nature of the service and can be used to describe a value stream to support services provided to consumers within the organization or external to the organization.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
112 of Page 112 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Typical considerations when designing this value stream include:
Identifying stakeholders, and what the creation or restoration of value means to them,
•
for example:
To a user officer o To the organization’s compliance officer o To the service owner o
Taking an outside-in approach to understanding the impact of incidents, and connecting
•
these assessments to descriptions of value for various stakeholders
Defining the scope of the value stream, and defining one value stream encompassing all
•
activities within scope to create an end-to-end, holistic vision of how support creates or restores value
Highlighting activities performed by partners and suppliers that might introduce risks or
•
dependencies to the successful creation or restoration of value
Understanding what (or how) systems should be integrated, and data shared across
•
multiple centers of activities This value stream describes seven key steps: 1. Acknowledge and register the user query 2. Investigate the query, reclassify it as an incident, and attempt to fix it
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
113 of Page 113 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 3. Get a fix from the specialist team 4. Deploy the fix 5. Verify that the incident has been resolved 6. Request feedback from the user 7. Identify opportunities to improve the overall system (that is, service, value stream, or practices) Notes:
This value stream branches at step 2 – – if if the initial attempt to fix the incident is successful,
•
then value is restored without any further activity (represented as the dash line from step 2 to Value).
The restoration of value after Step 5 could be the end of the value stream, but there are
•
further activities, described in steps 6 & 7 (asking for and processing feedback); for example, it is common for organizations to ask only a random sample of customers for feedback This value stream is triggered by a user who finds themselves unable to use a live product or service. This loss of productivity leads to “value leakage”, wherein the consumer is unable to derive maximum value from the sub-optimal product or service. Demand could also originate within the service provider, when monitoring tools proactively alert the organization to failures that may or may not have impacted users. In this scenario, the value stream might bypass Step 1 or switch the order of Steps 1 & 2. In other words: 1. The service provider might start working to resolve r esolve the incident without being promp prompted ted to do so by a user 2. If required, proactively contact users to notify them of an ongoing incident. 3. If required, follow up with users after the incident has been resolved The demand for value to be restored (or ( or “value restoration”) drives this value stream. stream. Acknowledge and register the user query The first step in the value stream, is to engage with the customer or user, to recognize and acknowledge the demand, and to record details about the query. At this stage, the user contact is still a query, as it has not yet been triaged and recognized as an incident. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
114 of Page 114 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Service Catalogue Management: Service Desk
•
•
Investigate the incident and attempt to fix it As the query is being recorded, a trained support agent, or equivalent automation can recognize and re-categorize the query as an incident, thus initiating a script or standard procedure for classifying the record accordingly (or creating a new incident record linked to the initial query – query – depending on the organization’s procedures and tools). tools). Once a user-initiated incident is registered, an attempt to quickly identify its nature and apply a known solution is usually made. Support agents often follow a script, or workflow, of activities that allows them to attempt one or more fixes. If one of these fixes recovers the service to its normal state, then value has been restored, and the value stream can end. If none of these fixes work, then the issue can be escalated to a specialist role for further investigation. investigation. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
•
Configuration Management
•
Incident Management
•
Knowledge Management
•
Monitoring and Event Management
•
Service Desk
•
Service level management
Investigation and diagnosis are often a highly technical activity, but should also pay attention to non-technical non-technic al factors, such as environmental or financial ones, for example:
The reason for the network outage is because an ongoing storm is affecting local cables
•
or satellite connectivity
The reason why a streaming service no longer works is because the customer or user’s
•
credit card was declined Get a fix from the specialist team
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
115 of Page 115 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL In this step, the incident is escalated to, or referred to, a specialist team as initial attempts to restore the service were unsuccessful. This can happen in several ways (depending on context), some of which involve passing control over to the specialist team. For example:
The support agent can look for a patch on a vendor website (this does not pass control of
•
the incident to the vendor)
The support agent raises an incident with a vendor (this does not pass control of the user’s
•
incident, but instead creates a parallel incident ticket managed by the vendor)
The support agent escalates the incident to an internal engineering team (this passes
•
control of the incident to the engineering team)
The support agent asks an outsourced engineering team to provide a fix (this may, or may
•
not, involve passing control of the incident to the engineering team) The fix can also be something readily available, such as a publicly available patch or upgrade. In some cases, the fix may be physical, such as replacing a faulty hard drive. Often, when dealing with custom applications or hardware, fixes have to be built before they can be deployed. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
•
Configuration Management
•
Incident Management
•
Infrastructure and platform management
•
Knowledge Management
•
Service Desk
•
Service financial management
•
Service validation and testing
•
Software development and management Supplier management
•
Deploy the fix Once the fix has been obtained, tested, and validated, it can be deployed to the user, or to a production environment. environment. Deployment can take many forms, for example:
Using a CI/CD pipeline to distribute the fix across a product production ion environment Delivering a hardware component (e.g. a new hard disk) to a data center, where it is
• •
subsequently provisioned
Delivering a hardware component (e.g. a new laptop) to the end user office, where it is
•
configured by local IT support staff Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
116 of Page 116 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Remotely logging on to the user’s PC to install a patch from a network drive drive
•
Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
•
Configuration Management
•
Deployment management
•
Incident Management
•
Infrastructure and platform management
•
Knowledge Management
•
Service Desk
•
Service financial management
•
Software development and management
•
Supplier management
Verify that the incident has been resolved
Once the fix has been deployed, the next step is to verify that the incident has been resolved. This step is quite similar to steps 1 and 2 earlier in the value stream, as it involves the support agent communicating communicating with, and empathizing with, the user. In this model, value can be perceived differently by the user, and the organization, for example:
The user might perceive value as a combination of the time it took to restore the service,
•
the associated loss of productivity (and the frustration from the loss of productivity), any additional issues or complications that may have arisen while waiting for service restoration, the experience of working with IT support, and the perceived reliability of the service The IT support agent might calculate value based on the experience of working with the
•
user, with specialist teams, the time taken to interact with various groups and update relevant records
The specialist team might perceive value using the experience of working with either the
•
IT support agent or the user, the complexity of creating and deploying the fix, and updating relevant records Moreover, while the incident might be resolved at a technical level, the user might need additional assistance, for example:
To know that the service has been restored res tored
•
To re-enable access and consumption of the service
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
117 of Page 117 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL To address any outstanding or additional concerns concerns that arose due to the incident
•
As a result, it is advisable to check back with the user to ensure that value has been restored satisfactorily. This helps in increasing empathy between IT support and the user, which can (in the long term) lead to increased i ncreased trust between both parties. The incident can be deemed to be resolved when the affected product or service is operating at optimal levels – levels – in in other words, when value leakage has been rectified. r ectified. Many IT support tools assign statuses to incident records to distinguish between “resolving” and “closing” an incident in the following way: way:
Resolving an incident means that the underlying technical concerns have been addressed Closing an incident means that the fix, and associated restoration of value, has been
• •
confirmed by the user Procedures to resolve or close an incident are part of the underlying design of the incident management practice and are subsequently used by the value stream. In this section, we generally refer to resolving an incident. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
•
Configuration Management
•
Incident Management
•
Knowledge Management
•
Service Desk
•
Service level management
Request feedback from the customer Many organizations ask for feedback from users after incidents have been resolved in order to identify opportunities to improve the service, the way they communicate with the users, procedures to fix the the incident, or to improve key practices. It may also be necessary to id identify entify and filter out environmental, personal, or professional factors that might bias the feedback (in either a positive or negative way), for example:
A parent worried about a sick child might be overly overl y negative when sharing feedback An IT support agent worried about upcoming layoffs might not be focused on daily work
•
•
A business development manager who has landed a big sale might be more kind and
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
118 of Page 118 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL forgiving of IT support issues Increasing empathy and trust between the user and IT support can help improve communication communication and reduce the impact of biases. Feedback can be collected in a variety of ways, but should ultimately be stored in a central location, to aid analysis and management reporting. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
•
Continual Improvement
•
Infrastructure and platform management
•
Service Desk
•
Software development and management
•
Supplier management
Identify opportunities to improve overall system Once feedback has been collected from all relevant stakeholders, it can be analysed – analysed – either either in isolation, or in conjunction with other data (e.g. historical data about the service, the service provider or service consumer organization, external constraints, etc.) – – in order to identify opportunities opportun ities to improve for f or example:
The service provider organization (or more generally, the service value system and its
•
components)
The value stream, and associated steps, actions, and tasks The relationship with the user, partners and suppliers, and other stakeholders
•
•
•
v alue The ways of defining and perceiving value
Any improvements identified should be logged in the service provider’s continual improvement register, thus creating value for the service provider organization, and components of the provider’s SVS. Once logged in the register, improvement opportunities can be prioritized against other work in the SVS. Practices that commonly contribute contribute to this step include:
Configuration Management Continual Improvement Deployment Management
• • •
Incident Management
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
119 of Page 119 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
Infrastructure and platform management
•
Knowledge Management
•
Monitoring and Event Management
•
Problem management
•
Risk Management
• •
Service Desk Service Financial Management
•
Service Validation and Testing
•
Service level management
•
Software development and management
•
Supplier management
2.4 Contribution of ITIL practices to a value stream for user support
a) Service desk
The purpose of the service desk practice is to capture demand for incident resolution and service requests. It should also be the entry point and single point of contact for the service provider for all users.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
120 of Page 120 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Practice success factor : A complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfil its purpose. purpose.
A practice success factor (PSF) is more than a task or activity, as it includes components of all four dimensions of service management. The nature of the activities and resources of PSFs within a practice may differ, but together they ensure that the practice is effective. e ffective. The service desk practice includes the following PSFs:
enabling and continually improving effective, efficient, and convenient communicat communications ions
•
between the service provider and its users
enabling the effective integration of user communications into value streams.
•
The Service Desk contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources to allow the customer or user to contact
•
service support; to enable customer support agents to empathize and manage communications with the customer or user; to retrieve and communicate information about expected resolution time
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to enable support agents to
•
empathize and manage communications with various stakeholders
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to identify opportunities to
•
improve the practice, and record them in the continual improvement register
The service desk practice combines with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities to which this practice contributes are:
engage deliver and support.
• •
The contribution of the service desk practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
121 of Page 121 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
b) Incident management
The purpose of the incident management practice is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.
The incident management practice ensures that periods of unplanned service unavailability or degradation are minimized, thus reducing negative impacts on users. There are two main factors enabling this: early incident detection and the quick restoration of normal operation.
Detecting incidents early It used to be common practice to register most incidents based on information from end users and IT specialists. This method of sourcing information is still widely used, but good practice nowadays suggests detecting and registering incidents automatically. This can be done immediately after incidents occur and before they start affecting users. This approach has the following benefits:
Earlier incident detection decreases the time of service unavailability or degradation. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
122 of Page 122 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL The higher quality of the initial data supports the correct response and resolution of
•
incidents, including automated resolution, otherwise known as self-healing. self -healing.
Some incidents remain invisible to users, improving user satisfaction and customer
•
satisfaction.
Some incidents may be resolved before they affect the service quality agreed with
•
customers, improving the perceived service and the formally reported service quality.
Costs associated with incidents may decrease.
•
Resolving incidents quickly and efficiently : This PSF is vital for the success of the incident
management practice and for general service quality. After incidents are detected they should be handled effectively and efficiently, considering the com complexity plexity of the environment:
In simple situations, such as recurring and well-known incidents, pre-defined resolution
•
procedures are likely to be effective.
In complex situations, where the exact nature of the incident is unknown but the systems
•
and components are familiar to the support teams and the organization has access to expert knowledge, incidents are usually routed to a specialist group or groups for diagnosis and resolution.
In very complex situations, where it is difficult or impossible to define an expert area and
•
group, or where defined groups of experts fail to find a solution, a collective approach may be useful. This technique is known as swarming . Incident prioritization: Incidents should be resolved as soon as possible. However, the resources
of the teams involved in incident resolution are limited and these teams are often simultaneously involved in other types of work. Some incidents should be prioritized to minimize any negative impacts on users. The Incident Management Practice contributes contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to register the incident, and the
•
information about how long it might take to resolve the incident
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to update the incident record
•
with details of activities to build and test the fix
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to update the incident record
•
with details of activities to deploy the fix
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to update (resolve or close) the
•
incident record with details of activities of the user interaction Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
123 of Page 123 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to identify opportunities to
•
improve the practice, and record them in the continual improvement register The incident management practice contributes to multiple value streams. Even when a value stream is focused on incident resolution, other practices are involved, such as service desk, monitoring and event management, service configuration management, change enablement, supplier management, infrastructure and platform management, and software development and management. The incident management practice is primarily concerned with the restoration r estoration of normal systems or service operation in various work environments. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
engage deliver and support.
• •
The contribution of the incident
management
practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure
c) Problem manageme management nt
The purpose of the pr problem oblem management practice is to reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents, and managing workarounds and known errors.
The problem management practice includes the following f ollowing PSFs (Practice success ffactor): actor): Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
124 of Page 124 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL identifying and understanding the problems and their impact on services optimizing problem resolution and mitigation.
•
•
Identifying and understanding the problems and their impact on services: Organization Organizationss should
understand the errors in their products because they may cause incidents and affect service quality and customer satisfaction. The problem management practice ensures problem identification and thus contributes to the continual improvement of products and services. This is more effective if performed proactively rather than reactively. Optimizing problem resolution and mitigation: When problems have have been identified, they should should
be handled effectively and efficiently. It is rarely possible to fix (remove) all the problems in an organization’s products, products, but identification without resolution is sig significantly nificantly less valuable for the organization and its customers. A balanced approach should be defined for problem mitigation, namely one that considers the associated costs, risks, and impacts on the service quality. The Problem Management Practice contributes contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources to investigate and mitigate possible causes
•
of the incident(s) The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
deliver and support improve.
• •
The contribution of the problem management practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
125 of Page 125 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
d) Knowledge management
The purpose of the kn knowledge owledge management practice is to maintain and improve the effective, efficient, and convenient use of information and knowledge across the organization.
Knowledge management (KM) is a way of transforming information and organizational intellectual capital into persistent value for f or an employees and ser service/products vice/products consumers. consumers. The knowledge management practice aims to provide right information to the right people at the right moment in order to build an evolutionary environment where:
•
people are eager to learn new, unlearn old, gain and share their experience and insights
•
decision-making capabilities capabilities are improved
•
change-adaptive culture exists
•
performance grows according to organizational strategy
•
data-driven and/or innovation approach is used throughout an organization
Knowledge management contributes to every part of the SVS. The practice incorporates premises:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
126 of Page 126 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Knowledge is processed and used in the context of value streams. The practice is
•
integrated into value streams and ensures that information is provided effectively and timely to meet stakeholders’ expectations expectations
The practice should focus to provide value-based information which is available, accurate,
•
reliable, relevant, complete, timing, and compliant in defined scope The Knowledge Management Practice contributes in the following manner in the support of the ITIL Service Value Chain:
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to lookup technical information
•
and workarounds workarounds that can help in the investigation, diagnosis, and fixing of the incident
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to lookup technical information
•
that can help in the investigation and diagnosis of the incident; to update existing knowledge records with information about the fix
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to update existing knowledge
•
records with information about the fix
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to update existing knowledge
•
records with information about the fix and the restoration of value
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to identify opportunities to
•
improve the practice, and record them in the continual improvement register The knowledge management practice combines with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
improve deliver and support.
• •
The contribution of the knowledge management practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
127 of Page 127 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
e) Service level management
The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business based targets for service levels, and to ensure that th at delivery of services is properly p roperly assessed, monitored, and
The service level management practice helps to set and manage a shared view of the quality of services between the service provider and the service consumer, aimed at all key stakeholders on both sides. This shared view is usually described in an agreement document, which may be written in various levels l evels of formality. This applies to both the expected and actual service quality, from initial contact to the present, and covers service offerings and proposed value throughout the entirety of the service relationship. The service level management practice also includes monitoring and evaluation of the actual service quality and continual improvement of the services and agreements
The service level management practic practice e includes the following PSFs (Practice (Pr actice Success Factor): Factor):
establishing a shared view of target service levels lev els with custom customers ers
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
128 of Page 128 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL overseeing how the organization meets the defined service levels through the collection, collection,
•
analysis, storage, and reporting of the relevant metrics for the identified i dentified services
performing service reviews to ensure that the current set of services continues to meet
•
the needs of the organization and its customers
capturing and reporting on improvement opportunities, including performance against
•
defined service levels and stakeholder satisfaction. Like any other ITIL management practice, the service level management practice contributes to multiple value streams. It is important to remember that a value stream is never formed from a single practice. The service level management practi practice ce combines with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
plan engage improve.
• • •
The contribution of the service level management practice to the service value chain is shown in below:
Provides information to assess impact of the incident and to plan restoration Provides information to assess sufficiency of the restored/achieved service level and
•
•
timeliness of the restoration
Provides information, tools and skills to register and assess service improvement
•
initiatives
The main value chain activities to which the practice contributes are:
plan engage improve.
• • •
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
129 of Page 129 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
The contribution of the service level management practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure
f) Monitoring and event management
The purpose of theisMonitoring and Event Management (monitoring and event and management) practice to systematically observe services and service components, record and report selected changes of state identified as events.
This practice identifies and prioritizes infrastructure, services, business processes, and information security events, and establishes the appropriate response to those events, ev ents, including responding to conditions that could lead to potential faults or incidents. Some definitions are important: Monitoring: It Monitoring: It is the repeated observation of a system, practice, process, service, or
•
other entity to detect events and to ensure that the current status is known. Metric:: A measurement or calculation that is monitored or re Metric reported ported for management
•
and improvement. Threshold:: is a value that falls outside acceptable Threshold acceptable ranges. It can also be called an
•
“alerting parameter”, because an alert notification will result from the parameter being exceeded.
Alert: A notification that a threshold has been reached, something has changed, or a
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
130 of Page 130 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL failure has occurred. occurred.
Event Event:: Any change of state that has significance for the management of a service serv ice or
•
other configuration item (CI). The contribution of the Monitoring and event management practice to the service value chain is shown in below:
Provides access to monitoring tools and logs to assist in i n the investigation and diagnosis
•
of the incident
Provides the skills, tools, and other resources necessary to identify opportunities opportunities to
•
improve the practice, and record them in the continual improvement register
3 Creating, Delivering & Supporting Services
In this chapter we would look at increasing efficiency for delivery of services to meet varying demand for services. This often creates imbalances which creates queues. Queues occur wherever the demand for work exceeds the capacity to complete it within the expected timeframe. In an ideal situation, an organization would have no variation in demand and would have the appropriate quality and quantity of resources needed to satisfy it. Queues or backlogs in which work items need to be prioritized. Prioritization is an activity commonly associated with support and software development work (e.g. prioritizing incident records or prioritizing a sprint backlog), but its use is universal
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
131 of Page 131 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
3.1 Coordinating and prioritizing activities
a) Managing queues and backlogs A workflow is a defined sequence of processes and tasks which convert material, provide services, or process information. It is important to manage the flow of work to ensure that there is no pile up of work, and limited slack time. This pile up of work is usually called a queue. Queues occur whenever the demand for work exceeds the capacity to complete it. backlog is A Queue can be defined as a list of jobs waiting to be processed while a backlog is a buildup of work that needs to be completed.
Points to note:
Work waiting in queues is an interruption i nterruption to flow. Dynamic reallocation of resources can help to mitigate queue effects eff ects
•
•
In services this is important since the demand can be unpredictable, we need to have slack time to deal with variation caused by when the work is required to be done. This is so as we cannot
always add people to deal with occasional peak loads. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
132 of Page 132 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL At a high level, if demand is created when idle capacity exists, then there is no need for prioritization of work, and that work to fulfill demand can start immediately. However, when demand exceeds capacity, organizations often manage demand and minimize queues to avoid the need to prioritize work, through:
Reducing variation in demand for value, for example by: o Using pricing mechanisms based on volume of work (for example, the first f irst 10 requests
•
are charged at a different rate than the next 10)
Using pricing mechanisms based on when demand occurs (for example, a rrestaurant estaurant
o
offers a discount on weeknight service)
Using pricing mechanisms based on quality (for example, a business class plane ticket
o
costs three times as much as an economy class plane ticket) t icket)
Altering customer expectations around time to complete work (for example, requests
o
made after 11am will be completed the next working day
Reducing variation in how much demand is taken into a value stream or step, for example: o Employees can submit one request per quarter to change their benefits Increasing how much demand can be satisfied within a given gi ven period of time, for example: o Using automation to speed up processing of “toil” (that is, common and repetitive
•
•
tasks that scale in a linear fashion)
Increasing the size of teams, or the number of teams, so that more work can be done
o
in parallel
Reducing the cost of increasing or decreasing capacity, for example: o Using elastic cloud platforms to quickly increase or decrease available computing
•
power
Outsourcing staffing needs to professional services organizations
o
Using Shift-left techniques to deflect demand, or prevent demand from being created, for
•
example:
Using of a self-service knowledge base that enables users to troubleshoot common
o
issues without the need for specialist skills
Using automated testing integrated with development tools to reduce demand for
o
seperate testing and validation resources prior to deployment “Shift Left is a practice intended to find and prevent defects early in the software delivery
process. The idea is is to improve quality quality by moving ttasks asks to the left as early in the lifecycle as possible. Shift Left Left means shifting closer to source”
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
133 of Page 133 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Note: The above list highlights commonly used methods of managing demand, and depending on context and complexity, other methods might be more appropriate.
Knowledge management: implementation of an effective ef fective process of capturing resolution
•
information and disseminating to agents as they need it can have a significant reducing effect on the build-up of queues of unresolved work, by reducing the amount of repetitive investigative work. X
Automation: primarily the removal of manual, repetitive “toil” which arbitrarily delays
•
service interactions, and which could potentially be handled by machines
Self-service: limiting work coming in to the queues in the first place by enabling users to
•
serve themselves without waiting for service from a provider. Self-service tools are also a useful means to provide customers with a way to check their current progress through the queueing system, potentially reducing chase-up calls and increasing satisfaction.
Managed flow: for example, by providing fixed f ixed time windows to each customer in which
•
they can introduce their issue.
Provision of alternatives: offering users a different choice, such as incentives to defer
•
entry into the queuing system until a later time.
“Congestion charging”: providing disincentives to entering queuing systems at peak
•
times, to discourage the build-up of non-urgent work in already crowded queues.
Queue management: use of a human or automated queue manager to adjust,
•
continuously or at critical times, the allocation of people and resources to the optimal configuration for the current queue situation.
b) Prioritizing work Prioritization of work to create, deliver, and support services is necessary to co-create value while minimizing costs and risks that arise from unfulfilled demand and from idle capacity. In other words, prioritization is a technique te chnique within an organization’s risk management practice. All work needs to be prioritised because we never have sufficient resources to manage everything immediately and perfectly. Prioritizing work is not just for incident but also applies to requests, defects, development requests, projects, improvement opportunities etc. Prioritization of work can take place at different levels lev els of granularity, with different implications on the wider system, and with different levels of impact on user or customer experience:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
134 of Page 134 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Prioritization conducted at a value stream level increases a need to manage user or
•
customer expectations, expectations, to keep them engaged, and to provide regular status updates, as from their perspective, value realization is being delayed
Prioritization conducted at a value stream step, action, or task level can result in the
•
constraining flow of work to the point that resources used later in the value stream remain idle or create a buildup of work (in a queue or a backlog) earlier in the value stream. This This phenomenon is commonly referred to as “creating a bottleneck” or “creating a constraint” constraint” As much as possible, prioritization should be data driven, rather than emotionally driven, and should consider all available information. There are many different techniques to prioritize work, and thereby minimizing queues and wait times. These techniques can be broadly categorized as follows: Techniques based on resource availability or quality: Prioritization can consider the availability of resources to complete the work. For example, if an infrastructure support team has one networking specialist who is assigned all network support cases, then the team can prioritize nonnetwork related cases while the network specialist is occupied. Prioritization can also consider current workload on resources in environments using shared resources, when there are no differences in quality between resources or variations in size of work item. For example, support center automation might assign incoming calls or chats to idle support agents, or to agents with less workload.
Techniques based on on time factors: Prioritization can consider consider the age of work items, for
•
example: o First-in, first-out: the next oldest waiting item is dealt with
Last-in, first-out: the newest waiting item is dealt with
o
Alternatively, prioritization can consider the time required to complete work items, for
•
example:
Shortest item first: the item that can be completed the quickest is dealt with next o Longest item first: the item that requires the most time to complete is dealt with next
o
Techniques based on economic or financial factors: Prioritization can consider the
•
monetary benefits or dis-benefits of work items. For example, an organization that has the ability to process just work item; is likely to prioritize the item that has the highest
economic benefit (for example, the feature that earns most revenue, the incident that Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
135 of Page 135 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL has highest financial impact, the project that has the highest return on investment, and so on).
Alternatively, prioritization can consider order items based on economic penalty (the
•
compliance feature that reduces a regulatory fine, the support ticket that might breach SLA, and so on)
Techniques based on source or type of demand: Priority can be ggiven iven to sources that are
•
entitled to more immediate attention, for example, a request from the CIO of an organization might be prioritized over a similar request from a sales clerk. It is common to see organizations create (and price) levels of entitlement, for example, many technology vendors and support service providers typically create contracts where “Silver” tier customers are prioritized over “Bronze” tier customers. customers.
It is also common to find more than one prioritization technique working in tandem. For
•
example: considers the economic impact impact or penalty In the Cost of Delay method, prioritization considers
o
over time.
In the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF), prioritization considers the Cost of Delay
o
AND duration of work.
Triage is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments treatments based on the severity of their condition
The triage concept was originated in a military medical context, effective triage saves lives by helping emergency medical personnel rapidly assess wound or illness severity and establish the right protocols, in the right order, to reduce disturbance and maintain patient health and, time later, recovery; all of this during crisis, when every second counts, and is now widely used in information technology (IT) and business environments. In digital services world, organisations constantly constantly triage requests and issues to decide which ones are most urgent. High-priority requests/issues are dealt with as they occur, and mid-priority issues are taking care when there are no High-priority issues remaining. If there are no mid-priority requests/issues unresolved, low-priority requests/issues may be addressed. However, that time might never come, causing the lowest priority requests may never be dealt with unless escalated and re-examined. In agile software development (ASD), requests
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
136 of Page 136 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL are usually triaged at the start of each iteration. Because an iteration is a short development cycle, it's vital to deal with high-priority requirements quickly to finish on time. Queues and Customer Experience Queues have a bearing on Customer Experience. To avoid negative customer experience, we can:
•
Mitigate this with reliable status updates
•
Keep users engaged in the situation
•
Request updates from users to create a sense of activity and involvement
•
Set expectations of when users will be updated and then meet these
Customers may be more willing to endure waiting times in queues if they are kept informed and involved with the situation, for example, through detailed status updates or even requesting customer inputs before the work has actually been commenced, to create a sense of activity and involvement. However, it is important to remember that customers who are led to expect an outcome by a stated times (such as an expected time of resolution, or a scheduled follow-up or appointment) will typically be relatively content to wait until that time arrives. From that moment onwards, any delay, even small, will tend to impact satisfaction in a significant way.
Swarming is a method of managing work in which many different specialist resources or stakeholders begin working on a work item until it becomes clear which one of them is the best placed to continue and which can move on to other work items.
Swarming, in the context of customer support, is generally positioned as an alternative operational method to a formally organised system of tiered support groups. Some of the arguments against the structure and in favour of swarming include:
Tiered Support creates multiple queues. While Level 1 support tends to be reactive and
•
real time, any case that cannot be resolved at this level, le vel, and is hence assigned to another team, typically in a different team, immediately enters a queue. Its nature changes, turning it from a current activity into a backlog item. This is a particularly problematic concept in lean-derived practices such as DevOps, in which accumulated work-in-progress is seen as something to be actively reduced. reduced.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
137 of Page 137 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Tiered Support may delay access to the correct resolver . If a ticket has to progress
•
through several triage queues on the way to the appropriate expert, then structural delays have been introduced. introduced.
Tiered Support may be prone to ticket “bouncing” and multiple reassignments. The first
•
time a new assignee sees the case ticket is when it arrives in their queue. However, the team who assigned it to them is likely to have less relevant re levant expertise to address the issue (hence the reassignment), and may not have provided sufficient qualified information for the new assignee to act. Or, they may have selected the wrong team for the assignment. In each case, the resolution in a tiered structure is likely lik ely to be another assignment, either onwards or back to the previous assignee. This can result in multiple reassignments of a ticket. ticket.
Tiered Support can cause individuals to be overwhelmed
•
While one positive outcome of multi-tiered support is the prevention of easily-solved tickets finding their way to teams overqualified to work on them, it does not protect key specialists from high volumes of difficult cases. Swarming is intended to address these perceived shortfalls by bringing a much more dynamic, flexible and collaborative approach, characterised by: •
Dynamic cross-functional collaboration, bringing different skills together into combined teams.
•
Flexible team organization, rather than rigid, rig id, hierarchical structures.
•
Reactive or deterministic initiation of swarms according to context and need.
•
Individual and group autonomy, rather than dogmatic process
•
A focus on the avoidance of build-up of backlogged Work in i n Progress.
•
Cross-pollination of skills and experience.
Initiating and organizing swarming
While the term “Swarming” encompasses a range of behaviours, the most ITIL -relevant and definitive encapsulation of the concept is the Consortium for Service Innovation’s definition of
“Intelligent Swarming”. This framework defines attributes of a successf ul successf ul swarming adoption in Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
138 of Page 138 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL terms of organizations functioning with one collaborative team, without tiers of supports or escalations (although some of its specific characteristics, such as the person taking the request owning it until it is resolved, may or may not be suitable for each swarming context. Also, many organizations retain some characteristics of the tiered approach, such as specialist escalation teams, while using swarming to reduce negative behaviours within that system such as multiple reassignment). Because of the self-organizing nature of swarming, there is no definitive structure. However, some examples from real organizations include:
Dispatch swarms, which meet frequently through each day to review the incoming feed
•
of tickets, and cherry-pick quick solutions, while also validating the correct information is present on any support record which requires onward assignment.
Backlog swarms, which are convened on a flexible or periodic basis by product or service
•
specialists who need input from members of other specialist groups, which might otherwise result in a ticket being reassigned between them.
Drop-in swarms, in which experts are made available continuously in support of front-line
•
service personnel.
Dispatch Swarming is a process of opportunistically dealing with items which can be resolved immediately, immediately, prior to them fully entering the queuing system.
Dispatch Swarming Swarming does not preclude preclude some items of work enterin entering g a more formally managed managed queuing system, and in fact may enhance the operation of the queueing system by preventing the accumulation of trivial but queue-extending tasks. Swarming is also a useful tool to avoid a particularly negative scenario, in which a piece of work moves repeatedly between different technical specialist teams. This silo-to-silo motion results in the ticket entering multiple workstreams sequentially, and hence its impact on the flow (and potentially its contribution to queue accumulation) accumulation) is multiplied. In these cases, it is often better to use a Swarming technique to bring together a cross functional group to collaborate on the work item. Challenges with swarming
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
139 of Page 139 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL There may be a perceived increase in “per record” cost - because 2nd and 3rd tier staff,
•
with a higher cost per unit of time, may be seen to be getting involved in more cases, sooner.
It can be difficult to evaluate individual contributions – – which can make pre-existing
•
monitoring and reporting obsolete.
•
Dominant individuals - as with any human human interaction, certain individuals individuals may overwhelm others in the conversation.
Finding the right people for a swarm is difficult – – a a challenge explored in detail in the
•
“Intelligent Swarming” blueprint published by the Consortium for Service Innovation. Swarming only works with significant executive support. It requires the loosening l oosening of rules which are often entrenched in practices, metrics and incentives. It requires managers to step away from a cybernetic, process driven model, in which they pull the levers, to enable a more adaptive culture of self-reliance amongst their staff.
3.2 Value of the service value system
a) Buy vs build considerations Organizations are often faced with the decision of building software or services inhouse or procuring from external sources. The decision is further complicated with the enormous amounts of packaged point solutions and open source codes means that there are multiple options for just about every component component of a software project. So do you build the source code inhouse or buy an off-the shelf solution?
The decision can be seen from the risk, cost and problem statement perspective. How any organization views this decision can be viewed from their circumstances. A successful start-up CTO put it very succinctly: succinctly:
If am doing something the same way as everyone else is, and it is available for purchase, I buy it, because that means it is not core value that I am providing. It may be a core process that I need Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
140 of Page 140 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL to have in order to be in business, but that does not mean it is core technology, and in fact I am better off using a product that was purpose built and is maintained by people for whom it is core.’ core.’ To understand the considerations, considerations, it is important to recognize biases or pressures that arise from:
•
familiarity with a prior version of a tool, or with the tool v vendor’s endor’s products products and services services
•
aggressive sales tactics by the vendor
•
a strong desire to work with new tools or skills simply because they are new
•
prior experience in using the product and service without recognizing the difference in context
pressures to reduce cost, often at the expense of quality.
•
Building service components using existing resources works w orks better in contexts where:
the service component heavily relies on knowledge of the organization and its business products, services, or experience is high customer demand for personalized products, the ecosystem is volatile or subject to rapid change; for example, when customers face
• •
•
little or no cost to switch between competitors, the provider’s business model is rapidly changing, or the use of products or services is evolving
service components lack mass-market adoption compliance to standards and policies is a high priority the service provider is undergoing rapid growth, organically or through acquisitions, or
•
•
•
transformations,, which can lead to transformations t o inconsistent or frequently changing requirements. Buying (or otherwise acquiring) service components components from part partners ners and suppliers works well when:
in-house resources are scarce or highly utilized in other areas the skills or competencies needed to create, operate, and maintain the component are
•
•
highly specialized and would take time to build; for example, most organizations do not manufacture manufactu re their own computing equipment
the processes to build products and services are immature and need to be developed
•
and implemented
components or services are highly commoditized
•
•
the demand for service components is low or subject to significant fluctuation; for
example, seasonal demand or demand triggered by rare events
the service component is not core to the strategy, brand brand,, or competitive differentiation
•
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
141 of Page 141 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL of the service provider
creating the service component is predictable and repetitive work the ecosystem is stable and generally not subject to volatility.
• •
Commodification Commodification Commodifica tion is the transformation of goods, services, ideas and people into commodities or objects of trade. This means that any good or service loses its unique brand-value or value and is reduced to any tradeable object based on price. This enables easy availability of services or goods. The rapid development of technologies and adoptions seen over the last few years has followed this pattern. Just consider the following:
As the use of data centres became more prevalent and as computing power increased,
•
virtualization tools emerged to manage virtual infrastructure.
As the cost of computing and storage fell and as virtualization tools matured, cloud
•
computing models (infrastructure-as-a-service) emerged.
As cloud computing models matured, other cloud-enabled platforms emerged, such as
•
platforms-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, and most recently, functions-as-a-service. Take any example like cab sharing, food delivery, financial services apps and services. The rapid speed of commodification forces reduction in profit margins as there is rapid entry of competition, able to use technology components to deploy rapidly their own competing services. This means that when considering whether to build or buy a service component, component, the current level of ‘commodification’ and ongoing industry trends to commodify that component should be considered. Defining requirements for service components When defining requirements, an organization should reflect the needs of all relevant stakeholders. As a result, requirements for service components should cover a broad range of topics and should not be limited to the functional needs that are articulated by users. Requirements that other stakeholders might address include topics such as:
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
142 of Page 142 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
•
maintainability and supportability of the component
•
geographic location of vendor resources
•
cultural alignment between the organization and the vendor
•
cost of service consumption, such as skills needed in-house, and financial outflow over time18
•
architecture alignment with the organization’s business, technical, and information architecture vendor brand and public image interchangeability of vendors.
• •
A common approach to defining requirements is to focus on the technical (functional and nonfunctional) features of a product or the technical quality of a service. It is sometimes better to define requirements using outcomes instead. For example:
A technical requirement to ‘use email’ might be described as an outcome requirement as
•
‘communicate with users’. users’.
A technical requirement to ‘check-out ‘check -out and check-in check-in code’ might be described as an
•
outcome requirement as ‘version control code’. code’. A key challenge when defining requirements for service components components is determining which features are essential and which are merely beneficial. For example:
When defining requirements for an incident management tool, an organization might
•
consider integration with the corporate email system to be essential and integration with SMS or text messaging systems to be beneficial.
When defining requirements for a code repository tool, the requirement to ‘check out’
•
and ‘check in’ code might be deemed essential, and the ability to send notifications when a code has been changed might be deemed beneficial. The MoSCoW method is a simple prioritization technique for managing requirements. It allows stakeholders to explicitly agree on the different priorities. The method covers the requirements that will not be delivered. This is useful, lists are commonly overpopulated with unnecessary requirements, such as reports that nobody will need. These requirements increase cost without adding value. The MoSCoW acronym stands for:
Must: The mandatory requirement covering the most important needs.
•
•
Should: The The requirements that should be included if possible. Should:
Could: The requirements that could be included if they do not affect the should or must Could:
•
requirements. Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
143 of Page 143 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Won’t: Requirements Won’t: Requirements that will not be included this time but may be included in a future
•
release. The MoSCoW technique relies on cooperation, and often negotiation, between all relevant stakeholders. As a result, defining and prioritizing requirements is often a complex and emotionally-charged exercise.
b) Sourcing options Sourcing is essentially the process of identifying and assessing potential suppliers or partners and then selecting and engaging with an appropriate supplier who offers the best value for products or services. Sourcing as a strategy enables an organization to acquire products or services which it requires to satisfy customer needs. A sourcing model is a component of an overall sourcing strategy. It describes topics such as:
the conditions under which the organization will source service components or a specific
•
type of component
the roles and responsibilities of the vendor v endor the degree of oversight that the organization requires over the vendor resources vendor assessment criteria, such as o service levels, warranties, and guarantees o geographic coverage o time to deliver. general management policies, such as: o payment terms o use of preferred suppliers and an exception management process
•
• •
•
use of RFI, RFQ, or RFP techniques o standard terms & conditions when engaging with vendors. o
financial management policies, such as: o capitalization payments made for service components components acceptable le price ranges or pricing models o acceptab o tax reporting.
•
There may be many sourcing models in an organization which reflect factors such as:
•
line of business
budget accountability type of service component component (that is, there may be a model to source so urce contractors, another another
• •
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
144 of Page 144 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL to source computing equipment, another another to source infrastructure, and so on)
reporting, auditing, and compliance requirements.
•
Common sourcing models include:
1. Insourcing: Insourcing: Where the organization’s existing resources are leveraged to create, deliver, and support service components. Outsourcing: Where 2. Outsourcing: Where the organization transfers the responsibility for the delivery of specific outputs, outcomes, outcomes, functions, or entire products or services to a vendor; for example:
A local data centre vendor is used to provide computing and storage resources. A recruitment agency is used to source candidates for open roles or find contractors contractors
• •
Outsourcing models can be further subdivided based on where vendors or their resources are located. This categorization might not apply when describing many technology vendors or providers of cloud computing services (infrastructure-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, etc.) because the physical location of vendor resources is not always publicized. There are three categories of vendor location:
Onshoring: Onshoring : Vendors are in the same country. Nearshoring Nearshoring:: Vendors are located a different country or continent, but there is a minimal
•
•
difference in time zone; for example, a UK-based organization using a vendor in the European Union. Offshoring: Vendors Vendors are located in a different country or continent, often several time Offshoring:
•
zones away from the organization; for example, a US-based organization using a vendor in India. When outsourcing work, organizational organizational resources that remain after work has been sh shifted ifted to the vendor is referred to as the ‘retained organization’. organization’.
c) Service integration and management (SIAM) Service integration and management refers to an approach whereby organizations manage and integrate multiple suppliers in a value stream: a new challenge for outsourced services and suppliers where the end-to-end ownership and coordina coordination tion of various third-party suppliers are
managed by a single entity.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
145 of Page 145 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Service integration and management can be delivered using different models, although the basic concept, that the delivery of outsourced products and services is managed by a single entity, regardless of the number of vendors, remains the same. Service integration and management models There are four main models in this area; organizations must consider which is the best model for them in order to transition to a more coordinated service-supplier service -supplier landscape.
Retained organization as service integration
and
management
Where the retained organization manages
all
vendors
and
coordinates the service integration and management function itself.
Single supplier Where the vendor provides all services as well as the service
integration
and
management function.
Service guardian Where a vendor provides the service integration and management function and one or more delivery functions in addition vendors.
to
managing
other
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
146 of Page 146 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL Separate service integrator Where a vendor
provides
integration
and
the
service
management
function and manages all the other suppliers, even though the vendor does not deliver any services to the organization.
Service integration and management is becoming increasingly important. i mportant. This is due to a variety of factors, including:
Vendors increasingly specialize in niche areas, which has led to an increased number of
•
vendors working with a single typical organization.
The commodification of some types of service components means that vendors can be
•
regularly replaced by other vendors to leverage better pricing or service experience.
The increasing complexity of technology products and services means using multiple
•
vendors to support the organization. If an organization chooses to use a service integration and management approach, it should champion the approach as a strategic imperative and look to tender service integration and management contracts separately from individual vendor contracts. A clear organizational structure, with an appropriate governance and management model, is also required to implement this approach. Service integration and management considerations Some important aspects of a service integration and management approach to consider are:
whether the organization is mature and capable enough to run or work in a service
•
integration and management model
which metrics are appropriate to measure and incentivize: o quality of service delivery c ollaboration across multiple o quality of outcomes that require coordination and collaboration
•
vendors
transparency, coordination, and collaboration between vendors and the service
o
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
147 of Page 147 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL integration and management function.
how the use of multiple vendors changes the design and measurement of service level
•
agreements
how service level agreements will influence i nfluence behaviours amon amongst gst different vendors how vendors will be incentivized (or penalized) to align with organizational outcomes
•
•
•
which vendor selection criteria are appropriate in this approach? whether services will be delivered by a single supplier or require collaboration between
•
vendors
how service management practices will change as a result of service integration and
•
management; some of the more-impacted more-i mpacted practices include:
o o o o o o
knowledge management incident management service desk problem management change management service request management
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
148 of Page 148 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Glossary of Terms
TERM
Details Highly-advanced automation automation that demonstrates de monstrates capabilities of
Artificial
general reasoning, learning, and human-like intelligence; a branch of computer science and engineering focused on
intelligence
simulating intelligent behaviour in computer systems The use of very large volumes of structured and unstructured
Big data
data from a variety of sources to gain new insights The justification for an organizational activity (such as a project),
Business
which typically details timescales, costs, benefits and risks, and
case
against which continuing continuing viability is periodically tested An integrated set of techniques and tools used to merge developers' code, build and test the resulting software, and
CI/CD
package it so that it is ready r eady for deployment The process through which a person works with others to create or achieve a common goal or product. From a business perspective, collaboration is a practice where individuals work
Collaboration
together to achieve a common, common, shared goal/objective
Cooperation
Working with others to achieve shared goals/objectives The complete end-to-end experience that service servi ce consumers have with one or more service providers and/or their products
Customer
through the touchpoints and service interactions with these
journey
service providers Information that has been translated into a form that is efficient
Data
for movement or processing
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
149 of Page 149 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A branch of data science focused on analysing raw data in order Data
to make conclusions about that information using highly
analytics
automated techniques
Design
The cognitive and practical processes by which design concepts,
thinking
experiences, processes, and systems are developed A period of time associated with the release of service components to users and/or with onboarding, when additional components resources are allocated to user support and service operations.
Early life
Early life support can also be applied to the onboarding or
support
offboarding of users from a service The construct of information, related to the taxonomy and
Information
relationships of data to other data, required to present and share
model
content in a meaningful and representative way
ITIL service
An operating model for service providers that covers all the key
value chain
activities required to effectively manage products and services.
ITIL service value chain
Archetypal steps that an organization takes in the creation of
activity
value, as described in the ITIL service value chain Metrics that report what has already been achieved. Lagging
Lagging
indicators appear appear in SLA reports and may be used to report
indicator
historical trends An applied form of AI based on the principle of systems
Machine
responding to data, adapting their actions and outputs as they
learning
are continually exposed to more of it A technique of providing users with the minimum set of
Minimum
capabilities to enable rapid assessment and learning. Minimum
viable approach
viable approaches can be applied to products, services, servi ces, practices, processes, and process outputs A role responsible for defining user stories and acceptance acceptance criteria, prioritizing user stories in a backlog, clarifying
Product
requirements and answering questions from the development
owner
team, and assisting with demonstrations to customers A role is a set of responsibilities, activities, and authorizations
Role
granted to a person or team in a specific context
Servant
Leadership that is focused on the explicit support of people in
leadership
their roles A common and effective way of managing a complex ecosystem
Service
with multiple partners and suppliers, where a separate function
integration
of a service integrator is established Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
150 of Page 150 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL and management One or more metrics that define expected or achieved service servi ce Service level
quality
Service
The totality of a service’s characteristics characteristics that are relevant to its
quality
ability to satisfy stated and implied needs An approach to managing work that focuses on moving activities closer to the source of the work in order to avoid potentially expensive delays or escalations. In a software development context, shift-left might be characterised characterised by moving testing
Shift-Left
activities closer to (or integrated with) development activities. In
approach
a support context, shift-left might be characterized by providing self-help tools to end-users
Technical
The implied cost of additional work (or rework) caused by
debt
omitting one or more tasks in order to expedite completion
User
The sum of functional and emotional interactions with a service
experience
and service provider as perceived by a service user A technique in Agile software development that uses natural language to describe desired outcomes and benefits from the
User stories
point of view of a specific persona (typically the end user) A series of steps an organization und undertakes ertakes to create and deliver
Value stream
products and services to consumers A Lean management technique technique to visualize the steps step s needed to
Value stream
convert demand into value, used to identify opportunities to
mapping
improve
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
151 of Page 151 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Sample Test One The ITIL® 4 Create, Deliver and Support Examinatio Examination n Sample Paper 1 Question Booklet Multiple Choice Examination Examinatio n Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes Instructions 1. You should attempt all 40 questions. Each question is worth one mark. 2. There is only one correct answer per question. 3. You need to answer 28 questions correctly to pass the exam. 4. Mark your answers on the answer sheet provided. Use a pencil (NOT pen). 5. You have 1 hour and 30 minutes mi nutes to complete this exam. 6. This is a ‘closed book’ exam. No material other than the exam paper is allowed.
ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2019. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
152 of Page 152 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
1. An organization is designing a value stream to provide user support. People from several internal and external teams, who will potentially be involved in the value stream, are discussing its design. The discussion highlighted different opinions on the design of the value stream. Which statement about about the design of the value stream is MOST CORRECT? A. If an external team is involved in support workflow, the organization should define a separate value stream for that team’s work work B. Each internal or external team involved in support workflow should have its own separate value stream for their team’s work work C. A value stream can include steps performed by different internal and external teams D. A value stream can only include steps performed by different internal teams; external teams cannot be involved in an organization’s value stream stream 2. Which is the BEST example of team collaboration? A. Working with others to achieve individual goals B. Implementing technology to facilitate communication between team members C. Working together to achieve a shared organizational objective D. Aligning the goals and KPIs of all individuals and groups 3. An organization performs many activities related to reactive problem identification. It wants to put more emphasis on proactive problem identification. Which is an example of an activity that the organization should focus on? A. Holding discussions with a software development partner about an ongoing error in a critical application B. Examining real-time performance data to understand the locations of bottlenecks causing capacity-related incidents C. Examining relationships relationships between service components to determine the cause of a group of incidents which seem to be related D. Holding discussions with a hardware supplier to understand the product errors in the next
upgrade Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
153 of Page 153 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 4. An organization is experiencing delays to incident resolutions because there is a lack of clarity about escalation paths among support teams. These delays sometimes cause the organization to lose a lot of money. The organization has decided to investigate the activities involved in incident resolution, and to produce a flow of activities which are connected from the time a disruption occurs until a resolution has been identified. Which concept is this an example of? A. Organizational structure B. Collaboration C. A Value stream D. Workforce planning 5. Which concept refers to the management of IT delivery and value chains by a single entity that coordinates the various suppliers? A. Integration and data sharing B. Service integration and management C. CI/CD
D. Organizational structure 6. An organization has noticed that the number of changes which have failed has increased during the last few months. The feedback fee dback from many of the rev reviews iews of these changes shows that some of the relevant stakeholders were not consulted at any time during the development cycle, during which there have been some formal advisory meetings. Which approach approach would BEST help to improve this situation? A. Establish a change advisory board and have weekly meetings to ensure that all the stakeholders have the opportunity to contribute to discussions about about all the changes B. Define the stakeholder roles required to be involved in the different types of change, and review opportunities to invest in automation to reduce the dependency on formal meetings C. Publish a calendar of potential changes and allow all possible stakeholders to access the calendar, so they can decide whether they need to provide input D. Classify all future changes, except emergency changes, as ‘standard’ pre-approved pre -approved changes, so that they can be quickly processed 7. An organization prioritizes incidents as high, medium or low so that it can decide the order of resolving incidents. The organization always resolves high-priority and medium-priority incidents before low-priority incidents, which sometimes means that low-priority incidents are never resolved. The organization has received complaints from users with low-priority
are never resolved. The organization has received complaints from users with low priority incidents because of the long resolution times. Which is the BEST approach for the Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
154 of Page 154 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL organization to take to resolve this situation? A. Close the low-priority incidents for which complaints have been received, and open complaints records instead B. Create a separate backlog for each priority, to reduce the complexity of the incidents assignment and processing
C. Create problem records for the low-priority incidents which have been open for a long time, to ensure they are escalated to the correct teams D. Periodically examine the outstanding low-priority incidents and escalate incidents i ncidents where necessary 8. An organization's application development team has too much development work for them to complete. In addition to this, the team members are also frequently asked to help hel p resolve incidents and assist operations teams by explaining elements of an application's performance. Which concept would help to overcome the challenge of interruptions to the application development team's work? A. Managing work as tickets B. Build vs buy considerations
C. Service integration and management D. Workforce planning and management 9. An organization wants to introduce a new service. There T here are many teams that will contribute to the design, development and transition of the service. Which approach should the organization follow when creating a value stream for this new service? A. Create separate value streams for every project phase, to ensure that each milestone is achieved in an agile way B. Create one value stream for the entire project, to enable an end-to-end, holistic vision of the service C. Create one value stream for each team, to allow the teams to focus on their different objectives D. Create separate value streams for practices, people, tools and suppliers, to ensure that the 'four dimensions' are considered equally 10. An organization has set up an 'ideas' page on an internal website and is encouraging its employees to experiment with different working methods when they experience issues that prevent the achievement of outcomes. Which concept is involved in these changes? A. Integration and data sharing B. Advanced analytics
C. Team culture D. The culture of continual improvement Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
155 of Page 155 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL 11. An organization has allocated budget to an initiative to improve the productivity of staff by providing a new mobile application. There are no existing designs, but there is a long list of desired features which has recently been collected from a broad survey of the staff. It will not be possible to deliver all of the requests in a suitable timeframe. Which approach would be BEST aligned to to the 'design thinking' methodology at this initial ‘empathy’ stage? stage? A. Host a workshop with a small group of the most experienced members of staff to prioritize the desired features B. Identify a minimum viable product and build a prototype, then trial it with a small group of staff members C. Visit and observe a varied selection of staff members to understand their concerns and issues D. Survey the entire group of staff members and ask them to prioritize the desired features 12. When verifying that an incident has been resolved, r esolved, whic which h is an example of value as perceived by a user? A. An incident resolved within the target SLA time, enabling efficient use of service desk resources B. An accurate and complete incident record, enabling subsequent trend analysis of incidents C. A quick restoration of an electronic payment system, enabling customers to be served with minimal disruption D. A better understanding of a complex networking scenario, enabling the creation of a new knowledge article 13. Which concept is concerned with creating good working relationships with other people by considering their intellectual and emotional needs? A. Employee satisfaction measurement B. The value of positive communications C. Organizational structure D. Automated interactions 14. An organization uses escalation esca lation procedures as part of its ‘incident management’ practice. Each incident follows a defined escalation path. If the initial resolution group is unable to diagnose or resolve the incident, then it is transferred to a new resolution group. The initial resolution group is not aware of the workload that the new resolution group has. Users have complained that incidents take a long time to resolve when they are escalated. Which
approach or concept would BEST BEST help to resolve this situation? A. Service integration and management Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
156 of Page 156 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL B. Machine learning C. Advanced analytics D. Managing work as tickets 15. What technology is PRIMARILY used to examine and transform data in order to make predictions and generate recommendations? A. Robotic process automation B. Advanced analytics C. CI/CD D. Integrated service management toolsets 16. An organization has reviewed the way it assesses the performance of its internal IT teams. It has decided that the IT teams need to be more focused on customers, and it has assigned the teams new targets to reflect this change. For example, the IT teams now have targets relating to the business impact caused by IT failures, and customer satisfaction with the IT teams' work and behaviour. Which approach is being demonstrated by these examples? A. Service integration and management B. Managing work as tickets
C. Results-based measuring and reporting D. Prioritization and demand management 17. Which sourcing model involves an organization using its own staff and infrastructure? A. Nearshoring B. Onshoring C. Offshoring D. Insourcing 18. An organization has undergone an audit to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of its practices. The audit findings state that the organization wastes a lot of time and effort in resolving incidents when the solution is known to another team. The organization does not ensure that lessons learned from employees, who are leaving the business soon, are transitioned to other employees. The audit also found that the same types of mistakes regularly occur. Which ITIL practice would help the organization to overcome these issues? A. Knowledge management B. Release management C. Service validation and testing D. Service level management
19. Which is a key aspect of collaboration and and workflow? Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
157 of Page 157 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A. Understanding the complexity of data to assess if it will add value B. Ensuring that interactions are designed with an understanding of the human behaviour involved in each step C. Deciding on a model which can help an organization to manage and control its suppliers D. Designing surveys to baseline employee satisfaction and identify actions for improvement 20. Which TWO are the possible sources of demand for a value stream to restore a live service? 1) Someone is unable to log into their user account for the service 2) A monitoring tool detects a service failure 3) The service desk calls a user to provide a status update for an incident 4) A user provides feedback to the incident manager when an incident is closed A. 1 and 2 B. 2 and 3 C. 3 and 4 D. 1 and 4 21. What provides value to an organization by ensuring that there is end-to-end management for the organization's suppliers through a single entity? A. Workforce planning and management B. Shift-left C. Integration and data sharing D. Service integration and management 22. Under which circumstances should an organization build, instead of buy, software? A. When the organization needs the software to be ready to use quickly B. When commercially available software applications applications are highly commodified C. When the solution is not commercially available and the organization has internal resources which can be applied to provide a quantifiable competitive advantage D. When the software isn't necessary to execute the organization's strategy or to maintain the organization's competitive advantage 23. What is a challenge when applying a 'shift-left' 'shift -left' approach? approach? A. Persuading service desk staff to escalate incidents to 2nd-line support teams B. Ensuring that staff have the necessary skills to perform the new activities given to them C. Moving testing activities to later stages in the pipeline D. Increasing the variety of tasks and projects for all team members
24. Which competency competency profile is required by an individual who has been asked to motivate others to adopt the new ways of working required to support the organization's goals? Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
158 of Page 158 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A. Administrator B. Leader C. Coordinator/communicator D. Technical expert
25. An organization is struggling to respond to and resolve incidents in accordance with business needs and expectations. High-priority incidents are often ignored because low-priority incidents can be easier and quicker to solve. What would MOST improve this situation? A. A triage system B. A CI/CD pipeline C. Service Integration and management D. Deep learning 26. Which concept helps organizations to understand the structure of, and relationships between, their business and technology services? A. Swarming B. An information model
C. Shift-left
D. Integration and data sharing 27. Which step in building a 'shift-left' approach involves the activities of communicating the benefits to stakeholders, and sharing the approach with them? A. Identify shift-left opportunities and goals B. Clarify the costs and benefits of improvement C. Set up the improvement initiative D. Set targets 28. An organization has released a major upgrade to one of its applications and is experiencing large volumes of incidents as a result. Which is an example of how the 'service desk' practice could contribute to the value stream for supporting the incidents? A. Developing solutions to incidents that relate to this upgrade and might occur again B. Communicating with users to update them on the status of incidents which they have raised C. Performing trend analysis on the incidents to understand which type occurs most frequently D. Creating an early life support team to focus on the issues is sues caused by the upgrade
29. An organization has decided to move some of its testing activities to earlier phases in the software development lifecycle. Which concept has the organization applied? Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
159 of Page 159 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL A. Shift-left B. Robotic process automation C. Service integration and management D. Integration and data sharing
30. An organization that has a hierarchical structure is reviewing its project management practice practice and is considering the various ways to introduce a new or changed service. Which is an advantage of an agile approach in this situation? A. The focus on increasing speed to market and making changes that align to business objectives B. The option of using industry-standard models for project management to deliver a phased, predictable project C. The focus on a clear release date which the various work streams can be aligned to D. The ability to maintain its current structure which would speed up decision-making 31. What does the performance of a supervised machine-learning system depend on? A. The quality of output data B. The quality of training
C. Neural networks D. Dynamic baselining 32. Which statement about employee surveys is CORRECT? A. They are intended to be conducted across an entire organization B. They are typically conducted annually C. They are conducted at several levels formally and informally D. They can only be conducted electronically so have limited application 33. A start-up organization has introduced new ways of working in its projects. Project team members are now encouraged to give feedback f eedback on actions rather than people to establish a ‘no--blame’ culture, and to ensure that communication is honest and respectful. ‘no respectful. Which concept has been applied by the start-up? A. Workforce talent and management B. Collaboration C. Shift-left D. Employee satisfaction management 34. An organization has development teams which respond to requests for change to their
applications. The requests have a range of urgency levels. The development teams have realized that low-priority requests take a very long time to be resolved because there are Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
160 of Page 160 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL always higher-priority requests. Which concept would BEST help to address this situation? A. Team culture and differences B. Prioritizing work C. 'Build vs buy' considerations considerations D. Advanced analytics 35. An organization wants to ensure that the introduction of new services is as smooth as possible. Some of the key activities it has identified are: educating support teams with lessons from development and testing; preparing self-service knowledge articles for users; and making development team members available in case there are any issues immediately after go-live. Which practice is the MOST important for these activities? A. Release management B. Software development and management C. Deployment management D. Service design 36. An organization would like to apply the 'focus on value' guiding principle to the 'service level management' practice. practice. Which is the BEST way to do this? A. Create concise SLAs which can be easily measured and reported B. Understand how users interact with the service and how this contributes to achieving their goals C. Create awareness of expected service levels with the users, including the reasons behind them D. Use the current measurements as a baseline which SLAs can be developed from 37. An organization uses internal and external development teams that collaborate effectively to produce new and upgraded services. When the changes are released, users complain that the service desk staff are often not aware of the changes, and that any support issues relating to the changes take a long time to resolve. What would prevent this situation from occurring in the future? A. Outsource the organization's internal support provision to the external development organization B. Introduce a self-service system for users so that they do not have to rely on the support teams C. During the development phase, engage the support staff who are involved in the value stream for the service D. Allow users direct access to second-line support teams by bypassing the service desk
38. An organization is reviewing the way it handles its requirements for new projects. Which is Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
161 of Page 161 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL an example of an 'outside in' approach? A. Understanding how suppliers suppliers will be used to deliver new or changed services, and ensure that their services are the foundation for the project B. Understanding the customer's view of the new or changed services, and tracking project deliverables against customer requirements C. Understanding the impact of the new or changed service on the internal technical teams, to ensure they are able to deliver against the new requirements D. Understanding the functional structures and work according to the organization’s capability to deliver to the new requirements 39. An organization releases service upgrades in response to changing market demand. The market demand needs to be fulfilled quickly to capture market value. Some members of the product team believe that some tests can be skipped because of the need to release quickly. Other team members believe that everything ever ything should be tested carefully, therefore they have proposed increasing the number and scope of tests. Which is the BEST approach to resolve this situation? A. Limit testing to the minimum required for f or compliance, and allocate resources for solving incidents that might follow releases B. Increase the frequency and strength of testing, and delay releases if necessary for tests to be completed C. Review the testing strategy, considering the probability and impact of failures to define what should be tested D. Review the release plans to ensure there is enough time for detailed testing, especially for complex systems 40. An organization has automated most of its activities to create and change its products and services, but it still has a final manual check before releasing software to the live environment. Which approach approach is this an example of? A. Continuou Continuouss integration B. Continuou Continuouss delivery C. Continuou Continuouss deployment D. Service validation and testing
Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2021. Used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved www.ducisgroup.com www.ducisgroup.com
162 of Page 162 of 163
ITIL 4 CDS STUDENT MANUAL
Sample Test Answers Question #
Answer
Question #
Answer
1
C
21
D
2
C
22
C
3
D
23
B
4
C
24
B
5 6
B B
25 26
A B
7
D
27
C
8
A
28
B
9
B
29
A
10
D
30
A
11
C
31
B
12
C
32
C
13
B
33
B
14
D
34
B
15 16
B C
35 36
A B
17
D
37
C
18
A
38
B
19
B
39
C
20
A
40
B
View more...
Comments
