| Information Technology (IT) groups
are generally adept at gathering vast amounts of
data. The data collected is not always used successfully
for analysis and decision-making, however. Very
often, the opposite is true. The processing of raw
data is sometimes a distraction, rather than a useful
activity. For example, many IT departments measure
and monitor every event on a Service Desk, yet they
may fail to notice that a key server is getting
close to capacity. Why? Service desk technologies
automatically collect and collate vast amounts of
data regarding Service Desk performance, whereas
measuring the growth of a server relative to its
capacity requires a different effort and intervention.
Let's look at how we can best leverage data to
provide both IT Managers and business managers with
useful tools that help them keep IT services closely
aligned with business goals.
The benefits of ITIL are often obvious to those
who have received ITIL education, read the ITIL
books or attended and ITIL conference or training.
The first two books in this series focused on advanced
ITIL concepts that help ITIL experts build commitment
from non-ITIL experts within an organization, by
selling what's important to various constituents,
and by better communication the goals outlined in
ITIL Service Delivery and Service Support.
In this, the third book in the series, we're going
to continue developing advanced ITIL concepts by
focusing on the monitoring and measuring best practices
describe in the ITIL Service Support book including:
· Incident Management
· Problem Management
· Change Management
· Release Management
· Configuration Management
Each section of the ITIL Service Support book details
a list of metrics that should be considered for
those managing that functional area. In total, the
book lists about 80 suggested measurements to use
for monitoring and measuring performance across
these processes.
In this book, we'll review each ITIL metric individually
by quoting the ITIL definition, describing it in
clear and concise terms, and making recommendations
on how to best leverage the data for both IT managers
and business managers. By focusing on these key
metrics, you can help illustrate the value of ITIL
best practices to those who have responsibility
for related functional areas within IT.
We'll also add to ITIL recommended metrics and
introduce Business Alignment Indicators. These key
metrics expand the ITIL best practices to highlight
information that helps align IT goals and objectives
with business priorities.
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