Information Technology Infrastructure Library Practice

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a series of documents that are used to aid the implementation of a framework for IT Service Management (ITSM). This framework defines how Service Management is applied within specific organizations. Being a framework, it is completely customizable for application within any type of business or organization that has a reliance on IT infrastructure. Service Support is the practice of those disciplines that enable IT Services to be provided effectively. Service Delivery is the management of the IT services themselves, and involves a number of management practices to ensure that IT services are provided as agreed between the Service Provider and the Customer. Service Delivery consists of 5 disciplines:

Service Level Management
Capacity Management
Continuity Management
Availability Management
IT Financial Management

According to IDC, "The use of best-practice frameworks such as ITIL will increase as IT vendors and their customers turn to process in order to meet the growing demand for near-flawless service." Our consultant services are geared around IT Service Management Best Practices, like ITIL, and are focused on delivering high quality cost effective solutions to our clients. Our services include:

IT Service Management Scan
IT Service Management Process Improvement
Service Management Interim Staff
Enterprise Service Management Scan
Support Scans
Tool Process Mapping/Tool Review
Support Baseline Review

SQC helps you develop and implement a framework to manage IT systems, and our consultants can assist you transition from the theory in the ITIL books to the practice of implementing a Service Management Solution.

Assessment

SQC will assess your present systems management capabilities to define a benchmark of your "as-is" situation and to identify the areas most in need of improvement in order to realize your management goals and objectives. Examples of assessment services:

Assessment of how well customer expectations are met by your    current service portfolio
Assessment of the maturity of one or more services or ITIL processes
Assessment and selection of high-priority processes for improvement
Assessment of your current processes for adherence to ITIL

The outcome of the assessment will define and prioritize a set of one or more projects that will allow your organization to realize the intent of ITIL: align your IT with business requirements, improve service quality and lower the long-term cost of IT service provision.

IT Management Strategy

If IT has to meet the needs of the business, you first need to determine what your current and future needs are and then define an IT Management Strategy to implement selected solutions that are designed to achieve desired objectives. Our Consultants will work with your IT Executive Team to examine the key elements of strategy and the choices that should be made to define your unique IT Strategy. Choices must be made about the services that will be offered and also about those that will not, as well as choices of what services the customers want, need, and value. The portfolio of services will determine the corresponding capabilities that are required and the characteristics of the processes, organization, and technologies necessary to deliver those services.

Service Portfolio Definition

Once an IT strategy has defined what your customers want and need, IT must translate these into IT Services. Services are a basis for doing business with the customer that requires an understanding of their needs and are delivered through a series of implemented activities. Each service defines the specific IT function that provides measurable value when performed on behalf of or in support of a customer. Our Consultants will facilitate the creation and documentation of these services.

Solution Design

Our solution design services are designed to verify that the logical or high-level design integrates well with organizational issues and process considerations, with the technology customization, and tool selection. We will assist you in defining your IT management model as the foundation for effective process implementations, followed by the development of guiding principles and the process, organization and technology logical model. Our Consultants will facilitate the design of process-based solutions with your process team. They use ITIL and other models, when required to fill in gaps or provide alternate approaches, to design process solutions that meet your requirements. The process solutions are documented in a standard format called a Process Reference and consist of process flows, activities, policies, and roles. These activities and the solutions that evolve from them set commonly developed goals and expectations that help create a path to success.

Solution Deployment

During solution deployment, the detailed workflow will be developed documenting the measures, metrics, and user interface requirements for your service management tool suite. During the solution design phase, high level generic roles are defined. These form the basis for defining jobs, staffing levels, skill gap analysis, training, and recruitment plans. Then the tools are developed or customized, user guides are produced, staff members are acquired and trained and the pilot is planned. Preparation is the key to success when changing IT management from its current state to ITIL best practices.

In addition to consulting and assessment, we also offer unique customized ITIL workshops on:

ITIL Foundation Certificate
ITIL "Best Practices" - Overview for Management
Promoting and Planning to Implement Service Management