Service Delivery The "Service Delivery" elements of ITIL tend to focus on clearly defining the level of service expected by the end user as well the pro-active planning around future requirements and service improvements.
If ITIL was a car, Service Delivery would document just how that car is to be used. It would also represent your strategy to ensure that in 5 years time when it needs to be replaced you have the funds availability, or if your circumstances changed you would have a plan ready to decide how to get from A to B with your new requirement in mind.
They are broken down as follows:
Service Level Management - This process focuses on documenting the level of service expected from suppliers to the end users and then managing this chain to ensure the company is getting the best availability for its money. The key outputs from the Service Level Management process are the following:
1) Service Catalogue - A simple list of every IT service used by your end users (e.g. E-Mail). More complex catalogues can show how multiple systems link together to provide that service (e.g. Email = PC + Network + ISP + Outlook Client)
2) Service Level Agreements - A document that describes the service, when it should be available and what %age of the time. Agreements with suppliers may also include information about other tasks that are performed such as back-up's, administration, upgrades and agreed maintenance windows.
3) Supplier Reviews and Availability Reporting - Once Service Level Agreements are in place, suppliers can be managed to ensure the service you are paying for is being delivered. Information provided from the Problem Manager will show when systems have failed and this can be turned into availability figures. If suppliers have not achieved quoted availability, a well negotiated contract could have "Service Credits" incorporated to a percentage of the contract value. If you have a number of internal departments their is no reason why internal service reviews can not be created to report back just how well the availability of IT systems are running.
4) Service Improvement Program - normally driven from the service reviews, the Service Improvement Program (or SIP) is used to drive IT services forward. It could be a request for a system upgrade or a change in the way of working. All of these are logged on the SIP and a cost investigated. If the return on investment is justified, the service improvement can be moved forward.
Capacity Management - hopefully you are in the situation where your business is growing but your computing power has enough slack to accommodate your medium term plans. But what about seasonal influences? What would happen if you took on another 10 staff and they all needed space on your server? Can your network cope with a new service you access over the internet?
Capacity Management answers all of these questions by monitoring current usage, planning the future based on trends and business knowledge and modelling changes based on known factors.
Availability Management - just how much downtime can you afford or are you prepared to accept? If your email was down for 4hrs would it be an issue? Availability Managements role is to ensure that:
1) Systems are designed with Availability in mind. Whether this is "recoverability" i.e. the ability to get a system back up after a failure, or "reliability" by designing redundant components, clustering or failover mechanisms into the design, the availability management process ensures that by balancing cost against required uptime, the best solution is purchased
2) Availability Plan - Where weaknesses in design are identified, the recommended solution is recorded onto the Availability Plan. This document describes the solution, the expected increase in uptime and the cost, allowing key budget managers to shape the future availability improvements.
Financial Management - Not all companies want to cross charge departments for their IT services but the final point of Financial Management for IT Services develops the concepts of a charging model. Preceding this is the basic financial disciplines of creating an IT budget and then carrying out periodic reporting as spend is made against this budget.
IT Service Continuity Management - Depending on the size of your business, like configuration management this can either be a simple process to implement or it can make you feel like you are painting the Severn Bridge. This process aims at supporting the business continuity plans by having the means to provide a minimum amount of functionality in the event of a critical failure. This could be the loss of your main premises for a week due to an industrial accident near by or the failure of you accounts system preventing you from making and receiving payments.