Scenario for Migrating HelpDesk to ITIL Compliance
Sample Scenario:
Outline the steps for evaluating existing helpdesk operations and migrating to an ITIL compliant service desk.
Conducted a Strategy Assessment of existing HelpDesk people, process, and platform resulting in an approach to transformation that will be the framework for an ITIL Implementation Plan for the Service Desk function. Examples of key finding in this scenario are as follows:
1. ITSC acts as a catch all for any task or project currently not defined in any other department.
2. There is no defined hand-off for ITSC on issue resolution for new changes implemented in the
production environment.
3. There is no defined hand-off for communications to be sent out to stakeholders on changes approved
and scheduled to be implemented in the production environment.
4. Service Requests follow the same lifecycle as incidents.
5. Incident criticality is poorly defined.
6. Standard operating procedures are organized in a hierarchal shared folder structure.
7. Most documentation is from emails and does not follow a standardized format.
8. Currently there are no standardized training materials in place for ITSC personnel.
9. Patching activities do not follow the current change management process.
10. There is no standard escalation protocol for system problems that cannot be resolved by the ITSC.
11. ITSC acts as tier 1 and tier 2 support for YOUR COMPANY.
12. Knowledge Management module not implemented within Remedy tool suite.
13. Multiple tools utilized for various ITSC functional tasks.
14. Tool Assessment:
i. Remedy Incident Management module has been implemented and utilized by the ITSC however has limited use across the enterprise.
ii. Blueprint and AML utilized for requirements management and testing, respectively. These two tools interface with each other providing easy interfacing between the two teams.
iii. Most of the current tools utilized do not support all the current needs of the established IT processes.
iv. Tools are not integrated into one platform to provide a holistic management approach.
v. There currently is no process to update and improve the current tool set based on an enterprise approach to ensure process alignment.
vi. IBM Filenet Workplace V1.1.5 has limited capability for managing the Change Management process.
Evaluation of Help Desk Operations
The graphic below depicts a high level approach that SIS would use to assess and improve the ITSC for better alignment with the ITIL framework.
Listed below are high level steps to evaluate the existing helpdesk operations and migrate to an ITIL compliant service desk.
1. Define Scope of Functional Tasks within ITSC
- The overall scope of the ITSC needs to be redefined. Tasks that should not be owned by the ITSC would be assigned to other domains. For example, the ITSC currently installs foot stools for vehicles. This task needs to be reassigned to another group so the ITSC can focus relevant duties.
- A formal Asset Management group needs to be established. This new group would own the tasks of maintaining the inventory of all hardware your company or agency. Inventory and license management are tasks that are not defined in the Service Desk function in the ITIL framework. Moving this function from the ITSC will assist in aligning your company or agency IT with the ITIL framework.
- During this part of the process, SIS works closely with your company or agency to clearly define ITIL compliant Incident and Problem Management processes. At this stage, the processes can be tailored to meet organizational specific nuances.
2. Conduct a thorough process assessment of the Incident (and Problem) Management processes. This analysis will evaluate across three main points: People, Process, and Tools. The first phase of the assessment is derived from the TIPA and CMMI for Services maturity assessment model. This evaluation is conducted through interviews and observation of the process in action. The second phase of the assessment is derived from Business Process Architecture principles. During this assessment, process documents and artifacts are analyzed. This evaluation is conducted by using a process evaluation form that assesses:
- process granularity
- process complexity
- stakeholder engagement
- data points and measurement methods
- level of organizational integration
3. Conduct a gap analysis on the Incident Management Process (and Problem Management) and Service Desk function role. Essentially taking the outputs from Step 2 and Step 3 and comparing to identify the gaps.
4. Deliverable Prioritization and Determine Strategy / Work Plan. From the gap analysis, tasks are identified and prioritized. Resources are assigned tasks and a schedule is developed and agreed to.
While the above plan is being executed, an analysis of ITSC SOPs will be conducted. A complete inventory of all ITSC documents will be performed given many of the training documents and SOPs reside in emails or a folder directory structure. Once complete, SIS will assist the ITSC to identify systems that do not have any documentation in place and work with stakeholders to start getting the necessary documentation captured.
Sample Performance Measures:
- Total number of infrastructure incidents (by infrastructure type, excluding desktop incidents)
- Average time to respond to service requests
- Mean time to resolve incidents (by severity)
- Average number of affected users by type of incident.
