By Alan Rodger, Research Analyst, Butler Group

The version 3 (v3) release of the IT governance framework IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has recently become available. Focused on a much broader range of organizational IT and business capabilities than earlier releases, it will help those using the framework in more ways than previously.

Adoption of ITIL has been growing for many years, but it has been the increased complexities in the IT infrastructure, the increasing impact of regulatory and legislative requirements, and growing demand for a business-oriented, service-focused approach that has boosted its take-up considerably in recent times. ITIL's guidance has been used in a wide range of private and public sector areas to date, including local and central government, energy, public utilities, retail, finance, and manufacturing. Organizations of all sizes, including well-known examples such as IBM, HP, Microsoft, Shell Oil, Proctor & Gamble, and British Airways, are extensive practitioners.

The major difference that ITIL v3 brings is the move from a process-based structure to one based on service lifecycle, including a focus on the improvement of services throughout that lifecycle, and a much broader range of management capabilities. In its previous release ITIL's main practice areas were Service Delivery and Service Support, whereas in v3 there are five main practice areas: Service Strategies; Service Design; Service Transition; Service Operation; and Continual Service Improvement.

Service Strategies is a completely new area within ITIL, covering the practice of organizational strategic analysis, and the planning, positioning, and implementation of service models in the context of strategies and strategic objectives. This is pivotal, as the results are the basis for the rest of the practice areas, and define how business plans are supported by IT service strategies. It is evident from the breadth of this practice area that ITIL v3 addresses considerations that purely relate to business, rather than solely to IT, and responsibility for Service Strategies is likely to fall to senior operational managers with a strategic remit - ITIL practice and compliance will no longer be the fiefdom of IT practitioners.

Within Service Design too, the focus of ITIL v3 ranges across both business and IT considerations, and the interests of service managers from business areas, to the IT operational management (and potentially external IT suppliers) that provide the requisite IT services. Service Transition, the point at which the concern is practical service delivery considerations, addresses day-to-day management issues that face service owners and operational staff from both business and IT areas, but includes guidance on very non-operational aspects, such as the management of organizational and cultural change, knowledge management, and risk analysis and management, all of which must be considered as part of the transition of services into the business environment. Clearly the involvement of non-IT resources is envisaged to continue at this point during the service lifecycle.

Service Operation defines the management of a service in every respect of its business and IT operational delivery, including the control processes and functions that the business needs to design into the service, in addition to the IT artifacts. The change management lifecycle is a significant aspect there, as much change tends to be reactive from "the coalface," but it is important that any business- or technology-driven improvements necessary can be determined and implemented in the normal cycle of change, as part of the fifth of the ITIL practices, Continual Service Improvement, which really applies across all of other areas.

Adoption of ITIL v3 will help to hasten the integration of management and operations across business areas and IT functions, which can be no bad thing. The framework now completely unifies business and technology considerations, which were formerly still distinct (rather than separate), but which are now inextricably bound by the service context of every aspect of applications, systems, and processes. There will be learning for participants from both business and IT disciplines, but organizations could benefit strongly from the framework basis for collaboration of people with different backgrounds and skills. ENS