ITIL in the Real World:

Leveraging ITIL Best Practices for

Service Improvement at NYU

Presented by Ben Maddox, NYU Information Technology Services

Ben.maddox@nyu.edu or 212-992-9298 1
ITIL* in the Real World: Leveraging ITIL Best Practices
for Service Improvement at NYU
New York University at a Glance
About Information Technology Services (ITS) at NYU
About ITIL:
Overview
Key Components
Putting ITIL into Action
ITIL & ITS
A Few Real-World Examples
Lessons Learned, Next Steps
Summary

*Information Technology Infrastructure Library

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New York University at a Glance
• The nation’s largest private University, at over 50,000 students
and more than 14,000 employees

• Large and complex fiscal and physical operation

• Consistently ranked as one of country’s more “wired” campuses

• Impacted by HIPPAA, FERPA, Graham Leach Bliley and other

regulatory policies

• Currently implementing Active Directory

• One central IT organization, but schools, divisions and departments

may have local support teams, systems administrators and tools.

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About Information Technology Services at NYU

In advancement of the NYU community’s commitment to teaching,

learning, research, and public service, the purpose of NYU
Information Technology Services is
to serve,
to lead,
to innovate
with services that are readily available, responsive, reliable and
cost-effective.

— ITS Mission Statement, adopted 1999

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 About Information Technology Services at NYU: Structure
.edu Services
Technology services for
faculty and students, in
support of research,
scholarship, and instruction;
Internet2 resources;
computer labs, ResNet
services, classes, and more;
development and
management of web, email,
and NYUHome portal
services, and of strategic
technology initiatives.
Communications
& Computing
Services
Operation, management,
evolution and security of
NYU's large-scale
technology infrastructure
providing voice (telephone)
and data network services,
and computing resources
supporting a wide range of
essential, computer-based
University services.
Enterprise Office of the
Computing & Associate
Support Services Provost
SIS, Albert, HRIS/PASS, & Chief
fame, BSR Advance, Data Information
Warehouse, BIA, eReports,
Brio, Remedy, and more.
Technology
Officer (CITO)
IT Service Desk for faculty, Leadership and
students, & staff, and coordination of University
application development & IT strategy, policies, and
support for core University services; IT-related
admin. systems; desktop
planning, compliance, and
support, accounts, training,
publications, directory, continuity services.
database, and application
security services;
— Adapted from http://www.nyu.edu/its/about/
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 Enterprise Computing: at a Glance Wikis

University Data Calendaring and PDAs Digital Content,

Warehouse ePortfolio
Blogs Student Information fame
Systems (PeopleSoft) E-Vote
Business eServices
Intelligence (NYUHome portal
& Reporting Enterprise Systems & email)
(Hyperion & Brio)
Document
Human Resources BSR Advance & Content
Information System (Sungard) Management

Learning Incident &Change

HPC - High Performance
Management Management
Computing
(Blackboard &, Sakai) (Remedy and ModTrak)

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Responding to Demand: The Hunt for Three Octobers

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About ITIL: Overview
• Developed in late 1980s in the UK in response to
growing dependence on IT
• Now a public body of knowledge for Service
Management best practices
• Helps organizations improve service levels and
reduce the cost of IT operations
• A framework, defining ten interlocking processes for
service support and service delivery
• Also provides guidance on IT security, business
management, and other topics
• The ten ITIL processes are described in two
volumes:
- Service Support focuses on management of
essential operational processes
- Service Delivery on strategic management of
the IT services

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About ITIL: Key Components
Service Support
Service Desk*
Incident Management
Problem Management
Configuration Management
Change Management QuickTime™ and a
Graphics decompressor

Release Management
are needed to see this picture.

*A function, not a process.

Service Delivery
Service Level Management
Financial Management for IT Services
Capacity Management
IT Service Continuity Management
Availability Management
— Adapted from ITIL training material.

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About ITIL: Key Components (continued)
Service Support
Service Desk*
Incident Management
Problem Management
Configuration Management
Change Management
Release Management
*A function, not a process.

Service Delivery
Service Level Management
Financial Management for IT Services
Capacity Management
IT Service Continuity Management
Availability Management

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ITIL V3: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
The ITIL v3 refresh project is expected to begin with the publication of five new core texts with
publication planned for May 2007.
A key change to ITIL under version 3 has been a focus on the alignment of IT and 'the business' and
on the management of IT throughout the complete lifecycle.
ITIL v3 core volumes
Service Strategy
Service Design
Service Transition
Service Operation
Continual Service Improvement
ITIL v3 complementary material
While the new ITIL core will draw heavily on current industry practice in IT service management and
relevant research. It will reflect the major changes in the way businesses buy and utilize IT services.
The complementary material will make it easier for ITIL to address specific vertical markets and
industries (e.g. Public Sector, Financial Services) and will provide a venue for more rapidly changing
guidance around the application and implementation of the best practice described in the core works.
It is likely that the complimentary material will include both a detailed glossary, process maps and
mappings to governance and other frameworks (e.g. COBIT) and methodologies (e.g. Six Sigma).

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Getting Started: Asking the Right Questions

Where do we Vision and business

want to be? objectives

Where are we? Assessment

How can we get

where we want to Process improvement
be?

How do we know
that we have Metrics
arrived?

— Adapted from IT Service Management, an introduction, a

publication of the IT Service Management Forum.

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Putting ITIL into Action at NYU

• The alignment of IT and business, mapping product and service delivery to

institutional planning and identified needs, is strongly emphasized in the ITIL
framework.
• Over the course of the last three years, ITS has provided ITIL Essentials Training or
workshops to more than 70 staff members of our staff. In addition, staff members take
advantage of tuition remission and workshop offerings in project management, service
delivery and communication.
• ITS has been leveraging ITIL’s Best Practices for internal communication and project
planning.
• ITS is committed to long term strategic and tactical partnerships with ITS service
partners and academic and operational units. These includes areas directly
recommended by ITIL best practices, such as the strengthening of service delivery,
service support, and continuity and availability management.

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ITIL & ITS: A Few Real-World Examples
• Client Communication & Feedback

• ITS Services Catalog

• Ask ITS Service Portal

• Remedy-Integrated Knowledge Base

• ITS Service Delivery Cycle

• Leveraging Available Data & Tools

• Tracking Change

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Client Communication & Feedback
• Formal Stakeholder Feedback

• Spot Surveys

• Cross-Organization Collaboration
• ASAP
• CIO Council
• IT Support Managers
• Systems Administrators Working Group
• Others

• Creation of Services Catalog

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Service Catalog (Internal)

The ServTrak data-entry and search screen: Searching by keyword.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Service Catalog, continued.

ServTrak records are created, updated, and edited within this interface. Note the tabs for
information on hours of availability, eligibility, dependencies (with respect to other services),
and contact information for second-tier and client-facing support.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Service Catalog (Public) .

Service Catalog would be accessible via

a menu item in the About ITS section

A mockup of the web-based client facing interface currently being developed.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Service Catalog, continued.

Clickable link titles would launch a

satellite window with the service
information

The mockup, in further detail.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: The Ask ITS Service Portal

NYU students, faculty and staff access Ask ITS through the NYUHome Portal.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Ask ITS Service Portal, continued.

It is available through a channel on the Home tab, and through a link at the top of each tab.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Ask ITS Service Portal, continued.

An area within Ask ITS provides information about an upcoming interruption to service availability.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Knowledge Base

The web-based login screen of our Remedy-integrated knowledge base. The knowledge base

can be accessed from the Remedy console, from within a Remedy ticket, and directly via the web.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Knowledge Base, continued.

The knowledge base Home screen. (The Authoring and Reports tabs are available

only to knowledge base administrators.)

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 Real-World ITIL & ITS: The ITS Service Cycle, Mapped to ITIL

Best Metrics &

Practices Feedback
e.g., ITIL
Support Assessment

Portfolio
Service & Project
Catalogue Manage
-ment

Introduction Development
Marketing, Change &
Training, & Incident
Documentation Management

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Leveraging Data & Tools

Managers and Team Leaders in ITS departments receive this automatically generated report daily.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Leveraging Data & Tools, continued.

They also receive an automatically generated monthly summary.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Leveraging Data & Tools, continued.

Other automatically generated reports are mailed out daily and monthly to our service partners
in the Human Resources Division.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Leveraging Data & Tools, continued.

Portions of the template for the monthly report that is automatically generated and emailed to our service
partners in the Human Resources Division. (Data shown is for illustration only.)

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Tracking Change

ModTrak is our locally developed system used by ITS staff and our service partners to request, track, and obtain reports of system changes.

Above, initiating a search for changes made to the New Budget system’s online help.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Tracking Change, continued.

Our search results. Clicking a Change Number brings further details and the opportunity to update the record. Information can also

be exported as Excel or PDF files.

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Real-World ITIL & ITS: Tracking Change, continued.

The Details-Edit Request screen. Note the tabs for tracking line items, issues, migration & testing.

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ITIL & ITS: Next Steps, Lessons Learned
• Process enhancement is incremental - take the long look

• Use the framework to connect the dots of initiatives and build a portfolio

• Change is coming to ITIL — prepare for ITIL v3.

• Integrate support planning earlier in our product and service development cycles, so that the
products we release are easier to use and support.

• Ask your client communities what will support their business and leverage ITIL to map your
initiatives

• Resource limitations will impact your timelines

• Make noticeable improvements in procedures people have to follow to get ITS services.

• Mitigate the impact of service disruptions by using innovative notification approaches.

• Work with other help-providing groups at NYU to coordinate services more effectively.

• Intensify our use of metrics in driving improvements and of the Remedy trouble ticket system to
track problems, identify trends, and evaluate the effects of improvement measures introduced.

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Additional Projects Mapped to
Specific ITIL Areas

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Mapping ITIL Processes to ITS Initiatives
ITIL Service Support Process
Service Desk*
• Single point of contact with the
IT organization
• Incident & Problem
Management is its primary
process
• May also include a Change
Management role
• May also have roles with
respect to Configuration
Management, Service Level
Management & Release
Management
*A function.
ITS Projects & Services
• Knowledge base — creating & populating with IT solutions
• Cross-training for more complex issues, such as accounts and
eligibility
• Emphasis on single point of contact for communication
• Sharing of information across IT areas
• Creation and deployment of ServTrak, in-house services tracking
tool to support Services Catalogue
• University-wide course-management support group
• Facilitating Enterprise-wide adoption of incident management
tools
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Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)

ITIL Service Support Process ITS Projects & Services

Incident Management • Incident Management (BMC Remedy) innovation and

enhancement
• An incident is any event which
is not part of the standard • Creation of new roles for escalation within Service Desk —
operation of a service and e.g., IT Support Technicians I and II, Analyst II
which causes, or may cause an • Increased in-house training and knowledge sharing
interruption to, or a reduction in • ACD/Remedy/UDW reporting
the quality of that service. • Daily key performance indicator (KPI) reporting
• Incidents are recorded,
classified and allocated to
appropriate specialists, incident
progress is monitored, and
incidents are resolved and they
are closed.

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Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)
ITIL Service Support Process
Problem Management
• Identifying or detecting
system/application/
infrastructure problems based
on a collection of related
incidents.
• Enacting and tracking
appropriate solutions.
ITS Projects & Services
• Collaborating with IT service partners to increase problem
definition and tracking
• Facilitating enterprise-wide availability of incident management
tools
• Increasing use of knowledge base
• Supervisory Team has greater access to metrics
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Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)

ITIL Service Support Process ITS Projects & Services

Configuration • Marimba deployment; asset tracking via BMC Remedy; Change

Request tracking
Management
• ITS Security initiatives for criticality and system administration
Provide reliable and
• Security Architecture Working group formed
up-to-date details about
the IT infrastructure. • Non-ITS systems administrators forum created

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Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)

ITIL Service Support Process ITS Projects & Services

Change Management • Creation and deployment of ModTrak, in-house change

management tool
Manage the process of change
• University Data Warehouse — data sharing across toolsets
and consequently limit incidents
• Enhancements of incident management and change request
related to changes.
systems

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Mapping Processes: Service Support (continued)

ITIL Service Support Process ITS Projects & Services

Release Management • Use of ModTrak for documentation related to change

Ensure the quality of the • Use of ProjTrak, in-house project management tool providing
production environment, by using timelines and project tracking through completion
formal procedures and checks • Technical Review Team for assessment of projects’ feasibility
when implementing new versions. and completion
(Release Management is
concerned with implementation,
unlike Change Management,
which is concerned with
verification.)

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Mapping ITIL Processes: Service Delivery
ITIL Service Delivery
Process
Service Level
Management
Process of negotiating, defining,
measuring, managing and
improving the quality of IT
services at an acceptable cost
ITS Projects & Services
• Optimizing the use of SLAs, including reporting and notification
• Enterprise-wide technical support working groups
• Providing incident management tools and training for non-
technical areas, such as Human Resources Divisions
• ServTrak - Creation and deployment of in-house service tracking
tool
• Developing ITS operational-level agreements (OLAs)
• Providing incident management
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Mapping Processes: Service Delivery (continued)

ITIL Service Delivery ITS Projects & Services

Process

Financial Management • Use of “Trak” toolset to document and evaluate IT services and
products
for IT Services
• Use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Promote the efficient and
economic use of IT resources, by • Cross-ITS and business unit collaboration in the development of
changing over from budget-based and compliance with IT controls policy
organizations with fixed budgets
to cost-conscious businesslike
organizations.

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Mapping Processes: Service Delivery (continued)

ITIL Service Delivery Process ITS Projects & Services

Capacity Management • Creation and deployment of ProjTrak, in-house project-tracking

Provide the required capacity for
data processing and storage, at
the right time and in a cost
effective way.
tool
• Created cross-ITS working group for enterprise applications and
systems administration

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Mapping Processes: Service Delivery (continued)
ITIL Service Delivery Process
IT Service Continuity
Management
Contingency planning —
proactive, rather than reactive —
with an emphasis on preventing
disasters.
ITS Projects & Services
• Disaster Recovery planning, formal testing, and assessment
• Communicating business continuity as a priority to ITS
leadership, management, and staff
• Collaborating with partners across University regarding
emergency and continuity planning
• Extended Service Coverage (XSC) program
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Mapping Processes: Service Delivery (continued)
ITIL Service Delivery
Process
Availability Management
Ensuring the IT infrastructure —
its availability, reliability,
maintainability, and
serviceability.
ITS Projects & Services
• Multiple redundancy projects for network and hardware
• Extended Service Coverage (XSC)
• Communicating Scheduled Maintenance windows to clients via
Ask ITS service portal
• Creation of cross-ITS working group for enterprise applications
and systems administration
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 ITIL in Action

ITIL Best Practices Organizational

Framework — and institutional
may include other strategy and
frameworks or alignment
guidelines
BEST
STRATEGIC
PRACTICES
PLANNING
ITIL

Projects,
PROJECTS & Services
INITIATVES initiatives and
organizational
culture

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