ITSM Gap Analysis for XYZ

ITSM Gap Analysis at XYZ Telecom

An Insight

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Contents

IDENTIFIED STRENGTHS OF XYZ TELECOM IT KEY FINDINGS

STATUS OF ITSM IN XYZ TELECOM OVERALL PROCESS ALIGNMENT LEVELS PROCESS AREA WISE GAPS

RECOMMENDATIONS ROADMAP

THE PDCA MODEL REFERENCES

Preamble

• The IT at XYZ Telecom offers IT Services, namely The IT Service Desk, IT Infrastructure management, and Application management to their customers (various departments within XYZ Telecom) from the facility at Academic City Dubai, UAE.

Background

• Being a quality conscious organization, XYZ Telecom IT thrives to ensure that the IT Services delivered by them are aligned to best practices and global standards in IT Service management.

Approach

• This report contains the structured representation of the findings from this assessment and the recommendation on the way forward.

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Assessment Objective

The objective of this gap analysis is to assess the current the practices within XYZ Telecom IT Department with respect to:

• Specified and implied needs of XYZ IT department • Global best practices in IT Service Management

The Assessment mainly takes the ITIL framework as the basis for the assessment, so that this forms the foundation for XYZ Telecom IT for working towards certifying the IT Service Management practices as per the international standard.

Assessment Summary

• The assessment was conducted over a period of 30 calendar days starting from 31st of March 2011 till 30th of April, 2011.

Assessment

Duration:

• All assessment related activities were carried out from the XYZ Telecom IT facility at Academic city Dubai, UAE

Assessment

Location:

• All observations made during the assessment were documented, reviewed and agreed with the project manager of XYZ Telecom IT to ensure there is no mismatch of what the consultant understood from the information gathered.

Assessment

Validation:

• Interviews with relevant stakeholders in XYZ Telecom

• Review of the Self Assessment questionnaire filled out by the XYZ staff • Review of process/procedure documents and plans showing the intent • Review of records and other evidences

Assessment Method:

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Assessment - Participants

Assessment Participants: Following are the participants from XYZ Telecom IT who

were involved in the assessment -

6

Jassim Juma– Operations Section Head

Osman Farah – Application Section Representative Fouad Saleh – Project Manager

Ayman Al Sayed – Project team member

Yasser Ramadan – Representation from Systems Md Aziz – Representation from Network

Muneer Ahmed – Representation from Vendor Tamer Elahi – Representation from DBA

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Assumptions



The assessment is based on the information made available

to the consultant through interviews and review of documents and

records. A full fledged audit of the operations was not the intention

of the exercise.



It is assumed that all information provided by the various

participants in the assessment exercise are authentic and complete.



It is also assumed that XYZ Telecom is going apply for

ISO/IEC 20000 certification at a later stage

Identified Strengths of XYZ Telecom IT

 Help Desk has been established as a SPOC (single point of contact) for XYZ Telecom IT users

 The benefits and the need for process improvement has been identified by XYZ Telecom IT

 Sr. Management at XYZ Telecom IT is committed on improving it service delivery

 Very low staff attrition rate, hence minimal changes in project core members  Comparatively well carried out Incident, Supplier and Financial Management  Tools, resources and funds allocated/planned for improving Service Management

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Key Findings

 Service Desk is established as SPOC (single point of contact) for all the users, however this gets bypassed at times

 Very limited awareness on IT Service management best practices among XYZ Telecom staff

 Polices related to IT are not defined, documented and communicated

 Document control procedures are currently unavailable

 Minutes of any meetings in IT are not consistently recorded and

followed up

 Documented evidence of IT planning is not available, but planning is

done annually

Status of the ITSM Processes

Status of the ITSM Processes in XYZ Telecom :

Process Existing But Insufficient Documentation Non- Existent Processes Information Security Management Configuration Management Release Management Problem Management

Change Management Availability and Continuity Management Supplier Management Capacity Management

Budgeting and Accounting Service Level Management

Incident Management Business Relationship Management Service Reporting

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Overall Process Alignment Levels – illustrative

below:

 Each process area has specific number of questions. Based on the information given during the assessment and after reviewing certain evidences, alignment levels are determined.  If the alignment level of a process area is less than 50% then it is considered to be at Level-1. If it is equal to or more than 50% and below 90%, then the alignment it is considered to be at Level-2. If it is 90% or above then the alignment level is considered to be as Level-3 Incident Management Problem Management Change Management Configuration Management Release Management

Business relationship Management Supplier relationship Management

Process Area Compliance Level

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Service Level Management Service Reporting

Information Security Management Budgeting and Accounting for IT Capacity Management

Availability and Continuity Management

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Level 1 Major Deviation from the standard requirement

Level 2 Some controls in place

Process Area Wise Gaps -

illustrative

.

Process Area: Incident Management

Alignment Percentage: 66.67% (Level-2)

Crucial Gaps observed:

• Unique identifier and periodic updates not given to users on reported incidents • Consistent procedure to handle major incidents not available

• Helpdesk is bypassed for Application related calls

• Current escalation mechanism in place to resolve incidents is not formal • Incidents not prioritized against business impact and urgency

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Process Area Wise Gaps -

illustrative

Specific Requirements of the framework and alignment details:

Incident Management

ITSM Best Practices Alignment Status

1 All incidents shall be recorded PARTIALLY ALIGNED

2 Procedures shall be adopted to manage the impact of service incidents PARTIALLY ALIGNED

3 Procedures shall define the recording, prioritization, business impact, classification,

updating, escalation, resolution and formal closure of all incidents PARTIALLY ALIGNED

4

The customer shall be kept informed of the progress of their reported incidents or service request and alerted in advance if their service levels cannot be met and an action agreed

PARTIALLY ALIGNED

5 All staff involved in incident management shall have access to relevant information such

as known errors, problem resolutions and the configuration management database NOT ALIGNED 6 Major incidents shall be classified and managed according to a defined process NOT ALIGNED

Recommendations

 Form a steering committee for progress reviews and escalation management of the improvement initiative

 Document all Services and its details with default levels in a Service Catalogue  Identify ‘service owners’ for each service from XYZ Telecom IT

 Identify and document services required by XYZ Telecom IT from other departments  Plan and implement availability, capacity and security monitoring tools

 Identify appropriate individuals for process ownership and management

 Document, review and agree on all process documentation needed by the framework  Identify all the risks related to the implementation of the Service Management System  Develop mitigation plans for risks that have high Risk Priority Number

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Recommendations

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Recommended Steering Committee Composition and Responsibilities

Steering committee composition

Project Sponsor – IT director

Section Heads – Application and Operations Project Manager – XYZ Telecom

Project Manager – Consultants Customer representative(s)

High-level responsibilities of steering committee

 Drive adherence of set policies and processes through formal communications to all staff

 Assist in driving activities outside IT department, required by the standard

 Resolve resource and fund issues that cannot be managed by project manager

Recommendations

Recommended Responsibilities of the Management Representative :

 Creation, implementation and maintenance of the Service Management Policy and Service management system for XYZ Telecom IT

 Create and implement document control policy, procedures and maintain master list of documents and document storage

 Ensure availability of appropriate budgets and funds for service management and improvement

 Definition of Roles and Responsibilities for Process Owners and Process Managers for the processes as per the framework

 Creation of internal audit procedure, planning, execute audits, create internal audit reports and follow-up till closure

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Recommendations

Recommended Process Ownership and Management Groupings

Different roles with specific responsibilities to manage different process areas would be required to ensure effective implementation of the Service Management system. It may not be possible or not required to have different individuals for managing each process areas. Following are the recommended combination that could be :

Service Desk Incident Management

Service Level Management Business relationship Service Reporting Problem Management Change Management Release Management Configuration Management Availability Management Capacity Management Continuity Management Information Security Management Supplier Management Financial Management 18

Roadmap

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References

 XYZ Telecom IT department policies, processes and procedures – Evidences  ITIL best practices framework documentation