Towards a Method for IT-Service Management (Research in Progress)

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Research Group Information Systems and Enterprise Modelling

Institute for Computer Science and Business Information System (ICB) University of Duisburg Essen

Germany

Institut für Informatik und Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)

Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM) 02.11.2011, Oslo, Norway

Towards a Method for IT-Service Management

(Research in Progress)

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 IT management – a task of remarkable complexity

 Analysis and assessment of IT requires knowledge:

 about IT artifacts, heterogeneous IT infrastructures, ever changing

technologies, manifold interdependencies

 … and about the business!

 Hence, requires involving people with different professional

backgrounds.

Motivation & Problem

Demand for approaches that

 reduce complexity,

 accomplish transparency,  foster communication.

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 Introduction of the abstraction “IT service”

 represents outcome of the IT organisation

 serves to manage relationship between business and IT  thus, acts as a reference for different stakeholders

 use of a service-abstraction in enterprise modelling promising

 promotes consistent support along the life cycle  fosters adequate interpretation of (IT) services  serves as foundation for software development

 increases reuse of IT services (e.g., as part of “Service Portfolio

Management”)

Motivation & Problem

– “IT Service” as key solution for IT Management?

General idea:

Extend a method for multi-perspective enterprise modeling to

address the requirements and challenges of IT service management

by developing a domain-specific modelling language (DSML)

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Conceptual Background: Enterprise Modelling

 enterprise models integrate

models of the action system with

models of information systems  semi-formal modelling languages

with graphical visualisation (often

domain specific modelling

languages (=DSML))

 reducing complexity through

purposeful abstraction

 overcoming language barriers by

modelling concepts that correspond with the technical language of the domain

 joint design of information system

and organisational action system

Strategy Net

Value Chain

Organisational Chart

Business Process

IT Resource Diagram Object Model

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5 5 ERP Server ERP Software runs on requires (decomposition) O p e ra ti o n s IT O p e ra ti o n s S e n io r M a n a g e m e n t Front Office Back Office (decomposition) ERP-System M a n a g e m e n t Sales O rg a n is a ti o n In fo rm a ti o n S y s te m S tr a te g y IT M a n a g e m e n t Database Server ERP Database Server runs on Asset Management Corporate Finance Payment and Settlement Retail Brokerage CRM-System comprises Business Process Aggregated Business Process Goal Software IT hardware resource Complaints Management Respond to complaint < C. Care Staff > Complaint

answered Update Customer History < C. Care Staff > Customer complaint received Customer complaint closed MEMO Perspective Principle Levels of Analysis Business Process Type Private Banking u s e s u s e s Event (Message) Information System part of Value Chain Core Enterprise Activity Legend Increase customer satisfaction through an attractive value proposition

Conceptual Background: Enterprise Modelling

– Illustration of a Prototypical Enterprise Model

What would be a reasonable conceptualisation? Results of an analysis of current state of the art:

 service concept overloaded and not precisely defined

 no explicit concepts to reduce complexity

 accounts only superficially for the business context

 limited (unclear) support along the life cycle of IT

services

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 Follows a specific design research process (FRANK 2010):

1. Identification and justification of domain-specific scenarios,

requirements and of design goals

2. Reconstruction of key concepts of the domain

3. thereby: Iterative design of DSML and process models

4. (optional: development of a corresponding information system)

5. Initial evaluation by comparing the method‘s features against its

requirements and design goals

Research Objectives of our Research in Progress

Prepare the extension of a multi-perspective enterprise

modeling method by concepts and heuristics to support IT

service management:

1. Develop and illustrate idealised support for entire life cycle

2. Analyse and discuss first design alternatives

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Illustration of the Solution

– Overview

Complaint #41 (Customer: #342) Complaint Customer Product Build 5 Negotiation 3 # _{Complaints resolved} in time [%] CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Service Owner Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department

Risk: Incorrect Complaints

Visibility: high

Uncertainty: medium

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?

Risk: Incorrect Data

-

?

Risk: Internal fraud

Visibility: high Uncertainty: medium

-

? Monitoring / Accounting 6 Requirements Analysis 1 Assessment 4 Send response Retrieve history Notify R & D Calculate discount Get payment method

Add Customer to

loyality program Service Catalog

Send E-Mail mms sms Complaint Handling Discount Manager Customer Manager Campaign Handler Appointment Manager Customer Credit Rating external Set reminder Check availability draft draft Service Mapping 2 Submit Cancel CRM Software requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System -id : Integer -created : Date -category : Integer Customer Messages -id : Integer -description : Text Complaint -id : Integer -created : Date Log «interface» messaging «uses» provided by Complaint Handling CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department # Avg. Load [#msg / day] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] CMDB Accounting $ requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System Complaint Handling Purchase Costs 5.000 €

License Costs per

year 25.000 € 02:54 minutes Utilization Average duration Availability Average costs / instance 1.20 $ (deco_mpos ition) (decom position ) Customer Service Complaints Management Respond to complaint < C. Care Staff > Complaint

answered Update Customer History < C. Care Staff > Customer complaint received Customer complaint closed

Send personalized answer to customer, ... Customer ID (#), complaint result (Bool) Delivery notice (bool)

Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 complaints / workday inherited Description Input Output Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Service Level Send response Notify R & D ... Retrieve history Service Level Agreement (preliminary) Required Functionality Service Candidates Send overdraft Check Credit Rating Track Lead

Lead Mgmt.

Service Owner

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Illustration of the Solution

– Overview

Complaint #41 (Customer: #342) Complaint Customer Product Build 5 Negotiation 3 # _{Complaints resolved} in time [%] CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Service Owner Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department

-

?

-

?

Visibility: high Uncertainty: medium

-

? Monitoring / Accounting 6 Requirements Analysis 1 Assessment 4 Send response Retrieve history Notify R & D Calculate discount Get payment method

Add Customer to

Send E-Mail mms sms Complaint Handling Discount Manager Customer Manager Campaign Handler Appointment Manager Customer Credit Rating external Set reminder Check availability draft draft Service Mapping 2 Submit Cancel CRM Software requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System -id : Integer -created : Date -category : Integer Customer Messages -id : Integer -description : Text Complaint -id : Integer -created : Date Log «interface» messaging «uses» provided by Complaint Handling CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department # Avg. Load [#msg / day] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] CMDB Accounting $ requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System Complaint Handling Purchase Costs 5.000 €

License Costs per

year 25.000 € 02:54 minutes Utilization Average duration Availability Average costs / instance 1.20 $ (deco_mpos ition) (decom position ) Customer Service Complaints Management Respond to complaint < C. Care Staff > Complaint

Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 complaints / workday inherited Description Input Output Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Service Level Send response Notify R & D ... Retrieve history Service Level Agreement (preliminary) Required Functionality Service Candidates Send overdraft Check Credit Rating Track Lead

Lead Mgmt.

Service Owner

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Illustration of the Solution

Requirements Analysis 1 (deco mpos_ition) (decom position ) Customer Service Complaints Management Respond to complaint < C. Care Staff > Complaint

Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach

50 < x < 250 complaints / workday inherited Description Input Output Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Service Level Send response Notify R & D ... Retrieve history Service Level Agreement (preliminary) Required Functionality Service Candidates

Analysis Design Implementation Operation Withdrawal

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Illustration of the Solution

Send response Retrieve history

Notify R & D

Calculate discount Get payment method

Add Customer to

Send E-Mail mms sms Complaint Handling Discount Manager Customer Manager Campaign Handler Appointment Manager Customer Credit Rating external Set reminder Check availability draft draft Service Mapping 2 Send overdraft Check Credit Rating Track Lead

Lead Mgmt.

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11 Complaint #41 (Customer: #342) Complaint Customer Product Build 5 Submit Cancel CRM Software requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System -id : Integer -created : Date -category : Integer Customer Messages -id : Integer -description : Text Complaint -id : Integer -created : Date Log «interface» messaging «uses» provided by Complaint Handling

Illustration of the Solution

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Illustration of the Solution

Monitoring / Accounting 6 CMDB Accounting

$

requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System Complaint Handling Purchase Costs 5.000 €

License Costs per

year 25.000 € 02:54 minutes Utilization Average duration Availability Average costs / instance 1.20 $

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Illustration of the Solution

Monitoring / Accounting 6 CMDB Accounting

$

requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System Complaint Handling Purchase Costs 5.000 €

License Costs per

How to design a DSML that supports such analyses?

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 Development of such a method requires reconstructing the key

concepts of the ITSM domain

 Key domain concepts are IT service and (IT) service level

agreement

 General conceptualisation in Enterprise Modelling (business

context)

Design of a DSML in support of IT Service Management

name : String description : String lifecycleStatus : LifeCycleType IT Service 0..* 0..* realizes Business Process Organisational Role supports re sp on si bl e fo r Risk Indicator _{refers to} occurs for Goal description : String Functionality description : String priority : OrdinalScale Requirement satisfies 0..* 0..* has 1..* 1..* 0..* 1..* 0..* 0..* 0..* 0..* 0..* 0..*

Indicates reuse from existing modelling languages

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 Development of such a method requires reconstructing the key

concepts of the ITSM domain

 Key domain concepts are IT service and (IT) service level

agreement

 However, various open research questions

 What is a an appropriate conceptualisations of IT service?

 Which relations between IT services need to be differentiated?  Is it necessary to conceptualise “functionalities” provided by a

service?

 What is the “right“ level of abstraction to describe (IT) services?  How to model service level agreements (SLAs) in general and

juridical aspects in particular?

 …

Design of a DSML in support of IT Service Management

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 On the one hand, “IT Service” understood by all stakeholders ...

Reconstruction of key domain concepts

– “IT Service”

“An IT service describes any (IT-related) outcome of the IT organisation that is used by a customer.“

name : String description : String lifecycleStatus : LifeCycleType IT Service categoryName : String description : String Service Category b e lo n g s to 0..* 1..1

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 … on the other hand, common definition lacks a precise

semantic, thus does not allow for elaborated analyses or transformations

 We identified at least three reasonable “types” of IT Services

 outcome of an IT process (e.g., “Help Desk”, “Maintenance”)  outcome of an Information System (e.g., “Invoice Printing”)  functionality of a Software (e.g., as in SOA)

Reconstruction of key domain concepts

– “IT Service” name : String description : String lifecycleStatus : LifeCycleType IT Service IS Service supportTier : Integer contactPoint : String Support Service signature : InterfaceDescription standard : Standard SW Service Software Information System IT Process pr ov id ed b y _0..* 0..* prov id ed b y _0..* 0..* prov id ed b y _0..* 0..*

Do you see any further reasonable conceptualisations of “IT service”?

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 Various relations of “IT Service” suggested in literature, among

others

 “related to”, core, enhancing, associate, … IT service  “is part of” (another IT Service)

 ad 1) differentiation into core, supporting, … IT Services rather a

context specific role (instead meta types)

 ad 2) we suggest to differentiate between aggregation and

utilisation

Reconstruction of key domain concepts

– Associations of “IT Service”

IT Service pot. additive to aggregates similar to replaces uses

What about “similar” IT services (to avoid redundancy and support higher levels of abstraction)?

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 To avoid redundancy and to support higher level of abstraction,

the use of generalisation/specialisation seems to be promising.

 but: semantics and operationalization of service variation points

has not been clarified yet

Reconstruction of key domain concepts

– Associations of “IT Service”

IT Service pot. additive to aggregates specialised into replaces uses description : String variation : VariationType variability : VariationDependency Service Specialisation specialised by variation point

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 As an “additional“ concept …

 … or as a key interface between IT and business?

Reconstruction of key domain concepts

– “Service Level Agreement”

name : String description : String lifecycleStatus : LifeCycleType IT Service serviceLevel : OrdinalValue escalationProcedure : String freqOfReview : FrequencyType isInternalContract : Boolean SLA 1..* governs 0..* Business Process 0..* 0..* supports serviceLevel : OrdinalValue escalationProcedure : String freqOfReview : FrequencyType isInternalContract : Boolean SLA Business Process supports 0..* 0..* name : String description : String lifecycleStatus : LifeCycleType IT Service 0..* governs 1..*

… as well as various further questions guiding our research

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Questions, Answers & Discussion

Development of an Enterprise Modelling Method for IT Service Management

Enterprise Modelling

Design Alternatives for Meta Model Service

“Customer

Rating” “Customer Service

Data” Database Server “DB1” Database Server “DB2” Database Admin Application Server IS Organisation Action System Business Process 2 Service “Billing”

Domains and their professional languages Value Chain Diagram Business Process Map Strategy Net IT Resource Diagram Business Process

Diagram _{Object Model} Organisational

Chart

… enriched by IT Service concepts

Complaint #41 (Customer: #342) Complaint Customer Product Build 5 Negotiation 3 #Complaints resolved in time [%] CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Service Owner Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department

-?

Visibility: high Uncertainty: medium -? Monitoring / Accounting 6 Requirements Analysis 1 Assessment 4 Send response Retrieve history Notify R & D Calculate discount Get payment method Add Customer to

loyality program Service Catalog Send E-Mail mms sms Complaint Handling Discount Manager Customer Manager Campaign Handler Appointment Manager Customer Credit Rating external Set reminder Check availability draft draft Service Mapping 2 SubmitCancel CRM Software requires Database Server DBMS runs on

CRM-System-id : Integer -created : Date -category : Integer Customer Messages -id : Integer -description : Text Complaint -id : Integer -created : Date Log «interface» messaging «uses» provided by Complaint Handling CRM-System Complaint Handling Complaints Management provided by SLA Helpdesk Head of Customer Care IT Department # Avg. Load [#msg / day] # Avg. Delivery Time [s] CMDB Accounting $ requires Database Server DBMS runs on CRM-System Complaint Handling Purchase Costs 5.000 € License Costs per

(decomposition)

(decompos ition) Customer Service Complaints Management Respond to complaint < C. Care Staff > Complaint answered Update Customer History

< C. Care Staff > Customer complaint received Customer complaint closed Send personalized answer to customer, ... Customer ID (#), complaint result (Bool) Delivery notice (bool) Delivery within 90 minutes Multi channel approach 50 < x < 250 complaints / workday inherited Description Input Output Required Performance Future Requirements Expected Load Service Level Send response Notify R & D ... Retrieve history Service Level Agreement (preliminary) Required Functionality Service Candidates Send overdraft Check Credit Rating Track Lead Lead Mgmt. Service Owner Development of a DSML for ITSM

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References

 Frank U (2006) Towards a Pluralistic Conception of Research Methods in Information

Systems Research. ICB Research Report. 7. Universität Duisburg-Essen. 2006.

 Frank U (2008) The MEMO Meta Modelling Language (MML) and Language Architecture.

ICB Research Report. 24. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen. 2008.

 Frank U (2010) Outline of a Method for Designing Domain-Specific Modelling Languages.

ICB Research Report. 42. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen. 2010.

 Frank U, Heise D, Kattenstroth H, Ferguson D, Hadar E, Waschke M (2009) ITML: A

Domain-Specific Modeling Language for Supporting Business Driven IT Management. In: Proc. of the 9th OOPSLA workshop on domain-specific modeling (DSM '09), Helsinki.

 Frank U, Heise D, Kattenstroth H (2009) Use of a Domain Specific Modeling Language for

Realizing Versatile Dashboards. In: Tolvanen J, Rossi M, Gray J, Sprinkle J (Hrsg.) Proc. of the 9th OOPSLA workshop on domain-specific modeling (DSM '09), Helsinki.