| Module 1.1 – ITIL v3 Functions, Roles and Processes … and some other stuff too. |
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 IT Contractor free training of ITIL v3 As you have seen in the first part of this tutorial, there is a few terms and expressions relied on in ITIL v3, well, its not over yet, but, you have to get this nailed before you can move on or nothing else will make sense, and feel free to refer back to these primary pages, you IT Contractors out there will need them until the ITIL phraseology burns deep into your mind and the words burnt well into your corneas!
Function A Team or group of people and the tools they use to carry out one or more processes or activities, Role A Set of responsibilities, activities and authorities granted to a person or team Process A set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective; a process takes defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. A process may include roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to deliver the outputs
FUNCTIONS are units of organisations specialized to perform certain types of work and responsible for specific outcomes. They are self-contained with capabilities and resources necessary for their performance outcomes. Capabilities include work methods internal to the functions. Functions have their own body of knowledge, which accumulates from experience. They provide structure and stability to organisations.
A ROLE refers to a set of connected behaviours or actions that are performed by a person, team or group in a specific context. For example a technical management department can perform the role of problem management when diagnosing the root cause of incidents. This same department could also be expected to play several other roles at different times, for example, they may asses the impact of changes (Change Management Roles), Manage the performance of devices under their control (Capacity management role), etc. The scope of their role and what triggers them to play that role are defined by the relevant process, and agreed by their line manager.
PROCESSES sae defined activities intended to transform a set of inputs towards a specific, desirable result. Processes describe actions, dependencies and sequence, are measurable, and deliver their primary results to a customer or stakeholder.
And if you thought that description was a bit light, don’t worry there’s more explanations coming.
A Process Model
A Process model enables understanding and helps to articulate the distinctive features of a process.
Processes, once defined, should be documented and controlled; once under control, they can be repeated and become manageable.
The generic process elements show that data enters the process, is processed, is output and the outcome is measured and reviewed. This very basic description underpins any process description. A process is always organised around a set of objectives. The main outputs from the process should be driven by the objectives and should always include process measurements (metrics), reports and process improvement.
Each process should be owned by a process owner who should be responsible for the process and its improvements and for ensuring that a process meets its objectives. The objectives of any IT process should be defined in measurable terms and should be expressed in terms of business benefits and underpin business strategy and goals.
Characteristics of Processes
Processes are examples of closed loop systems because they provide change transformation towards a goal, and utilise feedback for self-reinforcing and self-corrective action. It’s important to consider the entire process or how one process fits into another.
How to recognise a process
Processes have the following characteristics:
Measurable – We are able to measure the process in a relevant manner. It is performance driven. Managers want to measure cost, quality and other variables while practitioners are concerned with duration and productivity.
Specific results – the reason a process exists is to deliver a specific result. This result must be individually identifiable and countable. While we can count Changes, it is impossible to count how many service desks were completed. So change is a process and Service Desk is not; it’s a function.
Customers – Every process delivers its primary results to a customer or stakeholder. They may be internal or external to the organisation but the process must meet their expectations.
Responds to a specific event – While a process may n ongoing or iterative, it should be traceable to a specific trigger.
In the next part we will look at the service lifecycle, so be sure to register for a free account as the rest of the ITIL v3 course will be for members only.
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