ITIL^® Intermediate Qualification:
Service Operation

Introduction and Overview

Service operation and the overall ITIL Lifecycle

• Principles and objectives
• Functions and common activities
• How service operation creates business value

Balancing conflicting goals

• Internal IT vs. external business view
• Stability vs. responsiveness
• Quality of service vs. cost of service
• Reactive and proactive activities

Core Service Operation Processes

Policies, principles and basic concepts

• Purpose and objectives
• Value to business
• Process activities, methods and techniques
• Triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces
• Challenges and risks

Primary ITIL processeswithin service operation

• Event management: active and passive monitoring
• Restoring normal service quickly through incident management
• Request fulfillment
• Managing problems with root cause analysis
• Access management

Common Service Operation Activities

Monitoring and control of IT operations

• Detecting the status of services and CIs
• Taking appropriate corrective action
• Console management/operations bridge: a central coordination point for monitoring and managing services

Management of the infrastructure

• Mainframe, server and network management
• Storage and database administration
• Managing directory services and desktop support
• Facilities and datacenter management
• Improving operational activities

Operational aspects of processes from other lifecycle phases

• Change, configuration and release
• Availability
• Capacity
• Service continuity

Organizing for Service Operation

Mapping service operation functions to activities

• Roles and responsibilities
• Understanding the organizational context

Service operation structure

• Service desk
• Technical management
• IT operations management
• Application management

Key functions of the service desk

• Logging incidents and requests
• First-line investigation and diagnosis
• Managing the lifecycle of incidents and requests
• Keeping users informed

Structuring the service desk

• Local vs. centralized
• The virtual service desk
• Follow the sun operation

Technology-Related Issues

• Technology, tools and expertise requirements
• Defining architecture standards
• Involvement in the design and build of new services and operational practices
• Contributing to service design, service transition and continual service improvement projects
• Evaluating change requests
• Matching technology to the organizational situation

Implementation Challenges and Risks

• Managing change in service operation
• Service operation and project management
• Assessing and managing risk
• Operational staff in design and transition
• Planning and implementing service management technologies
• Identifying critical success factors (CSFs) and how they contribute to service operation