IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Best Practice Framework

ITIL recognises that information is possibly the most important strategic resource that any organisation has to manage. This information is invariably held within IT systems, which makes the support, delivery and management of these systems crucial to business success.

The ITIL framework is the most widely used management approach to the delivery and support of IT services and infrastructure, world-wide. It provides best practice guidelines on all aspects of IT Service Management, recognising that people, processes, products and partners are all key players and can all affect the quality of service provided to both external and internal customers.

From a customer perspective you can rest assured that your supported systems will be managed professionally, efficiently and effectively. Also the in-built assessment and improvement mechanisms within ITIL lead to further improvements in processes and ultimately our customer service levels.  Indeed, one of ITIL’s greatest strengths is its’ fluidity. It is not ‘set in stone’ and it can be adapted and modified to suit changing business needs.
ITIL is divided into two distinct areas, Service Support and Service Delivery.

Service Support is operational by nature, covering Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management and Configuration Management. The Incident Management area is particularly visible to our customers, as this encompasses our Service Desk work in dealing with any support incidents that you may have logged. The Configuration Management area is perhaps less visible from the customer perspective, but is equally important. In short, Configuration Management records the ‘links’ between configuration items such as individuals, PCs, networks, servers, buildings etc. For example, if a user calls with an issue with their computer, Configuration Management allows us to see the links from that user to a particular PC, what network that PC sits on, along with its’ physical location and any other relevant details. This information can ultimately lead to a quicker diagnosis of the problem, a more effective fix rate and greater awareness of possible future issues.

Service Delivery is more strategic by nature and covers Service Level Management, Financial Management for IT Services and longer term functions such as Capacity Management, IT Service Continuity Management and Availability Management. From our customers’ perspective the Service Delivery area of ITIL will typically encompass Account Management activities and Service Levels Agreements (SLAs) along with planning your IT needs into the future and disaster recovery planning.

ITIL is a key element of how we work at Perfect Image.  We manage our own internal IT systems using this framework, as well as those of our customers.