In preparation for my ‘Around ITIL
in 30 Analogies’ for the LeadIT itSMF-A conference in August, and as I was
travelling around the country recently, I decided to work out an analogy for
service management, using an airline.
An airline is a popular analogy. I
use it to explain the main reason for process documentation (process manual,
procedures, work instructions, etc.): You wouldn’t want your pilot to just
‘wing’ the landing, but rather that he follows a predefined and well-trained
procedure that will be audited by the co-pilot. Like-so Customers don’t want us
to ‘wing it’ in IT but follow well-defined and documented (ITIL) processes.
So, to start with Service Strategy,
an airline company will need to have an idea of the market they operate in (local,
regional, global) and the offering they provide (freight, short-haul,
cut-price, business). When it comes to adding a new service (or route or type
of plane) into the Portfolio\pipeline, they need to know the Demand (A380 or Cessna),
costs & projected revenue (budget\Financial) and (business) relationships
with suppliers (airline manufacturers, airports, …) and major customers (and
for a type 3 or commercial provider this could include things like market
research). All this will lead to a Business Case (Service Package) and the
go\no-go decision.
But, let’s make it a go so we can
progress with Service Design. We need to look at capacity (how many flights,
type of plane, gates at departure and arrival airports; for instance how many
business class seats), availability (the reliability, maintainability -or
serviceability- of the planes, gates, maintenance …; for instance how many
flights a day/week), continuity (DR plans, safety procedures) and security
(locked cockpit doors etc.). Detailed design would go into the entertainment on
board, catering (options), cleaning, maintenance, crew-rotation, …
The underpinning contracts and operational
level agreements (the latter implied or formal) need to be drafted. As this example\analogy
is not a business-2-business service there isn’t really an service level
agreement (SLA) but the correct information of the flights (dates, times, …)
needs to be communicated either through the Service Catalogue (website,
marketing material) or the ‘SLA’ (the ticket purchased by ‘the Customer’).
Once the Service Design (Package) is
completed, we can commence with the Service Transition. This implementation
project needs to be planned well. All components need to be tested (material,
boarding procedure, check-in, …), perhaps even piloted. Training needs to take
place as well as communication to make sure all stakeholders are prepared for
what’s coming. The (asset) records need to be updated and any knowledge from
the design\test teams needs to be transferred to the operational staff (and
procedures). And finally Early Life Support will monitor the ‘go-live’ and make
minor adjustment to ‘smooth’ the transition into Service Operation (read for a
good ‘bad’ example about Heathrow’s Terminal 5 or the Boeing Dreamliner issues).
Service Operations is
Business-As-Usual (BAU), routine day-to-day running of the services, in our
case the new flights, plane etc. Event management will monitor the situation
(through the Operations management function) and detect changes of state that
have significance. Some of these are normal (a plane arrival triggers cleaning,
refuelling etc.), some indicate an exception (plane delayed).
If an Incident happens (being an unplanned
interruption) passengers can contact a Service Desk. Through categorisation and
prioritisation action will be taken to find a short-term solution (for instance
passengers who missed their flight can be booked on the next available one).
For persistent, reoccurring or major incidents, root cause analysis will be
performed to find the Known Error and a permanent solution (-all- the iPads on
board cannot use a certain app, which needs to be upgraded). This will require
a change (back to design & transition).
Passengers can also contact the
Service Desk (or a Self Help portal) to make requests, such as special meals,
preferred seating (perhaps with an additional payment) etc.
And finally the company needs to
continuously strive to do everything better, higher, faster, stronger, cheaper
(CSI).
You see, it is not hard to come up
with ‘real world’ analogies that show the universal application of the ITIL
service management principles. I am a big fan of using these kinds of analogies
as it makes the dry and sometimes theoretic content of the ITIL publications
much more tangible for students and staff. Try it yourself, and before you know
you’ll be ‘up, up and away’!
the ITIL Zealot
June 2013
June 2013