Steps to a successful Service Transition – new white paper by Plan-Net

Plan-Net has issued a new white paper that guides IT professionals through the essential steps needed to perform a Service Transition with successful results.

Whether the IT Support model is to be transitioned from in-house to Co-Sourced, Co-Sourced to fully Outsourced or in-house to Outsourced, this white paper outlines each important stage of the process, whilst also providing the reader with some tips and further insights into the matter.

This white paper, written by Pete Canavan, Head of Support Services, was conceived to help with the growing need for organisations to change the way they manage their IT department in order to achieve greater cost-efficiency. The IT Service Desk is nowadays the backbone of most organisations; for it to not only support the business, but create value and actually improve the way work is carried out, the service needs to be efficient, well-managed and up-to-date with the latest innovations.

This is why sometimes it may be more convenient for an organisation to seek external help. It is common practice for many organisations to have some Co-Sourced staff to cover for absences or sudden increases in workload. Moreover, an increasing number of companies even decide to leave the Service Desk completely in the hands of the experts and have it managed by a service provider.

The white paper contains details of five key Service Transition phases:

• Scope definition
• Future state model identification
• Roadmap and Service Design
• Service Transition phase
• Live service and Continual Service Improvement

It also contains highlights on:

• Communication
• Knowledge management
• Soft skills
• Dos and Don’ts

“Steps to a successful Service Transition” can be found and downloaded here: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-718177f6.html

Alternatively, it can also be found here: http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/168103-Steps-to-a-successful-Service-Transition

For more information contact:

Samantha Selvini

Press Officer

Tel: 020 7632 7990

Email: samantha.selvini@plan-net.co.uk

From ITIL v2 to v3 – where to start?

ITIL v2 and v3 have been peacefully coexisting since the release of the new version in 2007, but with the forthcoming phasing out of v2 starting this year, many organisations are starting to plan their transition towards v3.  It is always hard to switch from the comfort of a widely-practiced and familiar method to a new version of it, and although most organisations seem to understand the tangible benefits of the enhanced discipline, the question remains: where do you start?

The problem, in fact, is often not why but how to carry out the transition – moving your organisation from operating in a v2 world to working more strategically in a v3 mindset requires a scale of undertaking that can be difficult when locked into busy operational roles.

So what is the first step?

As with all investments, you have to target what will give you the best ROI.  This means building on the investments you have made in V2 and using them as a launch pad into V3 while introducing only the V3 processes, which tangibly increases the value of the existing processes in place.

For many organisations, the first step forward is to close the front door of Service operations to Projects, throwing rubbish into BAU. To do this, the ideal move is to take a step back in the V3 lifecycle, into the Service Transition Planning and Support process.

Service Transition Planning and Support is a new V3 process which deals with the softer side of managing the transition of a service from Project to Operations.  It enhances the effectiveness of Change, Configuration, Incident and Release Management from version 2 by acting as the gatekeeper for BAU, ensuring their requirements are addressed before the Project is dropped on them.  It also helps Projects successfully navigate the engagement into Operations and those same processes.  Too often Projects and Operations work to two different agendas – V3 now gives us a process to bind the two together.

Starting the implementation of v3 through the Service Transition Planning and Support Process, then, is the ideal approach for a better understanding of the new and improved processes while easing the stress of getting accustomed to novelty. An integrated approach such as the one presented in this section is important for a better alignment of the organisation’s Service Transition plans with those of the customer and supplier, bringing business value as it improves the organisation’s ability to handle high volumes of change and releases across the whole of its customer base.

 

Will Sanderson, Service Management Consultant

 

This article has appeared on Fresh Business Thinking: http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?AID=4587&Title=From+Information+Technology+Infrastructure+Library+(ITIL)+V2+To+V3+%96+Where+To+Start%3F