IT4IT™ for Managing the Business of IT - A Management Guide

Rob Akershoek Et Al.

• Publisher: Van Haren Publishing
• Year: 1970
• ISBN:
  9789401805933
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The IT4IT Management Guide provides guidance on how the IT4IT Reference Architecture can be used within an IT organization to manage the business of IT. It is designed to provide a guide to business managers, CIOs, IT executives, IT professionals, and all individuals involved or interested in how to transition an IT organization to become a Lean and Agile IT service provider.This book includes two case studies from Shell and the Rabobank.After reading this document you should be able to: •Understand why the IT4IT approach is needed to improve the performance of the IT function; and support the business to leverage new IT in the digital age•Understand the vision, scope, and content of the IT4IT Reference Architecture (from a high-level perspective)•Understand the benefits of using the IT4IT Reference Architecture within the IT function•Initiate the first steps to implement the IT4IT standard in your own IT organizationThe audience for this Management Guide is: •CIOs and other IT executive managers who would like to transform their IT organization to support end-to-end value streams•Senior leaders and executives in the business and IT responsible for how IT is organized, managed, and improved•Enterprise Architects involved in the implementation of IT management solutions within the IT organization•IT professionals and consultants involved in the transition of their organizations to a new streamlined IT factory

Chapter 1
Executive Summary

Business is in the middle of an unfolding era of disruption, driven by digital transformation, which challenges how IT is organized and managed today. The role of IT in the business is elevated from being a support function to an enabler to drive innovation, enhance competitive advantage, boost productivity, and reduce cost by applying new innovative technology. However, new technologies, such as big data and cloud, can only provide value to the business if these can be properly implemented and managed. Unfortunately, most IT organizations are not ready to cope with this new demand of IT and are therefore headed for a crisis. More and more IT leaders realize that the current IT operating models are no longer viable and that the IT function needs to reinvent itself. A fundamentally different approach is needed than how we plan, build, deliver, and run IT today.

Despite the availability of many best practices, frameworks, and standards for managing IT, enterprises often suffer from poor services and high costs and risks due to a silo’ed IT function with badly integrated IT management tools. To reinvent IT, the CIOs must go beyond current process-based approaches and equip their teams with the right information and tools to support new ecosystem collaborations, completely automate end-to-end workflows, and provide the business with the controls to govern IT. The Open Group IT4IT Reference Architecture standard with its value-chain-based IT operating model address this problem by providing a prescriptive and detailed information model-based framework that enhances and supports traditional process-based frameworks and standards.

The IT4IT Reference Architecture was created because there is a need for a holistic, concise, and structured standard of how IT should be managed in order to provide maximum value for the business (managing IT as a business) based upon the IT Value Chain.

The IT4IT standard is a vendor-neutral open standard for managing the business of IT. It is developed and maintained by The Open Group IT4IT Forum, in which consumer organizations, IT vendors, and academic institutions participate. The standard is designed to be used with process-based frameworks and standards such as ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 for IT Service Management. While these frameworks and standards place emphasis on process, the IT4IT Reference Architecture focuses on the capabilities and information needed to manage a service through its lifecycle. It defines how the IT function can be supported by information systems automating the IT activities as well as providing the necessary insight to improve IT decision-making and support continuous improvement.

As “IT for IT” implies, it refers to the internal activities and relationships within the IT function of an enterprise. It is about improving the business of IT by using IT as effectively as businesses use IT. The standard enables optimized IT resources (in particular IT management information systems), together with more efficient and controlled IT operations. These IT-related results can be translated into benefits for the enterprise in terms of improvement to the financial bottom line, the risk profile, and to enable the business to enhance its competitive position.

1.1   Benefits

The IT4IT Reference Architecture describes how the new IT function should be managed to optimize the value of IT for the business. Like a business, IT’s strategic goal is to create value via IT. This value can come through enabling the business to develop innovative products and/or services, expanding markets (growth strategy), or helping the business become more efficient and cost-effective (productivity).

The IT4IT Reference Architecture enables a more streamlined, transparent, and automated IT function across the entire IT value chain.

Both the enterprise’s operating expenditure and capital expenditure are reduced. Operating expenditure is reduced by making both IT operations and business operations more efficient. The improvement in IT development and operations efficiency is realized by improving the information exchange across all parts of the IT function as well as automating IT management tasks. Improving the adaptability of the IT operating model and therefore reducing the impact and cost of changes also reduce IT operating expenditure. The efficiency improvement in business operations is realized by reducing the number and size of IT-related business disruptions, and by accelerated deployment of any IT functionality that improves business operations efficiency. Rationalizing the information systems used to manage and support the IT function reduces capital expenditure. For enterprises with a large IT function, an IT cost reduction of between 5% and 20% is feasible.

The enterprise’s risk profile is improved by greater transparency and tighter control of IT services throughout its lifecycle and therefore more predictable costs, delivery, and quality of IT services, leading in turn to more predictable business operations.

Improving business operations, enhancing competitive advantage, and boosting customer loyalty by quicker introduction of new or improved products realize the improvement of the enterprise’s revenue. Customer loyalty is improved by more reliable IT services that impact customers directly or indirectly. Products that depend on IT can be launched quicker due to the improved throughput of IT operations.

1.2   Transformation and Reshaping the IT Function

The transformation that is needed to realize these benefits entails adoption of the IT4IT standard. The standard comprises a reference architecture and value chain-based IT operating model for managing the business of IT. The reference architecture and IT operating model cover all of the activities that are needed to provide business functions with appropriate IT services.

The IT4IT Reference Architecture describes the IT function from a value focused end-to-end perspective covering all capabilities and data needed to manage the IT services. It describes the IT function both as IT service provider to the business, and as consumer of IT services that support the IT function. The standard specifies the IT function’s workflows, integrations, data, and functions as requirements for (automated) information systems that support the IT function.

The transformation can be undertaken incrementally, enabling the benefits to be realized as soon as possible.

1.3   Target Audience

The IT4IT Reference Architecture is primarily aimed at IT functions within enterprises that rely on large, complex, and changeable information systems, which are supported by multiple internal and external parties. These IT functions can improve the quality and cost of their IT services by adopting the IT4IT value stream approach, and by stipulating that IT tools and IT services comply with the IT4IT interoperability standards.

The IT4IT standard is therefore relevant for not only the enterprise’s internal IT function, but also for external tool vendors, IT management improvement consultancies, external IT service providers, external IT component providers, and training and certification providers. Within these organizations, the IT4IT standard should attract the interest of senior managers and their trusted advisors, and those who are tasked with actually improving the “business of IT”.

1.4   Complementary with ITIL and Other Frameworks and Standards

The IT4IT Reference Architecture should be used together with other standards and frameworks, such as PMBOK Guide, COBIT, and ITIL for IT Service Management. The IT Value Chain-based IT operating model complements these existing standards and process best practices by combining them into an overarching blueprint, in which Enterprise Architecture, portfolio management, project management, and service development are integrated with IT Service Management, enabling the IT function to be managed from an end-to-end perspective.

The IT4IT Reference Architecture’s Service Model, Information Model, Functional Model, and Integration Model add a layer of prescriptive detail to COBIT and ITIL-based processes, providing the IT function with requirements for selecting and implementing interoperable IT solutions that support and automate activities within the IT function. This includes developing more flexible IT processes and IT management solutions and building stronger, more fluid connections among employees and with customers and vendors.

Chapter 2
Introduction

This chapter provides a brief introduction to IT management and the IT4IT Reference Architecture. It highlights the challenges and gaps within the current IT function, builds a case for change, and explains why there is a need to transform the IT organization using the IT4IT value streams and the IT4IT Reference Architecture as an enabler to improve the value of IT for the business.

Topics addressed in this chapter:

• An introduction to IT management, including its challenges and issues. This explains the problem that the IT4IT Reference Architecture is resolving.

• An overview of key demands and drivers for changing the current IT function (to become a service broker and integrator). This explains why the IT4IT approach is important for the new IT organization.

• A high-level introduction to the IT4IT standard explaining the IT4IT value streams and IT4IT Reference Architecture. These are both described in detail in Chapter 3.

• The positioning of the IT4IT standard versus other industry best practices and standards such as ITIL, explaining how the IT4IT approach is complementary to existing best practices.

2.1 What is IT Management (and IT4IT)?

The IT function needs to be managed similar to the business having its own value chain, processes, and information systems. IT4IT (or IT for the IT function) refers to all the capabilities you need to manage IT services throughout its entire lifecycle. Similar to the business using IT to support or automate its business processes, the IT organization uses IT to support and automate IT management processes. This includes information systems such as a Project Portfolio Management (PPM) system, development and testing tools, a Configuration Management Database (CMDB), or an IT Service Management (ITSM) system for managing incidents, problems, and changes. All these IT management tools represent “IT for the IT organization”, therefore referred to as IT4IT. The IT organization is becoming more dependent upon these information systems to automate IT management activities such as build, test, deploy, monitor, and perform automated recovery. Due to the growing importance of IT management to demonstrate the value of IT, but also due to its increase in complexity, there is need to acquire new skills and competences within the IT organization to deliver these integrated IT4IT solutions.

IT needs to be managed; it will not take care of itsel...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Colofon
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• Trademarks
• Acknowledgements
• Referenced Documents
• 1 Executive Summary
• 2 Introduction
• 3 The IT4IT Standard in Detail
• 4 The Benefits of Using the IT4IT Standard
• 5 How to Use the IT4IT Reference Architecture
• A Case Studies
• B IT4IT Reference Architecture and Other Best Practices
• C IT4IT Tool Categories
• D IT4IT Data Entities
• Glossary of Key Terms and Acronyms
• Index