When evaluating system software requirements for the business one of the first things to ask yourself would be, is it a major piece of system software that is to be implemented?
The evaluation process can be quite complex. How do you know if the software package you’re considering is important enough for the business to install? Major systems software installations have a dramatic impact on your ability to operate and achieve your objective, and they aren’t measured by a budget, and they’re measured by the impact to the business. To help identify a major software purchase, things that are to be taken into consideration are such things as is the software application to be used, cover a significant percentage of the businesses staff, and will multiple departments and or organisational units be using this software within the company. Also another consideration to take would be, will the software easily integrate and bind with or within other data systems within the business. This is where by studying MOF it can aid you considerably, also another thing to taking into consideration, is if in the event the software should become unstable or unusable once deployed, would it have a significant impact on your Company’s ability to operate? This potentially could cause serious problems for you and your career! Giving significant attention to these types of major decisions is likely to save your business a considerable amount of risk in the long run, and yourself from a great deal of hassle through the implementation of MOF.
Hardware is the devices and other physical things involved in processing information, such as computers, workstations, physical networks, and data storage and transmission devices. Determining the exact hardware organisation can be a difficult process. The systems department will have a certain degree of freedom to specify what supporting software you will use. If a particular piece of software helps you maintain your systems, such as Microsoft Systems Manager, you should be allowed to install and use it, assuming it meets the requirements of the service management framework (MOF) and also your business basic software requirements (such as adequate security features and technical support).
According to (MICROSOFT, 2008) “Service management frameworks are the best available IT practices which are integrated, and to align IT to the business environment. They look in great detail at the principles and activities of information technology, and provide a firm set of comprehensive guidelines and policies for achieving stability, reliability for IT solutions and services. The framework looks at taking under its structure all of the actions and business processes involved in managing a solid IT service. It looks at the overall conception, development operation, down to covering system maintenance right through to the final point of retiring an operational system”. The framework contains various service management functions known as (SMFs), which are collated together in various intelligent phases, that replicate the IT service life cycle. Each of these (SMfs) is pinned within a lifecycle phase. MOF can also decrease the risk of poor communication between teams in the IT department, by delivering better communication and co-ordination between the various teams involved in a project. Where an IT team has implemented MOF they can potentially recognise compliance and security issues when policies are reviewed. System testing is usually a process carried out by IT departments, and MOF, if it has been implemented can discover possible system integration issues prior to any new software being rolled out to a business. MOF has been developed from a core understanding of the lifecycle phases of IT. These include planning and optimizing the IT service to align with the overall business strategy, through the design and delivery of the IT service at hand, to its on-going and operational support, thus offering huge benefits.
There is a foundation of IT governance, risk management for business, compliance, organization for the IT teams, and change control management. Within the ITIL Service Level Management (SLM) is one of five components in the ITIL Service Delivery area, according to (Team Quest ITIL Service Level Management, 2008) “It is arguably the most important set of processes within the ITIL framework. SLM processes provide a framework by which services are defined, service levels required to support business processes are agreed upon, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) are developed to satisfy the agreements, and costs of services are developed. Benefits of this to the business and or client can enable a better understanding between the business units and the IT department setting a more accurate service quality expectation, measuring, monitoring and reporting on service quality. By adopting this practice they can clearly define roles and responsibilities, providing the necessary flexibility for the business to react extremely quickly to current market conditions, and creating a more accurate infrastructure sizing based on clearly defining service levels”.
The ways in which the Microsoft operation Framework, improve IT service delivery is broad. It can capture the business needs and requirements prior to planning a suitable cost effective solution. It can provide a very clear functional specification of system design, and will aid in the development of work flow plans, IT cost estimation, and schedules for roll outs. The framework can also build and offer a solid solution to a customer or the business need, so that all the features as specified are complete and the solution is openly ready for external testing and stabilization. The framework will also aid in the release of a high quality system solution by proven performance testing and candidate piloting - testing in a controlled environment. The main function of Service delivery is to help the IT professionals work within the walls of a project management discipline to build, stabilize, and also aid deployment of IT services, software applications, and any network infrastructure upgrades, in the most timely and efficient way possible. Also in terms of delivering a great service MOF also has excellent reliability plans and has procedures put into place for IT policies, which are required for an effective management of any quality IT service delivery. The IT standards for instance, that MOF has in place can ensure that the service capacity, service availability, continuity and data integrity are aligned to business needs, in a manner which is cost effective to the business. In terms of a financial matter to the business the service delivery will help to accurately predict, and account for, optimizing costs of required resources to deliver end-to-end IT services, and an accurate accounting method of IT expenditures which is of a huge benefit to clients or any business.
In terms of a deliverable solution MOF will build a solution that will meet the business or clients’ needs and expectations and specifications, and also a final design of infrastructure that meets to precision, the business users and operators of the system requirements. Within the operations of a day to day business, using the operate phase of MOF it will benefit the business, and can also free up time for the operations staff by reducing annoying reactive work. The amount of system disruptions and downtime can also be considerably reduced, and the framework can also execute recurring IT operations work far more effectively and efficiently. It is only a beginning within other attempts to tackle the IS researchers role in shaping The future and stability of IT systems. Whether it is speculating on particular technological improvement, or a system tweak, and by exploring the foundations of the service management frameworks, through implementation of it within many businesses and organisations, or critiquing the limited possibilities.
My own view is on conclusion and summing up is that within visions of the future, the future of MOF and ITIL and their practice is both potentially limitless and unnecessarily limited. Our only enduring role in the future may be the stabilisation of IT systems through the implementation of operational frameworks such as MOF and ITIL. Only short of of observing and understanding, what we think is endurable, critiquing what we come to realize is unnecessarily durable, and considering and prompting the potential and need for operational frameworks to become mandatory within the commissioning of any system. Our Service management frameworks for thinking, observing, writing, and participating in I can only foresee them continually adapting and growing in alignment with the future of businesses IT requirements. In Dealing with the business continuity, the IT systems of the future may, therefore, be open to continuous exploration and experimentation within the use of service management frameworks, and one can only foresee a wonderful future indeed for operational frameworks based upon MOF and ITIL, to produce systems of rock solid integrity, peak system performance, and efficiency to the most optimal levels that could ever be possibly achieved, or even ever dreamed of.
Works Cited
Word Count 2038
ARRAJ, Valerie. 2007. ITIL. [online]. [Accessed 3 Jan 2012]. Available from World Wide Web: < HYPERLINK "http://www.best-management-practice.com/gempdf/ITIL_The_Basics.pdf" http://www.best-management-practice.com/gempdf/ITIL_The_Basics.pdf >
LAUDON, Kenneth C. Laudon Jane P. 2012. Management Information Systems Managing The Digital Firm Twelth Edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
MICROSOFT. 2008. Solution Accelerators. [online]. Available from World Wide Web: < HYPERLINK "http://www.microsoft.com/technet/SolutionAccelerators" http://www.microsoft.com/technet/SolutionAccelerators >
SAUNDERS, Keri E. Pearlson Carol S. 2009. Managing and Using Information Systems. Sussex: Wiley, John & Sons Incorporated.
Team Quest ITIL Service Level Management. 2008. [online]. [Accessed 9 Jan 2012]. Available from World Wide Web: < HYPERLINK "http://www.teamquest.com/solutions/itil/service-delivery/service-level-management/index.htm" http://www.teamquest.com/solutions/itil/service-delivery/service-level-management/index.htm >