SESSION 804 Friday, November 3,10:15am - 11:15am

Track: The Specialist

ITSM Governance Is Imperative to Succeed

Thorsten Manthey Director, TCS thorsten@tmanthey.com

Session Description Here’s a fact: ITSM governance is imperative to the success of ITSM programs. This session will describe what must be done to establish a comprehensive ITSM governance framework to ensure long-term success and return on ITSM investment. Join us to find out what governance roles should be defined, what each role is accountable for, how escalation is managed, the communication channels necessary, and the required organizational structures needed to succeed.

Speaker Background Thorsten Manthey is passionate about IT Service Management, ITSM governance and cultural and organizational transformation. Thorsten has worked across multiple industries including health care, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, financial services, insurance and telecommunications in North America, Europe and Scandinavia. Thorsten holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering and is an ITIL V3 Expert and ITIL V2 master, and a Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP). Thorsten speaks English, German and Swedish and is an international speaker and presenter.

ITSM Governance is Imperative to Succeed

Ensuring clear roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, escalation paths and thresholds are defined for IT Service Management.

Establishing a Strategic Process Roadmap.

What is ITSM Governance?If you ask 10 people what ITSM Governance is, you will likely get 11 different answers…

The Beast

Governance vs. Management

• Management plans, builds, runs and monitors activities in alignment with the direction set by the governance body to achieve the enterprise objectives.

• Governance ensures that stakeholder needs, conditions and options are evaluated to determine balanced, agreed-on enterprise objectives to be achieved; setting direction through prioritization and decision making; and monitoring performance and compliance against agreed-on direction and objectives.

COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT

Process Manager vs. Process Owner

The Process Manager is concerned

with the management of the process

(e.g. day-to-day execution,

measurements, documentation,

training etc.)

The Process Owner is concerned

with the govern the process

(e.g. set direction, prioritization,

goal setting, decision making

etc.).

Both roles are required but can in some cases be executed by the same person.

ITSM Governance – An Actionable DefinitionThe organizational structures that need to be put in place, the

roles that need to be assigned, responsibilities and

accountabilities for each role, the meetings and councils to

be established to manage escalations and defined thresholds

in order to operate and govern IT Processes, Technology

Platforms and IT Services within our IT organization.

This is a very “actionable” definition of ITSM Governance I have used in some organizations

1. Establish Organizational Structures

2. Identify and assign Roles

3. Make sure Responsibilities & Accountabilities are clear

4. Set up Meetings & Councils to communicate and share info

5. Manage Escalations and defined Thresholds

6. Define a clear scope (Processes, Technology & Services)

IT Strategy & Vision• Strategic Plans• Business Alignment• Vision & Mission

Process Manager and Technical Review Council (PMTRC)

Process Manager / Technology Review (Operationally responsible for a

consistent execution/integration)

Process Meetings for each ProcessPractitioners / Process Engineers

(across organization / functional areas)

Process Owner and Architecture Council (POAC)

Process Owner / Platform Architect (Strategic & long term goals. Strategic

Roadmaps)

IT Governance Board (ITGB)

Process Operation• Process Execution• Process Documentation• Process Training• Automation & Technology• Monitoring & Reporting of

KPIs and Metrics

Process Strategy• Strategic Process Roadmap• Strategic Platform Roadmap• 12-month rolling plan• Set process / platform goals,

scope and future maturity• Prioritization and decisions

Threshold for escalation• Impacting >1 processes• Tool / Process integrations• Process Input / Output

Threshold for escalation• Funding request e.g. >$1• New tools / technology• Tool customization• Staff changes / updates• Strategic process impact

Threshold for escalation• New funding e.g. > $25.000• New tools / technology• Organizational changes• Strategic / Roadmaps

Consolidated Strategic Roadmaps

ITSM Governance Framework Focus Escalation(Examples only, organizational specific)

PMTRC

POAC

ITGB

IT and Business Leaders(Business and IT Vision)

SME

John Co

nfi

g M

anag

er

Fred

2. John, that is a great idea but I must check with the other processes e.g. Change and the Problem process that will be affected by this change / modification of the CI attribute.

SME Process Manager

Process Manager and Technology Review Council

1. The Configuration Management process would improve if I could modify this Attribute to the ABC CI. I will ask Fred, my Process Manager, if we can do that in the tool.

Escalation8. If no resolution can be found in the PMTRC or a thresholds is breached it is escalated to the Process Owner and Architecture Board

STRATEGICTACTICAL

PMTRC

Fred

Co

nfi

gura

tio

n

Man

agem

ent

PaulPro

ble

m M

anag

emen

t

EricaCh

ange

Man

agem

ent

CarlaInci

den

t M

anag

emen

t

David Pla

tfo

rm /

Te

chn

olo

gy

4. Fred, great idea! I think it will improve my process as well.

5. Fred, I think this will work if we do the following changes to the CI Attribute you are proposing…

6. Incident Management.Wait I am also impacted…

7. ServiceNowThat should be a simple configuration change. No problem!

POAC

Pla

tfo

rm A

rch

itec

t

JeanPro

cess

Ow

ner

Mary

8. I think this is in line with the ITSM Strategy

8. Platform Strategic direction is validated

Escalation

In the PMTRB3. Paul & Erica, How would the modified CI Attribute affect your process?Would you be ok with this improvement?

Engagement at the correct level within the ITSM

Governance Framework

Example: Modifying a CI Attribute

IT Governance Board

• Funding• Strategy Change

IT a

nd

Bu

sin

ess

Lead

ers

hip

Process Owner andArchitecture Council

ITSM Roadmap

Change Ticket

Assign Roles – Do We Need To Hire All These People?

• Do we have to hire all the people in this new Governance Framework being implemented? (Process Managers, Process Owners, Platform Owners etc.)• We have NO budget for this!!

• We are already working at 100% capacity, who is going to do all this work?• I have no extra staff to assign for this!

Qu

esti

on

s I o

ften

Rec

eive

…

You are already doing all (or most) of this work in one form or another but not as structured and formal!

You are structuring the work, making it “official”, and individuals will be recognized for their efforts (assigned Process Roles etc.)

Responsibilities & AccountabilitiesProcess Manager1. Responsible for planning and coordination of all tactical

and operational activities

2. Responsible for the process / procedure definition, development, documentation, implementation, execution and improvement

3. Custodian of process related documentation and training material

4. Champion for consistent processes and tool usage, and ensures standardization, integration, and consistency

5. Monitors and measures the quality and content of the delivery and output of the process

6. Dedicates time to the process and develops expert process knowledge

Process Owner1. Accountable for the strategic direction

and long term goal of the process

2. Accountable for the overall performance and results of the process

3. Responsible to define process scope and goals

4. Accountable to ensure support and commitment of resources

5. Assisting in assigning a Process Manager

Detailed Role descriptions can be downloaded from my web page: http://www.tmanthey.com/speaker.html

Feeding the Beast…

• The beast feeds on anything that is not clear, confusing or lacks structure and guidance.

• It will drain the organization of progress and ensure no continuous improvement takes place.

The Information gap between IT leadership and IT operations

You can eliminate (kill) this beast, but how?

The Information gap between IT leadership and IT operations

Process Managers and PractitionersExecuting the Process day-to-day

IT Strategy & Vision

INFORMATION GAP

Process Managers and PractitionersExecuting the Process day-to-day

IT Strategy & Vision

StrategicProcess

Roadmap Bri

dgi

ng

the

Info

rmat

ion

Gap

Process Owner

Bridging the Information gap

Value PropositionStrategic Alignment Alignment with IT’s & Business Vision and Goals End-to-end Customer and Service focus

Long Term Strategic Focus People: Staffing levels, required skills, training, communications

Process: Execution, improvements, integrations, automations

Technology: Tool changes/updates, new requirements/capabilities

Vendor/Partners: Contracts, SLAs, Strategic relationships

Focus on Business Value Identifying the most urgent business issue that must be improved

Customer needs vs. tactical tool/process “fixes”

Optimized Process for Improvements and Investments Coordinated approach from all Process Owners to focus on the “right” improvements vs.

many “one-off” requests from Process Managers (not a holistic approach)

IT Leadership can decide which investments to be prioritized (IT Governance Board) based on IT Strategy and Vision

Steps to Develop a Strategic Process Roadmap

Answer the Strategic Process Roadmap

Questionnaire

2

+

Review Process Assessment findings,

CSI register, Customer feedback

etc.

3

+Understand and

Execute the Accountabilities of

Process Owners

1

4 3-year Strategic outlook plan

PopulateTemplates

12-month rollingTactical plan

Key Activities & Milestones

Understand and Execute the Accountabilities of Process Owners1. Accountable for the strategic direction and long term goal of the process Set short term (12-month rolling) and long term (3 years) process goals Define current maturity baseline and future process maturity level to be

reached

2. Accountable for the overall performance and results of the process

3. Responsible to define process scope and goals

4. Accountable to ensure support and commitment of resources

5. Assisting in assigning a Process Manager

1

Answer the Strategic Process Roadmap Questionnaire• The Excel workbook consist of questions a Process Owner should ask

themselves for each process they own.

• This is only a starting point but provides great guidance

Workbook with questions• Workbook contains detailed instructions

• Questions in five domains: People, Process, Technology, Governance and Partners

• The Process Owner must identify process specific questions for their process

2

Review Process Artifacts, Information & Data

• There is usually a lot of existing information and data a Process Owner can use as input to the Strategic Process Roadmap.

3

Process Assessments

Customer Feedback CSI RegisterOngoing Initiatives

• IT Strategy & Vision• Business Strategy• BRM feedback

Strategy & Vision Additional Data

Populate Templates4

1-page Summary, 3 year focus

1-Page Milestone Details

1-page 12 Month Rolling Plan

Lessons Learned

Define clear Roles and Responsibilities / Accountabilities (RACI)• Process Managers / Platform Manager• Process Owners / Platform Owner / Enterprise Architecture• IT Governance Board / IT Leadership

Define the ITSM Governance Framework • Formalize Roles (empower roles, e.g. formal roles for career path)• Set up Councils (Process Manager Council, Process Owner Council etc.)• Define Escalations (Who do I escalate to?)• Define Thresholds (When do I escalate?)• Agree on Decision Rights (Who can decide? What can they decide on?)

Start with a few processes and adapt… (Crawl, Walk, Run)

Questions

Add to your toolbox• Process Manager Responsibilities

• Process Owner Accountabilities

• Strategic Process Roadmap Templates

• This Presentation

• Article: Implement Strategic Process Roadmaps or keep feeding the beast

• To download templates go to: http://www.tmanthey.com/speaker.html

Thorsten Manthey – Session 804thorsten@tmanthey.comCell: (617) 513 0000