Sufficiency in FitSM
Service Management is simple isn't it?
When you build a house, you probably start with a single brick, and keep going until it is fully complete with walls, roof, paint, power and furniture before you move in. It would be lovely to implement IT Service Management (ITSM) the same way, but that isn’t the reality most of us face. Unless you are planning a huge new service with a large team during a startup stealth phase before a massive reveal, this isn’t what you will end up doing.
Implementing ITSM
One of FitSM’s authors once described implementing ITSM as changing the tyre on a bus… while you are driving it. There is rarely time to stop, and even if there is, it is a pit stop not a full week to renovate the bus. This means that, typically, you will have to implement service management bit by bit. Customers want improved services, but they are rarely able to wait around without services while they are improved.
Do we need ALL of the processes ALL of the time?
Not all processes are needed on day one. Some are more urgent than others, and this is captured in the FitSM capability / maturity model in FitSM-6. In many cases, service portfolio management (SPM) and service level management (SLM) will be the processes that one starts with, and even implementing these two will offer opportunities for significant improvements in service management and resulting services. Without a clear awareness of what services are on offer and what promises you make about them, the other processes which in many cases are designed to deliver on these promises make less sense.
In contrast, configuration management is an important process in FitSM, but perhaps not the first one to start with, and one where it is important to match the scope and level of detail to your situation. One could consider cataloguing every individual network cable, and even tracking their replacement through change management, but this is not likely to be all that helpful for many IT Service Providers. Configuration management needs to control the key elements that contribute to delivery of a service, not every possible entity.
What do you need RIGHT NOW?
None of this is an encouragement to be careless in implementing FitSM, or to skip the hard parts. Instead it is about understanding what you need right now, and making sure that is in place, before moving on to other parts and processes. The service management you need is related to the scale, complexity and maturity of your services. To maximise the return on your investment, your Service Management System needs to be sufficient to support your services and grow with them.
Free FitSM Standard resources
You can open source downloads of training materials, templates and resources on the ITEMO website .
