Visible Ops: Adding Realism to ITIL Process Improvement

While ITIL has provided a proven framework to assist				work as a percentage of total work done to less than
with the increasing challenges associated with				25%. According to the ITPI, an estimated 80% of IT
maintaining a more efficient, secure and compliant IT				service outages are self-inflicted. Controlling changes
organization, only a handful of tools are publicly				that add significant risk to service provision and
available to support the execution of ITIL-based				reducing MTTR through more efficient Change and
improvement efforts. But a quick review of the Visible				Problem Management will add the most immediate
Ops handbook from the Information Technology				value relative to process improvement efforts.
Process Institute (ITPI), may give way to more tactical				Phase 2: "Catch and Release, Find Fragile Artifacts"
discussions on realistic service improvements for your				Phase 2 focuses on the creation and maintenance of
ITO.				your inventory of IT production assets. As a result of
Visible Ops focuses mainly on the effective				inefficiencies in standardizing the replication of IT
management of change as it relates to IT processes				infrastructure, the ITPI recommends a comprehensive
and applies to all any system related infrastructure				inventory of assets, configurations and services to
component or attribute managed by IT (servers,				identify CI's and attributes with low change success
databases, firewalls, network devices, storages				rates, high MTTR and substantial downtime costs to
systems, etc.). The handbook takes a common sense				ensure these components and their associated
approach at leveraging ITIL and industry best practices				attributes are well protected.
through a straight forward and primarily non-technical				Phase 3: "Establish Repeatable Build Library"
narrative that serves a more functional audience.				By establishing a library of repeatable builds with an
Visible Ops was created through an industry study of				initial focus on the "fragile" IT infrastructure, IT
"high-performing" IT organizations. Over the course of				organizations can ensure the most critical assets and
three years, the ITPI examined effective IT operations				services are cheaper to rebuild than to repair. This
and security processes within these organizations,				phase primarily focuses on implementing an effective
documenting characteristics that consistently				Release Management process to gain efficiencies in IT
contributed to the most efficient provision of IT				services.
services. In the end, the Visible Ops framework was				Phase 4: "Enable Continuous Improvement"
developed, consisting of four phases driving increasing				Based on the previous phases and the progressive
control over an IT environment. Each phase addresses				integration of the ITIL Service Support processes (BS
related issues and provides indicators and descriptive				15000 equivalent of Release, Control and Resolution
steps to garner specific benefits each step of the				processes), phase 4 concentrates on the
way.				implementation of process metrics to enable
Phase 1: "Stabilize Patient, Modify First Response"				continuous IT service improvement and ensure
This phase looks at reducing the amount of unplanned				alignment with overall business objectives.