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Apr 21, 2007 - Department of Information Technology & Operations ... Associate Professor, ... supported by local and global information technology functions.
Information Technology Service Management: An Emerging Area for Academic Research and Pedagogical Development Stuart Galup

Ronald Dattero

Department of Information Technology & Operations Management Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991 (954) 762-5616 (office) (954) 762-5245 (fax)

Department of Computer Information Systems Missouri State University 901 South National Avenue Springfield, MO 65897 (417) 836-6357 (Office) (417) 836-6907 (Fax)

[email protected]

[email protected]

Jim J. Quan

Sue Conger

Department of Information and Decision Sciences Perdue School of Business Salisbury University 1101 Camden Avenue Salisbury, MD 21801

Associate Professor, Director of IT and IT Service Management Programs University of Dallas 1845 E. Northgate Dr. Irving, TX 75062

[email protected]

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION

The economic landscape has changed for the industrialized nations of the world. The most mature nations on the planet have transitioned from agriculture and manufacturing economies to service-based economies. Services constitute more than 75% of industrialized nations’ economies. These services are dependent on Information & Communication Technology that is supported by local and global information technology functions or the combination of both. In this paper, we review the modern methods and standards of information technology service management, such as ISO/IEC 20000; emerging pedagogical developments; and alternative approaches to ITSM research.

The economies of the industrialized nations have transitioned, over the past 100 years, from agricultural and manufacturing based economies to economies based on government and business services (GBS). More than 75% of the economies of industrialized nations are based on GBS, and developing nations are close behind. In the United States (U.S.) there is a vast array of GBS that comprise nearly 80% of the country’s economic activity [22]. As a result, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects [2] that employment growth will continue to be concentrated in the GBS sector of the economy during the next decade.

Categories and Subject Descriptors

The Information & Communication Technology (ICT) field is a major participant in this changing economic landscape. ICTs create and support the information systems that integrate with people and processes to provide GBS. ICT organizations are under extreme pressure to deliver information technology (IT) services in an effective and efficient manner to support GBS.

Management

General Terms Management

Keywords

To provide the intellectual capital needed in the future, a new and growing area of academic study called Services Science is evolving to address this need. Services Science is a blend of computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, social and cognitive sciences, and legal sciences (SSME, http://www.research.ibm.com/ssme/index.shtml). It is a unification of many disciplines under one umbrella to study the best practices to deliver GBS (including IT services).

IT Service Management, ITIL, ISO/IEC20000, Service Science, Process Theory

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. SIGMIS-CPR’07, April 19–21, 2007, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Copyright 2007 ACM 978-1-59593-641-7/07/0004...$5.00.

A recent special issue [33] of the Communications of the ACM was dedicated to the topic of Services Science. Jim Spohrer and

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Doug Riecken, both of IBM Corporation, wrote the Introduction (pg. 31): “To the majority of computer scientists, whether in academia or industry, the term "services" is associated with Web services and service-oriented architectures. However, there is a broader story to be told of the remarkable growth of the service sector, which has come to dominate economic activity in most advanced economies over the last 50 years. Globalization, increasing automation, the growth of the Internet, and the dynamic componentization of business are driving the reconfiguration of service value networks at a scale and pace never before seen in history. The opportunity to innovate in services, to realize business and societal value from knowledge about service, to research, develop, and deliver new information services and business services, has never been greater. The challenges are both the multidisciplinary nature of service innovation, which combines business, technology, social-organizational, and demand innovation as well as the lack of formal representations of service systems.”



Characterized by its nature (type of action and recipient), relationship with customer (type of delivery and relationship), decisions (customization and judgment), economics (demand and capacity), mode of delivery (customer location and nature of physical or virtual space) [17]; and



Deeds, processes, performances [39].

created

and



"a result that customers want" [11].



Close interaction of supplier and customer [9; 28];



Nature of knowledge created and exchanged [23; 37];



Simultaneity of production and consumption [29];



Combination of knowledge into useful systems [12];



Exchange as processes and experience points [26]; and



Exploitation of ICT and transparency [6; 34].

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) is a subset of the Services Science discipline that focuses on IT operations delivery and support. IT plays a critical role in supporting and satisfying business requirements. In the current organization paradigm, IT provides essential services for the organization to support its business. Beyond the need to manage IT technology is the need to establish and employ best practices processes to optimize IT services. In short, ITSM is a set of process that detail best practices based on ITIL standards to enable and optimize IT services in order to satisfy business requirements and manage the IT infrastructure both tactically and strategically. [16]

The term “service” does not have a single definition. Some ways of thinking about services include [31]:

Intangible and perishable… simultaneously [29];

"an industry that produces services rather than goods." [1]; and

3. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICE MANAGEMENT

The term “service”, as it relates to the economy, was coined by the U.S. Department of Commerce during the 1930s. Three economic sectors were used: Agriculture, manufacturing, and service. Service was a catch all for all the activities that did not fit into the other two categories. [20].





Paul Horn, senior vice-president of IBM Research, states that Services Science willmerge technology with an understanding of business processes and organization, a combination of recognizing a company's pain points and the tools that can be applied to correct them. To thrive in this environment, an ITservices expert will need to understand how that capability can be delivered in an efficient and profitable way, how the services should be designed, and how to measure their effectiveness.

2. SERVICES & SERVICES SCIENCE

A change in condition or state of an economic entity (or thing) caused by another [13];

”a change in the condition of a person, or a good belonging to some economic entity, brought about as the result of the activity of some other economic entity, with the approval of the first person or economic entity" [13];

Services Science builds on the term “service” by incorporating the people, processes, and technology elements that interact to deliver a GBS (i.e. Financial Service, IT Service Desk, etc.). Chesbrough and Spohrer [5] suggest that there are common elements across many different types of services that might form a foundation for the field of Service Science. These include:

The purpose of this paper is to review the development of Service Sciences and how it is related to better delivering of information technology services. In addition, we hope to stimulate academic research interests in this important emerging discipline. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: section three presents the origins of service and services sciences. Section four presents Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) and the associated standards and frameworks. In section five, we discuss the opportunities for academic research and section six reviews the current pedagogical initiatives. The last section concludes with a discussion of the future directions for ITSM.





used

It is the IT service provider’s job to ensure that IT systems are installed correctly and the necessary people are trained to ensure that the organization receives the benefit of the service [31]. When service providers extend outside a country, the ability to provide the service is complicated by the different government regulations and national cultures. To effectively address this situation, a uniform approach to ITSM includes a common vocabulary, a common approach to ensure stability in the IT environment, and a common set of management principles.

The academic community offers various definitions of the term “service” [7] including:

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ITSM is a discipline for managing IT systems that is processoriented in contrast to technology-oriented approaches to IT management [38]. Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology and their internal organization, they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide and focus on the relationship with customers [35]. ITSM is processfocused and shares common themes with the process improvement movement (e.g., TQM, Six Sigma, Business Process Management, and CMMI). ITSM provides a framework to structure IT-related activities and the interactions of IT technical personnel with business customers and users. [8]

recognized that without standard practices, government agencies and private sector contracts were independently creating their own IT management practices and duplicating efforts. [3] ITIL is under revision. ITIL version 3 will consist of 5 books that will be better interrelated to emphasize the process design and management.

3.2 British Standards 15000 The National Standards Body of the United Kingdom (UK) is the British Standards Institution (BSI), operating under a Royal Charter to act as the standards organization for the British Government. BSI was established in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee to standardize steel in order to make British manufacturers more efficient and competitive.

ITSM is often associated with the British Government’s Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) [24]. The ITSM subsection of ITIL concentrates on Service Support and Service Delivery. According to Gartner, 80% of the cost of an infrastructure is in these two areas. Further, between 40% and 90% [18] of U.S. companies have one or more ITSM implementations underway and, with the 2005 ratification of ISO/IEC 20000, other companies are recognizing an opportunity to improve their organizations in ways that may translate to improved organizational competitiveness [18]. ISO/IEC 20000 evolved from the BS15000 and ITL framework, and was influenced by other quality standards as figure 1 illustrates.

BS15000 is the world’s first standard for IT Service Management. It defines a framework whereby processes/systems can be established or evaluated. The standard specifies a set of interrelated management processes, primarily operations-oriented, and is based heavily upon the ITIL. [4]

3.3 International Standards Organization/IEC 20000 ISO/IEC 20000 is the first international standard for IT Service Management and it is divided into two parts: ISO/IEC 20000-1 [14] and ISO/IEC 20000-2 [15]. ISO/IEC 20000-1 defines the standard in the following sections:

Figure 1: Evolution of ITSM [8] During the past 20 years, two standards and two prominent vender defined frameworks have emerged that are based on ITIL. The standards are British Standards 15000 [25] and ISO/IEC 20000 [14; 15] and the vendor frameworks are IBM’s Process Reference Model for IT (PRM-IT) and Microsoft’s Operating Framework (MOF).



Scope



Terms & Definitions



Planning and Implementing Service Management



Requirements for a Management System



Planning & Implementing New or Changed Services



Service Delivery Process



Relationship Processes



Control Processes



Resolution Processes



Release Process.

ISO/IEC 20000-2 is a 'code of practice', and describes the guidelines for matching best practices for service management defined in ISO/IEC 20000-1. Figure 2 shows how the ISO/IEC 20000 processes interrelate to provide an ITSM framework.

3.1 Information Technology Infrastructure Library The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practices intended to facilitate the delivery of high quality IT services. ITIL is built around a process-model based view of controlling and managing IT operations often credited to W Edwards Deming. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) of the UK Government developed ITIL in the 1980s in response to its growing dependence on information technology. The UK Government

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4.5 Microsoft Operations Framework Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) provides operational guidance that helps organizations to implement ITIL. MOF is comprised of several foundation elements:



The Process Model



The Team Model



The Risk Management Model

MOF focuses more on IT operations and less on governance than for instance, ITIL. Further, it is more prescriptive and specific in recommending changes for improving processes and supporting the changed processes with Microsoft products [27]. Figure 4 shows the MOF Process Model quadrants and the Service Management Functions contained in each.

Figure 2: ISO/IEC 200000 3.4 International Business Machine’s PRM-IT Figure 2: ISO/IEC 20000

The IBM Process Reference Model for IT (PRM-IT), as shown in Figure 3, is an integrated collection of 40 generic processes referenced to business domains for analyzing processes and reducing cycle time. PRM-IT evolved beyond the IT management operational efficiency to focus on investment optimization. [8]

IBM Tivoli Unified Process

IBM Process Reference Model for IT (PRM-IT) 40 processes across eight categories

IT Management System

IT Customer Relationships Stakeholder Requirements Management Service Marketing and Sales Service Level Management Customer Satisfaction Management

IT Management System Framework IT Management System Design, Development and Implementation IT Management System Operation IT Management System Evaluation

Solution Development

Service Execution Data and Storage Management Event Management User Contact Management Incident Management Problem Management

IT Strategy IT Research and Innovation Architecture Management Risk Management IT Portfolio Management Project Management

Solution Deployment Change Management Release Management Configuration Management

Solution Requirements Solution Analysis and Design Solution Build Solution Test Solution Acceptance

IT Operational Services

IT Direction

IT Resilience Compliance Management Security Management Availability Management Capacity Management Facility Management IT Service Continuity Management

Figure 4: MOF Process Model quadrants

4. ACADEMIC RESEARCH

ITIL service management processes shown in Blue

Despite the significant growth of ITSM practice in industry, little scholarly work exists on this topic. Chesbrough and Spohrer [5] write that, “…in services there is no academic community of scholars that shares a common mission to understand the roots of this arena of economic activity, or how to advance it. Granted, services subfields are emerging in separate, siloed academic areas such as management, engineering, and computer science schools, but precious few attempts to integrate them have been undertaken… If academics, industry, and government can create a shared agenda of research focused upon the services sector, this need not continue. Through developing common terminology and methods that increase our insight into the services domain, we can reconnect universities to the dominant economic activities of the larger society that supports them.”

IT Administration Financial Management Asset Management Supplier Relationship Management Service Pricing and Contract Administration Workforce Management Knowledge Management © 2006 IBM Corporation

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Figure 3: IBM IT Process Model

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One wonders if the lack of scholarly work on this topic is because of its newness, its perceived limited universe (only the IT operations rather than software development), or possibly the mainstream methods of conducting research are not suited for this research area. While all three are plausible reasons, the latter two may be the most applicable.

of ITIL users. In October, 2006, itSMF-USA held its first academic forum to promote the development of academic graduate programs that concentrate on IT. Family Members

Evolution

Ontogenesis

Mendelian genetics

Dialectical materialism

Functionalism

Metamorphosis

Saltationism

Pluralism

Social construction

Stage and cyclical models

Punctuated equilibrium

Collective action

Symbolic interaction

Key metaphor

Organic growth

Competitive survival

Opposition, conflict

Purposeful cooperation

Logic

Immanent program Natural selection among competitors in a Prefigured population sequence

Contradictory forces

Envisioned end state

Thesis, antithesis, synthesis

Social construction

Event Linear and progression irreversible sequence of prescribed stages in unfolding of immanent potentials present at the beginning

Recurrent, cumulative, & probabilistic sequence of variation. Selection, & retention events

Generating Prefigured program Population force or rule regulated by scarcity nature, logic, or Competition institutions

Recurrent, discontinuous sequence of confrontation, conflict and synthesis between contradictory values or events

Conflict & confrontation between opposing forces, Commensalism interests, or classes

The argument for using the process approach for ITSM research is that it would facilitate the creation of a focused set of paradigms, greater understanding of how things work in IT organizations, and hopefully more conclusive results to research studies. The process approach allows for the dynamic changes that result from a changing business environment to be studied more comprehensively as opposed to a snapshot of ITSM activities. Process theory based research is more actionable and has more real world impact [10].

Teleology

Conflict theory Goal setting, planning

Compliant adaptation

ITSM emphasizes process and is strongly influenced by quality management and process reengineering. A process is defined as a time-dependent sequence of events governed by a process framework [19, p. 113]. Van de Ven and Poole [36] identify four basic types of process theory families: life cycle, teleological, dialectical, and evolutionary (Table 1). Each type contains individual theories and provides an account of the sequence of events that unfold to explain the process of change.

Dialectic

Darwinian evolution

IT Operations, as the production arm of IT departments, has been mostly ignored by IT research and pedagogy. While there is a growing body of research on isolated aspects of operations services [30; 32], there is little or no research that explicitly is ITIL®, ISO/IEC 20000, or ITSM related. With more than half of U.S. businesses doing projects in these areas, ITSM offers a fertile area for research. Further, mainstream management information systems (MIS) research is dominated by the empirical variable approach -gathering data across groups and organizations and linking variables by linear models using statistical methods [19, p 123]. An alternative to the mainstream variable approach is the process approach. “The process approach is basically to employ processes and their frameworks to describe, explain, predict, and alter behavior [19, p. 110].” Classic examples of process theory include how malaria is spread from mosquitoes to humans and Mendel’s theory of inheritance [10, p.1]. The process approach is more general than the variable approach and includes most variable approaches as special cases. There are three parts to a process framework: (1) the set of considerations, (2) the network defining the linkages between all pairs of considerations, and (3) the set of outcomes or consequences of the process [19].

Life cycle Developmentalism

Equifinality Recurrent, discontinuous sequence of goal setting, implementation and adaptation of means to reach desired end state Goal enactment consensus on means cooperation or symbiosis

Table 1: Families of Ideal-Type Theories of Social Change [36, p. 514]

6. CONCLUSION There is an old saying that “the Shoemaker’s children have no Shoes”. In many ways, this is exactly the situation for IT services. IT services have helped deliver tools and process change to every part of the organization for decades. Yet, IT services have existed for 40 plus years with little internal standardization or process definition. As the economic landscape of the world changes and IT support services transition from backroom operations (e.g., payroll) to front line global operations, the need to establish standard professional IT Services is paramount. IT services, based on repeatable best practices must look inward and standardize day-to-day activities so that they can effectively and efficiently support the organization.

5. PEDEGOGICAL INITATIVES There are two initiatives underway to transition ITSM into university pedagogy: IBM’s Service Sciences, Management and Engineering (SSME) and Information Technology Service Management Forum (itSMF). The IBM SSME initiative emphasizes an undergraduate and graduate program that focuses on the development and support of GBS and the internal operations of the IT organization. Over 70 universities from around the world have been involved with the SSME initiative [21]. The second initiative is being promoted through the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), a professional industry group supported primarily by technology companies and consultants. itSMF is an independent, not for profit, global organization dedicated to IT operational excellence and support

This paper presented the international standards (e.g., ISO/IEC 20000) that have emerged to address this need and the dominant vendor frameworks that support and extend the international

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standards (e.g., MOF). We then discussed the possible reasons why the academic community has not actively pursued research in this area and we offered an appropriate research approach. The final section of the paper presented the current pedagogical initiatives to introduce ITSM into the university environment. Looking forward, there is a need for research that investigates the economic and social ramifications of ITSM, especially as it relates to the globalization of the IT workforce and the pending baby-boomer retirement brain drain.

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