The current article is the last of the five-part FAQ series on the ITIL process stages. If you have missed our earlier article in this series covering FAQs on Service Operation, you can find it here.
Continual Service Improvement (CSI) guides to ensure that a service defined and developed in the earlier stages delivers maximum return on investment. The ITIL CSI process practices methods from quality management to learn from past successes and failures. The CSI process targets the continuous improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of IT processes and services, in line with the concept of continual improvement adopted in ISO 20000.
1. What Business Value does Continual Service Improvement in ITIL V3 Offer?
As mentioned above the core objective of CSI is to help improve the existing processes. Few other business values added by CSI are listed below:
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Provides an Enhanced View of the Management Structure and Service Cost:
CSI monitors multiple service operations in a business. It gives an opportunity for process owners and IT service management to find out which process needs improvement or more investment. It can also help them to weed out processes that do not provide business value.
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Improves Team’s Interactivity, Efficiency, and Effectiveness:
Due to constant monitoring, it becomes easier to pass relevant feedback to concerned teams and in turn, enhance the responsiveness of IT as a whole. The quick response from the core management team also acts as motivation for all the team members of the IT staff.
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Enhances the Company’s Future Capabilities:
The readiness of data ensures that not only any redundant process is weeded out, but any new need is identified and provided for. It helps out in enhancing the future capability of the IT service provider’s business. New applications not only help enterprises to attract new customers but also helps to build loyalty with the existing ones.
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Provides a Clearer View of Business and Acts as a Reference Point:
CSI logs the various service performances of business operations. It means that information regarding past IT problems flaws etc. are available on record. The availability of data on such problems greatly improves the implementation of the current process as it acts as a reference point.
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ITIL CSI Offers Better Customer Satisfaction:
Data generated from CSI can help in building new processes even before a client realizes the need and requests the same. It in turn helps in building and improving customer satisfaction.
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2. How is it Different in Comparison to ITIL V2?
There is a vast difference in what is available in ITIL v3 in comparison to ITIL v2. ITIL v2 contained some Continual Service Improvement activities within the service level management process. For example, holding service reviews and managing a service improvement plan. However, ITIL v3 expands all these processes into a completely new book or stage five. It also introduces a dedicated process for service and process improvement and evaluation.
3. How Does ITIL V3 Relate to ISO 20000?
ISO 20000 does not give specific advice on how to design your processes. It is rather a set of requirements that must be met for an organization to achieve ISO certification. However, ITIL provides a set of detailed instructions on processes, activities, and responsibilities that must be created and maintained. In short, ITIL prepares an organization for ISO 20000 certification as it forms the basis of achieving criteria set in ISO.
It is important to note that ISO 20000 does not strictly require that ITIL meet its specifications. There are multiple ways in which ISO 20000 requirements can be met. However, introducing ITIL is the most widely used way of obtaining an ISO 20000 certificate
4. How Does ITIL V3 Help Achieve Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)?:
CMMI is a process improvement approach that guides improving the ability to manage the lifecycle of products and services and is focused on the required organizational practices. Similar to ISO 20000, CMMI provides a model of what is required but does not include the ‘how to’ or ‘who does it’ part. ITIL on the other hand is strong in the processes. V3 has also improved its coverage of the service design process. ITIL is helpful in achieving the targets set in CMMI.
5. Is there a Mapping Between the New Processes in ITIL v3 and COBIT?
Not yet. However, there is complimentary material available that maps ITIL v3 to COBIT and vice versa.
6. Does ITIL V3 Give some Sample Reports and Metrics that can be Implemented or Followed?
Yes, table 4.11 of the Continual Service Improvement book, for example, provides some sample key performance indicators (KPIs) for different service management processes. There are also various templates and checklists throughout the book, especially in the appendix section of each book. Expect to see more detailed and specific guidance on the application of ITIL when the official ITIL bodies release complementary guidance.
However, it is always advisable that an organization does its benchmarking keeping given its requirements. It may happen that a particular metric might be important to a certain type of organization, but, might not be so important for others.
