Basic Ideas behind ITIL
The two illustrations below highlight the main issues ITIL seeks to address:
Traditional setup of the IT organization
Traditionally, there are two separate channels for the communication between the IT organization and the client: Agreements concerning new applications or those to be altered are concluded between client and Application Development, whilst issues concerning operations are subsequently settled with the production personnel.
This approach creates two serious sets of risks:
- Operational requirements, ensuring the error-free running of an application, are insufficiently considered during the development phase.
- IT Operations is not fully able to control the release of applications into the productive environment; this might cause unforeseen side effects.
Setup of the IT organization according to ITIL
An implementation method based on ITIL has to resolve these particular problems by placing IT Service Management after Application Management and ICT Infrastructure Management: Thus, IT Service Management mediates between development and production on the side of the IT organization, and the client on the business-side.
The activities in Application Development and IT Operations are now co-ordinated and all the communication with the clients is directed via one central channel.
