| Failure |
A
failure occurs when a functional
unit is no longer fit for
purpose. |
|
|
| Fault |
A
condition that causes a
functional unit to fail to
perform the required function. |
|
|
| Fault
Tolerance |
The
ability of a service to continue
when a failure occurs. See
also Resilience. |
|
|
| Fault
Tree Analysis |
A
technique, using Boolean
notation, of identifying the
chain of events leading to an
adverse impact on services. |
|
|
| Financial
Management for IT Services |
The
Service Management process of budgeting,
accounting
and charging
for IT services. |
|
|
| First
Level Support |
The
technical and managerial
resources within the Service
Desk available at the initial
point of contact with the
Customer/User. |
|
|
| First
Time Fix Rate |
A
commonly used metric that
measures the proportion of
Incidents resolved at the first
point of contact between a User
and a Service Desk, without
delay or referral. |
|
|
| Fishbone
Diagram |
See Cause/Effect
Diagram. |
|
|
| Fixed
Cost |
A cost
that does not vary with usage or
throughput of work.
Examples are a standard term
maintenance contract for a
server or a corporate software
licence (within agreed User
limits). |
|
|
| Fixed
Price |
A
price agreed with a Customer for
a given period and based upon a
predicted consumption. |
|
|
| Follow
the Sun Support |
A
Service Desk organisation that
provides 24-hour support using
Service Desks located in various
countries. Calls are
logged in one location and then
passed to, or picked up by, the
next location when the
originating office closes. |
|
|
| Fortress
Approach |
An
approach to IT Service
Continuity where the entire site
is made as disaster-proof as
possible. |
|
|
| Forward
Schedule of Change |
A
schedule that contains details
of all the Changes approved for
implementation and their
proposed implementation
dates. It should be agreed
with Customers. Service
Level Management, the Service
Desk and Availability
Management. Once agreed,
the Service Desk would
communicate to the Users any
planned or additional downtime
arising from implementing the
Changes. See also
Projected Service Availability. |
|
|
| Front-office
/ Front-end |
The
business process relating to
Customer interaction, often
including marketing, pricing and
sales related functions. |
|
|
| Full
Absorption Costing |
A
principle where all the direct
costs are allocated to cost
units and overhead costs are
apportioned according to a
meaningful algorithm that
attempts to reflect probable
resource usage. |
|
|
| Full
Cost |
The
total cost of all the resources
used in supplying a service,
including the direct costs, a
share of indirect costs and any
marketing, selling and
distribution, etc. costs.
All cash and non-cash costs, for
example the cost of capital and
where appropriate, planned
renewal costs, are
included. Full costs are
required to calculate the Total
Cost of Ownership. |
|
|
| Full
Release |
A
release that tests, distributes
and implements all components of
a release unit, regardless of
whether or not they have changed
since the last release of the
software. |
|
|
| Function |
The
actions or intended purpose of a
person, team or thing in a
specific role. Service
Management functions may be
considered as high-level
business activities, often with
a broad scope and associated
with a particular job,
consisting of a collection of
lower level activities.
The characteristics of a
function are that it is
continuous and represents a
defining aspect of the business
enterprise. It is usually
associated with more than one
process and contributes to the
execution of those
processes. Rarely do (or
should) functions mirror the
organisational structure. |
|
|
| Functional
Escalation |
See Escalation. |
