| Identification |
See
Configuration
Identification. |
|
|
| Immediate
Recovery |
In
liberal terms, this IT Service
Continuity option provides for
the immediate recovery of
services in a contingency
situation. The instant
availability of services
distinguishes this option from
what may be referred to as 'Hot
Stand-by/Start', which typically
will permit services to be
recovered within 2 to 24 hours
depending on the criticality of
the business process they
support. Depending on that
business criticality,
'immediate' recovery may
therefore vary from zero to 24
hours. See also Gradual
Recovery, Intermediate
Recovery. |
|
|
| Impact |
A
measure of the effect that an
Incident, Problem or Change is
having or might have on the
business being provided with IT
services. Often equal to
the extent to which agreed or
expected levels of service may
be distorted. Together
with urgency, and perhaps
technical security, it is the
major means of assigning
priority for dealing with
Incidents, Problems or Changes. |
|
|
| Impact
Analysis |
The
identification of critical
business processes and the
potential damage or loss that
may be caused to the
organisation resulting from a
disruption to those processes,
or perhaps from a proposed
change. Business impact
analysis identifies the form the
loss or damage will take; how
that degree of damage or loss is
likely to escalate with time
following an Incident; the
minimum staffing, facilities and
services needed to enable
business processes to continue
to operate at a minimum
acceptable level; and the time
within which they should be
recovered. The time within
which full recovery of the
business processes is to be
achieved is also identified. |
|
|
| Impact
Code |
A
simple code assigned to
Incidents, Problems or Changes
reflecting the degree of actual
or potential impact on
Customer's business
activities. Also the
extent of deterioration in
normal User service
levels. An impact code is
not neccessarily fixed and may
change to reflect changing
circumstances. |
|
|
| Impact
Scenario |
An
IT Service Continuity Management
term describing the type of
impact on the business that
could follow a business
disruption. It will
usually be related to a business
process and will always refer to
a period of time e.g. Customer
services will be unable to
operate for two days. |
|
|
| Incident |
An
event which is not part of the
standard operation of a service
and which causes or may cuase
disruption to, or a reduction
in, the quality of services and
Customer productivity.
An Incident
might give rise to the
identification and investigation
of a Problem, but never becomes
a Problem. Even if handed
over to the Problem Management
process for 2nd Line
Incident Control it remains an
Incident. Problem
Management might, however,
manage the resolution of the
Incident and Problem in tandem,
for instance if the Incident can
only be closed by resolution of
the Problem. |
|
|
| Incident
Categorisation |
A
sub-division of Classification,
which provides a means of
identifying, using a series of
structured codes, firstly, what
appears to have gone wrong with
the IT Service (the symptoms),
secondly why (the cause of that
failure) and thirdly
identification of the component
likely to be at fault. The
category codes are elements
within the classification data
string and are essential for
fault analysis purposes. |
|
|
| Incident
Classification |
See
Classification. |
|
|
| Incident
Control |
The
process of identifying,
recording, classifying and
progressing Incidents until the
affected service is
restored. The collection
of data to identify causes of
Incidents is a secondary
objective of Incident Control,
though this may sometimes be
neccessary to effect Incident
resolution. Incident
Control is essentially a task of
Incident Management, and
therefore of the Service Desk,
but it may occasionally extend
beyond the defined role or
authority of that group and
require the 2nd Line
support of other staff, possibly
Problem Management. The
exact circumstance under which
this happens would be described
in an Incident Management
procedure. |
|
|
| Incident
Control Support |
This
is an occasional task, perhaps
undertaken by the Problem
Management team. There are
instances when an Incident has
occurred and it becomes apparent
that further time and resource investment
by Service Desk staff (both 1st
and 2nd Level) is
likely to impact upon their
prime responsibility of
responding to Customers and
returning services as quickly as
possible. These are
situations that call for
detailed investigation and
diagnosis, that require the
co-ordination of technical
support team(s), or that cater
for the re-direction of Service
Desk resources elsewhere (e.g.
to other Incidents).
Another group, such as Problem
Management, may in these
circumstances be asked to manage
the operational progress of the
Incident. However, the
Service Desk retain their
overall responsibility for the
Incident's life-cycle
management. Such an
Incident would be referred to
the Incident Control Support
group by Incident Management in
accordance with Incident
Management procedures. |
|
|
| Incident
Life-cycle |
The
progression of an incident
through Occurrence of the
Incident, Detection of the
Incident, Diagnosis of the cause
of failure, Repair of the CI,
Recovery of the CI back to the
live infrastructure and Restoration
of the service. |
|
|
| Incident
Management |
The
Service Management process of
managing unexpected operational
events with the primary
objective of returning service
to Customers as quickly as
possible. |
|
|
| Incident
Record |
A
record containing the details
and history of an Incident. |
|
|
| Incident
Report |
A
form, or screen, containing
details of Incidents involving
any component of an IT
infrastructure or any aspect of
the IT service. Incident
reports may come from a variety
of sources and will usually
result in the creation of an
Incident record. |
|
|
| Indirect
Cost |
A
cost incurred which cannot be
directly allocated in full to a
single product, service,
Customer, cost centre or
business activity; incurred on
behalf of a number of cost units
or centres to which the cost may
be apportioned. An example
would be the costs of a server
used to support three separate
services. |
|
|
| Information
and Communications Technology |
Information
Technology, with the role of
telecommunications technology
emphasised. See also
Information Technology. |
|
|
| Information
Service |
All
of the components that form an
IT service supporting a
Customer's business process,
including not only the computing
and telecommunications hardware
and software but the people,
processes and supporting
documentation, training, etc.
See also Information Technology
Service. |
|
|
| Information
System |
The
hardware and software (mainly)
that lies at the heart of an IT
service supporting a Customer's
business process. |
|
|
| Information
Systems Examination Board |
The
UK ISEB, part of the British
Computer Society, administers
and awards IT qualifications,
including the Foundation,
Practitioner's and Manager's
Certificates in IT Service
Management. It is one of a
number of bodies worldwide that
offer equivalent examinations in
IT Service Management. |
|
|
| Information
Technology |
The
application of science to the
processing of data according to
programmed instructions in order
to derive results. In the
widest sense, IT includes all
information and all technology;
in a much narrower sense,
telecommunications technology is
excluded - or for some
particular reason needs to be
emphasised. See also Information
and Communications Technology. |
|
|
| Information
Technology Service |
A
set of related functions
provided by IT systems in
support of one or more business
areas, which in turn may be made
up of software, hardware and
communications facilities,
perceived by the Customer as a
coherent self-contained
entity. An IT service may
range from access to a single
application, such as a general
ledger system, to a complex set
of facilities including many
applications, as well as office
automation, that might be spread
across a number of hardware and
software platforms. See
also Information
Service. |
|
|
| Informed
Customer |
See
Intelligent
Customer. |
|
|
| Infrastructure |
From
an IT Service Management
perspective, the term is used to
describe all of the CIs
employed in the delivery of IT
services to users, including the
computing and telecommunications
hardware, software,
accommodation, people,
documentation and
meta-data. From a business
perspective, the infrastructure
is a shared resource, the state
of which bounds the adaptability
and change capacity of the
enterprise. See also IT
Infrastructure. |
|
|
| Infrastructure
Service |
A
service provided by IT to enable
the delivery of business
services, but not themselves
directly adding value to
business processes.
Normally treated as an overhead
cost, although the overhead
might be absorbed by specific
business services. The
provision of corporate wide
desktop facilities is a typical
example of an infrastructure
service, the provision of
general strategic technological
advice another. |
|
|
| Innovation |
The
practical translation of ideas
into new or improved products,
services, processes, systems or
social interactions. |
|
|
| Input
Cost Types |
See
Cost
Types (Input). |
|
|
| Integration
Testing |
Putting
together all of the components,
including the hardware and
software, involved in a Change,
as they will exist in the live
infrastructure, to ensure that
they work together. |
|
|
| Integrity |
Completeness
and soundness. Maintaining
these will require the
protection of data from
unauthorised Change. Also
the consistency of data and
linkages between data in a
database (referential
integrity). |
|
|
| Intelligent
Customer |
A
term used to describe the
situation where a Customer of IT
services has all of the
abilities to enable the
successful planning,
specification, acquisition,
implementation and use of IS/IT
to achieve business objectives
at best value for money.
Also referred to as an 'Informed
Customer'. |
|
|
| Interactive
Processing |
Processing
that involves accepting input
from a human. Interactive
computer systems are programs
that allow Users to enter data
or commands. Most popular
programs, such as word
processors or spreadsheet
application are
interactive.
Non-interactive processing such
as Batch
Processing requires no
further end-user contact once
started. |
|
|
| Interactive
Voice Response |
A
form of Automatic
Call Distribution that uses
computing and telecommunications
technology to provide callers,
in the better applications, with
choice and control over the
routing of their call.
Although disliked by some,
particularly the poorly designed
systems, a growing proportion of
callers now expect to be able to
transact business through an IVR
system when they choose to do
so. Although some calls
are undoubtedly more suited to
'live' interaction, at other
times IVR may be more
appropriate because it allows
Customers to complete
transactions faster, at any time
of the day or night, without
having to wait in a queue. |
|
|
| Interface |
Physical
or functional interaction at the
boundary between CIs. |
|
|
| Intermediate
Recovery |
Alternatively
known as 'Warm Stand-by/Start',
this IT Service Continuity
option typically provides for
the recovery of services in a
contingency situation within 24
to 72 hours. It is used by
organisations that need to
recover IT facilities within a
predetermined time in order to
prevent business processes being
severely impacted by the
failure. See also Gradual
Recovery, Immediate
Recovery. |
|
|
| Internal
Measure |
See
Internal
Target. |
|
|
| Internal
Specsheet |
A
working document that enables
the SLM
function to detail exactly what
the IT department and its suppliers
must do to deliver a service to
a Customer. |
|
|
| Internal
Target |
One
of the measures against which
supporting processes for the IT
service are compared.
Usually expressed in technical
terms relating directly to the
underpinning service being
measured. |
|
|
| Internet
Protocol |
Originally
specified in 1981 for the
Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), the IP
is designed for use in
interconnected systems of
packet-switched computer
communication networks.
The IP provides for transmitting
blocks of data called datagrams
from sources to destinations,
where sources and destinations
are hosts identified by fixed
length addresses. The IP
also provides for fragmentation
and resonably long datagrams, if
neccessary, for transmission
through 'small packet' networks. |
|
|
| Inventory
Management |
A
subset of Configuration
Management that focuses on the
management (control and
financial accounting) of the
most expensive or attractive CIs
in the IT infrastructure.
See also Asset
Management, Configuration
Management. |
|
|
| Investment
Appraisal |
The
process of determining what
financial benefits might arise
from investing in changes to IT
service quality or
quantity. See also Capital
Investment Appraisal. |
|
|
| Invocation |
In
IT Service Continuity Management
terms, the initiation of the
disaster recovery process. |
|
|
| Invocation
and Recovery Phase |
The
second phase of a business
recovery plan. |
|
|
| Invocation
of Business Recovery Plans |
Putting
business recovery plans into
operation after a business
disruption. |
|
|
| Invocation
of Stand-by Arrangements |
Putting
stand-by arrangements into
operation as part of business
recovery activities. |
|
|
| Invoicing |
See
Billing. |
|
|
| IP
Telephony |
See
Voice
over Internet Protocol. |
|
|
| Ishikawa
Diagram |
See
Cause
/ Effect Diagram. |
|
|
| ISO
9000 |
Guidelines
and assurances of process and
procedure standards for qulaity
assurance systems. The
current version of ISO 9000 is
ISO 9000:2000 |
|
|
| ISO/IEC 17799-2000 |
See
BS
7799-1:2000. |
|
|
| IT
Accounting |
The
set of processes that enable the
IT organisation to fully account
for the way its money is spent. |
|
|
| IT
Accounting System |
A
set of interrelated activities,
policies and tools, which is
used to budget, track and charge
for IT services. |
|
|
| IT
Availability Metrics Model |
A
framework used to measure the
availability, reliability,
maintainability and response
time of a service for several
categories of infrastructure,
application and Customer. |
|
|
| IT
Infrastructure |
All
of the CIs
that are needed to deliver IT
services to customers. The
IT Infrastructure consists of
more than just hardware and
software. See also Infrastructure. |
|
|
| IT
Infrastructure Domain |
A
logical means of dividing the
overall IT infrastructure into
components of related
functionality. There are three
physical domains - mainframe,
network and (end) user. In this
context the 'mainframe' domain
may include mini-computers. The
(end) user domain covers
terminals and local processors
to which end users have everyday
physical access and over which
they have some degree of direct
control. |
|
|
| IT
Infrastructure Library |
What
this site is all about.
The collection of volumes
produced by the UK Office of
Government Commerce (previously
CCTA) that describe IT Service
Management best practice.
The library is intended to
assist organisations to provide
quality IT service in the face
of budgetary constraints, skill
shortages, system complexity,
rapid change, current and future
User requirements and growing
User expectations.
Originally
produced in the late 1980s -
early 1990s as a set of more
than forty volumes, at the heart
of the latest issue of the
library is a set of six books:
Service Support and Service
Delivery provide advice on how
to manage the core processes of
IT Service Management; Planning
to Implement Service Management
explains the steps neccessary to
identify how an organisation
might expect to benefit from
ITIL, and how to set about
reaping those benefits, ICT
Infrastructure Management covers
Network Service Management,
Operations Management,
Management of Local Processors,
Computer Installation and
Acceptance, and for the first
time, Systems Management; and
Applications Management embraces
the Software Development
Lifecycle, expanding the issues
touched on in Software Lifecycle
Support and Testing of IT
Services. Applications
Management also provides more
detail on Business Change with
emphasis being placed on clear
requirement definition and
implementation of solutions.
Finally, The Business
Perspective volume deals with
fully understanding the nature
of IT service provision and
covers Business Continuity
Management, Partnerships and
Outsourcing, Surviving Change
and Transformation of Business
Practices through Radical
Change. See also Service
Support, Service
Delivery. |
|
|
| IT
Service |
A
set of related components
provided in support of one or
more business processes.
The service will comprise a
range of CI
Types but will be perceived by
Customer and Users as a
self-contained, single, coherent
entity. |
|
|
| IT
Service Continuity Management |
The
process of assessing and
managing risks to IT services by
examining CI
values, threats and
vulnerabilities, developing
appropriate countermeasures,
creating an IT Service
Continuity plan, and managing
any disaster situations that
occur. See also Business
Continuity Management. |
|
|
| IT
Service Continuity Plan |
A
plan detailing actions and
procedures to be followed by IT
in the event of a
disaster. See also Business
Continuity Planning. |
|
|
| IT
Service Continuity Planning |
The
process of developing testing
and maintaining a plan for use
in the event of a disaster - a
subset of IT Service Continuity
Management. See also Business
Continuity Planning. |
|
|
| IT
Service Management |
The
principles and practices of
designing, delivering and maintaining
IT services, to an agreed level
of quality, in support of a
Customer activity. |
|
|
| IT
Service Management Forum |
Founded
in the UK in 1991, the itSMF
is the only internationally
recognised and independent body
dedicated to professional IT
Service Management. IT is
a not-for-profit organisation,
wholly owned and principally
operated by its
membership. Originally
formed as the IT Infrastructure
Forum (ITIMF), the name was
changed in 1997 in order to
reflect more accurately the
organisations's focus.
There are active national
'chapters' of itSMF
throughout the world.
The itSMF
is a major influence on and
contributor to Industry Best
Practices and Standards
worldwide, working in
partnership with such
organisations as the OGC (the UK
government advisory body), the BSi
and number of national and
international Examination
Boards. |
|
|
| Iterative
Activities |
This
term refers to the activities of
Monitoring, Analysing, Tuning
and Implementing that form the
day-to-day management
performance within Capacity
Management. |
