Firefighting and Heroics to Process and Planning: Starting up an ITIL Induced Organization

1. Firefighting and Heroics to Process and Planning: Starting up an ITIL Induced Organization Beth Schaefer and Mark Rank | March 16, 2010

2. UW-MILWAUKEE Enrollment 30,455 Undergraduate 25,239 Masters & Doctoral 5,216 Faculty & Staff 3,756 Central IT staff 125 IT student staff 175 Schools & Colleges 12 Programs: Undergraduate 84 Masters 48 Doctoral 24

3.  TODAY WE WILL BE COVERING Our motivations What are we doing now Where we are going The challenges we’ve faced

4. MOTIVATION  • We had fires burning… • Off hours emergencies • Unstable infrastructure • New initiatives appearing out of no where • We threw up our hands and said “What are we going to do to fix it”

5. DISRUPTIVE OPPORTUNITY • At the architecture level we were trying to understand our current state, but we were struggling with a framework  • And then some staff went to an ITIL presentation by George Spalding • A division wide Operations Team was being formed 

6. DISRUPTIVE OPPORTUNITY • Budgets were getting tight  • Expected to "Do Less with Less" but to do things with higher quality and effectiveness • Needed a framework to link requirements engineering, project mgmt and strategic communication efforts

7. WE HAD PARTS OF THE PICTURE  • Architecture frameworks • Project management best practices • Requirements engineering • Operational aspects weren’t covered • Needed a framework to tie things together

8. THE KICKOFF • A proposal was drafted in Feburary 2009 to implement the ITSM/ITIL best practices framework • Proposal was circulated among the CIO Leadership Team, Architecture Team and newly created Operational Team

9. WHY ITIL? • There was not a systematic choice to use ITIL • Local Peers started to implement ITIL • ITIL V3 was a “Hot Topic" at the time • "As good as anything to start with"  • “Drank the Kool-Aid”

10. HOW WE ORGANIZED THE EFFORT • Played the ITIL "Hot Potato" game with Leadership teams • Ended up forming coordination team composed of a few members from the leadership teams • Decision to have a “managed organic” process

11. WHERE WE STARTED • Identified three items that we were already doing that were ITIL'ish to start the conversation • Introduction of the topic at all staff meetings • Waves of ITIL online orientation  • Feedback sessions after the orientation • Got the manuals so people could start reading 

12. WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW  • Service Catalog/Service Portfolio • First steps at basic portfolio management • First steps at service design • First steps at change management (Change Advisory Documents)

13. WHERE ARE WE GOING • Better basis for gathering metrics • Process for new services and retirement of old • Gaining better communication within the campus community about our services • Framework with project management, requirements gathering and ITIL

14. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGES  • Managing the amount of change • Keeping it in the bounds of what can be accepted • Iterating processes without frustrating staff • Getting enough people oriented to the terminology, concepts and definitions • Giving already overcommitted staff time to follow through on new initiatives

15. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGES • Changing the culture • "Rewarding fire fighting" to "Rewarding successful service management” • Chicken and egg problem of service catalog and portfolio • Deciding what should initially be defined • Defining service owners

16. LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR • Figure out who will coordinate early • Introduce the concepts and listen for feedback, especially from any training or orientation • Start to use the terminology as soon as possible • Have a basic portfolio management process from the start, even if you don’t have a portfolio

17. QUESTIONS TO ASK • Why do you want to implement ITIL? • What are the goals you are trying to accomplish? • Where can you can a quick win for your organization? • What are the processes you have already for a base to start with?

18. QUESTIONS beths@uwm.edu rankm@uwm.edu

19. THANK YOU