How many times have 'projects' just been 'thrown over the wall' into IT Support, or in ITIL Version 3 speak, Service Operation, without due care and attention?
The answer is 'lots'.
Most organizations follow or rather claim they follow, the Prince2 Project Management methodology so why do the guys in Service Operation always suffer and pay the price?
Hopefully with ITIL Version 3 introducing the lifecycle approach from Service Strategy to Continual Service Improvement 'the wall' will become a thing of the past.
The key to a successful 'transition to live', whether you adopt the Service Transition approach or Planning and Implementing New or Change Services (PINOCS) in ISO/IEC 20000, is basically Change Management and the interface into and output from it.
Many organizations make the common mistake of engaging the Change Management Process too late, normally when a new application, service or system is due to go 'live' usually within days, but if you are lucky weeks beforehand!
Best Practice and common sense dictates that a placeholder Change should be raised ideally when the Project Initiation Document (PID) including financials have been produced and authorized, and a Project Manager appointed. The immediate responsibility of the Project Manager is to raise this 'parent' Change with Change Management at the earliest opportunity. The benefits of raising the Change early allows, other projects and Changes to be visible on the Change Schedule (CS), or Forward Schedule of Change (FSC) in old money. This will prevent potential scheduling conflicts by enabling planning to prevail and allow the better utilization of resources, thus reducing costs.
In order to achieve this and break down 'the wall', cultural change and education is required along with an effective Acceptance into Service process. This could be in the form of a Policy and process outlining the roles and responsibilities of staff involved in the process. A checklist may also be of use against each of the ITIL processes and have each of the Process Owners signed off against this.
Lastly communication is the key between all departments and especially the Business community as they also need to plan and resource accordingly for the new service or system.
If you've had any similar experiences or have broken down 'the wall' ITILnews would like to hear from you and hopefully share your experiences with its visitors. so please contact us, or use the comments box below...