Book Reviews
Book Reviews
The Official Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle
The key factor that differentiates many companies is not the products they sell, but the services they provide. This month, I look at the first two volumes of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, version 3 (ITILv3), and an introduction to ITILv3. These books are the official versions, published by the Stationary Office of the UK government, with the permission of the Office of Government Commerce (the trademark holder of the term ITIL).
To understand ITILv3 completely, it is necessary to read the remaining volumes that aren't covered in this review. My decision to look at these first volumes was simply a matter of return on investment. ITIL can be a daunting topic, particularly when the services you provide evolved over years with little or no conscious effort to design or monitor them. By implementing the methodology discussed in these volumes, you can quickly achieve dramatic improvements in the services you provide
Despite my belief that the whole spectrum of ITIL is worth understanding, I think the remaining three volumes – Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement – address useful aspects of ITILv3 but might overwhelm many people by the amount of material covered. Once you get into the material, these remaining volumes are a valuable addition and worth a closer look.
The Official Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle introduces the ITIL service lifecycle. A common theme throughout all of the volumes is that, properly implemented, this is a cycle: You don't stop once you have implemented the methodology. Instead, it is a continual process of design, implementation, evaluation, and then back to design. This introductory volume illustrates that each phase influences every other phase.
The book begins by introducing ITIL and service management, followed by a chapter on the core concepts of ITILv3. If you are new to ITIL, this is a great overview, although more information on ITIL history and a detailed comparison of the different versions would be helpful.
The bulk of the book then introduces topics that are covered in more detail in the remaining volumes.
Office of Government Commerce
Paperback, 238 Pages
Stationery Office Books, 2007
ISBN:978-0113310616
UK£ 28.50, US$ 54.21, EUR 44.95
Service Strategy
Service Strategy is essentially about deciding what services you will be providing to your customers. Dealing with the effects of poorly defined services is a key aspect of ITIL, for both the customer and service provider.
This book emphasizes that simply creating a list of the services you provide is not enough. Also, you must ensure that the services are clearly understood and actually reflect what the provider and recipient expect.
An explanation of what services mean in terms of IT is followed by a chapter on the "practice" and processes of service management. In the chapter "Service Strategy Principles," I found places that described aspects of service definition that would have saved my company time and effort if we had considered them five years ago, plus a few points that confirmed where we did it right. For example, one problem occurs with services that were defined on the basis of customer perception of the service rather than what we were really providing.
The "Service Economics" chapter addresses the front-end aspects of defining services; namely, what expenses (money, material, manpower) are involved in defining your services.
A discussion of the economic aspects of what happens or could happen six months after improperly defined services are implemented, however, is missing.
For more information about the books, visit: http://www.itil.org.uk/ss.htm
Office of Government Commerce
Paperback, 334 Pages
Stationery Office Books, 2007
ISBN: 978-0113310470
UK£ 80.75, US$ 169.99, EUR 127.95
Service Design
What good is it if you have a great idea – or service strategy – but it is poorly implemented? Service Design does a great job of helping you design your services, covering mundane things such as what "availability" means, to more abstract things such as what benefits the service offers.
After chapters that provide an introduction and discuss the principles of service design, the 100-page chapter "Service Design Processes" explains that designing effective and efficient services is not a matter of simply sitting down and describing the services in a single session. Instead, it is an ongoing process that continues even after the service is implemented. (The volume Continual Service Improvement offers a more in-depth view of this topic.)
Because of the nature of my job, I really enjoyed the chapter called "Service Design Technology-Related Activities."
This chapter looks at the activities surrounding the technology, including more abstract things such as your infrastructure, data management, and so forth.
The book concludes with several appendices that provide a summary of the material, including a number of example forms for implementing services, service-level agreements, environmental architectures and standards, your services catalog, checklists, example contents of a "Statement of Requirement (SoR) and/or Invitation to Tender (ITT)," and contents of a capacity plan.
Finally, there is a list of references and a glossary with an acronyms list and definitions list and an index.
For more information about the book, visit: http://www.itil.org.uk/sd.htm
Office of Government Commerce
Paperback, 334 Pages
Stationery Office Books, 2007
ISBN: 978-0113310470
UK£ 87.50, US$ 179.55, EUR 59.81
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.