Matt Goedtel on Operations Management : Process

ITIL v3 Foundation Certification

mgoedtel — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:46:00 GMT

Back in June I attended an internal class to review Microsoft Operations Framework v4 (formerly known as Project Hanna) and attended a beta exam thereafter, which I fortunately passed. Now this week, I am going to update my ITIL Foundation Certification from v2 to v3.

I have a very strong opinion with respect to anyone in IT and the benefits of learning and adopting a process frameworks in an effort to improve the delivery and support of IT Services to the business. Not simply focusing on technology makes anyone in IT a well rounded person as long as they take it seriously and work towards improving the way IT functions. It makes us better IT stewards.

You can learn more about MOF here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc506049.aspx

You can learn more about ITIL here - http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.aspm and here - http://www.itlibrary.org/

I'll get off the soapbox now....:)

MP Lifecycle Management Project Templates

mgoedtel — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:35:00 GMT

I would like to provide a couple of templates I mentioned during my presentation yesterday that many of you may find of value. In the .ZIP file are two tempaltes:

Override Change Log spreadsheet
Test Plan

I had a project plan template somewhere that helps in managing the testing of a management pack or the development of a new MP and the testing of that MP. Sadly I cannot find it right now so I'll have to publish it tomorrow after I find it.

Remember, the templaets I am providing are to help you in developing your own standards that you and/or your team should be following as part of the Release Management process. Hopefully you find them of value.

Tomorrow I'll continue my discussion regarding MP Lifecycle Management as a follow on to my post from last night. Alas I am in need of a break this evening :)

ITIL = Process = Common Sense

mgoedtel — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:56:00 GMT

As you may or may not know, ITIL is all about best practices for IT Service Management with three key tenants:

Align IT Service with the current/future needs of the business or customer.
Improve quality of IT Service delivered
Reduce overall cost of services delivered

This is nothing more than sound practical judgement, hence my title ending with the word "Common Sense." It just amazes me that these concepts are foreign to individuals within Information Technology. Maybe that is viewed as a harsh comment, but by golly what I witness time and again are individuals who fail to recognize the fact that we are here to support the business and need to have that customer mindset in all we do. No longer is IT in the driver seat as it used to be (when I first started in IT back in the early 90's) controlling everything. Now IT is an enabler for the business and must support the business initatives or else the business will look elsewhere (such as outsourcing, which is why I consider it such a "fad" these days).

As a representative of your IT organization, I strongly recommend you open your mind and focus on being customer centric. In my opinion, you further mature and help to improve effectiveness and efficiency within IT. Not only that, but your chances for job security and promotion increase. :)

Check out the IT Foundation Certification or just start reading about ITIL here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITIL or here - http://www.itil.org.uk/.