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ITIL - Internet Glossary Category: Technical and IT Date & country: 08/05/2017, NL Words: 576

quality
The ability of a product, service or process to provide the intended value. For example, a hardware component can be considered to be of high quality if it performs as expected and delivers the required reliability. Process quality also requires an ability to monitor effectiveness and efficiency, and to improve them if necessary. See also quality management system.

PRojects IN Controlled Environments
(PRINCE2) The standard UK government methodology for project management. See www.prince- officialsite.com for more information. See also Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

qualification
(ITIL Service Transition) An activity that ensures that the IT infrastructure is appropriate and correctly configured to support an application or IT service. See also validation.

projected service outage
(PSO) (ITIL Service Transition) A document that identifies the effect of planned changes, maintenance activities and test plans on agreed service levels.

project management office
(PMO) (ITIL Service Design) (ITIL Service Strategy) A function or group responsible for managing the lifecycle of projects. See also charter; project portfolio.

project portfolio
(ITIL Service Design) (ITIL Service Strategy) A database or structured document used to manage projects throughout their lifecycle. The project portfolio is used to coordinate projects and ensure that they meet their objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner. In larger organizations, the project portfolio is typically defined and maintained by a project management office. The project portfolio is important to service portfolio management as new services and significant changes are normally managed as projects. See also charter.

project charter
See charter.

Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK) A project management standard maintained and published by the Project Management Institute. See www.pmi.org for more information. See also PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2).

Project Management Institute
(PMI) A membership association that advances the project management profession through globally recognized standards and certifications, collaborative communities, an extensive research programme, and professional development opportunities. PMI is a not-for-profit membership organization with representation in many countries around the world. PMI maintains and publishes the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). See www.pmi.org for more information. See also PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2).

pro-forma
A template or example document containing sample data that will be replaced with real values when these are available.

programme
A number of projects and activities that are planned and managed together to achieve an overall set of related objectives and other outcomes.

project
A temporary organization, with people and other assets, that is required to achieve an objective or other outcome. Each project has a lifecycle that typically includes initiation, planning, execution, and closure. Projects are usually managed using a formal methodology such as PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) or the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). See also charter; project management office; project portfolio.

profit centre
(ITIL Service Strategy) A business unit that charges for services provided. A profit centre can be created with the objective of making a profit, recovering costs, or running at a loss. An IT service provider can be run as a cost centre or a profit centre.

production environment
See live environment.

process owner
The person who is held accountable for ensuring that a process is fit for purpose. The process owner’s responsibilities include sponsorship, design, change management and continual improvement of the process and its metrics. This role can be assigned to the same person who carries out the process manager role, but the two roles may be separate in larger organizations.

process manager
A role responsible for the operational management of a process. The process manager’s responsibilities include planning and coordination of all activities required to carry out, monitor and report on the process. There may be several process managers for one process – for example, regional change managers or IT service continuity managers for each data centre. The process manager role is often assigned to the person who carries out the process owner role, but the two roles may be separate in larger organizations.

procedure
A document containing steps that specify how to achieve an activity. Procedures are defined as part of processes. See also work instruction.

process
A structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. A process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. It may include any of the roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. A process may define policies, standards, guidelines, activities and work instructions if they are needed.

process control
The activity of planning and regulating a process, with the objective of performing the process in an effective, efficient and consistent manner.

problem management
(ITIL Service Operation) The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems.

problem record
(ITIL Service Operation) A record containing the details of a problem. Each problem record documents the lifecycle of a single problem.

problem
(ITIL Service Operation) A cause of one or more incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a problem record is created, and the problem management process is responsible for further investigation.

PRINCE2®
See PRojects IN Controlled Environments. (PRINCE2)

priority
(ITIL Service Operation) (ITIL Service Transition) A category used to identify the relative importance of an incident, problem or change. Priority is based on impact and urgency, and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken. For example, the service level agreement may state that Priority 2 incidents must be resolved within 12 hours.

proactive monitoring
(ITIL Service Operation) Monitoring that looks for patterns of events to predict possible future failures. See also reactive monitoring.

proactive problem management
(ITIL Service Operation) Part of the problem management process. The objective of proactive problem management is to identify problems that might otherwise be missed. Proactive problem management analyses incident records, and uses data collected by other IT service management processes to identify trends or significant problems.

pricing
(ITIL Service Strategy) Pricing is the activity for establishing how much customers will be charged.

practice
A way of working, or a way in which work must be done. Practices can include activities, processes, functions, standards and guidelines. See also best practice.

prerequisite for success
(PFS) An activity that needs to be completed, or a condition that needs to be met, to enable successful implementation of a plan or process. It is often an output from one process that is a required input to another process.

post- implementation review
(PIR) A review that takes place after a change or a project has been implemented. It determines if the change or project was successful, and identifies opportunities for improvement.

portable facility
(ITIL Service Design) A prefabricated building, or a large vehicle, provided by a third party and moved to a site when needed according to an IT service continuity plan. See also fixed facility; recovery option.

planned downtime
(ITIL Service Design) Agreed time when an IT service will not be available. Planned downtime is often used for maintenance, upgrades and testing. See also change window; downtime.

planning
An activity responsible for creating one or more plans – for example, capacity planning.

policy
Formally documented management expectations and intentions. Policies are used to direct decisions, and to ensure consistent and appropriate development and implementation of processes, standards, roles, activities, IT infrastructure etc.

Plan-Do-Check-Act
(PDCA) (ITIL Continual Service Improvement) A four- stage cycle for process management, attributed to Edward Deming. Plan-Do-Check-Act is also called the Deming Cycle. Plan – design or revise processes that support the IT services; Do – implement the plan and manage the processes; Check – measure the processes and IT services, compare with objectives and produce reports; Act

pilot
(ITIL Service Transition) A limited deployment of an IT service, a release or a process to the live environment. A pilot is used to reduce risk and to gain user feedback and acceptance. See also change evaluation; test.

plan
A detailed proposal that describes the activities and resources needed to achieve an objective – for example, a plan to implement a new IT service or process. ISO/IEC 20000 requires a plan for the management of each IT service management process.

performance management
Activities to ensure that something achieves its expected outcomes in an efficient and consistent manner.

performance
A measure of what is achieved or delivered by a system, person, team, process or IT service.

pattern of business activity
(PBA) (ITIL Service Strategy) A workload profile of one or more business activities. Patterns of business activity are used to help the IT service provider understand and plan for different levels of business activity. See also user profile.

percentage utilization
(ITIL Service Design) The amount of time that a component is busy over a given period of time. For example, if a CPU is busy for 1,800 seconds in a one-hour period, its utilization is 50%.

partnership
A relationship between two organizations that involves working closely together for common goals or mutual benefit. The IT service provider should have a partnership with the business and with third parties who are critical to the delivery of IT services. See also value network.

passive monitoring
(ITIL Service Operation) Monitoring of a configuration item, an IT service or a process that relies on an alert or notification to discover the current status. See also active monitoring.

Pareto principle
(ITIL Service Operation) A technique used to prioritize activities. The Pareto principle says that 80% of the value of any activity is created with 20% of the effort. Pareto analysis is also used in problem management to prioritize possible problem causes for investigation.

pain value analysis
(ITIL Service Operation) A technique used to help identify the business impact of one or more problems. A formula is used to calculate pain value based on the number of users affected, the duration of the downtime, the impact on each user, and the cost to the business (if known).

overhead
See indirect cost.

outsourcing
(ITIL Service Strategy) Using an external service provider to manage IT services. See also service sourcing.

outcome
The result of carrying out an activity, following a process, or delivering an IT service etc. The term is used to refer to intended results as well as to actual results. See also objective.

organization
A company, legal entity or other institution. The term is sometimes used to refer to any entity that has people, resources and budgets – for example, a project or business unit.

optimize
Review, plan and request changes, in order to obtain the maximum efficiency and effectiveness from a process, configuration item, application etc.

operations management
See IT operations management.

opportunity cost
(ITIL Service Strategy) A cost that is used in deciding between investment choices. Opportunity cost represents the revenue that would have been generated by using the resources in a different way. For example, the opportunity cost of purchasing a new server may include not carrying out a service improvement activity that the money could have been spent on. Opportunity cost analysis is used as part of a decision-making process, but opportunity cost is not treated as an actual cost in any financial statement.

operations control
See IT operations control.

operations bridge
(ITIL Service Operation) A physical location where IT services and IT infrastructure are monitored and managed.

operational expenditure
(OPEX) (ITIL Continual Service Improvement) (ITIL Service Design) An agreement between an IT service provider and another part of the same organization. It supports the IT service provider’s delivery of IT services to customers and defines the goods or services to be provided and the responsibilities of both parties. For example, there could be an operational level agreement:

operational level agreement
(OLA) See also service level agreement.

operational
The lowest of three levels of planning and delivery (strategic, tactical, operational). Operational activities include the day-to-day or short-term planning or delivery of a business process or IT service management process. The term is also a synonym for live.

operational cost
The cost resulting from running the IT services, which often involves repeating payments – for example, staff costs, hardware maintenance and electricity (also known as current expenditure or revenue expenditure). See also capital expenditure.

onshore
(ITIL Service Strategy) Provision of services from a location within the country where the customer is based. See also near-shore; offshore.

operate
To perform as expected. A process or configuration item is said to operate if it is delivering the required outputs. Operate also means to perform one or more operations. For example, to operate a computer is to do the day- to-day operations needed for it to perform as expected.

operation
(ITIL Service Operation) Day-to-day management of an IT service, system or other configuration item. Operation is also used to mean any predefined activity or transaction – for example, loading a magnetic tape, accepting money at a point of sale, or reading data from a disk drive.

off the shelf
See commercial off the shelf.

Office of Government Commerce
(OGC) OGC (former owner of Best Management Practice) and its functions have moved into the Cabinet Office as part of HM Government. See www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

offshore
(ITIL Service Strategy) Provision of services from a location outside the country where the customer is based, often in a different continent. This can be the provision of an IT service, or of supporting functions such as a service desk. See also near- shore; onshore.

normal service operation
(ITIL Service Operation) An operational state where services and configuration items are performing within their agreed service and operational levels.

notional charging
(ITIL Service Strategy) An approach to charging for IT services. Charges to customers are calculated and customers are informed of the charge, but no money is actually transferred.

objective
The outcomes required from a process, activity or organization in order to ensure that its purpose will be fulfilled. Objectives are usually expressed as measurable targets. The term is also informally used to mean a requirement.

normal change
(ITIL Service Transition) A change that is not an emergency change or a standard change. Normal changes follow the defined steps of the change management process.

net present value
(NPV) (ITIL Service Strategy) A technique used to help make decisions about capital expenditure. It compares cash inflows with cash outflows.

near-shore
(ITIL Service Strategy) Provision of services from a country near the country where the customer is based. This can be the provision of an IT service, or of supporting functions such as a service desk. See also offshore; onshore.

monitoring
(ITIL Service Operation) Repeated observation of a configuration item, IT service or process to detect events and to ensure that the current status is known.

monitor control loop
(ITIL Service Operation) Monitoring the output of a task, process, IT service or other configuration item; comparing this output to a predefined norm; and taking appropriate action based on this comparison.

modelling
A technique that is used to predict the future behaviour of a system, process, IT service, configuration item etc. Modelling is commonly used in financial management, capacity management and availability management.

model
A representation of a system, process, IT service, configuration item etc. that is used to help understand or predict future behaviour.

mission
A short but complete description of the overall purpose and intentions of an organization. It states what is to be achieved, but not how this should be done. See also vision.

metric
(ITIL Continual Service Improvement) Something that is measured and reported to help manage a process, IT service or activity. See also key performance indicator.

middleware
(ITIL Service Design) Software that connects two or more software components or applications.

mean time between service incidents
(MTBSI) (ITIL Service Design) A metric used for measuring and reporting reliability. It is the mean time from when a system or IT service fails, until it next fails. MTBSI is equal to MTBF plus MTRS.

mean time to repair
(MTTR) The average time taken to repair an IT service or other configuration item after a failure. MTTR is measured from when the configuration item fails until it is repaired. MTTR does not include the time required to recover or restore. It is sometimes incorrectly used instead of mean time to restore service.

mean time to restore service
(MTRS) The average time taken to restore an IT service or other configuration item after a failure. MTRS is measured from when the configuration item fails until it is fully restored and delivering its normal functionality. See also maintainability; mean time to repair.

maturity level
A named level in a maturity model, such as the Carnegie Mellon Capability Maturity Model Integration.

mean time between failures
(MTBF) (ITIL Service Design) A metric for measuring and reporting reliability. MTBF is the average time that an IT service or other configuration item can perform its agreed function without interruption.

marginal cost
(ITIL Service Strategy) The increase or decrease in the cost of producing one more, or one less, unit of output – for example, the cost of supporting an additional user.

market space
(ITIL Service Strategy) Opportunities that an IT service provider could exploit to meet the business needs of customers. Market spaces identify the possible IT services that an IT service provider may wish to consider delivering.

maturity
(ITIL Continual Service Improvement) A measure of the reliability, efficiency and effectiveness of a process, function, organization etc. The most mature processes and functions are formally aligned to business objectives and strategy, and are supported by a framework for continual improvement.

management system
The framework of policy, processes, functions, standards, guidelines and tools that ensures an organization or part of an organization can achieve its objectives. This term is also used with a smaller scope to support a specific process or activity – for example, an event management system or risk management system. See also system.

manual workaround
(ITIL Continual Service Improvement) A workaround that requires manual intervention. Manual workaround is also used as the name of a recovery option in which the business process operates without the use of IT services. This is a temporary measure and is usually combined with another recovery option.

management information system
(MIS) (ITIL Service Design) A set of tools, data and information that is used to support a process or function. Examples include the availability management information system and the supplier and contract management information system.

Management of Risk
(M_o_R®) M_o_R includes all the activities required to identify and control the exposure to risk, which may have an impact on the achievement of an organization’s business objectives. See www.mor- officialsite.com for more details.

major incident
(ITIL Service Operation) The highest category of impact for an incident. A major incident results in significant disruption to the business.

manageability
An informal measure of how easily and effectively an IT service or other component can be managed.

management information
Information that is used to support decision making by managers. Management information is often generated automatically by tools supporting the various IT service management processes.

maintainability
(ITIL Service Design) A measure of how quickly and effectively an IT service or other configuration item can be restored to normal working after a failure. Maintainability is often measured and reported as MTRS. Maintainability is also used in the context of software or IT service development to mean ability to be changed or repaired easily.

line of service
(LOS) (ITIL Service Strategy) A core service or service package that has multiple service options. A line of service is managed by a service owner and each service option is designed to support a particular market segment.

live
(ITIL Service Transition) Refers to an IT service or other configuration item that is being used to deliver service to a customer.

live environment
(ITIL Service Transition) A controlled environment containing live configuration items used to deliver IT services to customers.

known error record
(ITIL Service Operation) A record containing the details of a known error. Each known error record documents the lifecycle of a known error, including the status, root cause and workaround. In some implementations, a known error is documented using additional fields in a problem record.

lifecycle
The various stages in the life of an IT service, configuration item, incident, problem, change etc. The lifecycle defines the categories for status and the status transitions that are permitted. For example:

known error database
(KEDB) (ITIL Service Operation) A database containing all known error records. This database is created by problem management and used by incident and problem management. The known error database may be part of the configuration management system, or may be stored elsewhere in the service knowledge management system.

knowledge management
(ITIL Service Transition) The process responsible for sharing perspectives, ideas, experience and information, and for ensuring that these are available in the right place and at the right time. The knowledge management process enables informed decisions, and improves efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge. See also Data-to-Information-to-Knowledge-to- Wisdom; service knowledge management system.