Our Typical Assessment Approach
In continuing with the theme of ‘Starting the ITIL Journey with an ITSM Assessment’, this blog installment provides a high-level overview of our assessment approach, the areas explored, the various assessment types, and deliverables. A typical assessment engagement can be completed in as little time as two weeks through to a couple of months.
The length of time to complete an assessment is driven, of course, by the client’s specific needs, such as the number of in-scope processes and the level of depth and detail required. Our general approach is outlined below:
- Gather information through a series of interviews with the project sponsor and key stakeholders to gain some insight into current challenges and issues, project goals and objectives, and possible ‘quick wins’. This may also include discussions and interviews with IT customers.
- Review background information, such as existing process and procedural documentation, role descriptions, service reports, and the IT organization structure.
- Evaluate the IT current and desired state with regard to the relationship with the business to get a feel for how well IT and the business are aligned and what that desired end state vision looks like.
- Perform an ITIL-based process maturity assessment to determine how well the current processes measure up against ITIL and industry best practices.
- Conduct a gap analysis between the current and desired state to identify the key ITSM improvement initiatives required and establish priorities.
- Provide recommendations, next steps, and an ITSM Road Map toward achieving the desired state.
An assessment explores many areas of the People, Process and Technology aspects of IT Service Management, such as the maturity of the process implementation, process documentation, roles and responsibilities, training and skills, process policies, management reporting, process integration, quality of the technology installation as well as the extent and accuracy of supporting technology documentation.
Integritas offers many different assessment types, including a Light, Detailed, and Custom Assessment, with each varying in breadth, depth, and length.
Light Assessment - provides a high-level of understanding of ITSM concepts, a basic evaluation of current Service Management maturity relative to best practices and some recommendations and improvement plans. Duration - typically 5 to 10 days.
Detailed Assessment - a much more in-depth review of key ITSM process areas with a focus on reviewing IT service quality, cost effectiveness and service availability, reliability and performance. Duration - typically 10 to 20 days.
Custom Assessment - provides a targeted review of specific Service Management disciplines if you are striving to achieve a superior level of IT service delivery and quality. Such assessments are often part of a large, corporate ITSM Program. Duration - typically 20 to 40 days.
As part of any ITSM Assessment engagement, typical deliverables include:
- Project Plan and Schedule
- Stakeholder Interviews
- Assessment Workshop(s) - covering project objectives, end state vision, process assessments and a barrier analysis
- ITSM Vision and Road Map - specifying process maturity and goals, gaps, prioritized recommendations, and sample Project Charters
Our next blog will continue the discussion of ITSM Assessments with an overview of the Process Design and Verification step of the ITSM Journey.
