IT Service Management

IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT

B-Logic’s IT Service Management (ITSM) makes use of ITIL best practices and COBIT IT governance frameworks to enhance IT management, IT maturity and all support activities; dedicated to achieve and maintain service delivery excellence throughout each Services’ lifecycle and align with the needs of the business.

All calls to the B-Logic Service Desk are managed by means of formal incident management procedures. This means that all incidents are managed in a standard and consistent way. Flexibility to cope with a user’s needs is provided by means of call impact codes. B-Logic will agree with the client on a range of call impact codes. This will be appropriate for different types of incidents, based on the impact of the incident on the user’s business activity. This agreement will be incorporated in the contracted Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The Service Desk is then responsible for managing the incident escalation process. This is done through on-going monitoring of outstanding calls, dependent on the call impact code or fault category. Incidents are managed and recorded through the use of a unique call reference number. It is then used to track/manage the incident as it is transferred between various internal/external specialist support groups. The user placing the call is supplied with this number by the Service Desk.

Client users will be given a single telephone number to call and log incidents, change requests and any other user requirement for which the Service Desk may have responsibility. In the event of an outage, communication is maintained through the use of e-mails and telephone messages. The most appropriate means of communication depends on the outage at the time. Communication means and processes will follow a set of procedures agreed by both parties. Client's staff are given access to the Service Desk, either directly or through a web front-end.

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Problem Management is invoked for those calls placed for many similar incidents which are recognised as trends. These calls are actioned as problems. In this case, it is necessary to investigate the underlying cause and possibility of workarounds. This is managed by a nominated Service Desk Problem Manager. Their responsibility is to escalate and ensure an expedient resolution is achieved. The escalation process is an important, contractually negotiated topic in a managed services contract. It ensures that both parties to a contract have a formal means of identifying and agreeing on call priorities. It's the route by which key members of staff are notified when incidents occur which may require their attention.

Impact codes are assigned to an incident based upon the impact the incident has on the customer's business. They are used to prioritise incidents, gain the correct focus and to set target times for incident resolution. The Service Desk will jointly assess and agree with the user the business impact at the time a call is placed. An appropriate impact code will then be allocated to the call. The impact code may change, up or down, as more information is gathered. Changes to impact codes should only take place in exceptional circumstances, dependent on changing business circumstances. They are to be authorised by the Service Desk first, too. There are normally four codes, each having an initial target recovery time within which a call should be resolved.

The B-Logic change management process allows for a degree of flexibility for implementing each customer’s change management requirements. This typically gets discussed during the transition process and agreed prior to service commencement. We recognise that within any service contract, there are two significantly different implementations of change management.

The first is that of managing day-to-day changes required to deliver the existing service. For example, the installation of a new server or software package. The second covers changes to the contract. For example, additional or reduced services that may affect the scope and price of the service. Both types of change are catered for by B-Logic but each may have its own process.

When managing and implementing change, we adhere to the industry recognised ITIL guidelines, which lists the goal of change management as:

“To ensure that standardised methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes, in order to minimise the impact of any related incidents upon service.”

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