Building Clouds Using IT Service Management

In recent years, IT Service Management has become increasingly popular in many IT organizations around the world. Frameworks like ITIL and MOF are commonly used as prescriptive guidance or best practices for how to run IT and create better alignment between Business and IT.

These best practices are no different when building clouds. With this mind, I will be authoring a track on IT Service Management.

I am a Program Manager in the Windows Server and System Center division, and joined Microsoft 7 years ago. In 2003 I completed my ITIL Certification and ever since I’ve been fascinated by how IT frameworks can drive IT. I am also the co-author of MOF v4 and frequently conduct workshops on System Center and Service Manager.

Why Does IT Service Management Matter When Building Clouds?

IT Process Frameworks are focused on People, Process and Technology and just like the Application Track, and this blog will provide examples of how System Center can be used to support the Processes and People in the triangle with the Technology.

Many organizations I meet with look at IT Service Management as difficult to implement, and they struggle to see the value in implementing some aspects of IT Service Management. In many cases, the organization’s maturity and willingness play a major role. In this track I’ll share pragmatic examples on how IT Service Management can be used with System Center. I’ll skip all the academic language and simply explain how to build similar scenarios in your own organization.

How Can IT Service Management be Used with System Center?

System Center Service Manager seems like the obvious place to start when talking about IT Processes, but it goes well beyond this since other components also have important functions and features to drive IT processes.

One of the most important areas of the System Center suite is the integration between the components. Areas like Integration, Standardization, Automation and Self Service are some of the drivers we use to develop features and functions in System Center, and these are also incredibly important areas for driving IT processes. This track will cover topics like standardizing how IT processes can be incorporated into the System Center components, how to implement and maintain a CMDB, and it’s relevance for building clouds using System Center.

Looking ahead, future blog posts that are planned for the IT Service Management track include:

· Charge Back with System Center

· Governance Risk and Compliance Using System Center

· CMDB and Clouds and the Integration Story

· How to Make a Dashboard with KPIs Using the Data Warehouse

· Service Level Management and How to Apply that in Your Organization

· Service Catalog and How to Drive Self Service and Automation

· Change and Release Management: What’s the Difference and How Can I Use it to Put My IP Projects Into Operations.

Throughout this track, please share your feedback. we will use this input to shape this material into and ensure the insights are valuable.

Don’t touch that dial, stay tuned!