Audience: Who is the course for?
- Project managers, business managers and business process owners involved in defining service level requirements
- Those who require a working knowledge of the industry best practice used in Service Level Management and how it can be used to improve the quality of ITSM within an organisation
- Those who are required to deliver or improve Service Level Management within an on-going Service Improvement Programme
Course duration:
This is a three day course. The exam is taken on the third day.
Benefits to the individual:
- Recognised professional qualification
- Understand the application of service level management principles that contribute to industry best practice
- Understand service level management processes and how they may be used to enhance the quality of IT service support within an organisation
Benefits to the business:
- The adoption and application of proven best practice processes results in improved IT services and increased productivity throughout the business
- The ability to agree service levels with the customer and then to deliver these in full leads to increased customer satisfaction
- The ability to monitor, review and report on service performance against targets allows improvements to be made when necessary thereby leading to greater service levels and customer satisfaction
Prerequisites:
Delegates must hold the ITIL Foundation and should also have:
- A minimum of one year's experience in an IT Service Management
- Responsibility for the delivery and maintenance of a specific service management process
- Several years' experience in a specialist service management
Course outline:
The objectives of this course are:
- To enable delegates to apply industry best practices in their working environment
- To develop and improve the customer and business focus of Service Level Management
- For delegates to be able to assist with the planning and implementation of Service Level Management
- To enable delegates to implement and manage Service Improvement Programmes (SIPs)
The course is conducted through interactive group study using practical examples and activities. Delegates will also sit a mock exam.
Over the three day course, the following topics are covered:
Introduction:
- Introduction to course
- Overview of course structure, objectives, exam format and agenda
- History of ITSM, introduction to ITSM in general, including standards, good practice and frameworks such as ISO/IEC 20000, ITIL and COBIT® and the differences in approach
- The goals and objectives of the Service Level Management process and an outline of the related functions, roles and processes.
Service Level Management processes. Service Level Management concepts and principles:
- The responsibilities and objectives in support of generic Service Level Management
- Understanding Customer/Service Level Management relationship
- Understanding the different types of Service Level Agreements
- The resourcing considerations, staffing levels, rotas, shifts, skills and knowledge levels
- Review of service achievements to ensure that the required service quality is maintained and improved
The how - ITIL and its application to Service Level Management:
- The structure intent and use of ITIL
- The key Service Management guidelines within ITIL
- Interfaces with and dependencies on other areas of ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 especially, Service Desk and Incident, Problem, Release, Availability, Capacity, Access and Security, Portfolio Management and Financial Management
A generic Service Level Management process, including:
- Creation and maintenance of the Service Catalogue
- Identification and definition of the appropriate SLA format
- Negotiation, agreement and documentation of service levels to match customer business needs
- How to identify the Service and Supplier chains
- Identification of Operating Level agreements (OLAs) and Underpinning Contracts (UCs) to support the SLAs
- Monitor and report on service levels achieved against agreed targets
- Create and manage a Service Improvement Programme
- Ensure the overall process is effective and responsive to changing requirements
- Definition of reporting requirements and management reporting
The what – the requirements of the ISO/IEC 20000 standard:
- The structure, intent and use of ISO/IEC 20000
- The key Service Level Management requirements of Part 1 of the standard
- Supporting material from Parts 2 and 3 of the standard
- The overall Service Management System
- Interfaces with and dependencies on other areas of the standard
Tools, methods and techniques:
- Awareness, knowledge and use of Service Level Management support tools and techniques
- Typical toolsets used in monitoring and reporting of services plus some element of integrated Service Management tools
- Generic requirements for production of a Service Catalogue
- Planning of SLA structure and benefits of standardisation of documentation and templates
- Integration with other areas, processes and functions
- The benefits of automation
Service Level Management roles and responsibilities – SFIA and ITIL. Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and its use with defining Service Level Management roles:
- Overview of the structure and content of the SFIA framework
- Service Level Management roles, levels of responsibility and work activities
ITIL and its use in defining Service Level Management roles:
- Service Level Management roles and responsibilities
Control, measurement and reporting activities. COBIT® and its application to Service Level Management:
- The structure intent and use of COBIT®
- The key Service Level Management requirements of COBIT®
- Interfaces with and dependencies on other areas of COBIT®
The preparation of Service Level Management reports for dissemination:
- The purpose of service reports, management reports and reporting. What to report on and what not to?
- SLAM and RAG charts
- Operational and Periodic reports
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
- How statistics can be used, and abused
- Common categories of classification and analysis
Analysis of Service reports, Availability reports and Operational reports. The analysis of Operational, Service and Availability reports identifying trends:
- Identification of areas of weakness and proposing resolutions to improve the quality of service provided
- Analysis of service achievement reports to check if they meet the customer expectations
Interfaces and dependencies:
- The appreciation and understanding of the interfaces and dependencies Service Level Management has with other areas, functions and processes, including.
- Service Desk and Incident Management
- Release Management
- Financial Management
- Problem Management
- Change Management
- Service Asset and Configuration Management
- Request Fulfilment
- Capacity, Availability and Continuity principles
- IT Security Management
- Projects and major changes
- Supplier Management
- Portfolio Management
- Demand Management
- Technical, Operations and Applications Management teams
Planning, improvement and implementation:
- The planning, implementation and continual improvement (Plan/Do/Check/Act) of Service Level Management
Exam details:
The 90 minute exam consists of 25 multiple choice questions. The questions are based on a number of scenarios and the pass mark is 16/25 or 64%. This is a closed book exam i.e. entrants may not refer to any course materials or their own notes.
BCS Service Level Management