Spring 2010 - Week 16: Getting IT Done - ITIL

ITIL - Internet Technology Infrastructure Library



The Information Technology Infrastructure Library is a set of recommendations for managing IT. While it's focus is on IT services it also covers IT development and operations.

The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, a part of the UK Government, created ITIL back in the 1980s. (As such, ITIL and IT Infrastructure Library are trademarks of the UK's Office of Coporate Governance, formerly the CCTA.) Originally a set of 40 manuals the ITIL has been updated twice: once into a set of 8 manuals for version 2.0 and again in 2007 with a set of five core manuals for version 3.0.

Each manual focuses on a particular aspect of IT which is then broken down into multiple sections. For example:

The Service Desk

With the prevalence of technology at home and in the work place many people have had to ask for help from a help desk or service desk before. ITIL recommends that the service desk handle requests using only one point of contact (at my place of employment we call it "one neck to choke"), one point of entry, and one point of exit.

It's easy to see how doing so accomplishes the next ITIL of making things easier for the customer: They only need to contact one person or department to get help. Instead of being told to contact a different department or to send the request in a different manner the person in contact with the customer is the one who routes it to the correct department. ITIL also recommends keeping the customer updated on progress instead of simply waiting until there is a resolution to communicate again with the customer.

There are also recommendations for data integrity and streamlining communications. Data integrity is necessary for databases. It's easier to maintain information if it is always referenced in the same way. At best time is simply wasted in multiple searches to get all of the relevant data but at worst the database end up completely unusable. Streamlining communications is important internally, to get requests moved and managed as easily as possible, and externally, in further aid of making things easier for the consumer.

As ITIL has become more and more popular as a standard for managing IT, more people have gone into the business of ITIL itself.

Consulting Firms

There are multiple consulting companies offering their expertise on the ITIL. One of these companies is The Drapeau Group, LLC.

The tagline on TDG’s site is, “Achieve ITIL Maturity, Avoid Broken Promises”. They claim that they stand apart from other firms by having consultants who are both IT process experts and technically adept, using a different charging model where they do not bill 8 hours a day, and only selling advice not hardware or software. They also focus on what they consider to be the most important parts of the Service Support and Service Delivery parts of the ITIL rather than trying to apply all of it as is.

TDG offers the following services:

• ITIL Maturity Assesment
• Service Support Implementation
• Service Delivery Implementation
• ITIL Training
• ITIL workshops
• ITSM for SME Business
• ITIL Tools Review
• Metrics Assessment

There are client testimonials on the site as well, the most well known likely being CheckFree(now Fiserv). If you’ve ever received or paid a bill online through your bank chances are good you were using their services. (You can run a search on just the state at the site in the link to see all the financial institutions that use Fiserv.) TDG worked with CheckFree to investigate ITIL and non-ITIL processes and, when CheckFree decided to use ITIL Service Management processes, helped them through the multi-phased deployment.

Software

ITIL Foundations maintains lists of programs related to ITIL in four different categories. In "Help Desk and Support Desk Software Tools" they recommend ServiceDesk Plus. ServiceDesk Plus is used to manage IT service requests from start to finish:

1. An end user who has an IT problem creates a 'ticket' requesting help
   The ticket can be created multiple ways: e-mail, phone, API, web, even a Network Failure can create a ticket
   
   
2. SDP then applies business rules to the ticket
   Rules can be added to have certain events or alerts occur based on the type of incident, SLA, etc.
   
   
3. The SLA is verified
   The Service Level Agreement in this case refers to the amount of time for the incident to be resolved.
   
   
4. The due date is set
   
   
5. The ticket is then sent to the appropriate group
   
   
6. A technician within that group works on the problem specified in the ticket
   
   
7. The end user is notified of the solution of the problem
   SDP can be set up to give the end user notifications in the mean time.
   

Week 9: Video - Now featuring audio*

So you want to make a video that's going to be viewed on or downloaded from a web site. What's the best way to go about that? Before you blurt out, "YouTube", here are some things to consider first.

Streaming vs Downloading

This will depend on how you want users to view your video and your budget.

The easiest, cheapest thing to do is to have visitors download the file from your web site. It works but it requires your visitors to get the entire file onto their computer before they can watch it.

Streaming video is the more expensive option. A streaming video allows the user to view the video as it's being delivered to them instead of waiting for the entire file first. It costs more because it requires the server to be running an application specifically for streaming video. However, in addition to users being able to view the video faster, a streaming video can detect a user's connection speed, broadcast live events, and handle larger traffic loads.

There is an option in between the two called progressive downloading. It mimics streaming in that it allows users to start viewing the video as soon as the beginning of the file has been downloaded but it lacks the additional benefits of streaming video. It's cheaper than streaming since it doesn't require the additional software on the server.

Which to pick? If you want visitors to be able to keep the file you can allow them to download it. If you want users to start viewing the video as soon as possible but don't have a big budget or do anything else special with it use progressive streaming. Sites with large amounts of traffic and want to do live events, like Hulu, need to use streaming.

Format

There are a few formats available: Windows Media, Quicktime, MPEG-4, Flash, and, more recently, Silverlight.

If you are a business, use Flash or Silverlight. You want as many people as possible to be able to view your video so you should use a format that works across multiple platforms and browsers. Flash edges out Silverlight in that regard since Silverlight does not work in Opera on Macs yet and Microsoft does not plan to update IE6 so that Silverlight will work in that browser.

This article comparing different aspects of Flash and Silverlight is useful for considerations beyond compatibility such as the ease of creating animation, sound quality, and accessibility.

You'd want this on your personal web site as well but since Flash video is expensive. In this case a MPEG-4 format that works in multiple players may be the way to go. However, if you do plan to have your videos on a site like YouTube or Vimeo they will convert your file to flash for you.

The Video Itself

This is information I learned years ago in a New Media class so it is not universally applicable. If you want people who are on slower connections to be able to see your video clearly you should consider this during video production if you intend to stream your video.

No rapid movements: Avoid having a lot of unneccessary movement in the video and nothing fast. The video will become pixelated and blurry on a slower connection.

Close up shots: Do not use wide shots for videos intended to be viewed on slower connections. The less color information the better. Like fast motion, a wide shot will be blurry when streaming on a slow connection.

The Pew Research Center has a survey of dial-up vs broadband use but note that they do not ask about how fast anyone's broadband was and the survey is only relevant to the United States.

Copyright Law: Using Other People's Stuff

The Center for Social Media has a video and article for their Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video. Generally, if your video has copyrighted material in it then it should fall under at least one of the scenarios that constitutes fair use:

• Commenting ON OR CRITIQUING OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL


• USING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FOR ILLUSTRATION OR EXAMPLE


• CAPTURING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL INCIDENTALLY OR ACCIDENTALLY


• REPRODUCING, REPOSTING, OR QUOTING IN ORDER TO MEMORIALIZE, PRESERVE, OR RESCUE AN EXPERIENCE, AN EVENT, OR A CULTURAL PHENOMENON


• COPYING, REPOSTING, AND RECIRCULATING A WORK OR PART OF A WORK FOR PURPOSES OF LAUNCHING A DISCUSSION


• QUOTING IN ORDER TO RECOMBINE ELEMENTS TO MAKE A NEW WORK THAT DEPENDS FOR ITS MEANING ON RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS

You'll also want to credit your sources.

*That's not mine, I'm quoting the home page of Adult Swim