Challenge

A leading wireless service provider had recognized that their IT billing services organization did not have standard processes and business controls in place, resulting in the majority of internal client requests being handled as custom projects, which was costly, inefficient and ineffective. They needed to transform their billing services organization to be more user-friendly, process-driven and business-oriented.

They knew that if they could drive billing requests through a catalog of modular, configurable IT services, the operation could become more reliable, standardized, cost-effective and predictable. And, they realized the need to provide their internal and external customers with a complete understanding of all the IT services they provided through the provision of a technical services catalog.

Once billing services were 'productized' via a service catalog, their value would be easily understood and customer expectations better clarified. This would be true for both internal users and for external channel partner customers the service provider was seeking to attract and better serve.

The client had developed a partially completed catalog containing service definitions from an IT perspective, identifying the organizations that deliver the service, and mapping the services to the business processes that the service supports. But help was needed to drive the catalog to completion and incorporate it into ITIL framework.

The client wanted the implementation approach to be based on the widely-respected ITIL Framework “best practices”. This framework normalizes the language describing best practices across the organization and forges a bond between IT, management and user-customers through a single language and defined channels for communicating with one another.

They called on TMNG Global to help.

TMNG Global Solution

TMNG Global was chosen by the client to project manage the development of the ITIL Service Catalog from the planning phase through its deployment. This choice was based upon our deep understanding of the IT billing services processes and systems and our ability to leverage the client’s resources and relationships to achieve tangible business results.

Phase I

In Phase I of this two-phased project, TMNG Global established a Project Management Office to develop project plans and procedures and ensure that those plans were carried out and the desired outcomes were realized in a logical fashion. Our detailed project plan identified key milestones, resources, critical path items, risks and mitigations. Other tasks required in this phase included:

1. To incorporate the input received from internal client interviews, partner interviews and other vendor input, and from the client’s Finance organization for business case parameters, and complete the business case for the program.
2. To develop, and deliver, executive presentations on the highlights of the ITIL Service Catalog, business case, including, but not limited to recommendations on the forward path.
3. To incorporate feedback from the executive interviews both internal and external into the ITIL Service Catalog program and develop the inputs that would be sponsored by the Billing Services organization to the client’s Executive Project Investment Committee.
4. To identify and select appropriate resources, internal and external, to assist in executing the development of the ITIL Service Catalog.

For the latter task, our team used our proprietary TMNG Lexicon™ to develop the requirements and issued the RFP for an experienced ITIL vendor who would implement ITSM in the Billing Services organization.

What are the ITIL and IT Service Management (ITSM)? ITIL, the IT Infrastructure Library, is the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world.  ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practices, drawn from the public and private sectors around the world.  It is supported by a comprehensive qualification scheme, accredited training organizations and implementation and assessment tools.  The best practice processes promoted in ITIL both support and are supported by the British Standards Institution’s Standard for IT Service Management (BS15000).   IT Service Management (ITSM) focuses on delivering and supporting IT services that are appropriate to the business requirements of the organization.  ITSM uses a comprehensive, consistent and coherent set of best practices, which promote a quality approach to achieving business effectiveness and efficiency in the use of information systems.  These processes support the improvement of the quality of service, while trying to reduce the costs, or, at a minimum, maintain costs at the current level.

At the end of Phase I, TMNG Global had assisted the client to select an ITSM ITIL vendor for Phase II that possessed a deep understanding of the theory and practice of organizational improvement, a proven methodology and considerable practical experience of streamlining IT Service Management products and services.

Phase II

During the second phase, the overall effort was to complete the Business Service Catalog using service-modeling techniques. The catalog was expanded to align IT billing services with the business organizations they serve. TMNG Global, the ITIL vendor and client representatives worked with business stakeholders to identify which services were critical to their efforts.

Implementation Approach

Phase 1 – Establish ITSM Program

Stage 1.1 – Establish ITSM Vision

Stage 1.2 – Perform Current Assessment & Gap Analysis

Stage 1.3 – Plan Implementation

Stage 1.4 – Develop ITSM Requirements Framework

Phase 2 – Improve ITSM

Stage 2.1 – Develop People

Stage 2.2 – Develop Processes

Stage 2.3 – Develop Tools and Procedures

Phase 3 – Achieve Organizational Change

Stage 3.1 Implement Improvements

Stage 3.2 Review Improvements

The IT Billing Service Catalog was augmented to include a technical perspective of 68 services including:

• Descriptions of the services managed
• Documentation on the cost of each service
• Assignment of a service owner for each service
• Alignment of each service with the business stakeholders that depend on the service
• Documentation of the SLA for each service
• Documentation of the key reporting metrics for each service
• The basis for reporting and communicating the provider’s performance in the delivery of the service
• Descriptions of the business value of each service being managed

At the end of Phase 2 of this project, the service provider had been provided with:

• A set of billing services fully modeled and vetted with its internal and external customers
• Requirements and design for automating a service catalog
• A Business Case for taking the service catalog to the next stage of development.

Fig: Billing Services Overview

Benefits to the Client

The creation of the Billing Services Catalog for this wireless service provider enhanced the Billing Services organization’s ability to offer services to its internal and external customers by providing definitions of current and planned IT service offerings and their accompanying costs. In turn, their customers will be better prepared to prioritize allocated capital and operational expenditures required to ensure corporate growth and maintain organizational stability.

The benefits of a Service Catalog to an IT organization and to its customers cannot be overstated. A service catalog is vital to the success of a Service Management strategy targeting service excellence as it sets initial customer expectations and provides the basis for personalized service.

• It enables an IT organization to market and commit to achievable levels of service at a predictable cost or planned price.
• It improves the business perception of the value of IT services
• It provides a better way to manage a multi-vendor/organizational service through better service levels, cross-group communications, and cross-group problem resolution.
• Client-driven standards are established and published; performance measured at all levels and reported regularly to all staff
• Costs and resources are better utilized and managed on a service-by-service basis.