ICT Infrastructure Management
In ITIL terms, Information Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Management is at the opposite side of the spectrum from Business Perspective. It is the "liaison" between Service Management and the Technology. The goal of this service is to use proven, repeatable processes to provide a stable operating environment for all the IT functions using the technology.
Design and Planning
The purpose of this set of processes is to guide the design and planning of IT enterprise architecture. The teams executing these processes work with business architects to devise a set of IT standards and workflows that satisfy current and future requirements. The work spans the product lifecycle of research, selection, introduction, maintenance and sunsetting of all IT infrastructure components. The teams determine the best technological path for the organization going forward and commission the work to attain the goals. For example, the IT architecture team may determine that pagers are no longer a supportive technology and that cell phones are a better, more cost-effective solution. The team would formally sunset pager use, giving all parties concerned a specific date to convert to the new technology. Deployment processes would be used to introduce the new technology - cell phones - into the production environment by the specified date.
Deployment
These processes control the introduction of hardware and software changes into the operating environment, guiding activities in both production and test environments. The goal is to ensure that introducing changes into production operations has the least impact possible to the business and its customers.
Operations
This set of processes covers the day-to-day work required to monitor and maintain a stable IT infrastructure and operating environment. Some of the tasks associated with the processes are job scheduling, data management (including backup and recovery management), enterprise command center, physical database administration and proactive hardware maintenance.
Technical Support
Some of your best and brightest technicians should be staffed in Technical Support. They are problem solvers and problem preventers. Technical Support provides Level 3 problem determination support to the entire IT community. They assist Design and Planning by providing technical evaluations, both in the form of Proof of Concept (POC) and Pilot tests of new technologies. They also assist the RFI (Request for Information) and RFP (Request for Price) processes by providing detailed configuration and specification information. Technical Support acts as a liaison with vendors on technical matters. Technical Support is also responsible for creating and maintaining the Technical Library and the technical knowledge base for the organization.
TeamQuest Addresses ICT Infrastructure Management
Design and Planning
TeamQuest IT Service Analyzer data can assist planners in understanding how frequently applications are used, helping determine if the products still meet business requirements and if the value to the organization exceeds the ongoing maintenance costs. TeamQuest Alert logs can provide data to uncover gaps in products and tools. Alert can also help identify any products approaching end-of-life that are having chronic issues due to age and/or reduced vendor support.
Deployment
TeamQuest IT Service Analyzer helps measure progress and quality of new applications and hardware as it pertains to meeting Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Performance problems undetected in the testing process can be quickly identified during deployment processes so corrective actions can be escalated and quickly completed to minimize negative impacts to the business and customers. Fewer poor performing applications introduced into production leads to more satisfied customers.
Operations
TeamQuest Alert and TeamQuest IT Service Analyzer can be employed to assist the Enterprise Command Center (ECC) in monitoring the health of applications and IT infrastructure. The tools' capabilities permit an enterprise end-to-end view of application performance, permitting ECC staff to more quickly react to application problems. Operations technicians can employ TeamQuest Model to help job schedulers understand the impact of schedule changes. Doing so ensures agreed upon deadlines are met and business units get the required data when they need it.
Technical Support
TeamQuest Model assists in the configuration specification part of estimating processes by helping technicians to "test drive" different hardware and operating system software combinations in order to approximate the benefits before spending substantial time and money to perform pilot tests in the test lab. TeamQuest IT Service Analyzer can provide real-time and historical data to support the Level 3 problem determination process. More timely problem determination results in shorter disruptions to the business, improving staff productivity and resulting in more satisfied customers. Where SLAs exist, shorter diagnostic times can mean the difference between meeting an SLA and paying a penalty.
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