Itil Service Support

Ordered for another employee. I really haven't had any feed back on it.

This book is not so much a business books as it is a business process book. If you are looking for a book highlighting trends in the IT service industry, case studies and witticisms from proliferate CIO's then this is not the book for you. However, if process turns you on, keep reading. I have to admit to personally getting a little excited around process, particularly as it relates to IT, so you will have to excuse my bias as I approach this book review. Having admitted my bias, I will say that this is an amazingly straight-forward approach to IT Service process which has become industry standard. The book presents process in a way which is easy to understand while lacking the bureaucracy of many process documents which often puts readers to sleep. Despite being a process oriented document, Best Practice for Service Support deals with many topics relevant to current technology management topics. This book is focused on IT but is equally applicable to Technology Operations and Support Services. It provides a high level look at systems integration from the perspective of integrated process for Incident Management and Change Control. This book also deals with Business Intelligence and Key Performance Indicators emphasizing the need to provide information about changes and incidents for users and managers. Published in 2000, some of the book seems a little out of date. Concerns around the amount of bandwidth needed to handle request information flowing over a network seem antiquated in a world with such large network capacity. Other chapters which extol the benefits of a computerized ticketing system also feel out of place in a world where most service desks would not even consider running without a computerized ticketing system and where Open Source ticket systems are widely available for free. This is further reflected in the discussion of some very simple issues which have been answered by almost all modern ticket systems such as the need for unique identifier. While some information may be outdated, most of the data is very relevant today. The book consistently provides simple, pragmatic, good advice such. This is reflected in the advice on implementing a new ticket system which I have found true in my own recent experience, "Start simple and expand as the business needs demand it" p. 43. The book provides good basic coverage of customer management and training. The process, specifically as they relate to Change Management clearly comes out of significant experience. The insight into the impact on the frequency of Requests for Change and the way in which this reflects on the business has been clearly demonstrated in my experience with day to day operations. While ITIL started in Europe it has increasing influence in US and is becoming necessary for US companies looking to expand globally. In fact, the concepts and processes outlined in this book are so relevant that my company is currently looking to implement the Incident Management pro

I purchased this book and its companion, Service Delivery, to prepare for the Master's level exam administered in April, 2004. I read these books, made outlines, completed a practice exam and found that I was sufficiently prepared to pass the exam on my first try. I know that some people will sit for the exam using other sources, such as their class notes or materials supplied by their training provider. I have an aversion to getting information too far removed from the primary source. Sometimes there is a reason you do not want to use a primary source. Perhaps the material is too sterile and you need the examples that secondary sources tend to provide. However, that is not the case for these books. The material is well organized. The concepts within chapters are numbered, and the accompanying charts and graphs help clarify the ideas. The concepts are written in an easy to understand style. There is no reason to avoid reading this primary source of information. On a cautionary note, you must decide whether you should purchase this version 2 book based on when you plan to sit for the certification exam. As you may have heard, Version 3 is scheduled for release in Spring 2007. If you are wondering what will be different between the two versions, as well as what changes to expect in certification and examination, you can go straight to the source. I recommend that you read the ITIL Refresh News by Chief Architect Sharon Taylor. You can find the article at www.itil.co.uk/news.htm. (Scroll down to the November 2006 entry entitled 'ITIL Refresh News, Autumn 2006' and click on the pdf entitled 'ITIL Refresh News 1st Edition.' You can register for ITIL Refresh News and email alerts at www.best-management-practice.com/ITILRefreshRegister. Good luck and best wishes on the exam.

This is the OGC's official documentation, it has several typos but the content is very clear and well documented; very useful to prepare your ITIL Foundation Certificate - it might be wise to wait the new edition of ITIL V3.0 that will cover other ITSM topics All the best, Christophe Poizat (...)

This is the official guide to service support, covering:(1) Service Desk(2) Incident Management(3) Problem Management(4) Configuration Management(5) Change Management(6) Release ManagementRecommended if you are pursuing ITIL certification because this is the official guide, or wish to invest in reference material for a shared library when implementing ITIL. The service delivery topic is well covered from theory and practical perspectives, and the interrelationship between and among process areas are clearly depicted.If you are merely exploring the benefits of the ITIL or want a condensed reference I recommend instead that you look at "IT Service Management: An Introduction" (ISBN 9080671347), which covers the six service support processes in sufficient detail to gain a solid understanding of them and what implementing them entails. Another resource I highly recommend is ITIL Community Forum, which you can reach by pasting the ASIN number B0002FP9PO into the search box on this page, selecting all products and clicking GO. This site has a link to an open source version of the ITIL documentation that is evolving, but contains good descriptions of many of the key process areas.