ISM

Integrated Service Management

Over the last decade, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework has developed into the standard for service management organisations worldwide. It consists of a set of best practises for IT Service Management produced by the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom. These best practises provide a method for constantly verifying and improving quality of your organisation's services.

IPW and ISM are extensions of ITIL that have evolved to address complexities not initially included in ITIL. Characteristics of all three frameworks are shown in the diagram below.

  • Model that evolved from IPW® and was developed by KPN and Bureau Hoving & Van Bon
  • Defines how a number of separate services can be offered to the customer as one integrated service, taking into account all elements generally recognised in the modern view of IT Service Management.
  • Provides a clear distinction between incident management to restore a service and problem management to proactively solve structural problems.
  • Distiguishes between operational, tactical and strategic processes. The organisation works on its future by allocating resources and defining separate processes at all management levels.
  • Helps organisations become customer and output orientated, flexible, and adaptable through the implementation of processes.

The KPN model which demonstrates how a number of separate services from a supplier can be carried out as an integrated service for the customer, taking into account all the principles generally recognised in modern IT Service Management.

In 1992, the then PTT Telecom developed the IPW model™ which was one of the first successful applications of ITIL in the Netherlands. In an increasingly complex environment, the current KPN Datacenter is aiming to achieve the highest level of service contracting (often through stages of growth), the so-called Total Service Management and is acting as a Systems Integrator.

For this working method a reference model is applied that is called Integrated Service Management (ISM™). This model defines how a number of separate services can be offered to the customer as one integrated service, taking into account all elements generally recognised in the modern view of IT Service Management.

Six years of experience working with IPW have been included in this model. A strictly structured approach was applied while developing the model. By defining a number of building blocks (paradigms) the final model is reached step by step. The model is restricted to the theoretical basis and therefore offers a set of tools rather than a solution to a specific situation.

A description of ISM can be found in the Guide to IT Service Management Volume I. The article can be found at Real Time Enterprise.

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