ITIL for Managing IT Service in Terra Firma - Report Example

Executive Summary. In this report we will be evaluating the current IT infrastructure and operations environment at Terra Firma. Terra Firma is a market leader in supply of advanced sensors for medical imaging equipment i.e. X-Ray devices, and CT scanners. The company has a large base of clientele which include organisations such General Electric, Toshiba, Siemens, Hitachi and Philips. As a supplier, Terra Firma also offers technical support services as well integration assistance for the imaging systems with developed visualisation software, analysis and storage of important medical images. The company’s financial reports project it as a highly competitive and ultimately profitable one. Considering the network failures that the Terra Firma has had to face in the recent past, there is a need for improved management of the IT operations. We propose two service improvements for a better end user experience with the company’s IT services. This report utilizes the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) guidelines in designing and customising proposed IT services to the specific requirements of Terra Firma. The report covers an overview of the Terra Firma IT environment and then moves on to propose a two point service improvement for the company’s IT system. The improvements are also justified in the report and an efficient plan for implementing managing the proposed IT service improvements. Also given in the report is a comprehensive insight in the implementation aspects through planning, design, development and maintenance. It is the team’s strong belief that by using ITIL standards in designing the new IT system for Terra Firma will tremendously add value to its IT operations while at the same time saving costs. Introduction Terra Firma was recently faced with a massive failure in its IT infrastructure affecting the entire company operations. This was followed by manual recovery procedures that took several workers. It took a total of 18 hours for staff from Terra Firma working with external IT experts to establish the route of the problem. One router the network had been flooded with requests packages for connection and this was majorly as a result implementation of a new application for engineering which did not undergo proper testing. This particular brought out a number of issues within the entire Terra Firma IT environment. Even though Terra Firma has invested significantly in disaster preparedness, prevention and recovery plans the problem was not detected or even fixed in good time. This projected the company’s IT team negatively. In fact the firm’s IT investments, which account for more than 40 percent of total capital expenditure, came under scrutiny. It is clear that the heavy IT capital investments have not offered sufficient returns and have completely failed to add any value to the already existing IT services. Whereas Terra Firm’s current IT infrastructure is able to fulfil basic business needs, the services offered are not able to further or enable attainment of future business objectives. An analysis of the state and alignment of IT services with business goals is thus needed urgently. The company needs innovative IT business solutions, and service improvements so as to sustain growth, attain competitive edge and provide unmatched technology solution for its clientele. The aim in this report is to provide a foundation for IT infrastructural improvements at Terra Firma. The same will be achieved through a thorough analysis the IT state as it is currently and proposition for two new IT services. The goal is to add value to Terra Firma through increased alignment of IT services with its business strategy. Each of the two services has been designed following ITL v3 guidelines. The report also offers detailed transformation plans for the services as to enable a smooth implementation. The report begins with a company overview of Terra Firma and analysis of its current state. Analysis of its current IT functions is also offered with a special emphasis on challenges faced. This is followed by introduction of two IT service developments aimed at creating more business value and helping the company overcome IT challenges now and in future. The two new services are; a service desk model for calculation of return on investment a new management procedure for guaranteeing safe operations. Finally the report will introduce, two seven-step-plans so as to offer effectively engineered improvement action plans for the newly developed services and the entire management of IT services. The report ends in a summary and comments on the value of IT systems for the company. Summary. Two new IT services for Terra Firma have been introduced by this report. First is the cloud service whose main objective is to accord users the opportunity of accessing and sharing files with others regardless of their locations. This will make work easier and increase efficiency by ensuring access to information in different locations. It will offer opportunities for collaboration with the Terra Firma and permit the R&D department access and supply information to other departments such as manufacturing. The system will be used majorly by employees and as such it is extremely important for the system to satisfy the requirements of safety, speed and easy access. As described in the transition section, it is crucial for the company to have a backup plan and implement the new system in phases. The second it service is introduced is a consolidate ERP system. The newly developed ERP system has superior abilities such as connecting various organisational units and their data requirements. It is recognised that ERP solutions must be able to access data sources and be accessed from different locations hence the need to be centrally located within a single database. Crucial requirements for this service include guaranteeing secure, fast connections and ability for speedy uploads and downloads. The transition to the new system can pose major business risks and therefore must be carefully monitored through the entire project life cycle as well as when the system is in use. In the report we have described the design elements for the service as well as how to transit from the old to the new system following the standards of ITL v3. We have also provided a comprehensive overview of the system requirements that must be met as well as potential risks associated with implementation of new IT services. Emphasis is placed on the fact that successful implementation will highly depend on whether appropriate preparations are made. Conclusion. In writing this report, our main aim was to introduce new IT services for Terra Firma Company following the life cycle of ITIL and also detailing how ITIL standards can improve management of IT services for the company. Terra Firma’s current IT environment has a number of shortcomings and as such increases the costs of operations while giving minimal returns on investment. Firstly, the company’s IT operations were not properly streamlined while enforcement of standards and promotion of improvements were conducted in an ad-hoc manner eventually causing the recent crash of the network. The system crash catalysed the need for assessing the entire IT infrastructure. The evaluation established several weak points mainly because of the many different applications and low rates of compliance to standards. It was established further that in order for Terra Firma to mitigate and avert recurrence of the issues, a complete re-design of certain elements of its IT landscape was inevitable. In the ITIL life cycle, the very first step is to identify service strategy. Potential users and their business needs were determined as well as the service requirements. This is a very important as without strategy then there is lack of direction and this causes duplication of work as well as communication problems. This can only be averted with an improved system for managing service portfolio. The second step of the ITIL life cycle involves service design. An effectively designed service with all requirements spelt out allows deployment of applicadtions that fully meet customer needs while complying to standards. One of Terra Firm’s problems was the fact that majority of its IT application did not comply with standards. Transition planning is another critical aspect in IT projects and ITIL breaks the activities down with guidelines necessary for successful implementation. By adopting such a systematic process, Terra Firma would have averted many of the compatibility issues faced. The company also lacked an effective service desk solution and this obstructed optimal management of, incidents, challenges and events. By incorporating a service desk in its ITSM, the company would effectively manage change requests and quickly understand issues have to face with its IT systems. It is also recognised that continuous improvement is another thing that will incredibly improved the ITSM process for Terra Firma. The company can achieve this through implementation of the seven step action plan which provides a basis for measuring and analysing how IT services are performing. ITIL is thus an excellent standard for companies to base on when managing IT infrastructures and services. The report testifies how ITIL can help with strategic introduction of new services and assessment of already existing ones within the company’s IT environment. Streamlining of the change process and deployment of cutting edge technologies could tremendously assist Terra Firma by permitting alignment operations and business objectives. Read More