The mission of the Technical Services Cluster (TSC) is to deliver a broad range of high-quality IT services that support the research, service provision and administrative activities of EMBL-EBI. To provide the best possible service to all our users we need a formal and strategic approach to design, deliver, manage and continuously improve our services. The key tools we will use to achieve our goals are provided by an IT Service Management System and we are going to use the FitSM-1:2013 family of standards. Continue reading to learn why. 

What is an IT Service Management System? 

An IT Service Management System (ITSM) establishes a set of practices, called processes, that are used to design, create, deliver, support and manage the life cycle of IT services. 

For example, we’ll use the change management process if we need to update the version of a software:

1. We will detect that there’s a need for a software update or the users will tell us. 
2. We will document and classify the request for change. 
3. We will assess and approve (or refuse) the request for change. 
4. We will implement the change. 
5. We will do a post implementation review to see if the objectives were met. If not, we will work on it again. 

What are the benefits of an IT Service Management System?

An IT Service Management System provides benefits such as:

• Increased visibility and understanding of the IT services offered by the TSC.
• Increased efficiency and productivity through defined roles and responsibilities, and common, repeatable, scalable best-practice-based processes.
• The ability to measure and improve operational performance. 
• Better support for regulatory and compliance challenges.

Why choose FitSM over other ITSM frameworks?

The FitSM-1:2013 family of standards defines a view on how to do IT Service Management (ITSM). There are many other views on how to do ITSM (e.g. ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000 and SixSigma). We chose the FitSM standard because it is clear, pragmatic and achievable considering the complexity of a research institute and includes federated scenarios. Just as an example of its simplicity, FitSM comprises 14 processes whereas ITIL contains 26. 

How has FitSM improved the services provided by the TSC?

So far we have created a draft of the Service Management Policy, the Scope Statement and the Service Management Plan. We have started working on the Incident and service request management by having a procedure to deal with user requests through a triage system. The most important pieces of work so far are the TSC Service Catalogue (the information available to all of EMBL-EBI) and the TSC Service Portfolio (the information available only to TSC staff) that contain information about all the services provided by the TSC, including user guidelines and contact information. 

What challenges does the TSC face when trying to implement FitSM?

Implementing any ITSM has a deep impact on the organisational culture since we are changing how people work and that requires everyone’s collaboration, engagement and a healthy dose of patience. The bright side of modifying how we work using an ITSM is that we will be able to measure, using key performance indicators, the situation before and after we introduce changes and we will be able to correct any undesired effects. 

Want to know more about FitSM?

It was created by the IT Education Management Organisation (ITEMO), a partnership of specialists in the field of IT management. FitSM is based on deliverables of FedSM, a project funded in the 7th Framework Program for Research and Technological Development by the European Union. You can find further information at https://www.fitsm.eu/fitsm-standard/.

For more information please contact Montserrat González – TSC Programme Manager montserrat@ebi.ac.uk