So you think you can speak ITIL?
Availability (mean time between failures or MTBF)-Ability of a component or service to perform its required function at a stated instant or over a stated period of time. It is usually expressed as the availability ratio, i.e. the portion of time that the service is actually available for use by the Customers within the agreed service hours.
Availability Management - The process responsible for defining, analyzing, planning, measuring and improving all aspects of the Availability of IT services. Availability Management is responsible for ensuring that all IT Infrastructure, processes, tools, roles etc are appropriate for the agreed Service Level Targets for Availability.
Build -The final stage in producing a usable configuration. The process involves taking one or more Configuration Items and processing them (building them) to create one or more Configuration Items e.g. software compile and load.
Business & IT Continuity Management – The process responsible for managing Risks that could seriously impact IT Services.
Business Process Management - activities performed by businesses to optimize and adapt their processes.
Capacity Management – The process responsible for ensuring that the Capacity of IT Services and the IT Infrastructure is able to deliver agreed Service Level Targets in a Cost Effective and timely manner. Capacity Management considers all Resources required to deliver the IT Service, and plans for short, medium and long term business requirements.
Change Management – The process of controlling Changes to the infrastructure or any aspect of services, in a controlled manner, enabling approved Changes with minimum disruption.
Change -The addition, modification or removal of approved, supported or base lined hardware, network, software, application, environment, system, desktop build or associated documentation.
CAB - Change Advisory Board -A group of people who can give expert advice to Change Management on the implementation of Changes. The Board is likely to be made up of representatives from all areas within IT and representatives from business units.
CAM – Change Advisory Meeting - Meeting that discusses the status and updates of changes within an IT infrastructure.
CI – Configuration Items - Component of an infrastructure – or an item, such as a Request for Change, associated with an infrastructure – that is (or is to be) under the Configuration Management. CIs may vary widely in complexity, size and type, from an entire system to a single module or a minor hardware component.
Configuration Management – The process of identifying and defining Configuration Items in a system, recording and reporting the status of Configuration Items and Requests for Change, and verifying the completeness and correctness of Configuration Items.
CMDB – Configuration Management Database – A database that contains all relevant details of each CI and details of the important relationships between CIs.
Contract – A written understanding between Customers and external service providers or vendors. May have penalties specified if service levels are not met.
Customer - Recipient of a service.
DHS – Definitive Hardware Store – Tested and released hardware is stored in a secure environment away from the production environment in one or several places. These replacement components and assemblies are kept at the same release level as the systems in the production environment.
DSL - Definitive Software Library – The library in which the definitive authorized versions of all software CIs are stored and protected. It is a physical library or storage repository where master copies of software are placed. This one logical storage area may in reality consist of one or more physical software libraries or file stores.
Error Control -Consists of the identification, assessment, and recording of an error. Also the closing of an error and the associated problems.
Escalation – This is the mechanism that assists timely resolution of an incident.
Financial Management - Responsible for accounting for the costs of providing IT service and for any aspects of recovering these costs from the Customers.
Impact – Measure of the business criticality of an Incident. Often equal to the extent to which an Incident leads to distortion of agreed or expected service level.
Incident -Any event that is not part of the standard operation of a service and that causes, or may cause, an interruption to, or a reduction in, the quality of that service.
Incident Management -The process responsible for managing the Lifecycle of all Incidents. The primary objective of Incident Management is to return the IT Service to Customers as quickly as possible.
ITIL – IT Infrastructure Library – A set of guides on the management and provisions of operational IT services.
IT Service – The service being supplied via an IT System
IT System – The hardware, software, and documentation that supply an it service.
Known Error -AnIncident or problem for which the root cause is known and for which a temporary work-around or a permanent alternative has been identified. It remains a known error unless it is permanently fixed by a Change.
Lifecycle – A series of states connected by allowable transitions. The Lifecycle represents an approval process for Configuration Items, problem reports, and change documents.
Maintainability (mean time to repair or MTTR) – The ability to keep the services operational.
OLA - Operational Level Agreement – An internal agreement covering the delivery of services which support the IT organizations in their delivery of services.
Priority - Sequence in which an Incident or Problem needs to be resolved, based on impact and urgency.
Problem -Unknown underlying cause of one or more incidents.
Problem Control -The identification of the real underlying causes of incidents in order to prevent future occurrences.
Problem Management - The process responsible for managing the Lifecycle of all Problems. The primary objectives of Problem Management are to prevent Incidents from happening, and to minimize the Impact of Incidents that cannot be prevented.
Process – A process is a series of activities or steps involving people, equipment, procedures, and material that produce a product, service, or other output, to obtain a desired outcome.
RFC - Request for Change -A form or screen used to record details of a request for a Change to any CI within an infrastructure or to procedures and items associated with the infrastructures.
Relationships – Descriptions of the interconnectivity of CIs.
Release Management - The process responsible for planning, scheduling and controlling the movement of Releases to test and live environments. The primary objective of Release Management is to ensure that the integrity of the live environment is protected and that the correct components are released.
Reliability (mean time between system incidents or MTBSI) – The capacity to maintain operational services.
Risk - A measure of the exposure to which an organization may be subjected. This is a combination of the likelihood of a business disruption occurring and the possible loss that may result from such business disruption.
RCA - Root Cause Analysis – An activity that identifies the root cause of an incident or problem.
Security Management - The process that ensures the confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of an organizations asset, information, data and IT Services.
Service Catalog – Written statement of IT services, default levels and options.
SLA – Service Level Agreement - A written agreement between a service provider and Customer that documents agreed service levels for a service
Service Level Management – The process of defining, agreeing, documenting and managing the levels of customer IT service, that are required and cost justified.
Service Request -Every Incident not being a failure in the IT infrastructure.
Serviceability – Describes the performance to which external suppliers are committed in relation to certain components of the IT infrastructure or services.
SME – Subject Matter Expert - An individual who exhibits the highest level of expertise in performing a specialized job, task, or skill within the organization.
Supplier - A third party responsible for supplying goods or services that are required to deliver IT services.
UC – Underpinning Contract -A contract with an external supplier covering delivery of services that support the IT Organization in their delivery of services.
Urgency – Measure of the business criticality of an Incident or Problem based on the impact and on the business needs of the Customer.
