In ITIL, management practices are defined as “a set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective.”. These Management practices are the core or main component of Service Value System (SVS).
In the Earlier ITIL versions the focus was on processes but with ITIL 4 there is more focus on practices and flexibility.
The New ITIL® 4 practices are as follows:
General Management Practices (14) – They have been adopted and adapted for service management from general business management domains
Service Management Practices (17) They have been developed in service management and ITSM industries
Technical Management Practices (3) They have been adapted from technology management domains for service management purposes by expanding or shifting their focus from technology solutions to IT services.
Here we try to explore Service Management Practices developed in service management and ITSM industries
Availability management
— The purpose of the availability management practice is to ensure that services deliver agreed levels of availability to meet the needs of customers and users.
Business analysis
— The purpose of the business analysis practice is to analyze a business or some element of it, define its associated needs, and recommend solutions to address these needs and/or solve a business problem, which must facilitate value creation for stakeholders.
Capacity and performance management
— The purpose of the capacity and performance management practice is to ensure that services achieve agreed and expected performance, satisfying current and future demand in a cost effective way.
Change control
— The purpose of the change control practice is to maximize the number of successful IT changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorizing changes to proceed, and managing the change schedule
Incident management
— The purpose of incident management is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.
IT asset management
— The purpose of the IT asset management practice is to plan and manage the full lifecycle of all IT assets
Monitoring and event management
— The purpose of the monitoring and event management practice is to systematically observe services and service components, and record and report selected changes of state identified as events.
Problem management
— The purpose of problem management is to reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents, and managing workarounds and known errors.
Release management
— The purpose of the release management practice is to make new and changed services and features available for use.
Service catalogue management
— The purpose of service catalogue management is to provide a single source of consistent information on all services and service offerings, and to ensure that it is available to the relevant audience.
Service configuration management
— The purpose of the service configuration management practice is to ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services, and the CIs that support them, is available when and where it is needed.
Service continuity management
— The purpose of the service continuity management practice is to ensure that the availability and performance of a service is maintained at a sufficient level in the event of a disaster.
Service design
— The purpose of the service design practice is to design products and services that are fit for purpose, fit for use, and that can be delivered by the organization and its ecosystem.
Service desk
— The purpose of the service desk practice is to capture demand for incident resolution and service requests. It should also be the entry point and single point of contact for the service provider with all of its users.
Service level management
— The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service performance, so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.
Service request management
— The purpose of the service request management practice is to support the agreed quality of a service by handling all pre-defined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user friendly manner.
Service validation and testing
— The purpose of the service validation and testing practice is to ensure that new or changed products and services meet defined requirements.