Processes and Methods

CELLS Computing Division Processes & Methods follows two main frameworks: PRINCE2 for project management and ITIL for IT services management.

Our five main processes are:

Service Strategy

• Responsibility: Division Head
• Purpose: understand current and future users’ needs and build the IT capabilities and resources needed to offers services meeting users’ demand; assure that cost of delivery is consistent with the value delivered to the customer
• Activities: get users insight, share knowledge with synchrotron’s community, watch technology trends, establish, review and monitor a roadmap for the Service Portfolio, monitor Service Level Metrics, improve our organization, processes effectiveness and efficiency, and set financial objectives. 
• Resources:  Division Head, Sections Heads, Group Leaders, Quality Manage
  
• Deliverables: 
• Staffed organization, skill set, technology portfolio, 
• Service Portfolio: Service Pipeline, Service Catalogue and Service Level packages.
  
• Improvements roadmap
  
• Resource plan
  

Service Design

• Responsibility: Section heads for their respective Service Pipeline, and Project Managers for their respective projects
• Purpose: design services in a cost and time effective way while meeting users’ present and future expectations regarding functionality, ease of use, performance, reliability, availability, capacity, continuity and recovery capability, and security.
• Resources:  Sections Heads, Quality Manager, Project Managers, Team Members
• Deliverables:
  

• Service Catalogue
  
• Service Level Agreement
  
• Service Design Package
  
• Hardware and/or software system and tools
• Business processes
• Monitoring processes: efficiency measurement, maintenance, 
• Disaster recovery plan, testing and documentation
• Documentation: Reference document, Tutorials, Training, User Manual and FAQ
• Future plan
  

Service Design follows PRINCE2 project management framework.

Each service design is a project that is managed and controlled by phases - each with specific purpose, activities and “products” or deliverables - and by exception, see table:

Note: this table shall be seen as a project quality tool box. Each project quality plan shall be tailored with the appropriate tool set that fits the level of complexity, risk and requirements of the project, as well as the team level of experience.

Service Transition

• Responsibility: Section Head, Project Manager, Customer
• Purpose: deliver services required by the business into operational use, ensure they can operate in foreseeable extreme or abnormal circumstances, and ensure support for failure or errors is available.
• Activities: manage changes, control the assets and configuration items (underlying components – hardware, software, etc) associated with new and changed systems, plan service validation, testing and transition to assure that users, support personnel and the production environment has been prepared for the release to production.
• Resources:  Project Manager, Team Members, Support Team, Users
• Deliverables: 
• Service Testing & Validation - The Service has been tested against the utilities and warranties set out in the Service Design Package and supports business requirements (functionality, ease of use, performance, reliability, availability, capacity, continuity and recovery capability, and security), including the Service Level Agreement
• Release & Deployment + Configuration Management - Service asset and configuration management information, and other relevant support and maintenance information and procedures are available to support teams in Service Administration Portal. 
• Knowledge Management - Resources are trained, have access to the information they need and are available to maintain and support the service.
• Change Management - Users are informed, trained and have been granted an early support period of learning by doing. Service Catalogue and Service Description is up to date with appropriate information about the service, who can use it, how to access it, how to get help, documentation and frequently asked question, service level metrics
  

Service Operation

• Responsibility: Section Head

• Purpose: deliver agreed levels of services to users and customers, and manage the applications, technology and infrastructure that support the delivery of those services
• Activities: 
• Service Access Management 
• User Requests Management
• Event, Incident and Problem Management - manage disruptions to service through rapid restoration of incidents, determining the root cause of problems and detecting trends associated with recurring issues 
• System Management - monitor, maintain and manage systems
• Resources:  Section Team through the Service Help Desk
• Deliverables: Service Level Metrics, Service Log
  

Continual Service Improvement

• Responsibility: Section Head
• Purpose: maintain value for customers through the continual evaluation and improvement of the quality of services and the overall maturity of the ITSM  service lifecycle and underlying processes; 
• Activities:
  
• Measure, analyze and improve the service levels, the technology and the efficiency and effectiveness of processes used in the overall management of services 
• Identify vision, strategy, tactical and operational goals
• Define critical success factors, key performance indicators and service metrics
• Define, implement and process metrics;
• Analyse the data to identify trends, and need for corrective action; 
• Present the information
• Build and implement corrective action
• Resources: Quality Manager, Section Head, Team Members
• Deliverables: 
• Service Measurement – ensures that services meet agreed service levels
• Service Reports – periodically conduct maturity assessments against the process activities and roles associated to demonstrate areas of improvement or, conversely, areas of concern
• Improvement Plan