TERM

DEFINITION

Package Release

(Release Management) A single Release that includes a number of Full or Delta Releases. See Release Type

Pareto Principle

A technique used to prioritise Activities. The Pareto Principle says that 80% of the value of any activity is created with 20% of the effort.

Percentage utilisation

(Capacity Management) The amount of time that a Component is busy over a given period of time. For example, if a CPU is busy for 1800 seconds in a one hour period, its utilisation is 50%

Performance

A measure of what is achieved or delivered by a person, team or Process. See KPI. (Capacity Management) A measure of the overall time taken to carry out one or more Transactions. See Response Time, Throughput.

Performance Management

(Capacity Management) The Process responsible for day-to-day Capacity Management Activities. These include monitoring, threshold detection, Performance analysis and Tuning, and implementing changes related to Performance and Capacity.

Planning

An Activity responsible for creating one or more Plans. For example, Capacity Planning.

Policy

Formally documented management expectations and intentions. Policies are used to direct decisions, and to ensure consistent and appropriate development and implementation of Processes, Standards, Roles, Activities, IT Infrastructure etc.

Portfolio Management

(Business Relationship Management) The Process responsible for managing the Portfolio of Services. Portfolio Management includes maximising the value to the Business of existing and proposed new IT Services, and identifying the need to create new IT Services and retire IT Services that are no longer of value. The detailed Planning and implementation work is carried out as part of the Service Planning Process.

Portfolio of Services

(Business Relationship Management) A published description of all IT services. The Portfolio is maintained by the Service Provider and includes all IT Services whether they are Live, in Development, or proposed new Services. See Service Catalogue, Application Portfolio.

Post Implementation Review (PIR)

A Review that takes place after a Change or a Project has been implemented. A PIR determines if the Change or Project was successful, and identifies opportunities for improvement.

Priority

A Category used to identify the relative importance of an Incident, Problem or Change. Priority is based on Impact and Urgency, and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken. For example the SLA may state that Priority2 Incidents must be resolved within 12 hours.

Proactive Problem Management

(Problem Management) Part of the Problem Management Process. The Objective of Proactive Problem Management is to identify Problems that might otherwise be missed. Proactive Problem Management analyses Incident Records, and uses data collected by other IT Service Management Processes to identify trends or significant problems.

Problem

The root cause of one or more incidents.

Problem Control

(Problem Management) Part of the Problem Management Process. Problem Control is the Activity responsible for identifying the Root Cause and developing a Workaround or Structural Solution for a Problem. See Error Control.

Problem Management

(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 minimise the Impact of Incidents that cannot be prevented. Problem Management includes Problem Control, Error Control and Proactive Problem Management.

Problem Record

(Problem Management) A Record containing the details of a Problem. Each Problem Record documents the Lifecycle of a single Problem.

Procedure

A Document containing steps that specify how to achieve an Activity. Procedures are defined as part of Processes. See Work Instruction.

Process

A structured set of Activities designed to accomplish a specific Objective. A Process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. A Process may include any of the Roles, responsibilities, tools and management Controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. A Process may define Policies, Standards, Guidelines, Activities, and Work Instructions if they are needed.

Process Control

The Activity of planning and regulating a Process, with the Objective of performing it in an Effective, Efficient, and consistent manner.

Process Manager

A Role responsible for Operational management of a Process. The Process Manager's responsibilities include Planning and co-ordination of all Activities required to carry out, monitor and report on the Process. There may be several Process Managers for one Process, for example regional Change Managers or IT Service Continuity Managers for each data centre. The Process Manager Role is often assigned to the person who carries out the Process Owner Role, but the two Roles may be separate in larger Organisations.

Projected Service Availability (PSA)

(Change Management) A Document that identifies the effect of planned Changes on agreed Service Levels, based on the Forward Schedule of Change (FSC).