ITIL Adoption using PMO and Project Management Best Practice
Abstract
The following paper explores the concept of using project management methods and practices to
increase the opportunities for success with ITIL adoption efforts. It also describes several high-level
approaches for consideration using the Project Management Office (PMO) best practice that is
described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). For many organizations, ITIL
adoption is a tremendous undertaking that requires a significant investment of time and resources to be
successful. The PMO model is best positioned to manage the diverse concerns of ITIL adoption, to
ensure stakeholder needs are met, and that the different components of the effort are coordinated and
synchronized.
I. The Challenge of Bringing ITIL to Life (From Theory to Reality)
Since its inception in the 1980’s, the ITIL framework has grown to become one of the leading
frameworks for managing IT Service Delivery. Over time, the good practices and methods offered as
part of the framework have proven to be the most effective in helping organizations close the gap
between the business and IT. Much of its success and appeal can be attributed to ITIL’s common sense
approach to working through many universal issues experienced by a diverse group of commercial and
government organizations. Evidence of ITIL’s success and appeal can be seen in a recent Gartner study
stating that ‘according to global trends, 90% of organizations are expected to have moved toward ITIL
(V3), in terms of active ITIL implementation efforts, by 2012’ (5). Further confirmation of
the rising acceptance trend can be seen in recent study conducted by Computer Economics stating that
‘about 80% of large organizations are at least considering or piloting ITIL, compared to 61% of midsize
organizations and 36% of small organizations’ (2). For ITIL, adoption is clearly on the rise and will be for
the foreseeable future. The Challenge of ITIL adoption has not been so much about understanding its
benefits but more so how to integrate it into the organization and implement the good practices that
enable IT to create more value for the business. This concept is best captured by Thomas Mendel in a
recent Forrester whitepaper ITIL’s Final Breakthrough: From What to How stating ‘Many companies are
talking about it (ITIL), but few have actually fully implemented it’ (3). Depending on the effort scope, ITIL
adoption can be a complex and multi-faceted undertaking with many business and IT considerations to
take into account. Because IT is such a powerful enabler of so many parts of a given organization, ITIL
adoption has the potential to significantly impact the way a business operates and provides service to its
customers. Under normal circumstances, ITIL adoption should result in major organizational changes,
technology investment, and reform in the way peers and leaders communicate and interact. As such,
ITIL adoption should be managed in a way that enables business and IT stakeholders to consider all of
the aspects of adoption so that maximum value can be obtained.
II. Project Management Tools and Practices
Most business and IT managers would agree that Project Management tools and processes provide the
best approach to managing change while maximizing value and return on investment . Project
Management tools and processes also appear to provide the best approach for any organization
endeavoring to adopt ITIL. Frameworks such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
appear to be the best suited to support these objectives. In a recent Gartner whitepaper titled ‘How to
Begin ITIL V3 Adoption From Service Strategy the PMBOK Way’ the author states that ‘using PMBOK in
conjunction with ITIL can increase ITIL adoption speed and success, and thus can improve IT operations
process maturity levels faster’ (5). Unfortunately, even with Project Management tools and processes in
place, the vast majority of IT related projects fail for a variety of reasons. A 2007 survey of 800 IT
Managers by Dynamic Markets Limited related to project managements concludes that the mass
majority of projects fail due to ‘overrun on time’, ‘budget overruns’ and ‘higher than expected
maintenance costs’(1). A recent study produced by Keith Ellis of IAG Consulting entitled ‘The Impact of
Business Requirements on the Success of Technology Projects’ also concludes that ‘68% of companies are
more likely to have a marginal project or outright failure than a success’(6). Both assessments conclude
that governance process issues, requirements analysis, communication breakdowns, facilitation, and
stakeholder disagreements are at the core of these project failures. In fact, The IAG study concisely
captures this view stating that ‘Only companies that focus on both the process and the deliverables are
consistently successful at changing project success rates’(6). In this regard, ITIL adoption projects are
akin to standard technology projects and shares the same level of exposure around these core areas.
Most Project Managers are also aware of the enormous risks associated with ignoring these areas of
concern and the negative results that can emerge (e.g. requirements creep, cost overruns, loss of
stakeholder support, etc.). In order to eliminate or mitigate the aforementioned concerns with IT
technology-based projects, many organizations have employed the concept of Project Management
Office (PMO) to help oversee the diverse concerns associated with different project types. Acceptance
of Project Management principles for ITIL adoption efforts has been slow to take hold. The use
of PMOs for ITIL adoption projects has been largely obscure. Nonetheless, the case for managing ITIL
adoption using Project Management and a PMO approach is strong.
III. Project Management Office (PMO) for ITIL Adoption Projects
According to the PMBOK guide- 4th edition, a PMO can be defined as ‘an organizational body or entity
assigned various responsibilities related to the centralized and coordinated management of those
projects under its domain’ (7). A PMO can provide any level of support required to help a project
obtain successful outcomes. In most cases, PMOs are responsible for managing the scope, time, and
cost alignments to the overall quality of a project’s output. Typically, this involves resource
management, compliance concerns, communications, process management, and output integration. If
these areas are not managed closely; each of these areas can significantly impact project outcomes. The
Forrester paper entitled The PMO and Value Realization by Margo Visitacion, summarizes this concept
very well stating that the ‘PMO is in a unique position to deliver on value realization because of its
exposure to both strategic and tactical execution’ (4). The PMO is in the position to positively
impact the outcomes of any project by improving governance and planning, increasing communications
between stakeholders and resources, identifying/facilitating integration needs, monitoring, and
supporting the execution of project processes. ITIL adoption projects greatly benefit from the use of the
PMO structure because it formalizes the relationships between the different aspects of ITIL adoption,
increases collaboration, reduces the risks associated with partial or full project failure, and increases
long term sustainment opportunities.
IV. PMO Models for ITIL Adoption Projects
The PMO Model is a vital component to maximize the chances of success of a target organizations’ ITIL
adoption project. Ensuring that there is an appropriate and effective separation between each
work-stream is paramount to manage the execution and integration of each portion. In addition to
producing the deliverables that correspond to each respective work-stream, each one is responsible for
producing, or contributing to, project oriented artifacts that describe outputs and objectives. Examples
of such artifacts include Project Charter, Project Management Plan, Scope Management Plan,
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Quality Management Plan, Risk Register, Communications Plan,
Budget and Cost Estimates. Each Project Manager will need to use their best judgment and work
within the PMO to determine the priority of each deliverable. Depending upon the amount of project
constraints that exist, It may be appropriate to produce these artifacts at the project level instead of the
work-stream level. The objective with producing these artifacts, in addition to providing shape to the
scope, schedule, cost, to the ITIL adoption project, is to define project governance, identify integration
risks and needs, improve communications between stakeholders, and provide business rules for the
execution of project processes. The PMO approach will contribute to the reduction of risk of
undesirable occurrences by clearly defining the interfaces between the different parts and enabling
project leaders and stakeholders to consider the impact to each one when making project decisions.
V. ITIL PMO Model based on Business Concern
The ITIL PMO Model that is based on Business Concerns provides a baseline structure for the Project
Manager and PMO members to manage each business concern in parallel for successful
integration and collaboration. Each business concern is responsible for producing the deliverables
associated with the business concern and working with the Project Managers to manage the interface
between different project parts. The PMO Model is broken into four separate components. They are
defined as follows:
· People: Responsible for managing people requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to Organizational Change Management, Training, Policies, Standards, Roles, and Responsibilities
· Process: Responsible for managing process requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to workflow development, procedures, business rules, work instructions, metrics, and key performance indicator development
· Technology: Responsible for managing technology requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to Systems Architecture, Tools Implementation, Integration Planning, Sustainment Planning , and Report Generation
· Data: Responsible for managing data requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to Data Attributes, Access Privileges, Information Management, Data Classification, and Data Collection/Automation
Figure 1 - ITIL PMO Model for Business Concerns
The ITIL PMO Model for Business Concerns provides a fantastic model for rapid ITIL adoption and for
supporting related short term objectives. This model allows the PMO to develop project deliverables in
parallel and run multiple activities at one time. This enables the ITIL adoption project to put deliverables
into practice quickly, obtain quick wins with the organization, and produce results swiftly. Depending
upon the level of maturity sought, it can also be the most cost effective PMO model for ITIL adoption
efforts. For optimal use, the PMO model does require the use of an incremental development
approach, which will make it necessary to modify deliverables more than may be what is considered to
be normal practice. Organizations that are more use to a serial project execution approach may
see this as a negative against the use of this model. Project execution models (e.g. Agile) are becoming
more and more popular as approaches for creating deliverables. Organizations that have embraced
Agile or other Iterative development models may be more inclined to embrace this PMO model for ITIL
adoption.
VI. ITIL PMO Model based on Adoption Lifecycle
The ITIL PMO Model that is based on typical Adoption Lifecycle activities also provides a formalized
management structure from which to approach and integrate each lifecycle segment. As part of most
normal ITIL adoption efforts, the activities and outcomes are performed separate but rely upon artifacts
produced from activities for those outcomes. Typically, because of the lack of integration and
collaboration between different ITIL activities, the deliverables produced from these activities don’t
provide as much value as they could. This PMO Structure formalizes the relationships that exist
between each of the activities and their deliverables and increases the opportunities for each
work-stream to team up and work in concert to facilitate successful outcomes. The PMO Model is
broken into four separate components. They are defined as follows:
· Assessment: Responsible for managing Assessment requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to maturity assessment, senior leadership buy-in, training, requirements gathering, and workshops
· Design: Responsible for managing Design requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to systems architecture, process design, data architecture, integration planning, roles and responsibilities, and reporting
· Implementation: Responsible for managing implementation requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to technology implementation, process implementation, data architecture implementation, technology platform migration, and training.
· Sustainment: Responsible for managing Sustainment requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to continual improvement (e.g. people, process, technology), post implementation workshops, sustainment plans, operational run book development
Figure 2 - ITIL PMO Model for the Adoption Lifecycle
The ITIL PMO Model for the Adoption Lifecycle provides a comprehensive management structure to
execute classic ITIL implementation and support most standard ITIL adoption efforts that use a
sequential approach. The model serves as an empowering force for the multiple workstreams to
collaborate and build upon the efforts of each. By virtue of using such a model, communications
increase between stakeholders and adoption resources, which positively impacts the likelihood of
deriving benefit from artifacts. For optimal use, standard project management practices must be in
place and leveraged with some level of maturity and cross functionally within the target organization.
Compared to the ITIL PMO Model based on Business Concerns, this may be seen as a more top heavy
and cumbersome model than what is required to achieve the business goals. The model would be a
good fit for an organization used to more traditional project management methods and not
comfortable with expeditious change within their organization.
VII. Program Approach
Organizations choosing to adopt more than one process at one time may choose to establish a Program
Management Office instead of a Project Management Office. According to the PMBOK, A Program is
defined as ‘a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not
available from managing them individually’ (7). Similar to Portfolio Management concepts, the
Program Management approach can coordinate the investment and provide additional influence over
the execution of each project. This gives ITIL adoption efforts greater potential for success in meeting
business strategic goals and requirements through improved communications, collaboration, and
resource synchronization. The Program approach can also enforce standards, policies, and guidelines
across projects through the use of standard templates, models, and other artifacts, which increases the
sustainability of the projects over time. In the model shown below, each project is aligned to a specific
process within the ITIL framework with each project using the ITIL PMO Model for Business Concerns
structure. The ITIL PMO Model for the Adoption Lifecycle could also work within the Program structure.
Figure 3 - ITIL Program Management Model
VIII. Service Management Office
A new and emerging trend to manage ITIL adoption is to establish a semi- permanent organization
known as a Service Management Office (SMO). The SMO is a dedicated resource to manage adoption
concerns and ensure the long term viability of ITIL based solutions. In similar fashion to the Adoption
PMO concept, the SMO seeks to also provide a solid organizational management structure to help
support adoption processes and obtain the greatest value on investment (VOI) from the adoption itself.
The SMO enhances the Adoption PMO approach and structure by also focusing on continual service
improvement (CSI) principles using an expanded Triple Constraint concept. The focus on CSI and
expansion of the Triple Constraint enables the SMO to scrutinize in greater detail additional elements
that contributes directly to the success of an adoption effort and helps create an ITIL based solution that
can provide value and endure for the long term. The SMO Model uses these additional constraints
to help build a structure that can integrate with existing PMO groups to address return on investment
(ROI) concerns as well as provide a comprehensive support resource to facilitate successful project
delivery. Those additional constraints are defined as follows:
· Integration: Responsible for continual review of new and existing ITIL based solutions for integration into a customer’s environment. The main objective of this constraint is to ensure that the ITIL based solution is interacting with solutions successfully
· Operations: Responsible for managing implementation requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. This may include but is not limited to technology implementation, process implementation, data architecture implementation, technology platform migration, and training.
· Sustainability: Responsible for managing design requirements and deliverables for an ITIL adoption project. The main objective of this constraint is to ensure that any ITIL based solution is successful in adding value in the production environment
Figure 4 - Example SMO Model
References
1. Computer Economics. (2011 July 7). ITIL Implementation Trending Up but Adoption May Slow. Retrieved from https://www.computereconomics.com/article.cfm?id=1432
2. Dynamic Markets Limited. (2007). IT Projects: Experience Certainty- Independent Market Research Report (1st ed.). Abergavenny, United Kingdom: Dynamic Markets Limited
3. Forrester. (2004). ITIL’s Final Breakthrough: From What to How (1st ed). Cambridge, MA: Thomas Mendel, PHD
4. Forrester. (2004). The PMO and Value Realization (1st ed.). Cambridge, MA: Margo Vistacion.
5. Gartner. (2011). How to begin ITIL v3 Adoption from Service Strategy the PMBOK Way (1st ed.). Stanford, CT: Tapati Bandopadhyay, Patricia Adams
6. IAG Consulting. (2008). Business Analysis Benchmark – The Impact and Business Requirements on the Success of Technology Projects (1st ed.). Toronto, Canada : Keith Ellis
7. Pennypacker, James S. (eds.). (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th Ed). Newton Square, PA, Project Management Institute Publications