Introduction and Overview

• Analysing and exploring the importance of the Service Capability stream
• Service Management as a practice
• The Service value proposition
• How the Release, Control and Validation capabilities support the Service Lifecycle

Core Release, Control and Validation Processes

Change Management

• Purpose, goals and objectives
• Implementing change with minimum disruption and rework
• Evaluating business, technical and financial aspects
• Achieving successful service transition
• Activities, methods and techniques
• Post-implementation review
• Key metrics to measure success

Service Asset and Configuration Management

• Business value of monitoring service transition
• Activities, methods and techniques
• Establishing configuration baselines
• Correlating IT services with need components
• Tracking and reporting asset values
• Establishing metrics that measure success

Service Validation and Testing

• How Service Validation and Testing creates business value
• Assuring transition integrity and quality
• The Service V Model
• Fit for purpose : Fit for Use
• Acquiring relevant test data

Release and Deployment Management

• Analysing how services are released into production to enable effective use of services
• Planning, scheduling and controlling releases
• Moving to the live environment
• Illustrating the main activities and how they relate to the capability of Release, Control and Validation
• Maintaining information on service deployment
• Defining metrics for process quality

Request Fulfillment and Service Evaluation

Analysing how service requests should be handled

• Avoiding congestion and obstruction of the normal incident and change mangement processes
• Process scope and objectives
• The triggers, input and output of request fulfillment

Evaluating services against target performance in the context of change

• Meeting committed service level performance
• Activities, methods and techniques
• Key metrics to measure success

Knowledge Management

• Purpose, goals and objectives
• Enhancing decision support
• Activities, methods and techniques
• Establishing metrics to measure service delivery quality

Roles and Responsibilities

• Change management
• Service asset and configuration management
• Service validation and testing
• Release and deployment
• Service desk (fulfillment) and service evaluation

Technology and Implementation Considerations

• Technology as part of implementing service management
• Special technology features related to Release, Control and Validation
• Generic requirements and evaluation criteria
• Good practices for implementation
• Challenges, critical success factors and risks

Common Service Activities

• Service monitoring and control
• Deming cycle
• CSI techniques

Continual Service Improvement

• The relationship of CSI in respect to organisational change
• Implementing an effective CSI programme
• Service reporting
• Cost benefit justification