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ISO 20000: An emerging standard
for IT Service Management
Modern enterprises and service providers alike are grappling with the need to deliver more value from their IT investments in the face of growing complexity and constant change. Increasing competition and a stringent regulatory compliance environment are also driving the complexity. In particular, the ability to deliver consistent, available, and secure services is proving increasingly essential to the business.
These issues are addressed by the upcoming ISO 20000 series of Standards for IT Service Management. These standards are currently in the draft form and in the process of a fast track qualification to being recognized as an ISO standard sometime in 2006. These standards are aligned with and complementary to the process approach defined within the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) from the UK office of Government Commerce (OGC). The adaptation of these standards are entirely from the now existing BS 15000 series of standards released by the British Standards Institute. The BS 15000 (ISO 20000) family consists of two parts:
- BS 15000-1 (DIS ISO/IEC 20000-1) is the formal specification and defines the requirements for an organization to deliver managed services of an acceptable quality for its customers. The scope includes: Requirements for a management system; Planning and implementing service management; Planning and implementing new or changed services; Service delivery process; Relationship processes; Resolution processes; Control processes; and Release processes.
- BS 15000-2 (DIS ISO/IEC 20000-2) is the Code of Practice and describes the best practices for Service Management processes within the scope of BS 15000-1. The Code of Practice will be of particular use to organizations preparing to be audited against BS 15000-1 or planning service improvements.
BS 15000 (DIS ISO 20000) — an integrated framework
 Collectively, the BS 15000 (DIS ISO 20000) series represents an integrated framework for delivering and managing IT services to the customer and can provide control, greater effectiveness and opportunities for improvement within the organization. At the core of this framework an "IT Service Management System" (ITSMS) sets out a systematic approach to managing the IT services delivered to customers (internal or external). It encompasses people, processes and IT systems. BS 15000 is the standard that sets out the requirements for an IT Service Management System; helping to identify and manage the key processes involved in delivering effective IT services which meet the needs of the business and the customer.
Figure 2 represents the framework. This framework adopts the well-known Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle as with other Management systems standards including ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System). This would therefore enable an easy integration of this standard with other business standards.
Benefits of implementation
- Implementation provides control, greater efficiency and opportunities for improvement
- Turns technology focused departments into ones with a service focus
- Ensures that IT services are aligned with and satisfy business needs
- Improves system reliability and availability
- Provides a basis to agreed levels of service and the ability to measure IT service quality.
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