Which ITIL Processes Shall We Implement First?

This is a frequent question that is asked and you get no definite answers from the ITIL experts. Ideally, an organisation should implement all process together since all processes inter-relate with each other and in some cases are totally dependent. The value and benefits from implementing all processes is greater the sum of value and benefits of implementing each individual processes.

In reality, organisations are faced with constraints related to capabilities and resources and most will not be in a position to implement all ITIL processes at one go.

There is no universally agreed or documented right way to approach an ITSM implementation. The answer to the question is therefore, "It depends". A number of different approaches have been used successfully:

Single Process Approach

In this approach, organisation implement, develop or improve one process at a time. Often, the aim is to achieve some quick wins or to address some short term and pressing service delivery and support issues. When choosing this approach, be careful of process dependencies. For example, never implement Problem Management without having first implemented Incident Management. Never implement Configuration Management without first implementing Change Management.

Multi-Process Approach

In this approach, organisation implement, develop or improve a number of highly inter-related processes concurrently.

It is interesting to note that the ITIL V3 Intermediate courses under the Service Capability modules are organised with such inter-process relationship in mind:

• Operational Support and Analysis (OS&A). Subjects covered include Event, Incident, Request, Problem, Access, Service Desk, Technical, IT Operations and Application Management.
• Service Offerings and Agreements (SO&A). Subjects covered include Portfolio, Service Level, Service Catalogue, Demand, Supplier and Financial Management.
• Release, Control and Validation (RC&V). Subjects covered include Change, Release & Deployment, Validation & Testing, Service Asset & Configuration, Knowledge, Request Management and Service Evaluation.
• Planning, Protection and Optimization (PP&O). Subjects covered include Capacity, Availability, Continuity, Security, Demand and Risk Management.

Similarly, the ITIL V2 Practitioner courses are clustered around the following inter-related processes:

• ITSM Practitioner Support and Restore (IPSR). Processes covered include Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management.
• ITIL Practitioner Release and Control (IPRC). Processes covered include Change, Configuration and Release Management.
• ITIL Practitioner Plan and Improve (IPPI). Processes covered include Availability, Capacity and IT Service Continuity Management.
• ITIL Practitioner Agree and Define (IPAD). Processes covered include Finance and Service Level Management.

Other combinations are possible too but the above are the commonly defined scope for a multiple-process implementation project.

All Processes or “Big Bang” Approach

In this approach, organisation implement, develop or improve all or most of the ITIL processes simultaneously. This approach comes with considerable risks.  The demands on the people, time, disruption to day-to-day operational tasks, resources, money and need for organisation change management are risks. These risks needs to be mitigated by taking small steps in all processes concurrently, coordinated by one central project management office. Each process should be designed to be as simple as possible to start with, and then further refined and improved over time. Organisations may adopt this approach if they have experience implemented some ITIL processes which are fairly matured, have experienced and adequate staff and are looking at improving the integration of the inter-related processes. Often these implementation are supported by process-enabling tools.

When you plan your ITIL implementation, it is good to adopt the service improvement model as described in the ITIL V3 Continual Service Improvement book.

In this model, you start by defining the vision, mission, goals and objectives for implementing IT Service Management (define your desired state). Next, you conduct an ITSM Assessment (determine where you are now) and then set a target (where you want to be). The output from the assessment will often point out gaps and key issues which need to be addressed first and foremost. It also gives you a better understanding of your organisation's constraints, capabilities and resources. These will then guide you as you plan your ITSM implementation journey. Which ITSM implementation approach to use and which ITIL process(es) to implement first will often become clearer and it will be specific to your organisation.