Please note this elective will not be offered for Study Period 3, 2010 due to minimum enrolment numbers not being met.  We hope to offer it again in Study Period 1, 2011 which runs from 23 January to 23 April 2011.  

Welcome to our elective subject IT Service Management (ITSM) within the Australian Computer Society’s Computer Professional Education Program.  ITSM is normally the fourth and final subject undertaken in the CPe Program which consists of three core and one elective subject.  You can also undertake ITSM as a stand- alone subject.

When preparing this subject, as with all the subjects in the Computer Professional Education Program, we have assumed that you and your fellow students are over-achievers; self-motivated, disciplined, and determined to succeed. You have extensive prior knowledge and experience relevant to your study; you are open-minded about sharing your work and educational experiences; and you accept critical thinking as part of the learning

process. Further, you are comfortable with, and competent in, written communications; and you recognise that effective learning can occur outside a traditional classroom. Most importantly, you want to control how, when, and where you learn.

Critical to your success in this subject is a regular and disciplined study routine. Only through consistency will you keep up-to-date. Every week there will be specific tasks to complete and, if you fall behind, it will be difficult to catch up.

Also important is that you correspond; at least twice every week; with your fellow students and tutor. Your correspondence must be intelligent and investigative. You will answer questions posed by your tutors, and then debate your answers with your classmates.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL©) is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management. It provides a cohesive set of best practices, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally. It is supported by field-proven implementation methodologies and assessment tools — as well as a comprehensive qualification scheme and accredited training organizations.

The ACS course on IT Service Management is based on ITIL® best practices (Version 3). At the completion of this subject the student can:

• Describe need for IT Service Management and its relevance to business

• Articulate the business benefits of implementing IT SM, in financial and non-financial terms

• Develop a detailed project plan to implement an IT SM program

• Leverage from industry best practices framework including, ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, CoBIT™, ValIT™

• Appreciate the roadblocks in driving a change program and learn from peers to mitigate the risks

• Apply the IT Service Management best practices in their organisation

The students can optionally undertake ITIL® Foundations examinations. As the course is at a higher level, candidates who have completed foundations certificate will also benefit.

Competencies based on Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA)

The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) provides a common reference model for the identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems (IS) making use of Information & Communications Technology (ICT). (Source: www.sfia.org.uk).

IT SM course is aligned with SFIA version 4.  SFIA defines 7 skill levels.  IT SM course is targeted at Level 5 (ensure/advise) in Service Management Category. The sub categories addressed in the course are:

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation

In addition to Service Management category, some aspects of Business Change will also be covered.

PRE-REQUISITES, CO-REQUISITES

Business, Legal and Ethical Issues should be completed prior to undertaking this subject unless it is being completed as a stand-alone subject.

CONTENT

Objective: Understand quality, service, IT Service Management, process, continual improvement, ITIL background, boundaries.

Week 2, 3: Service Strategy

Objective: You are asked to run an IT organization. This organization could be the one you are currently working with or any other organization. How would you go about developing a plan (strategy) to provide optimum value to the customers?

Week 4: Writing a business case

Objective: What you have learnt in the first three weeks need to be articulated in a way business understands. Let us explore a structured approach for developing a business case.

Objective: Now that your business case is approved, let us dive into action. You need to design services for introduction in the live environment.

Week 7, 8: Service Transition

Objective: You have introduced the services in the live environment. Now seeing the services in action, the management wants to change them. In this module we will explore processes to manage structured changes.

Objective: Service Operation is the phase where the services are executed. We will see how to manage the customer calls or an outage.

Objective: How do you ensure the current level of services are evaluated and improved? Are you sure your customers are satisfied?

Week 12: Related standards

Objective: Let us widen our vision and explore other related standards/frameworks.

Week 13: Revision and discussion for assignment 2

Objective: Let us revisit the Service Life Cycle. Let us discuss about the specific process you are going to improve in your organization through the assignment 2.

WORKLOAD

To complete the subject you will need to spend 8-10 hours each week reading, communicating with colleagues and tutors, and preparing assignments. 

There are 2 areas of assessment in the ITSM subject;

• Contributions to the 13 weekly discussion forums, worth 20% of your total assessment.
• 2 assignments, worth 40% each.