ITSMS Standard: Identify the Overview of ISO 20000 ITSMS Manual

ISO/IEC 20000 is a global, independent standard for IT service management excellence. A standard that helps organizations to demonstrate the quality of their IT Services to clients, as well as to develop and maintain an IT Service Management System that fulfills the worldwide ISO/IEC 20000 quality requirements. This standard assists organizations in benchmarking how their managed services are delivered, as well as measuring and assessing service levels. The ISO 20000 standard is compatible with other management systems such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001. It adheres to Annex SL, the High-Level Structure used by all new and amended standards, and it is compatible with Annex SL. This facilitates the integration of various standards while reducing effort and expensive duplication.

What is the ISO 20000 manual?

An ISO 20000 manual is a document that outlines the company’s plans for running and executing the activities within its quality management system. It might contain policies for all aspects of the business that impact your capacity to produce high-quality products while meeting the requirements of the customers and the ISO 20000 standard. These regulations outline how the department managers will carry out operations while adhering to the guidelines outlined in the quality manual.

The aim of the quality manual is to serve as a how-to guide for organizational operating procedures. Any company policy that has an impact on the capacity to supply high-quality products, satisfy customer requests, and adhere to ISO standards can be described in the manual. The document may then be utilized by managers to establish processes, defining for them the constraints and requirements they must meet.

An essential resource for businesses putting in place a quality management system is the ISO 20000 quality manual, which lays out the goals for everyday activities inside the QMS. It establishes the standards for the team’s performance and the standard of the deliverables.

What are the uses of an ISO 20000 ITSMS Manual?

The manual is not just a tool for managers, but it also serves a number of other crucial purposes.

• Quality manual helps to let staff members know what management expects
• The manual is used to demonstrate the company’s desire to comply with ISO 20000 requirements
• To show compliance with Clause 5.3, which stipulates that organizational roles, responsibilities, and authority must be allocated, communicated, and understood
• Manual used to serve as a starting point for auditors, whether internal, linked with customers, or ISO certification body

What are the benefits of a ITSMS manual?

Making an ISO 20000 ITSMS manual is a wise business move because of the following sources:

• Support for creating ITSM processes
• Assist businesses in developing successful ITSMS
• Enhance an organization’s capacity for ongoing improvement
• Give a clear, quick description of the system
• Don’t need the assistance of a consultant
• Describe a way to operate a business that is more effective
• Encourage simple registration
• Spend less time and money adopting ISO 20000 ITSMS for businesses

How to Create an ITSMS Policy According to ISO 20000 Standard Requirements?

One widely used strategy for successful IT service management, from design to implementation, is ISO/IEC 20000. The guide provides international standardization of best practices, as well as a foundation for success that may be applied to various types of businesses. IT service management system refers to the procedures and actions taken by corporate IT managers and stakeholders to develop, plan, implement, organize, control, and maintain enterprise information technology. The approach is based on a system in which operations teams and other stakeholders flush out requirements, which are then subject to the best practices framework, specifically ISO/IEC 20000, which serves as the international universal standard.

The ISO 20000 standard necessitates the existence of an ITSMS policy and establishes rather specific criteria for its content. The ITSMS Policy is among the primary ISO 20000 documents that connect top management with the implementation of the ITSMS. Although it is a strategic ISO 20000 documentation process, if the organization handles it properly, it may be an effective control mechanism for achieving the ITSMS goals and objectives. Furthermore, if you utilize vocabulary that the employees understand and don’t overextend the topic, the organization has an opportunity to align the employees with the organization’s strategic goals.

Firstly, the ITSMS policy is an internal document, which means that customers will not be involved in its development. Customers, on the other hand, are “part” of the policy through the services they utilize. Specifically, the policy should be customized to the services offered and customer support. As a result, generic comments or documents will not suffice because they provide no value to either management or the IT organization’s personnel.

Here which clarifies the ITSMS policy’s goal. The policy should be based on the ITSMS’s scope and in line with the ITSMS plans and the ITSMS’s objectives’ more specific components.

• Specify the goals they have for the ITSMS – Most of the time, people are unfamiliar with the specifics of how the ITSMS functions, but they must be aware of what they hope to get from it.
• Control – Top management will be able to specify who is doing what with the policy and monitor the outcomes frequently.

The ISO 20000 standard specifies the following general requirements for the policy’s information:

• Challenges within the Organization – This is a necessity that the policy is customized to the business case you have. That is, it should be tailored to the services that the organization provides and the people that serve.
• Service requirements – Top management should promise to fulfill the service requirements, for example, by making a declaration in the policy. There needs to be a way to show that this has been done to prevent such a statement from seeming overly generic. For instance, the SLA (Service Level Agreement) includes client objectives as well as quantifiable goals to verify that those needs have been met. So, it is quantifiable.
• Communication – All staff members need to know about the policy. It makes sense that nobody would find out if you kept it a secret. Even more, companies can let other interested parties, including clients or suppliers, know about the ITSMS policy. The policy must also be understood by the staff members, which is another need. This implies that you must demonstrate a connection between the policy’s declaration and the outcome of your employees’ labor.
• Improvement – Last but not least, the policy must explicitly address improvement for both the ITSMS and the policy’s appropriateness to business needs and consumer requirements.

Along with the standard’s required, the scope of the ITSMS, the ITSMS plan, and resource management are just a few additional details that the businesses can include.

List of Mandatory Documents of ISO/IEC 20000 IT Service Management

ISO/IEC 20000 IT Service Management is a global standard that specifies the requirements for a system that manages information technology services ITSMS. It describes several management practices aimed at assisting firms in providing more effective IT services to both internal and external clients. Its major goal is to reflect best practice recommendations from the ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library framework; however, it also supports other IT service management frameworks and methodologies. The ISO/IEC 20000 standard was intended to replace the British Standard 15000 and to provide a globally recognized management system services information technology standard. And since we all know how stressful the documentation process can be, here are three basic measures to follow when preparing for the ISO/IEC 20000 documentation.

• Documentation Structure: Before starting, anything Organization should make its policies, process, and descriptions from the same template. This way, anyone will be able to make navigation throughout the documentation set easier.
• Classification: SMS requirements and processes are the two key aspects of ISO 20000. The sequence should be followed while preparing the documentation. Try to prepare the SMS system documents first, for example, such as policies, scope, etc. Then perhaps you should deal with document processing. Finally, these documents must be reviewed.
• Content: ISO 20000 has contained some mandatory requirements for policies and procedures. The standard has specified certain requirements. However, the organization may need to contain some non-mandatory elements as well. Sometimes, the number of required documents also depends on the size and type of the organization.

Mandatory documents required by ISO/IEC 20000-1

Here is the list of ISO/IEC 20000-1 documents that need if anybody wants to be compliant with the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 standard

• Scope of the Service Management System according to the clause 4.3
• Service management policy and objectives according to the clauses 5.2 and 6.2
• Risk assessment and management for the SMS according to the clause 6.1.2
• Service management plan according to the clause 6.3
• Change management policy according to the clauses 7.5.4 d and 8.5.1.1
• Information security policy according to the clauses 7.5.4 d and 8.7.3.1
• Service continuity plans according to the clauses 7.5.4 d and 8.7.2
• Processes of the organization’s SMS according to the clause 7.5.4 e
• Service requirements according to the clauses 7.5.4 f, 8.2.2, and 8.3.3
• Service catalogs according to the clauses 7.5.4 g and 8.2.4
• Service level agreements according to the clauses 7.5.4 h and 8.3.3
• Contracts with external suppliers according to the clauses 7.5.4 I and 8.3.4.1
• Agreements with the internal suppliers or customers acting as a supplier according to the clauses 7.5.4 j and 8.3.4.2
• Services that are provided or operated by other parties according to the clause 8.2.3.1a
• Service components that are provided or operated by other parties according to the clause 8.2.3.1b
• Processes, or parts of processes, in the organization’s SMS that are operated by other parties according to the clause 8.2.3.1c
• Customers, users, and other interested parties of the services provided according to the clause 8.3.2
• Release acceptance criteria according to the clause 8.5.3
• Risks for service availability, service continuity, and information security according to the clauses 8.7.1, 8.7.2, and 8.7.3.2
• Procedure for classifying and managing a major incident according to the clause 8.6.1
• Procedure for continuing operations in the event of a major loss of service according to the clause 8.7.2 b
• Procedure for restoring normal working conditions after service disruption according to the clause 8.7.2 e
• Capacity requirements according to the clause 8.4.3
• Design of new or changed services according to the clause 8.5.2.2
• Service availability requirements and targets according to the clause 8.7.1

Other documents that can be used to implement ISO/IEC 20000-1 are listed below. Depending on the complexity and structure of the organization, usage may differ.

• Procedure for determining the context of the organization and interested parties according to the clauses 4.1 and 4.2
• Procedure for addressing risks and opportunities according to the clause 6.1
• Procedure for competence, training, and awareness according to the clauses 7.1.2, 7.2, and 7.3
• Procedure for document and record control according to the clause 7.5
• Procedure for management of nonconformities and corrective actions according to the clauses 10.1
• Procedure for monitoring customer satisfaction according to the clause 8.3.2
• Procedure for internal audit according to the clause 9.2
• Procedure for management review according to the clause 9.3

5 key benefits of ISO 20000 implementation

Once implemented, ISO 20000 requirements to continuously improve IT organization’s Services Management System. The ISO implementation is continuous process and is a never-ending story. But, to start the effective system implementation, you need to start somewhere. The ISO 20000:2018 offered by experienced ISO 20000 consultant will help you to carefully develop the system that covering every requirement for the system implementation, documentation process that results in creating the effective system with ISO 20000 certification. The ISO 20000 documents that help during process and must be designed as per ISO 20000-1:2018 requirements are service management system plan, IT services policies, procedures, ISO 20000 manual, application formats, SOPs, job descriptions, ISO 20000 audit checklist, etc.

The implementation of ISO 20000 includes the management of the company’s business, as well as the management of services, indicating several options. We can argue about every single process and what ISO 20000 brings, but it will lead to endless discussion. Let’s stay on the service, i.e. the process level. In that case, the advantages of applying ISO 20000 are:

• Competitiveness and credibility – implementing ISO 20000 is your way to improve your company’s reputation, competitive edge, perception and image, and credibility (e.g., your customers will trust you when they see that your internal organization and processes are aligned with ISO 20000).

• Compliance – by your implementation of an ISO 20000-1:2018 standard, your customers know what they should expect; i.e., there are clear evaluations. Additionally, ISO 20000 takes care of legal or other regulation.

• Customer satisfaction – is there anything better in business than a satisfied customer? Well, implementing ISO 20000 makes it much easier to control IT service delivery processes and fulfilment of SLA targets. That improves the efficiency of your service management team and organization – a fact that makes your management happy.

• Productivity – let’s assume you are responsible for the whole IT service management team. Imagine a situation where everyone is clear about who does what and when, processes are defined, documented and in place, interfaces between them are clear… etc.

• Benchmark and improvement – ISO 20000 is a recognized standard for IT service management. By having it implemented, you can compare your organizational setup, processes, and services with those of other organizations. And, as with all other ISO standards, continual improvement is a cornerstone of the implementation and ensures that your Service Management System (SMS), and the IT services it supports, is regularly monitored, measured, and reviewed. That opens the possibility to be better day-by-day and helps your management get a clear picture about performance and efficiency. In real life, that means that you are able to respond to the changing business requirements, which are so commonplace in today’s dynamic business environment.

So, as you can see, the advantages of the ISO 20000 implementation relate to both the business and operational ends. Your management is aware that excellence in delivery of services enables business excellence.

5 benefits of ITIL Change Management implementation

While growing and gathering know-how, IT service providers get more knowledgeable and experienced. That means performing the same job in less time, using less effort, and with greater efficiency. Many processes, i.e., activities are growing in maturity as the company grows. Sometimes, this ends up good, but it can also go in the opposite way. Building up processes and organization based on experience is OK if you are sure that you are going in the right direction.

ISO 20000:2018 offered by us has been carefully developed, that covers each and every requirement for documentation process and is used globally by many organization for making the best system with ISO 20000 certification.

The benefits

Being one of the most important and sensible processes, the Change Management process has to be implemented. But, besides “we have to implement the process,” are there any benefits that an efficiently implemented process brings? Because if you (and your management) are clear on what benefits the implementation of the Change Management process brings, it will be much easier to motivate yourself and your staff, and gain sponsorship from the management. So, what are the benefits of successful Change Management process implementation? Or, to put it another way, how would you explain a need for implementation of the Change Management process in your organization? Here are a few of the most important ones:

Customer satisfaction is proportional to the efficiency of the Change Management process. Failed changes are visible to your customers and influence their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with services you provide. Customers are watching what you are doing – from announcing a change until the change implementation finishes. Keep in mind that customers pay your bill. Unsatisfied customer will maybe pay the bill, but certainly not for long.

Protection of services in the live environment – well, you should be particularly careful with live services. Every malfunction or new incident is highly visible. And, to be sure, your users don’t like them. As we said before, unsuccessful changes or changes that are handled with low quality are quite often causing new incidents on, you guessed it – live services.

Reduction in number of unauthorized changes – that is a test of your management skills. Meaning, unauthorized changes happen when there is no process in place, or where the process is not managed and monitored. Let’s say – you are responsible for an ITSM organization.

Easier follow-up on business changes – it’s not a secret that the business environment is quite often – changing. And, IT services have to follow up. By having a managed Change Management process you will ensure efficient interfaces toward the business and success in implementation. That includes faster reaction to changing business requirements and efficiency of business processes after changes are implemented.

Improved staff efficiency – to explain this, let me ask you – do you like to work in a chaotic and uncontrolled environment? Most probably – no. So, neither do your colleagues and employees. They will appreciate a managed environment, which includes the change process as well. In such way they will know what their tasks are, what their responsibilities or other peoples are who are involved in the Change Management process, who is authorizing changes, etc.