Chapter 1: Solution Accelerator Overview and Scenario

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Overview of Windows Vista Service Life-Cycle Management

The desktop is the lens through which customers and end users experience most IT services. In the past, service management has focused on the data center infrastructure and services, but with the introduction of Windows Vista� there are now new technologies and features that allow service management to be extended to the desktop. To be effective, a desktop service must provide high availability, security, and quality, while reducing costs and compliance concerns, across a managed service life cycle.

Service life-cycle management may be broadly conceived as a series of phases that move from defining requirements through to the process of instantiating those requirements in architecture and code by achieving the following:

  • Validating that the design and instantiation fit the requirements.
  • Introducing necessary changes to the IT environment.
  • Actively operating, supporting, and improving the solution.

More than just getting software into production, service life-cycle management also ties together the roles and responsibilities of the people delivering the service, giving a structure to their interactions and dependencies and making explicit statements regarding what performance and value the customer can expect from the service.

The phases of service life-cycle management are commonly grouped into these easily recognized phases of activities and classes of deliverables: Plan, Design, Build, Deploy, Operate, Support, and Improve. Some activities are unique to specific phases while others (such as security) are actively involved in all phases.

The guidance contained in this solution accelerator will help customers deliver an effective desktop service; it will benefit organizations struggling in the following problem areas:

  • Lack of alignment between IT priorities and service delivery.
  • Low customer satisfaction around desktop service and support.
  • Impact on business to recover a user's system.
  • High costs of managing security on the desktop.
  • Poor integration between organizational roles and responsibilities.

Windows Vista Service Life-Cycle Management addresses these areas of concern by helping the user understand how to treat the desktop as a service in each area of IT and manage it effectively.

A good way to measure effective desktop management within your organization is to use the Microsoft Core Infrastructure Optimization Model shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Microsoft Core Infrastructure Optimization Model

To become a strategic asset for the organization, the desktop service must have the ability to adapt to new requirements, accurately manage service level agreements, and deliver proactive security and compliance controls. To achieve this dynamic state, IT must have operational practices and procedures established throughout the IT life cycle. For more information, see www.microsoft.com/io.

This guidance is focused on aligning clear responsibilities to Windows Vista features and service management best practices as described by ITIL and Microsoft Operations Framework. There can be a knowing-doinggap between the theoretical goals of ITIL or MOF and the actual activities of the IT pro. Windows Vista Service Life-Cycle Management addresses this gap by integrating the MOF Team Model, MOF Process Model, and features of Windows Vista. This approach provides the IT pro guidance through the Plan, Design, Build, Deploy, Operate, Support, and Improve phases of the life cycle.

NoteIt is important to note that each role has activities during each phase of the life cycle. The aim of this guidance is to identify the activities and interactions required to provide IT pros with insight on what comes before, during, and after their primary activities. This ensures that IT pros are making informed decisions and actions that support positive downstream results.

Table 1.1 shows the MOF roles with their corresponding IT responsibilities.

Table 1.1. MOF Roles and IT Responsibilities

MOF Role

Responsibility

Service Management

Enabling business through IT to meet organizational objectives.

This role has primary responsibility in the Plan and Improve phases and is active throughout the service life cycle.

Security

Balancing organizational needs to protect and secure corporate resources with users' needs to access IT resources.

Balances security, policy, compliance, and business requirements throughout the service life cycle.

Infrastructure

Balancing IT's capabilities against business requirements by designing and architecting an environment that addresses those needs.

This role has primary responsibility in the Design and Build phases of the service life cycle.

Release

Evaluating and deploying required changes to the environment with minimal business disruption.

This role has primary responsibility in the Deploy phase of the service life cycle.

Operations

Ensuring the highly predictable execution of day-to-day tasks while optimizing the business' return on investment (ROI).

This role has primary responsibility in the Operate phase of the service life cycle.

Support

Providing timely resolution of incidents, problems, and inquiries while presenting the face of IT to end users.

This role has primary responsibility in the Support phase of the service life cycle.

Partner

Coordinating and managing the relationships with key partners to enable IT to deliver their objectives.

This role has involvement in any service life-cycle phase where the organization has chosen to use a partner.

For information on the MOF roles and the MOF Team Model, see https://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/cits/mo/mof/moftml.mspx.

Solution Accelerator Scenario

This guidance uses a fictional company, Woodgrove Bank, to demonstrate the impact of well-organized accountabilities and processes. Table 1.2 lists the participants in the Woodgrove Bank scenario described in this document.

Table 1.2. Scenario Participants

Participant:

Job Title

Job Description:

Linda Mitchell

Desktop Configuration Administrator

Linda's primary responsibilities include desktop provisioning and desktop patching. She is involved in strategic planning for desktop OS and applications.

Neil Orint

IT Manager

Neil is Woodgrove's IT Manager in charge of North America. He is a technical decision maker and evaluates the impact of technology solutions on core business needs and IT resources. Neil also works to drive down IT costs. He ensures that all of the IT services being provided to customers are aligned to the customers' needs for them. This involves maintaining a working relationship with customers, understanding their need for IT services, and managing the introduction of new services, service improvements, and service reductions and retirements.

Ray Chow

Infrastructure Manager

Ray looks at the evolving enterprise architecture and ensures that plans are in place to meet the new and changing requirements of running the business from a networking, telecommunications, hardware, and software perspective. This includes the development of desktop profiles for Woodgrove Bank.

Phil Spencer

IT Services Manager

Phil ensures that all of the IT services being provided to customers are aligned to the customers' need for them. This involves maintaining a working relationship with customers, understanding their need for IT services, and managing the introduction of new services, service improvements, and service reductions and retirements.

Gurinder Singh

Customer Support Manager

Gurinder is responsible for ensuring that the service desk meets its SLAs around initial response and timely resolution. Her goal is to achieve high customer satisfaction ratings from her users.

April Reagan

Customer Support Technician

April provides service desk, incident, and problem management functions. Her most important goal is to provide timely, efficient, and accurate customer support.

Kevin Cook

Security Manager

Kevin participates on the CTO's Enterprise Architecture team, representing IT security needs. He is responsible for setting and implementing corporate IT security policy, including the evaluation of new technology from the IT security perspective. Kevin also leads a small group of representatives from the company's various business units, the Security Advisory Committee, which seeks to understand the functionality required by each group and educate them about security topics and issues.

Doris Krieger

Partner Account Manager

Doris Krieger, the Partner Account Manager, aligns external partners to the needs of the business through interaction with Infrastructure, Services, and Support. To do this effectively, the Partner Account Manager must track existing partners, establish new partners, maintain partner service quality, and work closely with Infrastructure, Services, and Support to determine best fits for partner involvement.