Role of ITIL in Project Management

ITIL is a certification on services, so it is rational to believe that IT professionals in the service industry. The world is flattening; products which are outcomes of projects need servicing, and the era where services took over after a project has ended is a thing of the past. These days, the scope of project planning extends to services as well — how the product would be serviced and what the boundaries would be. Projects and services are running companies hand in hand, and this is the way of the future.

ITIL is unquestionably the unparalleled standard for services. It is gaining popularity by the day, people in service industry have hopped onto the band wagon, and we are beginning to see project managers especially show interest in learning the nuances, and leveraging ITIL for a better outcome on their projects.

How ITIL Can Help Project Managers

ITIL delves into how a service is to be formulated, aspects of design, transition, operation and the improvements that can be identified and implemented. Traditional project management stages include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling – which is more or less principally similar to what ITIL has to offer.

The outcome of a project will act as a feeder to service in most cases. For example, when Microsoft releases their next version of Windows, the product — Windows 8 — needs servicing. Users are going to have issues with capacity and compatibility, among others. In order to service their customers better, Microsoft will have to doff their project hat, and don the service hat, and do what is necessary to service the customer proactively.

In essence, the product led to a service, so service planning and strategizing should be done during the project phase to predict the service issues that might arise, to implement preventive actions if possible or keep corrective actions ready.

Example: Benefits of ITIL in Projects

A particular project uses a vendor to perform certain activities, like delivering necessary hardware and servicing the hardware for a certain period of time. Project management is ably supported with processes to find a suitable vendor, through tools such as bidder conferences, contract negotiations and expert judgment.

Project management can ensure that the vendor is selected, and products are delivered on time — but what are the terms of support? Are there any agreements governing the kind of support the vendor would provide their customers? These questions can be tackled with ease by somebody with ITIL knowledge.

Any support that is agreed upon is bound by the Service Level Agreement (SLA). This document contains all the dimensions of a support – support window (24X7 or 15X5 etc), how soon the vendor responds to issues, how soon he will be able to resolve issues, constraints, conditions when a vendor could be penalized for missing targets. SLA negotiations are a specialty of ITIL, and ITIL professionals are best placed to negotiate these terms. Imagine a project manager who is ITIL certified, he is a force to reckon with.

How ITIL Improves Project Manager’s Chances in the Industry

Today (and for a very long time to come), ITIL certification for a project manager is a priced arrow in his quiver. It gives him options. He can take up positions that involve project management alone or a position that needs both the skills – like the transition manager. And, he will be automatically qualified to take up positions in the service industry based on his ITIL knowledge alone (backed with the IT experience in project management) – such as the service delivery manager.

The role of a service delivery manager is just one of the many managerial positions we have in the service industry – others worth mentioning are IT process manager, data center manager, account manager amongst others.

How Project Managers Can Get Started with ITIL

Project managers can get started with ITIL fundamentals through ITIL v3 Foundation Training which covers the 5 core ITIL libraries:

1.  Service Strategy
2.  Service Design
3.  Service Transition
4.  Service Operation
5.  Continual Service Improvement

The ITIL certification will not only help you be a better project manager, but it will improve your employment prospects as more companies, and especially IT organizations, are utilizing ITIL.

QUANTUM Global Academy is famous for providing training in ITIL, PMP, Six Sigma, event management, retail management and logistics & supply chain in Gurgaon, Delhi. We are here to help for improving company’s performance and productivity. For more information visit our website quantumglobal.org/ or can call us at 01244609530, 08527092037.