ITIL Capacity Management: (IBM Press)

The Business-Focused, Best-Practice Guide to Succeeding with ITIL Capacity Management   Using ITIL® capacity management processes, IT organizations can eliminate waste and overbuying, reduce both equipment and staffing costs, drive more value from existing investments, and consistently provide the right resources to meet the needs of the business. Now, in this comprehensive, best-practice guide, leading ITIL expert Larry Klosterboer systematically explains how to manage capacity using the ITIL framework and techniques.   Drawing on his extensive ITIL experience, Klosterboer covers all facets of ITIL-based capacity management, and offers proven solutions to the challenges IT organizations encounter in implementation. He presents expert guidance on accurately projecting demand and growth, planning and staffing, tool selection, process implementation, and much more.   This book’s practical insights will be invaluable to every IT leader who wants to leverage ITIL’s best practices for capacity management, and for every business and technical manager who wants IT to deliver greater value, efficiency, and effectiveness.   Coverage includes Making the business case for capacity management Establishing specific goals for capacity management Mastering ITIL capacity management terminology Predicting capacity in dynamic, fast-changing organizations Implementing systems that help you anticipate trends Defining capacity plans, staffing capacity management teams, and implementing ongoing processes Linking capacity with performance management and with other ITIL processes Selecting the right capacity management tools for your environment Integrating capacity issues into your IT project management discipline Using “business capacity planning” to help the entire business become more agile

Table of Contents:
Preface     xxi Acknowledgments     xxv About the Author    xxvii Part I Concepts in Managing Capacity     1 Chapter 1 Introduction to Capacity Management    3 The ITIL Life Cycle     4      The Overall Library     4      The Service Management Life Cycle     4 The Purpose and Goals of Capacity Management     6      The Major Purpose    6      Other Purposes     7      General Goals for Capacity Management    7      Defining Specific Goals for Your Organization     8 Interfaces to and Dependencies on Other ITIL Processes     8      Capacity Management and Service Continuity     9      Capacity Management and Configuration Management     9      Capacity Management and Release Management     9      Other Interfaces     9 The Business Case for Capacity Management     10      Cost Avoidance     10      Business Agility     11      A Great Start for Financial Management     11 Important Risks to Consider     12      Missing Business Capacity Data    12      Inconsistent Component Capacity Data     12      Lack of Analysis Skill and Tools     13 Summary and Next Steps     14 Chapter 2 The Geography of Managing Capacity    15 Capacity Pools and Component Capacity Management    15      Defining Capacity Pools    16      Boundaries of Capacity Pools     16      Granularity of Capacity Pools    17      Managing Capacity Pools     19 Capacity Streams and Service Capacity Management     19      Defining Capacity Streams     19      Confluences and Shared Capacity     20      The Value of Capacity Streams    21      Managing Capacity Streams     22 How Virtualization Affects Capacity Management    22      Virtualization Creates Subpools     23      Managing Virtual Capacity Pools    23      Sharing Virtual Resource Pools Between Streams    24      Over-Subscription and Risks of Virtualization     24 Summary and Next Steps     25 Chapter 3 Understanding Capacity Demand     27 Trend-Based Forecasts     27      Component-Based Trends    27      Service-Based Trends     29      Business-Based Trends     29 Portfolio-Based Forecasts    30      Business-Driven or “Top Down” Portfolio     30      IT-Driven Portfolio     31      Innovation-Driven Portfolio     32 Business Event Forecasts    32 The Blended Capacity Forecast     33 Using the Forecast for Cost Management     35      Cost Avoidance Through Increased Utilization     35      Cost Reduction Through Decommissioning and Recovery     35      Projecting and Tracking Cost Avoidance and Cost Reduction    36 Summary and Next Steps     36 Chapter 4 Dimensions of Capacity Growth     39 Grow the Base     39      Growth by Demand    40      Growth by Refresh     40 Grow the Business    42      Project-Based Growth     42      Service-Based Growth     45 Summary and Next Steps    45 Part II Best Practices in Capacity Management     47 Chapter 5 Establish the Capacity Management Information System    49 Purpose of the Capacity Management Information System    49      Repository of Capacity Information     49      Interface to Integrated Service Management     50      Reporting and Decision Making     52 Contents of the Capacity Management Information System     52      Utilization Data     52      Capacity Data     54      Capacity Plans     56 First Steps to Implementation     57      Define Requirements     57      Select Tools     58      Gather Data     58      Implement Processes     59      Train Staff     59 Using the Capacity Management Information System     60      Forecasting Capacity Needs    60      Making Capacity Decisions     60      Integrating Service Management     60 Summary and Next Steps     61 Chapter 6 Define and Manage Capacity Plans     63 Scope of a Capacity Plan     63      Service Capacity Plans     63      Component Capacity Plans     64      How Many Plans?     65 Format of a Capacity Plan     66      The Essential Elements     66      The Right Level of Detail     69 Maintaining Capacity Plans    69      Periodic Reviews     70      Coping with Major Changes     71 Storing Capacity Plans     72      Format of the Plans     72      Maintaining Version Control     73 Summary and Next Steps     74 Chapter 7 Staff the Capacity Management Team     75 Implementation Roles    75      Capacity Process Owner    76      Capacity Management Information System Designer     77      Process Engineer    78      Project Manager     79 Operational Roles     81      Capacity Service Owner     81      Capacity Analyst    82      Capacity Data Manager     83      Capacity Planner     85 A Word About Skills    86      Skills, Roles, and Staffing    86      Developing Capacity Management Skills     87      Skill Maturity and Team Composition     87 Summary and Next Steps 88 Chapter 8 Implement the Capacity Management Process     89 The High-Level Process     89      The ITIL Process     90      Adopting and Configuring a Process     91      Attributes of a Good High-Level Process     93 Defining and Documenting Capacity Policies    94      Capacity Monitoring Policies     95      Capacity Acquisition Policies     96      Policy for Capacity Incidents and Changes     97      Policy for Capacity Planning on New Projects    98 Creating Capacity Procedures     98      Process Steps Create Procedures    98      Procedures for Capacity Reviews     99      Procedures for Improving Capacity     100      Procedures for Capacity Planning     100 Managing Capacity Process Assets     101      Document Format and Storage    101      Reviews and Process Approvals     102      Making Updates and Tracking Revisions     103 Summary and Next Steps     103 Chapter 9 Relate Capacity and Performance    105 Performance Is Capacity in a Moment     105      Definition of Performance Management    106      Time Scale for Performance Testing     106      Performance Management in the Capacity Management Process    107 Expand Capacity to Improve Performance     109      Techniques to Measure Performance     109      Techniques to Improve Performance    110      Diagnosing Performance Problems    111 Understanding Peaks and Valleys    113      Creating a Performance Profile     114      Measuring Performance Trends     116      Integrating Performance into the Capacity Plan     116 Virtualization’s Impact on Performance     117      How Hypervisors Improve Performance    117      How Virtualization Automates Performance Management    117 Summary and Next Steps     118 Chapter 10 Choose Capacity Management Tools     119 Tools to Track Component Capacity    119      Specific Requirements in This Class     120      Available Tools     121      Specialized Tools Approach     122      Generalized Tools Approach    123 Tools to View Service Capacity    123      Specific Requirements in This Class    124      Available Tools     124      Build or Buy     125 Performance Management Tools     125      Specific Requirements in This Class    126      Available Tools     127 Tools for a Capacity Management Information System     128      Specific Requirements in This Class     128      Available Tools    129 How to Choose the Best Tools     129 Summary and Next Steps    131 Chapter 11 Produce Capacity Reports     133 Capacity Reports     133      Component Exception Reports     134      Component Trending Reports    135      Service Trending Reports     136 Capacity Management Reports and Process Metrics     138      Measuring Capacity Trend Accuracy     138      Tracking Capacity-Related Incidents     139      Evaluating the Completeness of Capacity Plans     140 Summary and Next Steps     141 Part III Common Issues in Capacity Management     143 Chapter 12 Business Capacity Planning     145 The Scope of Business Capacity Planning     145      Defining Business Capacity     146      How to Measure Business Capacity Utilization     147      Predicting Business Capacity Needs     149 The Challenge of Planning Business Capacity    150      Effort Versus Benefit     150      Getting Agreement on Measurements    151      The Place of Business Capacity Planning in Business Strategy     152 Integrating Business Capacity Planning with IT Capacity Planning    153      The Business Component Hierarchy    153      The Line Between IT Services and Business Processes     154      Integrated Utilization     155      Integrated Capacity Plans     155 Managing IT Capacity without Business Capacity Information    155 Summary and Next Steps     156 Chapter 13 Smoothing the Order Cycle     157 Establishing Capacity Buffers and Reorder Levels    157      Determining Capacity Buffers     157      Establishing Reorder Levels    158      First Guesses and Fine-Tuning     159 Factors Affecting Reorder Levels    159      Deployment Time     160      Process Maturity     160      Vendor Packaging     160      Virtualization Standards     161      Cost-Containment Efforts    162 Ordering the Right Amount     163      Ordering Individual Units    163      Ordering Hardware for Virtualization     163      Volume Ordering    165      Finding the Right Balance     165 Reclaiming Capacity Instead of Reordering     166      How Reclaimed Capacity Affects Capacity Demand     166      How Reuse Affects Reorder Levels    166      Creative Ways to Reuse Capacity    167 Summary and Next Steps     167 Chapter 14 Capacity Management in a Project Context     169 Capacity Plans as Project Deliverables     169      Adding Capacity Requirements in Project Definition    170      Considering Capacity and Performance in the System Architecture     171      Defining and Executing Capacity Test Cases     172 Building the Capacity Plan at Project Time    173      Testing and Estimating Capacity Utilization     173      Architecting for Capacity Growth     174      Engaging Capacity Management in the Project     175 Turning the Capacity Plan Over to Operations    177      When Capacity Management Has Been Engaged    177      When Capacity Management Was Not Engaged     178      Essentials of Operational Turnover     179 Summary and Next Steps    179 Chapter 15 Integrating Capacity Planning with IT Processes     181 Integrating with Availability Management     181      Process Linkage     182      Data Linkage    183      Benefits of Integration    183 Integrating with Configuration Management     183      Process Linkage     184      Data Linkage     184      Benefits of Integration    185 Integrating with Change Management     185      Process Linkage     186      Data Linkage    187      Benefits of Integration     187 Integrating with Incident Management     187      Process Linkage    188      Data Linkage     188      Benefits of Integration    189 Integrating with Service Continuity Management     190      Process Linkage     190      Data Linkage    191      Benefits of Integration     192 Integrating with Release and Deployment Management     192      Process Linkage     192      Benefits of Integration     193 Chapter Summary     193 Index    195

About the Author :
Larry Klosterboer is a certified IT architect specializing in systems management. He works for IBM’s Technology Integration Management Center in Austin, Texas. Klosterboer has 20 years of experience in service delivery, spanning systems from mainframe to midrange to desktop. His areas of focus have included network design, UNIX® systems administration, asset management and, most recently, service management implementation. He has designed and implemented ITIL aligned solutions for some of IBM’s largest customers. Klosterboer’s highly praised IBM Press books include Implementing ITIL Configuration Management and ITIL Change and Release Management.