Excellent. Thanks for this update. Looking forward to being able to use this software in our group after your implementation stages are successfully completed.

I am interested to read the response to this question and will be checking back. I recently completed ITIL Foundations training with many of my teammates at Extended Learning IT, and we have been talking about how this centralization process can be mapped to or assisted by the ITIL framework. One of the big takeaways for us was that a huge part of implementing ITIL successfully is understanding our organization’s and our customer’s requirements (although at the University it is a bit difficult to determine who the customer is!) Staying in touch with business needs and vision, and continually returning to those as services are designed, delivered, and improved seems key. We observe that our IT org seems to be in the “Service Strategy” phase of the lifecycle, which is the earliest stage.

You are right, Will, that connecting to what users need is key. Also understanding what will benefit the University as a whole. Open discussions would serve that end. I think your point highlights the fact that the Service Strategy phase needs to be thorough and thoughtful. Only then will the later stages of the process — cataloging services, defining and documenting processes, monitoring/measuring, improving, and more — add value to our org and our goals. I think ITIL does provide a framework for that, though, if well-implemented? Perhaps though, leadership is seeking other guidance. I am hoping that the somewhat open-ended plan presented will allow time and resources for Service Strategy to be well designed.

Best, Rosalind Benoit