Why was ITIL created?

[markbarr]

I know who and when - but what was the real need for ITIL? Was it as a result of a study or white paper that said IT OPs in UK local govt. was rubbish?

[Ed]

I've had a quick look around, but the OGC don't say why it was developed - my guess would be a sequence of problems within the Government IT community. I seem to remember a series of fiascos about that time.

Regards

Ed

[markbarr]

[markbarr]

EDIT - just found this

itsm.the-hamster.com/itsm2.htm

ITIL History

The Central Computer and Telecommunication Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), created the ITIL framework in late 1980's. The original need was to improve the quality of IT services provided to the British government. The OGC created ITIL as an approach independent of vendor technology and caters to organisations with differing technical and business needs.

Identifying best practices that worked across the IT service industry developed ITIL version 1. Thus, ITIL is in true sense a representative of industry "best practices".

ITIL version 2 is the current publication by OGC. OGC made significant improvements to the original ITIL publication to reflect the new developments and changes in the IT services industry.

Today, IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provides a framework of “best practice” guidance for IT Service Management and is the most widely used and accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world.

[Sarge]

I know it was mainly deeloped for Mainframe support, soemthing that is rather amusing thinking that most people shout 'ITIL' now when mainframes are dying out.

I would say that looking at the processes they realised, even in the late 80's, that IT staff were out of control doing what they felt like doing without any structure. This would in turn have brought about the birth of the IT Consultant.

D'oh!!!

[RobRoy47]

I remember the mainframe days. Back then, service was something you did to the machines to keep them running. Service to the customer was unheard of! ITIL was really radical at its inception

[Ed]

[Fabien]

I was also told that one of the objectives of a process oriented framework was to document a way of working that the government could "force" their contractors to adopt, thus allowing them to be compatible and integrate cross-organization processes.
_________________
BR,
Fabien Papleux

Accenture
Technology Consulting | Service Excellence
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Twitter @itilgeek