Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The Direct subsystem takes care of the IT
organization's strategy and its architecture. It has
the function of planning and exercising high-level
control; monitoring whether demands are met;
defining priorities in the service portfolio and
products to be developed or delivered by other
subsystems.
The Development subsystem has the task of
designing and building solutions, typically using
the project management process, ensuring quality
and configuration management in order to mitigate
the development subsystem's risk.
The Delivery subsystem executes the imple-
mentation of developed projects, manages the
service catalogue, and runs all of the information
systems, support and equipment for operations,
as well as managing maintenance programs that
support these systems and equipment, such as
the operation of data storage centers, help desks,
e-mail service, among others.
The main concerns of each subsystem are:
The problem with these subsystems is when the
features of each one cross the theoretical borders,
generating an overlapping (Betz, 2007). This fact
is one of the main difficulties in IT management
because it promotes relationships that are difficult
to manage (Betz, 2007).
business components
The Component Business Model - CBM® is an
IBM modeling technique. It is a mechanism that
enables the achievement of excellence through
encapsulating services in specific business com-
ponents. This view contributes to specializing
services and benefits in organizations that deliver
high value to its customers, employees or share-
holders (IBM, 2005).
The specific business components have internal
and external views. Internally, the components
enable the organization to rethink how it can
leverage its assets and capabilities. Externally,
components help organizations to identify the
expertise that they cannot create by themselves.
The components put together business activi-
ties in discrete modules that can be shared in the
organization. Furthermore, the components must
work together in the context of the organization's
business model (Carter, 2008).
According to IBM (2005), the Component
Business Model serves as a tool to identify gaps
and redundancies in order that the organization
be guided by business oriented services.
CBM ®, through gap analysis, identifies and
consolidates activities within cohesive business
units and tests them in terms of interoperability
between units.
The business component map provides a basis
for developing new strategic and operational ideas.
By evaluating the strategic value of the map's
different components, managers can determine
which components require immediate attention.
Each component encompasses five dimen-
sions: Business purpose, Activities, Resources,
Governance and Business services (IBM, 2005):
•
Direct subsystem:
•
What are the most promising future invest-
ments in my IT portfolio?
•
What are the current good investments?
•
What are the current questionable
investments?
•
What are the current bad investments?
•
What are the total costs of acquisition and
operation?
•
Develop subsystem:
•
What are the services or systems that we
need to improve?
•
Which systems use a specific piece of data?
•
What is the current level of change in my
systems?
•
Delivery subsystem:
•
How am I taking advantage of my
resources?
•
What is the operating status and trends of
the system?
•
How do the metrics of incidents and prob-
lems relate to the activities of change?
Search WWH ::
Custom Search