(Service Design) Agreed time when an IT Service will not be available. Planned Downtime is often used for maintenance, upgrades and testing. See also Change Window, Downtime.
Planning
An Activity responsible for creating one or more Plans. For example, Capacity Planning.
PMBOK
A Project management Standard maintained and published by the Project Management Institute. PMBOK stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge. See www.pmi.org for more information. See also PRINCE2.
Policy
Formally documented management expectations and intentions. Policies are used to direct decisions, and to ensure consistent and appropriate development and implementation of Processes, Standards, Roles, Activities, IT Infrastructure, etc.
Portable Facility
(Service Design) A prefabricated building, or a large vehicle, provided by a Third party and moved to a site when needed by an IT Service Continuity Plan. See also Recovery Option.
Post-Implementation Review
A Review that takes place after a Change or a Project has been implemented. A PIR determines if the Change or Project was successful, and identifies opportunities for improvement.
Practice
A way of working, or a way in which work must be done. Practices can include Activities, Processes, Functions, Standards and Guidelines. See also Best Practice.
Prerequisite for Success
An Activity that needs to be completed, or a condition that needs to be met, to enable successful implementation of a Plan or Process. A PFS is often an output from one Process that is a required input to another Process.
Pricing
(Service Strategy) The Activity for establishing how much Customers will be Charged.
PRINCE2
The standard UK government methodology for Project management. See www.ogc.gov.uk/prince2 for more information. See also PMBOK.
Priority
(Service Transition) (Service Operation) A Category used to identify the relative importance of an Incident, Problem or Change. Priority is based on Impact and Urgency, and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken. For example, the SLA may state that Priority 2 Incidents must be resolved within 12 hours.
Problem
(Service Operation) A cause of one or more Incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a Problem Record is created, and the Problem Management Process is responsible for further investigation.
Problem Management
(Service Operation) The Process responsible for managing the Lifecycle of all Problems. The primary objectives of Problem Management are to prevent Incidents from happening, and to minimize the Impact of Incidents that cannot be prevented.
Procedure
A Document containing steps that specify how to achieve an Activity. Procedures are defined as part of Processes. See also
Process
A structured set of Activities designed to accomplish a specific Objective. A Process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. A Process may include any of the Roles, responsibilities, tools and management Controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. A Process may define Policies, Standards, Guidelines, Activities, and Work Instructions if they are needed.
Process Control
The Activity of planning and regulating a Process, with the Objective of performing the Process in an Effective, Efficient, and consistent manner.
Process Owner
A Role responsible for ensuring that a Process is Fit for Purpose. The Process Owner’s responsibilities include sponsorship, Design, Change Management and continual improvement of the Process and its Metrics. This Role is often assigned to the same person who carries out the Process Manager Role, but the two Roles may be separate in larger Organizations.
Proforma
A template, or example Document containing example data that will be replaced with the real values when these are available.
Programme
A number of Projects and Activities that are planned and managed together to achieve an overall set of related Objectives and other Outcomes.
Project
A temporary Organization, with people and other Assets required to achieve an Objective or other Outcome. Each Project has a Lifecycle that typically includes initiation, Planning, execution, Closure, etc. Projects are usually managed using a formal methodology such as PRINCE2.
Quality
The ability of a product, Service, or Process to provide the intended value. For example, a hardware Component can be considered to be of high Quality if it performs as expected and delivers the required Reliability. Process Quality also requires an ability to monitor Effectiveness and Efficiency, and to improve them if necessary. See also Quality Management System.
Quality Management System
(Continual Service Improvement) The set of Processes responsible for ensuring that all work carried out by an Organization is of a suitable Quality to reliably meet Business Objectives or
RACI
(Service Design) (Continual Service Improvement) A Model used to help define Roles and Responsibilities. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.
Reciprocal Arrangement
(Service Design) A Recovery Option. An agreement between two Organizations to share resources in an emergency. For example, Computer Room space or use of a mainframe.
Record
A Document containing the results or other output from a Process or Activity. Records are evidence of the fact that an activity took place and may be paper or electronic. For example, an Audit report, an Incident Record, or the minutes of a meeting.