IT Production Services

by Kern, Harris; Schiesser, Rich; Muniz, Mayra

• ISBN13: 9780130659002
• ISBN10: 0130659002
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

-Presents detailed, start-to-finish processes for managing the production acceptance phase of any mission-critical system.-Covers every aspect of production acceptance: technology, processes and people.-Answers to the most frequently asked questions about production acceptance, from one of the field's leading experts.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xv
Background	1	(8)
Introduction	1	(7)
Summary	8	(1)
Ten Commandments for Building the Ideal IT Environment	9	(24)
Introduction	9	(1)
Top IT Issues and Challenges	10	(11)
The Ten Commandments	21	(10)
Summary	31	(2)
IT Assessments, Planning, and Development	33	(28)
Introduction	33	(1)
The Need for Assessments and Planning and Development Workshops	34	(1)
Struggling With The Issues	34	(2)
Selling the CIO	36	(1)
The Key to Successfully Building the Ideal IT Organization	37	(1)
Not Another Assessment	38	(5)
Summary of the Assessment Process	43	(1)
IT Planning and Development Workshop	44	(5)
The Issues	49	(9)
Summary	58	(3)
Production Services (PS)	61	(8)
Introduction	61	(1)
Roles and Responsibilities	62	(5)
Problems Prevented by a PS Organization	67	(1)
Summary	67	(2)
The Production Acceptance Process	69	(30)
Introduction	69	(1)
Definition of Production Acceptance	70	(1)
The Benefits of a Production Acceptance Process	70	(1)
Implementing a Production Acceptance Process	71	(20)
Full Deployment of a New Application	91	(1)
Distinguishing New Applications from New Versions of Existing Applications	92	(1)
Distinguishing Production Acceptance from Change Management	92	(1)
Assessing an Infrastructure's Production Acceptance Process	93	(2)
Measuring and Streamlining the Production Acceptance Process	95	(1)
Summary	95	(4)
Case Studies	99	(26)
Introduction	99	(1)
The Seven Companies Selected	100	(1)
Types of Attributes	101	(2)
Company A	103	(2)
Company B	105	(4)
Company C	109	(1)
Company D	110	(4)
Company E	114	(1)
Company F	115	(3)
Company G	118	(4)
Summary	122	(3)
Most Frequently Asked Questions	125	(12)
Introduction	125	(11)
Summary	136	(1)
A Production Services Job Descriptions	137	(4)
Production Services Management Position	137	(2)
Production Services Staff Position	139	(2)
B Issues from Workshop	141	(6)
C Description of Issues from Workshop	147	(38)
Data from IT Planning and Development Workshop	147	(38)
Index	185

Excerpts

PrefaceWhat ever happened to that sacred production environment where newly developed systems went through a stringent interrogation process before they were allowed entrance? It took an act of God, and then some, to bypass the thorough and intricate mainframe process to rush a new system onto the raised floor of the data center. What made the mainframe environment so successful were thecommitmentsof the people and the robustness of the processes. Even though the tedious and complex operations of mainframes eventually led to their downfall, they built the foundation for what could become robust infrastructures of the future. In the quest to meet unreasonable budgets and impossible schedules at the cost of quality, however, todayrs"s newly developed systems are frequently thrown over the wall and slam-dunked into production. Information Technology (IT) went from an environment that was extremely strict, structured, and disciplined to one that is now lenient, unorganized, and unrestricted.In this book, wers"re introducing a newly designed Production Services function, which addresses the needs of multiple departments within IT, including Applications Development and Computer Operations. Just as important, this function addresses the needs of the customers of all newly developed IT systems being transitioned from Applications Development into production. We also highlight the Production Acceptance process used for every new system moving from the development phase into a production mode. Production Acceptance is the most critical process for addressing: Infrastructure Support requirements Poor communication between IT and its customers regarding newly developed systems Lack of communication between Applications Development and Production/Infrastructure Support Support roles and responsibilities Training and system documentation Customerrs"s expectations (service levels)One of the main reasons that 70 percent of all IT organizations today are still labeled as cost centers, and are failing miserably, is because of their infrastructures. Infrastructures are in horrible shape, as we will exhibit in our IT assessment data. We will share with you the data compiled from over 200 IT assessments from Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, but more importantly we will share how this new Production Services function resolves many of those issues. We will show you how to design and change your infrastructure into a world-class Information Technology Service Provider (ITSP), not just a high-priced support center.Letrs"s not forget the organization structure, which is the number one problem in IT today. We discuss the top organizational issues affecting the staff and executive management and how our ten commandments can help design a cost-effective and efficient IT organization.To round it out, we will provide documented case studies of our experiences with several major companies across the country. These studies discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each companyrs"s infrastructure environment and the lessons learned in addressing their Production Services issues. Finally, we will provide answers to some of the most frequently asked questions relating to IT infrastructures.This book is intended for CIOs, CTOs, management staff, Infrastructure Services staff, and Architects responsible for building a competetive advantage to business IT organizations.