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Assessing ITIL Maturity to Business-IT Strategic Alignment

Bagher Esmaili Feijani, Haleh | 2010

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 41021 (01)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Industrial Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Shadrokh, Shahram
  7. Abstract:
  8. The literature suggests that organizations cannot be competitive if their business and information technology strategies are not aligned. Yet achieving strategic alignment continues to be a major concern for business executives. A number of alignment models have been offered in the literature, primary among them the Strategic Alignment model (SAM), Strategic Alignment Maturity model, and IT Governance (via ITIL). The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) presents a comprehensive set of guidelines for defining, designing, implementing and maintaining IT Service Management processes. It provides platform that can be used to leverage complementary effects between IT and business resources thereby enhancing the value of IT for business purposes. Based on the literature, the main goal of ITIL framework is to align IT services to business needs and to business processes. In this thesis we propose the conceptual ITIL Business-IT Alignment model to describe how ITIL Version3 communicates with business in strategic, tactical and operational levels throughout IT service lifecycle processes to understand current and future business strategies, objectives, processes, requirements, needs, and resources and serve applicable IT services in alignment with the business specifications. Moreover we describe Business-IT Alignment Activities that performs in each process of IT Service lifecycle stages throughout Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement to present how ITIL uses IT as a mean to meet business strategies and goals, support business maturity and recognize new initiatives for the business. On the other hand, as there is no published research that attempts to describe maturity of ITIL v3 in aligning business and IT at strategic level, this thesis reports on determining aligning roles of ITIL v3 in practice. In this thesis, ITIL maturity to business-IT strategic alignment is validated by Strategic Alignment Maturity model. Focusing on how ITIL V3 covers business-IT alignment maturity criteria of the model, the maturity of ITIL strategic alignment practices is assessed which makes it possible to recognize conceptual and practical competencies of ITIL to aligning business and IT in strategic level. Furthermore, applying ITIL to the strategic alignment maturity model identifies opportunities to improvement in ITIL alignment perspective. Based on high level approach of COBIT framework to aligning business and IT, the opportunities to improvement in ITIL strategic alignment activities, functionalities, and relationships are identified. In this regard, focusing on COBIT processes which support (primarily and secondarily) strategic alignment, COBIT 4.1 to ITIL v3 is mapped in detail to identify how ITIL cover COBIT control objectives. Consequently, appropriate and adequate practices to improve strategic alignment approach of ITIL v3 are proposed. Finally, it is claimed that as COBIT and ITIL are not mutually exclusive, can be combined to provide a powerful IT governance, control and best-practice framework in aligning business and IT at strategic level
  9. Keywords:
  10. Strategic Alignment ; Business Process ; Information Technology ; Information Technology Governance ; Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)Standard ; Strategic Alignment Maturity Model ; COBIT Framework

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