The table below provides a list of definitions for a number of terms and abbreviations used throughout the Alignability® Process Model. |
Term |
Definition |
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A |
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The ability of a service provider organization to align the functionality of its services, and the levels at which these services are provided, with the needs of its customers. |
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The percentage of service hours during which the functionality of a service was accessible to its customers over a period of time. |
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The following are considered application changes:
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B |
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Business importance level. |
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A bug is defined, within the context of service management, as an error or defect in software that causes service disruptions. |
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C |
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Change advisory board. |
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An entry in the service catalog of a service provider organization. A catalog item describes the functionality of the service, it contains a set of service level targets (SLTs), and it specifies the service charges. This tells customers what they can expect when they sign an SLA that is based on the catalog item. |
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Configuration management database. |
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The creation, addition, move,
configuration or removal of a CI.
Within the Change Management process, there is an important distinction between the following changes: The following categories are identified for both infrastructure and application changes: |
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The term "charge" is used within the process model to refer to an amount of money that a customer is asked to pay. |
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Configuration item. |
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A document that dictates the order in which the continuity plans are to be executed. The continuity manual also provides all contact details and continuity site information relevant to the recovery of services. |
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A document that provides detailed technical instructions on how a specific service infrastructure can be recovered at its continuity site to continue the delivery of the service from there. A continuity plan also provides technical instructions that can be followed after the successful recovery of the service infrastructure to return the delivery of the service from its continuity mode back to its normal production mode. |
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A form that can be filled out to help a customer organization determine the appropriate level of continuity coverage for a service infrastructure that it plans to start using. The continuity risk assessment scorecard can also be used when a customer organization wants to reassess its continuity risk for a service that it already has an active SLA for. |
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A facility from which one or more services can be delivered to avoid, or resolve, service outages. This facility may at the same time be the production site of one or more other services. |
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A period of time within which a service infrastructure needs to be recovered at its continuity site after the service that it provides has become unavailable due to a disaster. |
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A timetable in which the service recovery tests are scheduled for the service infrastructures with active SLAs that stipulate a continuity target. |
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The term "cost" is used within the process model to refer to an amount of money that a service provider organization is required to pay. |
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An organization, or a person, covered by a subscription for a service (i.e. an SLA) of the service provider organization. |
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D |
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A disaster is defined, within the context of service management, as the inability to deliver services from a production site, for what is expected to be an extended period of time, due to:
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Definitive media library. |
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E |
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A type of
change that has been implemented in accordance with the emergency Change
Management procedures to resolve an incident. |
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To transfer responsibility to a higher level in the organizational hierarchy. |
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Automatically generated notification that warns of a current or imminent incident. |
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F |
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Programming that is stored in programmable read-only memory. It is typically used to operate computer devices such as printers, modems, routers, etc. Because firmware is created, tested, versioned and distributed like software, the distinction between software and firmware is not made within the processes. |
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The capabilities of a service. What a service does and/or allows its users to do. |
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H |
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The physical aspects of computers and related devices. |
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I |
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Information and communication
technology. |
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The extent to which
the performance or the functionality of a
service is degraded. |
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A period of time during which a
service is not functioning the way it is supposed to. An incident is also referred to as
a "service disruption". |
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The following are considered infrastructure changes:
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Information technology. |
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J |
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A job is defined, within
the context of service management, as a set of instructions that can be executed automatically without
user interaction.
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K |
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A problem for which the root cause is known. |
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Key performance indicator. |
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N |
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A type of change
that must be coordinated by a change coordinator and for which an approved change template is not available. |
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O |
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Operational readiness is defined as the ability of the:
to accept a change. |
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P |
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The speed with which
a service executes transactions. |
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A change
for which an implementation plan was prepared by a change coordinator before it was implemented. |
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The urgency with which a support request is to be completed. |
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Recurring service disruption. |
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A facility that, under normal circumstances, is used for the delivery of one or more services. This facility may at the same time be the continuity site of one or more other services. |
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R |
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The location from
which service recovery tasks are assigned and coordinated. It is the reporting point for progress
updates during a service recovery. |
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The point in time, after the first service has become unavailable due to a disaster, by which the recovery teams must be called out to start the service recovery. |
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The retesting of a new release to ensure that functionality, which worked in the previous version of the application, still works. |
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A set of changes for the
fulfillment of one or more requests for a non-standard change. |
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The number of times that the functionality of a service became unavailable to its customers during service hours over a given period of time. |
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Request for adding,
modifying, moving, or removing hardware, software,
or data. |
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Request to fix a
service that is not functioning the way it is supposed to. |
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Request for an answer to a service-related question. |
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Request for improvement
of the manner in which support is provided. |
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The restore of the original
environment after a change or release implementation has been found to be unsuccessful. |
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The fundamental cause of a problem, which removal will prevent the recurrence of incidents resulting from the problem. |
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The identification of the fundamental cause of a problem and the proposal of a structural solution. |
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S |
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A service is defined, within the context of service management, as a logical grouping of functionality that is made available through the combination and specific configuration of hard- and software CIs. |
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An overview of all services that a service provider organization offers to customers. For each service, the service catalog includes one or more catalog items. |
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A service is degraded when some of the service's functionality is not functioning properly, or when the performance of the service is slow. |
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A group of persons within a service provider organization that Users can contact to obtain support for the services provided by the service provider organization. |
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See incident. |
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The hours during which the service is to be available. |
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The combination of
CIs that provides a service for a specific purpose to a specific
group of users. |
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A service is down, or unavailable, when none of the service's functionality is available. |
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A form that helps the on-duty manager make the right decisions when he/she considers how an (impending) disaster should be dealt with. In particular, it ensures that the on-duty manager takes the following aspects into consideration:
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Service level agreement. |
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Service level target. |
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Service level requirement. |
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Programming used to operate computers and related devices. |
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A type of
change that must be coordinated by a change coordinator and for which a
change template exists that has been approved by the service owner. |
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The activities performed to ensure that the functionality of the services are provided at a level that meets the SLTs specified in the SLAs between the service provider organization and its customers. |
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A request from a
user for support from the service provider organization. |
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A type of change that is defined in a catalog item. The service provider organization agrees to implement a supported change when a customer, with an active SLA based on a catalog item that includes it, submits a request for its implementation. |
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T |
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The term "task" is used within the process model to refer to either a support request, a problem, or a work order. |
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U |
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A person who, from time to time, uses one or more CIs and/or services provided by the service provider organization. |
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V |
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The activity of determining whether or not a set of previously established requirements has been fulfilled. |
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W |
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A form on the service
provider organization's internet or intranet site which users and/or
customer representatives can fill out and submit to request the execution a
supported change. |
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A task that is linked to a change. It forms a step within a change implementation plan. |
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A temporary solution that bypasses or masks the incorrect functioning of a service. A workaround is implemented when it is the quickest way to allow affected users to return to their work. |