What they all had in common are projects that consistently ran over budget, deliverables that did not meet customers’ expectations, and timelines that missed due dates. Employee turnover was high, morale was low, and relationships were deteriorating between departments.

Sound familiar?

Each organization was introduced to industry-leading process frameworks and methodologies to use when improving their workflows and environments. The following is a short list of the frameworks and methodologies our three clients utilized to differing degrees. Future posts will expand on each of these, how they interrelate, and the organizational challenges that need to be overcome during implementation. I will also review specific examples about the benefits and pitfalls our clients experienced.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

ITIL is a set of best practices that an IT organization can implement to align their activities to those of the business. ITIL 2011 has five core volumes of information, which include processes and activities in strategy, design, operation, continuous improvement, and transition (the development, purchase, and implementation of technology). ITIL does not provide specific roadmaps toward implementation, how to measure improvement, nor guidance on what should be implemented.

Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)

MOF is very similar to ITIL. It is a library of best practices that Microsoft provides as a free download. The latest base edition was provided in 2008 and is regularly updated to provide best practices for the implementation and maintenance of new paradigms such as cloud computing. MOF is technology agnostic and is not designed as a set of marketing materials for Microsoft’s tools.

Control Objectives for Information Technology (CobIT)

CobIT is the leading framework to measure the maturity of an organization’s processes by comparing the amount a process is institutionalized versus what best practice suggests. This measurement can then be used as a gap analysis or roadmap toward process improvement. CobIT is considered to be the “what to implement” to ITIL’s or MOF’s “how to implement.” CobIT is the IT measurement framework that is typically used by organizations that are concerned with Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) compliance.

Agile

Of course, I am including Agile!  Agile is a methodology based on guiding principles in order to promote efficiency while developing a product. Agile was initially based on a manufacturing floor practice of selecting a task to work on from a set of cards posted on a wall. Each card contained a task, an estimated amount of effort, and any required predecessors. This gave workers the freedom to select which task to perform based on the conditions at that specific moment while promoting efficiency and communication. Common practices of Agile fit well within the ITIL and MOF frameworks while promoting practices that can be measured by CobIT.

The next post will be an overview of the Microsoft Operations Framework and the benefits experienced when first implementing processes in environments where none were currently being followed.