ITIL CSI – The 7 Step Improvement Process

For things to change effectively, it is best to follow a rigid set of easily repeatable steps. By following a structured process, slowly but gradually, a little bit of improvement is felt as each step has taken place.

When a business decides to leverage the knowledge contained in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the whole company may go through a rigorous assessment of their daily service workflow via ITIL's Continual Service Improvement (CSI).

ITIL's CSI helps maintain the progress of a business process as it oversees the development and workflows of a company. CSI is a vital aspect of ITIL, as it is the stabilizer of the whole service lifecycle. It enables businesses to feel their relevancy and inconsistencies by monitoring each services and processes offered by the company.

CSI relies on the information gathered through different services and processes, and as CSI collects various data and information, the company's road to improvement can be planned and executed as service resources apply the initial cycle of the seven step improvement process.

The 7 step improvement process starts as follows:


Define what to measure

It's important that this step is already filled out instantly, as identifying what should be measured must be included in the initial stages (as early as planning the Service Design and Service Strategy, the precise areas/items to be measured should be clarified and noted).


Define the areas that you can measure

With the service level requirements, budget constraints and IT capabilities noted and identified, it should be easier to find out what areas to measure. By having the different processes and functions mapped out, CSI can find out what areas have room for improvement as it conducts a gap analysis.


Collecting the data

To be able to have comparable data, the next step should be to set out to gather and collect raw facts and quantitative data. Data is usually gathered according to the goals and objectives of the service operation. The second those goals and objectives are identified, data should be gathered through various means.


Processing the data

In this step, the gathered data is processed in conjunction with the ITIL's Critical Success Factor and the specified Key Perfomance Indicators. During this time, the raw data is compartmentalized and organized according to its distinctive categorries and operations which would make comparing and analyzing data much easier.


Analysing the data

When the data has reached its target and is instantly codified, information takes place as the data gathered is carefully analyzed and carefully compared as to find the missing gaps, flaws and its overall effect of the collected information on the company.


Making it usable and presenting the data

The analyzed data is now presented to the owners and managing operators of the business in a manner that is clear and well defined. The collected data is distributed and explained in a way that answers the company's demands and at the same offers solutions and steps for improvement.


Implementing change

As CSI identifies the areas in need of change or the soft spots of the business, the collected data can now be used to start the onset for change. With this gathered knowledge, CSI can offer multiple options and alternative solutions to the discovered problems of the various service operations.


As these steps takes place in a spiral process, CSI can easily distinguish with greater clarity what the company needs the most. The compiled facts and data is a great thing to have over time, as it can work as a means to compare and contrast the past instances to present emergency conditions.

The 7 step improvement process is an integral process of CSI as this makes it possible for service resources and teams to identify and actually understand which processes and aspects of their operations are in need of major monitoring and enhancement.