Best practices should be integrated into a methodology by the IT service division. This provides a more meaningful context for improvement and outlines how initiatives inter-relate in a more strategic setting. ITIL, CMMI, CobIT and other frameworks can provide a solid base for this but they must be 'tailored' for the unique characteristics of the organization.

"Information" encompasses the meaning given to data or information obtained according to certain conventions - this is known as "Explicit Knowledge".

On the one hand, "culture" is the total amount of standards, values, views, principles and attitudes of people that underscore their behavior and functioning.

"Skills" are related to the capability, ability, and personal experience of people - they relate to what people can do, know and understand.

The knowledge components which culture and skills represent is "implict" or tacit" knowledge, which depends on the individual and is stored in the minds of people - ie. it is embodied. This concept is more difficult to describe, is based on experience, is practical in nature and finds its source, among other things, in associations and intuitions.

On the other hand, Explicit Knowledge, is not dependent on the individual, is theoretical in nature and is specified as procedures, theories, equations, manuals, drawings etc. This knowledge is mainly stored in management information and technical systems, and organizational routines. An organizational challenge is to turn the sum of individual explicit knowledge sources into a base of corporate knowledge. According to Burlton^R, it matures in three stages:

1. Recognition

   Recognition is the shallowest level of knowledge. Unless you can identify a problem, the application of knowledge won't occur because no action will ever be taken. Recognizing a problem with a customer relationship is a critical first step to resolving the problem or avoiding further problems. However, recognition by itself not sufficient. Many people will claim they "know," about a problem area, but what they know remains shallow compared to those who are knowledgeable in other dimensions.

2. Guidance

   Guidance, or referencable knowledge that tells you what to do, is the next dimension of knowledge. Guidance requires rich and deep sources with specific relevance so that an appropriate action can be taken. Without it, people might recognize a need or know how to do something but they would lack the specific context needed to do the right things correctly. Once a problem with a customer relationship is noted, it's imperative to find out more details, which then guides the appropriate response.

3. Ability

   The third dimension of knowledge is the ability to accomplish some result that is of value to someone who cares. This know-how is obviously essential to the smooth functioning of an enterprise. Having this deepest form of knowledge often differentiates the enterprise from its competitors. Clearly, someone must be able to do what it takes to resolve a customer relationship problem, after it is recognized, and appropriate guidance is gained. Applying the three levels of knowledge enables a business to do the right things in the right way.

Burlton compares these stages (a kind of maturity treatment) to the two types of knowledge. The result is his Burlton Six Pack.

Mature organizations strive to achieve the ability to retain explicit knowledge. This becomes Corporate Knowledge...

Burlton concludes by summing up the key role process plays in corporate knowledge retention:

Corporate knowledge must be continually refreshed. The organization must continually update its' skills and methods or run the risk of being overtaken by 'more nimble' competition. The employees of more successful organizations learn quicker, and implement and commercialize knowledge faster. An organization that does not learn continuously and is not able to continuously list, develop, share, mobilize, cultivate, put into practice, review, and spread knowledge will not be able to compete effectively. That is why the ability of an organization to improve existing skills and acquire new ones forms its most tenable competitive advantage. ^R. It is incumbent upon the organization to systematically collect and use this knowledge.

But how does one distinguish "relevant" knowledge? This can be a daunting task. But there are certain principles which can be adopted to facilitate the quest. The organization must shift its' focus from learning facts to learning process. Why? Because increasingly organizations will be defined by their processes -- they accept a mixture of inputs from their environment and weave a set of "products" and "services" as outputs. Using a systems approach it becomes easier to see the value of process learning -- and how R&D is uniquely equipped to lead the rest of the organization in "exploring" systemic connections between processes and products and services.

Burlton goes on to suggest that knowledge has a lifecycle consisting of the following stages:

Create: Knowledge must be created either within or outside the organization. Ideas evolve in iterative tacit and explicit loops until the knowledge is ready for distribution to those outside the creating group. Store: Knowledge can then be stored somewhere, either tacitly or explicitly, so that it's accessible for others to find and use. Find: Those who need the specific knowledge must find out where it is by searching in the right places and/or by asking the right people. Acquire: Once the knowledge source is found, the user will then go through the act of actually acquiring it-that is, gaining personal knowledge from other humans or documented sources. Use: Once acquired, the knowledge can be put to use toward some productive purpose. Learn: As a result of having applied the knowledge, perhaps repeatedly, the user will learn what worked well and what didn't. This learning can then be significant input into further iterations of the knowledge creation and distribution process.

Developing and continually improving internal processes can be a time consuming and exacting process, particularly in organizations and sectors where the turn-over of staff often means that much of the knowledge leaves the organization at key moments^N. All too often the sum total of the organization's attempt to keep and codify this knowledge is in conducting 'exit interviews' or ensure that documentation is placed in a shared drive or available to the next incumbent. Knowledge Management attempts to better manage that knowledge through improved tools and techniques. InCMMI this is encompassed by the concept of institutionalization wherein key knowledge is captured by ensuring that key processes accompanying any new project or process.

Burlton offers ten fundamental principles of process management:

Business change must be performance driven.	All the things we do, we should do for a reason, and measurement allows us to know if we are acting consistently with the reason. A popular response to this has been the "balanced scorecard" approach, which tries to put in place a set of measures that aren’t oriented just to the financial bottom line. All organizations, regardless of business mission, can find their own set of performance metrics from which all decisions regarding processes can be derived and linked to each other. This concept is normally referred to as traceability - everything we do, and every decision we make under ideal circumstances, relates through a set of linked performance measures to the organization’s scorecard.
Business change must be stakeholder based.	Who cares about what we are doing and how well we are doing it? Stakeholder needs and expectations are the prime drivers of the balanced scorecard and also help determine what that scorecard should be.
Business change decisions must be traceable to the stakeholder criteria.	Though perhaps self-evident this principle is often ignored or abused. Personal and political agendas will often form the basis for proposals, recommendations, and approvals of courses of actions.
The business must be segmented along business process lines to synchronize change.	As business cycles of products and services shrink timewise, management structures with overly rigid organizational boundaries and planning mechanisms are too slow to respond. They don’t anticipate changes well enough to lead the market. Seamless cross-functional integration is mandatory, and, only process can stake the claim of achieving enterprise-wide integration. The "event/outcome" pairing, inherent in the process approach, defines the value proposition. All other structures are subservient and should be put into place solely to serve it, and in so doing deliver added value to customers and stakeholders.
Business processes must be managed holistically.	One traditional pitfall associated with business change is an inability to deliver and sustain benefits. In process-oriented change, the problem can be exacerbated if the proponents of change cannot locate and maintain appropriate champions. These sponsors must take a full-process perspective - that is, one that delivers on behalf of external stakeholders.
Process renewal initiatives must inspire shared insight.	As the organizational focus grows, a business requires more formal approaches to identify, connect, and share what’s known as well as to realize the identities and trustworthiness of its knowers. It is impractical to learn everything required first hand in the timeframes required by modern change. Hence, accessible knowledge artifacts, often in the form of explicit documents, hold great importance to help bridge the knowledge chasm between "knower" and "solution stakeholder."
Process renewal initiatives must be conducted from the outside in.	Everything should be understood and validated at its own level, starting at the top box and then working down. At each level, the objects we analyze must be looked at only with regard to their own context before any decomposition occurs.
Process renewal initiatives must be conducted in an iterative, time-boxed approach.	Continuous learning - learn, create something, review it, and plan the next cycle of the process. This principle assumes that we will get it wrong before we get it right and that we will know the result of a change only when you try it. Time boxing dictates that the activity schedule is preset and the amount of work performed varies according to what can be done within the timeframe.
Business change is all about people.	Appropriate roles and responsibilities, organizational structures, empowerment within accountability, aligned performance incentives, recognition and personal growth opportunities must be recognized. During transition, the staff must feel that an appropriate level of trustworthy communication is happening.
Business change is a journey, not a destination.	Stakeholders will have a set of requirements that are in flux. The balance among these requirements will change as each of the stakeholders’ contributions change.
Burlton, "Business Process Management, SAMS, 2001, Chapter

Adopting Best Practices

Here are a few definitions of best practices....

The itSMF (IT Service Management Forum, the ITIL global user organization) defines “best practice” as an industry-accepted way of doing something...

Inherent in the realization that IT must operate like any organizational business line, are the following drivers promoting the adoption of best practices:

Or, consider Tim Finneran's explanation for using best practices^N

With best practices in place, companies are better positioned to apply rational thinking and metrics when assessing Return on Investment (ROI) and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of IT investments. Additionally, they are better positioned to meet IT governance expectations. Best practices take on strategic significance as companies recognize the value that these disciplines contribute to the overall landscape of IT Service Management (ITSM)^R. Best practices permit an organization to avoid making mistakes during the learning process - in essence learning from others.

However, best practices may also be problematic for an organization to implement because...

• the organization has not made the mistake - thus, not clearly understanding the reasoning behind the adopted practice. ^N;
• best practices are, by necessity, subject to statistical interpretation. They reflect the "best" amongst a discrete number (and not an unbiased sample) of organizations reviewed - as opposed to a random sample of all organizations^R;
• the organization may not have adapted its' internal support processes sufficiently to implement the processes - ie., not sufficiently mature in CMMI terms. The successful implementation of best practices are contingent upon key capabilities (the maturity level of which may be contingent upon yet other key capabilities) - "to achieve a best practice, one must develop the constituent capabilities of the best practice." ^R;
• the implementation of one process area may have interdependencies with other areas. These interrelationships can be complex and differ with the characteristics of the organization implementing process improvement. Results can vary in unpredictable ways in the absence of a defining framework underscoring the best practices;
• different process areas (eg., the ten areas cited in the ITIL service management and delivery books) will have implementation requirements, which will be aligned to different levels of organizational maturity.

New advances in IT service management may resolve some of these shortcomings by ..

• distinguishing processes and practices according to the scale of an implementation.
• focused acknowledgement of the underlying organizational processes necessary for an IT service management discipline to be implemented at a prescribed level of maturity.
• describing (as COBIT does in rudimentary form) process variations at different levels of organizational maturity
• selective descriptions of ITIL implementation suggestions to better highlight implementation packages (including associated supporting process requirements) dependent on the maturity level attained by the organization.

Integrating Best Practices - A Model

Organization

This organization would be assessed according to the following organizing concept:

• Agreement at highest level of management as to Principles, Best Practices & Methodologies, Standards and Guidelines.
• A central function that facilitates compliance while allowing business flexibility.
• Distributed professionals committed to these policies and principles and supported by local as well as central management.

The organizational structure based upon this organizing concept would facilitate:

• A central policy and practices developed by a centralized organization but including distributed organization input and support,
• Distributed execution organizations based upon enterprise policies and practices with personnel, belonging to the centralized organizations, who are integral, co-located members of each project team. Project teams may also be supported by central specialists that act as SWAT Team members, as needed.
• A Management Steering Committee for major projects that ensures that central standards and guidelines are followed consistently while making sure that resources are efficiently utilized.

Principles and Best Practices

Architecture Model

The Architecture Model components of the Best Practices Business Model include the following Architecture Models:

• Information Architecture Models - Enables the enterprise to develop a common, shared, distributed, accurate, and consistent data resource.
• Business Architecture Models - Models the business enterprise to show how business is to be done
• Application Architecture Models - Links the data and business architecture to reflect applications and how they are used and distributed.
• Technology Architecture Models - Links up with the Application, Business, and Data Architectures to provide inter-operable technology platforms that meet the needs of the various user roles (Actors) at identified work locations.

Methodology

• Information Architecture Modeling
• Conceptual and Logical Data Modeling
• Database Design & Administration
• Business Process Architecture Modeling
• Use Case Analysis
• Event/Process Modeling
• Application Development
• Rapid Application Development and Prototyping
• Informational Data Access Development (including Data Warehouse)
• Application Architecture Definition/Inventory
• Technology Architecture Evaluation/Development

Quality Administration and Stewardship

• Information/Knowledge Stewardship (Editorial Board)
• Appropriate Content
• Appropriate Presentation
• Aesthetics
• Vehicle (e.g., Would Video be better?)
• Information/Knowledge Content Administration
• Receiving
• Organizing
• Posting
• Archiving
• Information/Knowledge Management Tool Administration

Integrating IT Service Best Practices - A Methodology

The collection of these best practices and the manner in which they are tailored to the unique characteristics, goals and objectives of an organization is sometime referred to as a Methodology.

The following schematic was developed with reference to software development, but, I think it is equally relevant in a discussion of IT service management.

The aforementioned article offers some recommendations for embedding these best practices into the organization.

However, they also caution against excessive reliance on a prescriptive set of best practices. In this endevour, the "tailoring" criteria is important because these guidelines focus ingenuity and creativity into fruitful areas. Note this recommendation by IBM --

These "guidelines" are being advanced as generally prescriptive - that is widely applicable. As such, they can be considered implementation ^Nprinciples. They are the tailoring principles. Tailoring is akin to alignment - that is, it channels the organization towards projects and activities aligned with corporate goals and objectives. Consider the following:

Best practices evolve and are managed to a 'practice lifecycle' similar to many other elements of a service management framework. The lifecycle suggested by the USMBOK has four main stages: common, best, good, next, described thus^R:

• Common - generally known and consistently defined, specific use undefined, accessible and in the 'public domain', yet unproven
• Best - generally recognized or at least proposed by the industry as being a reasonable and theoretically sound, unproven, an industry 'standard', minimum
• Good - transformed by use from theory to application, proven, statistical evidence of benefit as applied within a specific organization and scenarios, not transportable to another organization without a return to Best
• Next - Good practices that are stable, foundational, and candidates for innovative thinking and another cycle of improvement

IT Service Management Reference Models)

Process Modeling