The Open Group IT4IT Standard, Version 3.0

The IT4IT Reference Architecture is fundamentally a Functional Model for the IT management ecosystem. However, function-oriented reference models are frequently published from vendors of IT management products. These models are often viewed as “marketecture” which is designed to demonstrate the strengths of a vendor’s products but are too ambiguous to be implementable. Most of these models are not based on architectural principles and/or are not connected to the broader IT operating model that describes how the function works. Therefore, the IT4IT Forum made two deliberate decisions: first, to design a reference model based on architectural design principles that could be implemented, and second to connect the reference architecture with an IT operating model based on an industry standard construct: the Value Network.

The Value Network concept focuses on the activities by which a company adds value to an article as it flows through the production and post-production lifecycle. This was combined with the concept of value streams; see Great Transition: Using the Seven Disciplines of Enterprise Engineering [Martin] to capture the customer-in perspective. The value stream concept is rooted in Lean Six Sigma and emphasizes customer-oriented results.

The term functional component may be unfamiliar to some IT practitioners and vendors because it is not widely used. It has its roots in SOA reference models, such as the SOA Reference Architecture, a standard from The Open Group [C119] and is intended to convey the notion of a small building block of technology. In the IT4IT Reference Architecture, a single IT management product might play the role of one or more functional components. Conversely, a functional component might instead be as small as a web service or microservice.

The Evaluate and Explore value streams extend the best practices put forward by various authors and frameworks, including ISO/IEC, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI^®), AXELOS Ltd. in its ITIL series on ITSM, ISACA^® in its COBIT Framework, and others, by defining the technology components necessary to implement them. A range of organizational maturity is also accommodated by the Evaluate and Explore value streams.

A non-normative list of related capabilities addressed by the Evaluate and Explore value streams is provided here, with the industry sources supporting their existence. Overall industry sources not tied to any one capability are: ISO/IEC 21-2:2005, Betz, ISACA, ITIL Continual Service Improvement, ITIL Service Design, ITIL Service Operation, ITIL Service Strategy, ITIL Service Transition, ISO/IEC 98-3:2008, and CMMI for Services.

IT Strategy and Architecture

Planning and overall strategy for IT services and sourcing; see Benson et al., Kaplan, Spewak & Hill, Cook, Carbone, Ulrich & McWhorter.

IT Demand and Portfolio Management

Business relationship management and pipeline for new IT services, service changes, and ongoing IT investment optimization; see McFarlan, Kaplan, Maizlish & Handler, ITIL Service Strategy.

IT Financial Management

IT financial planning and control, including pricing, budgeting, accounting, and charging; see Quinlan, Quinlan & Quinlan, Remenyi et al., ITIL Service Strategy.

IT Governance, Risk, Security, and Compliance

Ensuring well-governed IT (direct-monitor-evaluate), correct management of adverse scenarios, protecting against malicious actors, and adhering to relevant governmental laws and regulations; see ISACA, Van Grembergen, Weill & Ross, Haes & Van Grembergen, ISO/IEC Directives.

The Integrate value stream extends the best practices put forward by various authors and frameworks, including ISO/IEC, CMMI by AXELOS Ltd. in its ITIL series on ITSM, ISACA in its COBIT Framework, and others, by defining the technology components necessary to implement them. A range of organizational maturity is also accommodated by the Integrate value stream.

A non-normative list of related capabilities addressed by the Integrate value stream is provided here, with the industry sources supporting their existence. Overall industry sources for this value stream are: Agile Alliance, ISO/IEC 21-2:2005, Betz; ISACA, ITIL Continual Service Improvement, ITIL Service Design, ITIL Service Operation, ITIL Service Strategy, ITIL Service Transition, ISO/IEC 98-3:2008, PMBOK Guide, CMMI for Development, CMMI for Services, IBM Rational Software, Leffingwell, et al., and ISO/IEC Directives.

Project Management

Define, manage, and control a defined set of (typically) non-repeatable work, to a specific time scope, resources, and quality; see PMBOK Guide.

Release and Deployment Management

Organize and coordinate the overall transition of new product functionality to a market available or enterprise production state. Includes both technical and organizational Change Management concerns; see Klosterboer, ITIL Service Transition, Humble & Farley, OASIS™ TOSCA™.

Requirements Management

Elicit, capture, track, and analyze the business needs of IT-centric products; see CMMI for Development, Cockburn, Leffingwell et al..

Software Engineering

The core effort of developing new products and features based on computing and IT for market and enterprise needs; see Duvall et al., Bourque & Fairley, CMMI for Development.

Test Management

The activity of developing and executing specific assessments of an IT product’s quality, lack of errors, and satisfaction of requirements; see CMMI for Development, IEEE 730-2014.

Change Management

The activities and concerns related to implementing new functionality in an IT product, including communication, risk assessment, and correct execution; see Klosterboer, ITIL Service Transition, Van Schaik.

Configuration Management

The capability supporting the overall management and understanding of complex inventories and dependencies in IT products and ecosystems; see Betz, ITIL Service Transition, O’Donnell & Casanova.

The Deploy, Release, and Consume value streams extend the best practices put forward by various authors and frameworks, including ISO/IEC, CMMI by AXELOS Ltd. in its ITIL series on ITSM, ISACA in its COBIT Framework, and others, by defining the technology components necessary to implement them. A range of organizational maturity is also accommodated by the Deploy, Release, and Consume value streams.

A non-normative list of related capabilities addressed by the Deploy, Release, and Consume value streams is provided here, with the industry sources supporting their existence. Overall industry sources not tied to any one capability are: ISO/IEC 21-2:2005, CMMI for Services, ISACA, ITIL Continual Service Improvement, ITIL Service Design, ITIL Service Operation, ITIL Service Strategy, ITIL Service Transition, ISO/IEC 98-3:2008, and O’Loughlin.

Service Request Management and Service Desk

The capability and associated processes for interacting directly with end-users to provide operational support and benefits by an IT capability (market or enterprise-facing); see O’Loughlin, ITIL Service Operation.

Supplier Management

The activity of defining needs, assessing sources, and establishing new vendor relationships for supplying the IT Value Network, or its end-users; see CMMI for Acquisition.

Service-Level Management

The activity of defining and managing to agreed performance criteria for IT services; see Sturm et al., ITIL Service Operation.

Access Management

The activity of provisioning and authenticating end-users in IT systems that require control over the user base; see ISO/IEC Directives.

The Operate value stream extends the best practices put forward by various authors and frameworks, including ISO/IEC, CMMI by AXELOS Ltd. in its ITIL series on ITSM, ISACA in its COBIT Framework, and others, by defining the technology components necessary to implement them. A range of organizational maturity is also accommodated by the Operate value stream.

A non-normative list of related capabilities addressed by the Operate value stream is provided here, with the industry sources supporting their existence. Overall industry sources not tied to any one capability are: ISO/IEC 21-2:2005, CMMI for Services, Betz; ISACA, ITIL Continual Service Improvement, ITIL Service Design, ITIL Service Operation, ITIL Service Strategy, ITIL Service Transition, ISO/IEC 98-3:2008, Van Schaik, Shiesser 2001, and Schiesser 2010.

IT Operations Management

The set of activities related to actually running systems, ensuring that they are available, and performing on a day-to-day basis; see Allspaw & Robbins, Limoncelli et al..

Event Management

The detailed tracking of state changes within a managed IT resource or collection of resources, and the application of business roles and workflow to those raw occurrences for further treatment by processes such as Incident and Problem Management; see Luckham, Allspaw & Robbins.

Incident Management

The identification, tracking, and resolution of occurrences where a service is not meeting expectations; see Schiesser 2001, Kern et al..

Application Management

The overall development and maintenance of market or enterprise-facing solutions; see Office of Government Commerce.

Capacity, Availability, and Problem Management

The reactive and proactive tracking and resolution of recurring or emerging problems in an IT product, including design shortcomings, over-consumption of resources, or emergent requirements; see Behr et al., Allspaw & Robbins, ITIL Service Operation, Limoncelli et al..