1 Introduction

1.1 Objective

This standard is the specification of The Open Group IT4IT Reference Architecture, Version 2.1, an Open Group Standard. It describes a reference architecture illustrated by an IT Value Chain, that can be used to manage the business of IT.

1.2 Overview

The Open Group IT4IT Reference Architecture is a standard reference architecture for managing the business of IT. It uses a value chain approach to create a model of the functions that IT performs to help organizations identify the activities that contribute to business competitiveness. This value chain framework, called the IT Value Chain and specified in this document as part of the IT4IT Reference Architecture (see Section 3.1), applies this concept to IT by defining an integrated IT management framework focusing on the lifecycle of services. It identifies the key things that IT must do – and do well. It allows IT to achieve the same level of business predictability and efficiency that supply chain management has allowed for the business, and was designed by practitioners to be industry, product, and vendor-independent.

1.3 Conformance

Readers are advised to check The Open Group website for any conformance and certification requirements referencing this standard.

1.4 Normative References

The following standard contains provisions which, through references in this standard, constitute provisions of the IT4IT Reference Architecture. At the time of publication, the edition indicated was valid. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on this standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent edition of the standard listed below.

ArchiMate^® 3.0 Specification, an Open Group Standard (C162), June 2016, published by The Open Group; refer to: www.opengroup.org/library/c162.

1.5 Terminology

For the purposes of this standard, the following terminology definitions apply:

Can Describes a possible feature or behavior available to the user or application.

May Describes a feature or behavior that is optional. To avoid ambiguity, the opposite of “may” is expressed as “need not”, instead of “may not”.

Shall Describes a feature or behavior that is a requirement of the standard. To avoid ambiguity, do not use “must” as an alternative to “shall”.

Shall not Describes a feature or behavior that is an absolute prohibition of the standard.

Should Describes a feature or behavior that is recommended but not required.

Will Same meaning as “shall”; “shall” is the preferred term.

1.6 Future Directions

Work is currently underway to produce a roadmap for how IT can move from the familiar IT capability-based understanding to implementing the new service-centric IT Value Chain model.

Scenarios currently being discussed to be constructed in future releases include the following:

Multi-vendor Availability & Capacity Management
Multi-vendor Service-Level Management (SLM)
Hybrid Requirements Management in the enterprise
Change Management, including the relationship with Configuration Management
S2P alignment with the TOGAF standard
Service Request (Self-service & Knowledge Management)
Risk Management
Asset Management
Alignment to Cloud
Intelligence and Reporting