The information provision role and system has grown and changed since the launch of ITIL version 2 (in 2000/02). IT supports and is part of an increasing number of goods and services. In the business world, the information provision role has changed as well: IT's role is no longer just supporting, but has become the baseline for the creation of business value.
ITIL version 3 intends to include and provide insight into IT's new role in all its complexity and dynamics. To that end, a new service management approach has been chosen that does not center around processes, but focuses on the Service Lifecycle.
The Service Lifecycle is an organization model providing insight into:
the way service management is structured
the way the various components are linked to each other
the impact that changes in one component will have on other system components and on the entire system.
So the new ITIL version focuses on the Service Lifecycle, and on the way service management components are linked. The processes are also discussed (both the old, familiar ones and the new ones) in the cycle phases, which describe how things change.
The Service Lifecycle consists of five phases. Each volume of the new ITIL books describes one of these phases:
Service Strategy: The phase of designing, developing and implementing service management as a strategic resource
Service Design: The design phase of developing appropriate IT services, including architecture, processes, policy and documents; the design goal is to meet the current and future business requirements
Service Transition: The phase of developing and improving capabilities for the transition of new and modified services to production
Service Operation: The phase of achieving effectiveness and efficiency in providing and supporting services in order to ensure value for the customer and the service provider
Continual Service Improvement: The phase of creating and maintaining the value for the customer by design improvement, and service introduction and operation.
Depending on tasks and responsibilities, a manager can choose his own control perspective. If you are responsible for the design, development or improvement of processes, the best perspective to use is a process perspective. If you're responsible for managing SLAs, contracts and services, the Service Lifecycle perspective and its various phases are likely to meet your needs better.
