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ERP4IT is a term used to define a broad-scale integrated management system of IT automation system that enables IT to manage itself. There exist solutions that provide pivotal insights into financials and customers (with ERP and CRM packages) but there is none that delivers an integrated system of record, by which IT (and the CIO) can gain holistic insight into the value, cost and quality of IT services. IT’s own internal systems and processes are often so fragmented, inefficient, and redundant, that there is a strong need to build an ERP system for IT. Enterprise information technology is so highly leveraged that any improvement in its management would have a multiplier effect on the enterprise’s effectiveness.

D -- data types and document types

All services delivered to the business by its IT department.

O -- Organizational transactions and processes

Following are some of the organizational processes that can be automated: Operation, support and maintenance (functional); supporting IT processes (eg. Asset and change management); element management (technical); enterprise architecture.

C -- Context (types of products and services, industry, geography, regulatory considerations).

Out of the major resource areas in an organization, only information (i.e., IT) lacks comprehensively integrated vendor solutions like ERP and CRM. ERP4IT aims to bridge this gap.

The problem is so complex that a common framework is required to seek data about the data and process to manage the processing. Enterprise information technology is so highly leveraged that any improvement in its management should have a multiplier effect on the enterprise’s effectiveness.

U -- User types and special user requirements

The users include all IT personnel in an organization. Further, the CIO of a company stands to benefit strongly from this approach of having an ERP system for IT.

M -- Models, patterns, standards that apply or that are needed.

The Software Portfolio Management Facility, a draft specification by the Object Management Group (OMG) has with great relevance to the ERP for IT problem. However, these specs have taken a backseat in the OMG’s approval process, overshadowed by the current Unified Modeling Language (UML) revisions. Further, there are competing efforts by the Distributed Management Task Force, the Business Process Modeling Language [BPML] effort, and more academic work around ontologies. A standard for IT service management is U.K.’s Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

E -- Enterprises and ecosystems (trading communities, standards bodies, other standards that help scope the case study).

Standards in this area are being chartered out by several bodies like the Object Management Group (OMG), the Distributed Management Task Force and UK’s IT Service Management Forum working on ITIL.

N -- The needs (business case) driving the enterprise(s).

IT needs a comprehensive system for IT management, governance and security within an organization. Despite its success building solutions for capabilities such as finance, supply chain, and human resources, IT’s own internal systems and processes often are fragmented, inefficient, and redundant.

Desire for more effective outsourcing in particular is driving the call for ERP4IT. However, no vendor currently offers a comprehensively integrated ERP suite for IT, and this provides an opening for standards-based approaches.

T -- Technology constraints and opportunities.

Managing IT is hard. This is because:

- the concept of information as a resource is relatively new- it is difficult to metamodel the IT problem domain.

- technical challenges such as establishing workable information models for the problem domain .

- IT budgets emphasize hardware and often aren’t directly tied to high-visibility, business-sponsored projects.

Another thing to be cautious about is to avoid making the mistakes that ERP has made in the past.

Labels: ERP4IT, IT automation

# posted by Document Engineering Student @ 7:07 AM