Primarily, as per the ITIL service management framework, there are four key roles. Other roles that are identified in ITIL are derivatives of the roles that I am going to discuss today.
Here are the roles that are key to ITIL functioning:
- Service Owner
- Process Owner
- Process Manager
- Process Practitioner
Service Owner
I have discussed ITIL service on this forum before.
The person who owns the ITIL service – end to end – is referred to as a service owner. The service owner is accountable for all aspects of the service. Nothing gets changed on the service without his approval.
Examples of IT services include email service, internet service, and application service among others. Each of these services will have one person accountable – the service owner – who will be the alpha and the omega for the service.
Process Owner
ITIL process has been discussed earlier as well.
The person who owns the ITIL – end to end – is the process owner. Just as the service owner is accountable for a service, the process owner is accountable for his/her process.
All changes to the process go through the process owner. He is the person who is questioned if the process was to go not as expected. And, it is his ownership to ensure that the process meets its objectives and is effective as well as efficient.
Process owner examples could be change management process owner and incident management process owner. In short, the incident management process owner is the person who has okayed the process design, who is happy with its flow and is the person who comes up with KPIs for measuring the process’ effectiveness and efficiency.
Process Manager
While the process is owned by the process owner, you need a manager to upkeep the process for day to day functioning. You need somebody to ensure that all the tenets of the process are being followed to the tee. This person is the process manager.
The process manager does not own the process but is responsible for ensuring that the process is meeting its objectives and those who fall under the process are compliant with its controls.
Examples of process managers are change manager and incident manager.
Process Practitioner
A practitioner is a person who is actively engaged in a discipline as per the English dictionary.
In ITIL terminology as well, a process practitioner is someone who follows the process. The practitioner could be a part of the process acting at any capacity.
It is the responsibility of the process practitioner to be compliant with the process’ principles and to stay within the boundaries of the process.
Examples could be a DBA working on incident management by resolving an incident or a Java analyst raising a change to change certain parameters.
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