ITSM - Train the Trainers event

The last NI4OS Train the Trainers event focuses on IT Service Management and its relevance to the EOSC service management. The webinar series goal is to study in more details the processes related to IT Service Management and how they will be applied in the NI4OS project. We start with FitSM as one of the standards used for IT service management. Following the presentations from our guests from EGI Foundation, we then continue with NI4OS specific topics to discuss how the FitSM processes will be implemented in the NI4OS pre-production environment and how service management can be related to FAIR data and used to manage data repositories.

Webinar series information:

Webinar no. 1 - Tuesday, September 15th, 14.00-16.00 CEST

FitSM: implementing lightweight IT Service Management in the EOSC Ecosystem

To meet customer needs and provide valuable services, it is important to maintain a high quality of service, which requires a well-structured approach to how the service is managed. Existing approaches to formal IT Service Management (ITSM), such as ITIL and the ISO/IEC 20000 standard are useful but not always well suited to the challenges of providing distributed services, especially federated environments, and can often be seen as overly complex. FitSM provides requirements based on international standards and commercial best-practice, as well as concrete support in terms of templates, guides and tools useful in implementing ITSM and offers a certification training programme. FitSM is serving as the reference framework in several EOSC initiatives, among other research infrastructures as well.

This two hour webinar will provide a clear-cut view of how service management, and the lightweight approach provided by the FitSM standard, is suitable for distributed, federated and research services. Through FitSM, the aim is to conduct effective IT service management while achieving a baseline level of ITSM that can act in support of ‘management interoperability’ in federated environments such as the EOSC and related projects. . Topics will also include the relationship between FAIR data concepts and ITSM, practical implementation guidance as well as allowing time for discussion.

Content will be presented by two contributing authors of FitSM as well as representing a European federated service provider implementing the standard: EGI. You should attend if you have any involvement in the delivery of an IT service, no matter your organisational type, commercial or academic, though the discussion will focus on the context of research infrastructures.

Sy Holsinger, Strategy and Innovation Team Lead and Business Development Manager, EGI Foundation

At EGI, Sy works on sustainability planning, business model development, market analysis, project management and IT service management implementation. He has ~15 years experience in EU-funded projects providing both management and support roles related to the development and implementation of e-Infrastructures for research and innovation as well leading commercial exploitation such as in the series of EGEE projects, EGI flagship projects, and currently in the EOSC-hub project by setting up and coordinating the EOSC Digital Innovation Hub. His experience extends to policy initiatives having written or contributed to analysis reports, roadmaps, articles and white papers. Sy is a certified expert, trainer and auditor (ISO 19011) in both FitSM (Service Management) and ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security) standards, and volunteers as Co-chair of ITEMO (IT Education Management Organization) to evolve the FitSM standard.

Owen Appleton,
Service Portfolio Manager, EGI Foundation       

At EGI, Owen works on Service Strategy, Service Portfolio Management, IT Service Management training and consultancy. He holds a BSc. In Biochemistry and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College, London. He was a CERN Fellow, where he became involved in European computing projects in 2004 through the EGEE project series (which preceded EGI). He has contributed to numerous European projects, worked in scientific Public Relations, ran a policy and management consultancy and coordinated the development of a federated Research IT support network in Switzerland. Owen was a leading author of the FitSM standard, is a certified FitSM trainer and is co-chair of the FitSM working group within standard owner ITEMO (IT Education Management Organization). He holds an Expert certification in FitSM as well as certifications in ITIL and ISO 27000. Owen has the role of Service Portfolio Manager for EGI and he Chairs the Services and Solutions Board (SSB), as well as holding similar roles in EOSC-hub.

Webinar no. 2 - Wednesday, September 16th, 10.00-12.00 CEST

After the general introduction to FitSM, the second webinar in this series takes a deep dive into implementing FitSM in the NI4OS pre-production environment. We are going to be looking into more details of how the FitSM processes are going to be used within NI4OS and define the maturity level of service providers based on their sophistication in the implementation of the service management processes.

To make sure that we understand how to put the idea into practice, the second part of this webinar will be in the form of an exercise. 

Anastas Mishev, UKIM WP3 Leader

Sonja Filiposka, UKIM, ITIL 4 Service Design Specialist

Webinar no. 3 - Wednesday, September 16th, 14.00-16.00 CEST

Defining repository policies and key concepts of repository service management

From the data services perspective, one of the most important aspects that need to be developed and applied in NI4OS are the data repository policies. When it comes to service management, it is important to also understand the relationship between service policies and data repository policies.

This presentation focuses on the different repository policies and how they can be combined with CC. We will discuss the NI4OS related experiences and main elements of data repository management.