In this tutorial, we will discuss the ITIL Transition Planning and Support Process (ITIL TPS). This process is also known as ITIL Project Management. Here in this chapter, you will learn the Definition, Objective, Activities, Benefits, and Sub-Process of Transition Planning and Support - ITIL V3 Process.
What is ITIL Transition Planning and Support Process (ITIL TPS)?
Transition Planning and Support (TPS) is one of the main processes under Service Transition module of the ITIL best practice framework.
ITIL Transition Planning and Support is all about managing service transition projects. That is the reason, this process sometimes also referred to as ITIL Project Management process.
Although ITIL doesn’t go deep into project management, ITIL v3 official book recommends this TPS stage as an interface between ITIL & other project management frameworks like PRINCE2 or PMBOK.
ITIL Transition Planning and Support Objective:
The primary objective of ITIL Transition Planning and Support Process (AKA ITIL Project Management) is to plan and coordinate the resources to deploy new or changed services (major releases) within the predicted cost, time and quality estimates.
It also has other objectives, such as managing risks to reduce the failure probability and monitoring of service transition process to improve performance.
ITIL V3 Transition Planning and Support Activities:
According to ITIL V3, Transition Planning and Support illustrate some tasks and activities which are to be used by other service transition processes like change management, release and deployment management, configuration management etc.
Some of those activities are:
- Management of Issues and risks.
- Define activities and tasks to be performed by separate processes.
- Manage that Schedules of milestones, handover and delivery dates.
- Optimize Staffing, resource requirements, budgets, and timescales at each stage.
- Utilization of Lead times and contingency planning.
- Integrate transition plans that are linked to lower level plans such as release, build and test plans.
- Grouping similar type of releases and deployments as a programme and managing each individual deployment as a separate project.
ITIL Transition Planning and Support Process Benefits:
There are quite a few benefits of properly managed projects, done through Transition Planning and Support - ITIL V3 Process:
- Increased consistency in the Service Transition activities through the utilization of well-established policies, standards, and models.
- Increased ability to manage multiple transitions (projects) at the same time.
- Optimize the cost efficiencies of various transitions (projects) and change activities by managing and deliberately prioritizing the shared resources.
- Ensures Service Transitions or Project Implementations are going according to the agreed Service Strategy and the same is also realized to Service Operations stage.
- Ensures that the project objectives are aligned with constantly changing business needs.
- Anticipates future budget and resource requirements for entire service transition process, to avoid last-minute (expensive) procurement decisions.
ITIL Transition Planning and Support Sub-Process:
According to ITIL V3, there are four sub-processes operating under the Transition Planning and Support Process. Below are the objectives and short descriptions of those sub-processes, followed by a diagram illustrating the ITIL Project Management Process Flow.
One thing you should remember that these sub-processes are followed synchronously in the order mentioned here:
1) Project Initiation:
Used to define stakeholders, responsibility matrix, basic dates and resources available to the project, as well as it documents the risks, constraints, and assumptions affecting the project.
2) Project Planning and Coordination:
Responsible for planning service transition projects in accordance with the organization's Project Management guidelines. It also coordinates the activities and resources across projects.
This sub-process under Transition Planning and Support is NOT responsible for detailed planning of individual project phases (which is to be done using other project management frameworks), but plans for the overall project and triggers planning activities performed by other processes.
3) Project Control:
Responsible for continual monitoring of project progress and resource consumption, to expedite progress when required and to initiate corrective action if required.
4) Project Reporting and Communication:
To provide an overall summary report of all planned or ongoing Service Transition projects, which then communicated to stakeholders and other Service Management processes.
Important Terminologies & Definitions:
Below lists some of the important terminologies of ITIL Transition Planning & Support (AKA ITIL Project Management) process:
Lead Time:
- The time between the initiation and completion of consecutive but partially dependent production processes.
- For example, Suppose ProcessB has a partial dependency on ProcessA to start its activities. Let us assume that ProcessA activities are 3 days long, but it has been calculated that when ProcessA completes 2nd-day work, it fulfills the dependency of starting of ProcessB. So the lead time here is 1 day.
Data for Project Plan Update:
- This represents the current status information on project progress and resource consumption.
- This information is sent from other Service Transition processes to ITIL Transition Planning and Support process for Project Control and Reporting purpose.
Project Charter:
- The Project Charter is a statement about the scope, objectives, and participants in a project.
- It describes the project objectives, identifies the stakeholders, defines the scope of authority of the Project Manager, and lists any constraints and assumptions affecting the project.
Project History Log:
- A document used to record important events during the course of the project, e.g. decisions, escalations, and changes to the project scope.
Service Transition Plan (Project Plan):
- A Service Transition Plan or Project Plan is a formal, approved document showing the major deliverables, milestones, activities, and resources for a project, used as a guide for project execution and control.
Project Portfolio Status Report:
- The Project Portfolio Status Report is an overall summary report of all planned or ongoing projects.
- It includes key information about a project such as current project status, milestones etc.
ITIL Transition Planning and Support Roles:
Project Manager:
- This Project Manager role is the Process Owner of ITIL Transition Planning and Support (ITIL Project Management) process.
- The Project Manager is responsible for planning and coordinating the resources to deploy new or changed services (major releases) within the predicted cost, time and quality estimates.
- This role is also shared with other dedicated project management frameworks that are placed within the organization.
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