BSM, SLA, ITIL, SOX: tying it all together

In a commentary, Jasmine Noel, an expert in infrastructure management, says that business service management (BSM), service level agreements (SLA), IT infrastructure library (ITIL), and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), are all closely related "acronym initiatives"that lead IT organizations to the same place. And that's where you'll find better alignment between IT activities and business outcomes, clearer and streamlined IT processes and communication, and improved automation through management technology, according to Noel. Here ishow shesees them connected:

If you have BSM solutions in place then you are managing the infrastructure to business-oriented SLAs. SOX compliance is simply a mechanism to report whether you are following your ITIL best practices. If you implement ITIL best practices then you end up with a BSM solution. Ahh, its the circle of IT life.

Noel says that these initiatives should not be tackled independently without any cohesive vision or strategy because that can result in costly inefficiencies. Her column explains these and then offers a four-step planning process that should be used regardless ofwhich management solutions are under consideration.

Thinking about these models from the ground-up is a good way to seewhat is most important to an organization and then to determine a cohesive integrated approach.