An Overview of the ITIL Maturity Assessment

AXELOS made waves in the IT service management (ITSM) community in late 2021 with the release of its highly anticipated ITIL maturity assessment tool. A new ITIL product is always big news, with the best practice framework for IT Service Management (ITSM) used by millions of people across the globe for everything from service management basics to the management of complex service ecosystems. A prevalent demand among ITSM consultancy organisations was the need for dedicated tools to conduct maturity assessments on existing ITIL practices. Therefore, an assignment that is built for, and aligned to, the ITIL framework is a very welcome addition. This blog will look at the maturity model, how it works and the value that it brings to client organisations.

The basics

The AXELOS tool is a management maturity model that assesses the service management capabilities of an organisation and the maturity of the governance structure and management system. The assessment can only be carried out by an accredited consulting partner (ACP) such as i3Works, and an accredited assessor.  Assessors are required to show evidence of ITSM and consulting experience, pass a rigorous examination, and undergo a credentialing process to ensure that assessments are carried out by qualified individuals and that the report and recommendations support service improvement and add value to the business.

Setting the scope

Once engaged, the assessor will meet with the client organisation to agree requirements and scope. There are three types of assessment:

• Capability assessment: how well the management practices of the organisation are meeting their purpose. A capability assessment can be carried out to evaluate one or a number of selected practices. For example, if a service desk is experiencing an unusual number of incidents, it would be useful to investigate the incident management process to look for ways to make the process more effective, the change management process to see if any of the incidents were change related, or the problem management process to look at the root cause and proactive ways to improve IT services.
• Maturity assessment; an in-depth study of an organisation’s governance structure and management system. A maturity assessment can be used to gain an understanding of areas like guiding principles (shared values), governance (the safety measures and guardrails in place), and the service value chain or SVC (the key steps in getting work done).
• Comprehensive assessment; both service management capabilities and the maturity of an organisation’s governance structure and management system. Not only are the Service Value System (SVS) components analysed, but teams also assess seven or more practices in-depth. 

How the assessment works

When the scope has been agreed, the assessor will work with the organisation to conduct the assessment. The assessment process will typically be made up of a combination of key stakeholder interviews, documentation review, records analysis, key process and workflow and systems review.  Other techniques, such as surveys, systems review and direct observation (for example, of the service desk team) are additional alternatives. Each ITIL practice has a number of practice success factors (PSFs), these are built into the capability criteria and are scored on a scale from 1 to 5:

• Level 1: Initial – The practice is not well organised; it is performed as initial/intuitive. It may occasionally or partially achieve its purpose through an incomplete set of activities but cannot be relied on to deliver objectives in a consistent way.
• Level 2: Managed – The practice systematically achieves its purpose through a basic set of activities supported by specialised resources. In this case, the basics are in place but there is very little coordination with related or supporting practices, each practice is very much operating in isolation.
• Level 3: Defined – The practice is well defined and achieves its purpose in an organised way using dedicated resources and relying on other inputs from other practices that are integrated into a service management system. To achieve this level, the practice has to work effectively, efficiently and safely and be supported by an ITSM system so there is a single point of contact for practice records and outputs.
• Level 4: Quantitative – The practice achieves its purpose in a highly organised way, and its performance is continually measured and assessed in the context of the service management system.
• Level 5: Optimising – The practice is continually improving organisational capabilities associated with its purpose.

The results

Once the assessment has been carried out a report will be generated for the client organisation. This report will contain an overall maturity level rating along with the required steps to obtain the next level. The real benefit to the customer comes from the recommendations section of the report. The accessor should call out any potential improvement areas as well as structured recommendations for improving practice maturity. The client organisation should be able to use the output of the report to review and improve their service offering.

The benefits

By taking the time to measure the components in a service offering, organisations are making a promise to improve service quality, taking into account the end- to -end experience rather than just tools, statistics and ticket data. An ITIL maturity assessment demonstrates commitment; commitment to the customer in terms of service quality and commitment to people in terms of improving ways of working. The assessment examines a client ITSM environment in a meaningful way, enabling stakeholders to clearly identify strengths and improvement points, and accordingly prioritise what to do in order to reach higher maturity levels. Further benefits include:

• Improved outcomes and optimised return on investment in services
• A more holistic approach: improvement suggestions are based on interactions between processes, competencies, tools, and management information used to manage delivery and improvements
• Enhanced service quality, which increases stakeholder satisfaction and colleague experience
• Structure for managing continual improvement, including the integration of processes across the organisation

The i3Works approach

i3Works are passionate about IT service delivery and our team has been handpicked to deliver services that add real value to the client. We continually look to do better, embracing new ways of working and as such, i3Works was the first organisation in the UK to be accredited in delivering the new ITIL maturity assessment. The following is an extract from a case study from a recent maturity assessment:

For further information about our services or to arrange a call with one our hand picked specialists, please contact bd@i3works.co.uk.