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New to MOF - where to start

Answered New to MOF - where to start

  • Tuesday, December 08, 2009 6:08 AM
     
     
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    It's hard to remember that your mission is to drain the swamp when you are knee-deep in alligators.

    I have read some of the Getting Started with MOF 4.0, but it looks like I need a team of five just to get my hands around MOF.  We have some processes (Change Control, SLA, etc.) in place, but nothing remotely similar to that which is described in MOF.  Is there only one approach: To meet MOF head-on from all 128 sides?
    ;-)

    Tom
     

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  • Friday, December 11, 2009 11:11 PM
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    Tom –

    You are spot-on that there is hard work involved in getting a handle on people and process. This is  especially true when you’re not starting from a clean slate but trying to keep things working while making changes at the same time. The MOF team is trying to help people figure out how big and deep their swamp is, and then provide enough help to start some alligator population control. Looks like we might have some more work to do.

     

    Let’s all agree that service management is, by its very nature, a complicated space. Frameworks like MOF are an attempt to provide some structure and approximation of what desired process looks like. We chose an approach for MOF 4.0 that is to guide people  through enough structure to establish a baseline understanding of the types of things that are involved in service management. We then decided that using questions in a table form would give people something to cut and paste as a core set of issues to start working on right away. These are the things that will need to be considered and decisions made to determine the tasks and behaviors that will make sense in their particular situation.

     

    We’ve envisioned this as being possible to do in small incremental pieces, or more of a “bayou by bayou” approach to go back to the swamp analogy. It isn’t necessary to drain an entire swamp in order to cut down on the alligators. One of the key aspects is to focus on an area that seems to be an alligator attractor and figure out what change makes sense given your situation and resources. The scenarios and roles in the Getting Started with MOF 4.0 document are an elaboration of this approach. Depending on the organization, this is where consultants might be brought into the mix to make progress.

     

    At the very least, looking at each of the Management Reviews and figuring out how those decisions are made in your org will get you started. Understanding the information needed to do the Management Reviews and how that is part of what makes up your service management today will help you decide where to focus your efforts.

     

    How about sending an email to MOFPM@microsoft.com and we can start a dialogue around making MOF real in your situation?

    Don Lemmex MOF Program Manager
     
  • Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:31 PM
     
     
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    I work in a state government IT shop. We are planning to use MOF to develop (or improve) our Change and Configuration Management Process. It is my hope that this will be the first in a series of IT Process Improvement projects.

    I am looking for a project plan for implementing the MOF Change and Configuration Service Management Function (SMF). I need to develop a draft work plan with time and resource estimates in order to get a Go-decision from leadership and to be able to plan. I want this first one to be a successful project and being a good project manager I want to start with a good plan. I was hoping for a jumpstart.

    I was surprised not to find any Microsoft project files on implementing anything in MOF. Or, project summaries that show a work breakdown structure (WBS) and some sequencing of tasks. We can always shuffle the WBS, but it is nice to have a starting point. After deciding scope, the difficult part is figuring out what can be down in parallel, what can’t and what shouldn’t. Some recommendations on resources needed and time estimates would be a great addition.

    I think an example project plan for each SMF would be a great help to us implementers. Do you have any I can follow? I am willing to contribute some once we get started. My thinking is that being more project-centric would be good for MOF on a few levels. Please let me know your thoughts.

    Best wishes, -->Rob
     
  • Wednesday, April 27, 2011 12:24 AM
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    Hi Godbero,


     

     

    Please, use only one post for your question, the another one opened by you.


     

     

     

    Regards,


     

     

    Cleber Marques

     Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
    MOF Brazil Project: Simplifying IT Service Management
    My Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br