Service availability management (サービス可用性管理) is the management activity that keeps a service usable whenever users want it, at the agreed level.
Availability is measured with figures such as the availability rate, the share of the committed service hours during which the service could actually be used. The rate goes up as the mean operating time from the end of one repair to the next failure (MTBF) gets longer, and as the mean time from a failure to the end of its repair (MTTR) gets shorter. Availability management keeps watch on these values and, when they look likely to drop below target, takes steps such as adding redundant equipment or revising maintenance.
AnalogyIt is like a bus company that cuts down on breakdowns and keeps spare buses ready to send out at once, so its routes run on schedule.
How to rememberThe Japanese 可用 reads as "fit for use," that is, in a usable state. The English availability likewise means being at hand and ready to use.
Exam points
ExamThe aim of availability management is to reach the availability rate (稼働率) agreed as a target. Availability (可用性) is expressed as the share of the agreed service hours during which users could actually use the service.
ExamThe availability rate rises both when failures are watched for so they are caught early and when the setup is made redundant so that interruptions become less likely in the first place.
ExamAn availability requirement asks that the service be usable whenever needed, apart from planned maintenance hours. Agreements on uptime and the availability rate fall under availability management.
Service continuity management (サービス継続管理) is the management activity that prepares a service to keep running, or to be restored within a set time, even when a major event such as a disaster or large-scale failure occurs.
For example, the organization prepares an alternate site and copies of its data, sets a target for how quickly the service must be back, and runs drills and tests to confirm the plan actually works. This work is kept in line with the business continuity plan (BCP) for the business as a whole.
AnalogyIt is like a hospital that installs its own generator in case of a power cut and practices switching over to it several times a year.
How to rememberThe English name is Service Continuity Management. Continuity means carrying on without a break, and it is the same word as the C in BCP.
Exam points
ExamService continuity management (サービス継続管理) aims to keep the damage to the business as small as possible when a disaster or similar event strikes. A continuity plan, once drawn up, is also revised according to the results of testing it.
Service reporting (サービスの報告) is the activity of recording and compiling a service's delivery results and goal attainment, and sharing them with users and other stakeholders on agreed content and timing.
Measure results
Compile a report
Stakeholders see the same facts
On to improvement planning
Pass the issues the report brings to light on to improvement planning.
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A report might include, for instance, a comparison of actual results with the targets agreed with users, and the number and trend of failures that occurred. With a report in hand, users and the provider can talk from the same numbers, and it gives them material for deciding what to improve.
AnalogyIt is like a school report card. Showing grades to the student and family at set times makes it clear what to work on next term.
How to rememberThe English term is service reporting. Report comes from a root meaning "to carry back," and here it means bringing measured results back to the people concerned.
Exam points
ExamA service report (サービス報告書) is a document compiled from measured values of the service actually delivered.
Continual improvement (継続的改善) is the activity of repeatedly evaluating a service and the mechanisms behind it, finding chances to improve, and carrying them out.
Chances to improve turn up in service reports, monitoring results, and user feedback, among other sources. Candidates are ranked by priority and carried out as planned, and their effect is checked afterward. The work does not end with one fix; what each check shows feeds into the next improvement.
AnalogyIt is like a school sports team that rewatches the video of every practice match and fixes its weak spots one at a time.
How to rememberThe word continual signals that this is not a one-time effort. It suggests repeating at intervals, and it is kept apart from continuous, which means without any break.
Exam points
ExamMonitoring (モニタリング) is the activity of continuously watching and recording actual performance on the agreed service level indicators.
ExamImproving the service management system (サービスマネジメントシステム) means reviewing the management processes and mechanisms themselves.
PDCA is a management approach that runs through four stages in order, Plan, Do, Check, and Act (corrective action and improvement), and feeds the outcome of Act into the next Plan as the cycle repeats.
Plan: set goals and methods
Do: carry out the plan
Check: measure results against goals
Act: correct based on the gap
In Act, take improvement measures based on the gaps the evaluation found, and carry them into the next Plan.
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PDCA is not tied to any one field; it is used in quality management and many other areas. Because the revisions decided in Act are built into the next Plan, goals and methods get a little better with each cycle.
AnalogyIt is like cooking: you settle on a recipe and amounts, cook, taste, and decide to use less salt next time. That decision then goes into the recipe for the next round.
Exam points
ExamCheck is the stage where the results of the work are measured and evaluated against target values.
ExamAct is the stage where improvement measures are carried out, or plans and goals are revised, in response to the gaps or issues the evaluation found.
ExamIn IT service management (IT サービスマネジメント), PDCA serves as the management cycle.