43. What are the Chargback or Charging models?

There are five defined charging models that can be used to allocate the costs of service delivery amongst the business units. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses and the selection will be based on many factors (but primarily a decision from the organization finance department).

1. Notional –whether actual money will be transferred (real cash or a journal entry) or simply an indication of what would have been paid if charging was in place. The two book method allows for the actual company records to reflect the financial aspects (in one book), but a second (unofficial) book is kept to help demonstrate potential chargeback units and help to influence behaviors.


2. Tiered – this model creates layers of service delivery; each at different pricing and performance levels. Typically used in a Gold, Silver, Bronze scenario this model does little to actually change consumer patters and can lead to disputes.


3. Metered – the ability to capture real time usage information and translate that into a pre-defined factor (e.g. hours worked, disc storage used).


4. Direct Plus – directly attributable costs are allocated to their respective business unit (and the ‘plus’ element is the share of the indirect costs that are spread amongst all business units.


5. Fixed (or user cost) – where all costs incurred for the delivery of all IT Services are allocated amongst all the chargeable business units using some pre-defined denominator (the best example used in this case is the number of actual users by business unit (but beware of business unit managers making claims to ‘downsize’ their number of users.

Which ever method is selected the importance of "perception", simplicity and 'understandability' cannot be understated.

44. Why is Charging for IT Services optional?

The decision to charge will be based on the organizations attitude, history and capability to charge – NOT JUST FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – for shared services that are delivered (e.g. human resources, information technology, finance and accounting).

It will be natural for cost recovery or profit centers to look for charging mechanisms, whereas a ‘cost center’ IT department by have no drive to charge anything.

Charging for IT Services can have a positive effect on influencing customer behavior.

QUESTION: How much of something do you use if it’s free? ANSWER: Generally, as much as you possibly can!!

QUESTION: How much of something do you use if you have to pay? ANSWER: Generally, only as much as you need!!

Whatever decision is made with regard to charging the method selected needs to provide visibility, accountability and transparency – all critical elements for good corporate governance.

45. What are the funding model alternatives?

There are three defined methods of funding for IT services. The first “rolling plan funding” is an ideal method if the service provider seeks entire lifecycle funding. That is, as one phase of the lifecycle ends for a service (e.g. Service Design ends), then funding for the next phase of the lifecycle is submitted. This means that the funding cycle is not determined by the calendar, rather the progression of a service through its lifecycle.

Trigger-based  plans are funding requests made at defined points in time. These defined points in time are not particular dates, but are triggers for funding activity. The approval of a change; identification of capacity related issues; failure external audit for Continuity site.

Finally, zero based funding – this is the most common method and represents the easy choice for most managers. The amount of funding sought is sufficient to cover costs of service deliver for a given period of time (typically 12 months). This funding method must make allowance for changes in business strategy or unforeseen circumstance.

46. Service Capability Short Names

• PP&O = Planning, Protection and Optimization


• SO&A = Service Offerings and Agreements


• OS&A = Operational Support and Analysis


• RC&V = Release, Control and Validation

47. What is Blooms Taxonomy?

1. Remembering (recalling information)


2. Understanding (explaining ideas or concepts)


3. Applying (using information in a familiar situation)


4. Analyzing (breaking information into parts to explore relationships)


5. Evaluation (justifying a decision or course of action)


6. Creating (generating new ideas, products or ways of viewing things)

• ITIL Service Capability = Blooms Level 3 & 4)


• ITIL v2 to v3 Managers Bridge = Blooms Level 3 and Level 4 for key areas


• In house developed ITIL awareness = Blooms Level 1


• ITIL v3 Foundation = Blooms Level 2 & 3

48. ITIL Change and Release Management

1. Call received by Service Desk staff


2. Incident raised


3. Workaround provided


4. Problem management analyzes incident


5. Root Cause found


6. Request for Change raised to rectify the cause


7. Change approved


8. Release built and tested


9. Release deployed and installed.

ITIL v3 MANUALS