Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are learning to reap the benefits of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). However, blindly following ITIL in the hopes of ending IT chaos is doomed to fail. Establish specific goals for ITIL practices prior to initiating.

Effective change management has an important role in protecting the business operation. The path to successful IT change management begins with senior management support and a solid process based on IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices.

Any small enterprise that employs software developers manages software configuration. Well-structured software configuration management (SCM) practices enhance software quality, increase developer productivity, and aid regulatory compliance.

Microsoft released its Windows Vista operating system at the tail end of 2006. Many organizations opted to wait until Microsoft released Service Pack 1 before adopting it. On the eve of SP1 general release, Info-Tech queried early adopters about the motivating factors for Windows Vista adoption. Understand the influential factors to peer organizations before defining the Vista strategy.

Prioritization of maintenance requests is a critical aspect of managing the maintenance budget. The Maintenance Request Prioritization Worksheet provides a standard and consistent method for setting the priority of enhancement requests to ensure IT application maintenance efforts and budget is put to the best use.

Ad hoc workgroup tools have business benefits, but only if they are formalized and under the control of the IT department. Prevent high-risk situations from the outset with an enterprise-wide workgroup strategy.

For smaller development teams, open-source software configuration management (SCM) tools are a tempting alternative to commercial off-the-shelf packages. Use this total cost of ownership tool to find the real cost differential between open-source and commercial options.

Small enterprises looking to adopt a comprehensive Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool should incorporate a formal Request For Proposal (RFP) into the selection decision. Info-Tech’s Software Configuration Management Tool RFP Template speeds up the process while ensuring all critical areas are covered.

IT leaders that need to improve their organization’s software configuration management (SCM) processes should standardize on the right tool. Diligent software selection is especially important for decision makers in smaller enterprises, since many of the SCM products that target that market have limited functionality. Evaluate platform requirements, development approaches, and geographic...

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is becoming generally accepted as a guide for IT service management. However, IT managers and CIOs must understand their enterprise’s process maturity in order to determine which ITIL disciplines, if any, will benefit the enterprise.

ITIL is not just for large enterprises. All sizes of organizations use the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) to increase efficiency, decrease costs, and align business and IT needs. However, ITIL can be a costly and time-consuming proposition. Be sure to understand organizational needs before moving ahead with ITIL plans.

Determining if or when to retire an application is a difficult proposition. Retirement decisions have a ripple effect on an enterprise’s corporate and technology infrastructure. Use this tool to put the right applications out to pasture.

Many small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) find themselves struggling to deal with aging applications, application redundancy, scalability and flexibility constraints, and unnecessary complexity as the enterprise continues to grow. Use a tri-phased approach to application evaluation and retirement to put the right applications out to pasture.

Application vendor consolidation may either threaten the stability of your enterprise, or open up new possibilities. Use Info-Tech’s framework to effectively mitigate these threats and manage opportunities that may arise due to vendor consolidation.

Changes to IT applications (or infrastructure) must be managed properly to avoid disrupting the normal operation of the company. Use this tool to assess and enhance the maturity of your current IT change management process.

Effective change management has an important role in protecting the business operation of the enterprise. The path to successful IT change management begins with senior management support and a solid change management policy. Use this template to define a consistent approach to manage changes to the IT environment of your enterprise.

The change master log provides visibility to key stakeholders on the status of ongoing changes to IT applications (or infrastructure). Ideally, the change master log should be part of an automated configuration/change management or IT service desk solution. If such a solution does not exist, use this helpful template.

The Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC) is the document that contains the list of approved changes and proposed implementation dates for IT applications. Ideally, the FSC should be part of an automated configuration/change management or IT service desk solution. If such a solution does not exist, use this template as a starting point.

The creation of a Request for Change (RFC) form for the enterprise can be a time consuming and daunting task. Save time by customizing this form to the context of your enterprise.