ASL ITIL for Enhanced Application Management

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Patrick Moore is an independent consultant and technology writer residing in Los Angeles, CA, USA. The following information comes from his writing.

The Applications Services Library (ASL) was developed specifically for the application management domain. ASL is increasingly being used for application management improvement to complement ITIL.

In ASL domain it serves to ensure the prudent management of application software, databases and the relevant documentation throughout the useful life of the relevant business processes that are supported by the application. ASL describes the implementation of service management processes in the application management domain. ASL also includes best practices for the implementation of the various processes. It devotes significantly more attention than ITIL to the strategic processes as part of the future of an ICT portfolio; which supports a business process. The processes concerning enhancement and renovation of applications are considered as an enrichment of ITIL. The ASL processes complement those of ITIL.

ASL is based on the processes and service concepts of ITIL framework. The two frameworks differ in their approach to controlling and supporting the technical infrastructure. In effect, ASL more explicitly outlines the process interdependencies between the infrastructure, applications and the business. ASL stresses different functional competencies and introduces additional processes that support the Application Management framework, in addition to providing more detail surrounding the ongoing management and support of business systems and services. ASL also adds some practical guidance for management of the lifecycle through its recognition of a paradigm shift in focus from application development to software maintenance.

From the ASL perspective, roughly 80% of Application Management efforts may lie in the maintenance of systems. While ASL does not replace the ITIL Application Management framework, it compliments the service manager through its broader perspective into the dependencies associated with the functional and technical aspects of optimized service provision. That being said, the evolution of ITIL and ASL as a partnership should continue, but the framework documentation itself could more collaborative, reduce redundancy and more clearly articulate Application Management best practices to the ITIL community.

In my view, in spite of ITIL is the best practice, cover a wide area on IT service improvement. Each area may have the specific standard or public domain framework involve deeply. ITIL is a collector collects all the area it needs then become a good one. That mean, holding the ITIL certification should easily to get the others. As certification of ISO-20000, ASL and such. Those certifications are to be related as closely on high quality services improvement.