Our Objective: To provide a business-oriented briefing for our general membership and to raise awareness of key system management issues and topics.
Audience: These tutorials give a basic understanding of the subject and the issues and are best suited to attendees who are either new to the subject or wish to view the subject from a business rather than a purely technical viewpoint. These briefings could be considered as a primer for those considering active participation in the System Management Program Group.
Format: A half-day session consisting of a brief introduction to The Open Group System Management Program plus two ninety minute sessions with opportunities for audience questions and answers.
Wednesday 29 April at 8.30 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction: "The Work of System
Management Program Group"
by Karl Schopmeyer, Credit Lyonnais (Chair)
9.00 a.m. - Session 1: "The Management
Imperative"
by Rick Sturm, Enterprise Management Professional Services, Inc.
Management of the modern computing and communications environments has tended to be an after-thought. New technologies are deployed, only to flounder until some type of management solution is rushed into place.
Is management truly necessary? Does management deserve to anything other than an after-thought?
First, this seminar will look at the question of what actually comprises effective management. Second, it will consider the need for effective management. Third, it will examine why, in order to be truly effective, management must be comprehensive (i.e., it cannot be isolated to sub-domains of the computing and communications infrastructure).
Rick Sturm is a principal with the Enterprise Management Institute, Inc., organizers of the Enterprise Management Summit. He also consults with companies regarding network and systems management as a principal with Enterprise Management Professional Services. He was a co-chair of the IETF working group for application management. In addition, he was one of the founders of the OpenView Forum and was a member of that group’s board of directors for four years. He writes a column on network management for Internet Week. Sturm holds an MBA in Information Systems from Bowling Green University and a BA in Economics from Allegheny College.10.30 a.m. - Break
11.00 a.m. - Session 2: "Service Level
Management"
by Rick Sturm, Enterprise Management Professional Services, Inc.
Management involves much more than just operating equipment. To be truly successful, IT managers must deliver services with a level of quality that will satisfy their clients. This seminar will provide the participants with an understanding of critical importance of managing networks, systems, and other IT components to provide high quality of service to the client organizations. It will also provide a comprehensive understanding of the need and value of managing the quality of IT services and the importance of service level agreements in that process. Participants will also learn how to go about creating and administering service level agreements for their own organizations, including the selection of tools to support the administration process. This tutorial will rely heavily upon research conducted by the instructor.
Historically, IT has been reluctant to enter into service level agreements with users. This reluctance has been based upon a number of factors. However, the environment and conditions facing IT are changing and there is now an increasing interest on the part of IT in entering into meaningful service level agreements with their client organizations. This trend appears to be as powerful as a tidal wave. This session will prepare the participants to use this phenomenon to the advantage of their companies.
