Our standards and operating strategies aim to work together with our clients and partners to revolutionize IT management policies so that they can address the challenges facing today's organizations, especially between the relationship between business and information technologies. Some examples of those challenges are:
With this in mind, at Fenix ​​Alliance we have embraced different and robust operational models to provide a solution to these challenges by introducing models, best practices and tools for formal, well-governed and effective IT administration.
Our operating standards apply well to companies in the public and private sector, of medium-high size, although it is also ideal for small companies, given that the management tasks remain substantially the same regardless of the size of a company.
Our adhered operation standards are five angular, rock-solid elements that we consider major in the IT administration, which are the following:
ITIL, formerly known as Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a set of guidelines and best practices for IT service management (ITSM). It is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. ITIL focuses on aligning IT services to the needs of business and supports its core processes. It is structured and published in five core volumes: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.
The framework that ITIL provides can be adapted and applied to all business and organizational environments. It includes guidance for identifying, planning, delivering, and supporting IT services. When successfully adopted, ITIL can help improve services, which in turn can mitigate business risks and service disruption, improve customer relationship, and establish cost-effective systems for managing demands for services.
CMMI®, Capability Maturity Model® Integration, is an internationally known reference model developed through best practices that provide guidance for improving processes that meet the business goals of an organization. It was developed by industry experts, governments, and the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).
CMMI improves processes for an organization to show measurable benefits for their business objectives and vision. An organization can organize and prioritize its methodologies, people, and business activities through the framework provided by CMMI. The framework supports coordination of multi-disciplinary activities and systematic thinking.
COBIT 5 (launched in 2012), The Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology, is owned and supported by ISACA. It was originally released in 1996 as COBIT. The current version 5.0 consist of COBIT 4.1, VAL IT 2.0, and Risk IT frameworks.
COBIT 5 helps to create optimal value using IT by maintaining a balance among benefit realization, risk optimization, and resource usage. The framework covers both business and IT units in the whole organisation. It provides metrics and maturity models to measure whether or not the IT organization has achieved its objectives. In addition, it also balances the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
PMBOK, a Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, is a guide to the internationally recognized project management methods by the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMBOK is a standard that is widely accepted and acknowledged as basis for most project management methods.
PMBOK provides an in-depth description of the required content and fundamentals of a project, but does not focus on giving hands-on implementation advice. Practical guidance is offered by other models such as PRINCE2. It is based on five basic processes: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Monitoring, and Closing.
PRINCE2, Projects IN a Controlled Environment, is a de facto standard project management method owned by the UK Cabinet Office. PRINCE2 complements the PMBOK model by providing a process-based and practical guidance with ready-to-use templates for Project Managers and Project Steering Groups in the different phases of a project. PRINCE2 ensures greater control of resources and effective management of business and project risks.
For example, the seven principles of PRINCE2 state how a project should be run throughout its life-cycle: a project must have a business justification, clearly defined roles and responsibilities in all phases and processes, managed by stages to provide detailed and timely planning, defined tolerances for management by exception, product focused delivery where project methods are tailored to fit this particular project’s needs, and learning from experience to continuously improve organization’s project culture.
ISO/IEC 20000 is a service management system (SMS) and the first international standard for IT service management. It is owned by The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It is broadly aligned with ITIL.
The ISO/IEC 20000 has two parts. The first part defines the formal requirements for high-quality production of IT services to the business. IT includes criteria for planning, service management, and service production as well as for customer / supplier management. The second part describes the processes of service production largely in the same way as the ITIL processes while focusing, however, more closely on customer/supplier management processes.
ISO 21500 is a standard that provides “generic guidance on the concepts and projects of project management” which are important in the realization of successful projects. It can be used by any type of organization and applied to any type of project – irrespective of size, complexity or duration.
ISO 21500 is an informative standard, that is rather a general guideline than a certified methodology. It provides high-level description of concepts and processes that are considered to form good practice in project management and places projects in the context of programs and project portfolios. PMBOK is very much in line with ISO 21500 and vice versa.
ISO/IEC 38500 is a standard providing general principles on the role and IT governance of management with business responsibility (for example, Board of Directors and Management Team). It can be widely applied to all kinds and sizes of organizations for example public and private companies and non-profit organizations.
The standard supports business management in their supervision of the IT organization and helps them ensure that IT has a positive impact on the company’s performance. The standard consist of six principles: Responsibility, Strategy, Acquisition, Performance, Conformance and Human behaviour.
Adherence to the ISO/IEC 38500 standard can assure management of conformance with good governance
TOGAF is an Open Group Standard enterprise architecture framework that allows organizations to have a structured approach for governing the implementation of technology, in particular the software technology design, development, and maintenance. It was first published in 1995 and was based on the US Department of Defence Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM). It has been since developed by The Open Group Architecture Forum and released in regular intervals on the Open Group public website.
TOGAF improves business efficiency by ensuring consistent methods, communication, and efficient usage of resources. It ensures industry credibility with a common language among enterprise architecture professionals.