Yet Another Service Management Model, or YaSM, if you will, is an amalgamation of processes designed to give universal clarity and direction that applies to popular best practices frameworks like ITIL. It’s a straightforward compilation of processes, enabling business owners to enact a framework successfully.
YaSM works as a spine for a number of frameworks and is particularly useful when working with ITIL®, ISO 20000®, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT®), Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK™), CMMI-SVC®, Service Integration and Management (SIAM®) and VeriSM™.
In the following article we’re going to talk about:
- The historical context of YaSM;
- What it is exactly;
- Why it may be good for your business; and
- Similarities and differences to ITIL, one of the most common frameworks in ITSM
YaSM may be just what your enterprise business needs to kickstart your service management framework. Keep reading to learn how.
YaSM a Brief History
Before YaSM, there was a resource for implementing ITIL at the enterprise level developed in 2006. After fielding feedback from customers over several renditions, YaSM is the most simplified version of that model that can be used on top of ITIL or other ITSM frameworks, providing helpful processes for implementing the model effectively.
A key piece of the evolution was the way that YaSM represents ITIL principles in a visual way.
Using diagrams and infographics, YaSM appeals to global IT leadership. The approach is pragmatic and includes templates that enterprise businesses can use out of the box. The product known as YaSM today was released in 2014, after two years of development on the original model.
There was a significant update in 2018 to shift the core focus of the model to align with the most recent edition of ISO 20000:2018.
What is YaSM?
YaSM offers a unique spine that provides direction for implementing existing foundational best practices frameworks, but that doesn’t mean it’s prescriptive. Rather YaSM is what you make of it. It can be entirely tailored for an enterprise business.
The process model’s clear, flexible, and customizable nature allows for easy scaling. Businesses can start with one or two processes that will make the most impact, adding more for greater efficiency as they grow.
YaSM concisely aligns with the most prominent practices of ISO 20000, the leading service management best practices guide. Therefore it works well with a number of IT service models, all based around those same ISO principles. Some of those frameworks include:
- ISO/IEC 20000
- ITIL
- COBIT
- CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC)
- SIAM
- DevOps
- Agile
- Lean
- USMBOK
- VeriSM™
Given its adaptability to work with a number of ITSM types, it’s no wonder enterprise businesses find YaSM beneficial.
Here are some other reasons they choose YaSM:
Why Choose YaSM?
In addition to being highly flexible and adaptable, YaSM is accessible. Because it can work for enterprise businesses that implement a number of different service models, it’s useful in a wide variety of industries.
It’s true you’ll find businesses applying YaSM in industries from healthcare to financial. It’s ability to work with a wide range of frameworks gives it a unique advantage over other models across industries.
Another advantage for enterprise businesses is in the process model, itself, and how it’s applied. We’ll look at the process in more depth below:
The YaSM Process Model
The YaSM Process Map is the standout product in the YaSM universe of resources. This is where YaSM really shines. It offers a not-so-complicated, straightforward solution with heavy visual elements. For every process and subprocess is a diagram that illustrates what activities should be performed, the inputs needed and the results found. It’s also unique in that it offers templates, or detailed checklists, mandating that specific items be produced during YaSM.
In its current form, the YaSM Process Map can be obtained in Microsoft Visio and ARIS formats, making it adaptable for most enterprise users. Because these maps are offered in these editable formats, they offer a launchpad for IT designers to begin the customization process for their organization or their specific industry.
The YaSM – ISO 20000 Bridge is an additional part of the process model that explains the connection between a given process and its ISO 20000 requirement counterpart. This add-on makes a wonderful supplementary resource for just about any enterprise business, as most businesses will be familiar with these requirements.
YaSM vs ITIL
ITIL is one of the most prominently used frameworks in modern enterprise business. In the following section, we’re going to give you a rundown of how ITIL and YaSM are both similar and very different:
- Process model: YaSM and ITIL are both robust. YaSM is considered a more clear process-oriented representation of the ITIL guidance concepts, but it’s not because it’s leaner. Instead, YaSM offers multiple visuals to help IT leaders better digest and interpret concepts as well as checklist templates for implementation.
- Guidance vs process: ITIL 4 offers guidance to users, as opposed to processing information. YaSM takes this guidance a step forward and focuses on “the how” of implementation. Not all ITIL guidance has a process associated with it, but YaSM helps businesses implement those that do.
- ITIL emphasized value streams: ITIL 4 asks consumers to look at both their processes and value streams. These two things are similar and often confused. Processes are the implementation actions we’ve been discussing in this blog, while value streams are activities that lead specifically to deliver on an enterprise’s value proposition of service delivery. In the end, it’s important for businesses to consider both, bur YaSM takes the guesswork out of process.
As an enterprise IT manager, if you were to lay the processes of YaSM over ITIL 4 guidelines, you’d have a full picture of what’s required for success.
