ISO/IEC 20000 (formerly BS 15000) is a standard setting out the requirements for an IT Service Management System.  It helps identify and manage the key processes involved in delivering effective IT services which meet the needs of the business and the customer.

The standard is based on the best practice foundation of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).  ISO/IEC 20000 introduces a service culture and provides the methodologies to deliver services that meet defined business requirements and priorities in a manageable way.  It also:

• Specifies a number of closely related service management processes
• Identifies that relationships exist between these processes, and that these relationships will be dependent on their application within an organisation
• Provides guideline objectives and controls to enable an organisation to deliver managed services
  

ISO/IEC 20000 specifies five key groups service management processes;

• Service Delivery Processes - including Service Level Management, Availability Management and Capacity Management
• Relationship Processes - those involving the interfaces between the service provider and both customers and suppliers
• Resolution Processes - those focused on incidents being resolved or prevented
• Control Processes - those involved with managing changes, assets and configurations
• Release Process - looking at the roll-out of new or changed software/hardware 

An organisation using ISO/IEC 20000 as the basis for its ITSMS, can become registered by BSI, thus demonstrating to stakeholders that the ITSMS meets the requirements of the standard.

Implementing an ITSMS