Self service IT Requirements: how to automate

The easiest way to implement a self Service Platform is to provide an IaaS-Platform. Some IaaS self Service Platforms that are available open source are described and evaluated in Chapter 2. Infrastructure as a Service often serves as a foundation for Platform as a Service or Software as a Service Platforms. There are also some Platform as a Service Implementations available such as ConPaaS  (Pierre & Stratan , 2012). Software as a Service Applications usually needs a lot of customization to make them available as self Service Applications.
To transform the IT to a self Service IT, there are some possible process optimizations available: IT departments could start with the most manual, the most time critical or the most error-prone process. If a process is manual and there are a lot of repeatable tasks, there is a good chance that this process can be transformed into an automated task. Time critical processes also have huge potential in automation since it might be possible to save money by reducing time-to-market.
Once the processes automated are identified, there are some other steps the enterprise might execute:

• Break down high-level processes. Processes, which are defined as high-level processes can now be split into smaller, granular components. It is also possible to include sub-processes if needed.
• Create abstract processes. Identify locations where lower-level processes can be „packaged“ and reused in multiple high-level components. This reduces process complexity and improves maintainability of processes.
• Identify process triggers and end-points. Process Triggers are End-user requests, time events, … and end-points are Notifications, validation actions…
• Identify linkages and interfaces between steps of each process.
• Codify any manual steps wherever possible. Manual steps can be automated by adding custom code.

self service storage (C) Seth Anderson