Issues in IT governance & IT service management : a study of their adoption in Australian universities

IT service management (ITSM) has emerged as one of the approaches to implementing IT Governance in Australian Universities. A number of ITSM frameworks have been proposed however, IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Control OBjectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) have been most widely accepted and implemented internationally and within Australia. The research reported in this thesis was undertaken to shed light on the issues related to ITIL adoption and implementation within Australian universities. To date academic research in ITIL adoption and implementation has not been extensive as it is comparatively a new framework, especially within Australian universities. The theoretical framework proposed in this thesis has IT service management as the central concept, implementing IT Governance to align the university and technology. This framework is used to examine the experience of ITIL adoption in seven Australian universities, plus a detailed case study on one university’s experience. This research reveals a complex web of factors relating to ITIL implementation including; the pre-implementation process; processes implemented; order of implementation; hiring external expertise;, tool selection;, staff training; ongoing assessments; managing cultural change; managing learning curve and resource strain. The findings provide an insight into practical lessons for other Australian universities or similar organisations considering implementing IT Governance through IT Service management frameworks. The method used in this research may be useful for other organisations and researchers analysing universities and similar organisations implementing ITIL. IT Governance and IT service management frameworks are diverse and important areas which open a poorly researched field for further work.