What is IT4IT?

IT4IT is a vendor neutral Reference Architecture for managing the business of IT. It consists of a formal IT operating model, based on the value chain concept that revolutionized manufacturing, known as the IT Value Chain. The IT Value Chain comprises four major IT value streams, which align to what IT traditionally calls “Plan, Build, Deliver, Run”. The standard is also made up of a three-level functional reference architecture, and a set of supporting activities.

The four value streams are:

• Value Stream One - Strategy to Portfolio, or 'S2P'
• Value Stream Two - Requirement to Deploy, or 'R2D'
• Value Stream Three - Request to Fulfill, or 'R2F'
• Value Stream Four - Detect to Correct, or 'D2C'

The IT4IT Reference Architecture also breaks down the activities in the IT Value Chain into four key pillars for IT. The Service Model, comprises conceptual, logical and realized models, ensures end to end traceability of a service from concept to instantiation and consumption. The Information Model comprises the set of data objects within the Value Chain and defines their relationships. The Functional Model of the IT4IT Reference Architecture identifies and defines one of the essential building blocks – functional components – that create or consume data objects. And there will soon be an integration model.

IT4IT will be of interest to Business Leaders, Enterprise Architects, Developers, IT Engineers and IT Operations.