Auditor’s Guide to Information Systems Auditing

Chapter 25. Service Center Management

This chapter introduces service center management and the maintenance of information systems and technical infrastructures. These involve the use of appropriate tools designed to control the introduction of new and changed products into the service center environment and includes such aspects as security management, resource/configuration management, and problem and incident management.

In addition, the administration of release and versions of automated systems as well as the achievement of service level management through capacity planning and management of the distribution of automated systems and contingency/backup and recovery management are examined.

The key management principles involved in management of operations of the infrastructure (central and distributed), network management, and risk management are outlined as are both the need for customer liaison as well as the management of suppliers.

Before we can examine the issues and service center management, a clear definition is required of what constitutes service delivery. Service delivery involves the ongoing management of the Information Technology (IT) services in order to ensure that they are in line with the agreement between the service provider and the customer.

Service delivery is generally taken to be the sum total of a variety of individual tasks to be undertaken by IT management.

Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery

Continuity management is covered in more detail in Chapter ...