XaaS -- Everything As A Service -- encourages us to take liberties if not leaps. In this discussion, we start describing Management as a Service (MaaS), an organized reaction to the decentralization of IT management in the face of ongoing change.

1. Management as a Service (MaaS)
for enterprise IT
An Archestra Notebook
© 2014 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research

2. Service, IT, and Management
• By definition, a “service” is an already running operation for which,
intentionally, some or all of its designed outputs are made available to a
user, on-demand by the user, within specified terms.
• The broad sense of “I.T.” is that IT is an enterprise competency that can be
managed.
• As a service, “Management” is a continual operation with the following
designed outputs intended to be available on-demand:
• Functionality, deliverability and control of organized activity
• Technological, business, and professional organization of ability

3. Management evolution
The outlook for IT in business is one in which the presence and impact of IT is
pervasive throughout events, decisions and opportunities.
Pervasiveness is not new, but the culture of managing it will be fundamentally
different as its management authority decentralizes organizationally.
This raises the need and urgency for a consistent concept of management that is
practically applied pervasively as well, regarding IT.
• As a precedent, while there is a central function for accountability of financial
status and governance, “finance” is practiced everywhere in the organization at
all levels, using shared management services and common practices.
• The aggregate of those services is, in effect, a super-service with mandated
enterprise availability.
IT’s criticality to the effectiveness of work is its mandate. Facing decentralization
and the pace of change, the coherency and consistency of management must be
available as a service.

4. Management as a Service (MaaS)
Management Levels Functional Deliverable Controllable
Professional
(Solutions)
Portfolio
Development
Program
Sourcing
Logistics
Projects
Strategy
Knowledge
Compliance
Business
(Capabilities)
Request
Support
Change
Asset
Demand
Measurement
Risk
Technology
(Tools and Systems)
Availability
Configuration
Capacity
Security
Release
Deployment
This framework of management issues is based on two main assumptions about the “IT” competency.
One: “Managed” is the opposite of “Ad Hoc”. Two: without management, there will still be tools,
capabilities and problem-solving exercised to generate functionality, deliveries and control -- but the
effects will be speculative and incidental (i.e., “counter-productive”) because the effort is ad hoc.
Because the issues in the framework are interrelated, the overall framework represents the
“operation” called management, which would underlie management as a service.
©2014MalcolmRyder/archestraresearch

5. The management service operation
The framework identifies and positions key
management issues for concentration. It does
not intend to exclude any given issue from any
areas, but it assigns issues as an area’s primary
responsibility relative to other areas.
The framework does not make a distinction
between a company’s external and internal
suppliers of its technology systems, business
capabilities, and professional solutions.
The management effort is a continual and comprehensive
underlying operation being provided as a service. The
framework describes the main sub-operations of the
overall management effort, and how they co-ordinate.
relevance
reliability
provision
Solutions
organize the business’s ability to
define and sustain what it is
supposed to do
Capabilities
address the actual frequency
and type of mobilization that
conducts the business in real
time or planned time
Systems
coordinate tools and
environments for
executing enabling
tasks of operation
needsoptions
procedures

6. What does “Professional” mean?
• Aren’t Professional Services already distinguished mainly by the involvement of
consultants?
• The legal community frequently points out that so-called Professional Services are predominantly
mental or intellectual (as opposed to physical or manual) in nature, and require the special
training, knowledge, or expertise of a profession.
• Why is “professional” used the way it is in this discussion?
• This discussion does not redefine “professional services”. Instead, it identifies a “professional”
aspect of definition of the management operation underlying the “management service”.
• Design, decision-making and research – exemplified by strategists, founders, and leaders – are
now essential to the viability of the service positioning over time and in changing environments.
Professional management determines what the service purpose will be. Business management
determines what the consumption of the service will rely upon.
• The professional dimension of the management operation drives conception, growth and
improvement; it is essentially consultative, regardless of the internal or external origin of the
involved influencer.

7. Creating stability versus uncertainty
The framework of the management operation provides a logical boundary of the
operation’s necessary coverage of issues. The framework does not explain how to
cover each issue. Instead, it gives context for the importance of each issue under
coverage, mapping them to key areas. In the real world, management coverage
distinguishes every area by pursuing assurance where otherwise guessing and
coincidence could readily prevail in the area.
Management Levels
Professional
(Solutions)
Business
(Capabilities)
Technology
(Tools and Systems)
Professional solutions address issues about establishing explicit
expectations and plans
Business capability issues are about whether a given capability
is present or absent, including its strength and timeliness
Technology systems issues are about producing and confirming
the type and accessibility of systems and tools

8. “Management Service” Maturity Model
Management Levels Understand
(assess)
Intend
(plan)
Commit
(adopt)
Support
(reinforce)
Forecast
(Prescription)
Model future
probabilities of
events and impacts
Schedule the
resourcing and
readiness to pursue
and react
Certify, approve and
require capability
Define foreseen
scenario as an
intended strategy
Policy
(direction)
Describe priorities,
preferences and
defensible rules
Model constraints
and risks with
tolerances
Establish auditing of
events
Renew authority
based on
compliance
Monitor & Measure
(tracking)
Systematically
observe and
validate
Declare KPIs and
CSFs
Publish
requirements and
dashboard
Feed results
immediately into
planning
Define & Classify
(awareness)
Identify distinctive
items by a standard
name and taxonomy
Include in process
definitions
Assign responsible
parties
Make descriptions
the Standard
performance
stability
maturity
©2014MalcolmRyder/archestraresearch

9. How management pursues assurance
GOVERNANCE
DOMAIN IMPROVEMENT
SCOPE
Major regions of Management Change and Management Adaptation
performance
stability
maturity
The management capability can evolve according to changes of emphasis placed on fundamentals.
©2014MalcolmRyder/archestraresearch

10. About this discussion
It is an inherent property of all frameworks that their contents
can change although the framework itself is the shape of the
container.
The importance of the framework is to declare a conceptual
space within which identifiable entities and states are logically
located.
The discussion in this document is itself a current state of
original work in progress, arranging direct observations,
through a differential analysis, into an argument for ongoing
use as a comparative device.
There is no reference in this discussion, neither offered nor
required, to any external source material other than that of
the author’s own. Subsequent additional discussion based on
the same or newer original materials may add, modify, or
delete statements made here in this discussion.

11. © 2014 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research
mryder@malcolmryder.com