Marie Diruzza is the Associate Director of IT Service and Support at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), overseeing a multi-year IT service management project aimed at modernizing processes through the implementation of Cherwell CSM. The project addresses incident management, service request fulfillment, knowledge management, change management, and asset management while applying organizational change methodologies. Key challenges included leadership, communication, and prioritization, while successes were achieved through process mapping and engaging training events.

1. Marie DiRuzza is the Associate Director of IT Service and Support at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Co-chair of the WPI ITSM
Committee, and project manager for the IT Service Management project.
This multi-year project, now in year three, is charged with the
implementation of Incident Management, Service Request fulfillment,
Knowledge Management, Change Management, and Asset Management
using Cherwell CSM. The president of the HDI New England Chapter and
a SIGMaster and regular speaker at NERComp, Marie has been a leader
in the IT support industry for over 10 years. She holds a BA degree in
Mathematics as well as the following industry certifications: Project
Management (WPI CPE), ITIL Foundations v3, HDI Help Desk Manager.
“Controlling the Chaos
with ITSM Governance”

2. Controlling the Chaos
with ITSM Governance
Marie DiRuzza
Associate Director, IT Service & Support
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

3. WPI Rankings…
Top 25% national
research universities
Among the nation’s
“Best Undergraduate
Engineering Programs”
# 1 MBA Program in the
Northeast since 2007
#2 for Most Popular
Study Abroad Program
Undergraduates
4,012 Students
Avg. GPA: 3.85
Avg. class rank: top 10%
Graduates
1,916 full/part-time
Faculty/Staff: ~825
IT Staff: 63

4. WPI: from research to innovation to impact
Class of 1881
Class of 1908
Class of 1945 Class of 1973 Class of 1985 Class of 1994
Class of 1970 Class of 1975 Class of 1986
Elwood Haynes,
Innovator
Stainless steel
Carl Clark, Innovator
Auto airbag system
Dean Kamen, Innovator
Segway
Edward Cheung,
Innovator
Hubble Space Telescope
Karen Tegan Padir, Leader
Sun Microsystems
Robert Goddard, Innovator
First liquid-fueled rocket
Robert Harvey, Innovator
Early artificial heart
Michael Dolan, Leader
ExxonMobil Chemical
Kathy Loftus, Leader
Whole Foods Market

5. Agenda
• ITSM & Organizational Change
• WPI ITSM Project History
• The Need for Governance
• Governance
• Structure
• Challenges & Successes
• Outcomes
• Go-Something
• Cherwell-A-Palooza
• Continuous improvement efforts
5

6. Adopting ITSM is
Organizational Change
ITSM was likely to change:
• The way we worked
• The way we thought about our work
• Our processes for managing work
• Roles & Responsibilities
6
ITSM would change our organization so applying
organizational change methodologies made sense
Change management is an approach to
transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations
to a desired future state. (wikipedia, Kotter)

7. Kotter’s 8-step plan
7
http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

8. ITSM Project Goal
8
To modernize WPI IT Service Management, enabling IT
to work more efficiently by implementing an integrated
system which reduces the need for many disparate
systems, integrates support tools, and allows for fluid
and efficient processing of requests across the WPI IT
organization and by adopting IT Service Management
(ITSM) best practices that meet the changing needs of
the organization.
ITSM: Running the Business of IT

9. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The ITSM Committee
9
. . . Create a Guiding Coalition

10. Kotter’s 8-step plan
10
http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

11. ITSM Project
Roadmap
Phase I & II
Empower
Broad-based
Action

12. ITSM Project Timeline: Phase I & II
Fall 2011
Project Plan and Roadmap defined
Jan/Feb 2012
Obtain Executive buy-in
Summer 2011
ITSM Committee formed
Organizational Assessment begins
Summer 2012
Develop RFP
Process Mapping Training
Tool Selection process begins (96/6)
December 2012
Tool Selection: Cherwell CSM

13. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
WPI ITSM Project: Phase II
Deployment Governance included:
─ cross-functional process-based teams:
 Incident and Service Request Fulfillment
 Change Management
 Knowledge Management
 Asset Management
─ ITSM Steering Committee
 Role is to govern the process-based teams
─ Cherwell Admin Team
 Team of tool administrators; implementers
o Systems Administrator skilled in Application Integration
o Help Desk Team Lead
o IT Content, Communications & Training Coordinator
o Project Leaders (PM & Hosting Supervisor)

14. Need for Governance
14
With multiple process-based teams,
and 22-26 individuals, we needed:
• A unified direction
• A way to ensure that one team didn’t do
something that would negatively impact
another teams’ progress.
• A mechanism for setting priorities
• Strategic decision-making
• Resource allocation & planning
• Ability to respond to a changing
environment, as well as changing
institutional priorities
• Ability to plan for the future

15. Incident
Management
Associate Director,
IT Service & Support
Information
Security Officer
Helpdesk
Network
Operations
Marketing/Web
Enterprise
Solutions
Desktop
Support
AV Services
Service
Request
Fullfillment
Director,
Academic Technology
Center
Helpdesk
Desktop
Services
Network
Operations
Telecom
Enterprise
Solutions
Marketing
Web
Asset
Management
Desktop Support
Supervisor
Desktop
Support
Helpdesk
Information
Security
Network
Operations
Academic &
Research
Computing
Change
Management
Manager, Hosting
Services
Manager, Network
Operations
Information
Security
Hosting Services
Network
Operations
Academic &
Research
Computing
Knowledge
Management
IT Content,
Comm. & Training
Coordinator
IT Comm.
Helpdesk
Technology for
Teaching &
Learning
Enterprise
Solutions
15
Process-based Teams

16. Something was
missing . . . .
Authority
Influence
Power
ITSM Steering Committee
16
Associate Director,
IT Service & Support
Information
Security Officer
Director,
Academic Technology
Center
Desktop Support
Supervisor
Manager, Hosting
Services
Manager, Network
Operations
IT Content,
Comm. & Training
Coordinator
Associate
Chief Information Officer

17. Kotter’s 8-step plan
17
http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

18. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Challenges & Successes
Challenges:
• Time-consuming
─ Committing the time in a smaller IT shop is tough,
especially if you wear multiple hats
• Competing Priorities
─ Prioritize quick-wins/low hanging fruit when you can
─ But don’t forget about the bullfrogs (Tracy, Eat that Frog!)
• Leadership
─ Change is hard. People need to be led through change.
• Communication
─ Cannot over-communicate. Do not underestimate this.
─ Communicate, Communicate and Communicate some
more
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19. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Challenges & Successes
What Worked:
• Process First
─ Process Mapping Focus
─ “Can’t Automate what you haven’t Defined”
─ Document, Document!
• Reinforcement & Encouragement
─ Old habits die hard. Reiterate the vision/goal.
─ “Today is better than yesterday, tomorrow will be better than
today!”
• Leadership
─ Change is hard. People need to be led through change.
• Communication
─ Cannot over-communicate. Do not underestimate this.
─ Communicate, Communicate and Communicate some more
19

20. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Challenges & Successes
What Did NOT Work:
• Not all Decisions can be made by Committee
─ Don’t waste time discussing in committee what can be
decided by an individual with the right authority
• Trying to do too much at once
─ Prioritize and focus on a few key items at a time
• Failure to address resource issues
─ Adding additional hats is not the same as allocating
resources
• Not communicating progress
• Neglecting the resilience factor
─ This is a marathon, not a sprint. People will get tired.
20

21. Outcomes
21
Process Mapping
Training
22 participants
Go-Something Soft launch
ITIL V.3 Training 20 participants
Cherwell-A-Palooza Training & Celebration
Event
Strategy for
Professional
Services
Use of blend of consultant
resources.
Trainers, ITIL, Process & Tool-
based
Deployment
Progress
Incident, Service Request,
Knowledge

22. Not Sure Go-Live
will Go-Well?
Go-Something!
Add fun with custom t-shirts!

23. Cherwell-A-Palooza
Training Event
& Celebration
If you feed them,
they will come!
- Great way to communicate Changes
- Cool name makes it more appealing
- Use Surveys to inform the agenda
- Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions!
- The enemy you know . . .
- Advertise & Post Agenda
- Record for playback
Cherwell-A-Palooza
Don’t forget to Celebrate Successes!

24. ITSM Project Timeline
Fall 2011
Assessment Data compiled
Jan/Feb 2012
Obtain Executive buy-in
Spring 2014
Knowledge Management
One-steps
Dashboards
Summer 2011
ITSM Committee formed
Organizational Assessment begins
Summer 2012
Process Mapping
Tool Selection process begins (96/6)
December 2012
Tool Selection: Cherwell CSM
Summer 2013
Go-Something
Spring 2013
ITSM Steering Committee Begins
Fall 2013
Incident Management
Service Request Fulfillment
HDI CSI Integration
Winter 2014
Specifics Forms/Guides
Simplified portal (slow launch) Plans for 2015
• Service Owner Program
• Asset Management
• Change Management
• Major Incident Handling
• Service Catalog

25. Bibliography
• (Wikipedia) Kotter, J. (July 12, 2011).
"Change Management vs. Change
Leadership -- What's the Difference?".
Forbes online. Retrieved 12/21/11
• Kotter International website,
http://www.kotterinternational.com/our
-principles/changesteps
• Tracey, Brian, Eat That Frog!
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26. Recommended Reading
Our Iceberg is Melting
by John Kotter
Architecture and Patterns for IT
by Charles Betz
Service Management, Resource Planning
and Governance.
Making shoes for the Cobblers Children
The Phoenix Project:
by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George
Spafford
A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping
your Business Win
Eat That Frog!
By Brian Tracy
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27. Questions?
Marie DiRuzza
diruzza@wpi.edu
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28. Thank you for
attending this
session.
Please fill out an
evaluation form.
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