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| Term |
Description |
| RACI |
(Service Design) (Continual Service Improvement) A Model used to help define Roles and Responsibilities. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. See Stakeholder. |
| Reactive Monitoring |
(Service Operation) Monitoring that takes action in response to an Event. For example submitting a batch job when the previous job completes, or logging an Incident when an Error occurs.
See Proactive Monitoring. |
| Reciprocal Arrangement |
(Service Design) A Recovery Option. An agreement between two Organisations to share resources in an emergency. For example, Computer Room space or use of a mainframe. |
| Record |
A Document containing the results or other output from a Process or Activity. Records are evidence of the fact that an Activity took place and may be paper or electronic. For example, an Audit report, an Incident Record, or the minutes of a meeting. |
| Recovery |
(Service Design) (Service Operation) Returning a Configuration Item or an IT Service to a working state. Recovery of an IT Service often includes recovering data to a known consistent state. After Recovery, further steps may be needed before the IT Service can be made available to the Users (Restoration). |
| Recovery Option |
(Service Design) A Strategy for responding to an interruption to Service. Commonly used Strategies are Do Nothing, Manual Workaround, Reciprocal Arrangement, Gradual Recovery, Intermediate Recovery, Fast Recovery, Immediate Recovery. Recovery Options may make use of dedicated facilities, or Third Party facilities shared by multiple Businesses. |
| Recovery Point Objective |
(Service Operation) The maximum amount of data that may be lost when Service is Restored after an interruption. Recovery Point Objective is expressed as a length of time before the Failure. For example a Recovery Point Objective of one day may be supported by daily Backups, and up to 24 hours of data may be lost. Recovery Point Objectives for each IT Service should be negotiated, agreed and documented, and used as Requirements for Service Design and IT Service Continuity Plans. |
| Recovery Time Objective |
(Service Operation) The maximum time allowed for recovery of an IT Service following an interruption. The Service Level to be provided may be less than normal Service Level Targets. Recovery Time Objectives for each IT Service should be negotiated, agreed and documented.
See Business Impact Analysis. |
| Redundancy |
Synonym for Fault Tolerance. The term Redundant also has a generic meaning of obsolete, or no longer needed. |
| Relationship |
A connection or interaction between two people or things. In Business Relationship Management it is the interaction between the IT Service Provider and the Business. In Configuration Management it is a link between two Configuration Items that identifies a dependency or connection between them. For example Applications may be linked to the Servers they run on, IT Services have many links to all the CIs that contribute to them. |
| Relationship Processes |
The ISO/IEC 20000 Process group that includes Business Relationship Management and Supplier Management. |
| Release |
(Service Transition) A collection of hardware, software, documentation, Processes or other Components required to implement one or more approved Changes to IT Services. The contents of each Release are managed, Tested, and Deployed as a single entity. |
| Release and Deployment Management |
(Service Transition) The Process responsible for both Release Management and Deployment. |
| Release Identification |
(Service Transition) A naming convention used to uniquely identify a Release. The Release Identification typically includes a reference to the Configuration Item and a version number. For example Microsoft Office 2003 SR2. |
| Release Management |
(Service Transition) The Process responsible for Planning, scheduling and controlling the movement of Releases to Test and Live Environments. The primary Objective of Release Management is to ensure that the integrity of the Live Environment is protected and that the correct Components are released. Release Management is part of the Release and Deployment Management Process. |
| Release Process |
The name used by ISO/IEC 20000 for the Process group that includes Release Management. This group does not include any other Processes.
Release Process is also used as a synonym for Release Management Process. |
| Release Record |
(Service Transition) A Record in the CMDB that defines the content of a Release. A Release Record has Relationships with all Configuration Items that are affected by the Release. |
| Release Unit |
(Service Transition) Components of an IT Service that are normally Released together. A Release Unit typically includes sufficient Components to perform a useful Function. For example one Release Unit could be a Desktop PC, including Hardware, Software, Licenses, Documentation etc. A different Release Unit may be the complete Payroll Application, including IT Operations Procedures and User training. |
| Release Window |
Synonym for Change Window. |
| Reliability |
(Service Design) (Continual Service Improvement) A measure of how long a Configuration Item or IT Service can perform its agreed Function without interruption. Usually measured as MTBF or MTBSI. The term Reliability can also be used to state how likely it is that a Process, Function etc. will deliver its required outputs.
See Availability. |
| Remediation |
(Service Transition) Recovery to a known state after a failed Change or Release. |
| Repair |
(Service Operation) The replacement or correction of a failed Configuration Item. |
| Request for Change |
(Service Transition) A formal proposal for a Change to be made. An RFC includes details of the proposed Change, and may be recorded on paper or electronically. The term RFC is often misused to mean a Change Record, or the Change itself. |
| Request Fulfilment |
(Service Operation) The Process responsible for managing the Lifecycle of all Service Requests. |
| Requirement |
(Service Design) A formal statement of what is needed. For example a Service Level Requirement, a Project Requirement or the required Deliverables for a Process. |
| Resilience |
(Service Design) The ability of a Configuration Item or IT Service to
resist Failure or to Recover quickly following a Failure. For example, an armoured cable will resist failure when put under stress. |
| Resolution |
(Service Operation) Action taken to repair the Root Cause of an Incident or Problem, or to implement a Workaround.
In ISO/IEC 20000, Resolution Processes is the Process group that includes Incident and Problem Management. |
| Resolution Processes |
The ISO/IEC 20000 Process group that includes Incident Management and Problem Management. |
| Resource |
(Service Strategy) A generic term that includes IT Infrastructure, people, money or anything else that might help to deliver an IT Service. Resources are considered to be Assets of an Organisation.
See Capability, Service Asset. |
| Response Time |
A measure of the time taken to complete an Operation or Transaction. Used in Capacity Management as a measure of IT Infrastructure Performance, and in Incident Management as a measure of the time taken to answer the phone, or to start Diagnosis. |
| Responsiveness |
A measurement of the time taken to respond to something. This could be Response Time of a Transaction, or the speed with which an IT Service Provider responds to an Incident or Request for Change etc. |
| Restoration of Service |
See Restore |
| Restore |
(Service Operation) Taking action to return an IT Service to the Users after Repair and Recovery from an Incident. This is the primary Objective of Incident Management. |
| Retire |
(Service Transition) Permanent removal of an IT Service, or other Configuration Item, from the Live Environment. Retired is a stage in the Lifecycle of many Configuration Items. |
| Return on Investment |
(Service Strategy) (Continual Service Improvement) A measurement of the expected benefit of an investment. In the simplest sense it is the net profit of an investment divided by the net worth of the assets invested.
See Net Present Value, Value on Investment. |
| Return to Normal |
(Service Design) The phase of an IT Service Continuity Plan during which full normal operations are resumed. For example, if an alternate data centre has been in use, then this phase will bring the primary data centre back into operation, and restore the ability to invoke IT Service Continuity Plans again. |
| Review |
evaluation of a Change, Problem, Process, Project etc. Reviews are typically carried out at predefined points in the Lifecycle, and especially after Closure. The purpose of a Review is to ensure that all Deliverables have been provided, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
See Post Implementation Review. |
| Rights |
(Service Operation) Entitlements, or permissions, granted to a User or Role. For example the Right to modify particular data, or to authorize a Change. |
| Risk |
A possible Event that could cause harm or loss, or affect the ability to achieve Objectives. A Risk is measured by the probability of a Threat, the Vulnerability of the Asset to that Threat, and the Impact it would have if it occurred. |
| Risk Assessment |
The initial steps of Risk Management. Analysing the value of Assets to the business, identifying Threats to those Assets, and evaluating how Vulnerable each Asset is to those Threats. Risk Assessment can be quantitative (based on numerical data) or qualitative. |
| Risk Management |
The Process responsible for identifying, assessing and controlling Risks. See Risk Assessment. |
| Role |
A set of responsibilities, Activities and authorities granted to a person or team. A Role is defined in a Process. One person or team may have multiple Roles, for example the Roles of Configuration Manager and Change Manager may be carried out by a single person. |
| Rollout |
(Service Transition) Synonym for Deployment. Most often used to refer to complex or phased Deployments or Deployments to multiple locations. |
| Root Cause |
(Service Operation) The underlying or original cause of an Incident or Problem |
| Root Cause Analysis (RCA) |
(Service Operation) An Activity that identifies the Root Cause of a Incident or Problem. RCA typically concentrates on IT Infrastructure failures. |
| Running Costs |
Synonym for Operational Costs |
