Leveraging ITIL to Govern AOC Information Technology

The Air Operations Center (AOC) is a complex system of systems that is resistant to traditional engineering controls and management strategies. The US Air Force (USAF) seeks to transform its antiquated AOC Information Technology (IT) management function into an agile enterprise capable of leveraging cutting-edge technology by aligning the AOC's infrastructure with its organizational strategies and vision. The USAF calls this effort a transformation. Private industry calls it IT Governance. To achieve AOC IT Governance, the USAF must stop managing infrastructure components and start managing IT services. IT Service Management abstracts business processes from the technology supporting them by creating IT services. Those services resolve business process requirements and provide IT capabilities. Effective IT Service Management requires an all-powerful, centralized IT management organization focused on providing value to the enterprise through the monitoring and improvement of IT services aligned with enterprise goals and strategies. This research will focus on the potential benefit of a service-centric collection of industry best practices known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The ITIL best practices are designed to enable the implementation of IT Service Management. The ITIL framework is a necessary step forward in the USAF's quest for IT Governance.