Research grant to improve IT Service management

The team awarded the Linkage Grant recently met with industry partners

Three academics from the University were recently awarded a prestigious grant from the Australian Research Council to work in the area of IT service management.

Associate Professor Aileen Cater Steel, Dr Wui-Gee Tan, and Professor Mark Toleman along with Associate Professor Terry Rout from Griffith University received the $140,000 ARC linkage project grant for their project Software-mediated process assessment in IT service management: development and evaluation of standards-based tools to facilitate continual improvement.

Associate Professor Aileen Cater-Steel said improvements in the area of IT service would largely benefit the Australian business community due to its dependence on IT.

'The implementation of IT service management standards reduces IT downtime as well as improving IT service quality and customer satisfaction. Private and public sector organisations will benefit as the developed tool will enable self-assessment of capability in line with international standards,' she said.

'In addition, the project will validate and transition emerging standards into industry, placing Australia at the forefront of adoption and use. Results will be fed back to the International Standards community further enhancing Australia’s reputation as a leader in IT standards development.'

Associate Professor Cater-Steel also said the project was internationally significant because they would build a world-first automated process assessment tool based on international standards.

Dr Wui-Gee Tan said this cutting edge project falls under the national priority area of Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries.

'Organisations are investing significantly in IT service management implementation and there is growing interest and use of ISO/IEC 20000 (the first worldwide standard specifically aimed at IT Service Management).

'This project establishes whether software mediated process assessment (SMPA) is a valid and beneficial approach to guiding continual service improvement.'

The ARC Linkage Project supports research and collaborations between higher education researchers and indusrtry partners. The partner must make a significant contribution to the project that is equal to, or greater than, the ARC funding.

Industry professionals Assessment Portal Pty Ltd, CITEC and SPARQ Solutions Pty Ltd will join forces with the research team as vital partner organisations.

For more information please contact Associate Professor Aileen Cater-Steel on 07 4631 1276.

Contact Details:
USQ Media: Connie-Louise Rego +61 7 4361 2977