1. © 2008 Allstate Insurance Company
Cathy A. Kirch
14th
Annual International
IT Service Management
Conference and Exhibition
Release Management:
In Good Hands

2. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office2
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning to build a process
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

3. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office3
• The nation's largest publicly held personal lines
insurer
• A Fortune 100 company, selling 13 major lines of
insurance, including auto, property, life and
commercial
• Corporate headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois
• 2007 revenues more than $36 billion
• Insures 17 million households in the U.S. and
Canada
• Encompasses more than 70,000 professionals with
operations in 49 states and Canada
• Technology operations located around the globe
Allstate Insurance at a Glance

4. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office4
Allstate Insurance at a GlanceAllstate Insurance at a Glance
Allstate’s Technology Environment
• High-Speed Networking
• Integration Architecture
• J2EE and .Net
• Large Scale Networks
• Message Brokering
• Performance Management
• Rich Media Management
• Service Oriented Architecture
• Unix, Windows and Mainframe platforms
• Web Content Management
• Web Services
• Advanced Analytics
• Business Process Management
• Capacity Planning
• Data Warehousing
• Document Imaging
• Enterprise Content Management
• Enterprise Databases
• Enterprise Information Integration
• ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) Tools
• Financial Applications
• High-Availability and Disaster Recovery
• Multiple operating systems
• Multiple technology platforms
• Multiple database systems
• 6,000+ IT professionals
• 5,000+ software applications
• 100,000+ desktop computers supported
Applications and Services

5. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office5
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service
Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning to build a process
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

6. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office6
Easier
Navigation
Where do we go
for what we need?
IT Service Management at Allstate
Lower Cost
Where is the value?
Increase Speed
Can we deliver faster?

7. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office7
2008 - BSM
 How can we leverage our Enterprise goal to adopt ITIL and
to increase availability?
 How do we role out ITSM tool with 5000+ users active?
 Are all problems created equal? Where are we?
2004 - SMCOE
 How do we build the Process behind the Process?
 Red to green – can we improve Incident Classification?
 How do we define Education & Training program in IT?
2005 - ITSM @
Allstate
 How do we build the process with governance built in?
 What does standard documentation look like?
 How do we create process policies?
2006 - ITSM @
Allstate/Availability
Mgmt
 How do we implement a process with the end in mind to
become defined and documented?
 What does Business Service Management (BSM)
organization look like?
2007 - Availability
Management
 How do we conduct an enterprise role out of change?
 How do we introduce a Service Catalog?
 What is the right ITSM tool with our complexity?
ITIL – Key Questions on the Journey
Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
2009 - BSM  How do we survive the economy?

8. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office8
Governance
Continuous Improvement
Governance
Continuous Improvement
T
h
e
B
u
s
I
n
e
s
s
T
h
e
T
e
c
h
n
o
l
o
g
y
Planning to Implement Service Management
Applications Management
The Business
Perspective
ICT
Infrastructure
Management
Service
Support
Service
Delivery
Security
Management
Statement Weight Weight
Level Compliance Contribution Value 1 ITIL / CobiT Process 10 0.00 10
1 1.00 1.00 1.00 2 Process and Practices 10 0.00 10
2 1.00 1.00 1.00 3 Internal Control Assurance 10 0.00 10
3 0.00 1.00 0.00 4 Process Compliance (External) 10 0.00 10
4 0.00 1.00 0.00 5 Process Metrics 10 0.00 10
5 0.00 1.00 0.00 6 Process Quality Management 10 0.00 10
Maturity Level = 2.0 7 Marketing & Communications 10 10.00 10
8 Training and Education 10 0.00 10
9 Technology and Automation 10 0.00 10
10 ITIL Process Dependencies 10 0.00 10
11 0 0.00 0
12 0 0.00 0
Configuration
Management
Process NameAllstate
Maturity Level Assessment
0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00
Compliant
Compliant
NotCompliant
NotCompliant
MaturityLevel3
Maturity Level Calculation
Use ticks for compliance value (4 on the keyboard)
•Current State assessment
•Processes Behind the
Process created
•Training council formed
•Trained 3 ITIL SM
•Initial CobiT mapping
•1st
IT Project Mgmt Office
created
•Roadmap created
•Maturity Approach Defined
•Migrated to USD 6.0
10 Processes
In scope
4 Core Active:
IM, ChgM,CFM, SLM
Year 1
ITSM COE
Year 3
10 Processes In scope
6 Core Active
IM, ChgM, Prblm, CFM, SLM,
CapacityM
•SLM/IM deliver Standard
Prioritization
•Change Reaches ML
Defined & Documented
•Chg & CFG integrate for
Status Accounting
•SML/IM SPS
•Trained 2 ITIL SM’s
Year 2
10 Processes
In scope
6 Core Active:
IM, ChgM, Prblm, CFM, SLM,
CapacityM
•Create Process with
Compliance Built-in
•Standard Documentation
•Allstate Financial
Assessment &
Enrollment
Process Mgmt teams
created
•Maturity Levels established
•Trained 2 ITIL SMs
ITSM COEITSM COE Formed
IT Service Management at Allstate

9. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office9
During 2008 establishment of ITIL adoption and HP tool replacement were the primary focus.
Ending 2008 a maturity assessment was conducted for all processes.
Governance
Continuous Improvement
Governance
Continuous Improvement
Year 5Year 4 Year 6
•ITIL Project of the Year
•Allstate Technology
& Operations Goal
•SM Tool replacement
•ITIL Adoption
assessment
•Big year in E&T across
the organization
•Processes assessed
5 Processes
In scope
4 Core Active:
IM, Prblm, ChgM, CFM
Availability & BSM align
Service Lifecycle In scope
8 Core Active: IM, ChgM, Prblm, CFM,
SLM, Service Catalog, Request
Fulfillment, ITSCM
ITSM @ Allstate
•IT AVP receives Case
Study of the Year
•Enrollment projects
•Gap closure projects
•Maturity assessment
•Final wave for E&T
across the organization
ITSM PSE
•ITIL Practitioner of Year
•Allstate becomes a
Practitioning
Company
•APT Enrollment Change
•Tool Evaluation
•IM PM Integration using
6 Sigma
•Introduced ITIL V3
•Trained 3 ITIL SM
4 Core Process Focus
4 Core Active:
ChgM, IM, Prblm, CFM
3 addtl. Added: CapacityM,
ICT-deployment, SLM
IT Service Management at Allstate

10. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office10
0
1
2
3
Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6
Initial
Repeatable
Defined
Config
Incident
Problem
Change
New ServiceNew Service
Management toolManagement tool
launchedlaunched
EnterpriseEnterprise
Enrollment inEnrollment in
ChangeChange
• We’ve made significant progress within Change and Incident Management
• Problem Maturity is dependent upon progress within Incident Management
• Process Maturities were affected by expansion of scope within the Enterprise
execution and the introduction of new technologies
IT Service Management at Allstate

11. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office11
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was
selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning including approach used, scope,
assessment results, and key deliverables
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

12. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office12
Change Management – What is it?
What is Change Management?
The goals of change management
are to:
•Respond to the customers changing
business requirements while
maximizing value and reducing
incidents, disruption and rework
•Respond to the business and IT
requests for change that will align the
services with the business needs.
Definition - Change Management
process is to ensure that changes
are recorded and then evaluated,
authorized, prioritized, planned,
tested, implemented, documented
and reviewed in a controlled manner.

13. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office13
Release Management – What is it?
What is Release Management?
The goal of Release Management is to deploy releases into production
and establish effective use of the service in order to deliver value to the
customer and be able to handover to service operations.
• It takes a holistic view of changes to an IT service and ensures that all
aspects of a release, both technical and non-technical, are considered
together
• Release Management works closely with Change Management while it
builds, tests and delivers the capability to provide services
Release definition: 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.

14. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office14
Enterprise Release Management Value to the Business:
This project aligns with the strategic plan to accomplish some
key Corporate objectives:
Thrill our Customers:
• Improved Speed of Delivery
• Improved Quality of Services
• More Accurate Delivery Dates
• Changes are realized faster, cheaper and with
fewer risks
• Operational objectives supported better
• Create the foundation for focused Availability
improvements
For our employees:
• Greater efficiencies on teams with consistent
approach to release management
• Improved implementation approach with consistent
and traceable requirements for audit and legislation
• Consistent delivery resulting in fewer documents to
maintain
• Improved quality of delivery resulting in less rework
Why Release Management was selected

15. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office15
Why Release Management was selected
Positive effects of aligned release processes
Technology Costs are cut
Unplanned work and rework costs disappear
ANI receives less formats of the same work
How do we trace all of the releases moving forward?
Create one, holistic picture of release management activities
Create baseline measurements to tie back to a standard Release
Management Policy
Improve Customer Service
When will I get my business changes?
What are the risks? Was it tested?
Is it documented?
What is the plan for the year?
What changes will I see?
Consistent Communications
Create a common release policy
Enterprise planning and implementation align across organizations

16. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office16
Why Release Management was selected
AUDIT

17. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office17
√ √ √ √ ↑ √
√ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ≠
√ ↑ ↑ ↑ √ ↑
√ √ √ √ √ √
√ √ √ √ √ √
a. Identifying scope and content of an approved change, and the
release requirements for successful deployment.
c. Prioritizing, planning, and scheduling release activities.
II. Release Planning
b. Performing a risk assessment for the release and gaining signoff
from the appropriate groups.
d. Liaising with experts and interested parties to determine the
required resources and strategy for the release.
e. Documenting and tracking all release planning activities.
Why Release Management was selected
AUDIT
√ √ √ √ ≠ √
III. Release Building
a. Ensures the release package is updated to the CMDB as a
pending release package and any script is added to the DSL.

18. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office18
Why Release Management was selected
AUDIT

19. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office19
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning including approach used, scope,
assessment results, and key deliverables
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

20. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office20
Assembling an Enterprise Team
Questions to Ask:
• Who does the releases?
• Are there key roles who decide
go/no go?
• How many organizations exist?
Primary Business
HR
Financial
Infrastructure Shared Services
• How do you allocate resources to projects?
Notification of Involvement
• How do you plan a team introduction?
Project Kickoff
• What schedules will you work under?
Remote workers?
Multiple time zones?

21. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office21
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning to build a process
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

22. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office22
Project Planning to build a process
What is our Approach?
Facts: Our Audit is aligned to ITIL & Cobit
Our Audit identified 16 deliverables that would enhance Availability
if delivered consistently
Our Audit can become our key driver to build the plan
1. Define the Scope with a Charter
2. Internalize the Audit- what are the 16 artifacts?
• Meet with Audit and clarify definitions and understanding
3. Define the key deliverables based on the Audit
• The Audit deliverables are your input to the work breakdown
• Create a work breakdown chart
• Seek out best in class artifacts that exist today
4. Build your plan with dates/ resources and commitment

23. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office23
Project Planning to build a process

24. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office24
Project: Enterprise Release Management
Enterprise adoption of ITSM framework for Release Management
Project Sponsor: Mike Sparks
PM: Celeste Fontano
6/05
Status as of Week Ending: 06/19/2009
Issues and Risks
ID Description H/M/L Point Person Target Date Status
RM Project Team resource availability - Risk M Celeste Fontano
Data Center Migration - Risk H Celeste Fontano
Technology Resource not assigned - Issue H Celeste Fontano
HP Tool Development if needed $$ - Risk H Cathy Kirch
Key Accomplishments Upcoming Activities
• Approved WBS deliverables with project team
• Scheduled Phase B: Facilitated Process Sessions for July
• Complete release inventory for Phase A: Audit due 6/19
• Gather Area release process for Best practice due 6/26
• Complete project communication plan
• Review Project tasks – 6/22
• Assign project tasks – Week 6/22
• Assign track leads for deliverables- 10 of 15 complete – 6/22
On-Track R YPossible
Delay
DelayedStatus Not Started
Project Schedule
Milestone Status Target Completion Date % Completion
Completed high level deliverables & WBS 6/12/09 100
Deliverables Defined & Approved 6/16/09 100
Planning Phase Complete 7/31/09 71
Execution-Phase A: Audit Remediation Response 7/31/09 28
10%
6/19
Overall Project Status
G G
6/12

25. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office25
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning to build a process
• Early wins and defined
measurements
• Future plans with continual improvement

26. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office26
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
Value to the Business
Effective Release and Deployment Management enables the service
provider to add value to the business by:
• Delivering change, faster and at optimum cost and minimized risk
• Assuring that customers and users can use the new or changed
service in a way that supports the business goals
• Improving consistency in implementation approach across the
business change service teams, suppliers and customers
• Contributing to meeting auditable requirements for traceability
through Service Transition
CSI Step 1:
Define what you should measure

27. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office27
Value Metrics- So WHAT?
•Questions to ask when preparing an
implementation project:
•What Can I measure?
•Can I deliver this in the first project?
•Can I deliver in the future by creating the
necessary fields to capture a baseline?
Improving consistency in
implementation approach across the
business change service teams,
suppliers and customers
Contributing to meeting auditable
requirements for traceability through
Service Transition
•Assuring that customers and users can
use the new or changed service in a way
that supports the business goals
•Delivering change, faster and at
optimum cost and minimized risk
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
CSI Step 2:
Define what you can measure

28. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office28
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
Early Wins
How do I measure for an Early Win?
Improving consistency in implementation approach across the business change
service teams, suppliers and customers

29. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office29
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
Excerpt from IEC – Debunking ITIL

30. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office30
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
Excerpt from IEC – Debunking ITIL

31. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office31
Early Wins & Defined Measurements
Operational Metric: The metrics under this category will determine how fast
(performance/efficiency) and how well (quality) the process is getting executed. These metrics will
be used for CSI and reporting to key stakeholders
Delivering change, faster and at optimum cost and minimized risk
Defining the measures for the future
Creating Operational Metrics

32. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office32
AgendaAgenda
• Allstate Insurance at a Glance
• Allstate Journey to IT Service Management
• Why Release Management was selected
• Assembling an Enterprise team
• Project planning including approach used, scope,
assessment results, and key deliverables
• Early wins and defined measurements
• Future plans with continual
improvement

33. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office33
Future Plans with CSI
What is the Vision?What is the Vision?
Service & Process
Improvement Projects
Service & Process
Improvement Projects
Defined &
Documented
Defined &
Documented
Baseline
Assessment
Baseline
Assessment
Where do we want to
be?
Where do we want to
be?
How do we get there?How do we get there?
Did we get there?Did we get there? Baseline
Assessments
Baseline
Assessments
Enterprise Release
Management
Enterprise Release
Management
Where are we now?Where are we now?
How do we keep
the momentum
going?
How do we keep
the momentum
going?

34. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office34
Enterprise Portfolio Management & Enterprise Release
Management mapped together
The lifecycle of a
project
The lifecycle of a
release
Future Plans with CSI

35. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office35
Future Plans with CSI
 The Release Management (RM) Process is
applied in various manners among groups
 Much of RM is incorporated into the Software
Development lifecycle
 There is no central repository for process
documentation, repositories are owned locally
 RM is not integrated with the change process
 Many tools are used based on technology
supported
 Early Life Support or training of support staff is
not a concept that is generally used
 Release schedules are published
 Back out, test, and release plans are not normally
provided
 Business sign off not as a rule required
 Roles are documented but not applied the same
way across the enterprise
 There are no process metrics
Where we are now
 Develop a flexible process that can be utilized
equally across the enterprise with a central
repository
 Use early life support and train support staff
before a release is deployed
 Develop and implement templates for back out,
test and release plans
 Identify key process roles including process
owner and process lead
 Create functional requirements and standards for
toolset selection to support process polices
 Define the necessary polices to govern the
process
 Monitor and report key process metrics
Where we want to be
Moving the needle – Develop enterprise polices, process and standards
0 1 2 3 4 5

36. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office36
Future Plans with CSI

37. © 2008 Allstate Insurance Company37
Questions?
Cathy A. Kirch
Allstate Insurance Company
Process Consultant
2007 Project of the Year
2006 Practitioner of the Year
V3 ITIL Expert & CSI Designation,
V2 Service Manager & Practitioner
ckirch@allstate.com