14 DAY TRIAL // At the end of the past week, the Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0 became available for download. MOF 4.0 is essentially a collection of resources delivering what Microsoft referred to as practical guidance aimed at IT organizations. Jeff Newfeld, Principal Product Unit Manager, said that MOF 4.0 had been in the works throughout 2007, and as of May 2, 2008, the set of 23 documents was released to the public. MOF 4.0 is designed to simplify IT practices and activities, with Microsoft taking care of the entire span of the IT lifecycle.
"For those of you who haven't heard of MOF before, it's a service life cycle model aimed at helping organizations implement best practices for delivering efficient and effective IT services. An "organization" could be anything from a 20-person company to a huge multi-national," Newfeld explained. MOF brings to the table best practices associated with the Microsoft Solutions Framework, management reviews as well as governance, risk, and compliance processes and actions.
Newfeld revealed that MOF 4.0 was set up from the get go as a living framework. In this context, members of the MOF community are free to bring their own contributions to the framework, as Microsoft will evolve the offering after having assimilated the new content. In this regard, the launch of MOF 4.0 was accompanied by the release of the MOF 4.0 online community.
"First, where the old MOF talked mainly about operations, the new MOF 4.0 describes the entire IT life cycle, including business planning, project organization can use a common language and a consistent framework for planning and coordinating their activities," Newfeld added. "The second improvement is to the design of the content. If you're looking for a way to overhaul your organizations service management practices, then MOF 4.0 provides that comprehensive view that will help you choose where to start. However, if you're just looking for a best practice around one particular area then MOF 4.0 can help as well, with short (25-page) 'service management functions' that can give you ideas on improving a particular function in 20 minutes."