One of the key elements to consider in business management is the management of IT (Information Technology) departments by implementing processes as described in the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) standard. This is particularly important in industries that are not directly related to ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), such as the tourism industry. In this paper, we present a methodology to sequence the implementation of the ITIL processes in any company to support its development. The methodology is based on an optimization algorithm and the information extracted from a survey. The optimal sequence is built from this information and from the information of the restrictions imposed by the company that implements the ITIL processes. We applied the methodology to a company in the tourism industry. The sequence obtained shows the need to implement operative processes (initial positions in the sequence), and afterwards strategic processes (final positions in the sequence). A comparison with other authors’ proposals shows differences in the order of processes proposed by this methodology. The main conclusion is that it is possible to use the information of companies to efficiently generate an optimal sequence of ITIL processes which enhances their management; this sequence is unique for every company that wants to implement ITIL in the tourism industry, and it is independent from the proposals of other authors who designed generic/non-optimal sequences.

Educational centers (schools, academies, high schools, etc.) are usually small companies, which make them special in terms of management. The management of IT services is far from standard and based in home solutions. The disadvantage of this approach is clear, as it happened during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The solution to properly managing IT services is based on the use of the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). The question is how to apply this standard that only defines the processes to implement, but does not describe the way or the order to implement them. In this article it is shown which IT processes are really needed in any educational center and the order in which they should be implemented. The method used consists of fulfilling a knowledge database with extensive information from schools, academies, and other educational centers. After that, an existing optimization model is adopted and a representative learning center is defined, which is used to propose the IT processes sequence; finally, a set of optimal IT processes and the order to implement them is defined. These ordered processes optimize the quality of IT for learning services. The main result is an ordered set of IT processes that best fit the needs of IT departments in small educational centers.

The objective of this article is the definition of an algorithm aimed to settle the sequence of implementation of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes that should be followed in the technology departments for its proper management. The mathematical model presented solves the question of the best ITIL process to implement by using an optimization function that considers the objectives and restrictions given by the company. This model is the basis for an iterative greedy algorithm proposed that generates the optimal sequence of ITIL processes to implement. The algorithm has been proven in a company with satisfactory results: the proposed sequence of implementation allowed the company to properly manage the IT department as well as get close to competitors based on the objectives and restrictions reported by the company. The novelty of this contribution relies on the design of an algorithm to generate an optimal and specific sequence of ITIL processes to implement in the IT department of a company, as the previous solutions relied on generic sequences or required external consultants to get their opinion and so did not have a mathematical basis.

1. Purpose: One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic period was the migration of educational centers from face-to-face learning to e-learning. Most centers adapted their educational services and technological resources so that the students could attend the courses online and the teachers (and the rest of the staff) could telework. So, technology departments have become critical in educational services and need to adapt their processes. The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) standard guides companies for this transformation. If educational centers are involved in digital transformation, the question to solve is the following: How far are the processes used in the technology departments of educational centers from the ITIL standard adopted in the information technology industry? The purpose of this research was to investigate whether technology departments have implemented the necessary processes. 2. Methods. The research was conducted by means of an online form sent to educational organizations to gather information about their technological processes. The responses collected from the web forms were statistically analyzed. 3. Results and conclusion. The main finding in this paper was that technology departments in educational centers have yet to adopt the processes required for an intensive online service, demonstrating a weakness in educational institutions.

En los últimos años son muchos los autores (hombres y mujeres) que están proponiendo diferentes usos de la tecnología Blockchain (Blockchain technology [BT]) en distintos sectores industriales. Estos usos están relacionados principalmente con el intercambio de datos planos y con el intercambio de ficheros, como imágenes, música y otros. Las aplicaciones en finanzas, logística, seguros, comercio y otros no paran de aparecer día a día. En el ámbito de la educación se han propuesto distintos usos con BT que van desde un repositorio de certificados hasta la custodia de expedientes. Sin embargo, aún no se ha experimentado la extensión de la BT hasta aplicaciones docentes para el estudiante. La solución propuesta resuelve el problema del envío remoto de exámenes en las universidades garantizando la inmutabilidad (no manipulación expost) de la entrega realizada por el alumno. La prueba de concepto se ha aplicado al caso de una entrega remota de un examen como validación del caso de uso propuesto. Los resultados de la prueba de concepto son positivos y satisfactorios en tres aspectos: el estudiante puede fácilmente hacer el envío sin conocimientos específicos de BT, la comunidad universitaria en su conjunto puede acceder al examen remitido por el alumnado y comprobar su contenido y la inmutabilidad del examen enviado está garantizada por la propia arquitectura propuesta basada en BT.

Es un hecho que cada vez más empresas basan su operativa en las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones (TIC). Los modelos de gestión tradicionales necesitan ser adaptados a esta nueva realidad. Para ello están surgiendo iniciativas (COBIT [control objectives for information and related technology], CMMI [capability maturity model integration], ITIL [information technology infrastructure library], etc.) que pretenden orientar sobre los procesos, las métricas y los indicadores de gestión de la tecnología más adecuados. En este trabajo nos centraremos en ITIL, máximo exponente de lo que se ha dado en llamar Gobierno TI. ITIL es un referente en las empresas de servicios de tecnología y en los departamentos de TIC de cualquier empresa. Ello se debe a que la organización y cobertura de los procesos propuestos para la correcta gestión de servicios informáticos aporta un grado de utilidad superior al resto de iniciativas existentes. La implantación de un modelo de gestión basado en los procesos ITIL supone para las empresas una decisión relevante: ¿qué procesos implantar?, ¿por cuál empezar?, etc. La contestación a estas y otras preguntas no es fácil porque la adopción de estos procesos implica una inversión económica importante. Este trabajo da respuesta a la pregunta de qué orden de implantación de procesos seguir de modo que maximicemos el posicionamiento de la empresa en su sector, el posicionamiento frente

The information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) standard describes processes that should be implemented in Information Technology (IT) departments for proper operations management, which includes human resources management, economic management, and strategic management, among others. This should be especially considered in the business management of industries with no relation to information technologies (IT), such as tourism and hospitality companies. This work aims to present a method to establish the order of adoption of the IT management processes in companies that belong to the tourism industry. We conducted a survey to obtain the necessary data and developed a methodology that is based on an optimization procedure. This procedure generates the optimal sequence of IT tasks to adopt in a generic small company in the tourism industry. The methodology was then applied to a representative tourism company. Through the sequence obtained, it is shown that it is necessary to implement operative processes, and subsequently, strategic processes. A comparative study was developed to find the differences with other authors’ proposals. The most important result we found was the possibility of efficient use of organizations’ information to build an optimized list of IT procedures to improve their administration. The obtained list of processes is specific for each organization, and not dependent on the solutions offered by other authors who proposed a general or underoptimal list of processes.

The most important standard in technology services management is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The literature review developed shows that one of the most important questions to answer is finding the sequence of processes to be implemented, mainly in small companies with few resources. The purpose of this paper is to show a methodology that defines an optimal specific sequence of processes for each small company depending on internal and external parameters. The main contribution of this paper is a proven methodology to obtain a particular sequence of ITIL processes specifically adapted to each company, based on a mathematical and statistical model that uses data from a web survey. Its application generates an optimal sequence of ITIL processes. The methodology has been applied with successful results in a real case, and it shows specific benefits over the previous approaches. The main learning objective of this research is a proven method to obtain an optimal sequence of processes for the implementation of ITIL in small companies. Finally, some future works are presented.