As with all project and product methodologies and frameworks, Agile and Scrum are creating new roles within organizations. Three of the more prominent roles are

• Product Owner (PO)
• Product Manager (PM)
• Scrum Master

All three roles are higher-level jobs and come with an attractive salary.

People are frequently confused about the differences between Product Owner, Project Manager, and Scrum Master in an Agile environment. This articles aims to answer that question.

Product Managers, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters are separate roles on an Agile team, and in the Product Manager’s case, outside the Agile team. Each role has its own part to play and can generally be distinguished by these characteristics:

We’ll go into more specific job, skill, and salary information later.

Product Managers can exist anywhere, anytime. Product Owners and Scrum Masters, however, are specific roles in the Scrum Framework.

Product Owners & Scrum Masters are specifically tied to Scrum

Scrum is an Agile Development system that:

• Focuses on goals, small and large
• Takes place in 1- or 2-week-long product development periods, known as sprints
• Often uses Kanban boards to create and organize tasks

Because Scrum is a specific system, it has particular roles. The roles on the team are:

• Product Owners
• Scrum Masters
• Developers

In the Agile mindset, the Scrum team is meant to be self-organized, and all team members are responsible for getting the work done. The Product Owner and Scrum Master are critical parts of developing product capability through using Scrum.

When Scrum teams do not exist, the Product Owner and Scrum Master identities fade away. Many of the tasks performed by these roles may be absorbed in over-arching Product Management roles or by Assistant PMs.

Product Manager: jobs, skills, salary

The scope of a Product Management role varies depending on the stage of the company, the maturity of the Product Management team, and other factors including job location. At its most mature, the PM is primarily responsible for:

• Talking to users
• Organizing strategic path of product
• Creating product development timelines
• Communicating between engineering and business teams

When a product is in its initial stages, or the team is in its infancy, the Product Management team can be found wearing mile-high hats, participating in everything from UX Designing, backend engineering, and design budgeting, along with all the customer communications that are required.

PMs tend to make good money. In the U.S., the average annual salary for a Product Manager is about $107,000 estimated base pay, according to Glassdoor. However, Glassdoor reports an extremely wide salary range for PMs of between $52K and $276K, with possible salary ranges up to $600K.

Specific PM salaries are dependent on what industry the PM works in (tech PMs seem to average in the $130K range and up) and other factors such as company and location. Your mileage may vary, so research the average pay in the industries and companies you would like to work for.

Product Owner: jobs, skills, salary

Where a Product Manager might wear several hats, Product Owner responsibilities in Scrum become very narrow. Like a second basemen on a baseball field, the Product Owner has an extremely specific piece of land to cover with specific people to speak to.

Scrum utilizes a system of tasks and keeps score, often with the help of a product management tool like the Kanban chart or even a simple Excel file. Throughout the sprint, engineers will claim tasks. The role of the Product Owner is to organize and prioritize the tasks for the engineers.

• If there are no tasks, the engineers wait around for the ball to get hit to them.
• If the tasks aren’t prioritized, the engineers develop features that aren’t crucial to the product’s mission.

Generally, the engineers, like the computer systems humankind develops, will build whatever task is on that task list, regardless of its direct impact on the end-product. Thus, it is especially important for the PO to maintain a good list, or those engineers might end up building a whole different product than what the company claims to sell.

Product Owners must do several things to maintain the Scrum backlog. The PO’s primary responsibilities are:

• Translate PMs’ vision to actionable tasks
• Determine day-to-day tasks
• Write user stories for development team
• Prioritize work in the Scrum backlog

Like PMs, Product Owners earn a solid salary. Glassdoor’s research indicates an average U.S. salary of just under $101,000 estimated total base pay for POs. Like PMs, POs have an extremely wide salary range of between $38K and $389K on Glassdoor. Also, like PMs, your PO salary mileage may vary so be sure to compare salaries for target industries and locations.

Scrum Master: jobs, skills, salary

Per ScrumAlliance.org, a Scrum Master helps the Scrum team perform at their highest levels. They protect the team from internal and external distractions so that all project members—especially the development team—can focus on their work.

Scrum Masters facilitate team coordination and support project processes by performing the following roles:

• Ensuring actionable tasks designated by the Product Owner are performed accordingly
• Communicating between team members about evolving planning and requirements
• Facilitating daily Scrum and Sprint Initiatives and other Scrum events
• Conducting meetings
• Managing administrative tasks
• Eliminating external and internal project hurdles
• Other items to help the team perform at their highest level

Scrum Masters also coach team members on delivering results. They are responsible for ensuring that team members understand, execute, and follow Agile principles, processes, and practices throughout the project.

Finally, a Scrum Master communicates with the Product Owner and others within the organization for effectively implementing the Scrum Framework during the project.

Scrum Masters also earn a solid salary. Glassdoor Research specifies an average U.S. salary around $111,000 total base pay for a Scrum Master, with the most likely pay range between $27K and $537K. But like PMs and POs, this is an average that may vary significantly by industry, company, and locations.

PM, PO, and Scrum Master certifications

There are ways to set yourself apart from the crowd by getting a certification in one of these areas. These certifications indicate your specialty and experience, so you can often expect to command a higher salary.

• The Product Manager can take one of a number of tests for certification
• The larger umbrella of Agile Development certifications will teach both PM and PO roles and responsibilities. Among them, the PMI-ACP is the top certification that acts as a catch-all for agile development roles. You may also want to consider obtaining the Scrum Alliance Certified Product Owner (CSPO).
• ScrumAlliance.org offers several certifications on both a Scrum Master track and on a Product Owner track. Each track offers Certified, Advanced Certified, and Certified Professional certificates.

Product Managers, Product Owners, & Scrum Masters: The outlook is good

With companies across all sectors and geographies adopting agile product development or blending it with traditional project management—such as the predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches now included with Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional certification—it’s likely that Product Managers, Product Owners and Scrum Masters will be around for a long while.

As technology continues its expansion, more people will be needed to explain innovative concepts and applications to the business. Great PMs, POs, and Scrum Masters will continue to contribute to companies’ ongoing innovation efforts in order to stay ahead of competition.

Related reading

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• BMC DevOps Blog
• What’s An App Owner? Application Owner Roles & Responsibilities
• IT Project Management: Concepts, Solutions & Best Practices
• Agile ITSM: How Agile & Service Management Can Work Together
• Today’s Best IT/Tech Certifications: A Complete Guide

Amazon Web Services (AWS) certifications are highly sought-after credentials in today’s environment. AWS certs provide an industry standard for demonstrating AWS cloud expertise, rigorously testing competency, and providing an accurate representation of the test-taker’s skills.

This article covers several aspects of getting and maintaining an AWS certification. We’ll look at the following topics and how they relate to your AWS certification journey:

• Available AWS certifications & categories
• AWS certification costs
• Benefits of AWS certification
• Picking the right AWS certification
• Study & practice

(This article is part of our AWS Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

Available AWS certifications & categories

There are eleven active AWS certifications that you can achieve in 2022:

• 1 foundational certification
• 3 associate-level certifications
• 2 professional-level certifications
• 5 specialty certifications

(Source)

Here’s a brief description of what each certification level offers and what proficiencies they certify.

Foundational Level

Cloud Practitioner is the only Foundational AWS certificate. It is ideal for candidates with at least six months of experience in any role involving the AWS cloud, such as technical, sales, purchasing, financial, or managerial positions.

This certification verifies that the candidate has an overall familiarity with the AWS Cloud and related knowledge and skills. While other certifications tie into specific technical roles such as Architect, Developer or Operations, the Cloud Practitioner certification provides a more general foundation for any career path.

Associate Level

Each of the Associate certifications typically require at least a year of previous direct experience and knowledge regarding AWS services and related technologies. The three certifications within the Associate level are:

• Solutions Architect focuses on designing and implementing AWS distributed systems
• SysOps Administrator focuses on deploying, managing, and operating workloads on AWS
• Developer focuses on writing and deploying cloud-based applications

Professional Level

The highest certification category, each Professional AWS certification requires a full two years of experience, with each candidate being successful and highly capable within their respective roles. The two Professional-level certifications are:

• Solutions Architect validates the candidate’s ability to design, deploy, and evaluate AWS applications inside complex and diverse environments
• DevOps Engineer validates the candidate’s ability to automate the testing and deployment of AWS applications and infrastructure

Specialty certifications

Whereas the previous three levels represent the core role-based certifications that AWS offers, the Specialty certifications provide evaluations in specific technical areas. These certifications include:

• Advanced networking
• Security
• Machine Learning
• Data analytics
• Database

Requirements vary for each specialty certification. Candidates must possess experience with AWS technology, along with 2-5 years’ experience in the specialty domain. Check each individual certification for prerequisites and requirements.

How much does AWS certification cost?

To earn an AWS certification, you’ll have to pass a test. Each exam requires an AWS testing fee, typically between $100 and $300 (visit this page for Amazon’s current pricing).

Be prepared though—the examination fee won’t be your only certification cost. You may also have to invest cash and time in test preparation, including:

• Paid classroom or remote training
• Course materials
• Practice exams

But there is an upside! Amazon offers an AWS Free Tier account for trials, 12 months free access, and some free-tier services that you never need to pay for. This is valuable when studying for certification. However, if you’re studying specific certification scenarios, you may have to purchase additional services with your free account.

Benefits of an AWS Certification

AWS remains one of the top cloud service providers in the market. For good reason.

Obtaining AWS certifications demonstrates competency in AWS services. They also help candidates clearly demonstrate to potential employers exactly what skills they have, which helps you to:

• Increase your competitiveness
• Negotiate your salary

Many significant IT professional and management opportunities aren’t available without a related AWS certification. While great salaries aren’t guaranteed, AWS certified jobs frequently can offer salaries ranging from $90k to $160k+ USD, depending on the AWS certification category and job environment.

Of course, AWS certifications can also aid candidates in improving skills or learning new ones. Preparing for the exams through practice exercises and studying can:

• Reinforce knowledge on key concepts
• Correct outdated/wrong knowledge
• Introduce you to new areas

Picking the right AWS certification

The two main factors that determine appropriate AWS certification needs are the experience level and career path desires of the candidate. If you already work in a particular field and wish to move up to higher positions, look for certifications that match your capabilities. Then, check the requirements in terms of experience and skills to determine if an Associate, Professional, or Specialty certification is the best fit.

AWS outlines several “learning paths” that can help guide candidates toward the best certifications for obtaining specific professional roles in the future.

If you’re just starting out, the Foundational Cloud Practitioner certificate can be a good choice. Explore the various learning paths to help identify specific professional goals and the best certificates to reach them.

Study & practice

There are many options for exam preparation. Useful ways to get ready for AWS certification include:

• Taking training classes
• Using study guides
• Taking practice exams
• Reading AWS whitepapers

Training classes are available through AWS, and third-party global and local AWS training partners. You can find AWS approved instruction at the AWS Classroom Training Overview web page.

Remote and (sometimes) in-person training offer the best options for learning AWS skills and certifications. They provide instructor-led training and labs, as well as practice exams, books, and exercises. Amazon also offers study guides in both ebook and physical formats.

Studying for AWS exams

Studying for any given exam is likely to require anywhere from 80 to 120 hours.

For candidates working full-time jobs, this can mean months of preparation. Start a study regimen about two or three months before the exam date with a consistent weekly schedule designed to cover all the relevant material in the given timeframe. Certification exams cover a lot of material in an Amazon-specific format so give yourself plenty of time to absorb the material.

Regarding exam practice, regularly take the certification practice tests provided with your study materials. Even if you’ve been working with the material for years, certification exam questions may contain specific terminology and phrasings that you’re unfamiliar with. Taking the practice tests help prepare you for the tone and pace of the exam.

For more details on the format, type, delivery method, time limit, costs, and available languages of each exam, check the page of your intended certification by clicking on its badge on the AWS learn about training by role or solution page.

Related reading

• BMC Multi-Cloud Blog
• BMC Business of IT Blog
• AWS vs Azure vs GCP: Comparing The Big 3 Cloud Platforms
• AWS Redshift vs Snowflake: What’s The Difference & How To Choose?
• Top Paying IT Certifications Today
• GCP Cloud Architect Certification: An Introduction

If you’re an IT manager, chances are good you’ll be involved in IT strategic planning during your career. Sometimes strategic planning goes well. Sometimes it doesn’t. And strategic plans are often filed away in cloud storage, seldom referenced and hardly ever used.

Which begs the question: if no one uses your IT strategic plan, why bother creating one?

IT strategic planning has several significant benefits—even when the plan is seldom looked at. Today, we’ll discuss why it’s important to have an IT strategy and what IT strategic planning does for an organization. Specifically, we’ll look at:

• What is an IT Strategy?
• What an IT Strategy isn’t
• Critical benefits of an IT strategy

What is an IT strategy?

Stephen Covey popularized the phrase “begin with the end in mind.” This phrase captures the spirit of a strategic planning process. If we do not know where we want to be in 3-5 years, how do we ever stand a chance of getting there?

An IT strategy defines your IT vision and creates a strategic roadmap for using information technology, digital assets, and technical knowledge to create organizational value (i.e., its strategy). As we’ve written before, your IT strategy answers one particularly important question for your organization:

What IT changes are demanded to align IT with our organizational goals, support our business strategy, and create value for the organization?

Looked at this way, IT strategic planning is the process that gets us out of our day-to-day thinking. It focuses on the important—not the urgent. An IT strategy creates a mechanism for achieving our most important goals.

(For more information on what an IT strategy is and what it should include, check out How to Create an IT Strategy: Getting Started.)

Successful IT strategies

It’s just as important to understand what an IT strategy isn’t as well as what it is. Successful IT strategies are:

Strategic, not tactical

A strategic plan is a framework that guides an organization in making decisions and implementing solutions that create meaningful value, support the business strategy, and meet organizational goals. It focuses on the IT vision, processes, organization, and infrastructure, the whats and whens of aligning IT with its business goals and increasing IT capability.

Tactical plans focus on specific information for what must be done (the hows of executing the strategy). Tactics support your strategy and can rapidly change over time. Strategic plans often fail because they focus on tactics, not the strategy itself.

(Read more about IT/business alignment.)

Dynamic, not static

An IT strategy is a process not a one-time event. Your strategy shouldn’t be saved on write-once storage; It must be revised on a regular basis.

Our own personal preference is to write a 5-year strategic plan every year.

A strategic plan should allow for updates, and it must adapt to changes in the market. A strategic plan considers what the future may hold and aligns IT and business resources today to support that vision. By regularly reconsidering what the future should look like, you can make small manageable course corrections rather than having to “right the ship” when unexpected change occurs.

Published with limits, non-restrictive

In our next section, we’ll go over several benefits an IT strategy provides. Implicit in these benefits is the assumption that the published IT strategy is available to all affected staff. Upper-level management shouldn’t be the only ones who understand the IT strategy.

Except for confidential information, anyone expected to implement the strategy should understand the strategy. Your IT strategy should be shared, not restricted.

Benefits of an IT strategy

A well-conceived IT strategy provides the following benefits:

• Enables delegation of decision making
• Provides proactive and emergency response to change
• Provides parameters for creative thinking
• A way to addresses shadow IT
• Communicating intentions to leadership

Let’s take a look at each benefit.

Enabling delegation of decision making

Decision making is one of the most challenging things for a manager to delegate. Despite our best efforts, it’s often difficult to get our employees to think the same way we do.

A well-written strategic plan provides a framework for IT decision-making. When making decisions, employees can use the strategic plan to ask, “Is what I’m doing in line with the plan (wishes of the organization)?” or “Is what I’m doing opposed to the plan?”

A strategic plan empowers employees to make decisions and move initiatives forward without management involvement in every decision. This in turn helps to create a more agile, faster moving organization.

Provides proactive & emergency responses to change

A strategic plan helps an organization in two ways.

• First, it lays out the vision, requirements, critical initiatives, and directions IT will take to meet business strategies and goals. Strategic planning encourages planning based on organizational priorities.
• Second, a strategic plan also allows us to be better prepared for unexpected change and emergencies. Strategic objectives can be used to respond to unanticipated changes as well as to promote growth.

One example might occur when in-house file server storage space unexpectedly fills up at the same time the strategic plan calls for cloud storage migration. Being familiar with the strategic plan, your team may have implemented a pilot project for cloud storage and can move up storage migration in response to the disk issue. In this case, strategic thinking prepares for efficient responses.

(Learn more about regular & emergency change.)

Provides parameters for creative thinking

When developing solutions to organizational challenges, sometimes a blank slate is too much leeway. Think of building a house. Most of us do not start with a stack of lumber and a box of nails. We rely on a builder who has several floorplan options to start with.

This is analogous to a strategic plan. Once we have a plan, we can have conversations about what we like and what we do not like. We can also talk about features and how the system will be used. Before long, a house (system) that meets our needs starts to take shape.

You will find that problems can be addressed much more quickly when everyone has at least a basic understanding of where the organization wants to go. Planning sessions can more easily be focused on capabilities and not get caught up in “lumber selection” that has minor impact on the larger goals.

Offers a way to address shadow IT

Many organizations have seen a rise in shadow IT in recent years. In its simplest definition Shadow IT is an IT function/application/department created by individual units that are unaffiliated with the official (or central) IT department.

Shadow IT evolves in organizations oftentimes because IT departments are not agile enough or are not meeting the needs of the smaller departments in large organizations. A strategic plan can allow an organization to discover why Shadow IT exists and incorporate that need into the overall goals. Oftentimes a great method of dealing with shadow IT is to acknowledge the need and gain support for bringing them into the main IT organization.

(Read more about shadow IT, including its risks & surprising opportunities.)

Communicates intentions to leadership

A strategic plan for IT is the single most valuable tool for communicating your intentions to senior leadership. High level strategy is what senior leaders are most concerned with in organizations. Having a documented plan allows you to have conversations with C-Level executives about your goals.

Most importantly it provides senior leadership the opportunity to redirect any of your efforts that might not be 100% in line with their vision. These conversations allow senior leadership to establish an understanding of what the IT department is doing without having to be involved in day-to-day operations.

Related reading

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• IT Project Management: Concepts, Solutions & Best Practices
• Business Continuity Planning: How To Create & Maintain BCPs
• CIO vs CTO: What’s the Difference?
• 7 Business-Critical IT Policies & How To Implement Them
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Explained

IT Memes reflect some of the most hilarious yet honest experiences in the everyday lives of an IT professional. Here are some of the funniest IT memes dealing with Help Desk, software development, project management, ITIL, security, working from home, and more!

(This article is part of our Tech Books & Talks Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

Zoom: where you’re never fully dressed without a camera

Via Hailstorm-Development

Project Management: Darth Vader, Supreme Fleet Comander and Key Stakeholder in the Death Star project

Via memegenerator.net

Of course, the Death Star project team really messed up in the Collect Requirements process group, where they missed the requirement to prevent the Death Star from blowing up after someone hits it with a single missile in just the right spot…twice!!!

The Office Space Nostradamus: Bill Lumbergh predicts The Great Resignation and Hiring Crisis of 2021…in 1999

Via awwwmemes.com

Cybersecurity: It ain’t the age, it’s the throughput

Via Balbix on Twitter

IT Manager Pro-Tip: Always read all the words in a sentence

Via The Cyber Security Hub

Holy Framework!!! Time for more ITIL training for the Boy Wonder? Tune in next week!!!

Via Freshworks

AWS: More services per byte than any other hosting company on the internet

Via Reddit

And just wait until you see their easy-to-understand pricing model!

API: What is a RESTful API and why is it spelled so weird?

Via Medium

User experience research: Could it have been…Ancient Aliens?

Via Uxeria

And I think we all know the answer to that.

Disaster recovery: The true cost of a widespread internet outage

Via StorageCraft.com

Ransomware: While Picard likes to hang out with number one, this time it’s number two

Via Radical Compliance

Cache? Race condition? Well now we spend the next three hours trying to figure out why it didn’t work the first time…

Via Reddit

Because walkthroughs are for noobs…

Via Reddit

The XY Problem dilemma is real there…

Via Reddit

Some unsupervised learning going on there…

Via Reddit

When searching for one bug leads to a dozen more…

Looking at a simple bug #devops #sysadmin pic.twitter.com/KiS9SVn7Dg

— DevOps reactions (@devopsreact) April 29, 2019

Via Twitter

This is why you need DevOps SDLC…

Classic development cycle #devops #sysadmin pic.twitter.com/fEAG3SQKNw

— DevOps reactions (@devopsreact) May 16, 2019

Via Twitter

Let the blame game begin. #DevsVsOps

Via Twitter

When you lose another service during a major outage…

via Tumblr

High risk deployment went fine. But only just…

via Tumblr

When high traffic hits the Ops team

via Tumblr

Edit someone else’s code. Now you get to own the damages…

When everything falls apart from r/ProgrammerHumor

Via Reddit

Unrealistic project estimation in action…

via Tumblr

Bonus: The universal truth of software development:

Via Me.me

End of memes. Time to get back to work.

Via Cometchat (number 45 of 50 great programming memes)

Related reading

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• IT Newsletter Roundup: 15 Top Tech Newsletters To Read
• 16 Mut-Listen Podcasts for IT/Tech Professionals
• The Best IT/Tech Gifts To Give (or Receive)
• 10 Best TED Talks for Service Desk Professionals
• Must-Read Emotional Intelligence Books for CIOs & IT Leaders

A typical IT Support organization is usually organized across five support tiers:

• Tier 0 through Tier 3 IT support builds on itself and provides an escalation and resolution process for troubleshooting and fulfilling service requests.
• Tier 4 is a different animal altogether!

Tier 4 support provides all the same services as Tiers 0-3, but it provides them outside an organization’s regular IT support structure. Tier 4 support is provided by outside vendors and cloud service providers, coordinated by internal personnel.

To understand the challenges and opportunities in providing Tier 4 support, let’s look at:

• The hardware, software, and cloud support maintenance resources needed for Tier 4
• Additional considerations when contracting for and using Tier 4 support in a cloud services environment

What’s tier 4 IT support?

Tier 4 support is powered by software, hardware, and cloud maintenance contracts and statements of work (SOWs). Maintenance contracts and SOWs lay out the services and support provided, including:

• What is supported
• Support hours
• Rates
• Legal obligations
• Service level agreements (SLAs)

SOWs are used to purchase regular maintenance and troubleshooting services (break/fix), as well as contracting for project work when you want to install, configure, or upgrade new and existing services.

In a cloud services environment, maintenance may be covered under a monthly, quarterly, or yearly subscription or by a contract/SOW, depending on the cloud services you’re contracting for. The support requirements may be explicitly laid out as above, or they may be covered by blanket SLAs the vendor provides for all its customers (sometimes used in subscription cloud services).

Tier 4 support requires your support organization to purchase and indefinitely maintain many support contracts for critical items, including:

• Operating system support
• Server maintenance
• Cloud services support
• Application support including programming and troubleshooting, for enterprise, special purpose, network, and desktop software
• Network appliance configuration and maintenance for items such as routers, firewalls, switches, Web filtering hardware, etc.
• Copier maintenance
• PC maintenance
• Email systems
• Laser, bar-code, and high-speed impact printers
• Scanners
• Cell phones
• Telecommunications lines
• UPS systems and generators
• Air conditioners

All of which adds up to a fair number of maintenance contracts and SOWs that need to be tracked for tier 4 support.

Setting up tier 4 supports

That means the first item of business when you add any new service, equipment, or software to your network is to identify, set up, and document the following:

1. Identify what type of support is needed: tier 0-3 (inside) or tier 4 (outside vendor).
2. Determine who your tier 4 support organization will be for the item.
3. Negotiate and get a maintenance or SOW quote for the vendor’s services. Note: this may not be available or needed for certain cloud services.
4. Determine cost and dates, including what costs are necessary to deliver this service and what date range the contract covers.
5. Get approval and add the new expense into your budget. Since tier 4 support is an IT service rather than capital, it will probably be budgeted as an operating expense item (OpEx). Cloud services and support will mostly be budgeted as OpEx.
6. Determine how you will track and report on incidents or requests sent to an outside vendor. Service management platforms such as BMC Helix ITSM provide incident tracking, problem management, change management, service request management, and a configuration management database (CMDB) that provide all the capabilities you need for tracking and reporting.

Tier 4 support requires a fair amount of contract management and repeatable budgeting events. Each support contract has its own documentation, payment due date, and contract expiration date.

To confuse matters, you may have several support contracts with the same vendor, with each contract having different expiration dates. In a single vendor-multiple contract situation, it’s helpful to contact and arrange for all services to be co-terminus, meaning they all expire at the same time each year.

When to drop tier 4 support for a particular item

You should think carefully before halting a support contract, particularly for expensive items.

Many providers price support at about 20-25% of the purchase price, such that every 4-5 years you wind up paying for the product a second time. Some shops are tempted to skip paying support for items that never change or for program maintenance that they believe they will never use.

But beware. Many vendors have policies that if a customer lets support lapse, the customer must pay yearly support all the way back to the time they stopped paying support…sometimes with penalties.

A good rule of thumb is to buy maintenance for any items that you either don’t want to or cannot maintain yourself or that are too expensive to replace. The worst feeling in the world is when you must replace an expensive IT item or pay back maintenance because you didn’t keep up with the maintenance contract after the first year’s maintenance runs out.

Tier 4 support & cloud services

Be careful when dealing with Tier 3 and Tier 4 support for troubleshooting issues involving cloud services. Traditional IT support contracts are built around providing support either for:

• Products you “own”, such as a piece of on-premises software you’ve licensed or computer hardware you own/lease such as PCs, laptops, servers, and network equipment
• Professional services you’ve contracted for, such as support for using various software packages, printer, and scanner support, etc.

Under traditional IT support contracts—product and professional service support when the supported item resides on-premises—fall neatly into Level 0-4 IT support tiers.

Cloud services frequently break this mold. Cloud services don’t involve products you “own” or professional services you’ve contracted for. A cloud service is a right to access a service on another company’s network. And that complicates cloud service tier 4 support.

Think of a company that buys cloud services for Amazon Web Service (AWS) infrastructure hosting. For AWS hosting, you may configure an EC2 Linux instance and databases to host a custom-written pricing app. The app has an issue that can’t be solved by levels 0-2 support, and you need to escalate for a fix.

In this situation, the question becomes:

• Is the fix a problem within the AWS provided operating system or database, which may involve tier 4 support and escalation to Amazon?
• Or is the problem with your custom-written application, which would be solved by escalation to IT tier 3 support?

For AWS cloud services, it’s not obviously clear which escalation path should be followed—tier 3: organizational experts versus tier 4: outside support. You’re using an AWS EC2 instance, but AWS has nothing to do with the software you’re running.

Advancing cloud service issues past tier 2 support may require a determination of who owns the issue and whether it should be escalated to tier 3, tier 4 for the cloud service, or tier 4 to another vendor whose software is being used under the cloud service (maybe the consultant who wrote the custom app running on AWS EC2).

Tier 4 support gets more complicated for cloud service issues. Support group assignment may need additional analysis to determine what IT support tier (tier 3 or 4) and what support group an issue with a cloud service element will be assigned to. It won’t always be obvious who should resolve IT cloud service support issues. And you may have to factor IT tier 4 support determination into your support structure.

Auditing & renegotiating maintenance payments

Finally, don’t forget to audit your support payments. As noted above, maintenance providers tend to price maintenance support at about 20-25% of the original purchase price or charge. But that won’t stop vendors from raising support costs year-to-year or reclassifying support costs into a more expensive maintenance tier.

For cloud support, where maintenance may be factored into a subscription fee or a contract, prices may increase on a yearly basis due to the vendor’s pricing plan and may increase sporadically, depending on how you’re billed.

Always check your tier 4 support bills against the contract or the vendor’s current pricing policy. Be sure to check any monthly subscription charges that may be auto paid to watch for price changes. Make sure the vendor is charging the agreed upon contract price or current pricing policy.

If there’s a billing increase, it may be due to an agreed upon price increase clause (for example, the contract may specify a percentage increase due each year) or a change in subscription fees. Bring up any price increases that aren’t triggered by the contract.

(Avoid vendor lock-in with these 10 checks.)

BMC is a service management leader

If you’re interested in more information about IT support levels and tier 4 support, meet BMC Software. We’re leaders in service and operations management, and we’ve been helping enterprises for more than 40 years. BMC Helix is our integrated service and operations management portfolio for modern enterprises.

Related reading

• BMC Service Management Blog
• Swarming vs Tiered Support Models Explained
• Help Desk vs Service Desk: What’s The Difference?
• What Is AISM? AI Service Management Explained
• Introduction to Intelligent Swarming
• The State of ITSM Today

Dealing with risk is an important part of deploying new services in an IT service management (ITSM) environment. IT risk can occur in several areas during service delivery, including operational, legal, and financial risks.

Besides minimizing problems in service delivery, many government and regulatory agencies also routinely review organizational risk management policies and responses. Implementing and controlling risk in an ITSM environment is not only smart business; it can also be a regulatory requirement.

IT risk management is a continuous process that has its own lifecycle. Although experts differ on what steps are included in the process, a simple IT risk management process usually includes the elements shown in figure 1.

Step 1: Identification

Specific organizational risks should be identified whenever an item will be added to the service catalogue or when an existing service catalogue item is going to be modified. Risk identification ideally occurs in the Service Design phase or the Continual Service Improvement phase of the ITIL framework, where new services are defined and committed to.

There are several ways to identify risks in rolling out a new service catalogue feature, including:

• Brainstorming. Bring together all the stakeholders who have an interest in the successful implementation of the new service item and categorically review the risks that might be encountered when offering that item. Brainstorming sessions should include not only the IT department, but department heads, service desk personnel, and other supporting personnel involved with the proposed service.
• Organizational historical records. Risks for new service catalogue items may parallel risks for existing items. If you’re running an ITSM application such as BMC Helix ITSM, you can audit service tickets for items relating to services similar to what you’re planning to offer. Service tickets often contain a database of realized risks that may help you discover possible risks for new IT services.
• Internet search, blogs, forums, commercial products, and networking. Risks for new services can also be identified by searching the Internet for the proposed service type and its related problems. You may also find information about possible risks in blog posts, forums, commercial products discussing the service (especially e-books or seminars), or by networking with other organizations that have implemented similar services.

Risk identification should always include a description of the risk and the potential impact that will occur if the risk is realized. Potential impacts should be scored as to whether each risk carries a potential high, medium, or low impact on the business. Scoring impacts will help you decide what (if any) resources, you should allocate to addressing each risk.

(Try the impact, urgency, prioritization matrix.)

Step 2: Prioritizing risk

Probability of risk occurring and prioritizing risks: It’s important to determine the probability that a risk will occur as well as the importance of each risk. Probabilities can also be classified in simple terms such as a low, medium, or high probability.

Take, for example, a new service to provision cell phones where you may identify the following risks and their probabilities of occurring:

• Cell phone hardware doesn’t work = low probability. Cell phones don’t usually fail right out of the box, but it does occasionally happen.
• Mistake in configurations = medium probability.  The user receives their new cell phone and a company app was not loaded on the phone or the phone is misconfigured, causing a return and reconfiguration.
• Damage to phone = high probability. The phone is damaged in shipment or the user does something stupid like dropping their phone in the toilet or placing it on the roof of their car and driving away, causing loss of phone and additional costs for replacement

Determining the probability of each risk occurring helps prioritize which risks you’ll need to develop response plans for (see next section) and the order in which each response plan should be developed.

Step 3: Risk response planning

How will your service desk and IT department respond if any of the identified risks occur? IT departments can generally create a response plan for dealing with risks by using one of the following techniques.

• Avoidance. Structuring IT service delivery to avoid having the risk. To avoid cell phone configuration mistakes for example, a second tech might be required to run through a checklist verifying that all configuration items were executed correctly before delivering the phone.
• Mitigation. Changing the service delivery to minimize the effects of a realized risk. Using our cell phone example, phone damage issues can be mitigated by purchasing newer water-proof phones and cases, insurance, or by using a hardened case and display cover.
• Planned contingency. Having a plan to address risk when it occurs. If a new cell phone fails or is damaged, an organization might stock spares to deploy immediately as replacements.
• Shifting the risk. For cell phone repair or replacement issues, the organization could have insurance or retain a third-party for repair.
• Acceptance of risk. If there are risks that are not covered by avoidance, mitigation, planned contingency, or risk shifting, organizations may accept these as too cumbersome or expensive to control and leave out of the response plan.

Step 4: Monitoring

It’s important to monitor and identify risk triggers that activate a response. The trigger for cell phone issues would probably be a user support call. For operational support, organizations can install performance and availability monitoring software such as those in the BMC Helix and TrueSight Operations Management portfolios.  Monitoring software can automatically alert on-call IT responders when issues are detected.

Step 5: Improvement

When new risks are identified, they should be evaluated in the context of the established management process and reflected in an updated risk management plan. In the ITIL framework, improvement is implemented under the Continual Service Improvement practice of the ITIL Service Lifecycle.

Bonus: Documentation

There’s one other step in the IT risk management process that’s implied but not listed here: documentation. It’s important to document realized risks and their responses as they occur for two reasons:

1. It helps you implement future needs in addressing the risk.
2. It provides an historical record for providing documentation to auditors and regulatory agents that you have a risk management plan and are using it.

Related reading

• BMC Service Management Blog
• ITIL 4 vs ITIL v3: What’s The Difference?
• IT Security Vulnerability vs Threat vs Risk: What are the Differences?
• GRC: Governance, Risk, Compliance Explained
• Choosing IT Metrics That Matter
• Wardley Value Chain Mapping: What Is It & How To Create Yours

Amazon Web Services (AWS) pioneered the modern-day cloud computing IT service delivery model. Amazon’s cloud service delivery success relies on the technology’s accessibility and availability for end-users.

The AWS Cloud has grown rapidly since its inception, expanding its services across worldwide geographic locations. Its vast global cloud infrastructure footprint sets it apart from leading competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

This primer describes how the AWS global cloud infrastructure works and what that means for AWS customers. We’ll look at the following items:

• What is the AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure?
• AWS Cloud Infrastructure Delivery Environments
• How Big is the AWS Cloud?
• Considerations When Choosing AWS Global Infrastructure Components

(This tutorial is part of our AWS Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

What is the AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure?

The AWS Global Cloud infrastructure is the backbone network of global data centers and other platforms that Amazon uses to deliver application workloads and AWS services.

The AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure is the backbone network for delivering AWS workloads and services (Source)

For cloud application and service delivery, customers provision and connect their end users and organizational environments to the following AWS global infrastructure components:

• AWS Regions
• AWS Availability Zones
• AWS Local Zones
• AWS Wavelength Zones

AWS Regions

The heart of the AWS Global Cloud. AWS Regions are physical locations around the world where Amazon clusters data centers for application and service delivery in AWS Availability Zones. Regions also provide extensions for other delivery options, such as AWS Local Zones.

Each AWS Region may offer different service quality in terms of latency, solutions portfolio, and cost, based on its geographic location and distance from customer sites.

(Explore regions from other cloud providers in Availability Regions & Zones for AWS, Azure & GCP.)

AWS Availability Zones

An Availability Zone (AZ) is a grouping of one or more discrete data centers that provide applications and services in an AWS region.

Each AZ contains redundant connectivity, power, and networking capabilities, and individual AZs are physically separated (isolated) from each other by a meaningful distance. All AZs in an AWS Region are connected through low latency and high throughput networking channels.

Because of their connectivity and redundancy, AZs provide customer application and database operating environments that are more scalable and fault tolerant. Because regional AZs are physically isolated from each other, applications can be partitioned across multiple AZs for high availability.

AWS Local Zones

AWS Region extensions that place compute, storage, databases, and other AWS services in closer proximity to large populations, IT centers, and industries.

AWS Local Zones are provisioned to run high-speed applications—such as media, entertainment, real-time gaming, live video streaming, and machine learning—that require single-digit millisecond latency to service users in specific geographic locations.

AWS Wavelength Zones

Wavelength zones provide 5G telecommunications connections inside AWS Regions. Wavelength zones embed AWS compute and storage capabilities within communication service providers’ (CSPs) data centers at the edge of their 5G networks.

5G devices can reach apps running in Wavelength Zones without ever leaving the 5G network, allowing them to take advantage of 5G bandwidth and latency.

AWS Outposts

AWS Outposts is a fully managed service that allows customers to build and deploy AWS storage capacity at customer sites. Outposts extend AWS infrastructure, services, tools, and APIs to customer locations, enabling a hybrid delivery experience.

AWS Outposts can be created in almost any customer provided space, including:

• Data centers
• Co-location facilities
• Customer on-premises facilities

AWS cloud infrastructure delivery environments

Customers can use AWS global cloud infrastructure zones and outposts to deliver workloads and services to users inside specific geographical locations (AWS Regions), through the following infrastructure delivery environments:

• Cloud data centers: Scalable, clustered, and redundant Amazon provided data centers (AWS Availability Zones).
• Cloud single-digit millisecond latency environments: Amazon ultralow latency data centers that are significantly closer to users in large population centers, IT centers, and industries (AWS Local Zones).
• 5G environments: 5G telecommunication network delivery for single-digit millisecond latency access for mobile devices and end users (AWS Wavelength Zones).
• Hybrid delivery: Customer hosted sites where workloads and services can be delivered with the same infrastructure, services, tools, and APIs used in AWS facilities (AWS Outposts).

How big is the AWS cloud?

As of this writing, here’s how big the AWS cloud is:

• The AWS cloud spans 81 Availability Zones within 25 worldwide geographic regions. Announced plans include 21 more Availability Zones and seven more regions in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
•  There are currently eight AWS Local Zones for ultralow latency applications, with nine more Local Zones on the way.
• There are 17 Wavelength Zones available for ultralow latency and 5G processing.

Up-to-date information on the location and count of AWS Regions, Availability Zones, Local Regions, and Wavelength Zones can be found on the official AWS Global Infrastructure page.

How to choose AWS global infrastructure components

The choice for choosing your AWS global cloud infrastructure may come as a tradeoff for organizations based on a range of factors, including:

Latency & proximity

The distance between the cloud deployments (AWS Regions and Zones) and end-users is a key factor that determines the latency and network performance of the cloud service.

• For ultralow latency workloads, you may need to provision AWS Local Zones to meet user needs.
•  For 5G access, there may be no other choice than to provision an AWS Wavelength Zone.

Performance is further affected when the cloud solution is integrated with on-premise legacy technologies and apps as part of a hybrid cloud strategy (AWS Outposts). In a hybrid strategy, performance is highly influenced by local factors, such as on-premises network and telecommunications speed, that AWS capabilities may not be able to compensate for.

Selecting the AWS Region closest to customer or end-user proximity helps ensure the best user experience. The closest region is also usually the least expensive option when compared to choosing an AWS Region in a distant geographic location.

Amazon also offers services such as AWS Route 53 to automatically direct global network traffic through the most optimal channels to maximize availability and performance.

Cost

Pricing across AWS Regions varies, because of different CapEx, OpEx, and regulations in different geographic locations. Organizations may need to identify the optimal tradeoff between the cost and other factors—including service catalog items, latency, network performance, regulatory compliance—when configuring their AWS infrastructure.

AWS offers a cost calculator to estimate the expected costs of AWS services in different regions. The more complex your AWS environment is, the harder it will be to accurately estimate your AWS global cloud infrastructure costs. The cost calculator is a good place to start for estimating costs on expected AWS regions used.

Service catalog availability

Amazon offers a vast portfolio of cloud-based solutions spanning AWS Regions. While the most popular AWS services are available across all AWS Regions, not every region offers all services. Consult the AWS Regional Services page to determine AWS service availability in every Region.

AWS Region choices should be based on current and future workload needs. Workload requirement changes may require additional AWS service investments in different regions, particularly when servicing many worldwide locations.

Regulatory compliance & security

Regulatory compliance and security can also affect which AWS regions and zones will host your workloads. Consider the following factors when selecting which AWS global cloud infrastructure components to deploy for applications and services.

• Regulatory compliance. Specific industry and regulatory specifications—such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and state, provincial, or local locality data handling regulations—may require sensitive end-user data to be processed in specific geographic locations.
•  Data mobility. Cloud computing makes it easy for organizations to transfer, store, and process information in data centers at distant locations, which may be considered as a violation of compliance regulations that may lead to costly lawsuits and damages to the brand reputation.
•  Security requirements. Organizations may also be obliged to distribute workloads across multiple geographically disparate cloud data centers to ensure high availability and security standards of sensitive business information and IT-enabled services.

Service level agreements

To meet the desired standards of IT service availability and performance, AWS provides many Service Level Agreements (SLAs) covering service uptime and credits for service failure.

Consult the AWS Service Level Agreement page for more information on the SLAs Amazon offers for delivered services.

The green factor

Many organizations are pushing to achieve carbon neutrality and adopting environmentally friendly business practices. Amazon is no different. Using renewable energy, AWS aims to operate a net carbon neutral global infrastructure by contributing toward various renewable energy and data center projects,.

The location of AWS data centers is therefore one criteria to consider in your annual sustainability report that could serve as a competitive differentiation toward your sustainability efforts.

Considering your cloud strategy

AWS offers a range of global cloud infrastructure offerings that can fit well in your IT strategy, whether you’re focusing on service uptime, product portfolio, availability, compliance, or sustainability factors.

CIOs need to make well-informed decisions pertaining to AWS global cloud infrastructure with considerations for both the near-term and long-term implications of their IT investments.

(See how to build your multi-cloud strategy.)

Related reading

• BMC Multi-Cloud Blog
• The AWS Well-Architected Framework: 5 Pillars & Best Practices
• Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) Explained
• Cloud Governance Best Practices for Efficient Cloud Operations
• Common Roles in Cloud Computing
• AWS Certifications: An Introduction

IT departments support the critical business systems that your organization relies on to move business forward. An IT service management (ITSM) solution helps make your tactical tasks easier.

But how do you manage your department’s projects?

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can improve IT project management by leveraging an enterprise-wide project management solution that incorporates integrated project management (IPM) and portfolio project management (PPM) methodologies. We’ll cover the following:

• Integrated project management (IPM)
• Portfolio project management (PPM)
• Project Management vs IPM vs PPM
• Choosing PM solutions

What is Integrated Project Management (IPM)?

In traditional project management (PM), processes for achieving project requirements are often local to that project. Different projects or teams may run their projects without coordination of how their actions affect other projects or the overall organization. IT department projects are typically run differently than production team projects, using different knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques.

Unfortunately, different departments/teams don’t always share their project tools and knowledge.

Integrated project management (IPM) expands project management methodology to include processes and considerations on an organizational scale. IPM requires that all business units both:

• Employ a consistent project management approach and processes
• Share project knowledge

IPM defines a collection of organizational processes to ensure different project elements are properly coordinated.

(Compare processes to practices.)

Integrated project management isn’t just about a single project. It implements a holistic approach to project management across the organization that requires:

• Understanding and using overall organizational practices and processes during project execution
• Fostering cooperation and coordination between departments and teams
• Sharing information between teams and projects
• Compromising between competing alternatives and objectives

IPM’s approach integrates all individual project knowledge area and process group items with organizational processes and considerations (including other projects) to achieve success and meet organizational goals. Also known as collaborative working, IPM attempts to use organization-wide processes and knowledge sharing to effectively select, coordinate, and synchronize project efforts for maximum organizational business value—all of which can be an excellent addition for IT project management.

What is Portfolio Project Management (PPM)?

A portfolio encompasses a collection of projects and/or programs that are managed as a group to achieve strategic and financial objectives. Portfolio items are grouped together to ensure the effective governance and management of project and program work to meet organizational priorities and strategies.

Project portfolio management (PPM) is the centralized management of one or more project portfolios to achieve strategic and financial objectives. PPM shares many IPM goals, including the ability to measure and select all project investments against their costs and the organization’s strategic goals.

Per the Project Management Institute (PMI), rather than focusing on implementing projects the “right way”, PPM focuses on implementing the “right projects and programs” that satisfy organizational goals. PPM fits perfectly with IPM’s collaborative approach of performing project management and integrating project knowledge and processes on an organizational scale.

And considering that an IT project list is just a portfolio of technologies designed to meet organizational priorities and strategies, it makes sense to integrate PPM into IT project management.

(Read our full explainer on Project Portfolio Management.)

Project Management vs Integrated PM vs Portfolio PM

The differences and similarities between PM, IPM, and PPM can be summed up as the following:

• Project management (PM) is a temporary effort that enables business value through the creation of a unique product, service, or result.
• Integrated project management (IPM) expands project management methodology to employ a holistic approach spanning the organization, using enterprise-wide organizational practices, processes, and shared knowledge to ensure different project elements are properly coordinated.
• Portfolio project management (PPM) is the centralized management of project and program groupings to achieve strategic and financial objectives.

These three practices overlap and build on each other, from individual projects to common practices, processes, and shared knowledge to strategic and financial project management.

Each methodology’s needs should be considered together when looking at an IT and organizational project management solution.

Enterprise project management solutions for IT

Now that we’ve defined what IPM and PPM methodologies bring to IT project management, let’s talk about how you can improve IT PM implementations by leveraging an enterprise-wide project management solution.

There are many good and popular enterprise project management solutions suitable for IT, including:

• Celoxis
• Cloud Coach
• Jira
• Microsoft Project
• Monday
• Oracle NetSuite
• Smartsheet
• Wrike

Using an existing PM solution

You’ll want to look for a project management solution that can be used not only for the IT department, but for non-IT departments and projects. Taking an enterprise-wide view allows IT to both:

• Share common processes and share knowledge with other business units (IPM viewpoint)
• Manage IT projects as their own portfolio or as part of an enterprise cross-functional portfolio (PPM viewpoint)

Check with your Project Management Office (PMO) to see what, if any, project management software they are using to manage non-IT projects. You may already be familiar with using their software for projects that have IT department components but aren’t IT-only projects, such as:

• Mergers and acquisitions
• HR department consolidation
• Audits
• New production floor machinery
• Facility expansion and closing

You may want to consider using their existing PM solution for managing IT-only projects, as it may already cover the PM, IPM, and PPM functions discussed here.

Choosing a new PM solution

If no centralized enterprise project management solution exists, then it’s time to look for an enterprise PM solution that can be used for managing IT and non-IT projects across the organization.

First, look for software that supports standard project management functionality in a PM framework. Many project management packages align nicely with the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) standards for waterfall, agile, or hybrid project management.

In general, look for dedicated PM software that provides the following features:

• Cloud-based solutions are, in our opinion, superior to in-house solutions for enterprise project management. Cloud solutions are easier to manage and deploy to any global location. Just as email systems, file serving, CRM, and other critical solutions are migrating to the cloud, so should project management systems.
• Team collaboration to organize project documentation and project communications in one place, allowing team members to track project progress in real time.
• Planning & scheduling modules (timeline management) to visually manage and compare portfolio and project timelines, including Gantt charts.
• Workload & resource management to assign resources to project tasks and to monitor each resource.
• Project portfolio management to manage program and portfolio project groupings to achieve corporate objectives for PPM.
• Document management for knowledge sharing to share project documents and to provide access to common practices and procedures for PM and IPM.
• Reporting modules for relaying project progress
• An approval engine that allows you to dynamically route completed project documents based on business rules, and to automatically send updated notifications based on the approval status.
• Resource allocation which allows you to quickly see which IT resources are working on what projects and who is available to work on new projects.

Adding a dedicated project management solution that can also be used in the enterprise provides additional visibility into several key components of your IT function. Aside from the features and benefits listed here, it provides you with a clear understanding of what each team member is working on, and for how long.

Aligning development & enterprise projects

Using an enterprise project management solution for IT projects also allows you to align IT development with enterprise project management because it:

• Helps provide standard processes for handling IT requests, a la IPM.
• Enables IT projects to be managed and evaluated as part of a portfolio or program via PPM.
• Allows IT projects to incorporate standard PM practices for IT management—such as project charters; project management plans; and scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, risk, procurement, and stakeholder management plans—into your IT project management.
• Provides templates for change control and knowledge sharing.

With new technologies and methodologies such as distributed systems, DevOps, Agile, Lean, Kanban and cross-functional teams, with IT staff reporting to business units and vice versa, IT is no longer a siloed function (and it shouldn’t be).

IT projects should be managed using the same processes and tools—including the same project management solution—and sharing knowledge across the organization. That’s a best practice that all enterprise IT functions should live by.

Related reading

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• BMC Service Management Blog
• Software Project Management Phases & Best Practices
• PMP & Other Project Management Certifications
• What Is ITBM? IT Business Management Explained
• How Service, Business Relationship & Product Management Work Together

Serverless applications are changing the way companies do business by enabling them to deploy much faster and more frequently—a competitive advantage.

Amazon’s AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) has been a game changer in this space, making it easy for developers to create, access and deploy applications, thanks to simplified templates and code samples.

(This tutorial is part of our AWS Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)

What you’ll learn in this guide

This guide is a primer for developers who are interested in learning how to program in AWS SAM. We’ll discuss the following key AWS SAM topics and features:

• Key Terminology
• Who uses AWS SAM?
• The AWS Serverless Application Model
• What AWS resources are used in AWS SAM?
• The benefits of programming in AWS SAM

Key terminology

Here are three key terms you need to understand to start programming in AWS SAM:

• Function-as-a-Service (FaaS). Think of FaaS as a ready-to-implement framework that can be easily tailored to the needs of an enterprise business. FaaS allows customers to develop and run code without the need to provision and manage infrastructure.
• Compute service. An on-demand FaaS that specializes in serverless computing.
• Serverless application. An application, programmed in the cloud, that requires no server maintenance.

(Learn more about serverless architecture.)

Who uses AWS SAM?

AWS SAM is an important resource for any developer who:

• Is ready to use serverless computing
• Wants to learn more about serverless architecture

The resources available within AWS SAM make it easy for any programmer to get their feet wet with low-cost, efficient serverless computing services provided by Amazon.

What is the AWS Serverless Application Model?

The AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM) is designed to make the creation, deployment, and execution of serverless applications as simple as possible. This can be done using AWS SAM templates with just a few choice code snippets—this way, practically anyone can create a serverless app.

What AWS resources are used for AWS SAM?

Let’s look at the resources that are used in the AWS Serverless Application Model.

AWS SAM CLI, YAML & CloudFormation

AWS SAM applications can be created using the AWS SAM CLI command line tool. SAM CLI lets you build, test, and deploy applications using either:

• SAM CLI templates
• The AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)

SAM CLI can also be used for application deployment.

You can define and model SAM application templates using YAML.

AWS SAM templates are an extension of AWS CloudFormation templates. At deployment, SAM transforms the SAM syntax into CloudFormation syntax. CloudFormation sets up and configures the server infrastructure that your serverless applications will run under, allowing you to concentrate on your application rather than your infrastructure.

AWS Lambda

The AWS Lambda FaaS platform exists so that developers can run code without administering servers. Using the Lambda compute service, developers can upload deployable code. Then, Amazon handles the administration, charging only for the accumulated runtime used.

The Lambda console makes it easy to create applications with just a few clicks. Lambda supports many languages through Lambda runtime environments, including C#, Go, Java, .Net, Node.js, and Python.

Developers can create single, simple, and scalable Lambda functions that can be invoked in several ways, including:

• Automatic invocation using triggers in Lambda or another AWS service. Using triggers, Lambda functions can be invoked in response to lifecycle events, external events, or from a schedule.
• Event source mapping from another AWS resource. Event source mappings read items from an Amazon Kinesis or Amazon DynamoDB stream; an Amazon SQS queue; or another AWS resource and send those items to a Lambda function.
• Other AWS services that can directly invoke Lambda functions.

Of note, functions created on Lambda’s architecture are scalable for optimum performance.

(Compare AWS Lambda with AWS ECS.)

Amazon API Gateway

Using the Amazon API Gateway service, developers can create, deploy, secure, and monitor the frontend of their serverless application. API Gateway extensions can be used in your AWS SAM templates.

Like AWS Lambda, which is designed to create the backend of an application, Amazon API Gateway takes the complexity out of writing and deploying code that executes the front-door entry point to your application, including authorization. The Gateway APIs work with AWS Lambda backends, as well as Amazon EC2 and other web application services.

Amazon keeps its API Gateway service low-cost and affordable for developers by only charging for:

• Calls made to APIs
• Data transfers out of them

AWS Serverless Application Repository

The AWS Serverless Application Repository is a searchable ecosystem that allows developers to find serverless applications and their components for deployment. Its helps simplify serverless application development by providing ready-to-use apps.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Search and discover. A developer can search the repository for code snippets, functions, serverless applications, and their components.
2. Integrate with the AWS Lambda console. Repository components are already available to developers.
3. Configure. Before deploying, developers can set environment variables, parameter values, and more. For example, you can go the plug-and-play route by adding repository components to a larger application framework, or you can deconstruct and tinker with the code for further customization. If needed, pull requests can also be submitted to repository authors.
4. Deploy. Deployed applications can be managed from the AWS Management Console. A developer can follow prompts to name, describe and upload their serverless applications and components to the ecosystem where they can be shared internally and with other developers across the ecosystem. This feature makes AWS SAM a truly open-source environment.

Benefits of programming in AWS SAM

You can build serverless applications for almost any type of backend service without having to worry about scalability and managing servers. Here are some of the many benefits that building serverless applications in AWS SAM has to offer.

Low cost & efficient

AWS SAM is low-cost and efficient for developers because of its pay-as-you-go structure. The platform only charges developers for usage, meaning you never pay for more of a service than you use.

Simplified processes

The overarching goal of AWS SAM is ease-of-use. By design, it’s focused on simplifying application development so that programmers have more freedom to create in the open-source ecosystem.

Quick, scalable deployment

AWS SAM makes deployment quick and simple by allowing developers to upload code to AWS and letting Amazon handle the rest. They also provide robust testing environments, so developers don’t miss a beat. All of this occurs on a platform that is easy to scale, allowing apps to grow and change to meet business objectives.

Convenient & accessible

Undoubtedly, AWS SAM offers a convenient solution for developing in the cloud. Its serverless nature also means that it is a universally accessible platform. The wide reach of the internet makes it easy to execute code on-demand from anywhere.

Decreased time to market

Overall, choosing a serverless application platform saves time and money that would otherwise be spent managing and operating servers or runtimes, whether on-premises or in the cloud. Because developers can create apps in a fraction of the time (think hours—not weeks or months), they are able to focus more of their attention on accelerating innovation in today’s competitive digital economy.

AWS SAM for Serverless Applications

It’s clear that AWS SAM is a highly efficient, highly scalable, low-cost, and convenient solution for cloud programming.

But for those who haven’t yet made the switch, there are some concerns that arise from developing using AWS SAM, including:

• A general lack of control over the ecosystem that developers are coding in.
• Vendor lock-in that may occur when you sign up for any FaaS.
• Session timeouts that require developers to rewrite code, making it more complex instead of simplifying the process.
• AWS Lambda timeouts: Lambda functions are limited by a timeout value that can be configured from 3 seconds to 900 seconds (15 minutes). Lambda automatically terminates functions running longer than its time-out value.

The first two points are common drawbacks of any outsourcing strategy. The latter two concerns, however, might mean you’ll implement a few new workarounds. Regardless, the many benefits of programming in AWS SAM cannot be overlooked.

Related reading

• BMC DevOps Blog
• What’s AWS VPC? Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Explained
• The AWS Well-Architected Framework: 5 Pillars & Best Practices
• Serverless Best Practices
• MongoDB vs DynamoDB: Comparing NoSQL Databases
• AWS re:Invent: The Complete Guide

Project Management, Program Management, and Project Portfolio Management are interrelated disciplines of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) published by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

To understand each management discipline, you first need to understand:

• PMI projects, programs, and portfolios
• What each discipline does
• How they support each other
• How they differ from each other
• Certification requirements for each discipline

Let’s get started.

Defining project vs program vs portfolio

According to PMBOK:

A project is “…a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”

Projects have a defined scope. They have a definite beginning and end. They are initiated in response to either:

• A need, request, or requirement that must be fulfilled
• A product, process, or service that must be created

Projects enable business value. A project can be a stand-alone initiative or part of a larger program or portfolio.

A program is a group of related projects and subsidiary programs that are managed in a coordinated way to realize benefits that cannot be achieved separately.

Importantly, programs are not large projects. Instead, programs involve coordinating and managing their related projects and sub-programs to ensure the promised delivery and benefits of the entire program.

A portfolio encompasses a group of projects and/or programs that are managed as a group to achieve strategic and financial objectives.

Portfolio items are grouped together to ensure the effective governance and management of project and program work to meet organizational priorities and strategies.

The relationship between projects, programs, and portfolios is shown here:

(Source)

To better illustrate the difference between projects, programs, and portfolios, imagine that your organization has a project that involves creating a new case for a laptop computer.

That case project could be part of a program to assemble a new laptop that encompasses other projects for creating the motherboard, the CPU, and all other laptop component projects. The laptop assembly program and other related programs and projects might be part of a portfolio containing all laptops that your organization has built and sold.

Putting it more simply, note these relationships, per the above chart:

• Programs can encompass one or more projects.
• Portfolios can encompass several programs and projects.

Every project component is supported by and supports the other two components.

Defining project management, program management & project portfolio management…the right way

Project management, program management, and project portfolio management are fundamentally different. PMI plainly spelled it out in the sixth edition PMBOK guide when it wrote:

Program and project management focus on doing programs and projects the “right” way; and portfolio management focuses on doing the “right” programs and projects.

Project management and program management enable business value through the creation and delivery of a unique product, service, or result. They involve execution and results delivery. Projects and programs are generally carried out by project managers or program managers.

What’s project portfolio management?

On the other hand, project portfolio management (PPM) is the centralized management of one or more project portfolios to achieve strategic objectives. PPM involves:

• Business analysis
• Budgeting
• Forecasting
• Risk management
• Balancing stakeholder needs across projects and programs

PPM prioritizes and selects projects/programs and focuses resources on the best initiatives to meet organizational objectives.

The “right” strategic projects and programs are selected and turned over to project and program management for initiation and execution in the “right” way. Project portfolios don’t generally have a defined beginning and end, as they involve project selection, optimization, and resource allocation across many initiatives. PPM bridges the gap between strategy and implementation.

Portfolios are generally managed by portfolio managers or the Project Management Office (PMO).

Who qualifies to be Project Managers, Program Managers, or Portfolio Managers?

There are separate PMI certifications for Project Managers, Program Managers, and Portfolio Managers. (Important bonus: these certifications are routinely among the highest-paying IT certifications.)

Project managers

The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification requires you to meet both these requirements:

• Have at least three years (36 months) of project management experience
• Have at least 35 hours of project management education to work as a project manager

Note there is also a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification, but the CAPM is not accepted as project management experience in the same way as a PMP is accepted when applying for a program management professional certification (described next).

Program managers

The Program Management Professional (PgMP) certification requires prior experience in project management and verifies PgMP skills. PgMP requires both:

• Four years (48 months) of project management experience or a PMP certification
• Seven years (84 months) of program management experience in the last 15 years if you have a secondary degree, or four years (48 months) of program management experience if you have a four-year degree

Portfolio managers

The Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) certification is intended for executive or senior-level practitioners managing portfolios of projects and programs that are aligned with organizational strategy.

The requirements are much more stringent than for the other two certifications. You must have:

• At least 96 months (8 years) of business experience within the last 15 years and possess either a secondary or four-year degree
• Either four years (48 months) or seven years (84 months) of portfolio management experience, depending on the type of degree you’ve earned (secondary or four-year degree).

The PfMP also includes a panel review of your qualifications.

Do you need a certification?

This is not to say there aren’t people performing these jobs without certifications. There most likely are. But the high level of qualifications for PMP, PgMP, and PfMP certifications underlie the high skill levels needed to perform these jobs.

Related reading

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• IT Management: Get Started with Help from Two Experienced Joes
• IT Project Prioritization: What To Work On In What Order
• Service Catalogs vs Service Portfolios: What’s The Difference?
• Managing IT as a Product—Not a Project
• Software Project Management Phases & Best Practices
• ITSM vs BRM vs Agile: How Service, Business Relationship & Product Management Work Together