Airport SIM Game

BSM International Airport Game

BMC Software’s ITIL simulation is modelled on a busy international airport named BSM International.  (BMC has unified its product strategy and marketing message around the management of business services—Business Service Management, or “BSM”).

Participants assume various IT support roles for the airport.  During the simulation they learn to work together to operate the airport safely and efficiently.  Airports require high availability, just like IT systems.  Problems not spotted early and handled well can quickly escalate, even becoming life-threatening.  During this simulation the airport grows and complexity increases.  Its IT infrastructure becomes rapidly more complex, requiring a Service Desk service and a technical team to monitor and resolve problems.  The game also allows purchasing additional infrastructure and consulting assistance from suppliers.  The IT support group negotiates agreements on service levels with business users and needs to monitor them and assure they are met over the course of the game.  New incidents occur continually to which the team must respond.

Although set in an airport, the underlying metaphor is the delivery of IT services to the business, and all delegates play a role in this, whether in the business or in the IT team ensuring that service levels for the business are met.  It reproduces the everyday dynamic between the airport (the business), IT and suppliers.  In an ideal world, services are delivered as promised.  In the real world, incidents occur and have to be dealt with by IT.  Although this may seem very simple, it becomes increasingly complex as the rounds of the simulation progress.  Various service management functions must be applied if service is to be maintained including, incident, problem, change, configuration & capacity management.

As the game progresses, participants learn more about supporting the needs of the airport, continuing to improve.  They come to understand the key importance of communicating with each other to successfully resolve problems.  To meet the constant new challenges they learn the value of following ITSM processes such as managing incidents, change management, configuration management, capacity management and how to manage SLA’s.  During and after each round, time is devoted to analysing lessons learned during the simulation and applying the knowledge gained to real-world situations.  Best practices are introduced during reviews after each round, with the emphasis on input from participants.

People issues are a fundamental strength of the simulation.  The timing and character of the incidents ensures that the business of the airport--the arrival and departure of planes--grinds to a halt.  Frustration emerges and conflict inevitably arises.  Drawing delegates from across traditional departmental boundaries allows those frustrations to be experienced together.  The simulation mirrors the real issues experienced in day-to-day business.  It brings together participants from multiple departments to discuss possible solutions.  That proves particularly powerful, with the consequence that improved cross-departmental communication is a key benefit of the day.

The underlying concept of fun with experiential learning reinforces the key best practice concepts in a way that is not only memorable but also that leads to understanding of, and buy-in to, the whole idea and concepts of IT Service Management.  The takeaway is not only the importance of ITSM processes but the concept of business service management (BSM) and the need for a mutually-beneficial partnership between IT and business, as well as the value of automating routine operations requiring human intervention.