So who should consider becoming a Certified Process Design Engineer?   Well anyone can consider it.   Is your organization engaged in some type of certification, working to reach some optimized level of maturity, trying to improve the processes you already have or create a process to meet some new customer requirement? All of these scenarios would employ the skills of a CPDE. To start with, no matter which framework or standard you are utilizing processes must be: Defined Documented Managed via performance metrics Continually improved Undertaking this effort is not as simple as it may appear and having a staff member with the necessary skills and capabilities (CPDE) ensures that clear and measurable improvement targets along with a process design approach can and will be carried out.   You first must understand the factors that are triggering a process improvement initiative.   They may include: Changing customer requirements Processes that are ...

There are many frameworks and standards that define best practices for achieving quality IT service management (ITSM) - ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, COBIT, CMMI, DevOps, Knowledge-Centered Support, etc. While each describes processes and controls (what to do), none provide clear, step-by-step methods and techniques for actually designing, reengineering and improving processes (how to do it). IT organizations must not only do the right things, they must do the right things right.   The CPDE takes a practical step by step approach to developing and implementing ITSM processes across the entire lifecycle of IT services.   It ensures integration with project and program management and the application and software development processes as well.   Allowing for strategic, tactical and operational alignment across the entire organization.   The CPDE is well suited to utilize these different best practices and additionally play a significant role in the DevOps movement that is takin...

In an earlier blog I had talked about the need for organizations to have the ability to measure their processes against those of their competition or some defined industry standard.  Before that could happen, it had to be determined if your processes are mature enough to ensure that you can gather the needed data for a successful undertaking.   If your assessment calls for developing a new process, reengineering or improving an existing process a sound methodology for that mission could be the “Ten process design and improvement steps” as describe in “The ITSM Process Design Guide by Donna Knapp. The elegance of this approach is that it can be utilized to design or improve any process regardless of maturity level.   It provides the common vocabulary, tools, and techniques needed to engage all participants who would be required for these process and improvement actions.   They help to define and understand the end to end process, who the customers are and th...

In order for IT organizations to be successful, we must align ourselves with our business partners. Business and customer requirements must drive service and process continual improvement activities. As a service provider, we must ask ourselves if we really understand our customer’s needs and expectations. When was the last time we checked with our business to determime if we are delivering value? When was the last time you asked the business, “How are we doing”? One of the gathering techniques we learn in the Certified Process Design Engineering (CPDE) course is how to conduct a needs assessment. Here are the steps for conducting a successful assessment: 2 to 4 weeks prior to the assessment: Establish a high-level interview schedule Identify interview participants Develop a detailed interview schedule Contact each participant to determine availability Develop a list of interview questions/solicit feedback Refine your list of interview questions  1 to 2 weeks prior t...

I often get asked what goes into a Process Definition Document (PDD).  Certified Process Design Engineers (CPDE) learn that PDDs should  include: Policies A process overview Roles and Responsibilities Process Maps Activities Vocabulary Policies Policies specific to a process should be included in the Process Definition Document.  A policy is a formal document that describes the overall intentions and direction of a service provider, as expressed by senior management. Company policies are used to guide actions toward a specific outcome. They must be specific, measurable and underpinned by the process.  Overview The overview section contains the process description, objectives, goals, owner boundaries, triggers, supplier data, inputs, high level activities, outputs, customers and metrics. Roles and Responsibilities Roles and responsibilities define and describe the active participants in the process, including the process owner, process manager,...

I was asked recently how Certified Process Design Engineer® (CPDE) and Six Sigma might work together. I was also asked to clarify the value of holding a Certified Process Design Engineer® certification. To deal with these questions we must first clarify the difference between CPDE® and Six Sigma. First CPDE® is a role and a set of methods and approaches for that role to use in defining, designing and implementing strong IT Service Management processes. Six Sigma is a quality framework based on the work of men like W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby (the Big Three of the quality movement) and developed out of Motorola’s efforts to improve quality. The two are not at odds, rather they complement each other. A CPDE has the skills to look at an organization, understand its culture, its approach to process and quality and its need for improvement. Once this assessment is done (using tools like the ITIL Process Maturity Framework, or CMMI) the CPDE would identify which el...