I was recently asked to elaborate on a previous blog that discussed reducing metrics and reporting on those that matter to customers. In terms of any metrics, especially those that are important to customers, you should always think about or add the phrase “with quality”. Remember that the term “quality” is defined as “conformance to customer requirements”. So all metrics and measurements should ensure the work or actions you perform remains focused on the customer and their needs. Also in terms of how you phrase a metric it can often be more beneficial to measure in terms of increases and decreases rather than specific quantities. Given that, here some metrics that you might think about using: Increased Customer Quality Satisfaction %--perhaps the most important of all metrics Increase First Line Call Resolution [with quality] %--helps reduce costs but also builds perception of preparedness and knowledge in the eyes of the customer Decreased Mean Time to Restore Serv

When one thinks about how things work in the world, the word paradigm might come to mind. Paradigm (n.)-- A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality. As the definition shows, a paradigm represents “how things are” in our current world. Another way I like to think about the idea of a paradigm is to use the term “culture.” Culture (n.)— The known environment in which a person, thing or idea exists. If you know a foreign language or how to play an instrument it is part of your own personal culture, or paradigm. If you do not speak a foreign language or cannot create music, those capabilities are not part of your culture or paradigm. And just as an individual has a culture or personal paradigm, so can an organization. Often it is this culture or paradigm that wreaks havoc with our ability to understand and implement IT Service Management. So how do we understand and use the knowledge of our cultures or paradigm to our advantage when

The Continual Service Improvement publication describes the Continual Service Improvement model. One of the questions asked in this model is “How do we keep the momentum going?” This question becomes especially important when your ITSM implementation efforts have been in place for a significant amount of time. The question then becomes more one of “How do we stop from losing the momentum and effort invested up to this point?” Or perhaps “How do we avoid from returning to the old ways?” For all our efforts to become efficient, effective and economical there is a potential danger that we will fall into comfortable, yet poor habits. So how do we ensure that we do not fall into bad habits such as taking shortcuts, pushing aside process, and just “getting things done” instead of following established methods and processes and doing proper planning? We must begin by being confident in the strides we have made to this point. If we have followed the Continuous Improvement Model faithfully

The professor was recently asked:  "I am having difficulty communicating the business risk of having processes like Change Management and Incident Management sit at Initial (Level 1) maturity. Can you address some of the common business risks and costs companies see by having immature processes?" Great question!  Many organizations do not recognize the inherent risks inhaving immature critical processes such as Incident Management and Change Management. Both processes strive to increase service availability either by identifying and mitigating risk before a change is made or minimizing the impact of a failure after a service is deployed.  To refresh our memories, I have included a description of each aspect of Level 1 in the Process Maturity Framework, with its associated risks:   Vision and Steering: Minimal funds and resources with little activity. Results temporary, not retained. Sporadic reports and reviews. No formal objectives and targets. Wasted activi

Organizations looking for help defining standard changes will find it in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). A white paper Using Standard Changes to Improve Provisioning describes what standard changes are in relation to other changes as well as in relation to service requests; along with guidelines for establishing standard changes. The MOF Action Plan: Standard Changes offers a more succinct step-by-step look at how to create standard changes. There are a also a number of “MOF Reliability Workbooks” in the MOF Technical Library (e.g., Reliability Workbook for Active Directory® Certificate Services) that describe proposed standard changes for the given system or service presented in a checklist-like fashion that allows the proposed change to be verified as a standard change. The MOF Reliability Workbooks are Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that also look at things such as Monitoring Activities, Maintenance activities, and Health Risks. This and other tools such as an in

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about the ‘Process Maturity Framework”. (Appendix H pg 263 from the V3 ITIL Service Design Book). I mentioned that you can utilize this framework to measure your Service Management processes individually or your Service Management program as a whole.  With this discussion I would like to speak to the five areas that the assessment should be completed against at each level. The five areas are: Vision and Steering Process People Technology Culture  Initial (Level 1) Vision and Steering:   Minimal funds and resources with little activity. Results temporary, not retained. Sporadic reports and reviews. Process : Loosely defined processes and procedures, used reactively when problems occur. Totally reactive processes. Irregular, unplanned activities. People: Loosely defined roles or responsibilities. Technology: Manual processes or a few specific, discrete tools (pockets/islands). Culture: Tools and technology based and driven with strong a

I am often asked about the best way to measure process maturity.  While there are several process maturity models available, I prefer the “Process Maturity Framework” (Appendix H pg 263) from the V3 ITIL Service Design Book. You can utilize this framework to measure your Service Management processes individually or Service Management as a whole. The five areas that the assessment should focus on are: Vision and Steering Process People Technology Culture The major characteristics of the Process Maturity Framework (PMF) are the following:    Initial (Level 1) The process has been recognized but there is little or no process management activity and it is allocated no importance, resources or focus within the organization. This level can also be described as ‘ad hoc’ or occasionally even ‘chaotic’. Repeatable (Level 2) The process has been recognized and is allocated little importance, resource or focus within the operation. Generally activities related to the process are unco