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Financial Management and SACM KPIs

A learner who is working towards developing a Cost Management department recently asked about key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Financial Management and Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) processes.      ITIL 2011 actually maps Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to KPIs for each process.   Key performance indicators for Financial Management can be found in section 4.3.8 of the Service Strategy book while those for SACM can be found in section 4.3.8 of the Service Transition book. While I cannot list all of the KPIs for both processes, here is a good sample: Financial Management The financial management for IT services framework specifies how services will be accounted for, and regular reports are submitted and used as a basis for measuring the service provider’s performance. All strategies have a comprehensive analysis of investment and returns, conducted with information from financial management for IT services. Internal service providers receive the fu

What are IT Services So Hard to Define? (Part 2)

In my last blog, I provided some suggestions for overcoming challenges in obtaining agreement on the scope and definition of IT Services.  As I mentioned, the Service Catalog is one of the first and most important assets in any service management program. Today we are going to take a high level look at mapping IT Services to business processes.   The first step is to understand what your business or customer does and how it does it. In truth, every business only has five primary focus areas - regardless of whether it is public, private, governmental, non-profit, small or large.  Consider this: Every business designs, develops or acquires products and/or services Every business communicates, markets and sells those products or services Every business delivers those products or services Every business supports its products or services Every business has to have a corporate infrastructure (HR, IT, Finance, etc.) Can you identify where these activities are performed within your

Why are IT Services So Hard to Define? (Part 1)

A Service Catalog is one of the first assets that an organization should build when initiating their Service Management program.  After all, how can you manage services if you do not have a clear understanding what services your IT organization provides? Unfortunately, many organizations struggle with obtaining agreement on the scope and definition of end-to-end, business enabling services.  If left unchecked, these struggles can turn political and widen the divide between IT and the business as well as cause conflict between internal IT units.  To avoid some of the potential challenges in service definition exercises, here are some helpful suggestions: Set the stage by providing IT staff with a chart of business processes and begin integrating business vocabulary into service parameters ("Order Processing" not "Ecommerce").   Have business stakeholders conduct "lunch and learn" presentations that educate IT on how each unit uses IT Services.  Start

Leadership Lessons from Fusion 2011

Having recently attended the Fusion 11 conference in Washington DC, I came away with some key insights that I thought I would pass along. The event brought together the worlds of IT Service Management and Help Desk in a great mix of information sharing and learning through breakout sessions and emotion and motivation in the form of five fantastic keynotes. One of the sessions I attended talked about being a leader in an ever globalizing world. The presenter shared her knowledge and wisdom of how to build a framework of leadership by embracing diversity and different cultures. A couple key take-aways: “I’m different, like you” : Understand that we all have different cultures, backgrounds, knowledge and experience that make us important and unique individuals. Embrace the differences and use them to your advantage. It is our differences that make us similar as people trying to be successful in a complex and technology filled world. “Help me understand” : Keep an open mind and s

Dr. Deming's Cycle

Many of you have probably heard of Dr. William Edwards Deming. But how many of you really know who he was and why he is so important to IT Service Management and ITIL? I mean going beyond the contribution of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle to Continual Service Improvement? What was the most important contribution of Dr Deming and why should we care so much about his other efforts? According to Wikipedia, Dr. Deming (1900-1993) was a statistician, professor and consultant by trade, hailing originally from Iowa. He went on to earn degrees from the Universities of Wyoming and Colorado, and a Ph.D. from Yale University. One interesting fact of which most people are not aware was his relationship to Walter Shewhart, the originator of the ideas of statistical process control. In fact the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle was originally an idea generated by Shewhart (and is sometimes referred to as the Shewhart Cycle, rather than the Deming Cycle). We must remember though, Dr. Deming’s contributions go m

The Beginning of Good Process Implementation

Many organizations that I meet with often are struggling to implement best practice processes into their environments.   They sound completely overwhelmed and often I hear “Where do we begin?”   I smile and usually respond with “At the beginning of course”.   The beginning of good process implementation of course is “defining and analyzing your customer’s requirements”.   I once read that to provide good services a service provider must have good customers.   I think this statement also holds true for processes as well.   Good customers / employees must: Understand the process Understand the expected results of the process Know where they fit into the process Understand how they and others contribute to produce the expected results When your employees understand the processes within your environment they can easily identify new customer requirements and positively respond to rapidly changing customer needs.   This is the basis for making it part of the service culture within you

Resources for Business Relationship Management

A student recently asked for resource references for about Business Relationship Management (BRM). BRM is emerging as a critical process in several prominent service management frameworks and standards.   Recently, BRM was formalized in the 2011 edition of Service Strategy as part of the core ITIL library.    This is a significant addition since many believed that BRM and Service Level Management (SLM) were the same process.     While similar, BRM strategically focuses on the relationship between a service provider and it’s customer (more like an Account Executive) where SLM operationally focuses on the negotiation and achievement of service performance. The ISO/IEC 20000 standard has mandatory requirements and suggested guidance for Business Relationship Management.   Even if your organization is not considering ISO certification, the standard does define the minimum essential activities for each process, including BRM.     Put together with ITIL 2011, it’s a powerful com