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The
Mathematics of Service Management
by Karsten Smet KARSTEN.J.SMET@britishairways.com
© 2003, Karsten Smet All Rights Restricted
Introduction
What are Metrics? This is a question that many organisations are trying
desperately to understand and in my personal view often decide to ignore,
feeling happy to produce report after report of statistics which, while
being interesting dont help you understand whether or not your processes
truly work. ITIL puts a lot of emphasis on Management information and
metrics but what is the difference between them and how can these offer
true benefit to small, medium and large organisations.
Management Information
Management Information is precisely that, it is the data drawn from
processes throughout an Organisation, which offer management the ability to
make business base decisions. It is vital in the current environment that
the Service Management processes offer a starting point for the definition
of these reports and assist an organisation to make IT decisions which will
bring benefit to the business as a whole and offer the ability to keep
control of their IT infrastructure and any IT spend.
The ITIL framework clearly defines processes and as a result defines
process functions that are responsible for the management of these. The
functions will fast become a focal point for any organisation however large
or small. It is vital that these areas are reported upon to ensure that
they are working to agreed organisational standards, forecast information,
and aligned with relevant Business Plans. Many of the Management reports
will include outputs of the process. It is easy to argue items such as the
Availability Plan, a key output for Availability Management, is a
Management Report in its own right.
The important thing to remember is these reports do not offer an insight in
to how the process is holding up although poor reports and useless data
could well be attributed to poor processes and deliverables.
Metrics
To understand a Metric one must gather a true definition of what a metric
is; The Oxford English Dictionary definition is as follows:
Main Entry: 1metric
Pronunciation: 'me-trik
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek metrikE, from feminine of metrikos in meter, by measure,
from metron measure -- more at MEASURE
Date: 1760
2 : a standard of measurement <no metric exists that can be
applied directly to happiness -- Scientific Monthly>
This does not make it easy to understand what exactly is meant by ITIL with
relation to Metrics however it is clear that a metric is measurable and
hence the assumption can be made that a Metric of Service Management
Processes is a method of measuring the success of the process. This sounds
very simple but often leads to organisations creating a set of Management
Reports on the process that do not offer a true understanding on how the
process is performing.
Metric Rules
To ensure a metric is suitable for Service Management the following rules
should be satisfied;
- Measurable Many
organisations pick metrics which are a Yes or No answer. It is vital
any metric can be measured against time. This will ensure metrics can
be plotted and analysed showing improvements or areas of concern
clearly allowing for Process Improvement.
- Achievable It is vital
that ALL metrics have a target, too often we see a target of N/A,
surely if there is no target it is not measurable and hence from the
first rule should be ignored. A Target must also be achievable,
something unachievable will cause the process to appear to fail and
call in to question the validity of the process or result in expensive
process improvement when time would be better invested in development.
If a failure rate of a metric is acceptable at 75% DO NOT place a
target at 100%.
- Challenging - The target
must be sensible yet challenging and something which is considered
with all necessary parties. A Process constantly over-achieving MAY
have targets set too low and these should be reviewed.
- Clear A metric must be
clear. It should be simple to understand in what it is measuring and
not open to misconceptions.
- Available The metric may
be perfect however if the data being measured cannot be made available
the metric is a waste of time and targets etc. will never be met.
- Process Based The metric
must measure the Success of the Process i.e. Percentage of inputs,
outputs and activities occurring on time, to the correct levels etc.
- Change Control Metrics
should be placed under Change Control and a Configuration Item in
their own right. This will ensure the metrics can be linked to the
relevant process, are clearly documented and do not Change unless
authorised to do so by all interested parties and for valid reasons.
- Reviewed Metrics should
be regularly reviewed. These can be ad hoc where processes are either
constantly meeting metrics or missing targets set, but at least should
occur periodically to ensure the above rules are still being met.
Management Reporting
and Metrics within the Organisation
Many Organisations see that Management Information and Metrics are managed
together and are the responsibility of a reporting function or each process
function. In a large organisation it is a common mistake to place these two
into a single organisational entity causing confusion and making analysis
of the data almost impossible.
Management reporting should be the responsibility of the process functions
to allow management and the business to make IT decisions and ensure that
the data is complete. The Process Owners are responsible for these reports
and should ensure these are being delivered on time etc. however it is not
inconceivable to have a separate reporting function deliver the raw data to
the Process Owner.
A single, senior manager or group should produce and analyse metrics, with
initial creation of metric and reviews bringing together the relevant
process group or Owner to ensure metric can be met and covers process
adequately. Taking a silo view of the metrics for a function will hamper
the ability to place the metrics together and see possible process
integration issues. It is also beneficial to have an independent view of
metrics to stop areas doctoring, or setting up targets to ensure job safety
and process conformance. The single senior manager or group should be
analytical and numerate with the ability to spot trends etc.
Conclusion
Metrics are widely discussed and covered across many disciplines outside of
Service Management and are a key indicator within financial institutions
for financial processes. Service Management must embrace this focus on the
usage of metrics to understand if the processes are truly working. By
getting this right across multiple organisations and producing industry
metrics it could even be possible to understand the true effectiveness of
ITIL as a framework and continue to identify ways of getting the most from
the IT Infrastructure Library.
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