Assessing Processes: Where Are We Now With Our Processes?

An Approach for Conducting Process Maturity Assessments Using Established Industry Criteria & Best Practices Four Core Principles of Business 1.

2.

3.

4.

The purpose of a company is to create customer value Customer value is created through processes Business success results from superior process performance Superior process performance is achieved by having: • Superior process design • The right people • The right environment

Principles Acme is all about which processes need to exist within an organization for the management of the IT infrastructure to the optimal level of IT service quality at a justifiable cost

Where are we now?

 Identify problems about IT Infrastructure, its management and its business  Perform a gap analysis against industry standard best practices  Characterize the problems in terms of business concerns  Collect information pertaining to the problems  Draw up a clear, strong and balanced business position

What is a Process

“…structured, measured sets of activities designed to produce a specified output.”

• Inputs • Throughputs • Outputs • Cycle times (T.H. Davenport) New emphasis – (How) work is done vs. product based (what) – End to end – Customer Satisfaction

If it does not make at least three people mad it probably is not a process!

Generic Process Model Process Control Process Owner Process Goal Quality parameters and key performance indicators Input and Input Specifications Process Activities and Sub-activities Output and Output Specifications Process Enablers Resources Roles

Example Process Model: Change Mgmt Process Control RFC’s from Problem Management process Define input requirements: frequency, reliability, accuracy, etc Process Enablers Owner: Change Manager Goal: Minimize change impact, cost reduction opportunities of $xx.

Timeliness of processing RFC’s; Effectiveness of prioritizing and scheduling changes; Accuracy of changes Define output requirements: frequency, reliability, accuracy, etc Activities Prioritizing changes, assessing impact, scheduling, reviewing, management reporting, meetings Output to Configuration Mgmt process Output to Release Management process Resources: Capacity Manager, Configuration Manager, Release Manager Roles: CAB; CAB/EC

Types of Work Found In A Process • Value add: (work for which a customer is willing to pay) – Products and services • Non-Value add: (no direct value for the customer but is required to get the value added work done) – Administrative overhead, management,

glue

• Waste: (work that neither adds or enables value) – Redundant activities, reports that no one reads, work having to be done over due to error

Improvement Activities • Business Process Reengineering streamlines non value added work and eliminates waste • Acme is an enabling framework (baseline) • Professionalizing of work: (worker  professional) – Customer focused (not task) – Everyone focuses on process and end results – More complex roles (job vs. career) – Personal effectiveness as a team player

A professional is someone who has the responsibility of achieving a result rather then performing a task.

What is a Process Assessment • Standardized survey which determines the quality and effectiveness of the IT service management practices in an IT organization.

• A repeatable method of objectively gaining an understanding of the quality, structure, maturity and bottlenecks of an IT organizations’ service management processes.

Assessment Objective • Assess IT management practices against a best practice reference set of processes. (Acme) • Provide an objective snapshot of the current situation in terms of process maturity.

• Identify key problem areas in relation to organizational needs.

• Adaptable for any IT organization regardless of platform, location or services.

• Create a sound foundation for improvement.

What's Involved?

Intake Questionnaire Kick-off Presentation Process Questionnaires Culture Survey Questionnaires Data Entry for Tool Analysis & Report Generation Report Handover & Presentation Problem Definition Scope Organizational Context Selection of Interviewees Scope Reason Explanation Problem Definition Organizational Context What Answers?

Problem Definition Answer Formulation Organizationa l Context

How Does it Work?

Phase

0. Absence 1. Initiation 2. Realization/ Awareness 3. Control 4. Integration 5. Optimization

Description

Nothing Present Concrete Evidence of Development Resources Allocated Formalized Synergy Between Processes Proactive & Continuous Self Improvement Generic Process Maturity Levels “Levels of Organizational Development”

How Does it Work?

Phase

0. Absence 1. Initiation 2. Realization/ Awareness 3. Control 4. Integration 5. Optimization

Description

Nothing Present Concrete Evidence of Development Resources Allocated Formalized Synergy Between Processes Proactive & Continuous Self Improvement

Characteristics

 Visible Results  Management Reports  Task / Authorities Defined  Active Rather than Reactive  Documentation  Formal Planning

How Does it Work?

 Incident Mgmt.

 1st Line Incident Support  Daily Contact Between IT Division & Users  General Operation Support  Management Reporting Key Process Areas  1st Line Incident Support Characteristics & Bottlenecks 0 1 2 3 4 5 Key Process Area Characteristics

How Does it Work?

3 4 5  1st Line Incident Support Characteristics & Bottlenecks 0 1 2 Question Lists:  Are incidents and questions registered?

 How much of the registered data is actually used by the IT organization?

 Can category codes be assigned to questions and incidents?  …...

Question lists are used as guides for the interview. The interviewer must probe for depth.

How Does it Work?

Questions:  Are incidents notified and questions raised registered?

 How much of the registered data is actually used by the IT organization?

 Can category codes be assigned to questions and incidents?  …...

a) No registration takes place b) There are no guidelines for registration and the registered information is only used by the specialist who deals with the call c) There are agreements as to what must be registered, but this does not always occur as nobody uses the information d) The data that we register is used for incident status monitoring and progression and little else e) The data we register is analyzed to see whether trends can be identified and as support for other IT management processes e.g SLM, availability management f) …..

Scoring 0 1 2 3 4 5

Process Assessment: What is the Result?

Report • Objective • Organization and Environment • Indication of Organizational Culture • Results of the Survey • Conclusions • Recommendations

Absence

“There is absolutely nothing there”

The process does not exist or cannot be defined

Initiation

“There is something there, but we are not aware of it”

• Policy statements at tactical level • Words but no deeds • No allocated means

Example Incident Mgmt. Initiation • No recording of Incidents • Users can approach different departments • Solutions of previous incidents are not available • No insight in the number of incidents • No Historical data for trend analysis

Awareness

“We know the process exists, but we do not control it” “The work is being accomplished, areas of strength, but the process is not well defined, consistent and repeatable.”

• Aimed at tool • Positions created but not defined • Reactive • Lots of overtime / redundant activities / Process waste • Measurement not comprehensive, results not generally used for process improvement