Continual Service Improvement

Question 1

What is continual service improvement?

Answer 1

Continual service improvement is the process of managing improvements to services and service assets, in order to align them with changing business needs.

Question 2

What is the Deming Cycle?

Answer 2

The Deming Cycle, created by W. Edwards Deming, is the cycle of Plan, Do, Check, & Act.

• Plan: Establish goals for improvement, define steps to close the gap, etc.
• Do: Develop and implement a project to close the gap.
• Check: Compare the results to the measures of success from Plan.
• Act: Determine if further work is necessary to close other gaps.

Question 3

What is a vision?

Answer 3

A vision is a description of what an organization intends to become in the future?

Question 4

What is a mission statement?

Answer 4

A mission statement is a short but complete description of the overall purpose of that organization. It states what is to be achieved, but not what’s to be done now.

Question 5

What is a goal?

Answer 5

A goal is a means to help decide on a course of action.

Question 6

What is a critical success factor?

Answer 6

A critical success factor is something that must happen if a process, project, plan or service is to succeed. A service/process should have between two and five of these.

Question 7

What is a key performance indicator?

Answer 7

A key performance indicator is a metric that is used to help manage a process, service, or activity.

Question 8

What is a metric?

Answer 8

A metric is something that is measured and report to help manage a process, service, or activity.

Question 9

What are baselines, and why are they important?

Answer 9

Baselines are expected or average values of metrics, and are used for comparison.

Question 10

What are the seven steps of the seven-step improvement process?

Answer 10

The seven steps of the seven-step improvement process are:

1. Identify the strategy for improvement
2. Define what you will measure
3. Gather data
4. Process data
5. Analyze data & information
6. Present and use information
7. Implement improvement.

Question 11

What is a continual service register?

Answer 11

A continual service register is a database or structured document used to record and manage improvement opportunities throughout their lifecycle.