Process Activities: Method & Techniques Flashcards

1
Q

CSI Methods and Techniques

A

Assessments

What type of Assessments?

COBIT does a lot of this.

Assessment Criteria

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2
Q

What To assess and How

A

Assessments can be conducted at any time

  • The scope of the the assessment is one of the key decisions.
  • Should be based on the assessment’s objective and the expected future use of service and process assessments and assessment reports
  • Can be targetted at those processes currently implemented or focused specifically where known problems exist withing the current process environment.
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3
Q

What To assess and How

A

Assessments can be conducted at any time

  • The scope of the the assessment is one of the key decisions.
  • Should be based on the assessment’s objective and the expected future use of service and process assessments and assessment reports
  • Can be targeted at those processes currently implemented or focused specifically where known problems exist withing the current process environment.
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4
Q

Assessment Scope Levels

A

Process Only? (Probs not just one)

People Process and Tech? (This is what ITIL is all about) – Structure? C

Full? (huge deal) 3rd party

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5
Q

External Assessments

A

Conducted by the sponsoring party and with the aid of a 3rd party.

The advantage of conducting a self assessment is the reduced cost and the intellectual lift associated with learning how to objectively gauge the relative performance and progress of an organizations proicesses.

Of course the downside is the difficulty associated with remaining objective and impartial during the assessment.

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6
Q

External Assessments

A

Conducted by the sponsoring party and with the aid of a 3rd party.

The advantage of conducting a self assessment is the reduced cost and the intellectual lift associated with learning how to objectively gauge the relative performance and progress of an organizations processes.

Of course the downside is the difficulty associated with remaining objective and impartial during the assessment.
PROS==================CONS
Objective===============Cost
Expert ITIL Knowledge====Risk of acceptance
Broad exposure to IT=====Ltd knowledge of existing environments
Analystical skills==========Improper prep affects effecitveness
Credibility================
Minimla impact to OPerations==============

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7
Q

Internal ASsessments

A

Pros===================Cons
no expensive consultants—Lack of objectivity
self assessment available for free—little acceptance of findings
Promotes inernal coop and communication===internal politics
good place to get started==-limited knowledge of skils
Internal knowledge of environment===inabiltiy to see the wood for the trees; assessment often needs a fresh set of eyes.

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8
Q

Gap Analysis

A

After we do the assessment we need to do the gap anlaysis.

how much effort do i need to put in to get what i need to get what i want.

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9
Q

Gap Analysis

A

Enables an organization to compare where it currently is and where it wants to go in the future.
Provides insight to areas that have room for improvement
Used to determine the gap between “What do we want?” and “what do we need”

Can be conducted from different perspectives such as:
The org, including structure and capabilities of the people
Business Direction
Busineses Processes
Information Tech

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10
Q

GAP Analysis

A

Involves determining documenting and approving the variance between busienss reqs and current capabilities.
Naturally flows from benchmarking or other assessments such as service or process maturity assessments
provides a foundation for how much effoirt in time money and human resources is required to chieve a partiucular goal

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11
Q

Benchmarking

A

Where are we in compared to everyone else.

Industry sector location

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12
Q

Benchmarking What is it?

A

Org evaluates various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice usually within their own sector
allows orgs to develop plan on how to adopt such best practice
May be a one-time occurrence but often treated as a continuous process in which orgs continually see to challenge their practices

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13
Q

Benchmarking - planning

A

Involved coop with others as benchmarking partners learn from each other where improvements can be made.

it will be necessary to:
Ensure Seniro mgmt support
Take an extternal view
Compare processes not outputs
involve process owners
set up benchmarking teams
acquire the skills training
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14
Q

Benchmarking Collecting data

A

A range of ressearch technicques may be required including:

informal conversations with customers, employees or suppliers

  • focus groups
  • in -depth marketing research
  • surveys
  • questionnaires
  • -re-engineering analysis
  • process mapping
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15
Q

Benchmarking Collecting data

A

Expensive process

but most orgs find it pays for itself

Visit Costs

Time Costs

Benchmarking DB Costs

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16
Q

Benchmarking the Process

A

Identify the strategy for improvement==> define what you will measure ==> select the service process of function or benchmark ==> within that process define the activities to be benchmarked ==> identify possible sources of info to confirm the suitability partners
==>draw up a list of potential benchmarking partners==> ==> ==>

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17
Q

Value of benchmarking

A

often used as a driver to make changes when the org is reluctant to change the way of working
a benchmark is the basis for
-profiling quality in the market
-boosting self confidence and pride in the employees as well as motivating and tying employees to an org
-Trust from customers that the org is a good IT service mgmt provider
-optimising serivce qullity to mazimise performance and customer satisfaction and privde value for money
Orgs will be required to focus on end results and service quality rather than simply on their business activities and proceses.

18
Q

Process Maturity COmparison

A
0-5
0 non-existent
1 initial
2 repeatable
3 defined
4 managed
5 optimised
19
Q

Assessment via Total costs of ownership

A

Meant to drive down the TCO to make you most efficient
Am I at the right level with what I am spending
Cannot cut quality.
Key measurement of the effectiveness and efficiency of services
Often TCO is measured relating to HW components but the TCO of an IT service is more meaningful
TCO is often used to benchamrk specific services in IT against other org’s managed service providers.

20
Q

TCO

A

All the costs involved in the design, introduction, operation, and improvement of services from its inception until retirement

21
Q

CSI Methods and Techniques

Steps to create a service measurement framework

1, 2

A
  1. Origins:
    - defining what success looks like–what are we trying to achieve and how will we know what we achieved with it?
  2. Building the framework and choosing measures:
    - ask what we need to measure that will provide us with useful info that alloes us to make strategic, tactical and/of operational decisions
    - ask what measures will provide us with the datea and inforamtion we need
    - set ta
22
Q

CSI Methods and Techniques

Steps to create a service measurement framework

3

A

Critical elements of a service measurement framework should be:

  • Integrated into business planning
  • Focused on business and IT goals and objectives
  • Cost-effective
  • Balanced in their approach on what is measured.
  • Able to withstand change
23
Q

CSI Methods and Techniques

Steps to create a service measurement framework

4

A

Performance measures -should:

  • Be Timely
  • Be accurate and reliable
  • Be well-defined, specific and clear
  • Be relevant to meeting the objectives
  • Not create a negative behaviour
  • Lead to improvement opportunities
24
Q

Service Measurement Model

A

The higher level goal for change mgmt is to improve the service quality.

One of the major reasons for service quality issues is the downtime caused by failed cvhanges.

25
Q

Service Measurement Model

A

The higher level goal for change mgmt is to improve the service quality.

One of the major reasons for service quality issues is the downtime caused by failed changes.

26
Q

Metrics 3 Types

A

Tech Metrics
Process Metricx
Service Metrics

27
Q

Tech Metrics

A

often associated with component and application based metrics such as performance availalbility etc

28
Q

Process Metrics

A

Captured in the form of CSFs, KPIs and activity metrics for the service mgmt process

29
Q

Service Metrics

A

A measure of the end to end service performance

30
Q

Tension metrics

A

Balance!

Effort from any support team or supplier is a balancing act of 3 elements:

  • Resources, Functionality, and the schedule
  • Tension metrics
  • Can help create that balance…
31
Q

CSFs and KPIs how many

A

2-5 CSFs

5 KPIs

Start with a low figure

Qualitative/quantitive

32
Q

Qualitative KPIs

A

A qualititative e.g.

  • CSF improving IT service quality
  • KPI: 10% increase in customer satisfaction rating for handling incidents over the next 6 months.

Metrics required

  • original customer satisfaction score for handling incidents
  • ending customer satisfaction score for handling incidents

measurements
-incident handling sutrvey score
number of survey scores

33
Q

Quantitative KPIs

A

E.g. REducing IT Costs

KPI 10% reduction in the costs of handling printer incidents
Metrics required:
Original cost of handkling printer incicents
final cost of handlinf printer incidents
costof the improvement effort

Measurement

34
Q

Quantitative KPIs

A

E.g. REducing IT Costs

KPI 10% reduction in the costs of handling printer incidents
Metrics required:
Original cost of handkling printer incicents
final cost of handlinf printer incidents
costof the improvement effort

Measurement:

time spent on incident by 1st/2nd level operatives and average salary
Time spent on problem mgmt activities by 2nd level operative and their average salary
-Tim spent on training the 1st level operative on the workaround
-Cost of a service call to 3rd party vendor
-Time and material from 3rd party

35
Q

Is the KPI fit for purpose?

A

What does the performance indicator really tell us abou tthe goal achievement
HOw easy is it to interpret the performance indicator
when do we need the information?
To what extent is the performance indicator stable and accurate?
How easy is it to cahnge the performance indicator iteslf?
To what what extent can the performance indicator be measured now?
Who owns theis kpi?

36
Q

Interpreting and using metrics

A
Does the results make sense?
Questions you might ask:
How did we collect this data?
Who collected the data?
What tools were used to collect the data?
Who processed the data?
How was the data processed?
What could have led to incorrect info?
37
Q

Using Measurements and Metrics

A

Measurements of quality allow for measuring trends and the rate of change over a period of time
Do we need tolerances for minor deviations
Improvement might not be needed inside these
Compare and analyse trends against service level targets or an SLA
Important not only for internal service providers but also when services have been outsourced
Identify any deviations and discuss them with te external service provider in order to avoid any supplier relationship problems
-Speed and efficiency of communication when there are missed targets essential to the continuation of a strong relationship

38
Q

Scorecard and reports

Creating scorecards and reports

A

Service measurement info will be used for 3 main purposes:
to report on the service to interested parties
to compare against targets
to identify improvement opportunities
Reports must be appropriate and useful for all those who use them.

39
Q

Creating reports vital questions

A

WHo is the target audience of the report?
What will the report be used for?
Who is responsible for creating the report?
How will the report be created?
How frequently is the report to be created?
What information will be produced, shared and exchanged?

“Good reports facilitate decision making”

40
Q

Report Format

A
MOnthly overview
Results
What ledt to the results
actions to take
predicting the future
41
Q

Service reporting

A

Only a small subset of reporting is of real interest and importance to the business
most data and its meaning are more suited to the internal mgmt needs of IT
reporting of historical events that continue to be a threat must include how IT intends to mitigate against them.

42
Q

What reports should do

A
Be relevant
answer questions
detail improvements
prompt actions
support decision making
match perception of service