Assessing Processes:Where Are We Now With Our Processes?

An Approach for Conducting Process Maturity AssessmentsUsing Established Industry Criteria & Best Practices

1. The purpose of a company is to create customer value

2. Customer value is created through processes

3. Business success results from superior process

performance

4. Superior process performance is achieved by having:• Superior process design

• The right people

• The right environment

Four Core Principles of Business

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 businessPerform a gap analysis against industry standard best

practicesCharacterize the problems in terms of business concernsCollect information pertaining to the problemsDraw up a clear, strong and balanced business position

What is a Process

“…structured, measured sets of activities designed to

produce a specified output.”

(T.H. Davenport)

• Inputs

• Throughputs

• Outputs

• Cycle times

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

Activities and Sub-activities

ProcessInput and Input Specifications

Output and Output Specifications

Resources Roles

Process Owner

Process Goal

Quality parameters and key performance indicators

Process Control

Process Enablers

Example Process Model: Change Mgmt

Prioritizing changes, assessing impact,scheduling, reviewing, management reporting,

meetings

RFC’s from Problem Management process

Output to Configuration Mgmt process

Output to Release Management process

Resources: Capacity Manager, Configuration

Manager, Release Manager

Roles: CAB; CAB/EC

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

Process Control

Process Enablers

Define input requirements: frequency, reliability, accuracy, etc

Activities

Define output requirements: frequency, reliability, accuracy, etc

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

Intake Questionnaire

Problem DefinitionScope

Organizational Context

Selection of Interviewees

Kick-offPresentation

Kick-offPresentation

Culture SurveyQuestionnairesCulture SurveyQuestionnaires

ProcessQuestionnaires

ProcessQuestionnaires Data Entry

for ToolAnalysis

&Report

Generation

Data Entry for ToolAnalysis

&Report

Generation

ReportHandover

&Presentation

ReportHandover

&Presentation

ScopeReason

Explanation

Problem DefinitionOrganizational

Context

What Answers? Problem Definition

Answer Formulation

Organizational Context

Phase Description

1. Initiation

2. Realization/ Awareness

3. Control

4. Integration

5. Optimization

Concrete Evidence of Development

Resources Allocated

Formalized

Synergy Between Processes

Proactive & Continuous SelfImprovement

0. Absence Nothing Present

How Does it Work?

GenericProcess Maturity

Levels

“Levels of OrganizationalDevelopment”

How Does it Work?

Phase Description

1. Initiation

2. Realization/ Awareness

3. Control

4. Integration

5. Optimization

Concrete Evidence of Development

Resources Allocated

Formalized

Synergy Between Processes

Proactive & Continuous SelfImprovement

0. Absence Nothing Present

Characteristics

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

How Does it Work?

Characteristics & Bottlenecks

1

2

3

4

5

Key Process Areas

Key Process Area Characteristics

0

Incident Mgmt.

Daily Contact Between IT Division & Users

General Operation Support

Management Reporting

1st Line Incident Support

1st Line Incident Support

How Does it Work?

Characteristics & Bottlenecks

0

1

2

3

4

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?

…...

1st Line Incident Support

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

must probe for depth.

5

Questions:

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) …..

1

2

3

4

5

How Does it Work?

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?

…...

0

Scoring

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