Adopting Continual Improvement - A practical viewpoint

ADOPTING CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT – A PRACTICAL VIEWPOINT

Version 1.1 – 15/01/2015

© 2015 - Hervé Doornbos

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hdoornbos/en

2 Copyright © Hervé Doornbos 2015. All Rights Reserved

INTRODUCTION

Develop and implement service management processes is costly

A process needs to adapt to changing needs of the organization

Process performance must be constantly monitored and corrective actions must be taken to improve it and balance efficiency and effectiveness

To address this practical and operational issue, ITIL framework defines a service lifecycle stage – Continual Service Improvement (CSI) – intended to measure and improve processes and services




IMPROVEMENT CONCEPT – THE DEEMING WHEEL

William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) & Walter Andrew Shewhart PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) / PDCA




ITIL IMPROVEMENT MODEL – CSI – STILL THEORETICAL

What is the

vision?

Where are

we now ?

Where do we

want to be?

How do we

get there?

Did we get

there?

How do we keep the

momentum going?

Baseline assessment

Measurable

targets

Service & process improvement

Measurements & metrics

Business vision,

mission, goals

and objectives

Alignment

Implementation




PRACTICAL CSI ADOPTION 1/2 – MEASUREMENT




PRACTICAL CSI ADOPTION 2/2 – IMPROVEMENT CLASSIFICATION

Different types of Improvement Business AS Usual (BAU) Improvements

• Small Improvements

• Ultra Quick Wins / Low Hanging Fruits

• Do not require additional resources

• Executed little by little

Projects Improvement

• Operational Strategic Improvements – Link with Projects Classification

– Approval Authority differs from operational to strategic projects

• Quick Wins … still …

• Requires resources to be allocated for project

Requires culture of improvement

• Training / Awareness

• Suggestion Box

• Regular Meetings

Industrialization of improvement

• Business Case

• Prioritization / Approval

• Project Execution

Sta

rt




PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – CSI FACET 1 – THE THREE PILLARS OF CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

Continual Improvement

Educated

Personnel

• Trained to CSI

• Customer focused • SLA aware

• Focused on

improving services

Measurement

Framework

• Metrics • Services

• Processes

• Tools and technology

• Baselines

• Measurement Tools

• Measurement DB

Improvement

Initiative

Lifecycle

Management

• Prioritization Process • Initiatives Sponsors

• Initiatives Owners

• CSI Steering Group • Appoint Sponsors

• Review, Prioritize,

Approve, Defer or

Reject Initiatives

• Review Benefits

Management Commitment

Measurement Culture Projects




PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – CSI FACET 2 – YET ANOTHER OVERVIEW OF CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

Launching

point for

Improvement

Operations

Measured

Business As

Usual

Improvement

Opportunity

(Project)

Personnel

Educated

Problem /

Change / …

Management

Prioritization

Process

Improvement

Initiative

(Project Mgt.)

Improvement

Classification

Follow-up Tool




CSI AWARENESS & TRAINING


Educated

Personnel

• Trained to CSI


• Focused on

improving services

Measurement

Framework


• Processes


• Baselines


• Measurement DB

Improvement

Initiative

Lifecycle

Management





Approve, Defer or

Reject Initiatives

• Review Benefits






CSI TRAINING – FRAMEWORKS

ITIL CSI 7 steps Problem Management

• Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Lean / Six Sigma Kanban for services Voice of Customer Statistical Process Analysis DMAIC

Kepner & Tregoe Project Management Prince 2 PMBOK COBIT®5 Implementation

Process Assessment COBIT®5 Assessment TIPA

Service Lifecycle Measure & Improve Global Methodology Business As Usual (BAU) Improvements

Troubleshooting Methodologies

Troubleshooting Methodology Business As Usual (BAU) Improvements Alignment Indicators Methodology similar to ITIL CSI 7 steps

Troubleshooting Methodology PMO

Project & Program Management Project & Program Management Organizational Change

Measurement ISO/IEC 33000 ISO/IEC 33000 applied to ITIL




CSI TRAINING – LAUNCHING POINT – COBIT®5 EXAMPLE: HOW TO RECOGNIZE AN IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITY?

Launching point for improvement initiatives are either Pain Points or Trigger Event

Typical Pain Points Failure to meet regulatory or contractual

requirements Significant incidents related to IT risk

(e.g. data loss) Service delivery problems IT enabled changes frequently failing to meet

business needs (late deliveries or budget overruns)

Audit findings for poor IT performance or low service levels

Resource waste through duplication or overlap in IT initiatives

Insufficient IT resources IT staff burnout / dissatisfaction Failed IT initiatives Rising costs Perception of low business value for IT investments

Hidden and/or rogue IT spending Multiple and complex IT assurance efforts Senior managers that are reluctant to engage with

specific domains of IT

Relevant Trigger Events Significant technology change or paradigm shift External audit or consultant assessments Change in business operating model or sourcing

arrangements A new business strategy or priority Shift in the market, economy or competitive

position An enterprise-wide governance focus or project New regulatory or compliance requirements Merger, acquisition or divestiture A new CIO, CFO, COO or CEO




CSI AWARENESS – A COLLABORATIVE & COMMUNICATIVE ORGANIZATION IS THE KEY

The whole company/BU culture must be focused on Continual Improvement Trained Personnel only is not enough

Management Commitment allows for a collaborative organization Collaborative & Communicative Organization supports CSI

Launching

point for

Improvement

Personnel

Educated

Operations

Measured

• Targets / KPIs must be

clearly communicated

• Current situation must be

clearly communicated

From Operational Reporting

To Strategic or Tactical Reporting Kanban Board

Balanced ScoreCard (BSC)




REPORTING GENERALITIES – MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK, METRICS AND AUDIENCE

Design themes for the reporting audience based on their roles and expressed needs Define the High Value Service Delivery Zone Classify and prioritize metrics based on these themes and their impact on the high value zone

Ex

ecu

tiv

e

Ma

na

gem

ent

Pro

cess

/

Ser

vic

e O

wn

er

Pro

cess

/ S

erv

ice

Ma

na

ger

Roles=Viewpoints • Agile

• Optimized

• Available

• Responsive

• Secure

• Efficient

• Effective

• Quality

• Progress

• Utilization

• Compliant

• MTBI

• Cost per call

• Satisfaction

• Call abandon

• Cycle time

• FCR Rate

• MTTR

• Failed RFC

• RFCs

• FTEs

• CIs

• Incidents

• Problems

• Breaches

• MACs

• Lines of code

• Wait time

• Downtime

KGI

CSF

KPI

KPM

KFM

Bu

sin

ess Im

pa

ct

Strategic

Tactic

Operational

Themes

Dashboards should be designed depending on

This is the Audience View.

themes

stakeholder viewpoints




OPERATIONAL REPORTING FOR A COLLABORATIVE & COMMUNICATIVE ORGANIZATION

Daily Stand-Up Meeting This short daily meeting allows a team to share information about challenges,

as well as to coordinate efforts to resolve issues

Kanban Board for Services Team Office Visual Cue for objectives, priorities, tasks in progress and work done

To adapt to the workload / type of tasks / team

Objectives

SLA1

SLA2

SLA3

To do next

High priority

Low priority

In progress

Analyze Fix Verify

Team member 1

Team member 2

Team member 3

Done

PB14 PB13

PB12

PB15 PB13

PB1 PB2

PB3

PB4

PB5

PB6

PB7

PB8

PB9

PB10

PB11




STRATEGIC OR TACTICAL REPORTING – BALANCED SCORECARD FOR A COLLABORATIVE & COMMUNICATIVE ORGANIZATION

For executive management, developing a comprehensive strategy requires to balance between financial and non-financial considerations and apply a measure combination.

The balanced scorecard framework as conceived by Kaplan and Norton, 1996 is presented below. Actual contents of each perspective should be tailored to the specific organizational/unit realities, needs and challenges.

Learning and Growth

Perspective

Internal Process Perspective

Customer Perspective

Financial Perspective

Strategy

• Objectives

• Key Performance Indicators

• Targets • Initiatives

• Objectives


• Targets

• Initiatives

• Objectives


• Targets

• Initiatives

• Objectives • Key Performance Indicators • Targets • Initiatives

Kaplan and Norton, 1996




EXAMPLE OF BSC STRATEGY MAP FOR SLM PROCESS A BASE FOR SLM DASHBOARD IMPROVEMENT

Business Contribution

User Satisfaction

and Experience

Operational Excellence

Future Orientation

Business

Value of SLM

process

(User)

Customer

Satisfaction

Service Level

Performance within

optimal costs /

quality / time

Efficient

Implementation

and Improvement

of SLM process

Efficient

SLM Perf.

reports

Staff

Competencies Innovation &

adopting new

Technology

Cost

Effectiveness

Measured

by survey

Measured by % of

business processes

covered by SLA

Workload

(FTE)

% of processes

(services)

meeting SLA

Measured by

Capability

Level of SLM % of failures

in providing

Perf. reports

# of improvement

initiatives

# of training /

awareness sessions,

# of certifications




MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK


Educated

Personnel

• Trained to CSI


• Focused on

improving services

Measurement

Framework


• Processes


• Baselines


• Measurement DB

Improvement

Initiative

Lifecycle

Management





Approve, Defer or

Reject Initiatives

• Review Benefits






MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK – HOW THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY FITS IN THE SERVICE LIFECYCLE

Shewhart Deming 7 Steps Methodology Service Lifecycle

NORM PLAN Identify = Business Vision = Perspective

Baseline = Position

Define what you will measure = Target = Position = KPI / SLA

Action Plan (Projects) = Plan & Patterns

Service

Design

MONITOR DO Collect data Effectiveness

Efficiency

Satisfaction

Process performance report (collected data)

Service Transition

Service Operation

COMPARE CHECK Analysis Gap

RCA

Improvement opportunities Logged into CSI Register

Present improvement opportunities

Continual Service

Improvement

CONTROL ACT Decides improvement initiatives Service Strategy Service Portfolio Mgt. Business Case

Value

Financial Mgt.

Kotter 5 first steps

SDP

Service Charter

Step #1/8: Increase Urgency

Step #2/8: Build a guiding team

Step #3/8: Get the vision right

Step #4/8: Communicate for buy-in

Step #5/8: Empower action

(Monitor

Control

Loop) (PDCA)




MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK – 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY FOUNDATION

Practical 7 Steps Process Global Methodology for Improvement on Services / Processes / Technology / Organization…

• Author’s suggestion is to start improving Processes first • Improving processes will lead to improving Services • For organization improvement, COBIT® 5 Framework is easier to use

7 Steps concepts, what does it mean? You cannot manage what you cannot control

• Measurement compared against Targets • Measurement compared against Baselines

You cannot control what you cannot measure • Measure and Reporting in place

– Operational – Tactical – Strategic

You cannot measure what you cannot define • Alignment of objectives with the direction sets

by the governance body (or management in smaller organization unit)

In God we trust,

all others bring data.

(William Edwards Deming)




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – MEASURE TO CREATE A BASELINE

You don't have a current baseline? Establish a baseline now

Use Historical Data

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Opportunity #1

One of the first improvement activities is to identify

what should be measured (e.g. metrics identified when designing scorecard)

vs. what can be measured

or what currently is being measured




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – COLLECT AND PROCESS DATA CONTINUOUSLY

Collect data manually if you cannot collect data automatically

Don’t Collect Data You Don’t Use Data Collection is expensive

There is no “R” in ROI if you “R not” using it

Use it or lose it!

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Gather the

data

Process

the data




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – ANALYZE DATA

Address pain points first Use Paretto

( 80 / 20 )

Low hanging fruit Quick wins

If Data is not used Eliminate it

from data collection

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Gather the

data

Process

the data

Analyze

data

Opportunity #2




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – IMPLEMENT QUICK WINS

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Gather the

data

Process

the data

Analyze

data

Present

& Use

Information

Implement

Quick Wins




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – DID WE GET THERE ? – MEASURE THE RESULTS

Utilizing the defined KPIs, the measurement must be compared to the initial baseline

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Gather the

data

Process

the data

Analyze

data

Present

& Use

Information

Implement

Corrective

Action

Opportunity #3

(PIR)

Post-Implementation Review




APPLYING THE 7 STEPS METHODOLOGY – ALL STEPS TOGETHER – THREE IMMEDIATE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Operational

Goals

Define what

you can

measure

Define what

you should

measure

Gather the

data

Process

the data

Analyze

data

Present

& Use

Information

Implement

Corrective

Action

Opportunity #1

Opportunity #2

Opportunity #3




PRIORITIZATION PROCESS


Educated

Personnel

• Trained to CSI


• Focused on

improving services

Measurement

Framework


• Processes


• Baselines


• Measurement DB

Improvement

Initiative

Lifecycle

Management





Approve, Defer or

Reject Initiatives

• Review Benefits






PRIORITIZATION PROCESS – WHEN IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITY BECOMES AN IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE (A PROJECT)

Improvement opportunity

It is a contained piece of work that is aimed at improving processes, and which requires the allocation of resources to implement it. It can be scoped, designed, developed and rolled-out.

Each improvement opportunity must propose a mechanism to monitor itself, measure success, and to plan its own improvement, and/or it should plug into an existing improvement framework.

The overall time spent on the full lifecycle of an improvement should ideally not exceed six months; otherwise, there is a risk of losing momentum, focus and buy-in from stakeholders.

Improvement Initiative

It is an approved improvement opportunity, when prioritization has been done by the CSI Steering Group.

An Improvement initiatives must be tracked in the CSI Register and must use formal change management and project management processes.

SIP

Continual Service Improvement Plan. The SIP is the improvement project which is executed to improve the Service.

Improvement

Opportunity

(Project)

Prioritization

Process

Improvement

Initiative

(Project Mgt.)

Follow-up Tool




PRIORITIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW

Scope

Limited to the organization in which the process is executed Prioritization should consider all projects in the organization,

even the ones not launched via CSI Phases

Capture Opportunity Create Business Case Prioritize Follow-up – Project (Charter/Design/Implement) Monitor, Evaluate and Sustain Review Benefits

Close (Tool & Relationships)

Must be linked to Projects Follow-up Tool Ideally, linked with Portfolio Mgt. for resource management Prioritize phase




PRIORITIZATION PROCESS ROLES

Role Description

Improvement Initiative

Requester

Any member of staff involved in raising an Improvement Initiative.

It is everyone’s responsibility to undertake CSI the organization

CSI Manager Is accountable for all activities pertaining to Continual Services Improvement.

The CSI Manager may simultaneously have both role of

‘Prioritization Process’ Owner / Manager .

SIP Owner The person responsible for the delivery of a specific improvement plan (SIP).

He is also responsible for creating charters, and report progress updates.

This role should be held by the improvement project manager.

SIP Sponsor The person accountable for the delivery of a specific improvement plan (SIP).

A Sponsor may hold the role for many improvements.

CSI Steering Group The CSI Steering Group is the highest level of authorization for Improvement Initiatives

in the organization in which the prioritization process is executed.

For example, this group may be comprised of Permanent Members (Head of

organization and Managers of organization ) and Backup Members (appointed by

Permanent Members to replace them).




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

20 years of Professional experience.

11 years in Infrastructure Outsourcing Services

Certified ITIL v3 Expert

Areas of Intervention

Skills

20 years of IT Experience

11 years of experience in Infrastructure Outsourcing, with

5 years of experience as a Service Management consultant

Definition and implementation of ITIL processes

Continuous Service Improvement integration into processes

4 years as a Skill Group Manager

9 years as a technical expert

Professional Experience

Career SIDO & ONIC [2 years], Transiciel [2 years], Oracle [5 years], Capgemini [11 years]

ITIL v3 / COBIT v5

IT Service Management

Management

Oracle Expert

IT Service Management

Multi-Sourcing SIAM

Assets, Incident, Problem, Change, Release & Deploy,

Configuration, Continual Improvement, Operational processes

Hervé Doornbos

