An Approach to Standard Operating Procedures for a Modern IT Department - Ramaswami Venkatesan

Pink Elephant – Leading The Way In IT Management Best Practices

An Approach To Standard Operating Procedures For A

Modern IT Department

Ramaswami Venkatesan, PMP

Director

Project Management Institute,

Malaysia Chapter (PMIMY)

© Pink Elephant, 2016. All Rights Reserved.

AN APPROACH FOR A

STANDARD OPERATING

ENVIRONMENT

FOR

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Increasing IT Value for Stakeholders


Disclaimer of Liability

The Project Management Institute(PMI) and ProjectManagement Institute (PMIMY) specifically disclaimthat by permitting the Speaker to participate in thisprogram that they are making any representation orwarranty regarding the participating Presenter /Speaker, including any representation or warranty asto their qualifications or capabilities. As a condition forusing this presenter the participants understand andagree that neither PMI and PMIMY, their employeesor agents have assumed any liability for any acts oromissions, advice or information that the participatingspeaker may provide to the participants and theparticipants further agree that PMI and PMIMY, theiremployees and agents shall not be liable for anyincidental, indirect, consequential or special damagesof any kind, or any damages whatsoever relating tothe conduct between the participants and the speaker.


PMI and PMIMY

PMI is the Worlds Largest Not for Profit membership

association for the project management profession with more

than 700,000 members in more than 180 Countries, of whom

more than 650,000 are PMI Credential Holders. (www.pmi.my)

PMI Malaysia Chapter (PMIMY) is one of more that 280

Chapters around the world. Has more than 680 members of

whom at least 500 are PMP Credential Holders. 23% of PMIMY

members come from the IT Industry and they represent the

largest Industry segment in our membership profile.

Amongst other things, PMIMY organises an International

Symposium and this years will be held on 24th to 26th October.

Our PMIMY Director of Planning is available to speak to

interested delegates during the breaks.

http://symposium.pmi.org.my/

Pink Elephant is a PMI Registered Education Provider (REP)

who are able to prepare PMI members to do any of the 8 PMI

Accreditations. Thank you Jan-Wlliem and Pink Elephant for

supporting PMI, PMIMY and PMI members.

http://www.pmi.my/

http://symposium.pmi.org.my/


WHY SOE

Market

Opportunity

Business

benefits

Service

quality

Challenges to

CIO

Agenda

AGENDA

What is SOE

• Basic Segments

• Standards

• Guidelines / best practices

• Policies

• People

• Process

• Technology

How to go about

• Implementation

• Can we do all

• If yes, When

• CSFs

• Role of Consultants


Customer Profile in Malaysia

2011 data, 645,136 SMEs

operating - 97.3%

Aug 2013**, 99.2% SME,

contribute 32% of Malaysia’s

GDP

SME GDP growth has

consistently superseded the

growth of the overall economy,

based on 2006 to 2012 data

About 70% do not have website

and 72% do not use IT

77% micro enterprises with less

than 5 workers

• http://www.ecommercemilo.com/2013/12/malaysia-

sme-statistics-ecommerce-readiness.html

• http://www.ecommercemilo.com/2013/08/ecommer

ce-statistic-southeast-asia-malaysia.html

http://www.ecommercemilo.com/2013/12/malaysia-sme-statistics-ecommerce-readiness.html

http://www.ecommercemilo.com/2013/08/ecommerce-statistic-southeast-asia-malaysia.html


Need for the business community

Organisations incur 80% of their IT budget on IT support, whereas their need

for development is much larger than the allocated 20% - where can they get

more money ? How can they reduce the support cost ?

Medium and small organisations – have they exploited all the automation and

IT deployments ? Have they thought about automation and productivity

increase to get the benefits IT ? Have they explored on Standards, Best

Practices and IT policies ?

20% ? %

Maintenance & support

New development

Actual Demand

I

T

B

U

D

G

E

T

I

T

B

U

D

G

E

T


Standardize Centralize Automate Eliminate

Delivery processGlobal Tool set

Economies of ScaleVirtual Model

Self Hep ToolsCustomer Support Portal

Self Correcting SWSW Defined DCSW Defined NW

Productivity increase trigger - Standardisation


IT Function to offer Quality Service

• Expectation of what is going to be delivered

• Perception of what is delivered

• Not only the outcome, but also the process of getting the outcome


Service Quality Outcomes

Expectation

Perception

Some of what is

expected is

delivered

Disappointment

Expectation

Perception

Perception

less than

Expectation

Dissatisfaction

Perception Expectation

Surprise / Shock

Different from

expectation

Perception

Expectation Perception

greater than

Expectation

Delight


Benefits of SOE

Quality

Platform to get a

consistent output

Service

Predictability

Emergency

handling

procedures

Continuous

Improvement

opportunities

Cost

Scalability with

Minimal effort

Manage Cost by

Needs

Reduces Support

Cost

Productivity

Preventing efforts on

"reinventing the

wheel”

Structured training

process for new

employees

Enable easy

updates / upgrades

to software

Allow people to

focus more on

bigger problems and

opportunities


WHY SOE

Market

Opportunity

Business

benefits

Service

quality

Challenges to

CIO

Agenda

AGENDA

What is SOE

• Basic Segments

• Standards


• Policies

• People

• Process

• Technology

How to go about

• Implementation

• Can we do all

• If yes, When

• CSFs



Building an IT SOE Strategy

Just operate the data

centre

Do a few business

applications like, payroll,

billing, inventory etc.

Network is slow

Everything seems to be a

change with them

Nothing can be done on

urgent basis

Where

We Are

today

Where do

we want

to go


Role of Today’s IT Function

Data Center

Network

End User Facilities

Mobile Equipment

Business Applications

External Services

Management

& Monitoring

Continuous

Improvement

EXTL PARTIES

CEO

USERS


Organi-

sationPeople

INTEGRATION

STANDARD

OPERATING

ENVIRONMENT

Key Levers of Service Quality


Encompasses the whole IT Operations

From Desktop to Servers to Applications to networking

People, Process and Tools

Relevant and Current Information

Reference Document

Needs updates regularly

Needs ownership of an individual within the organisation to

maintain

Knowledge Base

Industry Standards

Best Practices / Guidelines

Company Policies

Company Specific configuration and parameters

SOE Basics


Future IT Plans

Future Technology and Operational Procedures

Unapproved Applications and systems

One-time Management tools used to rectify any specific

issues in the past

SOE Scope – Exclusions


Data Center

PRODUCTION SERVIERS

OTHER IT RELEATED

EQUIPMENT

SECURITY STANDARDS

UPS & BATTERIES

OTHER M&E EQUIPMENT

DEVELOPMENT, TESTING AND

STAGING SERVERS

1

Network LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

WIDE AREA NETWORKS

NETWORK SECURITY2

Monitor &

Manage

SERVICE DESK

Server Monitoring

Network Monitoring

Application Monitoring

Desktop / Client Mgmt

Vendor Mgmt &

Monitoring3

IT Performance

Reporting

End User Facilities

DESKTOP OR LAPTOP

PRINTERS AND PRINT

MANAGEMENT SERVICES

PABX AND LEASED LINES

PHYSICAL ACCESS AND

SECURITY

END USER SATISFACTION

SURVEY4

Mobile Equipment

TABLETMOBILE PHONE

SECURITY POLICY

EMPLOYEE POLICIES5

Business Apps

PROJECT CHARTER

Project Mgmt.

Plan

OPERATIONS MANUAL

APPLICATION SECURITY AND

ACCESS PRIVILEGES

DRP PLAN, BACKUP AND

RECOVERY SERVICES

DB & Middleware

Performance & Capacity

Mgmt6

EXTERNAL MONITORING

SERVICES

External Services

BUSINESS SUBS

SERVICES

HW SUPPORT SERVICES

HW RENTAL /

LEASE SERVICES

SW SUPPORT SERVICES

Licence MGMT

Services

CLOUD SUBSCRIPTION

SERVICES

7

Continuous Improve-

ment

IT PROCESS REVIEW

TECH UPDATE

SESSIONS

Common Bus Apps Review

SERVICE CATALOGUE

REVIEW

Geography Review on IT Deployment

Business Line wise IT

Review

IT Capacity and Skill Review

8

SOE Streams


Data Center

PRODUCTION SERVIERS

OTHER IT RELEATED

EQUIPMENT

SECURITY STANDARDS

UPS & BATTERIES

OTHER M&E EQUIPMENT1

DEV, TEST &

STAGING SERVERS

Technology Process People

What How Why

Specifications Checklists Policies

• Production servers

• Core Switch, Network

Routers, WiFi modem,

WiFi AP,

• Firewall, Loadbalancer

• SAN and UPS

• Development and Test

Servers

• PABX, ACD, Voice

recording

• Server Hardening

• Anti-virus and Malware

sw

• Equipment installation

• Server Monitoring

agents

• Asset Tagging process

• IP Address Scheme

• Cabling Requirements

• Security Guidelines for

Servers, Storage and NW

equipment

• Security Policies for

Physical location

• Internet access policy

• Email / Messaging policy

• Print Queue

Management Policy

• Development and Test

Servers Release / usage

policy



What How Why



WIDE AREA NETWORKS

NETWORK SECURITY2

• All LAN equipment• All Voice equipment in

the data center• Physical fixtures and

fittings• Wireless Access Router• WAN Architecture

• LAN and WAN configurations

• Maintenance support checklist for access points

• Bandwidth Calculations• Number of users• Application• Number of

transactions

• WAN connectivity options and recommendations by size of the office



What How Why


Monitor &

Manage

SERVICE DESK

Server Monitoring

Network Monitoring



Vendor Mgmt &

Monitoring3

• Monitoring hardware• Monitoring software• Any other software, like

DB licence etc.

• Service Desk Processes• SLA definition &

calculation steps• Process definition for

adding new servers into monitoring systems, including sw config

• Alert definition & recommended actions

• Checklist of activities for virus attack or intrusion

• Vendor Mgmt process• Rules for Bandwidth

allocation

• Remote mgmt. process for desktops

• SLA and OLA consolidation to review IT Self Performance



What How Why


End User Facilities

DESKTOP OR LAPTOP

PRINTERS AND PRINT

MANAGEMENT SERVICES


PHYSICAL ACCESS AND

SECURITY

END USER SATISFACTION

SURVEY4

• Desktops, laptops, tablets, Printers

• Landline phones, mobile phones

• List of standard software for Client platform

• Monitoring software agents

• Physical access control equipment configuration

• Print management process including bulk printing

• Special configuration details for standard software and connectivity

• On-boarding and off-boarding of employees and the IT assets – Policy

• Usage of conference room and office phone facilities - Guidelines

• Accessing access control systems and data retrieval - Policy

• End User Satisfaction survey – Best Practices



What How Why


Mobile Equipment

TABLETMOBILE PHONE

SECURITY POLICY

EMPLOYEE POLICIES5

• Standard configuration for laptops, tablets, mobile phones

• Connectivity configuration for mobile equipment

• Approved mobile applications

• BYOD configuration for select models

• Guidelines for installation and configuration of mobile applications

• Guidelines for using any mobile applications

• BYOD policies• Reimbursement for

mobile usage local & when on travel

• Eligibility for mobile -voice, data roaming

• Security policies for connecting to Office network (local & overseas)



What How Why


Business Apps

PROJECT CHARTER

Project Mgmt.

Plan

OPERATIONS MANUAL


ACCESS PRIVILEGES


RECOVERY SERVICES

DB & Middleware

Performance & Capacity Mgmt

6

• Application Software package specification

• Project Charter• Project Mgmt Plan• Application performance

and capacity management guidelines

• Administration manual for each application (new and existing)

• Other application layers like DB, middleware, etc.

• PMO Templates like Project Review and Progress Report

• DRP, Backup and recovery guidelines

• Application access policy and control



What How Why


EXTERNAL MONITORING

SERVICES

External Services

BUSINESS SUBS

SERVICES

HW SUPPORT SERVICES

HW RENTAL / LEASE SERVICE

SW SUPPORT SERVICE

Licence MGMT Services

CLOUD SUBS

SERVICES7

• Approved external services

• T&C for all hardware, software and application support contracts;

• T&Cs for Lease and Rental contracts;

• T&Cs for availing cloud based HW facilities

• T&Cs for subscription based or hosted application services

• Process for managing software licences

• Configuration for External Subs based services

• Guidelines for eligibility, Control and access of external services including subscription based services

• Guidelines for availing Cloud services for HW, Application or Hosting services



What How Why


Continuous Improvement

IT PROCESS REVIEW

TECH UPDATE SESSION


SERVICE CATALOGUE

REVIEW


IT Review

by Business

Line


8

• SOE update for Improvement initiatives

• Critical IT processes reviews

• Technology Partners for knowledge update

• Review Agenda -pending issues with IT, Users and Vendors

• Resolution Plans • Action items - individual

ownership• Review Agenda

IT Staff Review• Individual one on

one with IT manager• Capacity and

capability review• Development Plans


SOE STREAMS

Data Center

PRODUCTION SERVIERS

OTHER IT RELEATED

EQUIPMENT

SECURITY STANDARDS

UPS & BATTERIES

OTHER M&E EQUIPMENT

DEVELOPMENT, TESTING AND

STAGING SERVERS

1


WIDE AREA NETWORKS

NETWORK SECURITY2

Monitor &

Manage

SERVICE DESK

Server Monitoring

Network Monitoring



Vendor Mgmt &

Monitoring3

IT Performance

Reporting

End User Facilities

DESKTOP OR LAPTOP

PRINTERS AND PRINT

MANAGEMENT SERVICES


PHYSICAL ACCESS AND

SECURITY

END USER SATISFACTION SURVEY4

Mobile Equipment

TABLETMOBILE PHONE

SECURITY POLICY

EMPLOYEE POLICIES5

Business Apps

PROJECT CHARTER

Project Mgmt.

Plan

OPERATIONS MANUAL


ACCESS PRIVILEGES


RECOVERY SERVICES

DB & Middleware

Performance & Capacity

Mgmt6

EXTERNAL MONITORING

SERVICES

External Services

BUSINESS SUBS

SERVICES

HW SUPPORT SERVICES

HW RENTAL /

LEASE SERVICES

SW SUPPORT SERVICES

Licence MGMT

Services

CLOUD SUBSCRIPTION

SERVICES

7

Continuous Improve-

ment

IT PROCESS REVIEW

TECH UPDATE

SESSIONS


SERVICE CATALOGUE

REVIEW


Business Line wise IT

Review


8


WHY SOE

Market

Opportunity

Business

benefits

Service

quality

Challenges to

CIO

Agenda

AGENDA

What is SOE

• Basic Segments

• Standards


• Policies

• People

• Process

• Technology

How to go about

• Implementation

• Can we do all

• If yes, When

• CSFs



Creation and maintenance of the documentation

Identified Ownership and Establishing responsibility for maintenance

Understand that it starts as Reference Manual

Will change with Technology, Industry and with changes in the

businesses

Contents will be maintained only in ONE place, but can be referred

wherever needed

Regular Proactive Reviews – people, process, technology,

business, tools and geography

Trigger for continuous improvement

Purpose is to improve efficiency and effectiveness to Increase the IT

Stakeholder Value

CSFs TO MAKE SOE SUCCESSFUL


Create a local champion team and ask them to lead the exercise

Management Support is a must, as the team will be in a learning curve

Lack of experience could cause delay in the project implementation

AVAILABLE OPTIONS

• Outsource the job to a consulting organisation

• Could be expensive

• Difficult for the local team to get knowledge transfer for future maintenance

• Hire experienced consultant on advisory role

• Arrange a local team to learn and implement

• Scope could be wider, but select the most appropriate boxes for early implementation to carry forward the momentum

In House Outsource Hybrid


THANK YOU

Any questions ?

PMI Malaysia Chapter Ramaswami Venkatesan, PMP

Director

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]