Problem Problem or opportunity?

Colin Rudd

FSM, FBCS, CITP, CEng, FIITT

Service management consultant, mentor and coach Chairman of itSMF UK ITIL Author

IT Enterprise Management Service Ltd. [email protected] Agenda

• Why is problem management so difficult? • The approach • Implementing effective problem management Everyone’s problem ( or complaint) is somebody else's opportunity for improvement. Why is it difficult ?

• Conflict (problem vs incident) • Data and information (availability and accuracy) • Maturity and capability (where are we?) • People and culture • Measurements Information, relationships, capability and interfaces ITIL®® –– The service lifecycle Requirements The / Customers

Service Strategy Change Resource and proposals Policies constraints Strategies Business value e u

g Service o l SDPs ) a Design S t Standards a

M Architectures C

K Solution e S

( c designs i

v m r e e t S s y d Service Implementation S n

t SKMS a Transition of plans

n Tested o e i

l New/changed solutions m o f e services t g r a o n P a e c

M i Service

v Operational /live e r

g Operation e Achievements services d S

e Against targets l e h w t o : n g K

n Problem

i e d c i u

l Management Continual v c r

n Service e

I CSI register, improvement S ( Improvement actions & plans

© Crown Copyright 2011 - reproduced under license from the Cabinet Office The prerequisites (Processes, how much?) • Mandatory: • Service desk and support teams (SO) • (SO) • Event management (SO) • Desirable: • (ST) • (ST) • (ST) • Service level management (SD) • Availability management (SD) • (SD) Approach

• Establish the need and agree the purpose • Determine the requirement

• Review the environment (What currently exists?) • Change the culture • Implement the process (‘fit for purpose’) • Continually improve and learn •‘Institutionalise’ the process Processes ––needneed to

• Deliver business or customer value • Be fit for use and fit for purpose • Be effective

• Be integrated with other processes (not silos) • Not be bureaucratic or complex, but lean • Be measured and continually improved from a customer experience / perspective Problem ––thethe business impact

Problem occurs Operational effectiveness

Operational Operational E f f

ineffectiveness o ineffectiveness r t

Time Metrics and continual improvement

• Quality • Outcomes • Customer experience, feedback and satisfaction • Performance

Metrics and measurements drive behaviour Problem management

The process - there are two elements:

• Reactive problem management

• Proactive problem management Problem management (reactive)

Detect Record The problem lifecycle: Problem: a cause of one or more incidents Assess Prioritise Investigate Diagnose Workaround Known error Identify and resolve root cause Major Problem review Problem management (reactive)

• Identify areas of greatest ‘business pain and disruption’ • Reduce or remove the disruption • Focus on the most ‘critical / valuable’ services and reduce ‘service unavailability’ • Identify the ‘top ten’ incidents on a periodic basis and try and eliminate Problem management (proactive)

• Prevent avoidable incidents and problems • Looking for ‘leading indicators’ rather than ‘lagging indicators’ • Identify SPOFs, areas of weakness and high risk • Provide feedback and improvements to all lifecycle stages • Use problem management techniques to develop knowledge and proactive capability Case study --BenefitsBenefits

KPI Before After Average ‘open calls’ on IT service desk 700+ < 250

Average initial response time 2 hours 15 minutes

Average duration of ‘long term’ call 30 days 10 days

Average response on IT customer 2 - Poor 7 – Good satisfaction surveys Ratio of IT staff to users 1 : 150 1 : 192

Service unavailability (critical services) 3.4 hours < 2.5 hours / service / service Incident, service desk and problem

Customers Users

Service Desk

Incident Incident management system management

Problem management Problem management system

Support teams Service Knowledge Management System Interfaces and information flows Technical system Support Incident Problem Change Event

SLM s Knowledge r e SCM s Service Desk u Availability d

Capacity n a

s r

SKMS e Supplier

Integrated management Tools m o l

Support t a s t u r C o

Problems Catalogue p

e

Incidents SLAs c i

Infrastructure v Performance Reports r e Changes Contracts S Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) The service portfolio Service Service Retired pipeline catalogue services

Customer portfolio Application portfolio Project portfolio

Service Service Incidents strategy models DML Service requests Configuration Financial Service design Release Management Problems data package plans System (CMS) Known errors Demand SLAs Deployment Changes data plans Releases Business ITSCM plans Standard Test plans Technical Events cases and reports documentation operating procedures Policies and AMIS plans Improvement CMIS Management Service CSI reports reports register plans SCMIS SMIS Improving, capability and knowledge

Pre-emptive

e Wisdom u l Predictive a V

s

s Knowledge e

n Proactive i s u

B Information Active Data Reactive

Management maturity / capability Summary • The perspective needs to be from the customer and business • Communicate • Focus on value, outcome and quality • Lean, integrate and automate • And remember ......

“the better you do an activity, the less you actually need that activity“ Problem management Problem or opportunity?

Colin Rudd

FSM, FBCS, CITP, CEng, FIITT

Service management consultant, mentor and coach Chairman of itSMF UK ITIL Author

IT Enterprise Management Service Ltd. [email protected]