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] 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 Business / 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) • Incident management (SO) • Event management (SO) • Desirable: • Change management (ST) • Configuration management (ST) • Knowledge management (ST) • Service level management (SD) • Availability management (SD) • Capacity management (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 Service management 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]