A GUIDE to SERVICE QUALITY PROGRAMS Selecting a Quality Program for Your Technology Service Organization

A GUIDE TO SERVICE QUALITY PROGRAMS Selecting a Quality Program for Your Technology Service Organization

Companies are increasingly realizing that delivering high quality services can set them apart from the competition, increase profitability and drive customer loyalty. This report provides a guide to understanding and selecting a quality program for your technology service organization.

Author Greg Coleman Vice President, Strategic Programs Service Strategies Corporation [email protected]

No material contained in this report may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of the publisher. The information contained in this report has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but neither its completeness nor accuracy can be guaranteed. Opinions expressed are based on our interpretation of available information and are subject to change without notice.

Table of Contents Introduction ...... 1 Why Adopt a Service Quality Program? ...... 1 What to Look For When Selecting a Program? ...... 3 Benefits of a Service Quality Program ...... 4 Overview of Service Quality Programs ...... 5 Six Sigma ...... 5 ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) ...... 6 CMMI‐SVC (Capability Maturity Model Integration) ...... 7 ISO 9001:2008 Standards ...... 7 ISO/IEC 20000 Standards ...... 8 TSIA / J.D. Power and Associates, Certified Technology Service and Support (CTSS) ...... 9 Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards ...... 9 Conclusion ...... 10 Quality Programs Comparative Matrix ...... 11 References ...... 12

A GUIDE TO SERVICE QUALITY PROGRAMS Selecting a Quality Program for Your Technology Service Organization

INTRODUCTION Companies are increasingly realizing that delivering high quality services can set them apart from the competition, increase profitability and drive customer loyalty. To help them achieve these goals, and improve the overall quality of their services, companies are employing a variety of formal quality programs in their service operations. While some of these programs are broad‐reaching and cover general business processes, others are focused specifically on technology services. Ranging from best practice guides, to formal certification standards, there are many options available to businesses interested in establishing a disciplined approach to quality.

If you are considering adopting a quality program for your service organization, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, facts, and myths concerning the features, benefits and costs associated with these programs. In this guide, we’ll provide a review of some of the most widely adopted programs, take a broad look at the features and benefits they offer, and help you understand what to look for when selecting a program for your organization.

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll review seven different quality programs, including Six Sigma, ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI‐SVC), ISO Standards ISO 9001:2008 and ISO/IEC 20000, TSIA / J.D. Power & Associates’ Certified Technology Service and Support (CTSS) and the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards. We have also included a Quality Programs Comparative Matrix at the end of this guide to highlight the features of the programs reviewed.

The methodologies used, and quality of results attained, can fluctuate widely between these programs. Some focus strictly on certification, some on “assessed” performance and others simply provide a process improvement methodology or library of business practices. Please note that for a variety of reasons, some businesses elect to use multiple quality programs. In some cases different programs may complement each other quite well, and when used together, may result in an even better outcome for an organization. In most instances the programs are not mutually exclusive of one another.

The more information you have now, the better equipped you’ll be when choosing a quality program for your organization. Ultimately, you’ll want to select a program that will help you achieve your goals, which for most will include improving the quality of service your organization delivers to customers.

Why Adopt a Service Quality Program? There are many reasons why an organization might consider adopting a service quality program. Management may feel the need to create greater process discipline within the organization or have a need to address a specific business problem, such as improving customer satisfaction.

Alternatively, the company may have a requirement to become certified or may simply wish to instill a culture of quality within the service organization. Whatever the reason, adopting a quality program should not be taken lightly. Success requires a strong commitment from within the service organization and from the company as a whole. So let’s further examine some of the reasons why you might choose to adopt a service quality program for your organization.

A Standard for World Class Service Organizations that are interested in delivering world‐class levels of service might adopt a quality standard as a roadmap to guide their efforts. For these organizations, the program they choose should provide a framework, along with a clear set of service standards, and a methodology that will drive continuous improvement and lead them towards their goal. The standards should provide guidance on best practices and a means to measure performance, such as through audited validation of adherence to the standards, possibly resulting in certification.

Address Specific Business Issues Organizations looking to address one or more specific business issues might adopt a program that defines a methodology for process improvement. Alternatively the organization might adopt a quality standard that provides best practice guidance that may help to solve the issues in question and drive improved performance. Such a standard should cover a wide range of service business practices and provide a focus on key operational areas that align with the challenges the organization is facing. As a result, the service organization can address their immediate concerns and then leverage the standards to address issues that arise in the future. In this scenario, an organization might leverage both an improvement methodology and a quality standard together to get maximum results.

Validate Current Practices Those companies that feel they are already delivering top quality service might use a quality standard or certification program as a way to validate their business practices. In many cases, the organization will identify additional opportunities for improvement while going through the validation process that may drive even higher levels of performance and efficiency. The quality standard used for validation should align directly with the service business practices in place to be effective. Certification under the quality standard can provide the measure of success and an opportunity to gain industry recognition for the quality of service being delivered.

Drive Consistency in Service Delivery Global or large regional organizations may adopt quality standards to drive consistency throughout their operations. In this case, the quality program needs to provide a framework for measuring the consistency of services delivered across geographies, business units or product lines. Any program selected should define specific business practices, methods and criteria necessary to drive the desired level of consistency. In addition, the program should provide a rigorous audit process capable of measuring consistency and identifying gaps in global practices.

Create a Competitive Differentiator Organizations looking for a competitive differentiator might leverage a quality standard as an external validation and a means to communicate the quality of services provided to customers. The program selected should offer the ability to use the standards or certification to market the accomplishment to customers and prospects, thereby enabling the company to better promote service as a competitive differentiator.

As you can see, there are a variety of reasons companies may choose to adopt a service quality program, only a few of which we have covered here. Instilling quality is not a one‐time event. It’s a continuous journey that requires plenty of focus and a long term commitment to improving the organization. Once a quality program is selected and rolled out, the organization must have the support of everyone, from senior leadership to the frontline service employees, to achieve the desired results.

What to Look For When Selecting a Program? Once you’ve decided to adopt a quality program for your service organization, it’s important to select the one that best fits your needs, goals and objectives. So let’s take a look at a few things that are important to consider when making your decision.

What is the program’s track record? How long has the program been in existence? Also important to consider is who sponsored the creation of the program and developed the criteria used to measure performance. You might also ask how many organizations have adopted the program or attained certification if the program offers that option.

Who participates in the program? How many companies and/or organizations have adopted the quality program? Has it been adopted internationally? If the program provides a certification or assessment option, which companies have been through the process? Are they all in one particular market segment or do they provide a broad representation of markets? Is there a particular profile that the program is targeted towards, such as very large or very small organizations? Understanding these issues can help determine if your company is a good fit for the program.

How often is the program updated? It is important to understand how often the program is updated or revised. Is there a defined process for these updates to be made and rolled out to the participants? Being world‐class today does not necessarily mean world‐class in the future. Evolving trends, enhanced business practices and new technologies are continually raising the bar on what’s considered superior service. Make certain the program you select is updated and revised on a regular basis.

Program Content What does the program content look like? Does it simply define generic process areas or does it provide specific business practices that can quantify the effectiveness of your services? Are the performance standards stringent and do they represent best practices in the industry? The nature of the standards criteria and content are important in determining whether the program can help you achieve the desired results you’re looking for.

What are costs? What is the cost structure of the program and how much will it cost to adopt? Are all fees stated upfront or are there hidden costs? Does the program require some form of membership in an industry association or can a company adopt it without membership? Are there consulting fees required to implement the program? Learn about all of the costs up front to avoid any surprises later on.

Any quality program you select should establish a foundation to build on existing processes, provide a clear focus on measurable results and offer a roadmap for continuous improvement. Programs designed specifically for service organizations are more likely to drive the types of improvements you may be looking for, such as increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, improving operational efficiency or upgrading staff performance. Selecting the right quality program for your service organization can enable you to achieve your goals and ultimately deliver a higher level of service to customers. After all – that’s the bottom line.

Benefits of a Service Quality Program There are many benefits that can be derived from adopting a service quality program. While the benefits may vary from company to company depending on their issues, goals and objectives, it is safe to say that most all companies will see positive results if they fully commit to improving the quality of their services through adoption of one of the programs discussed. Some of the benefits a company might see from adopting a service quality program include:

Increased Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty By improving service delivery methods, better setting customer expectations and speeding the time it takes to respond to and resolve customer issues, a company may see increased customer satisfaction and loyalty as a result of their quality improvement efforts.

Improved Service Consistency By Focusing on defining and implementing a common set of service delivery practices throughout the global organization, a company can create a consistent service experience for customers, regardless of their contact channel or location. In addition, developing consistent use of tools, implementing a standard set of metrics and enhancing the service vision and strategy will contribute to improving overall service consistency.

Improved Efficiency and Productivity By optimizing performance in a wide range of business process areas, the service organization can become more efficient and effective at meeting customer needs. As an example, improving service delivery processes can lead to faster resolution of customer issues, implementing improved training programs may increase the skills and capabilities of the staff and focusing on serviceability processes may contribute to improved product quality, thereby eliminating product issues that generate service demand.

Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement By adopting a service quality program, the company can create a culture of continuous improvement within the service organization. By committing to improve service quality, the company can foster a mindset among the staff that motivates them to identify and address quality issues, rather than accepting the status quo. Certifying the organization will also

contribute to breaking down organizational barriers that can derail continuous improvement efforts. As a result, the organization will see ongoing improvement of service capabilities, processes and methods that have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Best Practice Benchmarking Leveraging a service quality standard that offers a benchmarking component, such as the SCP Standards, will allow the organization to compare their performance against those of other world‐class organizations. Doing so can be highly beneficial in helping to identify and address areas where the organization may be lagging behind industry best practice.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage Leveraging a service quality program that provides a certification component can allow a company to potentially gain an advantage on its competition. Marketing the attainment of certification can demonstrate to clients, shareholders and prospects the commitment to service quality that the company has made.

OVERVIEW OF SERVICE QUALITY PROGRAMS For the purposes of this guide, we’ll review the following seven quality programs.

 Six Sigma  ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)  Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI‐SVC)  ISO 9001:2008 Standards  ISO/IEC 20000‐2:2012 Standards  JD Power & Associates’ Certified Technology Service and Support  The Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards.

Each of these programs has its own strengths that can contribute to a company’s overall quality improvement efforts. As there are volumes of information available about many of the programs represented here, we will simply provide a brief overview of each. In addition, we have included a Quality Programs Comparative Matrix at the end of this guide that highlights additional details on the features of the programs reviewed. For those who would like to conduct further research, we have also included a number of references.

Six Sigma Six Sigma is a quality improvement methodology that defines a specific method of measuring success. The program can be used to drive targeted improvement efforts and measure the outcome of those efforts through the Sigma measurement, expressed as Defects per Million Opportunities. As stated by Six Sigma Onlinei:

Six Sigma is a quality management program used to measure and improve the operational performance of a company by identifying and fixing defects in the company's product/processes. Originally, Six Sigma started out strictly as a process variation that would produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. However today, Six Sigma is basically the art of producing a product that satisfies the customer in the most cost economical way. Six Sigma all started at Motorola in the mid‐1980s by Bob Galvin and Bill

Smith. It was later picked up and followed by other larger companies such as Allied Signal and General Electric. It has since spread like wild‐fire to many of the top companies throughout the world. Six Sigma, although traditionally applied to the manufacturing industry, can be applied effectively in the service industry.

As noted in the 2007 research paper published in the Journal of Operations Management, titled Six Sigma: Definition and Underlying Theory (Schroeder et al.)ii

Our research argues that although the tools and techniques in Six Sigma are strikingly similar to prior approaches to quality management, it provides an organizational structure not previously seen. This emergent structure for quality management helps organizations more rigorously control process improvement activities, while at the same time creating a context that enables problem exploration between disparate organizational members. Although Six Sigma provides benefits over prior approaches to quality management, it also creates new challenges for researchers and practitioners.

While results are expressed in manufacturing oriented measurement terms, organizations have been able to translate this expression into service related measures. The strength of Six Sigma lies in the methodology for driving improvement. However, the program does not identify which areas of an operation should be improved, and is not specific to any discipline within the company. In addition, there is no organizational assessment or certification associated with Six Sigma. Individuals within the organization can attain accreditation at any of several levels including “Green Belt” and “Black Belt,” but the organization as a whole cannot attain any assessment or certification levels under Six Sigma.

ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) The IT Infrastructure Library, better known by its acronym ITIL, is a best practice framework for IT service management. Originally developed by the UK Office of Government Commerce, the framework was intended to provide best practice guidance for the planning and delivery of IT services within the British Government. Since its origination, the program has been adopted widely by both commercial and government IT organizations. A good overview of the basics of ITIL can be found in the white paper titled ITIL: The Basicsiii by Valerie Arraj of Compliance Process Partners. The Official ITIL Websiteiv describes the program as follows:

ITIL advocates that IT services must be aligned to the needs of the business and underpin the core business processes. It provides guidance to organizations on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and growth. The ITIL best practices are currently detailed within five core publications which provide a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT services, enabling organizations to deliver appropriate services and continually ensure they are meeting business goals and delivering benefits. The five core guides map the entire ITIL Service Lifecycle, beginning with the identification of customer needs and drivers of IT requirements, through to the design and implementation of the service into operation and finally, on to the monitoring and improvement phase of the service.

While ITIL itself does not have an organizational certification component, its best practice definitions underpin the ISO/IEC 20000 standard. So theoretically, an organization adhering to ITIL principles and practices would be positioned to attain certification under the ISO/IEC 2000o standard. ITIL also includes training and certification programs for individuals wishing to become versed in its practices.

It should be noted that the standards were designed primarily to improve the delivery of IT services, which are mainly consumed by “internal” customers, not as a standard for supporting external clients who purchase a company’s products or services.

CMMI‐SVC (Capability Maturity Model Integration) CMMI, the Capability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement methodology developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The system offers various models that cover areas such as Acquisition, Development and Services. The services model, referred to as CMMI‐SVC is relevant to this review in that it is applicable to a broad variety of service organizations. According to the SEIv whitepaper title Which CMMI Model Is for You?vi :

CMMI for Services is designed for businesses that focus on establishing, managing, and delivering services. This model delves into detail about planning and managing service capacity and availability, handling complaints and problems, planning for service interruptions, and deciding which services to provide, and ensuring everything is in place to deliver a service, including people, processes, consumables, and equipment. Process areas unique to CMMI for Services are Capacity and Availability Management, Incident Resolution and Prevention, Service Continuity, Service Delivery, Service System Development, Service System Transition, and Strategic Service Management. This model may be the best one for your if you find that (1) you focus on aligning resources to meet service demand or (2) you’re challenged with maintaining a consistently high level of customer service.

CMMI does not provide a certification mechanism. Rather, the program offers a formal assessment methodology, whereby an organization is assessed at specific maturity levels ranging from one to five. There is no official requirement for re‐assessment to verify that an organization is maintaining their performance at an assessed level. Therefore an organization could represent its attainment of a CMMI assessed level indefinitely, regardless of its current performance. Additionally, CMMI‐SVC is a generic service related program. It is not targeted towards technology service and support specifically.

ISO 9001:2008 Standards Established in February of 1947, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) was started by 25 nations to facilitate the clarification and unification of industrial standards. The organization is the world’s largest standards body and has published more than 19000 standards during its history. ISO 9001 is one of the most popular of the standards produced by the ISO. It provides guidance in establishing a formal quality system and places an emphasis on process documentation, specifying how documents should be formatted, updated and controlled. The Standards also focus on ensuring processes are executed, but do not specifically define “what” the processes should be or which business areas they should cover. According to the official ISO websitevii discussion of the ISO 9000 standardsviii:

ISO 9001:2008 sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is the only standard in the family that can be certified to (although this is not a requirement). It can be used by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity. In fact ISO 9001:2008 is implemented by over one million companies and organizations in over 170 countries. The standard is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement. An organization must perform internal audits to check how its quality management system is working. An organization may decide to invite an independent certification body to verify that it is in conformity to the standard, but there is no requirement for this. Alternatively, it might invite its clients to audit the quality system for themselves.

ISO 9001:2008 does provide a means to gauge adherence, both through organizational certification accomplished via an independent certification audit, and through specifically defined methods for internal auditing. While ISO standards provide a foundation for quality processes, they do not specifically focus on measurable results and tend to be generic in nature. They can be applied to many business functions and as a result, are not specifically targeted towards technology services.

ISO/IEC 20000 Standards Also developed by the ISO, the ISO/IEC 20000 standard and its companions ISO/IEC 20000‐1:2011 and 20000‐2:2012 are targeted towards information technology, service management. There are two parts to the standard. The second, 20000‐2:2012 provides guidance and help to interpret the 20000‐1 standard more effectively. According to the ISO, the 20000‐2:2012 standardix can be described as follows:

ISO/IEC 20000‐2:2012 provides guidance on the application of service management systems (SMS) based on the requirements in ISO/IEC 20000‐1. ISO/IEC 20000‐2:2012 enables organizations and individuals to interpret ISO/IEC 20000‐1 more accurately and therefore to use it more effectively. The guidance includes examples and suggestions to enable organizations to interpret and apply ISO/IEC 20000‐1, including references to other parts of ISO/IEC 20000 and other relevant standards. This includes guidance on the use of an SMS for the planning, design, transition, delivery and improvement of the SMS and services. At a minimum this includes service management policies, objectives, plans, service management processes, process interfaces, documentation and resources. The SMS provides ongoing control, greater effectiveness, efficiency and opportunities for continual improvement of service management and of services. It enables an organization to work effectively with a shared vision.

While the ISO organization develops international standards, it does not certify organizations against the standards. Certification audits are performed by independent third parties; therefore an organization cannot be certified by ISO itself. The 20000 standards can also provide a certification path for organizations that have implemented ITIL, since ITIL itself has no organizational certification component. As with the ISO 90001 standards, the 20000 standards do not specifically focus on measurable results. They are designed for IT organizations rather than the customer facing service organizations operated by technology providers.

TSIA / J.D. Power and Associates, Certified Technology Service and Support (CTSS) The Certified Technology Service and Support (CTSS) from J.D. Power and Associates is a component of an organizational development program offered by the TSIA, a technology services association. The CTSS is relevant to this review as it is the top certification tier of their program. Designed for technology service operations, the CTSS requires that participants allow J.D. Power and Associates to perform an independent satisfaction survey of their customers. According to the TSIAx:

In addition to the meeting this high level of operational achievement, the CTSS program also measures the level of excellence in delivering customer satisfaction. J. D. Power and Associates conducts internet based surveys with customers who have had a recent support experience and then compares those results to their technology support industry customer satisfaction index. The benchmark for certification is defined as the 80th percentile, so your organization’s customer satisfaction rating must be in the top 20% of scores to qualify for certification. Once an organization has achieved certification, they have the option to license the J. D. Power and Associates brand, incorporating it into marketing activities, internal recognition programs and as a key differentiator for the sales organization to utilize.

The CTSS program is relatively new compared to the other quality programs included in this comparison. The program uses a combination of auditing, use of survey benchmark data and the J.D. Power and Associates survey to determine certification status. While targeted towards technology service providers, there has been limited adoption of the program within the industry, primarily by a few large technology vendors. The TSIA website currently lists five companies as being certified under the CTSS program. In addition, the TSIA lists three additional companies as certified under the two levels below the CTSS within their organizational development program. Interestingly, the J.D. Power and Associatesxi website provides only limited details of the program, with most of the information published by the TSIA.

Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards The most prominent standards and certification program of its kind for service and support organizations is the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards. Launched in 1998 and administered by Service Strategies Corp., the SCP Standards were developed specifically to address issues affecting technology service and support operations. The SCP Standards have become the most widely adopted, technology services specific, program in the industry today. They establish specific criteria covering over 250 business practices, across four service disciplines, necessary to deliver top quality service. In addition, the standards include over 500 best practice examples to assist companies in improving their service operations. According to the Service Strategies websitexii

SCP Standards provide more than a simple quality program. They establish a community of companies committed to delivering exceptional service and support. The standards, which address the four distinct disciplines of support, eservice, field service and professional services, provide the framework for measuring performance, implementing best practices, and leveraging a network of professionals actively engaged in enhancing the quality of their operations. Service Strategies applies a proven benchmark process to update the SCP Standards annually, thereby ensuring they stay current with evolving industry trends.

Adopted by service and support organizations around the world, the SCP Standards provide the global benchmark of service excellence. The standards quantify service effectiveness based upon stringent performance benchmarks and represent industry best practices. Companies can achieve certification by undergoing a comprehensive audit of service operations to confirm that they meet the business requirements defined by the standards. Certified organizations must demonstrate their performance and commitment through annual re‐ certification.

The SCP Standards focus on optimizing performance in a wide range of business process areas necessary to deliver top quality service and support. By enhancing performance in these areas, an organization can become more effective at meeting customer needs. The 14 years of global deployment, and approximately 1000 certification audits performed, demonstrate the broad adoption of the SCP Standards within the technology industry. Approximately 100 technology service organizations are currently listed as being certified under the program worldwide. The requirement for annual audits ensures that companies deliver a consistent level of performance and are continually working to improve their operations.

CONCLUSION It is clear that quality programs can have a significant and positive impact on any technology service organization. Companies considering adopting a service quality program should outline their specific goals and objectives and select a program that best fits their needs.

The seven programs we have examined all have their merits, and generally have similar overarching goals, if not very different approaches and requirements. While they have their differences in areas such as assessment methods, definition of best practices, or inclusion of a certification component, each has the potential to help a service organization improve its operations, and thereby the quality of service they deliver to customers. In some instances, leveraging multiple quality programs together can produce beneficial results, as they are not necessarily mutually exclusive of each other.

Technology companies looking to improve overall service operations, and leverage industry standards for service delivery, will likely find that the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards provide the best fit. Considering the SCP Standards are designed specifically for technology services, have a long and successful track record, and provide the necessary best practice guidance to help companies improve their operations, the SCP Standards should be seriously considered by any organization looking to adopt a service quality standard.

We hope this guide has provided you with valuable information and helped to compare and contrast some of the most predominant quality programs available to technology service operations. If you have any questions about the content of this guide, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

QUALITY PROGRAMS COMPARATIVE MATRIX

IT Infrastructure Capability Maturity TSIA / J.D. Power and Service Capability & ISO Standards ISO/IEC Standards Six Sigma Library Model Associates Performance (SCP) Program Features 9001:2008 20000 / 20000‐2:2012 ITIL CMMI‐SVC CTSS Standards

Document & Process Control Does the program define document and    process control methods?

Improvement Methodology Does the program define methods for    process improvement?

Measurement & Success Criteria      Does the program define specific measurement and success criteria?

Defined Business Practices Does the program define specific business    practices that will be evaluated?

Best Practices Guidelines Does the program offer guidance or examples   of best practices?

Organizational Certification Does the program include means to certify     the organization?

History of the Program When did the program originate? (i.e. year or 1984 ‐ 1986 1989 ‐ 1995 1987 1947 2005 2006 1997 timeframe)

Frequency of Program Updates How frequently is the program criteria Unknown Periodic Updates Periodic Updates Periodic Updates Periodic Updates Periodic Updates Annual Updates revised or updated?

Typical Profile of Adopters Used by many large Used by large corporate IT Used by a variety of service Used primarily by medium Used primarily by medium Used by a small number of Used by a large number of What is the profile of organizations that corporations as process organizations as a best providers, not specifically to large organizations as a to large organizations as an very large technology technology vendors and IT typically adopt the program? improvement methodology. practice guide. related to technology. general quality standard. IT related standard. vendors. organizations of all sizes.

Improvement Methodology General Service Focus IT Service Focus Technology Service Focus Technology Service Focus IT Service Focus Functional Areas Addressed Not unique to any one Targets a variety of service Provides a certification Modules for eService, Modules for eService, Designed as a best practice General Quality Standard What is the focus of the program and what function. Originated in the related operations, including mechanism for IT Support, Field Service, Support, Field Service, guide for IT operations. functional areas does it address? manufacturing arena. general business services. operations. Professional Services. Professional Services.

Performance Index Model Validation Methodology No organizational No organizational assessment Certification audit results Certification audit results Certification includes JDPA Assessment of maturity at Certification audit scoring Is performance validated through assessment of performance of performance or based on Pass/Fail based on Pass/Fail sat survey, comparison to one of five levels. process results in validated assessments or certification audits against or certification audit. certification audit. methodology. methodology. industry data and audit. program criteria? benchmark of performance.

Not applicable as there is Not applicable as there is Less than 100 assessed Likely a very large number Upwards of 600 or more Currently lists 5 CTSS Currently 100 organizations Organizations Certified no organizational no organizational organizations under CMMI‐ given the long history and organizations according to certified companies on certified. Over 1000 audits How many organizations have been assessed certification or formal certification or formal SVC model according to a general business focus. the ISO website. website. over life of the program. or certified under the program? assessment component. assessment component. 2012 briefing presentation.

Material acquisition, possible Training for staff on program Material acquisition, possible Material acquisition, possible Association membership Enrollment fee and expense Training for staff on Cost Structure consulting expense. Training principles, possible consulting expense. Registrar consulting expense. Registrar plus enrollment fees and associated with certification principles of the program, What costs are involved in adopting the for staff on principles of the consulting expense. Expense expense for certification expense for certification possible consulting fees. audits. Includes advisory possible consulting expense. program? program. associated with maturity audits. audits. Separate fee for certification services in enrollment fees. assessments. audits and J.D. Power survey.

References i Six Sigma Online – History of Six Sigma http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six‐sigma‐training‐certification‐information/articles/six‐sigma‐ defined‐‐‐the‐history‐of‐six‐sigma.html ii Six Sigma: Definition and Underlying Theory (Schroeder et al.) https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sbconver/PublicCourses/SSSH/Pre‐Course/Six‐Sigma‐Definition‐and‐ underlying‐theory_2008_Journal‐of‐Operations‐Management.pdf iii ITIL: The Basics by Valerie Arraj of Compliance Process Partners LLC. http://www.best‐management‐practice.com/gempdf/ITIL_The_Basics.pdf iv ITIL Official Website http://www.itil‐officialsite.com/ v Software Engineering Institute (SEI) http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/ vi SEI Whitepaper ‐ Which CMMI Model Is for You? (Mike Phillips and Sandy Shrum) http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/whitepapers/Which‐CMMI‐Model.cfm vii ISO (International Organization for Standardization) official website http://www.iso.org viii Abstract for ISO 9000 ‐ Quality management http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management‐standards/iso_9000.htm ix Abstract for ISO/IEC 20000‐2:2012 Standard http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=51987 x TSIA Website – Certified Technology Service & Support http://tsia.com/awards_and_certifications/odp/recognize/ctss.html xi J.D. Power & Associates Website http://www.jdpower.com/business‐services/services/certification/certified‐technology‐service‐and‐ support.htm xii Service Strategies Website – Service Standards http://servicestrategies.com/scp‐standards/