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Service Management Reporting is all about Perspective Reporting, much like anything else, has its own sense of perspective, both from an IT and business points of view. The challenge for IT is to deliver information which enables teams to make informed decisions to improve the delivery of services. The primary challenge is to ensure that the compiled reports are accurately reflecting the customer experience.

Traditionally your IT teams may submit reports to a manager showing the state of IT Operaions, in other cases IT management may do this themselves through a dashboard of some type. Either way, the first challenge with this is that we are still looking at things in a very “IT” way. Remember we are working to improve the customer experience so this method of thinking needs to be addressed

The second challenge is that culturally IT shares its reporting data with its leaders, who in turn share it with more senior IT leaders, who indicate that this is being reviewed by the business in some way. The question that you may need to address here is:

“Are the reports being diluted?”

While not intentional the message is passed on from person to person much like the "telephone game" and through this knowledge transfer something may be lost in translation. The issue here is that the business reviewer may have questions which are not going to be addressed directly as this communication goes back in the other way, or that the key points which the operations teams had identified were missed. The risk here is that this communication gap could impede any sort of service improvement initiative.

It is important to note that we report against from an IT perspective should ring true with the business in terms of how the delivery of services are perceived. For example if we say a particular service has had no disruptions last month our customers should be able to agree with that assessment. if they do not we have identified another gap to work on.

Another challenge, brace for impact, is that your reports will likely look worse before they improve. Keep in mind that as we review this with the business we are going to learn a considerable amount about what is important to the business and how well we truly provide service. Is possible that issues we didn’t even conceive of may exist and were not reported or even gained visibility. This is good, just come to grips that the “numbers” we had prior to business dialog may not be an accurate representation of what the business sees.

Lastly keep these discussions going. While there may only be a few people or teams in the mix at the onset, slowly adding more people, and ultimately insight into service, will only help to improve the ability for your business to achieve its goals

·         Stop thinking like IT – Think like the business
·         Share reports with IT leaders but validate with your business where appropriate
·         You WILL get worse before you improve
·         Keep at it – Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Keep these principals in mind and you will be well on your way to service improvements

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Posted by Ryan Ogilvie at 07:37 No comments: 


Navigating the Sea of Service Management Conferences 


Ensuring Service Management Stays Effective 

Established Service Management Program

The ‘not so’ established service management program

How do I do that?

Posted by Ryan Ogilvie at 12:43 No comments: 


Why Training Should Include Simulations Let’s face it we have all attended a course where the hours seem to last for days. I can clearly remember being in a class that had a clock which stated “time will pass, will you?” as if to taunt me. Unfortunately it is true that not all courses or instructors are created equal. This is why I believe that wherever possible introducing simulations could improve ther retention of information and increase overall value of the content being delivered. After all who doesn’t love to play games on some level?

Training is expensive for the most part. In my opinion getting your company to put up the funds in the first place can be the biggest obstacle. The second challenge is that after the course, if your organization doesn’t feel like it provided the value they were hoping for, you might be in for an uphill battle the next time you need training.

Training outfits strive to increase value and reduce cost, so it is important that you as the consumer determine what will ultimately provide the best bang for the buck. Unfortunately the price tag is what typically is the comparison point between your choices. this price point may be driven by whether the coursework can be delivered locally, online or a combination of the two. I think that typically the content isn’t the problem, it is your retention of the information that can be a challenge.
As I mentioned earlier not all training outfits are created equally. At the end of the course it’s likely that you will have a test in which case you, the trainee, experience a heightened sense of anxiety preparing to pass a test. I personally see a flaw in this methodology. I am not simply looking to pass a test, and hopefully that you arent either. What we should be aiming to do at the end of the training is to bring back the information we have absorbed, share with our colleagues and apply it in a way that will improve some component of our work lives.

It has been said that we remember:

·         10 percent of what we read
·         20 percent of what we hear
·         30 percent of what we see and hear
·         70 percent of what we say and write
·         90 percent of what we say as we do

Traditional education focuses on assessment, usually involving a 3 day course with someone reading from a slide deck. (Reading, Hearing and maybe Seeing – 30% retention). Simulations can provide immediate feedback and teach core problem solving skills. This also allows us to change the dynamic in the classroom (Saying or Doing – upwards of 90% retention possibly).

Think about this, have you ever noticed in a class setting when the instructor asks a question there is a deafening silence. Why does that happen? This is a result of years of learning in the same way; you only get one change to get it right. In other words people are afraid to look stupid so they carefully choose when to contribute. In a simulation setting, generally the pace is faster you are able to make some mistakes, try again and make adjustments where you need to. In the simplest of terms LEARN.

Another thing that simulations do is it gets us moving around and out of our seats without us realizing it. Physical movement also has an impact on the way that we remember. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair for 3 days certainly will not make any improvements to what information we retain.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been in a great deal of classes that had engaging and interesting instructors who have presented the information in a way that encouraged group discussion and collaboration. However in my opinion if we were able to add simulations, even in a small amount, this would improve the dynamic of the learning experience in a positive way.

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Posted by Ryan Ogilvie at 06:51 No comments: Labels: ITSM, Learning, Service Management, Simulations, Training
 Ryan Ogilvie
