Choice In the ITSM world, there's quite a lot written on considerations for a replacement service management tool. There's one often vital factor though that might not get adequate attention. If you believe in "process first", a primary focus should be that the tool is openly customisable, so any process or subprocess you design can be implemented without compromise. Processes are usually supported by metrics, so deeply customisable Dashboard and reporting functionality shoul

Conclusion: For IT support in particular, larger organisations should focus on process because a well-developed process enables strong team management, something that's otherwise simply not possible, no matter how good the manager might be. This conclusion is best illustrated with an example. Say a Service Desk each day handles only twenty service tickets of types that might be handled poorly. In the absence of an advanced process, their manager will likely have difficulty in

In my two feature articles entitled "If you want "Big Difference" service improvement, ITIL is not enough" and "What's Wrong with the Resolution SLA?", I explained that if you simply implement ITIL’s Service Level Management and Incident Management processes at face value, service provision doesn't get any better. The reason for this is that you need what I call "big difference factors". Big difference factors are: A structured approach to work handling that goes far deeper t

In my feature article "What's Wrong with the Resolution SLA", I concluded that although the suggestion is impractical for many service providers, ideally, the Resolution SLA wouldn't be used until the accuracy of its underlying data can be sufficiently and substantially improved. Considering it's the standard measure of performance in IT support, this is quite a suggestion, I know, but without statistically accurate data, the SLA is unable to adequately support the Incident M

If your Service Desk is broken, what are the signs? Beyond the signs, do you have actual indicators? Signs are the day-to-day occurrences such as escalations, complaints and a feeling of disorganisation that inevitably means your staff aren't very settled or happy in their work. Indicators are quantitative evidence. Even when your statistical performance is poor, it's essential that it's known. Only once known will it be possible to coherently work towards improvement - ... b

An IT Service Desk and other support teams usually work in a natural way that lacks sufficient structure. Here's 10 reasons for this being undesirable: 1. While support teams generally respond quite quickly to new service tickets, if it then needs to remain open, it might dwindle and age, never reaching a satisfactory conclusion. 2. When a service recipient provides an update, usually by email, this might not be noticed and acted upon, meaning the recipient is ignored and ser

What are the three P's of optimal service delivery?