F & P in Continual Service Improvement Part 2

Service Reporting

• The service reporting process is the process which is responsible for generation and supply of reports about the results achieved and the developments in service level

Service Report Process




Activities, method and techniques

• The service reporting process distinguishes the following activities:
• Gather data
• Process the data into information and apply this to the organization publish the information
• Fine-tune the reporting to the business

Gather data

• IT departments frequently gather large amounts of data, which are not all equally interesting to the business
• Therefore, by determining the goal and target group of the report and consider how the report is going to be used

Process and apply data

• The business like to see a hierarchical overview of the performance over the past period
• Present data with cross references to contracted and chargeable service element

Publish information

• Publish information for the different stakeholders at all levels of the organization and use marketing and communication techniques
• Fine-tune the message and method to your target group and its need from a business perspective . As a rule there are three possible target groups:
• The business
• Wants to know if the IT service provider has delivered the promised services, in SLA terms, and which measures are being taken by the service provider if this is not the case
• Senior IT management
• Wants to know it the CSFs and KPIs are attained. It looks at which strategic and tactical improvements are necessary. It needs frequent presentations in the form of a IT Balanced Scorecard
• IT internal
• Is interested in KPIs and metrics, in order to locate, plan and coordinate improvement potential

Tune the reporting to the business

• Consider by data group if it is valuable for the target group
• Example how long a service was unavailable, since an availability percentage does not provide much insight into its opportunities to use the service

Different organizational level

• The four different organizational levels and their interests:
1. Strategic thinkers
• Want short reports, with lots of attention to the risks, organization image, profitability and cost saving
2. Directors
• Want more details detailed reports which summarized the development measure d in time, indicating how processes support the company goals, and warning of risks
3. Managers and supervisors
• Deal with observing the goals, team and process performance, distribution of resources and improvement initiatives. Measurements and reports must indicate how the process results are contributing to this
4. Team leaders and staff
• Will look to emphasize the individual contribution to the company result ; focus should be to fix individual metrics, acknowledge their skill and consider which training potential is available in order to involve them in the processes

Source: OGC