IT Service Delivery: The Challenge of Meaningful Metrics

IT Service Delivery: The Challenge of Meaningful Metrics Dr. Serguei Dobrinevski serguei.dobrinevski@hypersoft.com © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Introduction Hypersoft Information Systems • More than 200 enterprise customers for business service metrics • More than 2 million users in organisations measured by our software • Offices in Germany, France, USA and Belarus • Specializes in data collection and analysis of major IT services • Cooperation with final customers and service providers Dr. Serguei Dobrinevski • Degree in physics • Founded Hypersoft in 1993 • Developed and formalised strategic concepts for Hypersoft products © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Agenda Business Service Delivery Metrics  Aligning IT and Business  Top-down and Bottom-up approaches to service metrics  How are they relevant to business objectives and values  What KPIs to choose and monitor  How to tell the difference between high and low quality metrics © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Using Metrics to Align IT and Business • Expressing IT process logic in meaningful metrics • Compliance with best practices, legislation and standards • Maintaining clear business focuses of service delivery Top-down approach – business Bottom-up – raw metrics value of the service defines metrics define the limits of the to collect possible © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Metrics Collection Pitfalls and Challenges  Distributed nature of the infrastructure  Large and complex environments (two types of scalability)  Security and policy boundaries  Need to avoid approximation (no quality metrics without quality raw data)  Automated data gathering and operational status  Data consolidation: scalability versus quality © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 From Top to Bottom What services are we offering? How to find out service performance? What are its reasonable KPIs without knowing the technology behind the service? Is it possible to measure them at all and how do we measure them? Does the service correlate with the existing infrastructure? © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Service Definition – Contract Creation • Defining KPIs • Assigning the responsibilities • Agreeing upon service performance levels © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Contract Maintenance • Proactive KPI monitoring • Informing the client of contract performance • Reacting to deviations from service levels • Adjusting to contract conditions © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Client-Provider Interaction Leveling client- provider relationship with SLA monitoring Integrating service provision and incident resolution End-user probing simulation for quality assessments © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Integrating IT Assets With Service Delivery Ensure adequate assets inventory for service portfolio Maintain up-to-date equipment, systems, and processes status © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Ascending From the Bottom • Collecting and monitoring raw metrics • Transforming them into meaningful statistics • Identifying high-level metrics • Do they indicate an important service activity? • Producing the KPIs • In the end, do we still remember what this service was about? © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 What Metrics are Business Relevant? Processes and resource usage estimation Good for technology purposes but irrelevant for business © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Infrastructure Analysis Measuring events, connections, and their dependencies: takes us one step further but still not to the business level © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Optimization and Consolidation Infrastructure storage and capacity assessments and planning Helps optimise the costs but still deals just with the „necessary evil“ © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Alerting and Monitoring Threshold alerting on service KPIs Limited to the firefighting mode of operation © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 So How do We Get to the True Business Metrics? Top-down: Bottom-up:  KPIs are understood by provider  Technically driven and client, both internal and external  Focused on resources allocation  Clear assignment of service and optimization delivery metrics to business values  Requiring technical competence  Standardized service portfolio from business users  True end-to-end monitoring  Adapting service definitions to execution capabilities © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Transaction Integration as a Key to Business Metrics Starting with a transaction definition at the business level and detailing the transaction to its elements on multiple systems and platforms. © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Deciding on KPIs for Optimal Service Delivery • Start with service definitions and keep them technology agnostic • Develop metrics that can be explained to business users, and do that prior to looking at the delivering applications • Proactive service means analysing the reasons for the failures. Reactive service remains reactive even if the reaction is quick. • High level of accuracy is actually possible, as opposite to wide-spread disbelief. © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Conclusion • Metrics are the face of IT (and IT-supported) services turned towards the customer • Quality end-to-end metrics require transaction integration across platforms and systems • Service delivery goals do not depend on technology. They are technology agnostic © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007 Contact Information • www.hypersoft.com • serguei.dobrinevski@hypersoft.com © Hypersoft Informationssysteme GmbH, 2007