Improving The Performance of IT Operations

Improving the Performance of IT Operations
Creating, Managing, and Improving Your IT Metrics
Overview
Share our experiences with managing operational performance via metrics in IT Our approach
Choosing the right metrics Method of sharing Developing action plans and improvement
Examples
Mean Time to Repair (Support Groups) Average Speed of Answer (Help Desk) Enterprise Data Warehouse Data Currency
Q&A
10/23/2008 Improving the Performance of IT Operations
Historical Approach to Metrics

SPC Monthly Ops Reviews Large group formats Metrics driven by ticketing system
Less About
1. 2. Explaining month to month variances Praises when better than target and dissatisfaction when worse Reacting to bad news without analysis 1.
More About
Understanding the natural variation in a process Knowing how performing against customer desires Developing thoughtful action plans
2.
3.
3.
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New Approach
Focus on metrics that are meaningful to both the support organization and their customers Supportive and targeted Individualized Less about charting, more about analysis and improvement
10/23/2008
Metric Development
Bring group management, key employees and customers together Brainstorm ways that demonstrate that we:
Dont let it break
If it breaks, we fix it fast
We fix it right the 1st time
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Metric Development
Dont let it break
Customer Focused Back Office Focused
Reactive
Proactive
Reactive
Proactive
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Variants
Project Management
Dont let it be late It its late, minimize the impact fast Plan it right the first time
Architecture
Dont let the design be incorrect It its incorrect, fill the gap quickly Design it right the first time
Security
Dont let them compromise data If they do, catch them fast Plan security right the 1st time
Sample IT Network Engineering & Support

Dont let it break If it breaks, we fix it fast
Repeat troubles for Customers or devices Traffic blocked at firewall % routers with unsaved configs
We fix it right the 1st time
Ticket routing & Assignment accuracy
Traffic Analysis / utilization
% of successful changes WAN interface utilization
Memory utilization On key network devices
Repeat TAC calls to vendor Mean Time to Repair Spanning Tree Convergence Time
Trunk utilization 3rd party response times
End of Life/Support Hardware
Interface Errors
Call quality for VOIP
Certifying device & config standards
10/23/2008
Network Engineering & Support Comparison
10/23/2008
Networking Engineering & Support Improving on Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

Problem: It was taking too long to repair low priority problems.
10/23/2008
Why-Because Pursuit
Fifty reasons why not capable, but only 6 common themes

Common Themes
Understanding of requests Ticket monitoring External noise Varying effort Priorities Timing of ticket entry
10/23/2008
NES MTTR Control Chart and Process Break

January - August 2008 MTTR
125 100 75 MTTR (Hours) 50 25 0 -25 -50 Jan Feb March April May Months June July August UCL=31.7 _ X=20.5 LCL=9.4
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Comparison of Capability
10/23/2008
IT Help Desk Improving Average Speed of Answer (ASA)

Problem: The IT Help Desk was not answering employee phone calls quickly enough Through Why-Because pursuit, identified four areas of opportunity:
Incentives HR policies Shift schedule changes Additional customer choices
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ASA Control Chart and Process Breaks
1 2 3 4
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Results
Process now operates at 3 sigma Reduced wait time by 4 minutes
10/23/2008
System Administration Improving Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

Problem: The System Administration group was not solving problems quickly enough Identified five areas of opportunity:
Staff levels Improved ticket management Weekly awareness of metrics Optimized process for elevated permissions Developed incentive plan
10/23/2008
System Administration Control Chart
10/23/2008
Capability Comparison Over Time
10/23/2008
Results
Problem appeared to be workload related, but proved to be both process and workload Now operates at > 4 sigma
10/23/2008
Enterprise Data Warehousing Improving Load Times

Problem:
The EDW Nightlies Informatica data load needs to be more consistent on a day-to-day basis resulting in less load errors, faster reaction times to errors, and overall improved load completion times.
10/23/2008
Enterprise Data Warehousing Improving Load Times
10/23/2008
Illustration of Improvement
NOTDONE DONE NOT YET!! YET!!
10/23/2008
Problem Statement The EDW Nightlies Informatica data load needs to be more consistent on a day-to-day basis resulting in less load errors, faster reaction times to errors, and overall improved load completion times.
Action Plan:
A. Modify OBIEE parameter settings to reduce extra database processes from application. Modify PEDW data parameter to increase shared memory allocation to database thus eliminating database lockups. Add SiteScope Alerts on critical load failures (w/ Command Center callouts to EDW Support) by end of Sept Add SiteScope Alerts when critical loads do not start on time (w/Command Center callouts to EDW Support) by middle of Oct Upgrade PEDW to 10g on RAC by end of Oct Upgrade Informatica to 8.6 by end of Nov
10/23/2008
B.
Current Status / Updates OBIEE changes done and work well. PEDW shared memory allocation parameters modified (8/20) and appear to have solved the lockup problems. We will continue monitoring. SiteScope alert on failure in progress, working out bugs involving Command Center action. SiteScope alert on load schedule miss is being designed. PEDW upgrade to 10g/RAC planned for week of Oct 6 with Oct 13 completion date. SEDW testing going well. Informatica 8.6 upgrade still being planned.
C.
Expected Results
EDW Nightly load times and load error metrics will be capable as a result of these changes. The upgrade to 10g/RAC and Infa 8.6 should improve the completion times by at least 30% over the current 9i and Infa 7.1.3 infrastructure.
D.
E. F.
Lessons Learned
Those that volunteer first have been most successful If youre not happy with the metrics, start over Involve the front line employees Review in small groups, monthly at a minimum Share the results with your customers Document your successes!
10/23/2008
Wrap Up
Matured our metrics program Collaborative approach to metric selection Focused on action planning and improvement Individual success stories
10/23/2008
Q&A
10/23/2008

Improving The Performance of IT Operations

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Improving the Performance of IT Operations

Creating, Managing, and Improving Your IT Metrics

Historical Approach to Metrics