Service Level Objectives - SLO

1.1      Availability Service Level Objectives (ASLO)

Availability Service Level Objectives monitor the availability of a configuration item (CI), such as a service, application, hardware, software, or other infrastructure component.  SLOs report any change to the availability of the CI in incidents, tasks, and change.  ASLO requires the following information to be gathered:

Field	Content	Comments
ASLO ID	Numeric Value
SLA ID	SLA Name
Name	SLO Name	The name must be descriptive, such as: 99% availability required.
Owner	SLO Owner
Description		Additional information about client expectation or requirements outlined in OLAs
Affected CI	The CI related to this ASLO
Required Uptime		Displayed in percentage
Maximum Outage Time		Displayed in percentage. Planned (and approved) outages Degraded service Partial loss of service Slow response time Intermittent interruptions Total loss of service
Schedule	Pre-defined work schedule	This is limiting the availability hours.
Time Zone		This will be chosen within the tool
Alerts	These relate to remaining availability

 

KPIs	Measurements
………

 

1.2      Response Service Level Objectives (RSLO)

Response Service Level Objectives is a rule that describes the maximum amount of time allowed for a response to business event.  E.g. the response times for Priority 1 – 4 incidents.  RSLO rules contain the following information to be gathered:

Field	Content	Comments
RSLO ID	Numeric value
SLA Name
Name	RSLO  name	A descriptive name: e.g. one hour response required
Condition		This is used to determine if the SLO applies to the application record.  For example which field conditions match this application.  Or what turnaround time matches this priority, etc…
Priority
Category		What category of SLA is this?
Service Area	Application related to the SLO
Initial State		This is when response time is starting to be measured.
Final State		This is when the response time has stopped.
Duration Type	Normal business operation hours	·         Interval ·         Calculation ·         Duration in Record
Schedule	Support team shift information
Time Zone
Alerts	The time remaining on SLO

 

KPIs	Measurements
………

 

 

ROWE

For companies that have put the alarm on snooze, wake up and see what is your competitor is doing.  The old style management of “I wanna know when you take a washroom break” is so passé.  Military style management does not work anymore.  The new generation is creating a different philosophy.  Work does not have to be 9-5 anymore.  It does not have to be within the confines of a cubicle anymore.  Your creativity does not flow when you are trapped in a tiny cubicle that the company pays thousands of dollars for.  Your creativity flows when you are surrounded by what you love.  You start loving your work, when you love your environment.  You become more productive when you have not spent the very first few hours of your awaking moments in traffic or bus, or train or subway.  

You are expected to deliver certain deliverables and whether you do it in one hour or ten, as long as you are on time with your deadlines, and you produce good quality work, all is good. 

There are many companies currently in the market that are adhering to these rules and have had an excellent track record.  Xerox, HP, Dell, Aetna, United Health group, American Express, just to name a few.  Result Oriented Work Environment is a management viewpoint based on the idea that giving employees control over their time is the best way to increase productivity in the workplace.

Basically treating humans like humans.  Managers trust employees to get their work done, and evaluations are based on accomplishments, not how much time they spend looking busy at their desks. In a case like this it becomes far clearer who is actually getting work done and who isn’t. This is the best possible way of measuring performance and capabilities. In an environment like this, teams have a persistent focus on results. 

This kind of management style forces managers and employees to be clear about job descriptions and expectations. Team members learn how to communicate more effectively and plan ahead around each other’s schedules. They also learn to work together and back each other up in new ways.

Result Oriented Work Environment is not just about the employees, but the employer as well. Happier employees produce quality work. There is a balance of freedom within each role.  The availability of chat tools, email, conference calling, video conferencing is all available to almost all companies.  Those who do not take advantage of this, can consider a huge loss in their budget.  They have all they need to stop paying for the cubicles that are non-productive.

Is your company still in dark ages? Are your managers still feel working remote means they don’t know what you are up to? Are you still mistrusted? Voice your opinion on how you feel and let them know they can trust you.  They can show large amounts of savings by cutting the overhead; all in the same time allowing for the employee to be more creative and productive. One last important point to also consider is that sick employees who cannot afford to take a day off and show up at the office, cost thousands of dollars in making others sick who are going to be out of commission for the next few days. 

All big companies with Result Oriented Work Environment have come to this understanding: employees that are not feeling well, if they work remote, they still tend to work.  Their emails are answered even after 10:00 Pm sometimes, because it is hard to see and ignore it.  This is just psych 101.  All the while if they were in the office none of that could happen.  Change your views, save money, become productive, create a work environment that would make you one of the top wanted companies for people to work with.  www.BPMG.guru

What If Joe Quits Tomorrow?

Any business I have had the pleasure to serve, always has one person, one employee, they cannot do without.  Joe knows the ins and outs of it all.  He knows how to crunch the numbers; he knows how the system works. Joe is the go-to guy. Without him, everyone is lost.  When Joe takes a vacation or is sick, everyone panics.  If Joe quits tomorrow and he is dedicated enough to do knowledge transfer, he will take years of experience with him that was facilitating the job and making it seem simple.  He cannot possibly do a knowledge transfer for many years of service over couple of weeks.  Why is this?  You would think that by now we would have learned to do things differently and not have a single point of failure.

We need to ask Joe, to take one day out of each week and document everything. First, Joe is going to list his regular tasks. 

Second, Joe will carefully document the steps. Now you might say, or even Joe might object that documentation is not his strongest suit.  Well then, ask another employee to shadow Joe for that particular task and write it all down in a step-by-step manner.  In a way that someone who just walked in through the door can actually follow. Something like a “Site Standing Order”.

Third, make this recorded data easily available to others in the team.  Create flow charts for the visual people.  Once in a while ask someone else to take care of one of the tasks instead of Joe.

This helps with one more thing other than just knowing how to do Joe’s job.  During these documentation sessions, we find surprising number of improvements that can improve our team’s efficacy, efficiency and turn around.

This process also allows us to be informed of all that is going on and eliminates the single point of failure.  Everyone becomes knowledgeable and the focus shifts towards process improvement as opposed to constant fire fighting.

We do not need extraordinary tools to carry out a task like this.  We just need a word processor and a database with good search functions to make the documentation available to all.  At the most, you might need to assign one person to act as a custodian or a gate-keeper to this database to ensure the database integrity, document updates and management.  Tallyho!

Hobbies Not Allowed!!!

As a contractor, interviews are a part of the game. Many years of experience, many interviewers, different methods. I, however, went through a unique interviewing experience that was somewhat alarming. This might help some of you guys out there who are looking for jobs.

It used to be, that people with interests and hobbies, were considered to be healthier in attitude, more energetic and motivated in life and hence more enthusiastic and passionate at work, with less noodle-like tendencies. So it was decided that it was a good idea to list your hobbies at the end of your resume. Interests: biking, hiking, reading, writing, photography, drawing, yoga.

To set the scene for you, you need to know a bit of detail. As you see in my profile, I live in the beautiful village of Bobcaygeon. 2.5 hour drive to Toronto. I have lived here and worked in Toronto for at least 13 years now.

About a month ago I was invited to be interviewed by a reputable company in downtown Toronto. So I headed out and got to the place at 9:20 am, ten minutes ahead of the interview. The interview took place on time with a panel of two gentlemen. One quite seasoned.

After the initial pleasantries, they spoke of the role and asked about my background. All normal right? Then they asked about my hobbies and how I could manage my time with all those interests. Well the question seemed a bit odd, as even though I have these interests, hardly ever I carry them out one after the other every day. I may engage in one, this week and another one at another time. Just like any other normal person I assumed.

The hobbies normally have their own timetable in your life. So, the interview, I thought went well and I matched all the qualifications they were looking for. They asked about my daily commute, and I let them know that during work days I do not commute back and forth, but stay at a place ten minutes away from them.

"We will have to interview couple of more people. You were the first one. We will be in touch with you in two days." Was the response.

Two days later as they promised, the answer arrived in the email, that they had decided to pass on me because my many hobbies may present a conflict of interest. Wait.... What? Mmmmmmm! Really? Let's see: biking, hiking, reading, writing, photography, drawing, yoga.

I am in the business of Business Process Management, ITIL, and Organizational Change Management. How can my benign hobbies be standing in the way of my contract? I know for example that the seasoned gentleman as a hobby liked golfing. Should the company terminate his employment for that? Did his golfing interfere with his work duties? If I had golf as my hobby, would that make a difference?

Hmmmm!!! Oh wait.... Think deeper... That's it. I get it. If my hobby perhaps mentioned "driving" instead of “cycling”, that would have helped. Or maybe if I said: "my job is my hobby. I live to work. I have no life other than this". What do you think?

Then I thought, hey, they might be thinking: "she gets up Monday morning and "cycles" to work from Bobcaygeon. In between she might decide to stop at some areas and take a "hike" for an up close examination and "photography". She might even be so inspired to "draw" a picture and or do some internet search to "read" about it. Then still not satisfied, she might "write" about it on the scene, and so that she will not forget a moment of this experience, she will perform "yogic" meditation. By the time she gets to work in Toronto, it is almost the end of the week and now she has to head back and the same process repeats throughout the contract, so in reality, we will be paying her for her hobbies, so NO." or technically I would never be able to start the job.

How did I do this so many years going unnoticed? Can someone tell me if I am the only one seeing the humour in this? Been in business for over 35 years and never missed a day at my work duties due to my hobbies.

What is even more fascinating, is that the recruiter actually puts this in writing. LOL

I think at the beginning of such interviews they need to let you know your rights: "you have the right to remain silent. Any hobbies you have, may override your skills and be held against you!" Or even better yet, when you see someone with hobbies listed at the bottom of their CV, do not even attempt to waste their and your time to interview them.

Cheers!!!

Telework, Telecommute, Shift

Are you still bound by the good old management style of, “I wanna see you at your desk 9-5?” Are you still “micro-managing your staff?” Even though giving up the old habit can be hard, sometimes you need to consider the market, the benefits to you and your company. Currently there are many large pioneering companies that take advantage of the ideas of “Telework” or “Telecommute”. The major difference between the two terms rely on one engaging the full employee potential by complete remote work environment (home-office); and the next partial work from home and partial from office respectively. The term “work shift” also has come to be used. This type of work set-up is usually referred to as: Green Style Management Environment (GSME). The benefits of this work environment far surpass all old style management systems. This style is considered by many large companies the way of the future for variety of reasons. GSME is a management strategy where employees are evaluated on performance, not presence. Employees focus on results and only results – increasing the organization’s performance while creating the right climate for people to manage all the demands in their lives . . . including work. GSME has a proven track record in creating teamwork, and an environment through which the morale and engagement soar, which leads to less workers feeling overworked or stressed out. The employees start behaving “proactively” vs. “reactively”. The number of days they claim “sick” reduces by a huge percentage and because the work and home environment are combined, they become more productive. Also the chance of spreading colds and flu and other ailments decrease significantly. GSME recognizes that life is an individual experience and that no two lives are identical — and leverages this to achieve better performance from each individual. Successfully adopting a Green Style Management Environment will position your company to attract and retain talent that will show up energized, disciplined, flexible and focused—ready to deliver all results necessary to drive the business. The workforce is more efficient, productive and loyal to the organization while also feeling satisfied, fulfilled, and in control of their personal and professional lives. This environment is all about productivity. But more importantly, your workforce will respond to the business as if it were their own. Innovate will no longer be a buzzword, it will be what you do. With GSME you can stop monitoring the hallways, trying to come up with a place to seat an employee and pay high cubicle costs and focus your energy on the business. The only thing you will be providing your employee is the computer equipment and the security access they need to perform their job from remote location. Some Benefits of GSME for your organization include:  Increase productivity & efficiency  Talent retention & attraction  Optimization of space  Elimination of wasteful processes  Proactive process development  Eliminating non-value added activities  Promoting better communication and response times  Being effective and nimble  Using common sense  Treat your people like responsible, professional adults  Create low turnover of great/good performers  Create high turnover of under/poor performers  Increase productivity  Reduce last minute requests due to poor planning  Reduce wasteful activity and drive efficiency  Give you the competitive advantage - differentiate you from your competitors  Force you to get clear on measureable RESULTS Once this is all said and done, these methods of work are not for everyone or in all situations. With over 33 years of Business Process Background, I can help you and your organization evaluate whether this is the type of environment for all or some of your employees, and if it will benefit you and to what degree and help implement the process seamlessly. The results will amaze you and the cost savings will prove to be rewarding. Adopt the Green Style of Management today!!! Let me show you how. el@elmarch.com 416-528-3735

Business Service Management

Business Service Management to me is the glue that holds all other processes together.  To harmonize the functions of the IT back-office with the business processes they serve.

It is no longer enough to know about the capacity management and CPU performance and monitoring of the resources.  The ability to perform effectively is linked directly to the reliable delivery of IT services.  A whole host of tools have emerged to relate to how well systems, networks and applications are doing as per Operational/Service Level Agreements.

The demand for IT services to be closely aligned with business processes has produced a whole new segment of the systems and applications management software sector called: Business Service Management (BSM).

The term BSM encompasses a whole range of technologies and functions. It involves many of the skills used in service level management, but the way service level metrics are related to business processes is quite different across vendors. This means BSM is perhaps is best defined by the operational objectives it pursues to achieve, rather than the technology it employs.

BSM has been described as: “Visual representation of the dependencies between business processes, business applications and the IT infrastructure (servers, storage, networks, middleware and databases).”  Aside from which it reduces down time and shortens problem resolution and operational efficiency.

Most are familiar with the term: Service level management (SLM).  This is certainly a predecessor to any concept of business service management (BSM).  In Service level management, IT services are measured and managed to meet prearranged service level agreements, and is in extensive use today. Of course its popularity shows the recognition of the impact IT can have on the business - both negative and positive.

While SLM implementation is the foundation of many BSM services, the ability to capture a description of a business process which is a major requirement of BSM products are different in terms of complexity, cost, and ease of implementation.

The successful implementation of BSM needs a detailed map of the enterprise's relevant business processes, and the IT resources they depend on. The accuracy of this map will determine the efficacy of the BSM success. In short, you can’t do BSM if you don’t understand business service flow.  BSM plays an important role is relaying the significance of IT Operations to business executives. 

IT Lab Infrastructure Implementation checklist Sample

IT Lab Infrastructure Implementation checklist Sample

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Implementation Phase

 

¨      Determine project goals

¨      Identify the lab guidelines and responsibilities

¨      Identify the Organizational Chart

¨      Identify the Individuals

¨      Identify R&R of lab team

¨      Provide training to lab team

¨      Pilot: Initiate QA Pilot

¨      Pilot: UAT (if required)

¨      Internal/External communication of offered lab service

¨      Creation of Service Catalog

¨      Creation of Lab Inventory System Hardware/Software (DSL) Definitive Software Library

¨      Creation of Industry standard form/templates etc.

¨      Establish Entrance/Exit Procedure

¨      Establish Work Request Procedure

¨      Entering the Audit Phase

 

Further suggestions:

 

¨      Establish seamless interaction between, Release, Incident, and Problem Management with lab process/procedures.