IT Service Desk Health Check & Action Plan Version: 1.0 Date: April, 2003 Authors: Fatima Cabral, Gary Case, David Ratcliffe Pink Elephant Leading the Way in IT Management Best Practices www.pinkelephant.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION...3 2 HOW TO USE THE HEALTH CHECK...4 2.1 A recommended step-by step approach...4 2.1.1 Assemble the relevant team...4 2.1.2 Assess each of the elements...4 2.1.3 Identify priorities for immediate improvement initiatives...4 2.1.4 Assign and track immediate improvement initiatives...4 3 THE EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK...5 3.1 Service Desk Leadership...5 3.2 Service Desk Policy and Strategy...5 3.3 Service Desk People...5 3.4 Service Desk Resources...5 3.5 Service Desk Supplier Relationships...5 3.6 Service Desk Process Management...5 3.7 Service Desk People Results...5 3.8 Service Desk Customer Results...6 3.9 Service Desk Operational Results...6 3.10 Business Results...6 4 THE HEALTH CHECK...7 4.1 Service Desk Leadership...7 4.2 Service Desk Policy and Strategy...8 4.3 4.4 Service Desk People...9 Service Desk Resources...10 4.5 Service Desk Supplier Relationships...11 4.6 4.7 Service Desk Process Management...12 Service Desk People Results...13 4.8 Service Desk Customer Results...14 4.9 Service Desk Operational Results...15 4.10 Business Results...16 5 RESULTS OF THE HEALTH CHECK...17 6 ACTION TABLE FOR IMPROVEMENTS...18 7 ABOUT PINK ELEPHANT...19 2
1 Introduction This health check and action plan is based upon the Business Excellence Framework for IT, which is a version of the generic EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model. For more information about the Business Excellence Framework for IT, visit www.pinkelephant.com/ca/pinkpapers.asp For more information about EFQM, visit www.efqm.org 3
2 How to Use the Health Check Use this document to evaluate your Service Desk s alignment with the Excellence Framework. 2.1 A recommended step-by step approach 2.1.1 Assemble the relevant team Involve only senior managers responsible for the development of policy & strategy for the Service Desk, and those responsible for the day-to-day Service Desk management and operations. In small/medium support organizations this may be a single person. 2.1.2 Assess each of the elements Answer yes or no to each of the questions. If the true answer is not a clear yes or no, then qualify your answer by annotating with a short explanation or context statement in the DEPLOYMENT/APPROACH box. Be as honest as possible. There s no value in over-rating or under-rating. The goal is to end up with as close a representation as possible to what really exists. Only then can you begin to identify realistic improvement opportunities. 2.1.3 Identify priorities for immediate improvement initiatives Analyze the results of the self-assessment to determine what needs to be improved within the Excellence Framework. 2.1.4 Assign and track immediate improvement initiatives Use the Action Table to document your improvement initiatives. Make sure each initiative is given an owner, a timeframe and a validation metric (i.e. what it is that you need to see as evidence that the initiative is delivering benefits). 4
3 The Excellence Framework 3.1 Service Desk Leadership Examines the commitment of Service Desk directors, management and supervisors, including: their personal involvement and behaviour in driving the Service Desk towards excellence creating and sustaining a customer focus 3.2 Service Desk Policy and Strategy The alignment of the Service Desk vision, mission, values and strategies to the Organization s and IT s vision, mission, values and strategies Alignment of vision, mission, values and strategies to the business 3.3 Service Desk People how the Service Desk develops and realizes the full potential of it s work force to pursue quality and performance objectives efforts used to maintain a positive work environment and evaluate employee satisfaction 3.4 Service Desk Resources How the Service Desk manages its key resources in support of its policy and strategy: o Financial o Data and Information o Knowledge o Technology 3.5 Service Desk Supplier Relationships the approach for measuring the trends and current levels for the most important indicators of supplier quality relationships between Service Desk and internal suppliers 3.6 Service Desk Process Management How the Service Desk identifies, manages, measures and revises as necessary critical processes Mapping critical Service Desk processes to business processes 3.7 Service Desk People Results Direct results input provided directly from employees (e.g. surveys) 5
Indirect results metrics and statistics assessed by management (staff turnover, sickness, recruitment trends, etc.) 3.8 Service Desk Customer Results the Service Desk s relationship with internal and external customers it s knowledge of customer requirements and key quality factors that determine market place competitiveness the methods used to determine customer satisfaction and the results or trends and levels of satisfaction 3.9 Service Desk Operational Results Direct results Service Desk s impact on the bottom line Indirect results internal efficiency measures and trends of key processes 3.10 Business Results Direct results profits, margins, sales, shareholder value, cash flow Indirect results - internal efficiency measures and trends of key processes 6
4 The Health Check 4.1 Service Desk Leadership 1. Is the Service Desk management team personally involved in reinforcing a customer focus and a business culture, and is that involvement visible? 2. Does the Service Desk management team participate in personal training and development activities? Is there a process to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of their personal leadership and involvement? 3. Does the Service Desk management team communicate the organization s customer service and quality values to all employees, and do they ensure that these values are integrated into everyone s job mandate? 4. Does the Service Desk management team make themselves available and listen to staff? 5. Does the Service Desk management team integrate business goals and performance objectives into the performance appraisal system? 6. Does the Service Desk management team communicate details of business, IT, and Service Desk strategies, goals and performance objectives to Service Desk staff? 7. Does the Service Desk management team systematically recognize & reinforce good performance by Service Desk teams & individuals? 8. Does the Service Desk management team take steps to meet, understand and respond to the needs of the Service Desk s customers and suppliers? 9. Does the Service Desk management team maintain strong partnerships with key customers and suppliers? 10. Are Service Desk staff rewarded and promoted because of their knowledge and practice of customer service principles, leadership, communication and managerial skills, and not solely on their technical skills? 11. Does the Service Desk management team consistently communicate details of goals, results, accomplishments, and changes in direction regularly to staff? 12. Do members of the Service Desk management team have a good level of business awareness? 13. Does the Service Desk management team promote their group and services to the user community and the rest of the organization? 14. Does the Service Desk management team perform a skill analysis among Service Desk staff to determine gaps in training requirements? 15. Does the Service Desk management team support the need for key IT processes to be integrated? And are the necessary steps being taken to enable this integration? 7
4.2 Service Desk Policy and Strategy 16. Is there a process in place to develop annual business and improvement Service Desk plans and implement required key deliverables? 17. Does the Service Desk management team ensure that the Service Desk s vision, mission and objectives are aligned with IT s and the Organization s vision, mission and objectives? 18. Are the concepts of ITIL s continuous improvement model (Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? Are we improving?) incorporated into the Service Desk policy and strategy? 19. Is improvement seen as underpinning all elements of policy and strategy? 20. Is feedback from customers and suppliers used in determining policy and strategy? 21. Is a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis used in determining policy and strategy? 22. Is feedback from employee s used in determining policy and strategy? 23. Is data related to external key indicators (social, political, economic, trends, etc) collected and used in determining of policy and strategy? 24. Are industry best practices relating to Service Desk used in determining policy and strategy? 25. Has the Service Desk management team established an effective method for communicating policy and strategy? 26. Does the Service Desk management team use Deming s PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle to regularly review the relevance and effectiveness of policy and strategy? Are appropriate changes made? 8
4.3 Service Desk People 27. Are all people management plans and goals aligned to organizational policy and strategy? 28. Are policies and standards for people management regularly reviewed and improved? 29. Is there a process in place to reward and recognize employees on their support of the organization s results and performance objectives? 30. Do managers collect, monitor and use direct and indirect employee satisfaction data? 31. Does the Service Desk have a process to determine needs for the different types and levels of education and training to be received by all employees? 32. Is there a formal and structured orientation process in place to introduce and train new Service Desk staff? 33. Does this process specifically include an education component dealing with organization s goals, Service Desk goals, customer service and quality goals and values? 34. Is there a process in place to measure the effectiveness of training? 35. Is there a formal and structured orientation process in place to introduce and train new IT staff 36. Do managers regularly hold staff meetings to help ensure two-way communication? 37. Is there a budget item solely for education & training? 38. Is emphasis placed on both technical training and personal development soft skills (communication, leadership, process management, continuous improvement, business principles? 39. Have all key employees received ITIL and Service Desk best practice education? 40. Is there an up-to-date and relevant Service Desk Standards Manual? 41. Are individual and team objectives aligned with organizational targets? Are these regularly reviewed and updated? 42. Are people appraised for their performance based on the organization s goals and Service Desk targets? 43. Have all employees participated in at least one continuous education related event within the past six months in the areas of customer service or quality and productivity improvement? 9
4.4 Service Desk Resources 44. Does the Service Desk have an annual budget built with input from the Service Desk management team? 45. Is the most valuable (regularly used) knowledge at the Service Desk kept secure and up to date? And is this knowledge readily accessible to all relevant Service Desk staff? 46. Is there a library of industry best practices readily accessible to all Service Desk staff? And does this library include ITIL materials? 47. Is the Service Desk environment ergonomically favourable? (healthy, comfortable and conducive to productivity) 48. Is there a channel for relevant new tools & technologies to be researched, assessed and where appropriate introduced at the Service Desk? 49. Does the Service Desk use a service management tool which has been certified by the PinkVerify process? 10
4.5 Service Desk Supplier Relationships 50. Have the most important indicators of supplier quality been identified? And, are these indicators tracked, measured and improvement areas identified? 51. Is the total cost of each supplier relationship known and are these costs evaluated? 52. Are key supplier relationships managed as collaborative partnerships with shared service values and objectives? 53. Have the Service Desk customer service, quality and productivity goals been communicated to all suppliers? 54. Are there regular reviews within the Service Desk to discuss supplier service levels? Are there regular meetings with suppliers? 55. Are there regular reviews and evaluations to determine the effectiveness of supplier relationships? 56. Have underpinning contracts/olas outlining expectations for service time frames and other quality factors been documented and communicated to external & internal suppliers? 57. Are escalation procedures documented for each supplier? 58. Is the management of Service Desk/supplier relationships been formally assigned to a role within the Service Desk? (Is it in someone s job description?) 59. Are underpinning contracts/olas reviewed and updated in a timely way - at least annually? (are they governed by a formal SLM process?) 60. Is the performance and levels of service for key suppliers consistently measured and reviewed? 61. Is there an ongoing process in place to communicate to suppliers any concerns and issues affecting the quality of service being delivered? 11
4.6 Service Desk Process Management 62. Are processes critical to the success of the business, the Service Desk and IT defined, documented, established and reviewed? 63. Are improvement targets for all Service Desk activities aligned to business goals? (Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration, Service Level, Continuity) 64. Is there an Incident Management process in place (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 65. Is there a Problem Management process in place (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 66. Is there a Change Management process in place (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 67. Is there a Service Level Management process in place for the Service Desk (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 68. Is there a Configuration Management process in place (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 69. Is there a Service Continuity Plan in place (to at least a control level of process maturity)? This means the process is defined, documented, repeatable, scalable and being performed on a consistent basis. 70. Do all Service Desk staff understand the activities they personally need to perform to enable each process? 71. Are there process owners with accountability in place for all key processes? 72. Are standards, procedures, and goals for all process activities that are to be performed by the Service Desk documented and communicated? 73. Are changes to processes well managed, executed and communicated to staff? 74. Is the Service Desk represented on the Change Advisory Board? 75. Are all Service Desk staff trained prior to implementation of changes? 76. Are all Service Desk staff trained in the process activities prior to implementation of new or modified process activities? 12
4.7 Service Desk People Results 77. Is there a process in place to collect & analyze data on direct indicators of Service Desk staff satisfaction? And is this process completed at least annually? 78. Does this process include specific focus on: working environment; leadership style; management style; health & safety; communication strategies; training & development; awareness of organization s values & goals; reward & recognition schemes? 79. Are current levels of staff satisfaction overall at least 70%? 80. Is there a process in place to collect & analyze data on indirect indicators of staff satisfaction? And is this process completed on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) 81. Does this process include specific focus on: staff turnover; sickness; tardiness; disciplinary trends; recruitment trends; improvement ideas & suggestions? 82. Are exit interviews conducted for Service Desk staff who leave? 83. Is data from the Service Desk staff satisfaction process used as direct input into the development of future operational plans? 13
4.8 Service Desk Customer Results 84. Does the Service Desk have a process to determine the satisfaction levels of its customers and users? And is this process conducted on an ongoing basis? 85. Are results tracked, graphed, summarized and documented? And do negative trends automatically drive improvement initiatives? 86. Do the customers and users have access to the results of the surveys? 87. Are current levels of customer satisfaction equal to or better than 70% (overall)? 88. Is there a process in place to determine the expectations of customers and what service delivery factors are of importance? 89. Is there a process in place to implement improvements and develop action plans to address customer concerns and complaints? 90. Is customer satisfaction determined by using criteria related to all of: Availability; Accessibility; Accuracy; Reliability; Responsiveness; Respect? 91. Is there a process in place to define, track, and assesses how the Service Desk contributes to the organizations customer results? 92. Have Service Level Agreements been implemented between the Service Desk and its key customers? And are they governed by a formal SLM process? 14
4.9 Service Desk Operational Results 93. Is the Service Desk tracking, measuring, reporting & reviewing key performance indicators on a systematic basis? (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly & annually) 94. Do these KPIs include the industry best practice criteria of Responsiveness, Resolution & Respect? 95. Are all Incidents recorded, categorized, reported and analyzed according to ITIL best practices? 96. Are all Problems & Known Errors recorded, categorized, reported & analyzed according to ITIL best practices? 97. Is the Service Desk achieving all targets for operational performance according to internal processes & procedures? 15
4.10 Business Results 98. Is there a process in place to define the Service Desk s direct contributions to the organization s direct goals? 99. Is there a process in place to define the Service Desk s indirect contributions towards the organization s goals? 100. Is the Service Desk recognized by the CEO for making a positive contribution towards the organization s goals? 16
5 Results of the Health Check Analyze the results of your self-assessment and decide the priority areas to be addressed first. Then complete your Action Table and make sure that tasks have been allocated to owners with clear expectations of deliverables, timelines and metrics. 17
6 Action Table for Improvements ELEMENT IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE OWNER REVIEW DATE VALIDATION METRIC SERVICE DESK LEADERSHIP SERVICE DESK POLICY & STRATEGY SERVICE DESK PEOPLE MANAGEMENT SERVICE DESK RESOURCES SERVICE DESK SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS SERVICE DESK PROCESS MANAGEMENT SERVICE DESK PEOPLE RESULTS SERVICE DESK CUSTOMER RESULTS SERVICE DESK OPERATIONAL RESULTS BUSINESS RESULTS 18
7 About Pink Elephant Pink Elephant is the world s leading education & consulting organization dedicated to IT service management best practices. Privately owned and headquarter in Toronto, Canada, The Company also serves the AsiaPacific region out of offices in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney & Auckland with: Education Services; including the full range of accredited ITIL certification programs Conferences & Special Events; including the world s largest gathering of IT service management professionals each February at the Annual IT Service Management Conference & Exhibition Consulting Services; including management of transformation projects at all levels: o Strategic - the Business Excellence Framework for IT o Tactical - ITIL s Service Delivery framework o Operational - ITIL s Service Support Framework Global Hosted Services; with a global network of the worlds first hosted service desks built from the ground up according to ITIL best practices If you would like to know more about Pink Elephant s approach for conducting in-depth IT service management best practice assessments (which concludes with a Continuous Improvement Project Plan), please either: Visit our web site at www.pinkelephant.com, or call us at 1-888-273-PINK (+1-905-331-5060) 19