<Insert Picture Here> Best Practices from Oracle Managed Services for Maintenance and Support of Oracle Solutions dr.ir. Wouter Schmidt Solution Architect Sigrun Bichlmeier Business Development Manager
Agenda Introduction Process Overview Process Functions Implementation Aspects Sourcing Models Summary <Insert Picture Here>
Introduction The Oracle Consulting Managed Services (OCMS) practice started in 1996 in the Netherlands and United Kingdom and is now offered Oracle worldwide OCMS portfolio develops according to customer needs, technology progression and new products OCMS supports any Oracle technology on top of Oracle Support OCMS utilizes mixed delivery models with local and remote resources OCMS are based on ITIL, ASL and BISL frameworks; services are implemented by the idea how to best support our customers including application maintenance Assumptions: 1st level support is done by our customers Change requests > 40 hours are handled as projects, not within application maintenance
Our Approach for Optimizing the Services Preventing high priority incidents Preventive infrastructure management Focus on Release Management The follow-up of an incident is always Problem Management or the request for change procedure - involving Oracle Product Support for root cause analysis Resource and skill driven model Scope of services and responsibilities need to be clearly defined from the beginning
Process Overview <Insert Picture Here>
Process Overview (1) Process model
Process Overview (2) First line support (green): Helpdesk, triage and functional maintenance Second line support (red): Application maintenance and infrastructure support Third line support (blue): Hardware support (storage, servers and operating system) Supporting processes (white): Problem and escalation management Service management Life cycle management
Process Functions <Insert Picture Here>
Helpdesk and Triage (1)
Helpdesk and Triage (2) Tasks Registration: Incidents are registered at one central desk Triage: First diagnose and dispatching towards functional, application, infrastructure, hardware support or towards vendors Filter function: resolve simple and often occurring incidents, maintaining a known error database, reduce workload for functional maintenance Progress monitoring: Safeguard that follow-up of incidents is performed according to service agreement
Functional Maintenance (1)
Functional Maintenance (2) Tasks Helpdesk support: Handles incidents, problems that can not be resolved by the (first line) helpdesk Initiates change requests: Coordinates and defines change requests based upon contacts with end-users. Is responsible that Oracle Solutions setup and customizations optimally support the business processes Demand management: Performs demand management for changes towards application maintenance on behalf of the enduser community Budget responsible: Approves costs/effort for the development of changes on behalf of the budget owner (capped to a yearly and/or absolute limit) Accepts deliverables: Formally accepts/approves deliverables on behalf of end-users/budget holder
Application Maintenance (1)
Application Maintenance (2) Tasks Problem diagnosis: Perform root-cause analysis for incidents and problems Corrective maintenance: Resolve problems by performing patch analysis, setup changes, code fixing for customizations Adaptive maintenance: Execute changes by performing setup changes, changing custom code and development of custom code Operational maintenance: Support with incidental requests for data uploads, ad-hoc management reporting, impact analysis, etc Preventive maintenance: Perform impact analysis of patches, CPU, family packs as published by Oracle. Plan and execute the implementation of patches, CPU, family packs
Infrastructure Support (1)
Infrastructure Support (2) Tasks Availability of environment: Make and keep available all Oracle environments towards end-users, trainers and developers Change management: Performs change management for production and/or pre-production environments Back-up Oracle systems: Ensure that back-up procedures are in place, validate and monitor result On request recovery: Perform a recovery on request of functional maintenance. Normally initiated to correct human errors caused by setup error, programming errors or wrong system use Minor disaster recovery: Recover Oracle systems due to failure Major disaster recovery: Recover Oracle systems in a disaster recovery environment due to major disasters (data center impact)
Problem Management (1) Tasks
Problem Management (2) Tasks Short term: Prevent that long resolution time occurs due to triage problems (prevent ping/pong effect between different disciplines) Long term: Analysis of incidents and problems logged to identify infrastructure areas and/or functional areas that require significant more maintenance and support effort. Initiate an improvement or optimization project to resolve this Involvement of all disciplines: All disciplines need to be represented in problem management and should be available on ad-hoc basis when needed
Service Management (1)
Service Management (2) Tasks Scope management: Define and manage which services, processes, infrastructure, solutions and customizations are offered to the end-users Perception management: Discuss and define quality and quantity aspects of the offered services (service levels) Resource management: Ensure that sufficient resources of the required expertise is available at the right moment in time. Capacity and expertise may vary in time Supplier management: Define a sourcing strategy which services and/or expertise is in-house, nearshore and/or offshore Project initiation: Initiate projects when scope, size and/or complexity require a project approach (own management) Quality management: Overall responsible for service quality and ensures that quality improvement is embedded in processes
Life Cycle Management (1)
Life Cycle Management (2) Tasks Capacity planning: Ensure that due to growth in end-user usage and/or new functionality the server capacity is sufficient Availability planning: Matches the technical infrastructure concerning undesired downtime compared to the business risks and costs for unplanned downtime Availability hardware: How is the availability of hardware components and what is the support from original vendors Availability software: How is the availability of software components (database, middleware and Oracle Solution) and what is the support statement from Oracle Certification of hardware and software: How does hardware and software certification and support match Strategic management: How does external changes impact the Oracle implementation (I.e. due to legislation, new competition, etc.)
Implementation Aspects <Insert Picture Here>
High Generic Implementation Aspects Something to keep in mind Business Process Functional Maintenance Application Maintenance Infrastructure Support Low Hardware Support Customer Specific Knowledge
High Generic Implementation Aspects Something to keep in mind Functional Maintenance Application Maintenance Infrastructure Support Low Business Process Hardware Support Oracle Knowledge
Helpdesk and Triage (1)
Helpdesk and Triage (2) Implementation aspects First line support often embedded in existing first line helpdesk with following benefit/limitations: Benefit from economy of scale, local requirements and allow re-use of existing systems and processes Due to its generic nature the skill level is limited to very easy tasks and user guidance on a frequently asked question level Need to handover to functional maintenance if incidents or problems are not standard Some of these tasks can be automated such as password reset and authorization requests for responsibilities in Oracle Solutions The triage function is often underestimated and requires the most skilled and analytical resources
Helpdesk and Triage (3) Required Expertise Knowledge to support common incidents (initially limited but will learn in time, known error database will grow in time) Should have skills to identify impact and priority Knowledge about IT internal organization to: Dispatch to Functional Maintenance Dispatch to Application Maintenance for Triage Dispatch to Infrastructure Support Initiate Problem Management
Functional Maintenance (1)
Functional Maintenance (2) Implementation aspects Functional maintenance concerns two aspects: Business perspective: Business processes and how to implement this with IT solutions IT Perspective: IT solutions and how to support business processes Business perspective component is business key and should be driven by the business (process) owner or business end responsible (director) Optimization of IT supported tasks and labor tasks is a challenging and often neglected aspect (90%-10% rule) Depending on scale dedicated resources can be assigned, keyusers performing this on part-time basis or a mixed model can be applied
Functional Support (3) Implementation aspects Business perspective IT perspective
Functional Support (4) Required expertise Business Functional Maintenance: In depth knowledge about business process and how these interact General knowledge about IT systems Knowledge about Oracle Solution standard functionality Oracle Solution Functional Maintenance: Knowledge about supported business processes In depth knowledge about Oracle Solution standard functionality and applied modules In depth knowledge about Oracle Solution setup/configuration Knowledge about customizations and interaction with standard functionality
Application Maintenance (1)
Application Maintenance (2) Implementation aspects Requires in depth Oracle expertise and knowledge Requires in depth configuration and customization; knowledge Requires infrastructure knowledge Is the expert for Triage Plans releases Manages code base Manages testing Supports user-acceptance Supports transition to production towards infrastructure management
Application Maintenance (3) Release management Continuously Monitoring Bi-Weekly Planning Quarterly / Bi-Monthly Continuously Development
Application Maintenance (4) Release management / Quick fixes
Application Maintenance (5) Required expertise Requires knowledge and expertise of Oracle Solution Functional knowledge of applied Oracle Solution modules Setup knowledge of applied Oracle Solution modules How setup is performed for specific implementation How customizations interact with standard functionality Administration of Oracle Solution Requires knowledge of related Oracle technology Database from a programming perspective (i.e. PL/SQL) Application server knowledge Oracle SOA suite (if applicable) Oracle non-java tool stack Oracle Java tool stack (i.e. ADF Framework) Oracle Business Intelligence Interfaces and formats (i.e. flat files and XML) Standard and guidelines for implementing customizations
Infrastructure Support (1)
Infrastructure Support (2) Implementation aspects Pro-active support: Continuously measurement and analysis of all hardware and software components Oracle Enterprise Manager: Standard management tool shipped with Oracle database and application server for proactive management Oracle Plugins for various Solutions: Enhancement for Oracle Enterprise Manager Integration with other management tools: Oracle Enterprise Manager supports SNMP protocol to trap to a central management console
Infrastructure Support (5) Required expertise Oracle Database management Oracle Application Server management Patch management of Oracle technology (database and application server) Patch management specific for Oracle Solution Administration of Oracle Solution Management of Job/Queue Schedulers Knowledge about installation of customization How to clone environments
Problem Management (1)
Problem Management Implementation aspects Short Term Problem Management Application Maintenance is a key process for problem management; All disciplines should be involved Resource planning should anticipate by 80% allocation of key members Use modern collaboration facilities (conference, desktop sharing, Instant Messenger, SMS) Have an escalation procedure Long Term Problem Management Perform an analysis of help desk statistics to identify functional areas causing most incidents/problems Identify gaps with business where they experience most non-fit with their business processes and IT systems support
Service Management (1)
Service Management (2) Implementation aspects Day to day management covering: Support decision processes when needed (priority) Validate resource capacity and expertise Initiate projects if large adaptive maintenance occurs Monthly progress reporting: Collect reporting from all processes and create one service report Validate the Service Levels against agreement Validate project progress on time and budget Service evaluation (quarter or half yearly basis) Service trends Evaluate life cycle management aspects A single (internal) service manager and in case of outsourcing a service manager per supplier
Service Management (4) Required expertise Knowledge of business processes and the support by Oracle Solution Knowledge of organization and management Knowledge of budgets, finance and approval processes Communication skill
Sourcing Models <Insert Picture Here>
Sourcing Options Services Process First line Second line Third line Projects Service Helpdesk Triage Business Functional Oracle Functional Application Maintenance Infrastructure Support Hardware Upgrade Large changes Option Self Self / Key-Users External Expert Support Self Mixed / Self / External External / Mixed / Self External / Mixed / Self External / Mixed / Self External / Mixed / Self External / Mixed / Self
Summary <Insert Picture Here>
Putting A Services Front End To Product Support Oracle Consulting Managed Services Portfolio Customer Services Desk Level 1 Service Request Oracle Consulting Managed Services Desk Level 2 ITIL Processes and Governance Technical and Functional Helpdesk Services Oracle Application Maintenance Testing Services Oracle Infrastructure Maintenance Oracle Product Support 3 rd Party Product Support