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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781780172965 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT |
| Publication date: | 08/04/2017 |
| Series: | BCS Guides to IT Roles |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 152 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
OVERVIEW OF THE FIELD
The purpose of this chapter is to position service level management within the wider context of service management. It is here that we introduce the concept of putting processes under control in order to ensure their repeatability, efficiency and effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD
The ability of an IT service provider to deliver consistent, reliable, efficient and effective services is dependent on a number of prerequisites. Few of these are more relevant and important than the maturity of its service management processes in general and the service level management process in particular. This is because this process ensures that the operational activities necessary to deliver efficient and effective services are recognised, understood, clearly defined and under control.
Process maturity is in effect a measure of the extent to which processes are under control. And if processes are not under control, then the services that they underpin are unlikely to be under control. This in turn impacts the ability of the service provider to meet the objectives of their stakeholders who depend on receiving effective services tailored to their needs. (Process maturity is covered in more depth in Chapter 10.)
If you doubt the value or question the investment necessary to have IT processes under control, ask an IT user about the extent to which they're happy with the services. If they say 'It depends', for instance on which service they use or when they use it or who they talk to in IT to get something done, then the processes are not under control. That means that the service to the user community is inconsistent, sub-optimised and therefore less than fully effective.
A lack of process or processes with inadequate control means activities are more reliant on individuals. Instead of the activities being undertaken according to defined procedures, there is variance, and variance is the enemy of effective service provision. If knowledge is retained in people's heads rather than in the service knowledge management system, then activities are conducted according to personal preferences or beliefs.
An analogy would be going to a restaurant and ordering your favourite dish but finding that what you were served was largely dependent on which chef was at work that day, or visiting a travel agent to book a holiday and having your destination, travel arrangements and the price of your holiday depend on the representative making the arrangements.
In my 45 years' experience of working with IT departments, it is sad but true that many departments still struggle to offer consistent, predictable and reliable services aligned to the needs of their business and stakeholders.
The key to be able to do so is shown in Figure 1.1. The generic activities associated with all processes are defined in the 'Process' box in the middle. The ability to ensure that these processes are undertaken on a consistent basis, aligned to stakeholder requirements, is achieved through essentially three control aspects:
• having a process owner accountable for the process (see 'The service level manager and the service level management process owner' in Chapter 2);
• having a written and agreed policy for the management of the process (see Appendix B);
• having clearly defined objectives for the process and a measurement framework to demonstrate the level of achievement and provide the basis of continual process improvement (see 'Measuring and reporting service performance' in Chapter 5).
Service level management is often considered the most important process in the ITIL framework. This is because the main deliverable, the SLA, provides business users with a degree of confidence that their service provider understands and will provide the services and service performance necessary to support their business activities and processes.
For the service provider, arguably everything that the IT department does and those within it do should be aligned with or linked to the requirements defined in the SLA. In effect, it provides the menu for the delivery of services.
Having a clear definition of the services, service levels and responsibilities that the service provider and their customer commits to is one of the cornerstones of adopting a professional approach to service level management. In a managed service environment, this is driven by a contract, but the internal equivalent is the SLA that represents the start point and the lynchpin of good service management from which positive and mutually beneficial relationships can develop.
For each service management process, ITIL defines three roles:
• The process owner. This is the role accountable for the process in terms of establishing the process strategy and policy, its objectives and how it will be measured. These are the preliminary activities necessary to define how the process will operate. The process owner is also responsible for promoting the use of the process, providing the relevant training and awareness and, on an ongoing basis, auditing the process for efficiency and effectiveness and looking for ways to improve the process.
• The process manager(s). For service level management, this is the SLM role (or the SDM in a managed service environment) and the focus of this book. This role is responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day activities associated with the management of the process within the terms of reference established by the process owner.
• The process practitioner(s). The practitioners are the individuals or team carrying out the day-to- day activities under the direction of the process manager(s).
If the organisation has a single IT department (i.e. operating as a shared services environment), the roles of process owner and process manager are often assigned to a single individual. So, while this book is aimed at the SLM/SDM or process manager role, many process managers will also be assigned the process owner role. While there are clear demarcation lines, it is nonetheless important to recognise that for those of you who intend to use the guidance in this book to understand and improve the effectiveness of the SLM/SDM role, this is clearly influenced by the strategy, policy and objectives defined by the process owner.
If no process owner has been assigned (not at all an uncommon situation), the likelihood is that, by default, as the SLM/SDM you will be fulfilling at least part of the responsibilities of the process owner. For example, it would normally be the process owner who defines the structure of the SLAs, that is, customer-based or service-based. It would be the process owner who defines the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the process and how performance is reported. With no process owner in place, you will need to make these decisions.
CHAPTER 2THE ROLE OF THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGER
In this chapter, we look at the specific objectives, aspects, requirements and skills associated with the role and in particular, its differentiation from that of the related but distinct role of business relationship manager (BRM).
INTRODUCTION
The role of the SLM is arguably one of the most important roles in IT. This is because it is instrumental in promoting positive relationships between the service provider and the service provider's customers. It does this by providing a communications bridge between the two parties, aiming to ensure that IT services and the associated service levels remain aligned to the needs of business users and their departments.
Of course, as an IT service provider, your organisation may be providing services to internal customers, external customers or a combination of the two. Traditionally the SLM role is associated with the provision of services to internal customers. However, if customers are external, while the role is still appropriate, it takes on somewhat different characteristics since the relationship is on a commercial footing. In this case, the role of SLM may sit alongside or even be part of the role of account manager, since in a commercial relationship, service and finance are closely linked.
Nonetheless, even when the IT service provider's customers are internal and no money actually changes hands, there is no good reason why the management of service levels and indeed service provision should not be undertaken on a professional basis, and this is a recurring theme throughout this book.
From this point forward I will, for convenience, refer to the SLM role, but please consider the guidance to be equally applicable to the SDM role, unless otherwise stated.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
For the service level management process to be considered under basic control in the process maturity model, that is, at level 3 or 'defined' maturity (see Chapter 10), there should be a written policy relating to service level management. In the event that this exists, it will provide a useful blueprint for your role as SLM. Should it not exist, you may find it useful and appropriate to draft one yourself to gain both corporate commitment and legitimacy of the process (and implicitly your role). A draft policy template is offered in Appendix B.
A key purpose of your role as SLM is to understand, capture and respond appropriately to your customer's service level requirements on behalf of your organisation, which is acting as the IT supplier.
Your role is also instrumental in maintaining communication between IT and its customers in both directions, that is, providing information about IT services and capturing and acting on information about business requirements.
In fact, IT has two primary responsibilities: providing IT services to its customers and helping its customers make the most effective use of the IT services.
The second of these is often overlooked, yet is a key aspect of the SLM role, albeit in concert with the business relationship management role. In other words, it isn't sufficient just to provide IT services; it is an inherent part of the IT supplier's obligation to help its customers and users gain maximum advantage from those services. One could argue that this is more applicable to the provision of services to internal customers, but there's no reason why a managed service provider or outsourcer should not make the same commitment.
In practice, this means:
• comparing customers' requirements with the capability of the IT department to meet those requirements;
• managing the gaps;
• negotiating agreements that satisfy both parties;
• promoting IT's focus on consistently and efficiently meeting the requirements;
• supporting continual service improvement.
While you may not personally deal with or be responsible for all of these aspects, you are accountable for ensuring each is realised. So, for instance, to determine the capability of the IT department to meet your customer's service level requirements you might engage with colleagues working in the capacity and availability management area. For financial assessment, you will need to talk with your finance manager or chief finance officer (CFO).
To satisfy this purpose you will need to meet the objectives associated with your role included in Table 2.1 later in this chapter.
COMPETENCIES, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
The SLM role requires a blend of relationship management and people skills with technical skills that is relatively unusual in IT but perhaps shared with the roles of BRM and continual service improvement manager. If you lack the relationship management and people skills, you will find it hard to build meaningful relationships with your customers, a key aspect of the role. However, lacking basic technical skills will put you at a disadvantage in building relationships with your IT peers.
Ideally, you will have a portfolio of competencies, skills and knowledge spanning a number of areas, such as:
• interpersonal and relationship skills, as the role of SLM is primarily a people-based one;
• an understanding of (but not necessarily expertise in) IT technologies;
• a deeper understanding of the capabilities of IT generally;
• a certain level of general business acumen to be able to empathise and converse with your opposite numbers in the business units;
• an understanding of the business environment and business sector in which your organisation operates in order to recognise and help manage the specific challenges your customers face.
Interpersonal and relationship skills
Interpersonal and relationship skills are the softer skills and attributes you will need in order to be able to build an effective relationship with your colleagues on both the customer and supplier sides of the business. While these can be honed over time, they tend to be personality traits you already have to one extent or another that make you suitable for this type of role. These skills include diplomacy, influencing and negotiation, building trust, ability to empathise, dependency and reliability, and integrity and confidentiality. Employers therefore often look for people who already have these skills, even if they do not have a service management background, since the technical skills and an understanding of the organisation and its business can be taught.
As an SLM, the success of your role is going to depend to a large extent on these interpersonal and relationship skills.
Diplomacy, influencing and negotiation skills
There will be occasions when your customer's demands and requirements are either unrealistic or unreasonable. Diplomacy and influencing and negotiating skills will help you to deal with these situations and find solutions or compromises satisfactory to both parties. Sometimes you need a core belief that a solution is possible, even if it isn't obvious, and it is this confidence that can help you to arrive at a compromise. This is why you need to have a level of influence within the organisation, but particularly within IT, as technical people are often good at saying things like 'It can't be done.' Instead, work on the old adage that 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' But simply going over someone's head to gain authority for an action (for instance) is unlikely to be the basis of an effective working relationship with people on whom you are likely to rely in the future!
IT technology skills
There is a question over the level of technical or technology skills required by an SLM and, as is often the case, there is no right or wrong answer. From my own personal perspective, my lack of technical IT skills was never a hindrance in my role. This is because my customers and the business unit managers were themselves not focused on technology.
However, there are those who believe technical skills (of at least a moderate level) are an asset or even a prerequisite for the role. What is certain is that a balance of skills is appropriate and that ideally you can have a mainly non-technical conversation with a business customer yet also have a broadly technical conversation with an IT colleague.
The challenge is that it is rare to find individuals equally comfortable in front of customers and IT people and, on this basis, I do not see a lack of strong technology skills as necessarily an inhibiter to the SLM role. On the other hand, someone with strong technology skills but weak business acumen is unlikely to be suited to the role.
The level of technology skills you require will in fact be driven by the technology skills of your customers. They will expect you to have at least as much knowledge as they do, and some of them will have come from a technology background.
If you don't feel your technical skills are adequate, there are two alternatives. Either acquire these through training or, alternatively, take along a colleague more conversant with technology when you meet an informed customer. There is no shame in a lack of technology skills, particularly if your business acumen is particularly well developed.
Business acumen
Business acumen can be defined as an understanding of what makes a company successful. It includes the drivers of profitability and/or cash flow and a market-focused understanding of the business and its interrelationships with its customers, suppliers and regulators, and with legislation.
From your perspective as an SLM, refer to your understanding of what makes your organisation successful and how IT generates and supports corporate success. Your ability to understand this, reflect it in the SLAs and facilitate a successful IT and business relationship based on it, is arguably a critical success factor (CSF) for the role and should therefore be a primary focus.
The level of business acumen you require is considerably more than you are likely to gain from an induction course, although this can be a useful starting point. There are then likely to be some generic factors you need to know that relate to all businesses but, more importantly, there are aspects you need to know that are specific to your business and the sector in which it operates.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Service Level Manager"
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Overview of the field
- The role of the Service Level Manager
- Responsibilities, interfaces and dependencies
- Key activities associated with the service design stage of the service lifecycle
- Key activities associated with the service operation stage of the lifecycle
- Standards and frameworks
- Tools
- Defining service levels
- Marketing the SLA
- Process maturity
- A day in the life of a Service Level Manager
- Career progression and skills development
- Appendices