The most applicable KPIs of Problem Management …

1 M SHARIFI et al: THE most applicable kpis OF Problem Management PROCESS .. IJSSST, Vol. 10, No. 3 ISSN: 1473-804x online, 1473-8031 print 77 The most applicable kpis of Problem Management Process in Organizations Mohammad Sharifi Masarat Ayat Ibrahim Shamsul Sahibuddin Centre for Advanced Software Engineering (CASE) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 UTM, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia Abstract - Currently, IT (Information Technology) departments are the most complex parts of organizations and ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is considered the most widely used IT framework in them. This De-facto standard is intended to support IT units of organizations to implement quality based processes in an effort to improve the quality of IT services.

2 ITIL, it self is consisting of five components which are service strategy, service design, service operation, service transition and continual service improvement. Every one of these components has several processes. The structure of every one of ITIL processes includes definition, detail description, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Key Performance Indicators ( kpis ). On the other hand, The Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) is an audit and IT based framework with high capability on process measurement. This measurement-based framework is consisting of four different domains which are plan and organize, acquire and implement, delivery and support and monitor and evaluate domains.

3 Taking into consideration the strength and weaknesses of each standard and framework, an ideal and practical approach is to implement ITIL based processes through an effective collaboration with COBIT based kpis to measure and enhance every ITIL based processes. However, one of the critical ITIL processes is Problem Management process. This process issues to identify rout causes of reported incidents and try to eliminate them. In this paper, all kpis applied to this process were at first gathered with some industrial experiences and then analyzed to produce some findings relating to the most common kpis and practices used. KeyWords: KPI, Problem Management , IT process, ITIL,COBIT I.

4 INTRODUCTION Quality is defined as the level of conformance of the final deliverable to the customer s requirements [Method123, 2009] and ISO 8402 standard defines quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. However, the most commonly used definition of Service Quality is the extent to which a service meets customer s needs or expectations [ Wisniewski et. al.,1996]. QoS has an increasing role in the organizations, now. One predominant area of QoS has been posed IT parts of organizations. There are several IT based frameworks and standards propounded by institutes, companies and organizations.

5 These frameworks and standards try to make a coherent approach to manage IT capitals and assets in the organization. One of the most widely used IT frameworks in the world is Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) which is the most applicable de-facto standard used in many IT companies and organizations, nowadays[Bon J. al. ,2007]. It covers an iterative, multidimensional and lifecycle form structure [taylor,2007]. In addition, this de-facto standard carries some extensions such as Microsoft MOF , HP ITSM and IBM SMSL. Alternatively, COBIT [Hill et. al. ,2007] is another framework used in organizations to improve quality of IT-services.

6 In short, both frameworks comply with ISO 27002 that provide a comprehensive process to manage a high matured organization [Sharifi et. al. ,2007]. Based on Gartner claims, the use of IT best practices in IT services can up to 20% cost saving [Botelho,2007]. From our observation, there is a need of a mature plan to match this framework with target objectives of the organizations. One important part of this plan is project audit and assessment with some benchmarks like CSFs (Critical Success Factors) and kpis (Key Performance Indicators) or KSIs (Key Success Indicators). kpis or KSIs, help an organization to define and measure progress towards organizational goals.

7 Please take note that those kpis should be agreed upon by an organization s manager to select and draw a plan prior to implementation. Managers usually select these kpis based on their business objectives. So, selected kpis must reflect the organizational goals. Via their prefix name(key), it is clear that there must be a key to organizational success, as it is measurable and reflects the current situation of that particular process. Key performance indicators usually are long-term considerations for an organization [F. John, 2008] as it provides some potential to make a mature process at the end of the plan.

8 M SHARIFI et al: THE most applicable kpis OF Problem Management PROCESS .. IJSSST, Vol. 10, No. 3 ISSN: 1473-804x online, 1473-8031 print 78 The aim of this paper is firstly to describe ITIL as a baseline for Problem Management and COBIT as an IT-framework with strong audit capabilities (section 2). Secondly, it focuses on the description of Problem Management Process (section 3) followed by its well known kpis related process (section 4 and 5). At the end of this paper, section 6 describes a methodology to support the most applicable kpis of Problem Management .

9 II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY To accomplish the main aim of the study, the ethnography method selected. According to Wikipedia the ethnography is a genre of writing that uses fieldwork to provide a descriptive study of human societies. Ethnography has several techniques. In this research the following techniques has been applied: Direct observation of formal and informal daily behaviors in the organization; Conversation with different levels of stakeholders and managers as well as the organizations staffs include small talk, long interviews and formal meetings; Detailed work with key consultants about particular experiences that they had and study some deferent case studies.

10 III. ITIL AND COBIT: AN OVERVIEW A. ITIL ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a de-facto standard which was introduced and distributed by Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in UK and includes all IT parts of organizations [Wikipedia, 2008]. At present ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management in the world. It has an iterative, multidimensional and lifecycle form structure. ITIL has an integrated approach as required by the ISO/IEC 20000 standard with following guidance: [Taylor,2007]. I. Service Strategy: The Service Strategy provides guidance on how to design, develop and implement service Management from organizational capability perspective and strategic asset.