KPIs: Incident control

Introduction to the decision of KPIs.

Achieving excellence in service management involves defining, measuring and analyzing the different processes that support the IT services of a company. In order to measure and analyze, within the best practices in the management of services published under ITIL , different performance indicators (key performance indicators, KPIs) are used.

These indicators are metrics that, defined according to the objectives set by the strategic plan of the company or the IT department, qualify and quantify how their services are being developed.

For KPIs to make sense and can be used for this purpose, they must meet the so-called SMART requirements:

1.            Specific : must be defined specifically.

2.            Measurable : they must be measurable.

3.            Achievable : Realistic goals must be set.

4.            Relevant : they must provide useful information to determine the degree of achievement of the strategy set.

5.            Timely : they must be able to be obtained at the right time for your information to have value.

For a company to have a good set of KPIs to help it achieve the strategic objectives set by senior management, it is necessary for the company to previously analyze its situation.

The result of this analysis phase should allow the entity:

1.            Have your IT services clearly defined.

2.            Know what the objectives are being pursued and the necessary performance of IT services to achieve these objectives.

3.            Have quantitative or qualitative measures that allow their comparison with the objectives set.

4.            Being able to analyze the information provided by the defined KPIs, to improve your processes in the management of IT services.

5.            Clearly define scoring point techniques. It is important to decide on previously agreed criteria, what is worth or not 1% up or down in a KPI.

6.            Cross results of KPIs.

Measurement of services.

In IT services, there are three fundamental metrics that all organizations use to a greater or lesser degree. These are:

1.            Service availability.

2.            Reliability of the service.

3.            Service performance.

Measuring should not be the ultimate goal pursued when implementing a system for measuring the metrics related to these service characteristics, but rather the goal should be to use the information generated in order to optimize IT services.

Building a service measurement model involves identifying what needs to be monitored and measured:

1.            Services

2.            Components (edit)

3.            Service management processes

4.            Activities in the process

5.            Process outputs, etc.

The end result should show a complete view of how each individual element contributes to the KPIs defined at the service level. This is the basis for creating a balanced scorecard for IT services.

Elements to be measured.

One of the most important aspects when it comes to defining KPIs for service management is to identify what has to be measured. The measures must be economical, quantitative and usable. It is necessary to avoid an excess of measures since, possibly, since they are not directly related to the strategic objectives set, they will only divert attention from the aspects that are really relevant to optimize services in the lines set by the organization's strategy.

The elements that are measured must provide information to:

1.            Measure the performance of the service against the strategy set, being part of the comprehensive scorecard.

2.            Measure risk and control requirements.

3.            Measure the contribution of the service to the development of the business, not only in the financial aspect, although this is one of the most relevant points.

4.            Measure customer satisfaction, both internal and external.

These measures should include:

1.            Services

2.            Systems

3.            Component availability

4.            Transaction response time

5.            Adjustment of the service to the deadlines and budget

6.            Quality of the service offered and compliance with regulatory and safety requirements

It is recommended to create a matrix that will support the objectives at a high level and define the KPIs that will support those objectives and to which category these indicators belong.

The categories of the indicators can be established as:

1.            Compliance : are regulatory requirements being met?

2.            Quality - How well are IT services being delivered?

3.            Performance - How fast or slow is IT servicing?

4.            Value : do IT services add value?

The objectives of the KPIs are:

1.            Increase in availability: Measures the increase in availability of a service. It aims to reduce the life cycle of an incident, eliminate errors in the infrastructure, improve the understanding of business requirements and increase the capacity of IT services.

2.            Reduction of service unavailability: Improve the model of prioritization, monitoring and follow-up of incidents, reduction of poorly managed changes and compliance with SLAs.

3.            Reduction of mean time to repair: Improve the escalation process, knowledge management and prioritization.

4.            Reduction in the number of urgent and emergency changes: Improve planning capabilities and communication processes with the business.

5.            Reduction of major incidents: Eliminate errors in the infrastructure, and reduce poorly implemented changes.

Use of metrics.

The measures that are used to analyze the service can pursue different purposes, such as validating that the vision and strategy of the organization is being supported, justifying that the correct services are available, directing the behavior of the employees and taking corrective measures in the case that is necessary.