Service Owner

Large organizations will have many specialist areas, each concerned with its own processes and capabilities. Providing a service to a customer requires many of these specialist silos to contribute part of that service. The service owner provides an end-to-end view, which ensures consistency across the service.

The service owner understands what the service needs to deliver and how it has been built to satisfy these requirements. As the representative of the service, they are involved in assessment of the impact of changes affecting the service, and they act as an escalation and communication point when it suffers a major incident.

By attending internal and external reviews, the service owner ensures that the service is delivered according to the customer requirements. This allows the role to identify the requirements for improvement and provide input to continual service improvement to work with IT to address any deficiencies that exist.

The service catalog process provides the business with information regarding the service, and maintaining this information with the service catalog process owner is another responsibility for the service owner.

The service owner interfaces with the underlying IT processes. They will have close associations with many of the processes:

Incident Management The service owner is involved in or may actually chair the crisis management team for high-priority incidents impacting the service owned.

Problem Management The service owner plays a major role in establishing the root cause and proposed permanent fix for the service being evaluated.

Release and Deployment Management The service owner is a key stakeholder in determining whether a new release affecting a service in production is ready for promotion.

Change Management The service owner participates in change advisory board decisions, approving changes to the services they own.

Asset and Configuration Management The service owner ensures that all groups that maintain the data and relationships for the service architecture they are responsible for have done so with the level of integrity required.

Service Level Management The service owner acts as the single point of contact for a specific service and ensures that the service portfolio and service catalog are accurate in relation to their service.

Availability and Capacity Management The service owner reviews technical monitoring data from a domain perspective to ensure that the needs of the overall service are being met.

IT Service Continuity Management The service owner understands and is responsible for ensuring that all elements required to restore their service are known and in place in the event of a crisis.

IT Financial Management The service owner assists in defining and tracking the cost models in relations to how their service is costed and recovered.

Process Owner

The next generic role we look at is that of the process owner. The process owner role is accountable for ensuring that a process is fit for purpose. This role is often assigned to the same person who carries out the process manager role, but the two roles may be separate in larger organizations. The process owner role ensures that their process is performed according to the agreed and documented standard and meets the aims of the process definition.

The process owner has the following accountabilities:

• Sponsoring, designing, and change managing the process and its metrics
• Defining the process strategy
• Assisting with process design
• Defining appropriate policies and standards to be employed throughout the process
• Periodically reviewing the process strategy to ensure that it is still appropriate and makes changes as required
• Communicating process information or changes as appropriate to ensure awareness
• Providing process resources to support activities required throughout the service lifecycle
• Making improvements to the process

Process Manager

Working closely with the process owner, the process manager role is accountable for operational management of a process. There may be several process managers for one process, for example, regional change managers or IT service continuity managers for each data center. The process manager role is often assigned to the person who carries out the process owner role, but the two roles may be separate in larger organizations.

The process manager’s accountabilities are as follows:

• Working with the process owner to plan and coordinate all process activities
• Ensuring that all activities are carried out as required throughout the service lifecycle
• Appointing people to the required roles
• Managing resources assigned to the process
• Working with service owners and other process managers to ensure the smooth running of services
• Monitoring and reporting on process performance
• Identifying improvement opportunities for inclusion in the CSI register
• Working with the CSI manager and process owner to review and prioritize improvements in the CSI register
• Making improvements to the process implementation

Process Practitioner

We have considered the generic roles of process owner and manager, and now we will review the practitioner role. A process practitioner is responsible for carrying out one or more process activities.

In some organizations, and for some processes, the process practitioner role may be combined with the process manager role; in others there may be large numbers of practitioners carrying out different parts of the process.

The process practitioner role typically includes the following responsibilities:

• Carrying out one or more activities of a process
• Understanding how the role contributes to the overall delivery of service and creation of value for the business
• Working with other stakeholders, such as their manager, coworkers, users, and customers, to ensure that their contributions are effective
• Ensuring that inputs, outputs, and interfaces for their activities are correct
• Creating or updating records to show that activities have been carried out correctly.

Next we examine the roles involved and the skills required for the implementation of the CSI seven-step improvement process and identify the activities involved.

The Seven-Step Improvement Process Owner

The seven-step process needs a process owner, like any other process. Their responsibilities include all of the generic process owner responsibilities discussed previously. They work with the CSI manager, service owners, process owners, and functions to ensure that the seven-step improvement process is implemented throughout the service lifecycle.

The Seven-Step Improvement Process Manager

The seven-step process also needs a process manager, like any other process. Their responsibilities include all of the generic process manager responsibilities discussed previously. They would also be responsible for planning and managing support for improvement tools and processes and would maintain the CSI register. They ensure that the interfaces with other processes work smoothly.

The Reporting Analyst

The final generic role is that of reporting analyst. The reporting analyst is a key role for CSI and will often be shared with service level management. In Chapter 45, “The Seven-Step Continual Service Improvement Process,” we discussed how critical the analysis of data is to successful service improvement. It is the responsibility of the reporting analyst to ascertain an accurate assessment of the end-to-end service, extracted from the various data sources reporting on components, systems, and subsystems.

The reporting analyst will also identify trends and establish whether they are positive or negative. This information is then used to present the data. The reporting analyst typically has the following responsibilities:

• Participating in CSI service level management meetings to ensure the validity of the reporting and to confirm the correct notification thresholds
• Consolidating data from multiple sources to obtain an end-to-end view
• Identifying and reporting trends and providing feedback on the trends, such as advising their likely impact
• Producing reports on service or system performance

The reporting analyst will require a number of key skills and competencies, including a good understanding of statistical and analytical principles and processes in addition to strong technical skills for the reporting tool(s). The reporting analyst should not be solely a number cruncher however; they require communication skills and the ability to translate technical requirements and specifications into easily understood reporting requirements.

Step 1: Identify the Strategy for Improvement

The decision on what should be measured has to be made at a senior level and by those in IT and the business who appreciate what is required to assist the business and to fulfil governance requirements. Some organizations may have a legal regulatory framework that they must abide by, for which they must provide evidence of compliance. Table 47.1 shows the type of activities required and the skills needed for this step.

The following titles are typical of this role:

• Strategy manager
• Service owner
• Service level manager
• CSI manager
• Process owner
• Process managers
• Customers
• Business/IT analysts
• Senior IT managers

The job titles in your own organization may be different, but from this list you can see the types of people who should be involved in this step.

Step 2: Define What You Will Measure

The roles involved in step 2 must have a strong understanding of what can and should be measured. Measurement must always fit the capabilities of the information provider. Understanding what measurements the tools can provide, the skills of the staff who will have to specify the reports, and the processes in place are essential if the measurements are to be achievable. Table 47.2 shows the type of activities required and the skills needed for this step.

Typical titles of this role are as follows:

• Service manager
• Service owner
• Process owner
• Process managers
• Internal and external providers

Again, the job titles in your own organization may be different, but from this list, you can see the types of people who should be involved.

Step 3: Gather the Data

Those responsible for gathering the data will be those involved in the activities being measured. For example, the service desk staff will capture response and fix times, security staff will collect data on security breaches, and technical management will measure availability, capacity, and so on. Table 47.3 shows the type of activities required and the skills needed for this step.

Step 4: Processing the Data

As with gathering the data, those responsible for processing it will be those involved in the activities being measured. For example, the service desk staff will produce the reports showing trends in response and fix times, security staff will do the same for security breaches, and technical management will process the data to produce reports on availability, capacity, and so on. Table 47.4 shows the type of activities required and the skills needed for this step.

Step 5: Analyzing the Data

The people who defined what could be measured are the right people to analyze the data. They will be individuals involved with providing the service (internal and external providers) and will understand the limitations of the tools, how the measurements are gathered, and any issues that may arise from this. Table 47.5 shows the type of activities required and the skills needed for this step.

Here is a list of typical job titles for staff involved in this step. Again, the job titles in your own organization may be different, but from this list you can see the types of people who should be involved:

• Service owner
• Process owner
• Process managers
• Business/IT analysts
• Senior IT analysts
• Supervisors and team leaders

Step 6: Presenting and Using the Information

Service providers and key decision-makers will be responsible for presenting and using the information. They must understand the service and its processes to make use of the information. They must have the skills to present the information in a meaningful way so their audience understands what they are being told. The type of activities required and the skills needed for this step are shown in Table 47.6.

Here are some typical titles of this role:

• CSI manager
• Service owner
• Service level manager
• Process owner
• Process managers
• Business/IT analysts
• Senior IT managers
• Internal and external providers
• Customers

Again, the job titles in your own organization may be different, but from this list you can see the types of people who should be involved in this step. Note the inclusion of the customers here among those who will process and use the information.

Step 7: Implementing Improvement

Anyone responsible for providing a service should always be trying to implement improvements to the service they provide (see Table 47.7).

Typical titles of those with this role are as follows:

• CSI manager
• Service owner
• Service manager
• Service level manager
• Process owner
• Process managers
• Business/IT analysts
• Senior IT managers
• Internal and external providers

Again, the job titles in your own organization may be different, but from this list you can see the types of people who should be involved in this step.

CSI Manager

It is essential to assign someone the role of CSI manager to ensure that continual service improvement has the focus it needs. Without this key individual, improvement initiatives lose focus, get sidetracked, and eventually fail. Improvement becomes disjointed and ad hoc. The CSI manager ensures that improvement is continual.

The responsibilities of the CSI manager are extensive. The role combines working with IT and the business in the identification of improvement opportunities, communicating the vision to others so that they come on board, and then monitoring the success of each improvement plan. The manager must work with the other roles, such as service level manager, to devise the required improvement action plan.

The CSI manager also has an essential role to play in the seven-step improvement process, ensuring the production and analysis of data to identify deficiencies, baselining the current situation, and then monitoring the effectiveness of the improvement actions. The CSI manager is therefore critical to the success of this process.

It is their responsibility to ensure that the organization embeds improvement so that it becomes part of “business as usual.” They must sell the concept at every opportunity, mentoring other staff and working with senior management to agree on priorities.

For such an important role to be successful, it is important that the person appointed has the necessary skills and authority. Possessing strong interpersonal skills is a necessity for a successful CSI manager. Much of the job requires building relationships with managers across the organization so that they feel that they are being consulted, not instructed. The CSI manager must act as a catalyst, ensuring that the various IT managers devote sufficient time and resources to the improvement plans. They must build strong relationships with the managers to ensure that improvement is accepted as part of every manager’s job, not left to the CSI manager. Managers must be actively supportive of CSI, providing the required levels of commitment and resources if CSI is to work.

Business Relationship Manager

The objective of business relationship management is to establish and maintain a good relationship between the service provider and the customer based on understanding the customer and their business drivers. The customer’s business drivers could require changes in SLAs and thus become input into service improvement opportunities. The chapters on service strategy in Part 1 of this book provide more detail on business relationship management and the role of business relationship managers.

Service Level Manager

The objectives of service level management are to define, document, agree on, monitor, measure, report, and review the level of IT services provided and instigate corrective measures whenever appropriate. It also is responsible for ensuring that specific and measurable targets are developed for all IT services and for monitoring and improving customer satisfaction with the quality of service delivered.

Service Manager

Service manager is a generic term for any manager within the service provider organization. The term is commonly used to refer to a business relationship manager, a process manager, or a senior manager with responsibility for IT services overall. A service manager is often assigned several roles, such as business relationship management, service level management, and continual service improvement.