Performance Analytics

[AlisonQuattrocc]

Authored by Chris Pope

IT organizations have a need to measure and understand the level of performance and value they are providing to the business. There are hundreds of examples of metrics, what to measure, methodologies and process models. ITIL prescribes the Continual Service Improvement (CSI) model, and even provides the 5th book in the ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite for it (oft forgotten though).

The CSI 7 step/stage improvement process is a great way of defining a process and approach, but organizations often decide where they want to be before fully understanding where they actually are, which can lead to scope change with the end result being far removed from the desired outcomes.

If You Can't Measure It You Can't Improve It

Knowing how to measure something is almost more important than the actual result. Percentages are next to useless without knowing the original measures used to calculate the result. Organizations have and continue to amass huge volumes of data, but without understanding the source and the process or activities that can impact it, the data might as well not be used.

Just Because You Can Measure It Doesn't Mean You Should

More doesn't always mean better! IT metrics programs have a tendency to want to measure and track everything, when in reality focus can only be given to 3-5 at any one time. Service owners will have a set of key metrics they track that are more operational in nature such as volumes of requests, response times, resolution activities and a breakdown of the types of requests that they are fulfilling. The influence they can bring at any one time is limited and if process improvement and/or changes are required, it can take a period of time or a complete reporting cycle before any improvement is seen in the metrics.

Metrics Overflow

Most IT metrics are just that - for IT. When presenting to the business or service consumers, these metrics represent a view of operational activities which the business is consuming and often paying for. Being transparent as to why metrics are positive or negative and the trend changes is key to building trust and relationships. To IT's detriment, the focus always lingers on bad results or service issues versus applauding the good service that was delivered or accomplished in a given measurement period. IT needs to do a better job of providing metrics that matter as well as highlighting the value and results they have delivered across the organization when a job is well done.

Excel — The Enterprise Tool of Choice

"If you can't do it in Excel, you can't do it anywhere!" How often have you heard this and how much reliance is there in your organization on Excel spreadsheets? Excel has blown open the doors to end users consuming large volumes of data, creating charts and fancy formulas to display information. These look great in presentations and reports, but the overhead of creation, maintenance and changes is significant. Often the brain trust, which created the assets leaves or moves into a new role and the knowledge and expertise is lost. Thus, the document is stale and outdated, leading to another initiative or program starting for metrics v2.0!

Enter ServiceNow Performance Analytics!

ServiceNow solves this problem. By focusing on what to measure rather than the tools required, ServiceNow Performance Analytics provides a consumer-like experience to manage and measure metrics and prove analytical insight into performance. To find out more, take ServiceNow Performance Analytics for a test drive.