The Impact of Process Visibility on Process Performance - A Multiple Case Study of Operations Control Centers in ITSM

Successful monitoring is essential for managing security-critical or business-critical processes. The paper seeks to understand and empirically evaluate benefits of the BPM use case “monitor” in the context of Operations Control Centers (OCCs). OCCs create visibility about critical events and statuses in very sensitive processes. In IT Service Management (ITSM) they support the event management process with real-time monitoring and event analysis of critical systems in complex system landscapes. This special focus of OCCs on visibility is a promising context to study fundamentals of process visibility. The paper develops a Process Monitoring Benefits Framework that draws on the Situation Awareness Theory and the Theory of Constraints. The authors conceptualize process visibility and suggest that it is positively related to process performance. A multiple case study in seven organizations is carried out to examine the framework and its propositions. The case study indicates that the impact of process visibility on process performance is mediated by the situation awareness of the process participants as well as the identification of bottlenecks in processes. Moreover, factors are identified that potentially influence process visibility outcome – namely continuous improvement culture, outsourcing quality, and maturity of the software tool used for monitoring

The Analysis of Information Technology Best Practice Adoption in Saudi Arabia

Drawing on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Organisational Learning (OL) theories, the present study examined the CSFs of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) implementations. Organisations evaluated their manners of managing Information Technology (IT) and decided to move from technology management toward service management that is called Information Technology Service Management (ITSM). ITIL represents one of the most famous ITSM best practices. However, with the absence of a practical ITIL implementation approach based on a theoretical solid ground, many organisations faced unpredictable obstacles and waste valuable resources. The present research aimed to identify a theoretical basis that allows understanding the success of ITIL implementations. Therefore, I first reviewed and analysed the literature of ITIL implementation CSFs to identify appropriate theoretical basis. The analysis led to proposing 4i framework as an OL model to interpret the successful and failed ITIL implementations. I then investigated empirically three case studies: successful, failed and partially successful ITIL implementations. Interviews were used to collect retrospective data from essential people involved in ITIL implementations. The present research applied method triangulation as it also used documents as another data source to understand the longitudinal aspects of the case studies. Collected data was thoroughly analysed qualitatively using two analytical methods. First, to analyse the case studies, I used a thematic analysis approach, namely Framework analysis method. While the Framework analysis findings implied the existence of interrelations among ITIL implementation CSFs, it also exposed the influential roles of the time element and the order of events on learning. Therefore, I then reanalysed the case studies using the event narrative method that concentrated on the events of ITIL implementations and their sequences. The findings of the event narrative analysis proposed a network of CSFs of ITIL implementations. Accordingly, the present research introduce four conceptual terms related to CSFs: contextual CSF, dynamic CSF, supreme CSF and network of CSFs. Finally, through the discussion of research findings in light of related literature of ITSM, CSFs and OL, I extended the network of CSFs to propose the Model of Implementing ITIL Successfully (MIIS) as an extension of 4i framework to understand success and failure of ITIL implementations

Resigned robots and aspiring artisans: a conceptualisation of the IT service support worker

In the last two decades the IT service support worker has emerged to be a worker-type of considerable socio-economic importance. Such workers are symbolic of the trends towards the importance of information/knowledge and information technology within modern economic/political systems. Such systems, heavily influenced by governmental bodies and business organisations, have aggrandised the use of rationalising customer-centric management techniques. And yet such symbolic workers are largely hidden and unacknowledged as a specific type of worker in the business literature. This thesis represents an attempt to conceptualise the IT service support worker as a worker-type, inducing a conceptual model that identifies three aspects to the worker: information systems worker; knowledge worker and service worker and considers them from each of these perspectives. This qualitative research draws on a rich mix of observational and interview data collected across five UK organisations to produce a narrative that suggests that, for different IT service support workers, those different aspects tend to be variably emphasised within their team roles. The study additionally offers a theoretical conclusion that IT service support workers might reasonably be divided into different classes depending upon not only the design of their team role but also their individual career orientations and the nature of the knowledge they actually use in their work. Four such classes are identified as being of particular significance and these are evocatively named: Resigned Robots ; Constrained Careerists ; Establishment Experts and Aspiring Artisans . Whilst being outside of the scope of this study, it is suggested that this novel typology might also be useful for classifying other worker groupings. The study is intended to be useful for the enhancement of IT service management practice and makes several contributions in this regard. These include the need for managers to recognise the importance of experientially-acquired knowledge for efficiency in IT service support work and a suggestion that managers might tailor HRM practices for different classes of worker

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR BUSINESS PROCESSES: THE CASE OF IT INCIDENT MANAGEMENT

IT service desks have become an integral part of intra-enterprise ecosystems, keeping IT hardware and software services within the company running. Business Intelligence methods have an enormous potential to support IT helpdesk employees by making implicit knowledge explicit, accelerating business processes throughout the entire company, and retaining the knowledge of experienced employees upon retirement. In this paper, we investigate these benefits by showing how analytics can automate the assignment of helpdesk tasks, enable early warning mechanisms for accumulated incidents, and enhance knowledge sharing among helpdesk users. For this purpose, we use a combination of topic modeling and predictive analytics, which is applied to an extensive dataset of support tickets from a global automotive supplier. Our approach identifies relevant topics and assigns these to helpdesk tickets, thereby decoding implicit knowledge into formal rules and business processes

On the Application of Multiobjective Optimization to Software Development Process and Antenna Designing

Esta tesis doctoral, presentada como compendio de artículos, explora los beneficios prácticos del uso combinado de la optimización multi-objetivo con aplicaciones de simulación. En esta tesis, con un caracter de aplicación, se aportan ideas prácticas sobre cómo combinar meta-heurísticas aplicadas a la optimización de problemas con herramientas y técnicas de simulación. La simulación permite estudiar problemas complejos antes de implementarlos en el mundo real. Los problemas de optimización son de los más complicados de resolver. Involucran 3 o más variables y en muchos casos no pueden ser resueltos matemáticamente. La simulación permite modelar el problema, pero son una ayuda insuficiente a la hora de encontrar las mejores soluciones a dicho problema. En estos casos, el trabajo conjunto de la herramienta de simulación con metaheurísticas de optimización permiten abordar estos problemas con costes computacionales razonables, obteniendo resultados muy cercanos al óptimo. Debe tenerse en cuenta que las soluciones de los problemas multiobjetivo contienen un conjunto de variables donde habitualmente mejorar (optimizar) una variable, suponga empeorar (hacer menos óptima) otra(s). Por tanto, lo deseable es encontrar un conjunto de soluciones donde cada variable se optimiza teniendo en cuenta el posible impacto negativo en el resto de variables. A ese conjunto de soluciones, se le suele conocer como el Frente de Pareto Óptimo. Esta tesis presenta dos problemas reales, complejos y pertenecientes a campos totalmente distintos, que han sido resueltos de forma existosa, aplicando la misma técnica: Simulación combinada con optimización multiobjetivo. Esta tesis comienza presentando un caso de técnicas de optimización multiobjetivo a través de la simulación para ayudar a los directores de proyectos de software a encontrar las mejores configuraciones para los proyectos basados ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), de manera que se optimicen las estimaciones de calendario para un proyecto determinado, el tiempo y la productividad. Los datos de gestión de proyectos pueden obtenerse mediante simulación, por ejemplo, para optimizar el número de recursos utilizados en cada fase de la vida del proyecto. También se presenta otro caso de estudio sobre la forma en que la optimización de la simulación puede ayudar en el diseño de cualquier tipo de antena. En este caso de estudio, el objetivo es lograr una antena helicoidal, de doble banda, lo más compacta posible, para la telemetría, el seguimiento y el control (TTC) de los satélites. En los satélites es esencial reducir el volumen y el peso de los dispositivos instalados, manteniendo al mismo tiempo los requisitos de funcionamiento. Adicionalmente, esta tesis realiza un aporte teórico proponiendo un nuevo algoritmo llamado MNDS (Merge Non-Dominated Sorting) que mejora el rendimiento de los algoritmos de optimización multi-objectivo basados en el cálculo del Pareto Front

Implementación y Seguimiento de las Herramientas Jira y Tune - UP Process para la Gestión de Servicios de Tecnología de la Información en la Facultad de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería de la Universidad de los Llanos.

42hojasSe hace un estudio sobre la metodología de trabajo Planear, Hacer, Verificar, Actuar, para la Gestión de Servicios de Tecnologías de la Información para ostentar una mejora, en los servicios que se prestan a la Comunidad Universitaria. En una organización donde actúen intereses de Tecnologías de la Información que se basen en la calidad y entrega de servicios, se busca adoptar un marco de referencia denominado Biblioteca de Infraestructura de Tecnologías de Información para lograr obtener resultados tales como: verificar la calidad del servicio, optima utilización de recursos de Tecnologías de la Información , dicho marco de referencia se instauro por la facilidad de ser integro, versátil y adaptable, en este caso contamos con la necesidad de evaluar el estado organizacional el cual se encontraba la Facultad de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería . Se implementó la metodología PHVA que nos llevara a verificar el estatus organizacional para establecer mejoras cíclicas en ella.4.1 Metodología PHVA ...................................................................................... 23 4.1.1 Mejora Continua ....................................................................................... 24 4.1.2 Eficiencia .................................................................................................. 24 4.2 Marco de referencia ITSM ........................................................................... 24 4.3 Librería de Infraestructura de Tecnologías de Información (ITIL) ................ 27 5.RESULTADOS ................................................................................................... 31 5.1 Jira ............................................................................................................... 31TECNOLOGÍAS DE LA INFORMACIÓN, PROCESADORES DE INFORMACIÓN, METODOLOGÍA PHVA.Tesis. Programa Ingeniería de sistemas. Universidad de los Llanos. Facultad de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería., 2018, Resultado para Optar el Titulo de Ingeniero de Sistemas.PregradoIngeniería de Sistema

Building a classification engine for ticket routing in IT support systems

In any IT support environment, it is important to quickly route support tickets to correct teams. Often, it takes few days to manually classify several hundreds of tickets. This thesis presents a classification engine that provides routing recommendation to specialists for incoming tickets. The classification engine is built using machine learning and software robotics to decrease the amount of human time spent on support ticket classification. Experiments are carried with logistic regression, random forests and extremely randomized trees using historical data. During off-line cross-validation, random forest model performs well with 90% of f1-score and is deployed in production using AWS. The performance of the classification engine is tested in production for two weeks. The deployed model has f1-score of 86%. The f1-scores for the individual groups like level 1, level 23, level 24 are 89%, 88% and 93% respectively. These three groups contribute to almost 90% of total tickets. This thesis presents an approach of how a machine learning model is employed to reduce human time

Six Sigma

In the new millennium the increasing expectation of customers and products complexity has forced companies to find new solutions and better alternatives to improve the quality of their products. Lean and Six Sigma methodology provides the best solutions to many problems and can be used as an accelerator in industry, business and even health care sectors. Due to its flexible nature, the Lean and Six Sigma methodology was rapidly adopted by many top and even small companies. This book provides the necessary guidance for selecting, performing and evaluating various procedures of Lean and Six Sigma. In the book you will find personal experiences in the field of Lean and Six Sigma projects in business, industry and health sectors

A knowledge management architecture for information technology services delivery

Knowledge Management is a scientific area related to the organizational value of knowledge and is understood as a multidisciplinary field of research. Notions and practices are emerging and incorporated in organizations in different areas, as is the case of IT Service Management. Today’s business environment is increasingly unstable, characterized by uncertainties and changes, where technology changes rapidly, competitors multiply, and products and services quickly become obsolete. In this context, management is increasingly focused not only on people management, but on the knowledge they have and how to capture it. An Information System aligned with Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital aims to represent and manage explicitly the different dimensions associated with an organizational competence. If organizations integrate Knowledge Competencies, Knowledge Engineering, Information Systems and Organizational Memories, these will improve the organization's knowledge and subsequently improve the quality of the service provided to users and customers. This research will use Design Science Research methodology to create an artifact to be applied in a case study from an organization aligned with ITIL best practices. This organization is supported by an Intranet and an ERP for laptop repair process. The outcome of this dissertation aims to demonstrate if Knowledge Management improves the IT services delivery

An extensive review of IT service design in seven international ITSM processes frameworks: Part II

The main international IT Service Management processes frameworks (ITIL v2, ISO/IEC 20000, COBIT 4.0, CMMI-SVC, MOF 4.0, and ITUP) include the design of IT services as part of their main best practices. However, despite having a common purpose and conceptual structure, they are organized differently. Hence, ITSM academic researchers and practitioners need to integrate a broad and diverse literature in relation to these frameworks. In Part I of this research, the authors pursued the goal of a descriptive-comparative analysis of fundamental concepts and IT service architecture design models used in the seven ITSM frameworks. In this paper (Part II) we complete this systemic analysis by using the ISO/IEC 15288 systems engineering standard and focusing on the IT design processes and practices reported in the aforementioned ITSM frameworks. Specifically, CMMI-SVC and ITUP are assessed in overall as the strongest frameworks from an engineering view, MOF 4.0 and ITIL v3 as moderate, and ISO/IEC 20000, ITIL v2 and COBIT as the weakest. ITSM academicians and in particular practitioners thus will need to distinguish their utilization according to the level of required detail of the IT service design process. This paper aims to advance our comprehension and understanding on the state of the art regarding what are IT services and how they can be designed. Thus it is of broad significance to ITSM researchers and practitioners