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

Yritysohjelmistojen käyttöönotto- ja muutoshallintaprosessien arviointi ja kehitys

Large enterprises are becoming increasingly dependent on complex information systems, as they play a vital role in the business of most companies. With ever increasing complexity of deployed information systems, management of these systems becomes equally more complex. IT departments face the challenges related to maintaining the often business critical software and information system deployments. Maintenance and management of enterprise software deployments always includes the management of changes to existing deployments as well as the management of new deployments to environments which already serve users. In both cases, it is crucial to ensure that the tasks related to the management of a service do not disrupt the business, and thus do not cause harm to the company. To be able to ensure reliable, failure-free operation of critical systems, structured, well planned and well implemented processes are needed for managing changes to business critical enterprise software deployments. This thesis consists of two parts; first a literature review is conducted on IT service management standards and best practices, second the deployment and change management processes implemented at the case company are described and evaluated. The result of this thesis is a comprehensive description of the management processes related to a specific IT service at the case company. Such description did not previously exist related to this specific service. Additionally some improvement opportunities were identified.Suuret yritykset ovat tänä päivänä yhä enenevässä määrin riippuvaisia monimutkaisista tietojärjestelmistä, jotka ovat avainasemassa monen yrityksen liiketoiminnassa. Järjestelmien kompleksisuuden kasvun myötä, myös näiden järjestelmien ylläpito on muuttunut monimutkaisemmaksi. IT-osastot kohtaavat päivittäin monimutkaisien järjestelmien ylläpitoon liittyviä haasteita. Yritysten tietojärjestelmien ylläpito ja hallinta sisältää aina niin muutosten hallintaa olemassa oleviin sovelluksiin, kuin myös uusien sovellusten käyttöönoton mahdollisesti kompleksisessa ympäristössä. Kummassakin tapauksessa on ensiarvoisen tärkeää varmistaa, että palvelun hallintaan liittyvät tehtävät eivät häiritse yrityksen liiketoimintaa. Liiketoimintakriittisten järjestelmien luotettavan, häiriöttömän toiminnan varmistamiseksi tarvitaan strukturoituja, hyvin suunniteltuja ja hyvin jalkautettuja prosesseja palvelun muutoshallintaan. Tämä tutkimus koostuu kahdesta osasta; ensimmäisessä perehdytään alan parhaisiin käytäntöihin ja standardeihin kirjallisuudesta, jälkimmäisessä kuvataan ja arvioidaan tapausyrityksen käyttöönotto- ja muutoshallintaprosesseja. Työn tuloksena saatiin kattava kuvaus tutkimuksen kohteena olleeseen palveluun liittyvistä hallintaprosesseista. Vastaavaa kattavaa kuvausta ei tutkimuksen kohteena olleesta palvelusta ollut aikaisemmin saatavilla. Lisäksi työssä tunnistettiin mahdollisuuksia tehostaa tutkimuksen kohteena olleita prosesseja

Enterprise Business Alignment Using Quality Function Deployment, Multivariate Data Analysis And Business Modeling Tools

This dissertation proposes two novel ideas to enhance the business strategy alignment to customer needs. The proposed business alignment clock is a new illustration to the relationships between customer requirements, business strategies, capabilities and processes. To line up the clock and reach the needed alignment for the enterprise, a proposed clock mechanism is introduced. The mechanism integrates the Enterprise Business Architecture (EBA) with the House of Quality (HoQ). The relationship matrix inside the body of the house is defined using multivariate data analysis techniques to accurately measure the strength of the relationships rather than defining them subjectively. A statistical tool, multivariate data analysis, can be used to overcome the ambiguity in quantifying the relationships in the house of quality matrix. The framework is proposed in the basic conceptual model context of the EBA showing different levels of the enterprise architecture; the goals, the capabilities and the value stream architecture components. In the proposed framework, the goals and the capabilities are inputs to two houses of quality, in which the alignment between customer needs and business goals, and the alignment between business goals and capabilities are checked in the first house and the second house, respectively. The alignment between the business capabilities and the architecture components (workflows, events and environment) is checked in a third HoQ using the performance indicators of the value stream architecture components, which may result in infrastructure expansion, software development or process improvement to reach the needed alignment by the enterprise. The value of the model was demonstrated using the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) process at the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems department at the University of Central Florida. The assessment of ABET criteria involves an evaluation of the extent to which the program outcomes are being achieved and results in decisions and actions to improve the Industrial Engineering program at the University of Central Florida. The proposed framework increases the accuracy of measuring the extent to which the program learning outcomes have been achieved at the department. The process of continuous alignment between the educational objectives and customer needs becomes more vital by the rapid change of customer requirements that are obtained from both internal and external constituents (students, faculty, alumni, and employers in the first place)

Análisis y estudio sobre el gobierno y gestión de los servicios de TI en el mercado español

Este proyecto es un informe completo sobre la investigación realizada con el objeto de conocer cuál es la situación en la investigación, difusión del conocimiento, e implantación en las organizaciones que operan en España, con respecto a diferentes protocolos, buenas prácticas y normativas relacionadas con Gobierno y Gestión de Servicios TI (GyGS TI). Para la mejor visualización y comprensión de este documento se ha dejado en el mismo formato en el que se entregará a los participantes en los cuestionarios, a los socios de itSMF, y a otro amplio grupo de personas que han mostrado interés en este Observatorio. De manera que, en el anexo, encontrarán el documento “An{lisis y Estudio sobre el Gobierno y Gestión de los Servicios TI en el Mercado Español” en su formato original. Este Observatorio ha sido realizado durante los años 2008 y 2010, el cual analiza la situación pasada sobre el Gobierno y Gestión de los Servicios de TI (GyGSTI) entre las empresas que operan en España, este análisis se realiza a través de los resultados del cuestionario realizado en 2008, y prepara un segundo cuestionario para la conocer la situación en el 2010. Al mismo tiempo, realiza un estudio sobre el conocimiento existente en torno al Gobierno y Gestión de Servicios TI, a través de estudiar los libros más representativos sobre GyGS TI, las publicaciones académicas de investigación de GyGS, las principales empresas de análisis TI, y la situación sobre la difusión en el mercado español sobre GyGS TI a través de las revistas especializadas. Igualmente, el estudio ofrecerá una visión de la implantación de GyGS TI para que las empresas de cualquier tamaño puedan tener acceso, y realizar una comparativa (benchmarking) sobre su estado frente a sus iguales. Para finalmente ofrecer una visión de la evolución temporal del 2008 al 2010 y unas tendencias futuras. El objetivo es, entonces, analizar el estado y la implantación del GyGS TI entre las empresas que operan en España, e igualmente analizar la creación y difusión del conocimiento sobre esta misma área. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This project is a comprehensive report on the investigation in order to know what the situation in the research, knowledge dissemination, and implementation in organizations operating in Spain, with respect to different protocols, best practices and regulations related to IT Governance and Service Management (IT G&SM). For best viewing and understanding the final document is left in the same format as that given to participants in the questionnaires, itSMF members, and another large group of people who have shown interest in this Observatory. So, in the Annex, will find the “Analysis and Study on the IT Government and Service Management in the Spanish Market” in its original format. This final document is the result of the Observatory carried out during the years 2008 and 2010, which analyzes the past situation on the Governance and Service Management of IT Services (IT G&SM) between companies operating in Spain, this analysis is performed through the results the survey conducted in 2008, and prepares a second questionnaire to ascertain the situation in 2010. At the same time, it is also carried out a study on the existing knowledge about IT Government and IT Service Management, by studying the most representative books on these fields, publications academic research, major IT analyst firms, and the situation on the IT GSM Spanish market through specialized magazines. As well as, the study will provide for companies of any size an overview of the implementation of IT GSM Spanish implantation, thus these companies will be able to benchmark theirselves with their peers. Finally, this document gives an overview of the temporal evolution from 2008 to 2010 and some future trends. The aim is, then, to analyze the status and implementation of IT GSM among companies operating in Spain, and also to discuss about the creation and dissemination of knowledge on this same area.Ingeniería de Telecomunicació