Design the Measurement System

CUSTOMER PROBLEM

An IT organization was using hundreds of measures but found that its performance was not improving. A significant amount of time was used in the collection of measures but very little time was being allocated for the improvement of the operations. MeditropiaÔ was asked to design a measurement system that would enable the achievement of significant operational performance improvements for the corporate infrastructure team.

MEDITROPIA APPROACH

Meditropia met with the client to understand the culture of the organization, review all the IT measurement practices over the last two years, and the management perspective on IT business alignment. MeditropiaÔ  then acquired the performance data from the last 2 years and analyzed the performance in each of the specific area. We then looked at the projects that were assigned to address the improvement areas, governance for the metrics, results achieved, and several other critical performance factors.

Upon careful analysis of the data we collected additional information to support possible new findings. We participated in the current operational reviews to understand the current practices in action and interviewed dozens of project participants, managers, and leaders. A comprehensive report was generated based on the current practices and a recommendation for further work on the measurement system was provided. The client management team approved the plan and we quickly built out a measurement system for our IT client.

Figure 1: IT Call Response Times

Figure 2: Process-Spend-Compliance Dashboard

Figure 3: SQL Server Reporting Services KPI Dashboard

Figure 4: Executive Dashboard

RECOMMENDATION

Our recommendation was to align the measurement system with the strategic goals of the business to address business alignment. A thorough review of the business strategy and IT knowledge of this strategy was part of the comprehensive approach to metrics alignment and consolidation. Each metric was created with the intent of having the maximum impact to the strategy while using advanced methods to minimize the cost of collecting the metric and optimize the accuracy of these metrics. Our efforts resulted in a set of 5 powerful KPI (Key Process Indicator) metrics with cascading metric alignments throughout the organization measure system with sub measures to ensure full coverage and performance monitoring.

RESULTS ACHIEVED

Our analysis has shown that the metrics now collected saved the organization $950,000 in metrics collections cost each year while making a 55% improvement impact to business results that are enabled through IT services. The business team and the IT leadership team were confident that the new measurement system was making the kinds of impacts that they wanted and used our recommended governance approach to maintain a high level of performance.

KEY FINDINGS

The establishment of a metrics system is vital to maintain the correct organizational operational performance and enables a strong alignment with business strategy. Many organizations take a large bucket approach to metrics and discover after several months or years that they are not making a major impact to business results. Our objective, professional approach to establishing a measurement system is proven to be the best solution for creating a system that is impactful, cost effective, and sustainable. Contact [email protected] to find out how we can help you solve your business problems and increase revenues.