ITIL for Experts:Problem ManagementKPIs

Measuring effectiveness of
the Problem Management
process can be a challenging
task at times. Often there is
not enough data available.
The other Service Management processes may
not be mature enough to
contribute to the Problem
Management process. Also,
expectations of the senior
management can push people to the limits of their
analytical skills. In order to
get to a good start, the focus
should be on analyzing the
data readily available in the
ITSM tool used in the organization. The tool
should be able to record: dates of problem
registration, update and
closure, problem status, relation between problems
and incidents. Based on the above, the
following basic set of
problem Problem
Management performance
indicators could be prepared: number of problems
registered, number of problems solved, number and percentage of
problems with root cause
identified, number and percentage of
problems with a workaround
available, average age of a problem, per
business impact, percentage of incidents
related to problems
compared to all incidents in
a particular time period, update frequency of open
problems. Update frequency is an
interesting KPI, especially in
the early stages of Problem
Management
implementation. It shows
the regularity of work performed by Problem
Analysts. In order for the
process to be effective, work
on it must not be put away
forever. It tends to happen if
the people do other, more time-pressing activities in
parallel. Many businesses
cannot afford the luxury of
having dedicated Problem
Analysts and/or Problem
Managers. Since Problem Management puts more focus
on quality of analysis than
the time of its completion,
they might have issues with
people focusing on the job if
there is no KPI to monitor it. Percentage of problems with
root cause identified shows
the management how
effective is problem root
cause analysis. If it lags
behind, unresolved problems will keep piling up, slowly
but surely overwhelming the
organization. Percentage of
problems with a workaround
shows the effectiveness of
reducing business impact of problems. Permanent
solutions can be time and
resource consuming to
implement, while
workarounds are quick and
dirty ways to keep the business going. The above KPIs should be
looked at collectively to
determine the quality of your
Problem Management
activities. There is a reason to
be concerned if few problems are being opened,
the way the police should be
concerned if they detect few
crimes. The problems are
there, the question is if they
are being detected or not. If any other KPI starts to
deviate significantly towards
its highs or lows, it should
prompt the management to
act. Frequently, if that
happens, one can get an idea of what is going on by
looking at the other KPIs. About the Author Piotr Chec is an ITIL-
certified Service Management
expert with years of
professional experience. He
has implemented and
managed ITSM processes in both large and small IT
organizations. He readily
shares his experience with
the wider audience interested
in ITIL. Would you like to
read more about IT Service Management? Visit his blog
at www.ITSMPerfection.com . Article Source: http:// EzineArticles.com/?
expert=Piotr_Chec