Daylight Savings Time issue
Recurring tasks that span a change to/from Daylight Savings Time (DST) are correctly adjusted, reflecting the DST change.   Tasks completed in one time zone are correctly reflected as completed in another time zone.

Red/Green/Yellow indicators on dashboard reports
The Tasks on Time and Task Evaluation reports have color coded status indicators.  The threshold values for the red/green/yellow indicators can be set as web part parameters.

Include “Scope” column in Operations Tasks
Provides the ability for a manager to enter a “scope” when tasks are scheduled. The value is included in the Scope column of the Operations Task list items created for those scheduled tasks. 

Include Description column in Operations Task list
Operations Task list forms now have description field and the description entered is moved to Operations Log list and reports.

Allow managers to complete assigned tasks and complete ad-hoc tasks
Site administrators and users in manager role can now completed both assigned and ad-hoc tasks.

Include an “In Progress” task status
A new task status of “In Progress” allows  an operator  to identify to everyone in the role that they are working on the task.  Tasks with the status of “In Progress” are treated as open tasks.

The SharePoint application installed/configured during the RKM engagement provides seven reports that help the customer manage their IT Service operations.    All of these reports take a start date and end date as parameters and the results are limited to operations tasks that fall within the timeframe defined.   On the reports default landing page, four of the six reports are provided as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboards that report on the previous week’s activity.  There are also links on the navigation pane to these same reports, just for different periods of time (daily, weekly and monthly). 

The following table provides a description of the RKM reports and how management can leverage the information provided to assist with continual IT Service improvement.

Completed Tasks

Returns all planned (scheduled) and unplanned (ad hoc) operations tasks that have been completed.  The results are sorted by responsibility area and operator completing the task. You can drill down to the specific planned and unplanned tasks.

How leveraged:

• Adjust resources across roles
• Provide cost information to calculate service cost and ROI

Task On Time *

Returns the percentage of scheduled operations tasks that are completed within the scheduled amount of time. The results are sorted by responsibility area and operator role. You can drill down to the specific task.

How leveraged:

• Compare forecasted workload v. actual workload
• Adjust the estimated work time per task
• Determine the necessary operator training required

Cancelled Tasks *

Returns the count of cancelled tasks by responsibility Area and operator role.  You can drill down to specific tasks that were cancelled.

How leveraged:

• Adjust operations task schedule

Task Evaluation *

Returns the percentage of operations tasks completed by responsibility area and operator role.  You can drill down to the specific tasks completed/not completed.

How leveraged:

• Adjust operations task schedule

Workload Evaluation *

This report provides the scheduled minutes and extra minutes for performed operations task completed.  It also provides the scheduled minutes scheduled operations tasks.  The results are sorted by responsibility area and operator role.  You can drill down to the specific tasks.

How leveraged:

• Adjust scheduled minutes for planned work
• Adjust resources for operator roles
• Improve operations task scheduling

Percent Extra Time

Returns totals of scheduled minutes and extra minutes, including the percentage of total task time those extra minutes were. The results are sorted by responsibility area and operator role.  You can drill down to the tasks and specific instances of tasks.

How leveraged:

• Adjust task definition duration
• Identify operator training needs

Operations Log Report **

Returns detailed information on each completed or cancelled task.  All planned (scheduled) and unplanned (ad hoc) operations tasks are included.  The specific operator that completed the task is included. The report can be sorted or filtered on any column.

How leveraged:

• Audit trail for operations tasks

* These reports are included in the KPI dashboard and report on the previous week’s  activity

**No links for Daily, Weekly or Monthly versions of this report.   You can also filter the results by selecting the responsibility area(s) you want to return results for.

Here is an example of a Task Evaluation report:

The reporting data is contained in a SQL Server databse so customers can customize the reports for their own needs. 

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the default reports provided with RKM. 

Ken

We’re creating the RKM blog for those customers that have completed an RKM engagement and are leveraging the Operations Center application in their day-to-day IT Service operations.    Posts will contain information (links/tips/techniques/tools/etc.) that may be useful to RKM customers.  Potential RKM customers will also visit this blog for information and I want to begin things with a description of the RKM solution and why it is provides so much value. 

An RKM engagement is typically a two to four week engagement with the duration depending upon the complexity of the IT Service being addressed.   Delivery resources provided by Microsoft consist of an experienced operations consultant and subject matter expert(s) for the technologies involved.  The operations consultant leads the engagement and takes the customer through a series of interactive sessions to assess the current operations role coverage, plan the necessary changes, and implement those changes-leveraging content and technology provided with RKM. 

Assessing the current operations starts with decomposing the IT Service into its components (Hardware, Software, Settings,Services and Customers).  This exercise, known as service mapping, allows the customer to understand the various dependencies and escalation paths.   A tool is leveraged to create the service map, which can be saved as a Visio diagram.  This tool is left with the customer and can be used to maintain the service map as it evolves over time, and used to map other customer IT Services. 

In addition to service mapping, the operations consultant leads sessions with the different organizations involved in operating the IT Service.  In these sessions, it is determined which individuals are responsible, accountable, consulted or informed, for different operational responsibilities.   An analysis is done on this information to determine gaps or overlap for the various roles.  The information gained from the assessment activities is used in determining the responsibility areas, and what roles within those responsibility areas will be needed.  The Operations Center application will be configured with those roles and responsibilities to organize the knowledge and schedule operations tasks.

The Operations Center is a custom SharePoint 2010 application that is setup as its own web application.  It installs two SQL Server databases; one for storing work instructions and one for reporting purposes.  The application is used by all individuals involved in operating the IT Service.  The SharePoint platform provides a rich set of document management capabilities, and the customizations provide the ability to schedule tasks, present supporting work instructions, and track task completion. 

Another unique aspect of the RKM solution is that sets of recommended operational tasks, along with work instructions for completing those tasks, are included for Microsoft technologies used in providing the IT Service.  These sets of instructions, known as “content packs”, are loaded into the Operations Center application, where the tasks that will be used are selected, roles are assigned, and any necessary customizations are made.    The Microsoft technology subject matter expert placed on the engagement works with the customer to identify the set of tasks used, the appropriate roles assigned, the recurrence schedules, and necessary instruction customizations.

When the application installation/training is completed and task customizations are done, the customer is ready to begin leveraging Operations Center for their on-going operations.  The process of; scheduling tasks, completing tasks, analyzing the operator performance and then making the necessary task/instruction modifications, repeats over time and allows the customer to make the necessary adjustments to continually improve IT Service management. 

The Operations Center application and recommended operations tasks/instructions provide value, but the greatest value from RKM is when the customer has taken the steps to implement the ITIL/MOF based improvements to their processes.   If they create a map of their IT Service, identify roles with clear responsibilities, focus on proactive activities, and implement continual IT Service improvement, then they have “gotten it.”   Those customers will begin to plan for further improvements and begin making statements like, “we should create trend reports to track our task actvity over time” or asking questions like, “can we author content packs to support other processes?” 

I hope I have provided a clear summary of the RKM solution and the value realized by customers, but don’t take my word for it.  We have a couple case studies published (Saudi Electric Company and Saudi Post) and more information on  https://www.microsoft.com/microsoftservices.

Ken