ITIL

The methodology is based on a data driven, disciplined approach which helps eliminate defects, with the goal being 3.4 defects per million opportunities. The methodologies employed in the process are useful in both industries and several others besides. In the manufacturing niche, the process is used to reduce the number of defects while service industries use the principles to reduce transactional errors. Controversy? Many companies have seen great success after Six Sigma implementation, but there continues to be controversy over the overall effectiveness of Six Sigma as a whole, all opportunities considered. For one thing, there are managers who state that the process is inherently flawed as it...

Six Sigma Black Belts act as change agents. They are looked upon as prospective leadership material in areas other than Six Sigma also. They are knowledgeable and skilled in the use of Six Sigma tools and methods. When you are selecting Six Sigma Black Belt candidates, you need to look broadly at some of the attributes like the personal attributes of the candidate, Six Sigma training, technical ability, experience and aptitude. Black Belts will typically have undergone four weeks of Six Sigma training and achieved proficiency in the subject matter. Customer Promotion Black Belts should be able to realize the importance of the customer to the success of the Six Sigma project and the growth of the...

Outsourcing is a vital component to the growing division of labor, engulfing all societies. Some countries are inherent with the ability to outsource their business services to suppliers outside the nation, a process known as offshoring or offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing needs intelligent and ingenious minds to figure out the optimum and optimized solution. Nowadays outsourcing is one of the hottest trend in IT services.In this context, India and China are considered to be the two most popular countries which are known for low cost outsourcing. Both countries produce over 200,000 engineers and science graduates each year.   Some of the reasons of outsourcing Research & Development works to...

You might be thinking that my title would get a response from Homer Simpson (Doh!), but too many teams try to do Scrum or Agile in a rigid and prescriptive way. There are a couple of main reasons that I see this. The first is the desire for new teams to "do" Scrum right when they are new to Scrum. I resemble that feeling! On my first Scrum project (several years ago) I defended the process against change rather than being open to process change. Oh well, we all have to learn somehow! Change for the sake of change is not a good thing. Any process change should be driven from retrospective discussions and the desire to reduce or eliminate impediments. What is holding your team and product back? What...

Railroads face a complex set of economic and operational challenges like competitive freight pricing, asset utilization and competition with trucking, capital expenditure levels, industry consolidation and debt management. Technology applications from GAORFID can aid the rail industry to evolve business solutions in enhancing revenue growth while reducing cost through efficient operations, maintenance, asset utilization and capacity management. The GAO RFID systems technology provides exact location and status of any individual objectives mentioned above, and predicts their dynamic changes from the system, particularly the change of rail-wagon throughput at the marshalling sites, interface between...

Many of you will recognise this quote from the 1960s TV show, "The Prisoner". Patrick McGoohan used the phrase to describe his frustration at not being treated as an individual, and being kept in the dark about what his superiors were up to in a very confusing environment. This experience is not dissimilar to what employees face in most change projects. A cog in the machine Traditional approaches to business change and process improvement have at their heart, the idea that a business is, essentially, a machine that can be engineered to be efficient. In fact the term "Business Process Re-engineering" (BPR) makes this assumption quite explicit. This "mechanical" approach to change can leave employees...

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - November 12, 2009) - ManageSoft -- the leading provider of desktop-to-datacenter IT asset management (ITAM) solutions -- announced today that its OS Deployment Manager, a component of Enterprise Deployment Suite (EDS) version 8.2, eases enterprise-wide migration to the just-released Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system. It also supports deployment and installation of Windows Server® 2008 R2. OS Deployment Manager 8.2 will be generally available on November 30th. ManageSoft is offering a free webinar that will describe a fast, automated process for making the transition to Windows 7 with EDS. Webinar: Windows 7 Migration Using Enterprise Deployment Suite Please join the...

Symantec research reveals IT spending more on Disaster Recovery Symantec Corp. announced the global results of its fifth annual IT Disaster Recovery survey, which demonstrates rising DR pressures on organizations caused by soaring downtime costs and more stringent IT service level requirements to mitigate risk to the business. The study also shows that while DR budgets are higher in 2009, they are expected to remain flat over the next few years – requiring IT professionals to do more with the same or less. that while recovery time objectives were reduced to 4 hours in 2009, disaster recovery testing and virtualization are still major challenges for organizations. Respondents report that DR...

What is P3O? Project, Programme and Portfolio Office is the support office established to enable management of projects and programmes within an effective portfolio throughout a business or an organisation. The P3O training-course provides essential guidance for any individual involved in setting up project/programme management structures or a project and programme management support function within an organisation. Learning to organise and develop a range of projects and programmes for various purposes - business change, maintaining high quality standards, improving a service, developing new products, installing excellent training programs - is an essential component in the skill-set of the...

In today's world we have a number to call up anytime any kind of problems happen. Be it a problem with our laptops, an issue in the credit statement or if a printer malfunctions at work. Our lives revolve around various helpdesks that support and sort out the issues we encounter. With so many help desk support systems in place, it is no wonder that a lot of them are located outside the country in remote locations. But it gets the job done and we have our coffee without much hassle and things are running smooth. However a lot of work goes into making sure that these systems run efficiently and provide to customers the kind of information they need to have everything going well. Help Desk support is...

Six Sigma Projects are a great tool for process improvement in a variety of industries. Unfortunately, the topic is also one that creates a lot of controversy and causes many people to turn the other cheek because they do not understand the process or want to face the changes that are looming. When people are comfortable in their workplace, change can be very scary, because it threatens their security. Plus, Six Sigma Projects are not cheap, and although they are effective, some people might not be able to afford them. There are three common issues with Six Sigma Projects, and here is how to identify and overcome them. -If people are not willing to accept the changes that take place during a Six...

One of the many benefits of Six Sigma is how it helps to develop people. The dual processes of Six Sigma training and Six Sigma projects cultivate excellence in not only product quality and financial savings but also in the knowledge, confidence, and quality of the people in your organization. People are, after all, your organizations' most valuable assets. To sustain and continuously improve, an organization needs to develop its people. Six Sigma helps to develop your people in two areas: it develops leaders and it empowers people to be knowledgeable and valuable contributors to the organization's success. Every organization needs people with leadership qualities . Leadership skills are needed at...

In any business large or small managing change can be one of the most difficult tasks. Change is important in allowing your business to move forward and become more successful. I've always said that if you continue doing something the same way you always have, then you will never improve. Change allows you to make improvements in your business, however if the change isn't managed correctly it can be very painful. Here are some steps on how to make successful changes in your business: 1. Define what you want to achieve:Work out the exact details around what you are wanting to achieve by making the change in your business, this will allow you to measure the success of the change. The following table...

Poor application performance - here is a random pick of 3 problems from real-time experiences, that cannot be identified using a bandwidth monitoring tool: 1) Poor Switch Performance - Excessive Backplane Utilization By monitoring your switch's backplane utilization, you get to know how much of the switch's maximum throughput is put to full use. High backplane utilization will result in your switch ports receiving too much of network traffic to further cause packet loss, discards and slow applications. Many switches have this parameter accessible via SNMP so most network monitoring systems would be able to monitor, report and alert the Network Administrator on excessive backplane utilization. 2...

As both customer demand and competition increase and become more complex, you must continually strive to grow service revenue and profits through innovation and improved productivity. This involves managing various (and sometimes new) service products and service level agreements - often with new and unique characteristics and requirements. Managing all of this data requires a comprehensive reporting strategy that properly identifies and measures all key metrics. At the same time, you must set manageable targets or other comparisons for each metric. The most effective method of managing large volumes of data is to use exception reporting to identify and track the variances. By quantifying these...

Inter-site Ethernet A guide to choosing your Ethernet service provider Key topics The market for Ethernet is continuing to grow, as UK organisations appreciate the cost savings, performance and efficiency gains to be made from deploying services based on this transport technology. Businesses that choose Ethernet-based connectivity for their corporate Local and Wide Area Networks can expect greatly increased productivity and profitability, as well as significant competitive advantage, from the capacity to introduce new applications and services to customers and staff. When choosing an Ethernet service provider, companies need to consider a range of factors including: the fibre-based coverage offered...

One of the more ambiguous elements of a Six Sigma project is the level and type of compensation the organization should give to its Six Sigma leaders and team members. On the one hand, setting compensation is not an integral part of any stage of a Six Sigma project; on the other hand, compensation is an important instrument to build loyalty and a sense of accomplishment that is a crucial element to the organization's Six Sigma success. While there are no hard and fast rules for compensation for Six Sigma leaders and team members, there are some good ways to think about how to productively provide compensation to your people. Black Belts are the key change agents for the Six Sigma process. They have...

Many organizations have, from time to time, experienced significant disruption of their IT services - major incidents. This article examines how an organization might turn this to their advantage. Very often a simple initial failure is made worse by other, unrelated, failures; these might be failures of hardware, software, people or process. The article expands on the material covered during accredited ITIL training courses and describes a systematic way of analyzing chains of events and identifying specific improvements that will address not only the original cause but also the subsequent failures. Root Cause Analysis The Service Operation volume of the IT Infrastructure Library recommends that...

Cloud computing or the platter of hosted Internet services is the newest kid on the IT solutions block and it has taken over the realm by storm. There are many IT solutions around but probably none that resolves so many shortcomings and wrings in so many benefits. Cloud computing IT solutions slash your operational costs by letting you access your data, web-based applications, and e-mails quickly and efficiently; remotely manage the changes in your business's hardware, software and database management systems; and implementing innovative desktop solutions that do away with the need to refresh your hardware or software. These solutions also reduce your business's carbon footprint by significant...

Governance is a key component to application performance management. Without this component, it is impossible in this age of high-speed transactional and operational environments to remain in compliance to policies and service level agreements (SLAs). When a line of business operates its applications without proper governance, a host of difficulties may arise. Without application performance monitoring governance in place, IT support remains purely reactive - significantly more expensive than a proactive, governed approach. The resultant SLA violations can result in government fines. The inability to track transactions from end-to-end, due to a lack of a central policy for IT monitoring can result...

Over the last 15 years, IT systems management has successfully developed silo-specific tools that resolve up to 90% of the problems experienced in main frame and distributed systems. Unfortunately, this still leaves a 10% barrier that only a few business transaction management products are addressing effectively. This 10% is the cause of considerable stealth waste. A system that is managed by separate application monitoring tools can show that each application is 100% available. The first warning that the 10% problem has occurred is the arrival of help tickets at the service desk. So why don't these separate monitors give a true picture of the IT system? The primary problem with silo monitoring is...

The competition for audit manager jobs is keener than it was a few months back. If you want a leg up on the other candidates when you're on a job hunt, your best bet is to fine tune your experience and skills so that you offer the skills that hiring managers want. According to a recent survey of ads placed with a hiring agency for audit manager jobs, these are the most common skills mentioned in those job ads. CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) Over 45% of those advertising vacant audit manager jobs were specifically seeking candidates with CISA certification from ISACA. The certification guarantees that the candidate has specific qualifications. Possessing a CISA will get you about £...

Outsourcing of services is often reviewed as contracting a business to a third party. The advantage of outsourcing is that projects get completed without hiring additional employees. There are several types of outsourcing, for instance BPO, KPO and IT outsourcing services, Software Development, Data Conversion etc. IT outsourcing services have been incessantly investing in pioneering technologies and skilled manpower to make the most of outsourcing services. Reasons and Benefits of Outsourcing IT Service: The major reason behind outsourcing projects is cost effectiveness. The developing nations offer a good market to outsource services and hence the off-shore companies prefer outsourcing. An...

The last article I wrote spoke on why companies should outsource certain jobs. This article will deal with how to choose the right company to provide those services. Let's start by looking at what is important to business owners. The top three agenda items for a small business owner are: decrease expenses, increase productivity and increase revenue. All of these items basically add money to the bottom line for a company, and in the last article it was concluded that outsourcing can do all three. Now that we're past the first hurdle and we have decided "Yes" I want to find a local company to take some of these tasks off my hands that don't generate revenue - now what? Define your needs The first...

This article provides a checklist for retailers who are evaluating SaaS based eCommerce solutions as part of their re-platforming project. These are the characteristics of a true software-as-a-service (SaaS) eCommerce provider. The platform decision is arguably the most important, complex, and costly part of a retailers 3-5 year investment cycle. It is a decision that is often put off or easily put on hold due to other priorities or the risks involved. And it is a decision that very few online retailers are qualified to make on their own since it has such broad implications across technology, marketing, operations, and sales. What is SaaS? A logical place to start. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a...

Like car insurance or self-assessment, it's easy to see the Service Level Agreement (SLA) as a bit of a black art; but they're vital in ensuring IT service providers deliver availability, responsiveness, quality and communication.  Also, with managed services climbing the IT agenda and other disciplines like Software as a Service gaining serious momentum, a watertight SLA can make the difference between the success and failure of your critical business systems and even the business itself. So, what makes for a good SLA? 1. Service Summary or Description Should detail the names of the provider and the customer, along with the obligations the latter has to fulfil to stay within the bounds of the SLA...

A trouble ticket system (TTS) is usually a software application that receives customer requests in the form of trouble tickets and then proceeds to verify, group and assign them to a function or person for further action - until the request is fulfilled or the problem resolved. The trouble ticket then becomes a closed ticket. In its function, a trouble ticket is similar to the hospital reports or charts hung beside a patient's bed. The similarity arises because both the chart and ticket start with a problem and gradually progress to reflect the work done on it by multiple people at various stages. A modern trouble ticket is identified as the electronic form of a customer request. The request may...

The latest buzz word in the IT industry is 'Cloud Computing.' The term also called Software as a Service (SaaS) refers to a set-up where software is shared over a wide network of computers. They are a natural extension of Web 2.0 and are a practical way of accessing all data and applications from any location or platform. In the US, over two-thirds of web users make use of cloud-based services. Forward-looking companies of all sizes are now looking at this model to reduce infrastructure costs and increase computational capabilities. It is important to choose a reliable vendor, offering the most advanced techniques to protect client data. The case for Cloud Computingo Cloud computing brings down...

Change, Change, Change. What needs to change as IT organizations move towards sophisticated virtualized infrastructure? Event/Incident and Problem Management integration of course! We have been conducting polls of our customers and of IT professionals at technology trade shows for the past two years and the results are in: Pulling together all of the management pieces and processes is even more crucial in a virtualized environment. So what does this mean for you? You will need to refine your incident and problem management processes with new technologies in order to reduce downtime and maintain end user performance. But of course even the most basic technologies are not well integrated even in today...

The idea of getting inside the customer's head, or "entering the conversation right where they are" is difficult to master for any marketer, perhaps more so for people trying to market themselves for a job, since effective marketing skills aren't taught or used much with job seekers. A recent 30-minute conversation with a client named Susan illustrates the mindset shift required. Susan was looking for an IT Help Desk management position. As we talked about Susan's background and what she had accomplished for her previous manager (the CIO of a large non-profit) it became apparent that when she thought of a future employer, she was visualizing the person she had just recently been working for...the...

As the IT needs of organizations continue to evolve, more solutions continue to emerge, offering to assist businesses in the operation of IT services and infrastructure. While many of these solutions do provide significant value, companies should carefully investigate and choose which solutions make the most sense given their specific IT needs. Particularly when it comes to IT Infrastructure outsourcing (ITO), there are a number of levels of service to choose from. As the infrastructure needs of 21st Century business grows, companies are turning in droves to data centers to more efficiently manage these needs. However, before jumping on the bandwagon, be sure to cover the necessary due-diligence...

Any organization without an efficient IT infrastructure is operating at a disadvantage. Data centers are the heart of modern business and clogged information arteries may give your company a heart attack from which it will never recover. Why Do Companies Have Outdated IT Infrastructure? In a perfect world, computer networks would always be using the latest hardware and software technologies to operate at maximum efficiency at any given moment. Data centers would be fully staffed around the clock and would provide 100% access even during a major natural disaster. An array of technologies from physical security to software safeguards would protect the data from loss or successfully restore it in its...

More people are giving you complaints about the efficacy of the customer support system your company is providing than the actual products you're selling. Reading up on websites about enhancing the quality of your service desk system encourages you to buy a help desk software available in the market. Hence, you finally decided that you need a customer support software to help out your help desk team in providing assistance to your customers. But that's only the start of your problems. Now, you have to face the new dilemma of finding the service desk software that suits the needs of your company and your help desk management team. Shopping for the perfect help desk software can be as arduous as...

No one in their right minds would ever go through a business venture without any of the basic business resources. These are funds, customers, products or services and skills or knowledge. If one of these is missing, your whole optimistic view on the success of your business just might be cut short. And just like any business, getting a help desk support system and a customer support software are also an inevitable part of looking forward to a successful business. The system and the software exist to give your clientele the openness that they need to air out their thoughts on your products or services. But just like a business venture, you need to have the basics of a help desk management system and...

The implementation of the CISA examination has resulted in a considerable standardization of skills and functions among auditors in the IT industry. This was an extremely necessary step, as this is a fast growing and ever changing industry, an industry in a constant change of flux, and rules and guidelines that might apply perfectly well today could well turn out to be completely invalid a few months down the line. The CISA examinations, by meticulous testing of applicants, holds the industry to the requirements and guidelines of Information Systems Audit and Control Association, or ISACA. By strenuous testing (the examination is 200 questions long and lasts four whole hours!) the CISA ensures that...

The traditional role of purchasing is to purchase materials conforming to specifications such as physical dimensions and the lowest bids. Most organizations still view purchasing as a tactical one with a short sighted approach. The tactical role of purchasing is underlined by the fact that most firms don't have purchasing function in the corporate boardroom. Purchasing as a tactical function is confined to clerical processes such as bid invitation, order management and payment. But purchasing is a complex function that manages suppliers for operation, new product launches and market planning. The strategic role envisages supplier involvement for increasing the efficiency of the business itself. This...

p>CMM or CMMI may be the most prominent quality standards for software. CMM/CMMI goes beyond the scope of standards such as ISO to define the criteria for good software processes, which is what makes the standard so attractive to organizations with IT shops. CMM/CMMI is intended to govern processes of the entire IT organization, and the complete lifecycle of software applications so must include the processes used to govern the development of the software. CMM/CMMI's influence on processes that govern software development means that it also influences the way that software development projects are managed. PMI's PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is recognized around the world as the bible...

Introduction Education is sacrosanct to national development. Education and national development are the two sides of a coin that mutually reinforce and challenge each other. Jega [1997] affirmed, "Education is generally regarded as a necessary and essential requirement for national development. It is central to socioeconomic and technological advancement, and it is critical to self-sustaining and self-generating process of positive transformation of modern society." The government appreciates the significance of education to national development and will marshal its resources to attain its avowed goal of a reinvigorated public service. Odumosu [2004] said, "Education in Nigeria is ... a huge...

A confluence of factors is driving customers to adopt a new generation of web-based, on-demand business applications via the Internet. The emergence of these Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions is being driven by three primary forces: 1. Growing frustration among corporate end-users and executives with the costs and complexities associated with traditional, on-premise applications. 2. Broad-based acceptance of consumer-oriented, on-demand services which are setting a new standard for ease-of-use and cost-effectiveness. 3. Rapid evolution of enabling technologies which makes it more economical to develop and deliver SaaS solutions. As a consequence of these trends, corporate adoption of Software...

Lean process is a management philosophy directed towards finding means of eliminating waste in order to improve not only the overall value of an end product or service, but to improve as well the processes responsible for creating that product or service. Lean process originated in Japan,initially in the manufacturing arena, where it is still practiced. But the concept can be applied to engineering, administration, or other functions as well. The lean process philosophy is predicated on the assumption that incremental quality improvement can be achieved by eliminating what is called the "seven wastes". The wastes occur in these areas: - Inventory - Waiting Time - Motion - Transportation - Over...

I see many organizations, both large and small, continue to communicate fragments of important policies and processes to employees through one-time emails and the like. This could include a new purchase authorization policy or a new data entry procedure. Expecting employees to forage through past emails and other transitory type documents only leads to wasted time and exasperation. Process clarity is one of the three key foci in effective organizational design, along with people and technology. Yet with the haphazard process management common in many businesses, it is little wonder that employees struggle to do a good job. How an invoice is processed, customer complaint handled or engineering...

There is a familiar quote that says, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." So, how do you know what to measure for a business process? It is different than what you would do in a manufacturing environment where you have specific defect metrics. For a business process, the metrics should relate to customer needs. In step 2 (creating the foundation) of the 10 steps to business process improvement, you develop basic information about the business process. One key area included in the foundation is the measurements of success. After you identify your customer (or client) and what they need from the process, you should also describe how you will know if you deliver against what they need. At...

Introduction The Company to be examined is Citigroup. This is an internationally recognized banking institution. It was listed among the top ten banking Companies in the world in 2006. The Company provides banking services to 200 million clients coming from all corners of the world. Its 300 branches are located throughout South and North America, Asia, Europe and even Africa. Citigroup was started in the year 1817 and has continued to grow since then. It formed the Bank Hand Lowy in 1870 and Salomon Brothers in 1910. Today, there are plenty of brands that are synonymous with this banking institution. Some of them include; The Citi-Capital, Citigroup Private Bank, Diners Club, Primerica, Citi...

1. Selection - Recruiting and selecting the right talent needed for each sales position is the single most important skill of sales management. 2. Raising the Bar- Sales and service improvement is an outcome of deliberate, planned actions over time, at all levels. "Raising the bar" must be the primary objective of sales and service leadership. 3. Sales Process - Documenting your sales methodology and Best Practices both for salespeople and sales managers provides a "Framework of Excellence" for improving your selling system. Once documented, the sales process drives hiring, coaching, training, and marketing support efforts. 4. Change - People change behaviors because they want to, because the value...

Your customers are 'Your Business', without them you essentially have no business. I am going to instruct you in how to fine-tune your customer service using a technologist's approach, which will enable you dramatically improve your customer satisfaction ratings, gain a continuous stream of referrals, and encourage life-time loyalty from your clients and customers. Before I begin, ask yourself the following questions; Do you know what your customers really think about your current level of service? Are they impressed, highly satisfied and fiercely loyal to you and your brand? What would make them want to remain a life time customer of yours and continuously refer others to you? If you cannot answer...

After you have earned your certification in PRINCE2 your projects will provide you with common procedures and language as well as common systems. This will help you so you will make less errors. In the end this will help you to learn from any mistakes you do make. This will result in saving you further effort as well as money. Having the completion certificate of the PRINCE2 is also an attractive sales point on your resume. You might have discovered by now that a number of companies around the world require a staff member to be PRINCE2 certified. This is a well-known and recognized world-class international product. It is also the standard method for project management. The programs will be offered...

ERP software lifecycle management is been a helping hand for the business enterprises in recent times. Read this article to know in details about erp lifecycle management. ERP application lifecycle management is been a helping hand for the business enterprises in recent times. With the help of ERP application lifecycle management the common mistakes gets highlightened, also provides a complete understanding of the magnitude of challenges and shares some vital lessons to be learned. Companies are using enterprise resource planning applications which further making heavy investments in future. Preparation of enterprise application generally takes some months prior to...

Roles and leadership of the Chief Information Officer in higher education The CIO position              Higher education is notoriously resistant to change, and if there is a trend toward implementing chief information officer (CIO) positions and aligning all technology units under these hierarchies, the entire organizational structure will be affected (O'Donnell, 1998).   Due to the extensive literature on the chief information officers' (CIO) roles and leadership, this paper reviewed only those that empirical research and expert opinion deemed relevant to this research on business and higher education settings.  According to Horgan (as cited in Viswadoss, 1999), the term Chief...

First and foremost, CISA is an acronym for Certified Information System Auditor. It is an exam for those wishing to become Information Systems Auditors. It is awarded by ISACA-an American based Organisation. It is written twice every year-June and December. ISACA was started in 1968 and since then has spread to over a hundred countries. In the United States of America it has many chapters and prometric testing sites. Nigeria which is where I am based has about three local chapters-Abuja, Lagos and Port-Harcourt. The exam is made up of six domains: IS Audit Process, IT Governance, Systems Life Cycle Development, IT Service Delivery and Support, Protection of Information Assets, Business Continuity...