http://en.itsmportal.net/en/node/14034
METRICS for IT Service Management
17 Sep 2006, read 156 times—METRICS for IT Service Management
Van Haren Publishing for itSMF-NL
9077212698
This is an ITSMF-NL publication, developed in cooperation with members of several other ITSMF chapters. It clearly adds highly desired value to existing publications in the ITSM field, it is complementary to- and completely aligned with ITIL.
The publication can be used for ‘beginners’ who need to understand how metrics can be used, as well as for senior IT service managers, who can apply the specific metrics. Important qualification of the book is that it provides meaningful metrics instead of measurable metrics: this way it supports the standardization of metrics in the service management arena (facilitating future benchmarking projects), and it can put an end to the well-known – but meaningless - enormous reports on measurable data.
All material is copyrighted by ITSMF-NL. The book was launched at the ITSMF-NL Spring Conference, April 20, 2006.
From the Acknowledgements section:
Following feedback from members, Metrics guidance has been high on the ITSMF agenda for a long time. The fact that existing publications offered limited information has led to many requests from members for more detailed and practical guidance. The first publication in the ITSM Library to cover structured information on metrics was the "pocket guide on CobiT". This publication was developed with the intent to bring valuable information on Key Performace Indicators and Critical Success Factors for IT management processes to the field of IT Service Management. But it filled only part of the gap. So when Peter Brooks approached us, we were delighted to have the opportunity to extend the information on metrics for IT Service Management. May 2005 we started the joint community project to document the common best practice in metrics guidance.
With his deep level of expertise, Peter Brooks took the role of author in the editorial project. Tieneke Verheijen acted as coordinating editor with responsibility for all the quality improvements we have delivered through a thorough review process. The project was run under the guidance of ITSMF-NL's chief editor Jan van Bon who was responsible for the Project Management.
To ensure international knowledge and experience was reflected, a broad panel of experts was installed as the Review Team. The resulting editorial team formed a community, comprising the author, the editors, experts from the ITSMF chapters and the ITSMF International Publications Executive Sub-Committee (IPESC). This editorial team developed the scoping of the book by agreeing a Table of Contents.
The project was then turned over to the author and the editors: they gathered the best practices on metrics that they could find, using their own experiences, existing literature, many other sources and, of course, the web. In an intense and iterative peer review many other experiences were added by the Review Team. The result is this book: a thorough introduction to the field of metrics for IT Service Management, and a very valuable practical description of the best metrics we could find.
We owe Peter Brooks huge thanks for his never-ending enthusiasm and persistence, and his willingness to listen to the reviewers and seriously consider their issues. This has enabled us to develop a true common best practice on metrics for IT Service Management.
We also wish to thank our international Review Team, that has contributed their huge collective experience and knowledge. They provided encouragement, criticism and useful new ideas, to ensure that the book reflects the very best practice. Their input has really made a difference, especially in agreeing the structure and the initial table of contents, and adding very useful metrics to those already provided by Peter Brooks. But, most of all, they have ensured that difficult or unclear topics are explained in such a way as to provide an easy-to-read and practical book.
The Review Team consisted of:
- Rolf Akker - Atos Origin, the Netherlands
- Raul Assaf - Santa Monica Consulting, Argentina
- Bert Bouwmeester - Steenbok Adviesgroep BV, the Netherlands
- Gerard Brantjes sr. - Brantjes Advies Bureau, the Netherlands
- Alison Cartlidge - Xansa, United Kingdom
- Janaki Chakravarthy - Infosys Technologies Limited, India
- Young Sug Choi - BSI Korea
- Federico Corradi - Cogitek Consulting, ITSMF Italy
- Bart den Dulk - Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- John Groom - West-Groom Consulting, United Kingdom
- Ton van den Hoogen - Tot Z, the Netherlands
- Chris Jones - Ariston Strategic Consulting, Australia
- Henk de Jong - AEGON Nederland NV, the Netherlands
- Laurent Koelink - Quintica Consultants, the Netherlands
- Steve Mann - SM2 Ltd, United Kingdom
- Christian F. Nissen - Itilligence, Denmark
- Douglas Read - Pro-Attivo Limited, United Kingdom
- Ulrich Erik Redmann - Vattenfall Europe Information Services, Germany
- Adriaan van de Rijken - Quint Wellington Redwood, USA
- Parmjit Sangha - Quint Wellington Redwood, Canada
- Russell Steyn - Foster Melliar, South Africa
- Antonio Valle - Abast Systems, Spain
- Wilfred Wah - IBM Global Services, Hong Kong
Their expert help has been invaluable.
We also want to thank the representatives of ITSMF chapters in IPESC. They assessed the quality of the content of this ITSMF publication, and the process by which it was produced, and have given their formal endorsement to this book in a unanimous vote. As a consequence this book is part of the core of the uniform understanding of ITSM knowledge and best practices, as it is used within the global ITSMF organization. This is the best compliment we could get.
Peter Brooks (FISM), Author
Tieneke Verheijen, Coordinating editor
Jan van Bon, Chief editor ITSMF-NL
Some quotes of the reviewers: and readers of the ITSMF Metrics guide:
"I believe I would be delighted to use the published book as a rich and solid source of metric-related information, complete with its ready-made set of examples."
"I'm sure I will add it to the references I add in my training courses."
"From our recent experience we feel the market is looking for a book like this to get them started on measuring IT performance."
"The book is extremely extremely relevant to the topic and whole ITSM environment."
"This is more than a book, it’s a practical, useable "A to Z" of IT Service Management Metrics!"
"I don’t carry many books around with me, this one, I most certainly will!!"
"With all the focus on IT Governance and IT Business process management. It is easy to see why metrics are becoming hugely important for the management of organisations. In reality however, getting the right set of metrics in place is by no means a simple exercise.
Metrics for IT service organisations can be a great help. Using ITIL as the basis the book lists many useful examples of metrics. But what is more important, is that it gives us insight into to creation of "good" metrics and the dangers of "bad" metrics."
Given that itSMF is the source, readers of this book will naturally expect a "best practices" view on metrics, and a highly practical reference text. More partcularly, though, the special merit of the text is its carefulness in stressing that metrics must be both useful and meaningful, and that the meaning comes from the business perspective on IT management processes -- a perspective always represented by a stated business objective. By encouraging readers to seriously commit to defining clear business objectives, the text aims the reader at measurement that avoids excess or irrelevance.
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