“Even big brands can get it wrong sometimes, in our experience it’s usually because the Project and Service Teams are seen as separate units and don’t work collaboratively, despite both trying to achieve the same business outcome.”
Have you ever worked in an environment where all the focus went on the project delivery, where IT Support and Business users were left in the dark once the project has been delivered, because there was no documents or plan in place for communication or if something went wrong?
I think we’ve all been there….so have Apple when they launched iOS 6 problems with the map software cost them billions. Closer to home and customers were up in arms when RBS locked customers out of their own accounts after a software upgrade.
It just goes to show that even big brands can get it wrong sometimes, in our experience it’s usually because the Project and Service Teams are seen as separate units and don’t work collaboratively, despite both trying to achieve the same business outcome.
At IT Naturally, we take pride in our Service Introduction and put a huge emphasis on our teamwork as a whole, to always support the end user.
Have a Standard Process
A practical solution to bridge this gap is to have a standardised process for creating and introducing services. It may sound basic, but Service Design and Introduction should be considered at the very beginning of the project.
Moving through the various project stages from initiation and requirements gathering to planning, building and testing before deploying the service. Embedding service introduction activities into project delivery, with defined success criteria at each stage avoids a re-work which can negatively impact the project in terms of time, cost and quality.
There are five simple, practical steps that we believe can really help to integrate Service Introduction into Project delivery:
Initiate
- Ensure a Service Owner is appointed from the outset
- Document high level service requirements to support the project
Plan
- Choose a Service Manager
- Agree ACCEPTANCE
- Understand key stakeholders and the business requirements
- Consider Your Service Level Agreement
Design and build
- Process design considering resources, tools and knowledge
- ITSM configuration
- Create relevant documentation including knowledge and communication plan
- Team training
- Prepare entry criteria
- Identify risks and ensure mitigated actions are implemented
Test
- Test the process against agreed success criteria and make changes accordingly
- Updating training, knowledge, communications and system access is vital to ensure smooth go-live delivery.
- Continue to review risks and mitigate where appropriate.
Go Live
- Make sure there is a detailed run book in place which has a defined entry criteria, detailed steps, plus back out plan should it be required.
- Have the right decision making stakeholders available to update and get input when required.
- Initiate an early life support structure (ELS) and ensure success criteria are met before moving to stable state.
Service Introduction is key to ensuring both effective project delivery and on-going service success. Here at IT Naturally we make sure that is part of the package so your business has what it needs and leaves you with very happy customers.
