ITSM Enterprise Service Design
  • Mar.15.2023

Our Secret Formula for ITSM and Enterprise Service Design

  • Mar.15.2023
  • Reading time mins

There’s a methodology we follow at Valiantys to ensure we meet business outcomes as well as project objectives. It’s the reason that our consultants are in high demand and it’s why large global corporations on every continent work with us on projects involving Atlassian applications. ​

Outcome driven

What do we mean by outcomes? Well, these are often the knottier problems that customers want to solve with or in relation to a project. And they are not always measurable in numbers. Here are some examples.​

  • Migrate by a deadline, so the company does not have to renew existing licences.​
  • Create systems that non-technical users can follow easily, even in high stress situations out in the field. ​
  • Output reports to improve predictability and demand forecasting to improve procurement processes.​
  • Move everything to the cloud except data, that needs to meet key criteria for data security and data residency.​
  • Simplify audit processes and create reports to confirm that we meet compliance guidelines​
  • Get the system launched, on a budget, ready to scale by 200% in 3 months.​

Outcomes are not ‘nice-to-haves’, they are often essential.  They are often mission critical.

Aiming high with project objectives

Project objectives, on the other hand, while often easier to measure, are sometimes difficult to define because customers do not know what is possible using the software. We are confident in what can be achieved, and so we like set challenging goals for productivity improvements, reductions in ticket volumes, and anything that we can compare on a before and after basis. We also like to set up tracking for KPI-related measures such as the number of high and medium priority tickets closed within a target timeframe.​

Achieving agility

Our methodology then, does more than just deliver functionality or replicate an existing service on a new platform or application. Give the same project brief to a standard Atlassian certified consultant and to a Valiantys Atlassian Certified consultant, and the results will be noticeably different, not just when the project completes, but 6, 12 or 24 months later. Why? Because our consultants design for continuous, iterative improvement and to adapt as the company’s needs evolve.​

The secret formula

Here’s an insight into what goes into our methodology and the secret formula for outcome driven, agile service design.

  • Before, during and after

Our projects ensure that we have completed all the critical work needed before a major move or change, so that we can mitigate risk, monitor progress and measure results afterwards. This includes measuring outcomes. In the ITIL principles, it’s called ‘start from where you are’.​​

  • Measurable, manageable, meaningful

Everything we do has to pass the 3M test.  Measurability, or tracking, making data visible to the right people from dashboards, outputting reports and sending data to external data visualisation tools such as Tableau are some of the factors we look at under measurability.​​

Manageability is about elegant, efficient design that is not overcomplicated, does not result in ‘alert overload’ or too much data being sent to too many people, too often.  What is manageable to a highly trained technical team is entirely different to a group of volunteers doing medical fieldwork. Loosely speaking this is UX – the best of which is functionally rich but manageable to the specific user.​

Meaningful too, is about curating the data or information to the specific individuals by role, or by need. It’s often overlooked in service design.  In terms of making information meaningful, it’s a question of what and how often. For example, updates that dovetail with reporting cycles will be both meaningful to the user as well as  manageable. Likewise, articles suggested as self-service options when users raise tickets need to be truly relevant.​

Agility in action

Agile, outcome-driven service design is better in practice than in theory. If you are curious about our methodology, and what we could do for you, why not contact our consultants?

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