Performance Measurement

There is an old saying - "If you are playing and not keeping score then you are only practising".

For the senior business management of many organisations, measuring the performance of IT can be even worse than this metaphor - it can be like dealing with a black hole - or like driving a car with a blacked out windscreen. The combination of complexity, over-stretched expectations, high probabilities of risk, and constantly changing requirements and priorities result in confused and usually disappointing views of IT performance. Add to that high turnover of IT managers, and it is no surprise that business managers sometimes wonder what is going on.

Even if the IT team or service provider is doing a good job, without good performance reporting, it is likely that the users' impressions will be based on inaccurate and biased views. Corrective measures will be chaotic and based on knee-jerk reactions rather than thought through actions based on analysis of root causes and real priorities.

ITWinners believe that effective IT Performance Measurement is the cornerstone of effective IT management and communication between the IT service providers and business users. The performance measures have to be in business terms for users, and appropriate technical terms for those responsible for operating an effective IT infrastructure. Overall, there needs to be a measurement approach that is able to deal with the complexity of IT and also the often competing requirements of service quality, cost, and skills development. A balanced scorecard approach is the recommended way to achieve this based on a practical set of measures.

Our services help to define the service definitions and metrics most relevant to your organisation's priorities and needs, and to implement a set of processes and tools that will ensure there is a performance measurement framework in place. Implementation may involve integration with other performance management systems e.g. help desk systems or infrastructure monitoring systems.

Visit www.metricus.com for excellent automated tools for effective IT performance reporting.