1. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software Website: www.connoizor.comwww.connoizor.com Contact: contact@connoizor.comcontact@connoizor.com Managing Production Support – A Challenge Simplified … Author: Shailaja Kesary, PMP

2. Introduction Production Support is a different kind of a ball game when compared to Projects. The main focus is in keeping the number of open calls/tickets low and meeting the service level agreements. When we talk about service level agreements the most commonly used parameters are the Initial response time, restoration time and the final resolution time. Companies and teams are measured on these parameters. There is no standard method for analyzing the performance of the team with respect to the above mentioned three parameters and take corrective/preventive actions as the engagement progresses. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

3. Introduction Continued… For the ease of interpretation and standardization across development projects and maintenance projects, We have come up with a method of using the Earned Value Management technique for measuring and monitoring the performance of a team for Production support issues. The technique is built to focus on the number of open tickets and service level agreements. The measure used is number of tickets in place of cost/efforts. You can also choose to use the hours instead of the number of tickets. It can be extended to put an absolute value as well by just using the hours instead of the number of tickets and using the hourly rate for a resource. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

4. Overview Earned value Management typically involves in monitoring the Schedule and Cost Variances using the absolute cost of the project. In our case we can extend the same concept and use the number of tickets/calls and the service levels to calculate the planned value, earned value and the actual value. We have termed these as Planned tickets, Earned tickets and Actual tickets as they represent the number of tickets instead of the cost/efforts. We need to maintain a log of all the production support calls/tickets in a tracker which can be done in excel/any software tool available in the market like the Rational Clear Quest. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

5. Attributes Required The main things that we need to maintain are the following attributes. –Ticket No –Brief Description –Severity –Log Time –Response Time –Restoration Time –Resolution Time –Status Time Log time refers to the time the ticket or call was logged. Response time refers to the time when the initial response was given by the production support team. Restoration time refers to the time when the solution to the problem was found and the work started (if required). Resolution time is the time when the problem has been resolved and fixes moved to production Status Time is the time when the status is being collected Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

6. Service Level Agreement - SLA Service Level Agreements are generally defined as follows. The numbers given below are in Hours Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software SeverityInitial ResponseRestoration TimeResolution Time 1148 22816 38 40 42448120 These are examples and can be refined as per the engagement needs

7. The Technique From the gathered attributes we calculate the following attributes. –Initial Response time in hours –Restoration time in hours –Resolution time in hours Additionally we can record the % completion against each of these parameters (Initial Response time, Restoration time & Resolution time). –% Completion Initial Response –% Completion Restoration –% Completion Final Resolution Using the above attributes we can calculate the following attributes. –Parameters: Initial Response, Restoration, Final Resolution Planned Tickets (PT) Earned Tickets (ET) Actual Tickets (AT) Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

8. The Technique Continued … Using these we can calculate the following using the standard formulae for EVM –Schedule Variance –Cost Variance –Schedule Variance % –Cost Variance % –Schedule Performance Indicator –Cost Performance Indicator These attributes will tell us on how well we are performing on our Production support calls. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

9. The Technique Continued … Parameter: Initial Response –Schedule Variance - How much ahead or behind Schedule are we in giving the Initial Response? Planned schedule being the Service Levels defined. –Cost Variance - How much over or under budget are we on the Initial Response? Budget being the Service Levels defined –Schedule Performance Indicator - What is the efficiency of the time utilized on the Initial Response? –Cost Performance Indicator - How effectively are we using our resources? Parameter: Restoration –Schedule Variance - How much ahead or behind Schedule are we in finding the solution? Planned schedule being the Service Levels defined. –Cost Variance - How much over or under budget are we on finding the solution? Budget being the Service Levels defined –Schedule Performance Indicator - What is the efficiency of the time utilized on finding the solution? –Cost Performance Indicator - How effectively are we using our resources? Parameter: Final Resolution –Schedule Variance - How much ahead or behind Schedule are we in resolving the problem? Planned schedule being the Service Levels defined. –Cost Variance - How much over or under budget are we on resolving the problem? Budget being the Service Levels defined –Schedule Performance Indicator - What is the efficiency of the time utilized on resolving the problem? –Cost Performance Indicator - How effectively are we using our resources?. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

10. Formulae for Calculation Base Calculations –Initial Response time in hours = Response time – Log Time –Restoration time in hours = Restoration Time – Log Time –Resolution time in hours = Resolution Time – Log Time Parameter: Initial Response –Planned Tickets = If (Status Date – Log Time) > Service Level then 1 else (Status Date – Log Time) / Service Level –Earned Tickets = 1 * % Completion Initial Response –Actual Tickets = Response Hrs / Service Level Parameter: Restoration –Planned Tickets = If (Status Date – Log Time) > Service Level then 1 else (Status Date – Log Time) / Service Level –Earned Tickets = 1 * % Completion Restoration –Actual Tickets = Restoration Hrs / Service Level Parameter: Final Resolution –Planned Tickets = If (Status Date – Log Time) > Service Level then 1 else (Status Date – Log Time) / Service Level –Earned Tickets = 1 * % Completion Final Resolution –Actual Tickets = Resolution Hrs / Service Level Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

11. Formulae for Calculation Continued … For all the Parameters –Schedule Variance = ET – PT –Cost Variance = ET – AT –Schedule Variance % = (ET – PT) / ET –Cost Variance % = (ET – AT) / ET –Schedule Performance Indicator = ET / PT –Cost Performance Indicator = ET / AT Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

12. Benefits Track Performance of the team on an ongoing basis and facilitate the team to perform better. Single Platform to compare Production Support engagements and Development Projects. Track Performance at the individual performance parameter (Initial Response, Restoration, Resolution) Check out trends in the performance and take corrective/preventive actions. Facilitate continuous improvement by altering the Service Levels based on the performance. Show Value to the customer thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Have better control over the engagement. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software

13. End Thank You. Connoizor Enabling Performance for Businesses through Software