Posts Tagged ‘Process’
March 20th, 2009
Microsoft Visio is a very useful, popular and powerful diagramming tool. The tool does however have its quirks and following some basic ‘best practice’ can significantly enhance the effective and efficient use of Visio. The following tips apply equally to Visio 2003 and Visio 2007:
Repeat Shapes
Particularly when using many pages in a single Visio file, use the same shapes repeatedly (i.e. standardised shapes). When loading a file, Visio ‘processes’ all the different shapes it Read the rest of this entry »
Incoming search terms for this article:
- How can i Repeat shapes in visio
- how to adjust width of a visio swimlane width
- repeat a shape in visio
- visio 2007 swimlane repeat on each printed page
- visio repeat a shape
- visio repeat copy
Related posts
March 7th, 2009
A lot of my work is spent designing and implementing ITIL processes. The one common denominator with all customers I work with is a lack of understanding that processes have various levels and that there is a substantial difference between a process and a procedure (or work instruction). Even if the stakeholder/s understand that processes adn procedures should have levels it is seldom that he/she/they are able to keep steps in flowcharts at the same level.
Process Levels
The difference between a Process, Procedure and Work Instruction is explained below however Read the rest of this entry »
Incoming search terms for this article:
- difference between process and procedure
- procedure work instruction
- process procedure work instruction
- process and procedures
- difference procedure work instruction
- difference between process procedure
Related posts
January 28th, 2009
“Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” published in the Harvard Business Review and authored by John Kotter is the definitive guide to the few steps critical to transformation success. Below are five specific additional steps which will greatly improve an organizations ITIL implementation.
- The process designers must have working experience of ITIL and general IT experience (and general business experience if possible): All too often ITIL process designers have no experinece of working in IT environments. The problem with this is that processes get designed that are idealistic rather than practical and workable.
- ITIL Foundation training is not good enough: Unfortunately ITIL v3 Foundation training (the most basic ITIL official training) is just so broad and covers so much that it is more than likely that participants will leave the training being more confused about ITIL than when they started the training. My advice would be to send relevant people on the Foundation training but also have tailored training specific to certain areas of interest e.g. for Incident Management specifically and Problem Management specifically etc.
- Try to keep things simple: ITIL generally receives a groan when mentioned to people. This is because it is often made overcomplicated and people don’t sufficiently understand the benefits. Try to keep ITIL simple and use practical examples when explaining ITIL; for example sum up Incident Management as ‘getting the customer working as quickly as possible even if there is not a permanent solution to the error’.
- Reduce Fear: There is normally a significant ‘unknown’ attached to ITIL implementations for those who will be using the processes on a day-to-day basis. Once implemented, and if implemented correctly, the processes become second-nature for those interacting and using them. It is important to stress to those involved that ITIL is not something to fear. What is often helpful to alleviate the fears is to reinforce the positives (such as reduced workload once the processes are embedded) and even get in Service Desk personnel from other companies who have gone through an ITIL implementation to explain the difference the processes made to their work.
- Continuous reinforcement that ITIL is evolutionary: ITIL processes should not get implemented and then forgotten. The processes will need revisiting and amendment as time progresses. No one should be under the illusion that the processes implemented will be correct and final on day one of the ‘go live’.
Incoming search terms for this article:
Related posts
January 23rd, 2009
ITIL is a set of IT service related processes which define a common language and methodology of providing IT service to organizations. ITIL has been around since the 1980′s when the U.K. government made the great decision to standardise IT Service Processes. ITIL was originally called the Information Technology and abbreviated to ITIL. ITIL has undergone two refreshes since it’s introduction and we are now at ITIL version 3.
ITIL Misconceptions
The two basic misconceptions of ITIL is that it is a set of ridgit processes and that an organization implements ITIL and then may forget about the processes;
- Ridgid Processes: ITIL is a framework therefore nearly every implementation of ITIL will include differing processes (however a commonality will exist due to the processes being ITIL aligned).
- Implement and Forget: ITIL implementations are expensive and are evolutionary. One needs regular assessment of the implemented ITIL processes and updating of those processes when required. ITIL books reference the Deming Cycle in describing how process improvement should be ongoing.
Benefits of ITIL
From my experience, the following are the most significant benefits organizations experience by using ITIL processes:
- Vendor and Customer Alignment: If you outsource, offshore or deliver IT services then, with so many IT related contracts now using ITIL terminology and processes, your supplier or customer is more than likely to be using similar processes and language.
- Reduced Cost: ITIL is costly to implement but the Return on Investment (ROI) is significant through the cost benefits realised by the reduction of IT downtime, improved reaction times to Errors and Service Requests and so on.
- Improved Service: Even basic implementations of ITIL deliver significantly improved service to customers.
All sorts of organizations implement ITIL whether IT related or not. Implementing ITIL is a costly and time consuming process but the benefits are considerable .
Related posts
Tags: bpr, change, incident management, ITIL, Management, problem management, Process | 
No Comments »