PART III
Executing Processes

The Executing Processes are different from the Controlling Processes in one primary respect. The Executing Processes are characterized by being the “normal” work that the customer actually sees and appreciates, which is not to say that the other process groups are not necessary. Customers many times just assume that defining the scope for the SLA is trivial and that the work of the Controlling Processes is just a given.

Chapter 4, “Scope of Maintenance,” briefly reviewed each of the maintenance functions. Part III highlights some of these functions, the ones on which the maintenance manager has the best chance of improving.

Chapter 10: Team Management

Presents the six steps for having skilled resources available to perform the maintenance work. The steps are structuring the team, determining needed skills, selecting the team, dividing up the coverage, training the team, and team management. Team management includes team motivation, team rewards, cross-training, and performance monitoring. Team management also includes steps needed to obtain contractors if employees are not going to fill the roles, and includes legal considerations for keeping contractors engaged for an indefinite period.

Chapter 11: Work Tracking

Presents a key tool for managing and tracking all the work of the maintenance team, including being able to mine the data for trends, recurring problems, and performance statistics.

Chapter 12: Customer Care

Provides steps to develop and maintain a positive relationship with the customer.

Chapter 13: Incidents, Defects, and Enhancements

Presents how to manage the work of incidents and defects (bugs) that are identified in production. It also presents how to manage the work of multiple enhancements to the systems as miniprojects. This includes the method for scaling project management to the appropriate size for the enhancement effort.

Chapter 14: Testing

Presents the complete testing methodology and focuses on defects, fixes, and enhancements.