CHAPTER 3: SERVICE STRATEGY METRICS
Service strategy provides guidance and direction for the provision and delivery of services through the service lifecycle. Strategy helps the organization to understand the outcomes and expectations of the business. Services are then delivered and supported by the processes found within the service lifecycle.
Strategy will begin with the vision and mission of the organization to create policies and plans for building a business focused culture and mindset throughout the department(s).
Strategy processes and metrics are used throughout the lifecycle ensuring that the processes and services continue to deliver business outcomes. The metrics in this chapter are tied to the processes found in ITIL® Service Strategy. Many of these metrics will continue to provide value through the remaining phases of the lifecycle. The metrics sections for this chapter are:
Strategy management metrics
Service portfolio management metrics
Financial management metrics
Demand management metrics
Business relationship management metrics.
Strategy management metrics
The metrics in this section support the Strategic Service Management (SSM) for IT process. These metrics are in line with several KPIs that support this process. The metrics presented in this section are:
- Number of services outsourced
- Number of market spaces defined
- Number of market spaces fulfilled
- Percentage of services with service valuation performed
- Percentage of IT staff with ITSM training
- Percentage of services with one customer
Number of services monitored via dashboards.
Metric name
Number of services outsourced
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
A sourcing strategy provides the opportunity to leverage the strengths of suppliers allowing them to fulfill gaps within the organization’s environment. Benefits to outsourcing include:
- Leverage strengths of the supplier
(i.e. knowledge and experience) - Augmenting staff
- Potential financial savings
- Expedite service or process implementation
- Overcome entry barriers.
Justification for outsourcing must include multiple benefits for the entire organization. Focusing heavily on one benefit (i.e. cost savings) can and most likely will produce a negative future impact for the organization.
This metric will assist in understanding the number of services being fully or partially outsourced. It can help provide a good picture of where and how service assets are controlled.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
This metric provides a high-level view of the outsourcing picture and should be used in conjunction with other metrics to provide a full understanding of the current levels of outsourcing as compared to the outsourcing strategy.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: Create a baseline |
|
Range: |
Dependent on the needs of the customers and organization |
Metric name
Number of market spaces defined
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, service level manager
Description
Market spaces2 are described as ‘potential opportunities for exploitation by the IT organization’. These opportunities can lead to new or updated services which serve or facilitate the outcomes needed by the business. Opportunities can include:
- Growth in corporate sales
- Departmental changes
- Company expansion.
This metric provides insight to future services offered by IT. These defined market spaces demonstrates a more business focused IT department looking to serve customers now and into the future.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
This metric should be monitored and tracked to ensure IT maintains a business focus and continuously searches for new market spaces to serve. This will also demonstrate a more proactive approach to managing the relationship with the business.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Metric name
Number of market spaces fulfilled
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, service level manager
Description
This metric demonstrates the value provided by IT via those services that fulfill market spaces previously identified. Aligning with the business and understanding their needs will help IT provide services that address this need thus fulfilling the market space.
Market spaces are defined as opportunities, therefore an IT department that identifies and fulfills these is a proactive organization looking forward into the future.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
Using this metric in combination with the ‘market spaces defined’ metric will demonstrate the value proposition of IT services as these market spaces fulfill true business need. This can also be used with ‘service portfolio management’ as services mature through the lifecycle.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Metric name
Percentage of services with service valuation performed
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager
Description
Service valuation can help determine the cost of delivering a service and the value of the service (benefit) to the business. Many organizations struggle with understanding the total cost of service delivery more from the value proposition than the cost factors. Determining costs is the easier of the two. However, value can be difficult to put into a financial perspective especially when dealing with intangibles. Financial expertise is required to help determine service valuation.
This metric will provide IT and the business with a better understanding of the financial implications of service provision as more services have a service valuation performed. Having financial knowledge of services increases the ability to make sound business decisions.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric will be gathered primarily within financial management; however, the knowledge gained from this will assist in decision making beginning at a strategic level. A service valuation can range from a group of simple financial calculations to a comprehensive financial assessment.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: 90% |
|
Range: |
< 90% unacceptable = 90% acceptable > 90% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of staff with ITSM training
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff
Description
This metric demonstrates IT’s commitment to service management, their staff and customers. Service management is a cultural change for the entire organization which requires all members of IT to establish a new business/customer focus. Quite frankly, this viewpoint is not natural for many IT people; their focus is more towards technology.
Formal training is one method to instill this new mindset throughout the organization. Therefore, tracking and reporting this metric is essential for IT to demonstrate to the business and customers the importance of service management and this new way of doing business.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric might be looked at from two aspects. First, ‘staff’ can represent IT staff with ITSM training to understand the propagation of service management knowledge within IT. The second aspect might be from the customer view, demonstrating commitment to service management principles via customer training in ITSM.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 95% |
|
Range: |
< 95% unacceptable = 95% acceptable > 95% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of services with one customer
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, service level manager
Description
This metric provides an understanding of services dedicated to one customer. While some services will have only one customer, we should strive to create services that are shared by multiple customers. These shared services create higher levels of efficiency and can help reduce costs. However, there will still always be a need for those dedicated services required by a single customer.
Most organizations understand that a dedicated service could result in higher costs and an increase in unused resources. Reasons for a dedicated service might include:
- Security levels
- Financial information
- Privacy information
- Customer types.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric should be continually monitored, regularly measured, and reported to the business at least annually. Financial management and capacity management metrics can be used in conjunction with this metric to show costs of dedicated services along with the utilization of components.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Annually |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Metric name
Number of services monitored via dashboards
Metric category
Strategy management
Suggested metric owner
Service manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, service level manager
Description
Monitoring and reporting tools, such as dashboards, provide an easy method to display metric information for services, and the technology used to deliver the services. Dashboards are easy to use and understand as they provide real time information using simply graphics or charts. They provide value throughout the organization, including the customers.
This metric helps to understand the services being monitored and reported in a real time environment. This metric provides a sense of empowerment, as individuals can get the information they desire, but also in a format that is useful to them. This metric can also be used with other reporting media used by the organization.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
The metric can be collected from one or multiple monitoring tools. The increased usage of dashboards demonstrates the organization’s willingness to share and use information in an open and proactive manner.
While the focus of this metric is with dashboards, other types of monitoring and reporting tools (i.e. balanced scorecards) can be measured in the same manner.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Service portfolio management metrics
Service portfolio metrics provide insight to the life of a service. These metrics can be used in conjunction with service catalog metrics to improve support for the services. These metrics are in line with several KPIs that support this process. The metrics presented in this section are:
- Number of services in the service pipeline
- Percentage of services with documented customers
- Number of services in the approved state
- Percentage of services linked to business outcomes
- Percentage of services with documented risks.
Metric name
Number of services in the service pipeline
Metric category
Service portfolio management
Suggested metric owner
Product manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
The service pipeline is an important part of the service portfolio as it represents the future services offered by the service provider. Therefore, the pipeline should be monitored to ensure the provider continues to look forward to future service opportunities.
Services within the service pipeline are services that are in the theorizing, scoping, defining and analyzing stages of the service. These services will move from the pipeline to the service catalog when approved.
This metric will provide monitoring information that can be used for a current view of the pipeline as well as for historical trending of the pipeline. In either case, there is value in understanding the potential of future services in your inventory.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
Depending on the tool utilized for the service portfolio, this metric can be collected using the functionality of the tool or it may require manual effort to extract the information.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: Create a baseline and monitor |
|
Range: |
Dependent on opportunities found for future services |
Metric name
Percentage of services with documented customers
Metric category
Service portfolio management
Suggested metric owner
Product manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
An important aspect of any service is the understanding of the customers who rely on that service. Many organizations have documentation focused on who their customers are but don’t always understand what services the customers use or what value they receive from the services.
This metric provides insight to what services customers use. This increases the provider’s understanding of the value of the service based on the customers. The value can be in both the quantity of customers and in the type customer such as:
- Executive
- External
- Financial
- Government.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric should be monitored and tracked to ensure IT maintains a count and knowledge of the customers, and the services they use. Integrating information from the service portfolio and a customer portfolio can help collect this metric. Dynamic organizations see constant fluctuations in customers which may require increased levels of monitoring.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
N/A |
|
Metric name
Number of services in the approved state
Metric category
Service portfolio management
Suggested metric owner
Product manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
From a service portfolio viewpoint, approved services move from the service pipeline to the service catalog (both parts of the portfolio). Once approved, resources can be applied to create the service and ultimately implement the service into production for customer consumption.
This metric helps monitor those services that have been approved to move forward through the service lifecycle.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
Using this metric in combination with other processes such as service catalog management and change management increases the awareness of service progression within the lifecycle. This can also increase the provider’s control of services as they mature.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Metric name
Percentage of services linked to business outcomes
Metric category
Service portfolio management
Suggested metric owner
Product manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
IT services should help achieve the desired business outcomes for the customers. From a customer’s viewpoint, value is achieved from the provision and support of services that produce deliverables that help obtain or achieve their outcomes. Value is derived from more than just the deliverables; increased efficiencies and cost control are aspects of a service that can help achieve these outcomes.
This metric will provide insight to those services that have demonstrated value to the customers in the form of achieving the outcomes of the business. While all services should provide value to the business, the services identified by this metric have proven that value proposition to the customers.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric can be gathered from other processes such as business relationship management or service level management. Depending on the actual value provided, this metric can be collected from monitoring tools or from manual techniques such as meetings and surveys.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: 90% |
|
Range: |
< 90% unacceptable = 90% acceptable > 90% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of services with documented risks
Metric category
Service portfolio management
Suggested metric owner
Product manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
Risk is found in all phases and aspects of service provision. All action introduces some level of risk to the organization. This metric demonstrates the commitment of the provider to mitigate risk within service delivery. As risks are identified, they should be documented within a risk register or log which can provide input to this metric.
This metric provides an understanding of the amount of services provided that have a level of risk management applied. It does not account for the quality of risk management but simply a high level view of the extent of risk management within the organization.
Measurement description
Formula:
Input for this metric can be provided from multiple resources such as risk management, security or auditing. No matter what the source, identified risks should be documented in a centralized repository to improve the quality of this metric.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Financial management metrics
Financial management provides critical information for enhanced decision making. Financial information may determine which new service is funded and which current services will continue to receive funding. Therefore, financial management provides value to the business and all stakeholders. These metrics are in line with several KPIs that support this process. Metrics within this section include:
- Percentage of financial reports delivered on time
- Percentage of services with ROIs achieved
- Percentage of budgets managed accurately (within acceptable ranges)
- Percentage of assets recorded with financial information.
Metric name
Percentage of financial reports delivered on time
Metric category
Financial management
Suggested metric owner
Finance manager, comptroller
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, stakeholders
Description
Dependency on financial reports continues to grow as budget oversight and cost justification are scrutinized at all levels of the organization. Therefore, the ‘on time’ delivery of these reports is critical for management decision making.
This metric will assist in monitoring the distribution of financial reports to stakeholders. Report distribution times should be detailed in the SLA which provides a basis of comparison against the agreed upon timeframes.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric should be monitored and collected regularly to ensure the ongoing distribution of financial reports. Report distribution can also have an impact on customer satisfaction.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Monthly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: 95% |
|
Range: |
< 95% unacceptable = 95% acceptable > 95% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of services with ROIs achieved
Metric category
Financial management
Suggested metric owner
Finance manager, comptroller
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, stakeholders
Description
We want to begin with the disclaimer: ‘Be careful how you use this one’. There are issues associated with reporting ROI. There are multiple ways to define, calculate and use ROI thus potentially creating miscommunication. For our purposes, ROI helps understand whether the organization is achieving a benefit (incrementally) for an investment made.
Determining ROI can be rather tricky as there are multiple ways to present your findings. This flexibility has both good and bad points which are beyond the scope of this book. Therefore, our focus will be on a simple ROI calculation which will demonstrate value by understanding financial payback. Simply put, value is gained as payback is received and fully achieved when the investment of the service is recouped.
This metric can assist in predicting the expected return in a business case or as gains toward the service investment.
Measurement description
Formula:
We recommend researching other ROI calculations and descriptions to improve your understanding if this description does not fit your needs. Also, consider using other metrics, such as risk management metrics, along with ROI to assist decision making.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
As required |
Reported: |
As required |
Acceptable quality level: Based on the business case presented |
|
Range: |
Based on the timeline found in the business case |
Metric name
Percentage of budgets managed accurately (within acceptable ranges)
Metric category
Financial management
Suggested metric owner
Finance manager, comptroller
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, stakeholders
Description
Budget management is an integral part of a manager’s monthly tasks. As mentioned earlier, budgets are scrutinized and, in many cases, are reviewed and reduced during the fiscal year. Actively monitoring budgets is essential to maintain accuracy of the monthly budget spend as well as the quarterly and annual roll-up.
This metric ensures that budgets are managed within the acceptable ranges (e.g. within three to five per cent) established by corporate finance.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric can be presented in a number of ways including:
- All monthly budgets within a division
- A roll-up of a departmental budget over a period of time
- A roll-up of all budgets annually
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Monthly/quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly/annually |
Acceptable quality level: 98% budget accuracy |
|
Range: |
< 98% unacceptable = 98% acceptable > 98% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of assets recorded with financial information
Metric category
Financial management
Suggested metric owner
Finance manager, comptroller
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, stakeholders
Description
The integration of processes is vital to the overall success of an ITSM program. Therefore, process metrics can be combined to provide a comprehensive view of process execution.
Financial information is collected and stored within each asset record based on the standard record content establish by asset management. This metric is measured by Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) but provides value to financial management.
Measurement description
Formula:
The information for this metric can be managed by a configuration tool or asset management tool. Financial information can be provided by supplier tools, electronic documentation or manually entered.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 98% |
|
Range: |
< 98% unacceptable = 98% acceptable > 98% exceeds |
Demand management metrics
Demand management helps us to understand how and when the customers work. Once fully understood, this information is used as input to proactive capacity management activities. The metrics presented in this section are:
- Percentage of services with PBAs
- Percentage of services with user profiles
- Number of capacity changes instigated by demand.
Metric name
Percentage of services with PBAs
Metric category
Suggested metric owner
Demand manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, capacity manager, business relationship manager, service level manager
Description
The metric provides a barometer of how well IT understands the business and how the business works. Patterns of Business Activity (PBAs)3 provide input to capacity management helping adjust capacity to meet the changing needs of the business. PBAs allow IT to proactively manage capacity to better align IT with the business.
The dynamics of change in the IT world are well known as new technologies appear monthly. However, we must understand the business dynamics can have as many or more changes due to the active nature of business. PBAs are a valuable tool for IT to help maintain that business focus and be more vigilant when it comes to business dynamics.
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric should be monitored and collected regularly to ensure the PBAs are up to date and aligned with business activities.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 95% |
|
Range: |
< 95% unacceptable = 95% acceptable > 95% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of services with user profiles
Metric category
Demand management
Suggested metric owner
Demand manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, capacity manager, business relationship manager, service level manager
Description
User Profiles (UPs)4 provide an understanding of who is performing certain business activities and within the different PBAs. Combining PBA with UP gives IT complete knowledge of the business activity and who is performing the activity. UPs can include business groups such as:
This metric helps maintain a business focus as IT strives to provide the right service to the right people at the right time. Knowing who is performing an activity better equips IT to support those individuals and services in a more proactive manner.
Measurement description
Formula:
We recommend using this metric with the ‘services with PBAs’ metric to provide a better view of how the business works and who performs the work. These are the types of metrics that allow IT to become more of a business partner throughout the organization.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 95% |
|
Range: |
< 95% unacceptable = 95% acceptable > 95% exceeds |
Metric name
Number of capacity changes instigated by demand
Metric category
Demand management
Suggested metric owner
Demand manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, capacity manager, change manager, SACM
Description
This proactive metric is created from change management but allows IT to understand the impact of good demand management. Utilizing tools such as PBAs and UPs gives demand management the opportunity to instigate capacity changes prior to business need. This improves resource planning and demonstrates the increased value of IT to the business.
This metric should be presented to both IT and business management regularly as it shows the changing viewpoint of IT with proactive alignment to the dynamics of the business. This metric also demonstrates the benefit of process integration as demand, capacity, and change management work together in support of the business.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
This type of metric provides insight to the relationships within IT and with the business. ITSM tools provide multiple ways to categorize and report changes. We suggest adjusting tool configurations and/or reports to provide this metric on a regular basis.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Monthly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
Identify a potential baseline of changes and monitor for upward trends. |
Business relationship management metrics
This process establishes relationships with the business and customers. Many of the activities and metrics from this process are closely aligned to service level management providing a more strategic viewpoint to services and the business. In some cases these two processes are combined due to limited resources or to simplify dealings with the business. However, we must ensure that the Business Relationship Manager (BRM) process activities remain at a strategic level. These metrics are in line with several KPIs that support this process. The metrics presented in this section are:
- Percentage of services with an assigned BRM
- Percentage of services with a business case
- Percentage of customers in the customer portfolio
- Number of complaints received (in a defined period)
- Average of customer satisfaction scores.
Metric name
Percentage of services with an assigned BRM
Metric category
Business relationship management
Suggested metric owner
Business relationship manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
Establishing a relationship with the business and customers is a critical aspect for a successful service management program. The business relationship manager will build and maintain this relationship, striving to understand the customer’s needs and use that knowledge to develop business cases for new services. This role can be combined with the service level manager as responsibilities of both roles have many similarities.
This metric will help ensure that all services provided to the business have a BRM assigned. This will provide the customers consistency when dealing with the service provider.
Measurement description
Formula:
Data for this metric can be found within a service portfolio. How this data is extracted will depend upon the tool used to maintain the portfolio. We recommend creating regularly scheduled reports to ensure all services have an assigned BRM, and that the information is up to date.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 100% of business services |
|
Range: |
All business services should have a BRM assigned |
Metric name
Percentage of services with a business case
Metric category
Business relationship management
Suggested metric owner
Business relationship manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
The business case is a document that provides business information about a service and is used to justify funding for the service. This is not a technical document, it must be written from a business perspective in order to gain support from the authoritative body that approves the funding (e.g. finance board, executive committee).
This metric provides insight into the services that have gone through the proper funding and approval channels as the business case would be used as input to these steps. The business case provides valuable information concerning the business, and links the business needs to the service. The business case can be used as a:
- Funding and justification tool
- A planning document
- A educational document
- A requirements document (not for all service requirements).
Measurement description
Formula:
This metric can be collected from a document repository in conjunction with the service portfolio. It is possible that some legacy services may not have a business case. Depending on the service’s age and status, a business case may not be necessary.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: 90% |
|
Range: |
< 90% unacceptable = 90% acceptable > 90% exceeds |
Metric name
Percentage of customers in the customer portfolio
Metric category
Business relationship management
Suggested metric owner
Business relationship manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
The customer portfolio contains all the information about the service provider’s customers. This portfolio can be linked with other portfolios such as:
- Service portfolio
- Customer agreement portfolio
- Application portfolio
- Service catalog.
These links provide a holistic view of the services and the customers who use or depend on the services. Therefore, all portfolios should be maintained with up-to-date and accurate information.
This metric helps monitor the customers and ensures up-to-date information is maintained about each customer. This information will be used to support other processes throughout the service lifecycle.
Measurement description
Formula:
Many organizations may have difficulties understanding their total number of customers. If this is the case, then use this as a number to provide a count trending upward as more information about customers is collected.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 95% |
|
Range: |
< 95% unacceptable = 95% acceptable |
Metric name
Number of complaints received (in a defined period)
Metric category
Business relationship management
Suggested metric owner
Business relationship manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
Unfortunately, complaints are part of any service provider’s daily or weekly dealings. While all service providers strive to provide the best possible service, there are times when they can’t please everyone. The bottom line is, ‘stuff happens’ and we deal with it the best we can. Most individuals are good customers and, while they may not be happy with everything, they understand that failures and problems occur. However, they do expect their service restored as quickly as possible.
This metric will provide insight to the number of issues that occur with customers. Customer complaints must be taken seriously and handled personally. Do not use automated tools to respond to complaints. This is a major part of the BRM role. Allow them to handle complaints personally and professionally which will help build a stronger relationship with that customer.
Measurement description
Formula: N/A
This metric can be gathered from the service catalog, service desk or from the BRM. Complaints should be collected and counted within a specific timeframe such as monthly or quarterly. This number can serve as a baseline and trended, hopefully downward, over like periods in the future.
Just remember, it is equally important to collect and measure compliments received. We recommend developing a similar metric for compliments.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Quarterly |
Reported: |
Quarterly |
Acceptable quality level: N/A |
|
Range: |
N/A |
Metric name
Average of customer satisfaction scores
Metric category
Business relationship management
Suggested metric owner
Business relationship manager
Typical stakeholders
Customers, management, financial manager, IT staff, suppliers, service level manager
Description
There are a number of methods to collect customer satisfaction levels or scores. This metric demonstrates the current level of customer satisfaction. Most organizations plan some type of customer satisfaction survey during the year. These surveys are used as a barometer to measure satisfaction levels over a variety of topics including:
- The service (availability, performance, etc.)
- Support
- Staff professionalism
- Fulfillment (are they getting what they need?).
This metric provides an understanding of how the customers feel about the services they are receiving from the service provider during a defined period of time. These types of surveys measure the organization as a whole while other surveys, such as from the service desk, measure the immediate service received. These surveys provide value throughout the year and help the service provider make ongoing adjustments to improve the service.
Measurement description
Formula:
There are several methods used to calculate surveys that can become quite elaborate based on the type and size of the survey. We recommend using a known survey tool to help create the survey and to provide built-in calculations and reports to expedite processing of survey results.
Survey tools provide an easy method to collect and report survey information in a variety of ways. These tools also provide greater levels of consistency and dependability of the information collected.
Frequency |
|
Measured: |
Semi-annually / annually |
Reported: |
Annually |
Acceptable quality level: 90% satisfied (a baseline to improve) |
|
Range: |
< 90% unacceptable = 90% acceptable > 90% exceeds |
2 Cabinet Office (UK), ITIL®, Service Strategy (London, England, The Stationery Office (TSO), 2011) 93
3 Cabinet Office (UK), ITIL®, Service Strategy (London, England, The Stationery Office (TSO), 2011) 248-250
4 Cabinet Office (UK), ITIL®, Service Strategy (London, England, The Stationery Office (TSO), 2011) 250-251