Governance, Risk and Compliance

Support, sustain and grow the organisation while managing risks and constraints (governance, risk and compliance)
This article serves as a brief overview of the concept of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) and how to approach, address and manage it. Our clients often ask what they need to do to comply and why they have even to [...]

Team Service Management Function

 
Team SMF describes and defines the key principles for building and maintaining an IT organisation that is accountable, responsible, flexible and scalable.
 

 
The premise of Team SMF is that the goal of an IT department is to deliver IT services to fit the needs of their respective organisations. In order to do this they must:

Understand the [...]

Stabilize – Ensure the quality of the IT solution

Welcome back to the fourth instalment of the deliver segment of the SME IT IO Map. In this instalment, we will deconstruct the Stabilize phase which is nestled between the Build and Deploy phases as shown by Figure1 below.  If you have not read the three preceding instalments, you can read them here, here and [...]

Problem Management

Perform root cause analysis to identify and recieve underlying problems
Problems. We all know about them, we wish that they were not a part of our jobs but unfortunately they are. The frameworks we use (ITIL and MOF) treat problems as very specific entities, with very specific responses and perhaps a quick definition is in order [...]

Build a solution that meets expectations

Welcome back to the third instalment of the deliver segment of the SME IT IO Map. In this instalment, we will deconstruct the Build phase which is nestled between the Project Planning and Stabilize phases as per Figure1 below shows.  If you have not read the two preceding instalments, you can read them here and [...]

Customer Services: Support all users and devices within agreed service levels

We’ll start with a question: What is the most important aspect of customer service? If you’ve answered “Communication” you’re probably in the service industry yourself, and have learned hard lessons from dealing with clients (in IT we refer to clients as “users”, as in “computer users”).
According to Microsoft Operations Framework, “the primary goal of customer [...]

Project Planning- Create a project plan that aligns expectations of all stakeholders

Welcome back to the second instalment of the deliver segment of the SME IT IO Map. In this episode we will deconstruct the project planning phase which is nestled between Envision and project Build phases.

In my first article, we established that the envision phase serves as an early form of planning with a  focus of making [...]

Operations – the Nuts and Bolts of running IT

Identify required recurring IT operations work and execute effectively and efficiently
We are now at the point of the SME IO map that most IT managers and IT professionals in support would recognise as being their meat and gravy. ‘Operations’ is where the planning and designing of fitting IT services comes together. The accumulative result is [...]

Envision – Clearly establish a project’s vision, scope and risks.

Steven Covey in his book (7 habits of highly effective people, 1989) observed that one of the attributes shared by effective people is “starting with the end in mind”. 
This observation captures precisely the very essence of what the Envision phase of “delivering the service” is about. In this article we will review the practical application [...]

Monitor IT services to maintain committed SLAs

Service Monitoring and Control (MOF Operate)
 “If a service can’t be monitored, it can’t be measured, and if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed” – (Microsoft Operations Framework).
This statement defines the life cycle of service monitoring and control. The aim is to not only have real time monitoring and alerting of the health conditions [...]