Achieve IT OPERATIONAL Excellence

IT Operational processes includes:
1)Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery.
2)Change, Configuration, Inventory, Asset, and Service Request Management.
3)Infrastructure and Application Management.
4)Production Acceptance, Production Control, Quality Assurance and Release Management.
5)Workload Management and Job Scheduling.
6)Systems and Network Monitoring, Capacity Planning and Performance Measurement.

The Processes that support Operational Excellence includes:
1)Database Management and Administration.
2)Business Relationship Management and Service Level Agreement.
3)Cost Recovery and Budget Management.
4)Hardware and Software Support.
5)Web Services Management.
6)Vendor, Negotiation and Contract Management.
7)Problem and Knowledge Management.

Steps for moving towards Operational Excellence:
1)Document Process Flow:It is easier to change processes when they are documented and understood by staff.
2)Identify Skills required for staff:Continued institutional commitment is necessary to keep knowledgeable staff in operations area.
3)Automate routine aspects of the Job:Since consistent process execution and maximization of resources is very important, automation becomes crucial.Automation resolve more complex issues.
4)Improve Processes:Operational Processes whould be reviewed against actual performance.Eliminating human failure,frequent handoffs, and bottlenecks needs to be a stated goal and addresses on a consistent basis.
5)Define best Practices:This is the ultimate goal of service delivery

COURTESY:EDUCAUSE(ECAR)