Service Level Management is a continuous improvement process for IT Service to bring the quality of IT Service in line with the school’s business and cost expectations.
It’s important not to forget those cost expectations. The ideal situation is to get the quality of service you need from the school’s IT for the budget you have agreed. To achieve this ideal balance, you will need to define the following:
- What services IT actually delivers to the school
- What level of service is needed for each of those services
- How much is available in the budget for each IT service
As ever, this information must be put in the context of the school’s self-assessment and business processes.
An up-to-date and accurate list of services (known in IT service management as a Service Catalogue) is a very useful piece of documentation. It will, for example, help the SBM to manage the Service Continuity Plan and Risk Management plan, provide a more practical understanding of staff roles and responsibilities, and make visible underpinning contracts. The network manager will get an improved understanding of how the systems are being used, and be challenged to document the relationship between the IT Systems and the services. A Service Catalogue will also promote discussion on the services being provided, and how services should be prioritised.
The best place to start on the Service Catalogue is with the customers: the staff, parents, governors and any other stakeholders who use the IT services. It’s important to consult sensitively during this exercise: people can get defensive when asked about what they do, and how: but are almost always happy to suggest how they could do their work better.
It’s also important to manage expectations when you let it be known you are seeking ways to improve IT services. Remember, satisfaction = expectation – perception!
During this discovery exercise, the SBM should put together a description and identify possible key targets. This should include:
- who the customers of the service are (admin staff, teaching staff, governors, parents, SLT … )
- when the service is normally required (what times of day, which days, how frequently)
- whether an extension to those hours may be needed
- special usage – school holidays and public holidays
- whether the service has a built in calendar (such as period closing dates, reporting dates)
- what is the impact if the IT systems are not working during the normal service hours (“unavailability”)?
- how reliable is the service? (How often is it taken down for maintenance, or fails and needs repair)
- what throughput is likely? (how many concurrent users and how many transactions?)
- during what hours is the system supported?
- whether an extension to support hours may be needed
- Service Continuity – what would this service look like in a disaster situation? How quickly would it need to be restored?
- What are the charges, if a bought in service?
- What are the customer’s responsibilities (such as changing passwords, storing data in the correct place)
- What levels of security are required of the service? (does it include sensitive or confidential data).
There is one other key target which can be particularly tricky, and that is response time. It’s probably fair to say that for anyone working at a computer, the response times can often be too slow. But there is a large element of perception about this. Unless your network manager can measure and report on response times exclude them and use throughput instead: ask whether the operator(s) can get through their work in the time allowed.
In future posts, I will show how an SBM can use a Service Catalogue to improve service, reporting, disaster recovery and security. But here are some quick-wins:
- Look for obvious mismatches. For example, do hours of support match hours of use?
- Review the services against the school’s business plan and SEF. Is there anything not needed, or are there any obvious gaps? (for example, reports being printed which no-one uses or inputs to the SEF not being produced)
- Review the Disaster Recovery Plan against the Service Catalogue. Is everything covered?
- Is all sensitive and confidential data properly secured?
School Business Manager 