IT Performance Metrics

Metrics for the Internet, IT,
and Service Management

Over 540 Objective Metrics Defined - 83 Graphical Metric Reports show over 240 metrics

Compliant with ITIL
ISO 20000
IT Service Management


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Metrics for IT applications - The CIOs biggest challenges is to justify staffing and spending levels as they strive to improve IT efficiency. When assessing comparative benchmarks, it is hard to know which metrics to start with. The Metrics for the Internet, Information Technology and Service Management HandiGuide helps CIOs to understand and pick the appropriate comparative benchmarks to justify staffing and spending, improving IT operations and demonstrating the value of IT to the business.

Defining Which Metrics to Use

Most IT metrics efforts lack relevance to the business and are not well linked to business outcomes. They tend to be IT focused, such as WAN availability or server downtime. It is difficult for the business to understand how these measures relate to its objectives, and they provide little insight into the value that IT delivers.

CIOs must create a scorecard and service level agreements that:

  • Relate to the enterprise and its management team. Server availability, network throughput, help desk call volumes, capacity utilization, and other IT operational metrics are not relevant to business executives. These types of metrics need to be translated into something enterprise management understands, such as availability of business applications or the cost to support a business area. The IT-operational metrics should be kept within IT unless they can be put in enterprise terms.
  • Relate to the enterprise strategic and tactical objectives. Enterprise executives are concerned with introducing new products and services, improving customer loyalty and satisfaction, increasing gross margins, and growing market share. IT metrics must be linked directly to these enterprise objectives, specifically demonstrating how IT initiatives contributed favorably to improving them.

Effective SLAs are extremely important to assure effective Information Technology operations. The metrics used to measure and manage performance to SLA commitments are the heart of a successful agreement and are a critical long term success factor. Lack of experience in the use and implementation of performance metrics causes problems for many organizations as they attempt to formulate their SLA strategies and select and set the metrics needed to support those strategies. Fortunately, while reaching for perfection is difficult and costly, most organizations can achieve their objectives through a carefully chosen set of simple-to-collect metrics. Hopefully, this paper provides some insights into the "whys" and "hows" of this selection process. The Metrics HandiGuide is the tool that can be used to accomplish that task.

At the heart of an effective Service Level Agreement (SLA) are performance metrics and they

  • Measure the right performance characteristics to ensure that the client is receiving its required level of service and the service provider is achieving an acceptable level of profitability
  • Can be easily collected with an appropriate level of detail but without costly overhead, and
  • Tie all commitments to reasonable, attainable performance levels so that "good" service can be easily differentiated from "bad" service, and giving the service provider a fair opportunity to satisfy its client.

The Metrics for the Internet, Information Technology and Service Management HandiGuide is over 300 pages, defines 540 objective metrics, and contains 83 metric reports that show over 240 objective metrics.

CIO & CTO Imporovement Opportunities

Operational Improvement Opportunities as defined by
CIO, CTO, and CEO

The metrics cover all areas of the Internet, Information Technology, and Service Management -- including WIRELESS metrics which in turn includes mobile broadband specifications. In addition, there are industry specific examples for financial services, distribution, manufacturing, education, entertainment, government, hospitality, insurance, medical, real estate and retail.

  • Organizational responsibilities defined
  • Metric process, design, and definition of 540 specific objective metrics
  • 83 sample metric reports - includes over 240 of 540 objective metrics
  • Graphic data presentation rules
  • A full metric report package is defined - a template you can use right away
  • Wireless metrics examples are featured
  • Updated to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley

Sample Metrics Reports in Graphic Format

IT Performance MetricsIT Performance Metrics

IT Performance MetricsIT Performance Metrics

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