Development-to-Operations Lifecycle Assessment

Overview

In the current economic environment, our clients are increasingly faced with a common mandate -- cut costs while maintaining the ability to exceed current and future service level agreements. No matter if you are currently growing or contracting, this is the new filter through which IT Operations will be scrutinized and measured.

The top questions clients initially ask us are "Where do we start the improvement process?", "Where should we focus our efforts to ensure the highest returns?", and "Where are our greatest exposures to risk?".

To answer these and other questions, DTO provides a structured assessment service that:

  • Identifies inefficiencies and bottlenecks (and their specific causes)
  • Identifies areas of risk that could undermine service level agreements
  • Quantifies what each portion of your development-to-operations lifecycle actually costs
  • Identifies and baselines company-specific performance metrics (key performance indicators)
  • Provides an analysis of your organization's operational performance and service delivery capabilities relative to industry best practices
  • Produces a prioritized action plan and roadmap that is ready for immediate execution
  • Builds consensus among teams and conditions the organization for change

From your frontline engineers to your senior managers and all across your application lifecycle, DTO's senior advisory team will identify, analyze, and gain consensus on the issues undermining the efficiency and reliability of your IT operations. Realizing that IT operations is a time-sensitive concern, we are experts at getting the information we need while minimizing the impact on your team's daily activities.

In addition to producing a prioritized action plan, the assessment process provides clear benchmarks against which to evaluate proposed technology, process, and organizational changes.

 

Does your organization need a DTO assessment?

 Can you currently identify with confidence...
 1. What the root problems are in your development-to-operations lifecycle?
 2. How much do these problems actually cost your organization?
 3. What impact new or revamped business offerings will have on your IT organization?
 4. How your organizational capabilities will change as your organization's size or structure changes?
 5. What are you key performance indicators (KPIs) and which way are they trending?
 6. Is there agreement between management's view of the problems and your frontline engineer's views?
 7. If you are achieving industry best practices and benchmarks?
 8. What your critical paths to improvement are and where you will hit roadblocks?
 9. If your current technology roadmap is aligned with business goals and service management capabilities?
 10. Where are your organization's blind spots to risk?

 ...if not, a DTO assessment will deliver the information and improvement plan you need.

 

All of our assessment projects are customized to address the specific business and technical requirements unique to each organization. However, we do follow a general methodology that has been developed through our work for a wide variety of IT organizations. Below you'll find an overview of that general process.

 

Phase 1: Assessment Scoping

 

 

An important part of the assessment process is aligning business and technology goals. During this initial phase we'll work with both business and technology managers to ensure that the correct scope and expectations have been set.

This phase generally includes gaining an initial understanding of the client's current business needs, cost/risk reduction goals, technical infrastructure, and organizational dynamics/structure. Well also work with the client to identify assessment participants and the boundaries of the key processes we will be analyzed.

 

 

Phase 2: Analyze Existing Processes and Practices

 

 

In this phase we conduct electronic surveys and live interviews with key stakeholders across the development-to-operations lifecycle. We build an objective 360° view of the key technical processes and organizational dynamics that come together to form a client's operations.

In this phase we will also examine any formal or informal documentation, communication, or other materials that might shed additional light on the current state of affairs.

From the knowledge acquired, we are able to conduct workflow activity analysis, establish key lifecycle problem definitions, and identify any gaps between the "as-is" situation and reference best practices.

  

Phase 3: Identify and Baseline Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

 

 

In this phase we work with the customer to identify the key performance indicators (KPI) that are core to their specific operations. We also baseline each metric and create a repeatable process for KPI reporting.

The KPI process is an essential one since it results in clear benchmarks against which all proposed improvements will be measured.

 

For more information on the KPI process, see the metrics-driven scorecards page.

 

Phase 4: Results Workshop

 

 

In this phase we conduct one or more results workshops with the key stakeholders and sponsoring managers. These workshops are designed to create consensus around the gaps, risks, and costly inefficiencies uncovered by the assessment process. Solution candidates are then proposed, analyzed, and prioritized.

We then help the client translate these findings into prioritized action items. Of course, the ultimate goal of any assessment is to have clear roadmap with actionable tasks that can be accomplished on a clear timeline with measurable results.

For many of our clients, we also help them present and socialize the assessment results and roadmap with other stakeholders across their company.