Step 3: gathering data

Gathering data requires having some form of monitoring that keeps quality as the key objective.

The emphasis is not on assuring realtime service performance, rather it is on identifying where improvements can be made.

This been said, the Continual Service Improvement process is unlikely to need, or be able to cope with, the vast quantities of data that are produced by all monitoring tools and you'll have to focus on a specific subset of monitoring at any given time.

Keep your monitoring plan dynamic and pointing to priorities, you may need to investigate an activity one quarter and a completely different one the quarter.

Let's differentiate 3 categories of metrics:
• Technology metrics: these metrics are often associated with component
and application based metrics such as performance, availability etc.
• Process metrics: these metrics are captured in the form of CSFs, KPIs
and activity metrics for the service management processes. These metrics
can help determine the overall health of a process.
• Service metrics: these metrics are the results of the end-to-end service.

Exceptions and alerts need to be considered during the monitoring activity as they can serve as early warning indicators that services are breaking down.

Inputs to this step:
• New business requirements
• Existing SLAs
• Existing monitoring and data capture capability
• Availability and Capacity Plans
• Service improvement plans
• Previous trend analysis reports
• List of what you should measure
• List of what you can measure
• Gap analysis report
• List of what to measure
• Customer satisfaction surveys

Outputs from this step:
• Updated Availability and Capacity Plans
• Monitoring procedures
• Identified tools to use
• Monitoring plan
• Input on IT capability
• Collection of data
• Agreement on the integrity of the data