One often hears commentators and advisors talk about governance in the context of both shared services and outsourcing. It is a topic which I am very interested in…Service Level Management is part of governance – but what are the other key repeatable tasks that form part of governance? We have been looking at our SLA Management tool roadmap and wondering what additional governance tasks we should include. I have listed some of the key shared services governance and outsourcing governance areas that I can think of. I would really welcome additions to the list…
Communication - agreed communication lines and processes between the client and service provider. This needs to be agreed at both an operational and a strategic level. Is this process clear in your organisation? Are the people named? Is there a timetable of meetings? Do they always take place? Is there a standing agenda for meetings? Should there be?
Issue Management – Very often operational issues are very effectively managed – but what about broader services issues- the combination of factors that turns the service metrics red – how are these issues captured, tracked and resolved? Is there an agreed process or tool – should there be?
Reporting - is there formal reporting in place between client and service provider? Does the service reporting take place as agreed – i.e. do the reports contain updates on the agreed performance metrics and are they delivered at the agreed time? Is reporting considered to be important? Do SLAs and formal metrics just destroy goodwill and trust?
Change process – what is the process for making changes to service levels, services or even service metrics? Are they reviewed regularly? Is it clear what process would need to followed – how long does it take to make a change?
Becnhmarking- is benchmarking part of governance? How often should outsourcing deals and shared services organisation be benchmarked? Is there any real value in it or are all organisations really just too different to compare in a meaningful way? Is benchmarking an ad hoc activity or have some organisations actually built it into the governance process?
I am interested in expanding on some of these topics to build out both the SLA Management tool and the SLA toolkit - if you have some insights or info you would like to share then please let me know.
