Alain Renault

A Quality Measurement Framework for IT Services

Our research aims to evaluate the impact of process improvement on IT service quality by conducting a series of studies in industry. In order to do that we first establish a framework for IT service quality measures and indicators. Stemming from the fact that you cannot improve what you cannot measure, this paper proposes IT service quality measures. We adapt two widely known quality measurement frameworks of software engineering to IT services. We apply the software product quality model described in ISO/IEC 25010 and the quality measurement framework of Practical Software and Systems Measurement to the IT service quality attributes, which are derived from ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000 and SERVQUAL. As a result of the study, we will have IT service quality measures that industry can collect in order to evaluate their progress.

Towards a Process Assessment Model for Management System Standards

Certification to management system standards is more and more attractive for organisations, and many companies are today certified according to several of them (e.g., ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001, etc.). However, in this case, it is a remaining challenge to optimise the system in place by mutualising as much as possible the different processes required by the various management systems, and thus improving the integrated overall system. In order to fill this gap, this paper presents how a process assessment model for management system standards has been built. It is based on the High Level Structure proposed by ISO, which defines a set of common requirements for management system standards. This process assessment model will provide the core content and could be the basis of all the future process assessment models that will be developed to assess domain-specific management systems.

A Maturity Model for ISO/IEC 20000-1 Based on the TIPA for ITIL Process Capability Assessment Model

The growing adoption of ISO/IEC 20000-1 raises the need for the IT service management community that has been applying the IT Infrastructure Library best practices for many years to position their organizations against the requirements of this standard. We have designed an ITIL-based maturity model that guides organizations on their way to an ISO/IEC 20000-1 certification while enabling them to understand their readiness to ISO/IEC 20000 certification. The model has been designed applying an extended transformation process for maturity and process assessment models design and engineering. It is compliant with the ISO/IEC 33000 series that defines the requirements for maturity model and is based on the TIPA for ITIL process model. The paper presents a detailed view on the maturity model and discusses its adequacy for evaluating the ISO/IEC 20000 certification readiness.

Development of a Process Assessment Model for Assessing Medical IT Networks against IEC 80001-1

Increasingly medical devices are being designed to allow them to exchange information over an IT network. However incorporating a medical device into an IT network can introduce risks which can impact the safety, effectiveness and security of the medical device. Medical devices are stringently tested according to regulation during the design and manufacture process. However until the introduction of IEC 80001-1: Application of Risk Management for IT-Networks incorporating Medical Devices, no standard addressed the risks of incorporating a medical device into an IT network. In order to perform an assessment (which is compliant with ISO/IEC 15504-2) of an IT network against IEC 80001-1, a Process Assessment Model is required. Based on the relationship between IEC 80001-1 and ISO/IEC 20000-1, this paper examines how the TIPA transformation process developed by Public Research Centre Henri Tudor was used to develop a process assessment model (TIPA PAM) for ISO/IEC 20000-1. It also examines how a process assessment model can be developed following that transformation process to assess Medical IT networks against IEC 80001-1.

Towards a Maturity Model for ISO/IEC 20000-1 Based on the TIPA for ITIL Process Capability Assessment Model

Since the publication of ISO/IEC 15504-7 (“Assessment of organizational maturity”) in 2008, there have been few known instances of development of ISO compliant Organizational Maturity Models. As more and more Management Systems standards documenting requirements on processes from various fields of activity are being developed, maturity models can be used as a means to support organizations’ route to compliance, and to understand their readiness to certification. This article outlines the design and engineering of a maturity model for ITSM (IT Service Management), targeting compliance to the ISO/IEC 20000-1. The design and engineering of the maturity model artefact has followed and fulfils ISO/IEC 15504-7 and ISO/IEC 33004 requirements for Organizational Maturity Models. These works extend the Transformation Process for Process Assessment Models Design and Engineering with Maturity Model activities.

Organizational Support for Process Improvement – Results of an International Survey

Organizational support for process improvement initiatives is vital to the success of these improvements. This paper describes and explores the steps of supporting process improvements described in the new international standard ISO/IEC 33014 that is currently being developed.

Development of the Project Management SPICE (PMSPICE) Framework

This paper proposes the development of a project management process assessment framework (PMSPICE). The paper describes three stages for the construction of the proposed PMSPICE process models. PMSPICE will include a process reference model (PRM), a process assessment model (PAM) and an organizational maturity model (OMM). The PMSPICE PRM is based on the project management processes defined in the ISO 21500 standard. The PMSPICE PAM will be used to perform ISO/IEC 15504 conformant assessments of the project management process capability in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 15504-2. The processes also support compliance with OMM established in ISO/IEC TR 15504-7.

Impact Analysis of Process Improvement on IT Service Quality

Process improvement focuses primarily on the improvement of process management and not explicitly on the improvement of the intrinsic qualities of a service or a product. Similarly to the lack of studies concerning calculations of ROI in process improvement, there is a lack of studies evaluating the impact of process improvement on the intrinsic qualities of products and/or services. The customers are more interested in the quality of the product or service and less in the speed of development or automation of processes. This paper highlights why it is necessary to investigate the impact of process improvement on IT service qualityand describes how the listed research questions will be addressed.

A software artefact to support standard-based process assessment: Evolution of the TIPA® framework in a design science research project

Abstract Managing processes remain a key challenge for most organizations which need to preserve competitiveness. Process assessment frameworks can help by providing instruments guiding process improvement and regulation alignment. Several process assessment frameworks such as TIPA® are based on the ISO Process assessment standard series ISO/IEC 15504, currently revised in the ISO/IEC 330xx family of standards. Following a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, this paper visits the TIPA Framework evolution throughout iterative cycles in terms of design, rigour and relevance. It investigates how original and new artefacts are being developed and improved, in particular the new strategic move towards the automation of the assessment process represented by a new software artefact. By demonstrating the evolution of the TIPA framework using a DSR perspective combined with Action Design Research for the new software artefact, this paper explicates design knowledge regarding the role and value of the framework within the ISO standards community and in practice.

Measuring Readiness for Compliance: A Gap Analysis Tool to Complete the TIPA Process Assessment Framework

The combination of conformity and process assessment is gaining interest among business organizations, and the IT Service Management (ITSM) field is no exception to this trend. We have designed a Gap Analysis tool enabling to translate the identified requirement gaps into a process perspective. The tool is based on the proces map from the Process Assessment Model (PAM) built on the same requirements set to provide the process view, and so it creates correlations and offers interesting complementarities with the related PAM. The Proof of Concept presented in this paper validates the design of such a tool. It opens the door to its application to the IT Service Management field and, in particular, its integration within the current Tudor’s IT Process Assessment (TIPA) framework.