Ardour consulting: Often problems in the transition from the development to the application support the transfer of software development in the application support leads in practice to substantial problems, because both areas with different objectives and the employees responsible for the operation of the solution will not be included in the development. The creation of an adequate approach to support is one of the typical difficulties here. The critical phase of the service enabling for a solution is, if she reached after the development phase in new responsibilities,”explains Andreas Selchow, consultant at ardour consulting. The trade page is not for in the obligation to take, but unless task of the application support, to provide for the operations. This is not possible without a clear conceptual planning of support, still is in the adoption of the solution of the development often waived”, Selchow describes a central cause for problems later.
Starting point such a conceptualization is the sighting of all project documentation submitted by the Development Department for him. They must be extended according to the requirements of the application support, by analyzing the provided documentation on changes compared to the previous solution. For the data structures and interfaces as well as the applications and data flows are to look at, but also the changes in the procedural terms and conditions of the applications must be analyzed”the ardour consultant describes the task. The information in the manuals, architectural and other documentation are basis for the comparison. To answer various questions are his recommendations after: what consequences for the daily operational changes? What must change in the handling of errors and function extensions? How quickly tickets that are available with the new solution (new customer, new application), and to be mapped correctly? Where are the specifications necessary for troubleshooting? The consequences resulting from the changes for the daily work must be incorporated in the manuals or manuals. A summary in the form of a film set of that takes into account also the information to the operational departments of any external provider is beneficial. The core of the support concept is a complete and unambiguous description of the fault disposal process, the process for functional enhancements and the procedures in troubleshooting,”explains Selchow.
He relates this to the process structure and performance monitoring using appropriate performance measurement systems, as well as on the use of process-supporting tools. In addition also the communication and meeting structures should represented in operation. The establishment of a change Advisory Board (CAB), which supports the change manager in the evaluation, definition of priorities and time planning, can be be as advantageous Selchow’s experience in practice. Also he, workshops with the key users of the specialist departments, recommends that to organize the project manager and service provider if necessary. Is the specific processes can with particular attention to the organizational interfaces are played out and determined in the prior problems.” He points to another important aspect, which is derived from the concept of support. It concerns the question of what changes arising for the service levels and service metrics. What relevance is hidden in it, shows the example of a company that outsources its payroll to a service provider.” The operative consequences are, that claims of the Department via the help desk (1st level support) and application support (2nd level) to the service provider (3rd level) be passed. In this case the usual response and solution times no longer apply to the second-level support, but that for the third-level support, what new SLA agreements makes necessary”emphasises Selchow.
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