They enable IT teams to identify areas that require improvement, optimize processes, and align services with strategic goals. KPIs also facilitate communication with stakeholders by offering clear, quantifiable data that can justify investments and demonstrate value. Moreover, they can help predict potential service disruptions, allowing for proactive management and minimizing downtime, which is essential for maintaining business continuity and enhancing customer satisfaction. In summary, KPIs are indispensable tools for continuous improvement and accountability within IT Service Management.
KPI |
Definition
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Business Insights [?]
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Measurement Approach
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Standard Formula
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Asset Utilization Rate More Details |
The degree to which IT assets are being used relative to their potential.
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Helps in understanding the efficiency of asset allocation and usage within IT services.
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Tracks the proportion of total assets actively being used to generate value, as opposed to underused or idle assets.
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(Total Active Assets / Total Available Assets) * 100
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- Increasing asset utilization rate may indicate improved operational efficiency or increased demand for IT services.
- Decreasing rate could signal underutilized assets or potential issues in resource allocation.
- Are there specific IT assets that consistently show low utilization?
- How does our asset utilization rate compare with industry benchmarks or similar organizations?
- Implement asset tracking and monitoring systems to identify underutilized resources.
- Consider reallocating resources based on usage patterns to optimize asset utilization.
- Regularly review and update IT asset management policies and procedures to ensure efficient utilization.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing the trend of asset utilization rate over time.
- Pie charts to visualize the distribution of asset utilization across different categories or departments.
- Low asset utilization may lead to increased operational costs and reduced return on investment.
- High asset utilization without proper maintenance and upgrades may lead to performance degradation and increased downtime.
- Asset management software such as ServiceNow or SolarWinds to track and analyze asset utilization.
- Monitoring tools like Nagios or Zabbix to continuously assess the performance of IT assets.
- Integrate asset utilization data with IT service desk systems to identify potential resource constraints impacting service delivery.
- Link asset utilization metrics with financial systems to understand the cost implications of underutilized assets.
- Improving asset utilization can lead to cost savings and better resource allocation, but may require initial investment in monitoring and management tools.
- Reduced asset utilization may impact service levels and user satisfaction, affecting overall IT performance and reputation.
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Availability of Key Services More Details |
The percentage of time that key IT services are available and operational.
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Provides insight into the reliability and robustness of essential IT services.
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Measures the percentage of time that critical services are fully operational and available to users.
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(Total Uptime of Key Services / Total Time) * 100
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- An increasing availability of key services may indicate improved infrastructure or proactive maintenance efforts.
- A decreasing availability could signal aging technology, increased demand, or inadequate support resources.
- Are there specific services that are consistently unavailable or experiencing downtime?
- How does the availability of key services align with SLA targets or industry standards?
- Invest in robust monitoring and alerting systems to quickly identify and address service disruptions.
- Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms to minimize the impact of potential outages.
- Regularly review and update maintenance schedules to minimize service disruptions during peak usage times.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing the availability percentage of key services over time.
- Pie charts comparing the distribution of service downtime across different categories or departments.
- Low availability of key services can lead to productivity losses and negative impacts on business operations.
- Consistently high downtime may indicate systemic issues that require significant investment to resolve.
- IT service management platforms like ServiceNow or BMC Helix to track and analyze service availability metrics.
- Network monitoring tools such as SolarWinds or Nagios to proactively identify potential service disruptions.
- Integrate service availability data with incident management systems to streamline the resolution of service disruptions.
- Link availability metrics with capacity planning to ensure that infrastructure can support demand without compromising service levels.
- Improving service availability can enhance employee productivity and customer satisfaction, leading to potential business growth.
- However, investments in redundancy and failover mechanisms may increase operational costs in the short term.
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Average Cost of Downtime More Details |
The average cost incurred by the organization for each minute of IT service downtime.
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Reveals the financial impact of service interruptions, emphasizing the importance of system reliability.
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Accounts for lost revenue, productivity, and recovery costs associated with service outages.
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Total Downtime Cost / Total Number of Outages
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- An increasing average cost of downtime may indicate a rise in IT service disruptions or longer resolution times.
- A decreasing cost could signal improved incident management processes or investments in redundancy and failover capabilities.
- What are the primary causes of IT service downtime and how can they be mitigated?
- Are there specific systems or applications that contribute significantly to the average cost of downtime?
- Invest in proactive monitoring and predictive maintenance to identify and address potential issues before they cause downtime.
- Implement robust backup and disaster recovery solutions to minimize the impact of service disruptions.
- Regularly review and update incident response and resolution procedures to reduce downtime costs.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing the trend of average cost of downtime over time.
- Pareto charts to identify the most significant contributors to downtime costs.
- High average cost of downtime can lead to financial losses and damage to the organization's reputation.
- Chronic or increasing costs may indicate systemic issues in IT infrastructure or operations that require immediate attention.
- IT service management platforms like ServiceNow or BMC Helix can provide comprehensive insights into downtime costs and trends.
- Monitoring and alerting tools such as Nagios or SolarWinds can help in identifying and addressing potential causes of downtime.
- Integrate average cost of downtime data with incident and problem management systems to prioritize and address root causes effectively.
- Link with financial systems to understand the direct impact of downtime costs on the organization's bottom line.
- Reducing the average cost of downtime can lead to improved operational efficiency and cost savings, but may require upfront investments in technology and processes.
- Conversely, high downtime costs can affect employee productivity, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.
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CORE BENEFITS
- 45 KPIs under IT Service Management
- 15,468 total KPIs (and growing)
- 328 total KPI groups
- 75 industry-specific KPI groups
- 12 attributes per KPI
- Full access (no viewing limits or restrictions)
FlevyPro and Stream subscribers also receive access to the KPI Library. You can login to Flevy here.
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Average Handle Time (AHT) More Details |
The average amount of time taken by IT support staff to handle a ticket or incident from start to finish.
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Indicates the efficiency of service desk agents and can highlight areas for process improvement.
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Includes the total duration of the interaction, hold time, and follow-up related to IT service requests or incidents.
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(Total Talk Time + Total Hold Time + Total Follow-Up Time) / Total Number of Calls
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- An increasing AHT may indicate growing complexity of IT issues or a lack of adequate training for support staff.
- A decreasing AHT could signal improved efficiency in resolving IT incidents or the successful implementation of automation tools.
- Are there specific types of IT incidents that consistently take longer to resolve?
- How does our AHT compare with industry benchmarks or best practices?
- Provide additional training or resources for IT support staff to handle complex incidents more efficiently.
- Implement automation tools for routine IT incident resolution to reduce manual handling time.
- Regularly review and update IT processes and workflows to identify and eliminate bottlenecks.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing the trend of AHT over time to identify performance shifts.
- Stacked bar charts comparing AHT by different IT incident types to pinpoint areas of improvement.
- High AHT can lead to user frustration and decreased productivity, impacting overall business operations.
- Consistently low AHT may indicate rushed or incomplete incident resolution, leading to recurring IT issues.
- IT service management platforms like ServiceNow or Jira to track and analyze AHT for different incident types.
- Performance monitoring tools to identify potential bottlenecks in IT incident resolution processes.
- Integrate AHT tracking with incident management systems to prioritize and allocate resources effectively.
- Link AHT data with user satisfaction surveys to understand the impact of IT incident resolution on end-users.
- Reducing AHT can lead to improved user satisfaction and increased productivity, but may require additional resources or technology investments.
- Conversely, a consistently high AHT can strain IT resources and impact overall IT service quality and reliability.
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Capacity Utilization Rate More Details |
The extent to which IT capacity meets current and future demands.
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Highlights how effectively IT resources are being used and can indicate when scaling is necessary.
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Measures the percentage of computing or service capacity that is being utilized compared to total available capacity.
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(Total Used Capacity / Total Available Capacity) * 100
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- An increasing capacity utilization rate may indicate that current IT capacity is not meeting the growing demands of the organization.
- A decreasing rate could signal improved capacity planning and management or a decline in demand for IT services.
- Are there specific IT services or resources that are consistently at or near full capacity?
- How does our capacity utilization rate align with projected growth in IT demands?
- Regularly assess and forecast IT capacity needs to proactively address potential bottlenecks.
- Implement scalable infrastructure and cloud-based solutions to adapt to fluctuating capacity requirements.
- Optimize resource allocation and utilization through workload balancing and virtualization technologies.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing capacity utilization rates over time to identify trends and potential capacity constraints.
- Stacked bar charts comparing capacity utilization across different IT services or departments.
- High capacity utilization rates can lead to performance degradation and increased risk of service disruptions.
- Insufficient capacity can hinder business operations and limit the organization's ability to innovate and grow.
- IT capacity planning and management tools such as VMware vRealize Operations or Turbonomic for real-time capacity optimization.
- Cloud management platforms like AWS CloudWatch or Microsoft Azure Monitor for monitoring and scaling cloud resources.
- Integrate capacity utilization data with incident management systems to identify correlations between capacity issues and service disruptions.
- Link capacity planning with project management tools to align IT capacity with upcoming initiatives and resource requirements.
- Improving capacity utilization can enhance IT service delivery and support business growth, but may require initial investment in infrastructure and technologies.
- On the other hand, high capacity utilization rates can strain IT resources, impacting service quality and user satisfaction.
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Change Failure Rate More Details |
The percentage of changes that fail and cause an incident or a degradation of service after being applied to the live environment.
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Assesses the quality and success of change management processes.
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Tracks the percentage of changes that lead to failures in the IT environment.
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(Number of Failed Changes / Total Number of Changes) * 100
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- An increasing change failure rate may indicate a lack of thorough testing or poor implementation processes.
- A decreasing rate could signal improvements in change management practices or better communication among IT teams.
- Are there specific types of changes that consistently result in failures?
- How does our change failure rate compare with industry benchmarks or best practices?
- Implement more robust testing procedures before deploying changes to the live environment.
- Enhance communication and coordination among different IT teams involved in change management.
- Provide additional training or resources for IT staff to improve their change implementation skills.
Visualization Suggestions [?]
- Line charts showing the change failure rate over time to identify trends and patterns.
- Pareto charts to highlight the most common types of changes that result in failures.
- A high change failure rate can lead to service disruptions, increased downtime, and potential financial losses.
- Frequent change failures may indicate underlying issues in the IT infrastructure or lack of adherence to best practices.
- Change management software like ServiceNow or Jira to track and analyze change success rates.
- Automated testing tools to ensure thorough and efficient testing of changes before deployment.
- Integrate change failure rate data with incident management systems to quickly address and resolve any service disruptions.
- Link with project management tools to better understand the impact of changes on ongoing projects and initiatives.
- Reducing the change failure rate can lead to improved service reliability and customer satisfaction.
- However, overly cautious measures to reduce the failure rate may slow down the pace of innovation and improvement in IT services.
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In selecting the most appropriate IT Service Management KPIs from our KPI Library for your organizational situation, keep in mind the following guiding principles:
It is also important to remember that the only constant is change—strategies evolve, markets experience disruptions, and organizational environments also change over time. Thus, in an ever-evolving business landscape, what was relevant yesterday may not be today, and this principle applies directly to KPIs. We should follow these guiding principles to ensure our KPIs are maintained properly:
By systematically reviewing and adjusting our IT Service Management KPIs, we can ensure that your organization's decision-making is always supported by the most relevant and actionable data, keeping the organization agile and aligned with its evolving strategic objectives.