Six Sigma provides a quantitative methodology of continuous (process) improvement and cost reduction, by reducing the amount of variation in process outcomes.
The production of a product, be it a tangible product like a car or a more abstract product like a service, consists of a series of processes. All processes consist of a series of steps, events, or activities. Six Sigma measures every step of the process by breaking apart the elements within each process, identifying the critical characteristics, defining and mapping the related processes, understanding the capability of each process, discovering the weak links, and then upgrading the capability of the process. It is only by taking these steps that a business can raise the ‘high-water mark’ of its performance.
IT is now a fundamental part of business and business processes; this book demonstrates how IT can be made to work as an enabler to better business processes, and how the Six Sigma approach can be used to provide a consistent framework for measuring process outcomes.
ITIL defines the ‘what’ of Service Management; Six Sigma defines the "how" process improvement; together they are a perfect fit of improving the quality of IT service delivery and support. The Six Sigma approach also provides measures of process outcomes, and prescribes a consistent approach in how to use these metrics.
This is the first book to provide a coherent view and guidance for using the Six Sigma approach successfully in IT service organisations. It particularly aims to merge ITIL and Six Sigma into a single approach for continuous improvement of IT service organisations.
“Six Sigma is built on principles and methods that have proven themselves over the twentieth century. It has incorporated the most effective approaches and integrated them into a full programme. It offers a management structure for organizing continuous improvement of routine tasks and a method for carrying out improvement projects effectively. This book describes the manner in which Six Sigma may be integrated with ITIL. The result is a very readable book with a lot of practical examples.”
Prof.dr. R.J.M.M. Does, Managing Director IBIS UvA BV, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
"Quality management has played a major role in the success of many organizations across the world for decades. Today, increasing reliance on IT to run a business efficiently creates a need for IT to embrace new modern quality methods such as Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a powerful and flexible process improvement methodology that is very applicable to IT.
It provides businesses with the tools to improve the capability of their IT processes."
Dr. Jean Couillard, Ph.D., School of Management / École de gestion, University of Ottawa, Canada
“The documented connection of ITIL and Six Sigma - we waited for it very long and the result is worth reading for beginners as for advanced ITIL and Six Sigma practitioners.”
Dipl.-Kfm. Ulrich Erik Redmann, Vattenfall Europe Information Services GmbH, Germany
“The practical and pragmatic approach that has been described in this publication will significantly contribute to the ease of use when simultaneously applying the concepts of both ITSM and Six Sigma.”
Mart Rovers, President InterProm USA Corporation, USA
“I think this book is an ideal starting point for practitioners and those who want to become a practitioner. It is the best available collection and combination of IT Service Management and Six Sigma that exists today.”
Andreas Gräf, Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Germany
“…the multitude of case examples contribute to make it easier for the reader to understand the material.”
Steve Tremblay, B.Sc., PMP, President of Excelsa Technologies Consulting Inc., Ottawa, Canada
The IT Service Management Forum (ITSMF) is a not-for-profit organization that is principally operated by its membership and is a major influence on and contributor to Industry Best Practices and Standards in the field of IT Service Management across the world. It is in no way linked to any institution, company or product and is wholly owned by its members.
The International ITSMF organization, through its International Publications Executive Sub-Committee (IPESC), comprised of a council of members from global ITSMF chapters has given its formal ITSMF International endorsement to this book
