Plan for addressing deficiencies in delivery

Purpose:

A plan that documents the measures to be adopted to improve service delivery to the agreed level (agreement should be between service provider and service receiver/the customer department.)

Fitness for purpose checklist:

• Is the plan achievable?
• Are the deficiencies clearly documented?
• Are the improvement measures appropriate to meet the stated delivery requirements?
• Does the plan address the stated situation in a timely, affordable, effective, consistent way?

Suggested content:

• Plan description: brief description of the scope of the activity, planning assumptions, pre-requisites and constraints
• Information concerning the improvement to be achieved (and how this will be measured to show it has been achieved)
• Activity Network or overall schedule information
• Information on key (outcomes and/or products) and/or Benefits (dis benefits) expected
• Budgetary information
• Table of resource requirements. Resource allocation may be dependent on contracts- in this case details of contracts should be included
• Risks and Issues
• Plan owner

Source information:

• Information of the service deficiencies. Associated information may exist in a Service Level Agreement, Risk Register (or Risk Log) or Service Delivery Plan
• Knowledge of planning processes (e.g. covering understanding required outcome, skills and resource availability)
• Organisational policies (e.g. on security, safety, management of risk, procurement/contracts)

Notes:
Improvements would include such developments as

• Improved customer satisfaction, as measured by independent surveys
• More efficient ways of providing the specified service
• Useful additions to the service
• Removal of unused aspects of the service
• Technological advances which would provide a cheaper or more effective service
• Changes to working practices/procedures in either the customer or the supplier organisation

Further information:

See briefings on coordinating service management; managing contracts and performance; guidelines on managing contracts. See also: document outline for plans for contract improvement; Gateway workbook 5 : Benefits evaluation.

Management of Risk: Guidelines

Management of Risk: Guidance for Practitioners

Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

IT Service Management

OGC's Achieving Excellence Guides