MTTR (Mean time to repair) Metric is widely used metric in IT service management operations irrespective of contractual agreement type.
However, in fixed price contract, this metric creates an illusion for service providers that all is well.
The hidden risks associated with the below two points are
1)MTTR metric focuses on Mean time to repair- it does not give actual time spent on restoring/repairing each and every incident(as its fixed price contract)
2) Calculating MTTR does not mean that the incident is fixed with permanent solution. So there is no empirical evidence to state that less MTTR increases customer satisfaction level under fixed price contract.
Let us analyze the above points to understand more.
MTTR focuses on mean time to repair only, so the metrics like priority 1 MTTR and Priority 2 MTTR focuses on average time to restore the incidents.
Some service providers define agreement with customers like, problem record can be created for priority one incidents only. Literally this means, service provider keeps on restoring the incident irrespective of repeatability by never thinking “why the incident occurred”. Since, the Why part is Problem management’s responsibility and as per the agreement they don’t think “why” the incident occurring for Priority 2, 3,4 incidents.
So, the inner meaning of the above agreement in the words of service provider looks like below..
Service provider- We think “why” the incident occurred for Priority One incidents only? And we never think “why” the incident occurred for Priority2, 3, 4 incidents
Since, customers would not realize the true difference between an incident management and problem management benefits; they sign the contract and accepts such type of SLA with service provider.
Some smart customers realizes the pitfall of the agreement After few months of experiencing the service from the service provider, As a result, either they demand for contractual revision or raise every incident as an priority one incident by intimidating the service provider of withdrawing the contract.
Below scenario better explains how this leads to customer dissatisfaction and business loss.
Scenario:-
Customer raises a priority 2(SLA 120 Minutes) incident through service desk stating that the users(around250) are not unable to access the application.
IT Infrastructure support technician(service provider) reboots the server within 15 minutes (with the best intention of saving SLA of 2 hours) for better look of MTTR Metric and his individual ranking, Incident management teams ITIL force.
Let’s assume that overall MTTR for that incident is just 30 minutes and customer is happy
After a month….
Customer reports again stating that the users not able to access the application then service desk logs priority two incident
This time, IT Infrastructure support technician reboots the server within 15 minutes (with the best intention of saving SLA of 2 hours) for better look of MTTR Metric and his individual ranking, Incident management teams ITIL force.
Let’s assume now that the overall MTTR is just 20 minutes and customer is satisfied
Incident management prepares a report stating that the MTTR of Priority 2 is within control and reduced (Incident management team receives internal awards, rewards for this achievement)
After a month…..
Customer raises an incident again stating that he is unable to access the application then service desk logs an incident and this time customer demands that they want it Priority one incident (SLA 1hr). Service providers somehow manages the customer and ensures that the incident raised is Priority 2
IT Infrastructure support team reboots the server and the service restores within 5 minutes
Now, Let’s assume that overall MTTR is just about 10 minutes and customer is fine
After a month or two months….again this would repeat……………………
However,If you notice the level of customer satisfaction it actually degraded (from happy àfine) incident by incident over time. This satisfaction transformation(From HappyàFine) level is invaluable and produce adverse impact in business expansions, Contract renewals etc
Consolidating all the MTTR time from the first incident to last occurred incident is below..
First time MTTR – 30 mins
Second time MTTR – 20 mins
Third time MTTR – 10 mins
Fourth time MTTR – 5 mins
Fifth time, sixth time…..and so on….
Result = 65 minutes of total outage + customer dissatisfaction
Unfortunately, “Customer dissatisfaction” the most valuable intangible metric is ignored and hidden. The only visible figures in Service provider weekly report, monthly report is the MTTR for Priority 2 incidents. Which in this case just 16 Mins(average of above 4 incident’s MTTR). Internal awards, rewards continues..
=========
If the infrastructure team utilizes the SLA(customer agreed SLA) completely in the first instance then he would have identified a solution or at least a work around instead of simply rebooting the server as a solution.
Ideal Result =120 minutes (2hrs)of MTTR + permanent fix + Customer satisfaction
Remember that, the SLAs that we are following is once already agreed by customer which means he had accepted already to tolerate certain level of outages in the service. So its up to service provider to best utilize the SLA to provide right fix at right first time.
Here, we are not breaching the SLAs to implement permanent fix and achieve customer satisfaction. The key point here is to think interms of increasing the value for customer and keeping customer satisfaction in mind when resolving any priority type incident irrespective of Priority. Which would help in retaining the customer and results committed relationship with customer…recalling Deming’s Quote -Profit in business comes from repeated customer. Customers that boast about your project or service, and that brings friends with them.
Right first time itself, Utilize the service level agreement time properly by focusing on customer satisfaction, Permanent fix instead of your internal metric called MTTR(mean time to repair) As it’s a fixed price contract you do not get any benefit of focusing on MTTR metric
