Communicating unplanned service outage

[ok_kao]

Should that section be included in an annual review document. most IT folks would probably say no...
but i 'm asking you guys for your opinion...what would be the best business practise?
it would be good to let users know that SharePoint for e.g. became suddenly unavailable due to technical difficulties etc...and would resume shortly..via email

...sort of like that frozen lady with the hat and surrounded by beautiful flowers on tv when there was a stand-by notice when our tv stations became untransmittable...for those of you "old" enough to remember...
_________________
Mike
Service Management Coordinator

[Diarmid]

Mike,

I can't see how to answer that question except that it all depends on the purpose, flavour and culture behind your annual review document.

Unplanned outages will, of course, figure large in service review meetings with your customers and also in internal performance review and continual improvement activities at the very least.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[UKVIKING]

Diarmid has it right. It depends

The other thing to consider. What do your users expect desire or want.

If your service (sharepoint) is reliable or unreliable, sending email to oodles of staff about it can be counterproductive

if you have a IT home page where outages are posted then this may suffice

... and what if email or web services are down.. how do you tell them

on the phone number as an announcement
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Diarmid]

Just picking up the second point. E-mail is not an instant access means of communication like the telephone. People may not see an e-mail message for minutes, hours, days or weeks after it is sent. How long do you expect the outage to last?

Where I used to work, I once received an e-mail announcing a meeting in half an hour. When I came out of my other meeting an hour later it was a bit late even to usefully decline.

If you want to tell someone something and know that they have heard and understood, you need a response. This can be achieved on a telephone if they pick up or face to face if they are at least half awake, both within seconds, or it can be achieved by e-mail, letter, internal memorandum or go-between and you may never find out if the information was received.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[UKVIKING]

Diarmid,

But of course. Email is not instant

If the Sharepoint application had a holding page when the service was out.. this would be good enough for some
if the general it department had an open incident/ outage page , this will satisfiy some others
if the help desk had an automated message when you rang,

'if you are calling about...., there is an inciden #### about this. Next update is at .....' and update it regularly

this will satisfy others

If you send email... this will satisify some more

if you send some to each office as an outage crier - like the 17th town criers

Third floor - email is down
Fourth floor - email is down still
fifth floor, elevator is down so i aint walking to the 6-10th floor and emai is down

this will satisfy some more people

but no matter what choice you make .. some one will not be happy
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Diarmid]

[ok_kao]

[Diarmid]

Mike,

the question occurs: why is the service in a position to determine what it tells the business about the quality of service delivery?

The kind of review you describe is about governance. Top management should determine (dictate?) what performance indicators they wish to keep an eye on.

I would have thought that unexpected loss 9or even reduction) of service would be of primary interest to them.

They would want to know why it happened, how much it cost, whether it has occurred more than once, what has/is/can be done to prevent it in future.

If service is good, it will look good while reporting to these questions because there will be little to report and you will demonstrate your control and confidence by your analysis of, improvement actions for, the odd aberrant situation that has arisen..
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[UKVIKING]

6 9s - wow that is impressive because on a 5 9s 24x7 service

that equates to 5 mintes 15 second down time
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Diarmid]

I guess one good outage would set that back a year or three.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718