RFC Reporting Dates

[mnsmith]

Hello

I've got a question for all of the change experts out there.

I have an auto-generated generated report for each month showing the number of changes successfully implemented and (more importantly) the number of changes which failed. These changes are included in the monthly report corresponding to the date the change was implemented and if the change crosses a month boundary, it falls into the month the implementation ends. This is quick straight forward and simple.

In addition each month there are a handful of changes which are rejected or withdrawn. These are also included in the monthly reports but I can't decide which month to include them in.

My question is - should a rejected (or withdrawn) change be included in the report for the month it was raise, the month it was closed or the month it was planned for implemenatin?

I'm not too both which month it gets reported in, as long as it's reported somewhere, so I'm just after your thoughts rather than a definitive answer.

Also, it *someone* tells me it depends or it's up to you, I'll scream

Thanks in advance

Mick
_________________
Mick Smith
Change, Configuration and Release Manager

[SwissTony]

IMHO when they are rejected or withdrawn.

If you've already decided on successful changes being reported on by their implementation date, then it's the logical approach not to revert to the start date for rejected.

Although,. maybe you can buy an ITIL Tool to decide for you

[UKVIKING]

.....listening.......



It Depends
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

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

[UKVIKING]

I track the changes in multiple ways

the month the CR was raised
the month the cr was approved or rejected or withdrawn
the monht the cr was implemented
the month the CR was closed (P I R done)

I use the date fields and also calculate average Life of CR based on type

I use that to determine whether the emergency CR are dealt as they should be - in a quick fashion


the others I look to see patterns

like the board meets weekly and the average time between raising and approving is in months - i look to see if the time is due to incomplete CRs being submitted
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

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

[Diarmid]

Mick,

one answer is SwissTony's month they were rejected, but another is (you're not going to like this!):

It depends on what you want to do with the figures.

...
...
finished screaming?

Okay.

Maybe your report is going to say (explicitly or implied)

"Of all the changes raised in January, 2 were rejected and 1 was withdrawn, twenty four were completed, 1 failed and seven are still on the schedule or being processed."

or

"During February five changes were withdrawn, none were rejected, 12 were completed, 2 failed and 18 were raised of which 7 are ongoing."

What I'm saying is that it needs to be useful in the same way as the other figures in the report. Your third option is less likely unless the gist of your report is to say how far expectations have been met:

"Of the changes expected to be completed during March, 3 were withdrawn, 25 were completed, none failed, two were deferred or put on hold."

On the other hand, if the withdrawn report comes out all on its own, it doesn't really matter which you choose.

Why not do them all? and add John's other categories while you are at it.
_________________
"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

[swansong]

Taking this back to first principles, the purpose of the report is to impart knowledge to the recipients of your report.

So what do they want to know and / or how are they going to use this information?

My experience is that people aren't really bothered as long as:-
1. It is reported somewhere
2. It is reported consistently.

[mnsmith]

[Diarmid]

So toss a coin and stick to the result until someone misunderstands what they are seeing. Then review your decision making process or at least your decision.
_________________
"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

[asrilrm]

Mick,

So my question would be for what purpose you ask our thoughts?
Because you said you're not bothered in what report it is placed, it is up to you, and this implies our famous incantation "it depends".

What I mean is that this indicator would be useful if you set a related KPI, f.e you want to set a quality target but otherwise, it is only a nice to know information.

Cheers,
Asril