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ITIL :: View topic - ESCALATION STANDARDS OF INCIDENT
Joined: Jan 03, 2007 Posts: 189 Location: Redmond, WA
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: ESCALATION STANDARDS OF INCIDENT
tse54re wrote:
We are in a heavy debate about "Escalation" of incidents. Our HD provider is insisting that ITIL standards say that :
1. Each Incident only has two levels of escalation before being escalated to a manager ...
This is the difference between Functional Escalation and Hierarchical Escalation. Functional Escalation is where you transfer incidents between functional IT groups. Hierarchical Escalation is where you escalate up the management chain.
ITIL says that the Functional Escalations should be based on lack of knowledge, expertise, or time intervals as defined in the SLA/OLA that all parties agree to. ITIL has no definition as to how many Functional Escalations are appropriate.
I used to measure the number of Functional Escalations and used it as a metric to keep my eye on the Incident process. I can tell you from experience that 21 (the most I ever measured) is probably too many. But you may have an organization that requires three Functional Escalations on any "typical" incident. In which case five Functional Escalations may not be unreasonable.
Hierarchical Escalation can take place at any moment (from the Incident's inception to 6 months down the road). It occurs whenever it is decided that the resolution of the incident will not take place in a satisfactory time period, or in the case of needing additional authority (think of it in terms of purchasing power or management decisions) to resolve the incident.
(section 5.3.3 of Support Service book).
tse54re wrote:
1. Each Support person only have 1 contact number instead of two
I am not sure that I know what you mean by "Each Support person only have 1 contact number instead of 2". If by this you mean 1 phone number, then I disagree. IT technicians can have a desk phone number, a cell number, and a pager number (and a voice mail number, and a home number, a "call here because sometimes I hang out at this coffee house" number, etc, etc). There is no ITIL rule that any member of the IT Staff only have one phone number.
The only rule ITIL specifies is that the Users have one phone number to contact IT. That one phone number that Users call is number of the Service Desk.
tse54re wrote:
2. That incidents should be escalated in 15 minutes to the next level/support rep.
ITIL does not say in any way what the time period should be for escalations. This is defined by the Business based upon their requirements and the Priority of the Incident (and the SLAs that have been agreed to by IT and the Business).
tse54re wrote:
Are these really ITIL standards ?
To answer your questions in order:
No, I don't think so, and No.
Hope that helps.
Don
PS. If you don't mind my asking, what HD Provider is trying to pass off their business practices as ITIL standards?
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