HBZS Mining Rescue Services: ITIL In an SME

1.1 Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Tomáš Gurný. I work as an IT manager for OKD, HBZS, a.s. a medium-sized company based in the Czech Republic which specializes in mining rescue services. I have over twenty years of experience within the field of IT from system administration to programming to management. Over the last four years, I have overseen the adoption of ITIL® within my company and I am currently working on building a service catalogue. I achieved my ITIL Expert Certificate in June 2015.

1.2 Describe your organization and the work your team does

OKD, HBZS, a.s. is a joint-stock company. The parent company and sole shareholder is OKD, a.s. the only producer of hard coal in the Czech Republic.

HBZS’ primary responsibility is the rescue of workers and materials from underground or from non-breathable environments such as underwater. Additionally, we have a wide range of ancillary commercial activities.

We provide a non-stop emergency service. Our permanent rescue team consists of 26 rescuers who are permanently on call at our headquarters, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (After seven days, they are rotated). To supplement that, we have an additional reserve of eight rescuers who must be able to reach headquarters within an hour. In 2014, we performed 384 rescues, during which the rescue teams worked a combined total of more than 15,000 hours. On top of that, our rescuers carried out 2,521 non-emergency responses, with a cumulative total of 77,368 working hours.

The expertise of our technical team is also utilized in a wide range of commercial activities, for example, determining the safety of underground buildings, fire prevention, working at height or underwater. Another important task we are involved in is training new rescuers, both for the mine-based rescue services of our parent company, and for external organizations.

Image 1.1 The team conducting a rescue.

Our IT department is a typical internal IT service provider. Our main role involves supporting the activities of the rescue team and providing the system responsible for assembling the correct configuration of staff for each rescue.

In addition, we support the company’s commercial activities through the development of a large scale internal information system based on IBM Notes.

Numerically speaking, we support 184 employees located in one headquarter and ten branches, and overall we ensure the sturdy operation of more than 180 computers, servers and net devices.

2.1 Why ITIL?

Our ITIL story began in 2011. As I recall, at that time, the IT department was in a situation typical of many small to medium-sized businesses, (SMBs).

Even though we had implemented some tools for event and alert detection, and for inventory registration etc. our activity was mostly reactive and ad hoc.

Increasing demands on the IT department led to the need to make our activities more effective. Structuring our activities in a consistent manner was the way forward.

Around that time I became acquainted with the ITIL framework.

I liked it very much, I recognized its power. But I had doubts: does ITIL make sense for an SMB? Is ITIL worth it?

My concerns were that I didn’t have a big team at my disposal and I could not count on the support of upper management at the beginning of our journey.

What convinced me was the fact that the software tools we’d previously developed in-house were very close to the ITIL recommendations.

2.2 How did you plan ITIL's adoption?

2.2.1 First phase

We chose a tool-based approach to ITIL adoption, assuming that structured processes supported by our tools would save both time and resources.

I hoped that the outcome would not only allow a more efficient IT operation, but also convince upper management that ITIL was worth pursuing.

In a short time, we managed to implement six ITIL processes: event and incident management, request fulfilment, change management, service asset and configuration management and knowledge management.

Even though this phase was mostly IT internal orientated it gave us a solid base for the future. A proactive approach was underway. We had moved from free activities into well-defined, measured and evaluated processes.

But the most important result was that we began to regularly report to upper management. At that time, IT was part of the Education and Training department. The results achieved in the first phase impressed the CFO so much that he asked for regular reports. Although the reports were very simple, this was huge progress.

Image 2.1 OKD, HBZS headquarters.

2.2.2 The main constraint

Soon, a major limitation to future advancement became apparent. It was not the lack of resources or IT staff skills. The main constraint was low business maturity. Despite all the goals we had reached, IT was not yet considered a business partner.

2.2.3 Second phase

2.2.3.1 New challenge

In 2012 a change in upper management meant a new opportunity for improvement. Consequently, the IT department faced four new challenges:

Firstly, how to explain to the new management what IT does? The first attempt was not successful. It was obvious that we concentrated too much on explaining the technical aspects of our work, which were incomprehensible to the rest of the business
Secondly, the change of management was a great opportunity to change our communication strategy and achieve a partnership with the business
Thirdly, the business perceived the activities of the IT department in a company-wide, homogeneous fashion. So how to document the fact that different parts of the business have different demands with regards to IT resources?
Lastly, IT was paralyzed by competency disputes. Individual departments had conflicting requirements and the IT department was asked to resolve this. Since conflict management is not the role of IT, I wanted the business to accept responsibility for setting priorities and requirements.

2.2.3.2 Solution

ITIL offered us a simple solution: the establishment of a service catalogue. This tool resolved all four challenges:

Dividing the activities of the IT department according to the business activities and using business terminology made it more easily understandable to the business
Setting regular service review meetings established invaluable communication channels
Assigning tickets from the service desk, linked to the appropriate service definition within the service catalogue, provided metrics that are comprehensible to the business
Finally, competency disputes could be resolved by establishing a dedicated business representative for each service who was responsible for defining and approving requirements.

2.2.3.3 Realization

It was apparent that for us to succeed, we needed the support of upper management. I chose the CFO as an ally and together we committed to a pilot project of ten main services. We realized very quickly that a critical issue was going to be the choice of an appropriate common language, which we hadn’t needed to address in the first phase.

The involvement of upper management was a clear success, and the IT department was moved to the direct control of the CFO. The use of the catalogue was mandated within the company rules and its content has been slowly but surely completed. Despite my fragile optimism, the move was very well received and, currently, our service catalogue contains 59 businesses and 10 technical services.

2.2.3.4 Benefits

When I asked customers what the catalogue brought them, there were two frequently cited benefits. The first was the elimination of the abstraction of IT’s activities. The second was the ability to influence the direction of IT services via our service review meetings.

Users appreciated a clearer overview of what they could and couldn’t request from the IT department, and what service level they could expect. Previously, we had a complicated lengthy document called “Rules for using Information and Communication Technologies”. It was difficult to understand, even for IT staff. We replaced it with a simple list of common principles, containing just four pages of bulleted text. Specific rules relevant to a particular service can be found in the service catalogue, which means users only need to study the rules that are relevant to them.

There is no doubt that the implementation of a service catalogue was the greatest qualitative shift for the IT department. We stepped away from an outlook that centred purely on technology and started to perceive our activities from the point of view of service provision.

2.2.4 Third phase

2.2.4.1 Coal crisis

But our ITIL story did not finish there.

The sharp drop in coal prices in 2013 and 2014 caused great difficulties for our parent organization. Although our company, in itself, was in good shape, the problems of the parent company had a huge impact on us. The result was increased demands on the IT department and, at the same time, a reduction in available resources.

Thanks to our previous experience, upper management now better understood the capabilities of the IT department. Since the new constraints were external and, as neither the business nor IT departments were able to affect them, we came to an agreement on the reduction of service quality.

2.3 Four years later

So, does ITIL make sense for an SMB? Is ITIL worth it? Absolutely!

By moving from a technological point of view to a service point of view, our IT department has a much clearer understanding of the needs of its customers. The business discovered the advantages of communicating with IT.

Our goal was not to create a perfect, 100% compliant process. Our goal was to take the first steps on our journey and, above all, to establish a partnership with the business. As we discovered, ITIL was the perfect tool for that.

2.4 What were the biggest challenges? What push-back did you get?

There is no doubt that the biggest challenge was establishing communication with the business and a sense of partnership.

Learning to switch from a technical perspective to speaking solely in business language was more difficult than I had anticipated. I faced this challenge again and again for a long time.

Image 2.2 OKD, HBZS, a.s. team member working underground

2.5 What achievements are you most proud of?

Beyond all question, establishing communication and a partnership with the business were the biggest achievements. I know this achievement is not permanent and belongs in the category ‘Never-Ending Stories’. Just a change of management or organizational structure will bring about a new round in that fight.

3.1 What are your current challenges?

Due to the reality of the coal crisis, we are confronted with plans for the total outsourcing of the IT department. So the biggest challenge at present is undoubtedly how to demonstrate the value of IT to the business. It is a really tough nut to crack. Fortunately, the ITIL framework is strongly orientated to providing and demonstrating value and so my hope is we will be able to prove that an internal IT department is beneficial.

Image 3.1 OKD, HBZS working with State emergency services.

3.2 Did the size of your organization affect how you adopted ITIL and, if it did, how did you adapt ITIL to ensure it worked?

The organizational size was essential when approaching our main strategic goal. Although our first motivation for adopting ITIL was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IT department, it soon became apparent that the major objective was communication and building a relationship with the business.

Communication between IT and the business is (and will be) a big issue for every company, but I expect it is more sensitive in an SMB due to the relative immaturity of both the organization and the organization’s IT department. Often, IT is not aware that it could or should speak with their business, or how to go about it! Whilst, from the other angle businesses frequently adopt aggressive and confrontational approaches when dealing with their IT department.

That is why every step in our ITIL adoption had to answer the question, ‘How it will help to establish and maintain a partnership with the business?’

3.3 What plans do you have for the future?

The next step is to improve the maturity of our processes. I finished the ITIL Expert Certification in June 2015. I am keen to utilize my new knowledge and experience within the revision of our existing processes.

Although there is only a small space in which to expand, due to personnel constraints, I plan to establish formalized continual service improvement process.

3.4 How do you measure success?

The simplest way to measure success was through processes because IT staff are used to working with critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs).

How to measure success in the case of services proved to be a more complex discussion. Most of the metrics suggested by IT were unintelligible to the business. Finally, we found a few metrics that were of interest: including the level of user satisfaction, the number of incidents caused by negligence, and the number of major incidents.

Another question was how to measure the success of our ITIL adoption and the quality of our IT service management. I decided to use an IT Quality Index® assessment as a baseline for evaluating the intended process revision. This is designed to help verify whether we manage our IT in line with Best Practices and to determine the most important areas for improvement. The results of the audit are compliant with ISO/IEC 20000, and might be contributing to the increased credibility of our IT department.

3.5 How do you communicate what you do to the organization's employees?

We organize regular quarterly occupational training, which is mandatory to attend. Each session takes two hours, during which the service users are acquainted with IT’s innovations and achievements. We put time aside to practice important working procedures which have been identified by the service desk as services or skills which need to be brushed up on. The content of the training is published in advance and every user can suggest additional topic.

For operational purposes or in the case of major incidents, we have worked out a suitable communication policy, which mandates tone of voice etc. Our service users receive alerts via our automated information system and email.

3.6 Have ITIL training and certification been useful in achieving your goals?

ITIL training and certification were essential, not only for acquiring new knowledge but equally for the discussions and meetings with our counterparts in other companies, which allowed us to compare our experiences and expand our point of view.

4.1 Top ITIL Do’s

Keep it simple. This should be written three times with a massive exclamation mark! Don’t be afraid to cut off anything that proves useless or is rarely used.
Communication is key.
Collect and share knowledge.
Celebrate and publicize successes and achievements.

4.2 Top ITIL Don’ts

Don’t be over-creative. ‘Adapt’ doesn’t mean ‘do what you want’.
Your way is not the only way nor is it necessarily the best. Don’t be afraid to look further than the horizon.
Don’t build your own kingdoms. You are a provider, not a dictator!

Image 4.1 A team member working underwater

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HBZS Mining Rescue Services: ITIL® In an SME Case Study