Management as a Service (MaaS)for enterprise IT

An Archestra Notebook

© 2014 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research

Service, IT, and Management

• By definition, a “service” is an already running operation for which, intentionally, some or all of its designed outputs are made available to a user, on-demand by the user, within specified terms.

• The broad sense of “I.T.” is that IT is an enterprise competency that can be managed.

• As a service, “Management” is a continual operation with the following designed outputs intended to be available on-demand:• Functionality, deliverability and control of organized activity• Technological, business, and professional organization of ability

Management evolution

The outlook for IT in business is one in which the presence and impact of IT is pervasive throughout events, decisions and opportunities.

Pervasiveness is not new, but the culture of managing it will be fundamentally different as its management authority decentralizes organizationally.

This raises the need and urgency for a consistent concept of management that is practically applied pervasively as well, regarding IT.

• As a precedent, while there is a central function for accountability of financial status and governance, “finance” is practiced everywhere in the organization at all levels, using shared management services and common practices.

• The aggregate of those services is, in effect, a super-service with mandated enterprise availability.

IT’s criticality to the effectiveness of work is its mandate. Facing decentralization and the pace of change, the coherency and consistency of management must be available as a service.

Management as a Service (MaaS)Management Levels Functional Deliverable Controllable

Professional(Solutions)

PortfolioDevelopmentProgram

SourcingLogisticsProjects

StrategyKnowledgeCompliance

Business(Capabilities)

RequestSupport

ChangeAsset

DemandMeasurementRisk

Technology(Tools and Systems)

AvailabilityConfiguration

CapacitySecurity

ReleaseDeployment

This framework of management issues is based on two main assumptions about the “IT” competency. One: “Managed” is the opposite of “Ad Hoc”. Two: without management, there will still be tools,

capabilities and problem-solving exercised to generate functionality, deliveries and control -- but the effects will be speculative and incidental (i.e., “counter-productive”) because the effort is ad hoc.

Because the issues in the framework are interrelated, the overall framework represents the “operation” called management, which would underlie management as a service.

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The management service operation

The framework identifies and positions key management issues for concentration. It does not intend to exclude any given issue from any areas, but it assigns issues as an area’s primary

responsibility relative to other areas.

The framework does not make a distinction between a company’s external and internal

suppliers of its technology systems, business capabilities, and professional solutions.

The management effort is a continual and comprehensive underlying operation being provided as a service. The framework describes the main sub-operations of the overall management effort, and how they co-ordinate.

relevance

reliability

provision

Solutionsorganize the business’s ability to

define and sustain what it is supposed to do

Capabilitiesaddress the actual frequency and type of mobilization that conducts the business in real

time or planned time

Systemscoordinate tools and

environments for executing enabling tasks of operation

needsoptions

procedures

What does “Professional” mean?

• Aren’t Professional Services already distinguished mainly by the involvement of consultants?• The legal community frequently points out that so-called Professional Services are predominantly

mental or intellectual (as opposed to physical or manual) in nature, and require the special training, knowledge, or expertise of a profession.

• Why is “professional” used the way it is in this discussion?• This discussion does not redefine “professional services”. Instead, it identifies a “professional”

aspect of definition of the management operation underlying the “management service”.• Design, decision-making and research – exemplified by strategists, founders, and leaders – are

now essential to the viability of the service positioning over time and in changing environments. Professional management determines what the service purpose will be. Business management determines what the consumption of the service will rely upon.

• The professional dimension of the management operation drives conception, growth and improvement; it is essentially consultative, regardless of the internal or external origin of the involved influencer.

Creating stability versus uncertaintyThe framework of the management operation provides a logical boundary of the operation’s necessary coverage of issues. The framework does not explain how to cover each issue. Instead, it gives context for the importance of each issue under coverage, mapping them to key areas. In the real world, management coverage distinguishes every area by pursuing assurance where otherwise guessing and coincidence could readily prevail in the area.

Management Levels

Professional(Solutions)

Business(Capabilities)

Technology(Tools and Systems)

Professional solutions address issues about establishing explicit expectations and plans

Business capability issues are about whether a given capability is present or absent, including its strength and timeliness

Technology systems issues are about producing and confirming the type and accessibility of systems and tools

“Management Service” Maturity Model

Management Levels Understand(assess)

Intend(plan)

Commit(adopt)

Support(reinforce)

Forecast(Prescription)

Model future probabilities of events and impacts

Schedule the resourcing and readiness to pursue and react

Certify, approve and require capability

Define foreseen scenario as an intended strategy

Policy(direction)

Describe priorities, preferences and defensible rules

Model constraints and risks with tolerances

Establish auditing of events

Renew authority based on compliance

Monitor & Measure(tracking)

Systematically observe and validate

Declare KPIs and CSFs

Publish requirements and dashboard

Feed results immediately into planning

Define & Classify(awareness)

Identify distinctiveitems by a standard name and taxonomy

Include in process definitions

Assign responsible parties

Make descriptions the Standard

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How management pursues assurance

GOVERNANCE

DOMAIN IMPROVEMENT

SCOPE

Major regions of Management Change and Management Adaptationp

erform

ance

stability

maturity

The management capability can evolve according to changes of emphasis placed on fundamentals.

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About this discussion

It is an inherent property of all frameworks that their contents can change although the framework itself is the shape of the container.

The importance of the framework is to declare a conceptual space within which identifiable entities and states are logically located.

The discussion in this document is itself a current state of original work in progress, arranging direct observations, through a differential analysis, into an argument for ongoing use as a comparative device.

There is no reference in this discussion, neither offered nor required, to any external source material other than that of the author’s own. Subsequent additional discussion based on the same or newer original materials may add, modify, or delete statements made here in this discussion.

© 2014 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research

mryder@malcolmryder.com