We can’t improve without measuring. So as during the previous directorate, the focus was entirely on building the LHC, the only thing that could be done, was to start collecting measures and visualizing KPI’s on a management dashboard, which would lead to increase awareness and help starting a continual improvement process. This was done for HR and FI in 2008, but the focus was on the functional organization, which is not always perfectly aligned with the customer/user view of services.

With the new management, and the startup of LHC, the need to create a framework that allows for a customer oriented approach to service delivery became apparent. We raised from Level 0 to Level 1 on the CMM scale.

With the vision in mind to improve the situation, end 2008 the strategic decision was taken to create  the general services (GS) department which together with FI and HR was put under the supervision of one director. Shortly after workshops were organized to reflect on a methodology and roadmap to improve the service delivery situation from a user/customer perspective. A de facto best practice library was selected (ITIL) after a thorough review of our options.  This has the following benefits:

1. Reduced cost and implementation time (less discussion)
2. Readily available tools to support processes can be found (no need to develop specific solutions)
3. Benchmarking becomes possible (not only within CERN but also with the outside)
4. Opportunities to expand scope in later phase (ITIL covers full lifecycle with 24 processes).
5. Facilitate outsourcing, recruitment, and training.

A roadmap was laid out, and work started within GS. This involved awareness training (over 100 staff in GS trained in the second half of 2009), workshops to create a service catalogue (the heart of the new framework), and the design of two important processes which would be necessary to initiate the transformation from a functional to a customer_service oriented organization.

End 2009 after an assessment it was decided to move from the ‘awareness’ to the ‘committed’ level of the CMM  by creating a group which has as mandate to introduce Service Management Support for the GS department. IT decided to do the same, and IT and GS quickly converged to a shared vision on a common approach to Service Management which was implemented during 2010 and is in production at CERN since the 15th of February 2011.