WHY

If we reflect on how CERN was organized a few years ago, and the challenges that CERN is facing we can see the following:

  • CERN is a function oriented organization: organized and funded along a structure based on technologies (accelerators, cryogenics, magnets, vacuum, information technology) and specific competencies (legal service, purchasing service, financial service, fire brigade). This is logical and normal; however the lack of a customer service view, made it difficult to measure and improve services from a customer/user perspective.
  • From the customer perspective, we exposed the details of how a service is implemented (which group, or person, how functional services interact to provide a user service). A priori a user/customer doesn’t care how a service is provided, he is interested in what he can expect (he doesn’t care that the shuttle service is provided by GS/IS, he wants to be taken to the airport).
  • CERN has moved from a project to an operational phase. Providing Services in an optimal way with limited resources to an increasing user population will be key to CERN’s future success.

If we look at the CMM[1] for service management (CMM for service delivery), we were forced to accept that CERN was not scoring high on the maturity level scale in the area of service management.

Another important aspect is that the world around us is evolving rapidly, and ‘maturing’ in the area of service management. CERN could not afford to ignore this trend, and decided to lead the way, in order to not expose itself to criticism on the way it optimizes and manages the way it delivers services. 

To summarize three reasons why this started in 2010:

  1. CERN transition from build to operation of LHC.
  2. New management team realized in 2009 that there is room from improvement in the service management domain.
  3. Proven, best practice in the area of service management has recently reached a state of maturity that makes it applicable and relevant to CERN.

[1] Capability Maturity Model (CMM), developed in 1987; spawned numerous models since

 

Page last updated on: 30 January 2017 at 17:15