IT Operations Management - Service Level Proposal for Milkwood Limited - Case Study Example

Service level proposal for Milkwood Limited Name Institution Executive Summary The proposal discusses the service level agreement at Milkwood limited. The proposal starts by giving the background of the company, giving the company mission, vision and values. This is followed by the organization structure which is basically vertical organization structure. The proposal explains different departments within the Milkwood limited, functions of the different departments and how they relates to one another. The proposal further explains communication style used in the organization, its advantages and disadvantages and why the Milkwood should continue using the method. Lastly on the introduction, the proposal gives the performance or financial performance of the Milkwood for the last year. Second part gives the details recommendation and proposed service level agreement. The proposal elaborates on the objectives and aims of the proposed service level agreement to be initiated. It further explains the major components of the service level agreement, products offered by the company and other services to be offered in order to improve the efficiency within the organization. Time frame which the services are offered and factors that may results to interruption are well enumerated in the project. The proposal gives recommendation, terms and condition for the service level agreement. It layout follow up procedure up and review of the terms and condition used in this service level agreement Lastly, the proposal give final remarks and conclusion on why it is necessary for the company to adopt this service level agreement and why the proposer feels that it will improve the service delivery at Milkwood limited Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 1.2 Company background 4 1.3 Company vision 5 1.4 Mission statement 5 1.5 Organization structure 5 1.6 Company performance 9 2.0 Service level agreement 10 2.1 Broadly useful 10 2.2 Vision of this proposal 10 2.3 Mission of the proposal 11 2.4 The scope of the proposal 12 2.5 Online gaming support availability 13 2.6 Factors that may impact on online service availability 14 2.7 Service Escalation 14 3.1 Working assumption in the organization 15 3.2 Service constraints within the organization 15 4.1 Terms of agreements 16 4.2 Periodic quality review 16 4.3 Service level agreement maintenance 16 5.0 Issue resolution 17 6.0 Conclusion 17 Reference 18 1.0 Introduction The main aim of this project is to develop a proposal development plan for the Milkwood limited where it will intend to explain the complexities of IT operations management and to have a common foundation for IT management system. The project aimed to: 1. Discuss the complexities of IT operations 2. Place the IT departments in the organization perspectives Some of the areas covered in this project include company background, giving objectives and mission statement. The principles guiding company operations, company structure and the risk analysis of the project to be undertaken including the company overview. 1.2 Company background Milkwood Company limited is one of the largest computer gaming company which develops and sell computer games. The company is having over 100 computer games which are either in market or is on the production process. The company further has online support computer games which are over 30 different types. Direct development product currently are 15 in number while the company has outsourced 10 other products. Currently the company has over 400 employees which work either in the production department that is IT experts, Finance department or marketing department within the organization. The company is being managed by Dylan Thomas as its current CEO. 1.3 Company vision To be the leading computer game developer across the globe and meet the current needs and wants of its current and future customers. 1.4 Mission statement The Milkwood company mission of advance computer games is to provide high end enthusiasts customers with personalized computer games which meets their needs. Values and principles 1. Integrity 2. Honesty 3. Accountability 1.5 Organization structure The organization structure can be defined as a system which is used to define the company hierarchy within the company (Jin, Machiraju & Sahai, 2002). The structure helps in identifying job done by everyone, its functions and the channel of reporting in an organization. For Milkwood limited, the structure starts from the chief executive of the company. The diagram below gives the Milkwood organization structure. Chief executive officer This is the main person in Milkwood Company and manages all the operation of the company. He is responsible for making final decision of the company and task by giving the company direction. He is the company spokesperson and represents the company interest in all the contracts and with other stakeholders. Deputy chief executive officer This person helps in deputizing the chief executive officers. He acts on behalf of the company in the absence of the CEO and also sits in the company board meetings. He or she is responsible for the daily operations of the business IT department (Production department) This is the main department dealing with all the Information and technology related issues in the company. The head of this departments double up as the head of production. This department is further divided into four sub-departments depending with the IT related product which they are involve in producing different product. They include 1. Operating system 2. Desktop game system 3. Server 4. Networks Each sub-departments of the IT department is headed by team leader who manages and organizes all the production related activities in it’s departs then reports to the head of IT and production department. Finance department This is a very critical department within the organization and headed by chief finance officer (CFO).The chief finance officers are assisted by accountants who are responsible for various activities within the organization. The CFO is responsible for advising the company on relevant investments opportunities and the financial performance of the company. He reports directly to the CEO of the company Marketing department This is the department which is tasked by marketing the company product. The carryout marketing research and advise the production departments on the needs and wants of the customer. This department is very critical in any organization, it is the only department which incur cost and generates income at the same time. The marketing department advises the organization on the number of product units to produce at any given market and also act as the linked between the organization and its consumers. The department is headed by chief marketing officer who reports to the manager and advises the company on need to open other branches. The department is also responsible for the corporate social responsibility activities and advises the company on the necessary and important areas which can help the organization to identify with the society Human resource department This is the department responsible for the organization staffing, staff training and human resource development. It deals with the general administrative activities and the staff welfare. Within the Milkwood organization, this department is very vital as it is task with the formulation of policy governing intra and interpersonal relationship within the group. From the organization structure of Milkwood limited, it is clear that communication is vertical. That is communication flows from top management downwards and there are clear reporting channels. Vertical communication allows the management to easily convey their minds to the subordinates hence easily of the information. It further helps in maintenance good labor relationship hence it can results to low labor turnover. This type of communication further helps in maintaining organization discipline, this results from the chain of command created in vertical communication system. The vertical communication system created by this chain of command results to effective communication and policy implementation within the organization and this has been achieved quite well in Milkwood limited. Lastly, it helps in decentralization of duties. However, this channel of communications results into delay in decision making process resulting from long chain of command in the process of exchanging the information before decision can be arrived at. In circumstances where the chief executive officer is seen as incapable of managing and making valid decision, this can results to subordination by subordinate staff. The information can also be distortion hence misrepresentation of the facts as reported by the top management (Patel, Ranabahu & Sheth, 2009) 1.6 Company performance For the last financial year, the company was having sales turnover of about $ 76 million which is an average industry turnover with a profit of about $ 15 million. The company debts stands at $ 100 million which is a quarter of its current assets while share prices is given at $ 3.50. This is an indication of good performance and there is need for improvement 2.0 Service level agreement 2.1 Broadly useful The fundamental point of this administration level understanding (SLA) is to set up a helpful association between the Milkwood IT and generation office and its real partner. The particular targets of this proposition include: i. To blueprint administrations to be offered and the working suspicions accessible between PC gaming administration level focus and its clients ii. To evaluate and measure administration level desire from the significant partners in Milkwood organization iii. To have the capacity to layout the potential techniques used to gauge the nature of administrations gave iv. To characterize the common necessities and desires for the basic and general execution of the organization v. To help in fortify the correspondence between the generation division and its client vi. To give a vehicle to determine struggle between the association generation divisions and its significant partners. 2.2 Vision of this proposal The Milkwood Company shared administration gaming focus went for giving a common business environment to the organization gaming framework. The new business environment will constantly improve administration, consistence and profitability to its client and center business hones. The particular objectives of this anticipate are:- Individual’s reconciliation administration: - The administration level understanding will include procedure and innovation to give parity administration level to all partners. It will help in making an intricate situation where trusted connections and cooperation is empowered between organization, showcasing, money, suppliers and some other partners to help in encouraging endeavor objectives. Influence: - this incorporate human asset, institutional learning, advancement aptitudes sets and innovation trying to enhance administration conveyance and organization efficiency for its all administration focuses. Make an authoritative structure that parities key and strategic endeavors that advances administration conveyance efficiencies (Patel, Ranabahu & Sheth, 2009) Alleviate hazard: - the administration level assertion will relieve hazard at the Milkwood restricted by concentrating on the consistence prerequisites and comprehension the effect as these necessities of the business have sway on the efficiency and client administration conveyance 2.3 Mission of the proposal The gaming shared service center is a business area which is dedicated to operational and customer service level excellence 2.4 The scope of the proposal The gaming shared center shall provide computer gaming software and software production policy compliance for the main enterprise and its affiliates Product/service provided Product description Card games These are computerized versions of the traditional card games or games which are basically card games in that they are primarily card based. Examples of these card games produced by the firm include blackjack, Casino, Bridge, Video Poker and Solitaire Board Games These are typically adaptation of classic board games and include chess, checkers, Backgammon, Scrabble and the Monopoly Puzzle These games aimed at figuring out of a solution, which often involves solving enigma’s navigation, learning how to use distinct tools and the manipulating or the reconfiguring of the objects. They include Tetris and Mastermind Maze They requires successful navigation of the maze, they can be viewed in different ways for instance it may appear in an overhead view Fighting The fighting games involves characters who fight normally hand to hand and one to one combat conditions. In this case, the fighters are normally animated characters. The fighting games include street fighter, body slam and the avengers Action Action games involves the human player shoots at a series of opponents or objects. Traditional action games include space invaders, Asteroids among others. The recent popular actions games are Doom, quick descent, unreal and half-life. They normally involves human players to control character in a virtual environment Adventure These games mostly emphasize more on the story, plot and puzzle solving as opposed to simply catching shooting, capturing or escaping. The games contain human character which carry objects such as a weapons, key tools among other things Role playing games These games normally takes different types of character. The characters description may include specifics such as species, race, gender and occupation and in the game various abilities such as dexterity and strength are involves Strategy games These games normally emphasizes the use of strategy as opposed to fast actions and quick reflexes. The traditional strategy games include monopoly, chess and Othello Sports The sport games normally are adaptation of the existing real world of sport like football, baseball, boxing fishing among others Simulation The company produces two distinct simulation games. They include management simulation games and training simulation games 2.5 Online gaming support availability The IT departments aims at providing high quality online gaming availability with no planned outage during business hours which starts at 8.00 am to 5.30 pm from Monday to Friday. However, there are services which are available outside business hours and not all but few services will be supported outside business hours. Online gaming will be 24/7 in our platform and its help services will also be available 24/7 Service Business Hours After Hours Available Supported Available Supported Card games online service     Board Games online service     Puzzle game online service     Maze game online service     Fighting online services     Action online service   X X Adventure online services     Role playing games    X Strategy games Sports games service Simulation The support staff will be available to help in the areas mentioned above either through Skype, online chart, phone calls or through emails to technical staff. 2.6 Factors that may impact on online service availability Planned maintenance windows:- the company will be involves in the continuous maintenance of its technical infrastructure on a regular basis. This is recommended as it will results to increase efficiency and performance the maintenance will be done between: 1.0 pm – 10.00 pm- Thursday 5.00 am -10.00 am – Sunday Critical system maintenance: from time to time and when the need arises, critical maintenance may be performed within business hours and the management will ensure that this does not interrupt normal business operations. The main aim of this is to ensure efficiency in the business and its operations and achieve customer satisfaction. 2.7 Service Escalation All enquiries or issues for services supported by Milkwood IT are logged via the ITM Service Desk The table below shows the generated service escalation ticket Escalation Point Description Client Services Manager SAM Hunt – Extn 6060 1st point of escalation for incidents related to student services and service delivery issues Relationship Services Team James Hunter – Extn 9480 2nd point of escalation for incidents related to student services and service delivery issues Service & Operations Group Manager Peter Borich – Extn 5116 Final point of escalation for all service issues 3.1 Working assumption in the organization The computer gaming service center will be fully staffed by the human resource department and will be supported by marketing and product development team. This will ensure timely and effective product delivery 3.2 Service constraints within the organization Workload: - increase in workload resulting from high demand of product may result into consumer complains. The workload may also be created by power outage resulting to temporary reduction in production process Conformance requirements: - These are rules and regulation within the industry which can act as hurdles for service delivery Dependencies: - Achievement of our service level commitments is dependent upon customer compliance with the policies and procedures in the computer gaming industry. 4.1 Terms of agreements This terms of agreement commence on May 1st 2016 with mutual understanding that modifications may be required with time. Any modification to this agreement will be made in the spirit of original agreement and must be viewed by all stakeholders as true position of the organization 4.2 Periodic quality review The IT department will have quarterly review of this service as conducting the service center performance against the agreed upon service level expectation. Some of the areas to be reviewed include:- i. Quality of service delivery since proposal inception ii. Major deviation from service level iii. Conflicts and concerns from service delivery iv. Planned changes concerning service delivery in the department v. Negotiation of changes to the service agreement vi. Feedback from the constituents vii. Quarterly customer satisfaction survey 4.3 Service level agreement maintenance The Milkwood Company will be reviewing this service level on an ongoing basis and updated as needed. The revision of the document may become very necessary due to changing market trends in computer gaming, modification of existing products, additional of products offered by the company, significant variation from agreed upon service levels or any unanticipated events. 5.0 Issue resolution If any customer, support staff, administrative staff, suppliers or any other stakeholders identifies a substantive breach of responsibility or any other problems within the organization or department. The company top management will try to find a speedy resolution of the problem and how it can be prevented further. 6.0 Conclusion With increased consumer awareness and consciousness, there is need for improved service delivery in every company and Milkwood limited is not exceptional. This has prompted me to developed this particular service level delivery which is well and timely stipulated to help in improving efficiency within the company I believe that with rapid technological changes in the world, companies need a dynamic and all inclusive service level agreement which can ensure involvement of everyone within the organization and ensure accountability with the main objective of achieving organization goals. The management and board of the Milkwood should adopt this proposal and implement it since it is cost effective and all inclusive in its nature. It is practical approach on customer service delivery and service delivery efficiency. Reference Jin, L.J., Machiraju, V. and Sahai, A., 2002. Analysis on service level agreement of web services. HP June, p.19. Patel, P., Ranabahu, A.H. and Sheth, A.P., 2009. Service level agreement in cloud computing. Read More