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DITY™ Newsletter
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This is a reprint of an itSM Solutions® DITY™ Newsletter. Our members receive our weekly DITY Newsletter, and
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ITIL TECHNICAL OBSERVATION POST TOP

IT Experience. Practical Solutions.

DITY™ Newsletter

The workable, practical guide to Do IT
Yourself™
Syndicate!

7 STEPS TO THE
TOP

Vol. 2.10, MAR. 8, 2006

By Hank Marquis

hank
MARQUIS

Most IT departments have tools that
monitor their systems and create log
files. Some are product specific, others
are generic. But no matter what the
tool, it’s always the people using the
tool that matters most.

One common problem in IT is that
many times those supporting the
system do not use the system. This
Articles
E-mail
results in the common Business/IT
Bio
divide – the conversation goes
something like this: The business says,
“The system is not working!” to which IT responds “But
the lights are all green!”
There are two gaps here. First, between IT and the
business, but there is a deeper gap as well. The real
problem is the gap within IT. Obviously, if IT systems
say the system is working, and the customer says its not,
there is a problem.
http://www.itsmsolutions.com/newsletters/DITYvol2iss10.htm (1 of 4)11/11/2006 11:13:37 AM


Once again, the IT Infrastructure Library has a low cost,
practical solution -- the Technical Observation Post, or
TOP. Following, I describe the TOP, how to setup one
up, and the benefits it delivers.
The ITIL® promotes continuous improvement. To
solve the Business/IT gap and the IT-IT gap, ITIL
proposes the Technical Observation Post (TOP.)
According to the ITIL, a TOP is “a prearranged
gathering of specialist technical support staff from
within the IT support organization brought together to
focus on specific aspects of IT Availability. Its purpose
being to monitor events, real-time as they occur, with
the specific aim of identifying improvement
opportunities or bottlenecks which exist within the
current IT Infrastructure.”
The TOP may be used in Availability Management,
Problem Management or anywhere else you need to
solve a tough problem. [See ‘Availability Management
on a Budget’ DITY Vol. 1 #2 for more on using a TOP
with Availability Management]
The TOP should be able to locate the cause or causes of
the difference between the observed performance of the
system as reported by the existing tools and the problem
reported by customers. Often these types of problems
occur at the boundaries between systems, where tools
do not measure or have visibility.
In other words, instead of looking at dashboards (the
lights green), a TOP has deep access to across multiple
systems. The TOP tries to get “underneath” the “green
lights” to see and understand what it really happening.
You can convene a TOP at any time, but make sure you
have the right people with the right system-level access.
Then, in real-time, the TOP can watch the IT service or
system, and spot what it really going happening.
Here is a simple plan:
1. Gain management commitment to

establish the TOP
2. Identify the problem IT service



3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

through observation or User
complaints
Identify a specialist from each
technology silo the service traverses
Gather the specialists into a dedicated
room, with sufficient system access
and tools to allow them to examine
real-time activities
Allow the group to observe the IT
service in real-time, as it operates
Capture all observations and
recommendations of the TOP team
Create an action plan to drive either
the Availability Plan or a SIP

The benefits of the TOP are many, including:
q Identifying areas for improvement in people, process
or product
q Forming inter-process bonds between TOP team
members and their groups
q Cost effectiveness -- its often much less expensive
than hiring consultants
q Departmental learning -- working together to solve a
problem means the knowledge gained stays in the
organization
q IT Service improvements
q Closer relationship to the business
The key to success with the TOP is to remember is that
the TOP is not a virtual activity. Do not try to setup a
top with experts working apart from one another. The
group dynamics and new ideas that the group raises
together are where the TOP gets its power. Also, do not
place barriers to ideas or concepts at the TOP, steer the
TOP toward its goal, but encourage them to think “out
of the box” -- this is the purpose of the TOP.
So, the next time you hear a Customer complain but the
lights are all green, take it to the TOP!
-q

q

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