GoToAssist Corporate White Paper Sample

The first step in choosing the right metrics is to establish what is going to be measured. What should be measured are the indicators that most accurately reflect the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact from support operations. Properly selected indicators will provide a summary level view of how support is performing. These indicators are based on what is important to your organization at that point in time. In other words, these indicators may change over time as the business needs change.

Indicators define what is being measured and metrics describe how they will be measured. Once the target indicators have been determined then the metrics that support these indicators can be established. Metrics combine input variables and assumptions into a formula that produces a result. How you arrive at a result can be as or more important than the result itself. The credibility of the result is based on the inputs and assumptions used. The key to successfully measuring the business impact of support requires that appropriate business indicators be selected and that the ways in which these indicators are calculated must be credible.

It should be noted that frequent changes in the indicators and therefore the metrics is not a good thing. It prevents any trending analysis and is disruptive to the organization. Choosing the right metrics will enable senior management to have an understanding of how support is doing. It will also allow the support organization to know what is important and make better decisions on providing quality support in the most efficient manner.