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Chapter 8.15
Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to
Improve IT Service Management
Peter C. Chan
Hewlett Packard, USA

Shauntell R. Durant
Hewlett Packard, USA

Verna Mae Gall

University of Maryland - University College, USA

Mahesh S. Raisinghani
TWU School of Management, USA

AbstrAct and tools for measuring quality and improving

processes. Adopting Six Sigma principles also
Organizations are implementing IT Service Man- helps IT managers focus on their business strat-
agement (ITSM) and creating quality standards to egy and customers, manage proactively based
design, deliver, and manage IT services to meet on facts, and reinforce collaboration across the
or exceed an agreed level of quality. ITSM uses enterprise. The framework in our exploratory
the best practices of IT Infrastructure Library experience based research has been built upon
(ITIL) that informs IT management what needs to a deductive study which has been developed
be done and how it will get done from the process through a literature review and synthesis and an
perspective. However when undertaking an ITSM exploratory inductive research which has been
a project to implement ITIL, ITIL does not provide developed using a qualitative case study method-
a method for measuring quality or identifying ology in the e-services and mobile applications
and completing process improvement projects. field. [Article copies are available for purchase
By integrating the Six Sigma quality methodol- from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
ogy, IT management will have the methodology

Copyright © 2010, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
 Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

OVErVIEW OF INFOrMAtION intended to align the delivery of IT services with

tEcHNOLOgY sErVIcE needs of the enterprise, emphasizing benefits to
MANAgEMENt (ItsM) customers. ITSM involves a paradigm shift from
managing IT as stacks of individual components
Today’s executives are challenged to deliver value to focusing on the delivery of end-to-end services
to their shareholders in a global market place and using best practice process models (WhatIs.com,
to compete, organizations are setting business 2008). Information Technology Infrastructure
strategies for the entire organization. This man- Library (ITIL) is a globally recognized collection
agement change presents a significant change for of best practices for information technology (IT)
Information Technology (IT) organizations that service management.
have historically dealt with individual business ITSM audits are based on analysis of four key
units or functional domains. Now IT must support performance indicators in specific ways:
the enterprise’s business strategy and the entirety
of the enterprise. Technology organizations must • Growth and value, which involves tracking
deliver interoperation of processes, people and revenue growth against investment and
technology to the entire enterprise. utilization.
The rise of services oriented architecture, client • Budget adherence, which involves optimiz-
server computing, virtualization and distributed ing the use of available funds and avoiding
applications have created a plethora of moving unnecessary expenditures.
targets in the information technology (IT) orga- • Risk impact, which involves identifying and
nization. IT organizations have had to deal with evaluating the consequences of risks taken
a business that have historically been siloed by or avoided.
function or department and have been separated • Communication effectiveness. IT manag-
from the business. However since organizations ers need to adopt a service management
have adopted an enterprise approach running their approach consisting of well-defined IT
businesses, IT managers can no longer run an IT processes and a continuous improvement
organization as a technology-based organization. program in order to meet their customer’s
They must be able to migrate to being a value-based expectations and contribute to the enter-
service provider and contributor to the enterprise prise’s goals.
strategy instead of an overhead cost. IT Service
Management (ITSM) is a process-based practice

Figure 1. Evolution of the IT function within organizations (Salle, 2004, p. 1)

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Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

ItsM Evolves It to Achieve Higher the conclusion. The framework in this exploratory
result with business Focus experience based research has been built upon
a deductive study which has been developed
To meet the challenge, IT managers in USA are through a literature review and synthesis and an
adopting ITSM, a practice that has been used by exploratory inductive research which has been
their European counterparts for over 24 years. developed using a qualitative case study method-
According to Salle (2004), the evolution of IT ology in the e-services and mobile applications
organizations typically mature through three field. It makes the case for leveraging ITIL and
stages: technology provider, service provider and Six Sigma with ITSM in practice and discusses
strategic partner. opportunities for future research and implications
Continual maturity occurs as the IT organi- for management.
zation moves through each stage. In the initial
stage the IT organization operates as a technol- ItIL
ogy provider and it is using IT infrastructure
management (ITIM). In this stage, the focus is to What are ItIL and ItIL service
manage and provide a solid infrastructure to the Management Practices?
enterprise by maximizing the return on technical
assets and controlling the infrastructure including The U.K. government’s Central Computer and
its hardware and data. As an organization moves Telecommunication Agency created ITIL. It is
to becoming a service provider it will use ITSM a framework and does not require a license to
which leverages ITIL to identify the “services practice and it is independent of any commercial
its customers need and focusing on planning and solution or platform. In the last 24 years, ITIL
delivering those services to meet availability, per- has become a de-facto standard and most widely
formance, and security requirements. In addition, used accepted approach to define processes for
IT is managing service-level agreements, both IT service-oriented organizations. It aligns IT
internally and externally, to meet agreed-upon processes to overall business goals. ITIL is a
quality and cost targets. Ultimately, when IT guide for establishing common processes, roles
organizations evolve to IT business value man- and activities, with appropriate reference to each
agement (IT Governance), they are transformed other and how communication lines should exist
into true business partners enabling new business (ITIL, 2007). Although processes dictate how
opportunities. In that stage, IT processes are fully services are delivered, processes are of little in-
integrated with the complete lifecycle of business terest to customers because they are not visible.
processes improving service quality and busi- ITIL is a public domain set of books that describes
ness agility.” (Salle, 2004, p. 1). Alternatively the comprehensive and consistent best practice guid-
Capability Maturity Model Integrative (CMMI) ance in the area of organizing a coherent process
model from the Software Engineering Institute for IT Service Management. In the late 1980’s
can also be used as the organization evolves in when it was originated it consisted of more than
the maturity level of its processes. 30 books, but the release of ITIL V3 condensed
This article is structured as follows: the key the framework into 5 books.
attributes of ITSM, ITIL and Six Sigma are dis- The latest version is ITIL V3 and it is designed
cussed independently before illustrating some to address the significant shortcomings of ITIL
business cases integrating ITSM, ITIL and Six V2. ITIL V3 has a broader scope and contains
Sigma. This is followed by the discussion of the everything that was included in Version 2. Version
implications for research and management before 3 pays more attention to the areas of designing

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 Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

services suitable for the business and creating a technologies, adopt new trends, regulate compli-
strategy around this. Version 3 gives more advice ance, and improve the quality of IT services. Addi-
on Continual Service Improvement (Damiano & tionally, companies gain higher productivity from
McLauglin, 2005, p. 253). ITIL V3 addresses the both business and IT staff. These best practices for
life cycle of service management. It embraces a the support and delivery of IT services can help a
more holistic service management practice that company document IT processes as required for
included business and IT at strategic, tactical, Sarbanes-Oxley (Worthen, 2005). ITIL is part
and operational layer. While in comparison, of the foundation of the COBIT model, which
ITIL V2 focused just on the operational layer defines control objectives for IT in support of
of IT operations. The new version provides best business processes. COBIT was explicitly chosen
practice guidance to implement a true life cycle of as the tool of choice for external auditors to use in
service management in five best practice guides. IT audits for Sarbanes-Oxley. The ITIL process
Version 3 of ITIL library consists of 5 five sets of documentation and COBIT control objectives are
books (See Table 1). a powerful combination that can accelerate Sarbox
compliance. ITIL allows IT staff to become more
Benefits of ItIL for service- innovative in their work. “The results of a recent
Oriented Organizations survey by Axios Systems, show that over one-
third of IT professionals have already adopted the
ITIL’s framework of best practices can be used to ITIL framework, while another one-third plan to
assist organizations as their needs and technology roll-out the framework within a year. In the same
evolve around processes. ITIL Service Manage- research, 70% of the Best-in-Class businesses
ment Practices offer benefits that demonstrate their had the ability to measure end-user satisfaction
value and ROI. Organizations can use ITIL to add and 60% of the Best-in-Class businesses could
more value to their business, be more agile with compare service delivery standards against SLA
their responses, define standards, implement new provisions” (Brown, 2007, p.5).

Table 1.

Book Responsibility of Book

Defines the policies and strategies to implement Service Management in line with the
Service Strategy
overall business strategy. It focuses on the planning aspect of the policies and strategies.
Describes how to use the strategy to create design and specifications for the service. This
Service Design book has more structure and explains a step-by-step approach to designing services. Much
of what was in this book was already addressed by ITIL v2 with the exception of security
management.
Covers configuration, change and release management. Change management focuses
on how to assess and plan for changes. Configuration management has been extended to
Service Transition
include service assets or IT assets, which are important for IT to be aware of. This book
also Details how to get the specification into the live environment.
Defines how to best support the support the day- to-day running of the service throughout
Service Transition
its life cycle. Provides guidance on running a live production environment.
Provides a framework for Continual Service Improvement. Service performance is
measured at each stage ensuring that IT align and continually realign to the needs of the
Service Operation business. This book makes it clear that, for organizations to become more proactive,
assessments must be a continual process, rather than one that only happens when a failure
occurs.

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Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

What Does ItIL not Do? and not processes. An organization should put in
place just enough process to answer the question
ITIL does not focus on a specific industry seg- for any given situation to avoid adding processes
ment or restricted geographically. ITIL does not that don’t add value or are not definitive.
address who within the organization is going to Organizations have been adopting ITIL for
be in charge of implementing each process. It approximately 25 years. As illustrated in figure 2,
does not address the how to use the tools that are that is consistent with the diffusion theory orga-
needed to implement these processes. ITIL does nizations are moving towards becoming service
not offer corporate or organization certificates but providers as discussed by Salle in 2004.
rather personal certification. Certification does not
guarantee service quality and this is a common
misconception within IT organizations. Many ven- sIx sIgMA
dors and consultants offer services in restructuring
ITIL, and many customers seek such guidance. Six Sigma was introduced and created by the U.S.
However, ITIL does not promote an organizational based electronics manufacturer Motorola, Inc. In
structure, or require any particular management. the mid-1980’s CEO Bob Galvin established a
Nor does the ITIL mandate any particular work- goal to improve “all products – goods as well as
flow design or process. Here is a quote from ITIL: services – by an order of magnitude (e.g. factor of
“For each of the processes described in this book, 10) within 5 years” (Klefsjo & Wiklund & Edge-
one or more roles are identified for carrying out man, 2001, p. 31). During this time, Motorola’s
the functions and activities required. It should be field sales force received and reported increased
noted that organizations may allocate more than customer complaints about warranty claims. To
one role to an individual within the organization, address the issue, “Bill Smith, a senior engineer
or may allocate more than one individual role. The and scientist within the Communications Divi-
purpose of the role is to lace responsibility rather sion” invented the new quality method, Six Sigma
than to create an organizational structure” (ITIL which standardized the counting defects; by reach-
Organization, 2006) ing Six Sigma defects would be “near perfect,”
only 3.4 defects per million. Smith convinced Bob
What you Need to Know before Galvin that this process would be a “key to ad-
Adopting ItIL? dressing quality concerns” (McCarty, 2004, p. 1).
“Six Sigma clearly focused resources at Motorola,
ITIL’s core practice guides are adaptable and including human effort, on reducing variation in all
applicable within a variety of organizational processes, that is to say manufacturing processes,
context. However, every organization is different administrative processes and all other processes.
and should have its own unique requirement. ITIL To set a clear measure on the improvement work,
can be intimidating to understand and organiza- the program called Six Sigma was launched in
tions should realize that you can not conform to, 1988” (Klefsjo et al., 2001).
adopt, comply with or implement ITIL because Antony, (2007) states, “There have been three
it is not a set standard and you can not use what recognizable generations of six sigma. The first
ITIL says verbatim. generation of six sigma lasted for a period of 8
IT is a service function providing effective- years (1987-1994) and the focus was on reduction
ness, value, and support to the enterprise and its of defects. Motorola was a great example of a
strategy. Organizations should focus on service successful first generation company. The second
and business performance improvement first generation of six sigma spanned the period from

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 Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

Figure 2. Hype cycle for IT operations management, 2007 (Govekar et al., 2007)

1994 to 2000 and the focus was on cost reduc- Six Sigma is more than a statistical and process
tion” (p. 17). During this period the methodol- methodology and they distribute Six Sigma into
ogy was popularized by GE’s, CEO Jack Welsh Six themes:
embracing the approach to quality. For example,
“AlliedSignal attained savings of $US2 billion • Understand and focus on the customer.
during a five-year period while General Electric • Be dependent on data- and fact-driven
saved $US1 billion over a two year window” management.
(Klefsjo et al., 2001, Six Sigma origins section). • Master and improve your key processes.
The third generation, according to Antony (2007) • Manage proactively.
started after 2000, and its focus “is on creating • Collaborate across boundaries within the
value to customers and the enterprise itself. The organization.
first companies to embrace third generation of six • “Drive for perfection, but tolerate failure”
sigma are foreign. Examples of third generation (p. 14-16)
of six sigma companies include Posco, Samsung,
etc.” (p. 17). six sigma Methodologies: DMAIc
and DMADV
six sigma themes
There are two key Six Sigma methodologies:
Although the beginning of Six Sigma is steeped DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is an acronym
in quantitative analysis, it is a misperception that for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Six Sigma is only a statistical measure with a Control. DMADV is Define, Measure, Analyze,
goal of perfection. Pete Pande and Larry Holpp Design, and Verify (DMADV). According to
(2002) in the book “What is Six Sigma?” assert Kerri Simon (2002) in the article, DMAIC versus

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Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

DMADV, the DMAIC method is predominant in that will be implemented by the organization.
Six Sigma implementations and “should be used The associates responsible for implementing the
when a product or process is in existence at your projects and process improvements are Master
company but is not meeting customer specification Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, Yellow
or is not performing adequately.” Practitioners Belts, and White Belts. It is important to note
when employing DMAIC, seek to “root out and that successful Six Sigma implementations have
eliminate the causes of defects” (American Society a top-down management approach.
for Quality). Pande and Holpp (2002) agree that
organizations needing to fix broken processes tools of six sigma
can reap benefits of implementing DMAIC. By
using DMAIC organizations will have proven The teams once formed will use a series of tools,
and identified the extent of the problem. By as- which are employed with the Six Sigma methodol-
sessing and measuring problems, an organization ogy. The expansive toolset, which teams leverage
will be spending time and resources solving high to complete their work, is a primary benefit Six
value problems. When the problem is proven and Sigma. Pande and Holpe (2002) recommend teams
selected for resolution, its root cause is identified limit the use of tools to only those that help “get
using data and facts, not intuition and gut feel. As the job done” (p. 67) and categorize the tools as
the DMAIC team works to create a solution, their follows (See Table 3).
purpose is to affect real change to the existing
problematic process. The resulting solution must criticism of six sigma
be well tested to manage risks to the organiza-
tion. After the solution is implemented within the There is a recent debate of whether Six Sigma has
enterprise, the organization measures the results a place in companies embracing the new innova-
validates that the solution is sustaining change tion economy. The argument is that it is difficult
(2002, p. 30-31). In the table below, Chieh (2007), for innovation and Six Sigma practices to coexist
outlines in the chart below how DMAIC can be because by their very nature they are opposite.
utilized to fix under performing processes…. Six Sigma requires the organization to focus and
When designing new processes, the approach direct its resources on operational excellence and
used is Design for Sigma Six (DSFF). DSFF uses perfection; it has a very low tolerance for risk
DMADV not DMAIC in order to design and move because imperfection is increased when risk is
to market “new products or services measures introduced. On the other hand, innovation is by its
by customer-based critical-to quality metrics” very nature a high risk because it is dealing with
(Foster, 2007, p. 463). Simon expands the uses of new concepts (Rae, 2007). Dr. Thomas Davenport
DMADV beyond the creation of new products or contends that the time for Six Sigma has passed
services and advocates using DMADV approach as companies are embracing innovation:
after optimizing an “existing product or process” Process management is a good thing. But I
fails to meet “customer specification or Six Sigma think it always has to be leavened a bit with a focus
level” (Simon, 2007). on innovation and [customer relationships].” The
discipline was developed as a systematic way to
six sigma Key roles improve quality, but the reason it caught fire was
its effectiveness in cutting costs and improving
To carry out the work, Six Sigma identifies key profitability. That makes it a powerful tool—if
roles and responsibilities. The Executives and those are a company’s goals. But as innovation
Champions are responsible for selecting project becomes the cause du jour, companies are increas-

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Table 2. DMAIC in mathematical terms

Table 2: DMAIC in Mathematical Terms
Steps Phase Questions
1. Understand what process is to be improved and
Define > What is the Y or the outcome measure?
set a goal.
2. Measure the current state. Measure > What is Y’s current performance?
3. Develop cause-and-effect theories of what may > What are the potential Xs or causes?
be causing the problem. > What may be causing the problem?
Analyze
4. Search for the real causes of the problem and > What are the real Xs or causes?
scientifically prove the cause-and-effect linkage. > What is really causing the problem?
> How can the understanding of the real
causes of the problem be exploited to elimi-
5. Take action. Improve nate or reduce the size of the problem?
> How can this Y = f(X) understanding be
exploited?
6. Measure to verify improvement has taken > Did Y really improve?
place.
Control
> How can the Xs be controlled so the gains
7. Take actions to sustain the gains. in Y remain?

(Chieh, 2007, n.p.)

Table 3.

Category Tools
√ Brainstorming
√ Affinity Diagramming
Gathering Ideas √ Multi-voting
and Organizing √ Tree Diagram
Information √ High-Level Process Map
√ Flow Chart (Process Map)
√ Cause and Effect (Fish Bone) Diagrams
√ Sampling
√ Operational Definitions
Data Gathering
√ Voice of the Customer Methods
√ Check sheets and Spreadsheets
√ Process Flow Analysis
√ Pareto Charts
Process and
√ Histograms (Frequency Plot)
Data Analysis
√ Run (Trend Chart)
√ Scatter Plot (Correlation) Diagram
√ Test of statistical significance
Statistical Analysis √ Correlation and regression
√ Design experiments
√ Project Management Methods
√ FEMA
Implementation and √ Stakeholder Analysis
Process Management √ Force Field Diagram
√ Process Documentation
√ Balance Score Cards and Process Dashboards

Adapted from Pande and Holpe (2002, p. 51- 67)

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Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

ingly confronting the side effects of a Six Sigma units at the senior executive level. In other words,
culture (Grow & Hindo, 2007). they manage organizational separation through a
The above opinion is supported by Benner tightly integrated senior team” O’Reilly & Tush-
and Tushman’s research that suggests that Six man, 2004, p. 75). To describe these organizations,
Sigma will lead to more incremental innovation O’Reilly and Tushman (2004) have coined the
at the expense of more blue-sky work. The two term “ambidextrous organizations” and believe
professors analyzed the types of patents granted to that the organizations have provided a “practical
paint and photography companies over a 20-year and proven model for forward-looking executives
period, before and after a quality improvement seeking to pioneer radical or disruptive innova-
drive. Their work shows that, after the quality tions while pursuing incremental gains. A business
push, patents issued based primarily on prior work does not have to escape its past; these cases show
made up a dramatically larger share of the total, how to renew itself for the future. Their study
while those not based on prior work plummeted showed that 90% of the ambidextrous organiza-
(Hindo, 2007). tions achieved their goals (O’Reilly & Tushman,
Examples of Six Sigma’s fall from extreme 2004, p. 76).
favor can be seen at many fortune 100 companies
including Home Depot, GE and 3M. The new
CEO of Home Depot, Blake Frank has scaled back bUsINEss cAsEs INtEgrAtINg
the strictness of the Six Sigma implementation ItsM, ItIL AND sIx sIgMA
enacted under the former CEO Robert Nardelli
by giving more decision making to store manag- Combining ITIL® and Six Sigma to Improve
ers. After the departure of James McNerney, Information Technology Service Management at
3M’s leadership has changed its implementation General Electric, Fry and Bolt (2004) outline the
of Six Sigma. Even GE, who under Jack Welsh process that GE undertook in 2004 to improve
popularized Six Sigma within the United States, internal practices for their IT service management.
is working to change how Six Sigma is used. Jack The IT Solutions Enterprise Planning & Strategy
Immelt is attempting to move his team to innovate consulting group was engaged to develop a pro-
around a theme of “ecomangination” with mixed cess improvement methodology that combined
results (Grow & Hindo, 2007). ITIL and Six Sigma to migrate from the current
This debate does not mean that Six Sigma state to “measurable, ITIL-compatible processes”
cannot provide value to organizations. It does (p. 3). The group used Six Sigma to assess risk,
mean that Six Sigma cannot be implemented in compare current state and processes to the end
a vacuum. Multiple methodologies are needed goal, and then identified the solution which lev-
to support the enterprise strategy. For example, eraged Remedy’s “ITSM Suite to automate and
companies that are looking to innovate while improve ITSM processes” (Fry & Bolt, 2004, p.
supporting and improving processes and products 3) The five objectives set by the team included 1)
are adopting the “Ambidextrous Organization” Achieve ISO Compliance for ITSM using ITIL
proposed by O’Rielly and Tushman’s (2004) for GE IT standards (ITIL is ISO 9000 compli-
research that shows that successful companies ant), 2) Use ITIL framework to define ITSM best
pursue innovations because “they separate their practice standards, 3) Assess the current state
new, exploratory units from their traditional, ex- of IT service by using the Capability Maturity
ploitative ones, allowing for different processes, Model (CMM) and Capability Assessment Tool
structures, and cultures; at the same time” (p. 74). against the ITIL standard, 4) Constantly improve
The organizations “maintain tight links across ITSM processes using Six Sigma and Deming’s

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 Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

Total Quality Management (TQM), and 5) Define Six Sigma DMAIC. The chart below outlines the
measurement using Six Sigma to assure control project phase, goal or purpose and deliverable as
and improvement (Fry & Bolt, 2004, p. 3) stated by Fry and Bolt (2004) in the case study
To implement the methodology and meet the (See Table 4).
objectives set by the team, the team executed the

Table 4.

Phase Goal or Purpose Deliverable

Phase 1: Define Align ITSM strategy with the business, organi- > Team charter that describes the purpose, goals,
Opportunities zational, and technological strategies. The de-
and resources for the project.
sired result is to set a definitive vision, scope,
and strategic approach for ITSM operations. > Data collection plan that includes such items as
interview schedules and questions.
> Critical to Quality (CTQ) outline that identifies
the critical success factors.
> Current situation analysis that was created using
the CAT tool.
> Customers/Output—Process—Input/Suppliers
(COPIS) “as-is” process map outline that provides
an understanding of the current processes to which
the solution
Phase 2: Measure Create a current-state assessment of how well > An accurate assessment of current process perfor-
performance the current environment supports the ITSM
mance.
strategy. The desired result is to determine
current processes, issues, and the critical suc- > Detailed “as-is” process maps derived from the
cess factors—or Critical To Quality factors COPIS outline created in Phase 1
(CTQs)—of the desired future state environ-
ment. > Critical Success Factors (CTQ) summary chart

Phase 3: Analyze Examines the data collected in the Measure > Opportunities Table: Solutions mapped to process
factors impacting phase to generate a prioritized list of the sourc-
gap
performance es of variation. The Analyze phase focuses im-
provement efforts by separating the “vital few” > Critical Success Factors (CTQs) benchmarked
variables (those most likely responsible for the against ITIL best practices to identify opportuni-
variation) from the “trivial many” (those least
likely responsible for variation). ties for improvement
> Cause and Effect Diagram
> Pareto Chart of Opportunities
Phase 4: Improve Define and refine recommended tactical so- > Risk Assessment/Failure Modes and Effect Analy-
Performance lutions based on information determined in
sis (FMEA)/Contingency Plan.
phases 1-3. The desired result is a documented
recommendation based on strategic fit, cost, > Prioritized potential solutions
and benefits. > Solution Pilot
> “To Be” process maps
Phase 5: Control Propose a plan for designing and implementing > Multi-Generational Product Plan (MGPP)
Performance the ITSM process improvement solution. The
> Process metrics defined
desired result is a true life cycle ITSM solution
that allows for continuous improvement. > Full solution implemented
> Control/Response Plan implemented
> Risk mitigation actions complete

Source: Fry & Bolt, 2004, pp. 4-8

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GE’s project to improve their IT service conventions. “ITIL,” he says, “has given us an
management demonstrates that ITIL and Six end-to-end vocabulary.” (Brown, 2008).
Sigma can be leveraged together to implement In another case study, Integrated Mobile
and maintain ITSM within an organization. The delivers end-to-end life cycle management of an
benefits that GE found included 1) reducing cost enterprise’s entire inventory of wireless assets
by minimizing “potential downtime and the through a single management interface. With
adverse effects of system, network, and applica- capabilities built on the lean Six Sigma, ITIL
tion failures and install, move, adds, change and and CMM principles, Integrated Mobile elimi-
decommission implementations”. 2) “Improve nates the obstacles, challenges and distractions
decision-making ability by facilitating access to of managing wireless services resulting in a
information throughout the organization, and by highly efficient and effective mobile enterprise.
enabling the enterprise wide use of outputs from The issue was managing mobile services and
an integrated framework of processes and tools assets of more than 925 retail outlets across
through such devices as cross functional IT service major metropolitan markets in 49 states with
dashboards” and 3) “Improve IT service levels by more than 76,000 employees. Adding more than
creating operational efficiencies and enabling a 17,000 new employees annually and several new
linked IT Service Management process loop for stores, including international outlets, could lead
defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and to a mobile environment that is overwhelming.
controlling service performance” (Fry & Bolt, The company needed to find an efficient way
2004, p. 9). to handle the multitude of inquiries, tasks and
Liberty Mutual, a diversified global insurer transactions associated with their mobile com-
and sixth largest property and casualty insurer munications since there was too much time and
in the U.S., has introduced Lean Six Sigma and money being spent on maintaining wireless de-
ITIL to dramatically reduce cycle times, improve vices. In this state of chaos there was no time to
quality and reduce cost. Although it is still in the identify ways to drive efficiencies and improve
early days of introducing Lean Six Sigma to the the end-user experience.
overall organization, preliminary results have This specialty retailer turned to Integrated
been encouraging. Since 1994, the Boston-based Mobile’s iManage solution, a feature-rich, man-
company has almost tripled net revenue, to $23.5 aged service that helped eliminate the chaos and
billion, while shedding noncore businesses like excessive costs often associated with a mobile
financial services and health care. For example, enterprise (Integrated Mobile, 2007). Integrated
in one of the company’s underwriting groups, Mobile’s iManage solution includes:
process reengineering has helped reduce cycle
time by as much as 70 percent. Within the IT • A Single Interface for All Wireless Manage-
group, Lean Six Sigma is the foundation for all ment for All Carriers
process-improvement efforts. Stuart McGuigan, • Supply Chain Automation
CIO and senior VP of Liberty Mutual Group, • Custom Kitting
calls ITIL a “common-sense model” and believes • Provisioning and Fulfillment
it can empower a large organization like Liberty • Standardized Handsets and Catalog Manage-
Mutual by helping the organization break work ment that Supports Business Rules
into meaningful components and achievable • Approval Workflow
goals. He also says that ITIL gives him a com- • Cost Allocation
mon language that was missing during the days • Credit Card Transaction Processing
when each technology silo had its own terms and

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 Aligning Six Sigma and ITIL to Improve IT Service Management

• 24x7 Bilingual Administrative and Technical effectiveness in supporting the ITSM strategy,
Tier 1 Support determine what is most likely for not meeting the
• Asset Management defined strategy, identify a solution and propose
• Comprehensive Reporting, Transactions, a plan for implementation ITSM. Alternatively, if
Trends, Defects ITSM and ITIL are currently in place within the
• Validation of Transactions on the Carrier organization, the Six Sigma approach to organiz-
Bill ing and getting work done including identifying
• MACD Processing and selecting problems to be solved could be used.
• Rate Plan Optimization Additionally, the Six Sigma tool kit provides tools
• Defect Elimination that assist IT staff identify problems, determine
• Optional iCare and iBill services for ap- root causes, and recommend ITIL solutions to fix
plication and device support and invoice existing problems. To provide sound IT service
processing management, organizations should use ITIL and
Six Sigma combined to ensure strategic alignment
This is how the specialty apparel retailer in with their organization.
this case study was able to improve satisfaction
and productivity while driving down the cost of
wireless with capabilities built on the lean Six IMPLIcAtIONs FOr rEsEArcH
Sigma, ITIL and CMM principles.
The framework in our exploratory research has
Lessons for It Managers been built upon a deductive study which has
been developed through a literature review and
It was to be expected that GE, an organization synthesis and an exploratory inductive research
whose culture under the direction of Jack Welsh which has been developed using a qualitative case
became entrenched in Six Sigma, leveraged Six study. It makes the case for leveraging ITIL and
Sigma when it implemented a project to use ITIL Six Sigma with ITSM in practice and opportuni-
to improve its IT Service Management. But even ties for future research.
organizations that are not Six Sigma implementa- IT operations, as the production arm of IT
tions can benefit from using Six Sigma principles, departments, have been mostly ignored by IT
methods, and tools. For example, the purpose of research. There is a growing body of research on
ITSM is to align the IT organization with the en- isolated aspects of operations services; but there
terprise. This aligns to Pande and Holppe (2000) is little research that is explicitly ITSM related.
contention that within the Six Sigma implementa- Despite the significant growth of ITSM practice
tion that there should be an emphasis and focus in industry, there is no academic work or com-
on the customer. Additionally, Six Sigma recom- munity of scholars that shares a common mission
mends collaborations across boundaries within to understand how to advance it. Services are
the organization which is important to IT man- emerging in separate areas of academic, industry
agement because they need to determine service and government but few attempts to integrate
many divisions and functions and must provide them (Conger et al, 2007, p. 50). Since the early
enterprise level not silo level support and service. versions of ITIL lacked truly quantifiable business
Using the DMAIC project management approach values, IT organizations are not interested in and
provides the IT organization a methodology to supportive of IT Service Management processes.
establish a vision and strategy for ITSM within ITIL faces an uphill battle for acceptance and
the organization, assess the current state and its creditability that needs to be won across the entire
organization.

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Six Sigma is a measurement-driven approach for ITSM…ITIL defines the “what” of service
to continuous process improvement that focuses management and Six Sigma defines the “how”
on reduction of variation, consistency and high of quality improvement. Together, they make a
product quality. Therefore, in terms of IT service great combination for improving the quality of IT
oriented industry, combining Six Sigma with ITIL service delivery and support” (p.2). ITSM, ITIL
can migrate current processes toward usable, mea- and Six Sigma combined can also assist IT govern
surable, ITIL-compatible processes as mentioned itself and ensure that it is meeting and sustaining
above with the case study on GE, however there the enterprises strategies and objectives (Colbeck
is no research on version 3 because it is relatively et al., 2005).
recent, i.e., released in May 2007. Based on this
we have shown the Six Sigma tools, which can
be used to improve ITSM processes using the cONcLUsION
DMAIC model.
Over the next decade, executives will continue to
be challenged to deliver value to share holders and
IMPLIcAtIONs FOr MANAgEMENt other stakeholders. To support the organization,
IT executives and managers will be challenged
At this point we have provided background on to transform their organization from delivering
ITSM, ITIL and Six Sigma individually. But the technology to providing service and ultimately
question is can an organization’s ITSM implemen- becoming a business partner within the organi-
tation benefit by integrating ITIL and Six Sigma? zation. To meet the challenge, we encourage the
We conclude that ITIL and Six Sigma should be use of ITIL in combination with Six Sigma in IT
leveraged in tandem by IT organizations. Together Organizations with an ITSM implementation.
with the ITIL best practices model and Six Sigma IT managers need to leverage ITSM to develop,
continual improvement and measurement, IT will deliver and manage IT services to agreed upon
be able to set boundaries and provide control quality standard. To have a sound IT management,
elements for the senior IT management. ITIL is managers should use ITIL v3 as best practices. Six
needed to provide the framework and best prac- Sigma DMAIC should be used to make certain
tices for ITSM. ITIL provide a set of guidelines to that ITSM is aligned with the customer and to
specify what an IT organization should do based provide the mechanism to deliver and monitor all
on industry best practices. ITIL best practices the IT service management processes. The case
process model is a key item to drive IT to meet study at GE shows that ITIL and Six Sigma can
the enterprises expectation. be used in tandem to deliver ITSM and meet the
However, ITIL does not define for an organiza- organization’s business objectives. Nevertheless,
tion how it should be accomplished. According delivering ITSM using ITIL and Six Sigma is
to Fry and Bolt (2004) “Six Sigma provides a a one building block for building a world-class
process improvement approach that is based on company. World-class competitors do not achieve
statistical measurement, drives quality improve- the status because they adopted a “tool or tech-
ment, and reduces operational costs. It helps in nique.” They achieve the status because they are
developing detailed work instructions, and it good in “performing the fundamentals “including
defines a methodology for continually mapping, understanding their customers, products, employ-
measuring, and improving the quality process. ees, competitors’ landscape, the market they are
Six Sigma tells how, but it doesn’t tell what to do competing in and the enabling technologies. The
nor does it specify any best practices specifically world-class competitors succeed because they are

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creative and know how to make use of operations Damiano, F. and McLauglin, K. (2007). American
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APPENDIx A: rOLEs WItHIN sIx sIgMA

The hierarchy and the roles within a Six Sigma organization are described by the American Society for
Quality (http://www.asq.org) and Thomas Pyzdek as follows:

Roles Description of Role

Must be lead by the CEO because “Six Sigma involves changing major value
Executives/Leader- streams that cut across organizational barriers (Pyzde, 2000). Provides overall align-
ship ment by establishing the strategic focus of the Six Sigma program within the context
of the organization’s culture (ASQ).
Champions are the next level within the organization. These are “high-level indi-
viduals who understand Six Sigma and are committed to its success.” In a Six Sigma
implementation there will also be “informal leaders” who are daily practitioners
Champions and are communicating the “Six Sigma message” within the organization (Pyzde,
2000). The role of a champion is to “translate the company’s vision, mission, goals
and metrics to create an organizational deployment plan and identify individual
projects.” They are also to “identify resources and remove roadblocks” (ASQ).
Sponsors own processes and systems that can be improved using the DAIMC pro-
Sponsors cess. They “help initiate and coordinate Six Sigma improvement activities in their
areas of responsibilities” (Pyzde, 2000).
Within the project hierarchy, the Master Black belt is “highest level of technical and
organizational proficiency.” The Master Black Belt is responsible for providing tech-
nical leadership, including statistical training and assistance to Black Belts, develop-
ing key metrics, and strategy within the Six Sigma program. The Black Belt must
Master Black Belts have the same knowledge as the Black Belt; additionally, they must “understand the
statistical mathematical theory on which the methods are based… There is usually
about one Master Black Belts for every ten Black Belts, or about 1 Master Black
Belt per 1,000 employees” (Pyzde, 2000). They are similar to a Program Manager
within the Project Management hierarchy
Black Belts are respected leaders and technically inclined; they “receive 160 hours
of classroom instruction, plus one-on-one project coaching from Master Black Belts
or consultants.” An organization will have on average “about one percent of their
Black Belts
work force as Black Belt.” A Black Belt, Project Manager, will complete between 5
to 7 projects each year. (Pyzde, 2000). Black Belts are responsible for leading “prob-
lem solving projects and the training of and coaching of project teams” (ASQ).
Green Belts are the equivalent of a project lead within the Six Sigma program. They
are capable “of forming and facilitating Six Sigma teams and managing Six Sigma
Green Belts
projects from concept to completion” (Pyzde, 2000). Green Belts are also respon-
sible for assisting “with data collection and analysis for Black Belt projects” (ASQ).
Yellow Belts are project team members. They review “process improvements that
Yellow Belts
support the project” (ASQ).
White Belts “can work on local problem-solving teams that support.” overall proj-
White Belts ects, but may not be part of a Six Sigma project team. They understand “basic Six
Sigma concepts from an awareness perspective” (ASQ).

Adapted from American Society for Quality (http://www.asq.org) and Thomas Pyzdek (2000)

This work was previously published in International Journal fo E-Services and Mobile Applications, Vol. 1, Issue 2, edited by
A. Scupola, pp. 62-82, copyright 2009 by IGI Publishing (an imprint of IGI Global).

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