Task: Plan For Baselining And Stabilization

The stabilization period or baselining period is typically the period after final sign-offs are obtained when the transition teams have handed over to the Service Delivery Teams. This period is intended to assist Run teams to overcome the initial hurdles during providing service and achieve the agreed Service Level Agreements. It is essential that the Service Engagement Organization understands and works to the agreed measures, understands what data needs to be tracked to prove achievement, and agrees on the format and method of reporting during the baselining period.

The duration of this period can be anywhere between one month to six months. Generally one month would be too short and six months too long. Three months would usually be ideal assuming that the Service Level Agreements gets tested and there would be sufficient number of events to get a good baseline.

The Service Engagement Initiation Lead needs to plan for the stabilization/ramp up and baselining period, typically in terms of:

Longetivity of this period
What level of service will Capgemini provide during the stabilization/ramp up and baseline period?
Will there be ‘interim’ levels of service during the stabilization and baseline window?
Do Service Level Agreements penalties apply during baseline?
Minimum threshold values/volumes at which the team is expected to perform during stabilization or ramp up below which root cause analysis needs to be done and corrective action needs to be implemented
Staffing during this period
Monitoring frequency and mechanism during this period
Reporting to be done.

At the end of stabilization phase, the Service Engagement Initiation Lead must baseline the service, which should represent the performance levels of the engagement at that points in time.

Note: Baselining can be a sticky topic for customers. Not all Service Level Agreements must require a baseline period. For example “time to respond to a severity 1 = 1 hour” may just start on the first day of service whereas “time to repair less than 2 hours” may require a baseline (or ramp up) period.

The baselining may identify areas of concern, which should be immediately addressed. Where issues are caused by factors external to Capgemini e.g. higher volume of incidents than originally declared by the Client, then the Service Level Agreements may have to be amended which may result in a service change request. Where issues are caused by factors internal to Capgemini (e.g. additional training of delivery team, internal processes causing delays or not being followed), then action must be undertaken to ensure the ongoing service can meet the Service Level Agreements.