Prioritizing service degradation incidents based on business objectives

• US 7,885,842 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Boulmakoul, Abdel, Salle, Mathias Jean Rene, Bartolini, Claudio
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty; Romain
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLER, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US11/414,637
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705 7- 11, 709224-229, 370/351
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention pertain to prioritizing services based on business objectives is described. According to one embodiment, a probability of a service violation occurring within a predetermined time period is determined based on a service level jeopardy threshold being exceeded. The probability of a service violation corresponds to an incident. An alignment of the service level violation with a business objective is computed based on the probability of the service level violation. The incident is prioritized based on the alignment.

Claims

1. A method of prioritizing services based on business objectives, the method comprising:

monitoring at a computer metric values associated with service degradation incidents, wherein said metric values comprise service level jeopardy threshold values, wherein when a service level jeopardy threshold value of said service level jeopardy values is exceeded, a probability of a service level violation occurring is indicated, wherein said service level violation corresponds to a possible service degradation incident of said possible service degradation incidents, said possible service degradation incident being a possible degradation of service that may be experienced by a service user of a plurality of service users;

determining at said computer a probability of said service level violation occurring within a predetermined time period based on said service level jeopardy threshold being exceeded, wherein said service level violation corresponds to said possible service degradation incident;

computing at said computer an alignment of a delivery of a service with an at least one business objective based on said service level violation to achieve an alignment computation, wherein said alignment computation is a measure of a likelihood expressed as a percentage that said at least one business objective will be met, wherein said at least one business objective comprises financial objectives of a service provider and business objectives relating to said plurality of service users; and

prioritizing at said computer said possible service degradation incident based on said alignment, wherein said prioritizing comprises determining a place in line for said possible service degradation incident, said line comprising said possible service degradation incidents, said place in line signifying to said service provider when action should be taken to address said possible service degradation incident, thus enabling an optimum reduction of financial penalties and repercussions for said service provider that would result from said possible service degradation incident occurring.

2. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the computing at said computer of an alignment further comprises:

forecasting a value of a key performance indicator (KPI), assuming said service level violation will not occur, to achieve a forecasted value, wherein said forecasted value is a default outcome that is computed by calculating a a mean value of said KPI along with a customized variance of said KPI.

3. The method as recited by claim 2, wherein said mean value of said KPI that is predicted at an end of a period by extrapolating a current value of said KPI.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said computing at said computer an alignment further comprises:

calculating an impact that said service level violation would have on said KPI that said at least one business objective is based on.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein said calculating of an impact that said service level violation would have on said KPI further comprises:

calculating an impact that said service level violation would have on said KPI using an equation f_impact(kpi_penalty)=kpi_penalty+penalty(SLO), wherein all variables are measured in the same monetary units.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said computing at said computer an alignment further comprises:

calculating a marginal impact on said likelihood that said at least one business objective will be met should one or more service level violations occur to achieve a marginal impact calculation, said one or more service level violations affecting a variance comprising said alignment computation, wherein if a value of said variance increases, said likelihood of said at least one business objective being met decreases, and if said value of said variance decreases, said likelihood of said at least one business objective being met increases.