Electric Company Powers IT, Adopts Operations Framework Through Services Engagement

“The Roles and Knowledge Management engagement is supporting our IT transformation initiative to become a services-based organization and inspiring our IT professionals to be service managers focused on driving business innovation.”

Yahya Ibrahim Abdulrahman, Executive Director of Information and Communication Technologies, Saudi Electricity Company

Business Needs

Formed by the merger of all Saudi electric companies in 2000, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) now has more than 27,600 employees. With multiple companies consolidated into one, the SEC IT environment and team spanned four geographically dispersed locations; consequently, the roles and responsibilities of many of SEC’s IT professionals overlapped one another. In fact, to manage email alone, the company relied on as many as eight individuals. As Ahmed Abdullah al-Mubarak, Manager of the ITC Operations and Services Department for the Eastern Region of the Saudi Electricity Company, recalls, “We didn’t have a unified function to manage all IT services. As a result, IT services were managed at a component level, not as a true service.” The company also lacked a way to effectively document and share IT knowledge and best practices.

Looking to centralize IT management and provide IT as a true service, SEC executive management recognized the need to adopt a proven IT service management methodology. Says al-Mubarak, “We had the full support of our top management to improve IT

operations, because they understood that our ability to deliver quality services and ongoing innovation was critical to the success of our business.”

SolutionTo implement an IT service management methodology, SEC decided to take part in a Roles and Knowledge Management engagement, made possible through the company’s Premier Support agreement. Through this engagement, the company worked closely with consultants from Microsoft Services to establish IT as a single, services-focused organization by adopting the Microsoft Operations Framework to optimize planning, management, and execution of operational tasks. Currently, the company has adopted such an approach for key IT services, including Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SQL Server. Notes al-Mubarak, “The whole process took around 15 days, and over the course of the next two years, we will bring on all remaining IT services.”

Over the course of the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement,

Customer: Saudi Electricity CompanyWebsite: www.se.com.saCustomer Size: 27,600 employeesCountry or Region: Saudi ArabiaIndustry: Utilities

Customer ProfileSaudi Electricity Company has more than 27,600 employees and provides electric power to the people and businesses of Saudi Arabia.

Software and Services Microsoft Services−Premier Support−Roles and Knowledge

Management Microsoft Operations Framework

Microsoft ServicesAs the consulting, technical support, and customer service arm of the world’s leading software company, Microsoft Services enables the successful adoption, deployment, and use of Microsoft solutions and technologies for all customers.

For more information about Microsoft Services, go to: www.microsoft.com/microsoftservices

SEC worked closely with Microsoft Services to establish: Service maps for each technology,

including dependencies. Geo-transparent, service-based teams

with clear roles and responsibilities. Workforce and workload calculation

techniques. Technology operation guides that

include daily, weekly, monthly, and as-required tasks, including those tasks’ estimated duration, execution frequency, and associated IT role.

Work instruction sheets for all identified tasks that guide operators and administrators on how to carry out the tasks.

Working with Microsoft Services, SEC also established a new role on the IT team. Says al-Mubarak, “Roles and Knowledge Management introduced us to the concept of service managers, individuals who are fully accountable for specific IT services, enabling us to stay focused.”

Through the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement, the SEC IT team also deployed and received training for an Operation Center. The Operation Center is a Microsoft SharePoint Server–based application with role-based views of the organization’s operational documentation and the work instructions that the IT team has performed and needs to perform. By using such a tool, IT management can easily assign IT staff only the work applicable to their role. “Instead of using manual checklists, we can define, upload, and schedule operations tasks,” says al-Mubarak.

BenefitsThrough the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement, the SEC IT team is now able to better deliver on the goals of business. By operating more effectively, the team has been able to drive considerable improvements to the services it delivers and focus efforts on bringing the next greatest service to market.

“The ability for us to run IT as a service has become a reality now,” says al-Mubarak. “Our IT team and Microsoft Services worked closely on the initiative and were determined to make it a success.”

Helping to lead the engagement, Khalid AlHakim, Senior IT Operations Consultant for Microsoft, adds that, “The Roles and Knowledge Management engagement has helped us to bring the benefits of the Microsoft Operations Framework to the Saudi Electricity Company, transforming the role of IT into that of a business-ready services organization.”

Optimize IT Resources by 50 PercentOnce relying on as many as eight staff members to manage email services alone, SEC now performs the same duties, and at a higher quality, with only four staff members. Because of the task identification and workload calculation exercises through the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement that determined the number of labor hours needed for each service, the company has experienced similar results across Active Directory and SQL Server management and expects to extend those results to the company’s remaining IT services in the future.

Increase IT Productivity by 25 PercentNow that the team is optimized, it is more productive as well. Thanks to the Microsoft Operations Framework and tools made possible through the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement, IT management at SEC can now more effectively assign tasks to IT team members and gain insight into staff members’ activities. As a result, the IT teams responsible for Active Directory, Exchange Server, and SQL Server have seen an increase in productivity of 25 percent.

Boost AccountabilityOnce burdened with four geographically dispersed and independently run IT

teams, SEC now manages IT operations as a single organization. Making this possible is the company’s ability to assign accountability for specific services to service managers and their teams. Such teams also include an extended team, which comprises owners for the most critical technology dependencies, as determined by the Roles and Knowledge Management service-mapping exercise. By pairing these enhanced team resources with the Operation Center tool, employees know exactly what to do and when. Says al-Mubarak, “Now, all activities are centralized; our teams know who is accountable for each of our services, and it is all documented from A to Z.”

Improve Business Alignment, Speed InnovationThe transformation of the SEC IT team into a services-based organization will inevitably make IT speak the same language as business. IT staff will look at every IT deliverable as a service that is supporting the business processes in one way or another. With this close alignment and the productivity gains made through the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement, the SEC IT team will be equipped with the tools and knowledge to deliver ongoing innovation. Says al-Mubarak, “As we continue to adopt the components from the Roles and Knowledge Management engagement across our other services, we are seeing it improve our agility and our ability to implement new services faster.”

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Document published July 2010