Six Sigma Availability Management of Information Technology in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer of Washington, DC

Imagine the potential implications of a well-timed and successful terrorist strike that begins by crippling the information technology infrastructure of the government of Washington, DC. The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) of the Government of the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) is largely funded by the United States Congress and is the primary information technology resource for critical government agencies in 'the District' including the Police Department, Public Works, Fire and Rescue, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and Public Schools. OCTO would serve a critical function in any large city; given, however, that the District is perhaps the most politically and militarily important city in the world, that function is amplified. In early 2003, OCTO engaged multiple interdisciplinary teams from the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the A. James Clark School of Engineering of the University of Maryland to examine strategies and tactics employed by OCTO with respect to the Information Technology Internet Library (ITIL) Service Delivery. Explicit team charges were to conduct these examinations through either the lens of 'business excellence' or the lens of six sigma's structured define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC) improvement approach with particular emphasis on 'DMA' and with suggestions for 'I'. These examinations were intended to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in and to OCTO's ITIL Service Delivery approaches and, subsequently, to enhance OCTO's performance. The work described herein was limited to a Six Sigma examination of ITIL Service Delivery Availability Management and was hence a part of the larger ITIL framework. Ultimately the work will contribute to fulfilment of OCTO's goal of derivation and implementation of a dynamic cost and performance modelling environment that coalesces disparate information technology (IT) data sources into a solution capable of spanning all agency operational needs.