Company-Confidential SOP tool User Guide

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Tool

USERGUIDE

Version 1.3


Table of Contents

1Overview

1.1CUBES – A Brief Introduction

2Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

2.1Overview

2.2System Requirements

2.3Elements in SOP tool

2.4Login to Cubes

3Roles & Functionalities in SOP tool

3.1Admin

3.1.1Create Products/COTs, Technology or SubDomain

3.1.2Create/update Automation Type and Activity Type

3.1.3RCA Configuration

3.2PM

3.2.1Approve/Reject SOP/RCA/RMCB

3.3ASG User

3.3.1View compliance/coverage information

3.3.2Create/view/update SOP

3.3.3Create/view/update RCA

3.3.4Create/view/update KEDB

3.3.5Create/view/update RMCB documents

3.3.6View created documents

4Document History

1Overview

The purpose of this document is to help the audienceunderstand the CUBES framework, and the SOP tool in detail. This document can be referred by the Admin/PM/ASG users, to navigate the SOP tool.

1.1CUBES– A Brief Introduction

CUBES is an intelligent E2E out-of-the-box Managed Services solution, which comprisesof tools spanning major services of Application Management Service (AMS) such as Service Operations, Monitoring, and Service Operation Transformation. It applies the ITIL framework principles that enable Automation, Predictability,Throughput Optimization and Shared Services. The Cubes framework tools provide a complete and rich platform, ideal for any business operation irrespective of its size.

The following tools are categorised to form CUBES:

Area / Tool / Full Name
Transition / JSK / Jump Start Kit
Monitoring / TAAM / Technology Agnostic Application Monitoring
NAGIOS / Open Source Monitoring Solution
Project Management / PBS / Point Based System
Task Manager / Project Management for Task allocation
Knowledge Management / SOP / One stop repository for Standard Operating Procedure, RCAs & KEDB
Reporting / SLAM / SLA Manager
Transformation / CSIP / Continuous Service Improvement Planner
ADCMM / Application Delivery Capability Maturity Model
Ticketing / OTRS / Open Ticket Request System
Shared Services / Workbench / AMS consolidated work bench

2Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

2.1Overview

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a part of the AMS Cubes tools platform. The tool serves as a framework/repository for creating and maintaining the critical documents for your operations. The tool aimsto centralize all the documents at one place, for quick reference and easy retrieval. Apart from SOPs, Route cause analysis (RCAs), Known error database (KEDB) and Release Management Control Board (RMCB) records are also stored in this repository.

SOP’s are the policies, procedure or standards used for reference in application support and maintenance, marketing, and administration disciplines within your business. When an incident or a service request raised by user occurs repeatedly, the maintenance solution for the same is recorded as a SOP. This holds true for RCAs as well where the SOP is maintained for an RCA call, for solving the future occurrences of similar issues.

SOP provides:

  • Standard quality maintenance for your business
  • Convenience in accessing SOPs – quicker and easier
  • Graphical representation on review procedures
  • Easier to get updates on review
  • Quality assurance and elimination of overheads

2.2System Requirements

Hardware/Software / Requirement
System / Desktop Machine
Minimum Memory / RAM: 4GB; HDD: 500GB
Operating System / Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard 64-bit and above
IIS / IIS 7 and above
Framework / .NET Framework 4, OpenXML 2.5, Enterprise Library 5.0
Explorer / IE 9 and above
Database / Oracle 10g (OR) SQL Server 2008 database and above
Content Management Server / Access to moss.techmahinda.com or SharePoint Foundation Server 2010 with SQL Server

2.3Elements in SOP tool

The following are the basic elements in the SOP tool:

  • SOP – Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are used as the standard procedures for various AMS operations.
  • RCA – Route Cause Analysis (RCA) for an incident/issue is recorded here. It can be linked with a corresponding SOP.
  • KEDB – Known Error Database (KEDB) contains the information about known and repeated errors/issues. They are also linked to the corresponding SOPs and RCAs associated with the error/issue.
  • RMCB – Release Management Control Board (RMCB) documents refers to the process checklist or questionnaire that must be filled by application managers and approved by senior management, prior to deployment.

2.4Login to Cubes

In the CUBES login page, enter the login credentials and click on the Login option.

Figure 1: CUBES login page

The CUBES home page is displayed.

Figure 2: CUBES Home Page

Note
The CUBES framework has two primary configuration roles:
  • Super Admin – has rights to override all account configurations.
  • Admin – manages the tool level configurations.

3Roles & Functionalities in SOP tool

3.1Admin

The Admin is responsible for the creation of products/COTs, technology and subdomain, creation/update of Automation Type, Activity Type, and RCA configuration.

3.1.1Create Products/COTs, Technology or SubDomain

  1. In the CUBES home page (see Figure 2), click on the SOP icon. The SOP dashboard for Admin role is displayed.

Figure 3: SOP Admin Dashboard

  1. To create a new product/COT:In the Products or COTs tab (see Figure 3), select the relevant Application from the drop-down list, and enter the suitableProduct/COT name. Once completed, click on the Insert option. The product/COT is now created for the selected application.
  2. To create a technology: Click on the Technology tab.

Figure 4: Create new Technology

Select the relevant Application from the drop-down list, and enter the suitable Technology name. Once completed, click on the Insert option. The technology is now created for the selected application.

  1. To create a subdomain: Click on the SubDomain tab.

Figure 5: Create new SubDomain

Select the relevant Application from the drop-down list, and enter the suitable SubDomain name. Once completed, click on the Insert option. The subdomain is now created for the selected application.

3.1.2Create/update Automation Type and Activity Type

  1. To create or update Automation Type:In the SOP Admin dashboard (see Figure 3), click on the Automation Type tab. The details of current Automation Types are displayed.

Figure 6: Automation Type

  1. Enter the suitable Automation Type name, and click on Insert. The Automation Type is now created.To edit or delete an existing Automation Type, click on the relevant icon (or ) against the desired Automation Type to make the changes.
  2. To create or update Activity Type: In the SOP Admin dashboard (see Figure 3), click on the
    Activity Type tab. The details of current Activity Types are displayed.

Figure 7: Activity Type

  1. Enter the suitable Activity Type name, and click on Insert. The Automation Type is now created. To edit or delete an existing Activity Type, click on the relevant icon (or ) against the desired Activity Type to make the changes.

3.1.3RCA Configuration

  1. In the SOP Admin dashboard (see Figure 3), click on the RCA Configuration tab.

Figure 8: Automation Type

  1. Select the desired checkboxes, and click on Submit. The selected RCA configuration is saved.

3.2PM

The PM role is primarily responsible for the approval/rejection of created SOPs,RCAs and RMCBs.

3.2.1Approve/Reject SOP/RCA/RMCB

  1. In the CUBES home page (see Figure 2), click on the Dashboard option. The dashboard for PM role is displayed.

Figure 9: PM Dashboard

  1. Click on My list on the side menu. The list of created documents (SOP, RCA, and RMCB) is displayed for approval.

Figure 10: My List page (PM)

Note
PM can click on the Public option to make a SOP,RCA and KEDBdocument public for all the applications under a single contract.
  1. Click on the Doc Id of the document to approve/reject. The Document preview page is displayed.

Figure 11: Document Preview page

  1. Click on the Update Status option. The Update Status dialog box is displayed.

Figure 12: Update Status dialog box

  1. Select the suitable radio button for the document status (Approve/Reject/Delete), and click on Update. The PM can provide any comments, if needed.
  2. If approved, the document is made available for other users to access. If rejected, the document is displayed in “Returned back” status in the user’s My List page.

Figure 13: Reject document message

Figure 14: Rejected Document (in user's My List page)

3.3ASG User

The ASG User role can perform the following functionalities: Create/view/update SOPs, RCAs, KEDBs,RMCBand View compliance/coverage information.

3.3.1View compliance/coverage information

Note
This functionality is available for the PM role as well.
  1. In the CUBES home page (see Figure 2), click on the SOP icon. The SOP dashboard for User role is displayed.

Figure 15: SOP User Dashboard

  1. Select the relevant application from the dropdown list, and select the time period. Click on Search option.

Figure 16: Dashboard > View Information

  1. The RCA SLA Compliance (P1, P2), SOP usage, and KEDB coverage information for the selected search criteria is displayed.

Figure 17: Dashboard search results

  1. The user can also search for any document by entering information in the search box on the dashboard. The documents matching the search criteria will be displayed.

Figure 18: Search box (Dashboard)

3.3.2Create/view/update SOP

  1. In the SOP User Dashboard (seeFigure 15), click on the SOPoption on the side menu. The SOP page is displayed with details of all the approved SOPs related to the applications assigned to the user.

Note
Any approved SOP created by users with access to a particular application will be displayed in the SOP page of all users of that application.

Figure 19: SOP page

  1. To create a new SOP: Click on the Create New SOP option. The Create SOP page is displayed.

Figure 20: Create SOP page

Note
The no. of Approvers for an application depends on the configuration settings set during the application mapping at Cubes Framework level. For more information, refer to the Cubes Framework user guide.
Note
If any of the details (e.g. Application type, Approver details etc.) are not being populated correctly, it could be a configuration error. Kindly contact your Cubes administrator.
  1. Enter relevant information in the fields provided. The user can link incidents, service requests, attach action plan documents with the SOP, and even tag the SOP under a specific name.

Figure 21: Link Incident page

Figure 22: Link SR page

  1. Once completed, click on Finish. The SOP is now created and submitted for supervisor approval. Once approved, the SOP can be accessed by other users.

Note
Users must click on the Save option, if they wish to complete the SOP at a later time. The saved documentcan be completed at a convenient time by selecting it from the user’s My list.
  1. To edit/update a SOP: In the SOP page (see Figure 19), click on the edit icon () against the SOP that needs to be edited. Alternately, the user can also view the created documents from their My List page (click on the My List option on the Dashboard), and select the edit option. The Edit SOP page is displayed.

Figure 23: Edit SOP page

  1. Provide relevant information in the fields provided. Once completed, click on Finish. The SOP is now submitted with new information.

Note
Users must click on the Update option, if they wish to complete editing the SOPat a later time. The saved documentcan be completed at a convenient time by selecting it from the user’s My list.
  1. To search and view a SOP: In the SOP page (see Figure 19), user has two search options – a simple search and the advanced search.

Figure 24: Search SOP option

  1. For the simple search, the user can enter the SOP Doc Id or Doc description in the text box provided, and search results will be displayed in the table below. For a detailed search, click on the Advanced Search option. The Advanced Search SOP criteria are displayed.

Figure 25: Advanced Search SOP

  1. Select the relevant search parameters, and click on Search. The corresponding SOPs matching the search criteria are displayed.

Figure 26: Advanced Search SOP results

3.3.3Create/view/update RCA

  1. In the SOP User Dashboard (see Figure 15), click on the RCA option on the side menu. The RCA page is displayed with details of existing RCAs created by the user.

Figure 27: RCA page

  1. To create a new RCA: Click on the Create New RCA option. The Create RCA page is displayed.

Figure 28: Create RCA page > sections

  1. Click on each section to expand them (for example, Incident details), and enter relevant information for the fields provided.

Note
While creating/editing RCA, users must provide information for all fields provided in a section in order to advance to the next section.

Figure 29: Create RCA > Incident details

  1. After entering relevant information for all sections, click on the Submit option. The RCA is now created and submitted for supervisor approval. Once approved, the RCA can be accessed by other users.

Note
Users must click on the Save option, if they wish to complete the RCA at a later time. The saved document can be completed at a convenient time by selecting it from the user’s My list.
Note
If any of the details (e.g. Application details) are not being populated correctly, it could be a configuration error. Kindly contact your Cubes administrator.
  1. To edit/update a RCA: In the RCA page (seeFigure 27), click on the edit icon () against the RCA that needs to be edited. Alternately, the user can also view the created documents from their My List page (click on the My List option on the Dashboard), and select the edit option.

The Edit RCA page is displayed.

Figure 30: Edit RCA page

  1. Provide relevant information in the fields provided. Once completed, click on Submit. The RCA is now submitted with new information.

Note
Users must click on the Update option, if they wish to complete editing the RCA at a later time. The saved document can be completed at a convenient time by selecting it from the user’s My list.
  1. To search and view a RCA: In the RCA page (seeFigure 27), user has two search options – a simple search and the advanced search.

Figure 31: Search RCA option

  1. For the simple search, the user can enter the RCA Doc Id or Doc description in the text box provided, and search results will be displayed in the table below. For a detailed search, click on the Advanced Search option. The Advanced Search RCA criteria are displayed.

Figure 32: Advanced Search RCA

  1. Select the relevant search parameters, and click on Search. The corresponding RCAs matching the search criteria are displayed.

Figure 33: Advanced Search RCA results

3.3.4Create/view/update KEDB

  1. In the SOP User Dashboard (see Figure 15), click on the KEDB option on the side menu. The KEDB page is displayed with details of existing KEDBs created by the user.

Figure 34: KEDB page

  1. To create a new KEDB: Click on the Create New KEDB option. The Create KEDB page is displayed.

Figure 35: Create KEDB page

  1. Enter relevant information for the fields provided. Once completed, click on Save. The KEDB is now saved.

Note
If any of the project details (e.g. Application type) are not being populated correctly, it could be a configuration error. Kindly contact your Cubes administrator.
  1. To edit/update a KEDB: In the KEDB page (seeFigure 34), click on the edit icon () against the KEDB that needs to be edited. Alternately, the user can also view the created documents from their My List page (click on the My List option on the Dashboard), and select the edit option. The Edit KEDB page is displayed.

Figure 36: Edit KEDB page

  1. Provide relevant information in the fields provided. Once completed, click on Update. The KEDB is now saved with new information.
  2. To search and view a KEDB: In the KEDB page (seeFigure 34), user has two search options – a simple search and the advanced search.

Figure 37: Search KEDB option

  1. For the simple search, the user can enter the KEDB Doc Id or Doc description in the text box provided, and search results will be displayed in the table below. For a detailed search, click on the Advanced Search option. The Advanced Search KEDB criteria are displayed.

Figure 38: Advanced Search KEDB

  1. Select the relevant search parameters, and click on Search. The corresponding KEDBs matching the search criteria are displayed.

Figure 39: Advanced Search KEDB results

3.3.5Create/view/update RMCB documents

Note
The Release Management Control Board (RMCB) is a governing body which ensures adherence to process protocols, while meeting deadlines and deliver quality service.During releases, the application managers have to fill up a process checklist, defined in SOP tool, with evidences and submit to the board. The RMCB members scrutinize the checklist and evidences, and gives approval upon which the deployment will begin.
The RMCB document refers to the process checklist or questionnaire that must be filled by application managers, prior to deployment.
  1. In the SOP User Menu (see Figure 15), click on the RMCB option on the side menu. The RMCB page is displayed with details of existing RMCBs (if any) created by the user.

Figure 40: RMCB page

  1. To create a new RMCB: Click on the Create New RMCB option. The Create RMCB page is displayed.