subject: metrics for determining health of an AS/400's IT department

j s

As some have said, accurately gauging the "health" of an IT department
goes WAAAAY beyond a few simple metrics dealing with the activities "in
the box" itself.  To be sure, operational metrics are a good and
essential place to start, but as you eluded when you said "...how many
menu options", there needs to be a look at application design and what
applications do FOR or AGAINST the business; what Value are they to the
bottom-line.   

There are three "uses" of IT in a businesses; Supporting, Enabling or
Driving.   To further define:

Supporting:   - Technologies that support the driving and enabling
business solutions in terms of providing stable, reliable and efficient
infrastructure and continuity of service levels.
- Hardware, operating systems, telecommunications networks, and
database products are examples.
- Business essential would be an apt description. Cross industry
focus.

Enabling   - Business solutions that enable existing or new business
processes with a predominant focus on efficiency or improving how
something is done. - Business Critical is an apt description. 
- Deploying new supply chain, distribution, accounting or human
resource applications are examples.
Less industry specific.

Driving - Business solutions that can only be accomplished or made
possible by the use of technology.  - The technology created or
responded to a market need or want that had not been satisfied before. 
- Satisfied a need in a more competitive way.  - Mission Critical is an
often used description  - Highly specific by industry.

Most IT organizations are just in the Supporting role and their
business processes and metrics, if that have any, show it.   If they
have any they are usually Operational Metrics; how many "things" are
done, in what time frame or some such.  Many, many vendors sell those
types of metrics gather's in the form of tools or some shops have
created them.   You should be able to find them on the web or in a good
book shop or, since they have been around for awhile,  in a good
library.   If you need help, let me know as there are a few things to
the list of Operational Metrics but they are out there and have been
since the beginning days of the mainframe shops.  The technical
processes being measure have not changed much, only the technology doing
the measuring.     

Once you've got the basics down, you can move more into the Enabling
stage, and on to the Driving Stage.  It is even possible to have
portions of the upper two stages going at once but you'd better have a
good foot hold in each subordinate stage before going too much further.
When you venture into the Enabling and, certainly in the Driving Stage,
you'll need different metrics and many will try to tell you processes in
the upper two stages can't be measured.  Let me assure you, I don't know
of anything in a business or an IT shop that can't be measured.  As you
know, if you can't measure it, you can't managed it.   When you get into
the Enabling and Driving stages, and have good metrics and processes,
you'll be able to show good IT Value.     

Having spent some time doing Value of IT consulting to several
businesses, I can tell you business leaders are interested in clearly
and crisply understanding IT's value and what it can do to make the
business more valuable.  I'm sure you know an IT shop needs to "pull its
weight" when it comes to showing value to the business.  Most of the
other areas of the business can usually show value, because they are
traditional areas; Finance, Manufacturing, etc.  As I'm sure you also
know, usually business leaders and the IT manager are fixated on IT's
costs, those new "toys", gadgets bought and the latest "wiz-bang
flashy".   Measure its Value to the Business and you can show them the
value of the "wiz-bang flashy".    

Once you get good operational and value metrics systems set up coupled
with a good processes and a vision and direction  and you put all that
in concert with the business direction, you can show the current and
future value of IT to the business and what that will do to the
bottom-line.   I'm not saying its easy, but it IS "doable".     

FWIW,

Dave Odom
Arizona