Overview

Managing an IT operations environment is very complex, regardless of the skill level or

work experience of the service managers and administrators. Quite frequently, a high rate

of staff turnover exists, day-to-day work is very reactive in nature, and knowledge sharing

is very difficult with underused or nonexistent documentation.

As the business continues to rely increasingly upon IT operations to support critical

functions, the need for improved service availability also increases. Typically, IT looks to

increased capability provided by hardware and software solutions to support this need.

Not surprisingly, operations staff is more heavily relied upon to provide consistent levels of

service without the benefit of increasing headcount or improving skills to support these

new technologies. This drives a reactive atmosphere that, in turn, leads to frustration, to

important tasks not being completed, and to a higher staff turnover rate. Therefore,

Microsoft Services has developed the Microsoft Services Roles and Knowledge

Management (RKM) solution that encompasses many years of Microsoft IT experience in

maintaining mission-critical services.

RKM is designed to deliver sustainable improvements in IT operations, and the detailed

guidance needed to maintain a high quality of service of your Windows Server 2003,

Active Directory

directory service, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server

2003, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft SQL Server

2005

environments.

RKM helps IT groups apply Microsoft Operations Framework and IT Infrastructure Library

(ITIL) best practices, processes, and documented procedures to ensure that services

achieve optimal availability levels.

Specifically, RKM helps IT groups:

Clearly understand roles and responsibilities of service managers, administrators, and other operations staff.

Create an environment where proactive focus drives daily, weekly, and monthly tasks.

Increase accountability and assign tasks for effective execution.

Improve knowledge sharing to increase employee skill levels.

Develop and maintain consistent documentation.

Microsoft Services Roles and Knowledge Management (RKM) is designed to help you:

Improve service availability by

increasing preventative

maintenance.

Drive accountability and assign

tasks effectively.

Improve the effectiveness of IT

staff through defined roles and

responsibilities.

Gain more value from IT

documentation.

DATA SHEET

Roles and Knowledge Management Maximizing Your Investments in People and Improving Their Efficiency

Proactive service based on customer experience and Microsoft IT procedures.

How the Offering Works

RKM combines the implementation of structured management processes and proactive

operational tasks presented through a portal based on Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Role and Responsibility Optimization

RKM delivers roles, responsibilities, and detailed proactive work instructions contained in

prepackaged content packs specific to a Microsoft technology. Roles are determined by

using a predefined set of role types to enable more efficient use of resources. In addition,

responsibilities are aligned with the tasks that individuals should perform to ensure the

reliability, maintainability, and availability of the specified IT service. Plus, proactive work

instructions include step-by-step procedures, customized for your environment, that

provide the basis for daily, weekly, monthly, and ad hoc tasks to perform.

Power and Benefits of Office SharePoint Server 2007 Technology

Operations Center is an Office SharePoint Server 2007 application with role-based views

of the organizations operational documentation and the work instructions performed. This

enables management to easily assign administrative staff only the work applicable to their

role. The task planning capabilities and integration with Microsoft Office Outlook calendar

and the ease of use of Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides IT organizations with a

useful and scalable technology to benefit all IT. In addition, RKM reporting allows

managers to track weekly status, to evaluate task completion, and to report about tasks

that take longer than expected. The new RKM Content Pack Builder provides the ability to

quickly build a custom content pack complete with tasks and supporting documentation

and upload it into Operations Center.

It Is About the Knowledge

Prepackaged content packs of recommended work instructions are the heart of the

offering. These work instructions contain best practice guidance from Microsoft Services,

Microsoft IT, and the Microsoft Center of Excellence. In addition, each content pack

contains dozens of work instructions for administrators to perform on a regular basis,

ranging from intermediate to complex, that are customized for your environment during

delivery. The content packs are designed to jump-start or augment your documentation

efforts and also greatly improve knowledge sharing.

Maximize the Value of Your IT Investments

The mission of Microsoft Services is to help you get the most out of your IT investments.

Whether you want to improve your bottom line, improve productivity, or use technology to

realize new business opportunities, Microsoft is ready to help. From business support to

strategic consulting, we offer a full range of Premier Support services for any stage in your

IT life cycle.

Drive proactive focus and increased accountability within your IT staff.

Do You Need RKM?

If you answer Yes to the following questions, we recommend you learn more about Microsoft Roles and Knowledge Management solution and about its benefits:

Do just a few people in Operations have most of the knowledge but no mechanism or the time to share it?

Are important tasks not being completed? Or, conversely, are certain tasks being duplicated?

Is work usually performed in firefighting mode?

Is the IT Operations staff unaware of what proactive work they should be performing?

Is documentation non-existent or difficult to locate and maintain?

For more information Please visit the Premier

Support Web site at

www.microsoft.com/

premier or contact your local

Microsoft Services

representative.

2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This data sheet is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Microsoft, Active Directory, Windows Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint are registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.