Optimizing the IT incident management process: a simulation-based tool

The complexity of IT support organizations, with staff working around the clock in the most disparate geographies, makes it extremely hard to evaluate the performance of currently adopted incident management strategies. A correct evaluation requires a deep understanding of the support organization, in order to model its incident management function, and define a series of performance metrics. The complexity of incident management makes it impossible to treat the problem analytically, and calls for a simulation-based approach. In this context, the paper presents the HPIM simulator, which was designed to evaluate and optimize the performance of the incident management function in IT support organizations.