Backlog Management Index (BMI) Evaluation and Improvement – An ITIL Approach

Backlog Management Index (BMI) Evaluation and Improvement – An ITIL Approach

Backlog Management Index is one of the important metrics that is closely monitored in Steady State of Maintenance and Support Projects. In most cases Backlog Management Index provides a very good indication of the success of the project work and an understanding of the stability and control.

There is a tendency of BMI to decrease steadily with time in Steady State of Development and Support Projects without adequate controls, processes, checks and balances. The factors affecting BMI may be classified into operational and process related.

ITIL is the abbreviation for the guideline IT Infrastructure Librar y, developed by Cent ral Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now the OGC (Office of Governance Commerce) in Norwich (England) developed on behalf of the British government. The main focus of the development was on mutual best practices for all British government data centers to ensure comparable services. Today ITIL is the worldwide de-facto-standard for service management and contains broad and publicly available professional documentation on how to plan, deliver and support IT service features.

The aim of this white paper is to illustrate some of the root causes behind BMI reduction in Steady State of Maintenance and Support Projects. The paper then applies the ITIL approach to resolving the issues that cause the BMI to decrease and improve the index.

Introduction and Relevance

Backlog Management Index (BMI) definition, its relevance to project management and metrics management are described below. This is followed by a sample case study to illustrate the concepts.

BMI – Understanding Backlog Management Index

Backlog Management Index (BMI) is an important metric to manage the backlog of open, unresolved problems in a Software Project. It is typically used extensively in maintenance and Support projects (or phases) to ensure the project remains under control. It is related to both the rate of defect arrivals and the rate with which the fixes to the defects become available. A Backlog of workload is defined as the count of problems that remain unresolved after a particular time span (week/month).

BMI= Number of Problems/Service Desk Incidents closed in the month * 100 %
Number of Problems/Service Desk Incidents opened in the month

If the number of Problems/Service Desk Incidents closed in the month is more than the number of arrivals, the BMI will be more than 100 percent. This will indicate that the Software system and the project for maintaining and supporting it are under control and moving towards more stability.

If on the other hand the number of Problems/Service Desk Incidents closed in the month is less than number of arrivals, the BMI will be less than 100 percent. This will indicate that the Software System and (or) project maintaining and supporting it is not stable. In the long term if this condition continues, an intervention from Project Manager, Sponsors, Technical Resources and other Stakeholders may be necessary.

In reality most projects experience an oscillatory behavior in relation to BMI over the lifecycle of the project. There are several underlying factors that influence the trend of BMI for the project. The analysis of the BMI Trend is an important aspect of Software Quality Management, Project Management, and Continuous Service Improvements Initiatives which are critical in defining the success or failure of the Project Effort.

This whitepaper focuses on identifying the BMI Influencers especially in Steady State of Maintenance and Support Projects. It will then focus on minimizing the negative influence of the factors and suggesting ways to prevent their recurrence.

Case Study

The following is the sample BMI Trend Data as seen in the steady state of a project for Maintaining and Supporting Applications for a Financial Company.

The BMI Trend Analysis indicates that the project has been moving towards stability and is under control. The relationship between BMI and time is expressed using the following Equation

BMI = K1* T + K2

Wherein T represents the Time Interval (in months) after steady state is reached in the Project and K1 and K2 are constants. K1 is the stability factor indicating whether the BMI trend is improving with time. A positive K1 factor (as in the diagram above) indicates that the project is moving in the right direction. A negative K1 factor may require intervention from stakeholders as indicated earlier. K2 is the constant indicating the base value of average BMI at the start of the Steady State Phase of the Project. A value of K2 >= 100 with a positive value of K1 is the ideal condition for a project.

The project mentioned in the chart above has the following final equation:- BMI = 0.0817 * T + 99.398

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