lean project: cisco voice device healthcheck automation
DESCRIPTION
LEAN Project: Cisco Voice device health check automation project; The project gives details about implementation of LEAN quality concepts to reduce repeated mannual efforts & saving 33550.6 hours resulting in benefit of $838,765 ~ 16.13 FTE (Full Time Employee) per-annum while performing device health checks across 6 customer infrastructure.TRANSCRIPT
SAGNIK PALPROGRAM MANAGER, IT Services, INDIA
: http://in.linkedin.com/in/sagnikpal/
LEAN PROJECT: CISCO VOICE DEVICE
HEALTH CHECK
Business Case:For proactive maintenance, daily health checks are required to be performed on
CUCM / CUC infrastructure of 6 customers. The device parameters are to be
recorded from respective customer’s tool server and then formatted in excel. The
excel file should then be uploaded on LAN share volume. The daily health checks
are to be used for proactive incident management, capacity management &
executive summary reporting.
Problem Statement:Automated email alerts of CUCM parameters pulled through CLI are not available
in a easily readable format and Engineers prefer RTMT tool to pull the data.
The current manual process of extracting the data from RTMT involves lot of
manual touch points viz:
• Accessing several tools – Citrix, RDP, RTMT.
• Formatting the data in excel.
• Uploading the formatted dump on shared drive.
The downloading and formatting of data takes ~26Hrs pa. per server
Goal Statement:
To reduce Time spent on daily health checks of UC infrastructure for 6 customers.
LEAN PROJECT OVERVIEWBusiness: < - - Omitted - - >
Stakeholders:< - - Omitted - - >
Team Charter:
Project Leader: Sagnik Pal
Metrics Impacted:Cisco Call Manager & Unity Connection Health Check completion time
Methodology Used:MUDA – Processing Transactions
In scope:CUCM & CUC Health Check automation for multiple customers
Out scope:CUCM DRS & Replication status check
Post Lean Process:
• Automated output files generated through VBA script &
uploaded directly to server.
• Time: Time taken now is only 4877.4 hours per annum.
Advantages:
• Quantitative benefits: Saving of 33550.6 hours resulting in
benefit of $838,765 ~ 16.13 FTE saved
Lessons Learned:
All repetitive work are subject to automation and the same
time can be used for more value added works.
MUDA in Processing with standard workflow can be avoided
using automated tools
Pre Lean Process:
• The manual process of extracting the data and formatting it
for two different customers – WF & Cargill involving ~100
nodes..
• Time: Total time involved in the processing was 38428
Hours per annum
Implementation Details:
• Script (Frontend – Excel; Backend – VBA) has already
passed UAT & is currently on production
Process Controls:
• SOP with all the manual process steps is captured in excel.
• SOP describing the usage of script has been prepared
• Training: The team is trained on the usage of automation
script
LEAN PROJECT DETAILS: CISCO VOICE DEVICE HEALTH CHECK
Pre Lean Post Lean
VALUE STREAM MAPPING
Upload HC file to server
Copy data from RTMT & populate in Excel for 3
regions
Copy HC file from server
Access RTMT & Select CUCM cluster profile, Access
CUC servers
START
STOP
26 Hours /
pa for 1
server
MU
DA
Pro
cessin
g
Upload HC file to server
Execute script on attachment & populate in Excel for 3 regions
Copy HC file from server
Save email attachments having dumps of each server parameters to local
desktop
START
STOP
3.3 Hours /
pa for 1
server
BENEFIT QUANTIFICATION
Description QuantificationNumber of Servers - Customer 1 (Industry - BFSI) 66
Number of Servers - Customer 2 (Industry - BFSI) 65
Number of Servers - Customer 3 (Industry - Food processing) 37
Number of Servers - Customer 4 (Industry - ITES) 516
Number of Servers - Customer 5 (Industry - BFSI) 422
Number of Servers - Customer 6 (Industry - BFSI) 372
Total CUCM+CUC Server 1478
Manual Hours Spent for 1 server / Yr before Automation(Hr) 26
Manual Hours Spent for 1 server / Yr after Automation(Hr) 3.3
Manual Hours Spent before automations for all customer servers / Yr 38428.0
Manual Hours Spent after automations for all customer servers / Yr 4877.4
Manual Hours Saved / Yr 33550.6
Engineer Billing rate / Hr (USD) {Ballpark} $25
Yearly FTE billing {Based on above ball park billing rate} $52,000
Amount Saved / Yr $838,765
Number equivalent FTE (Full Time Employee) Saved 16.13
LEAN PROJECT DETAILS: TECHNICAL SOLUTION
An Excel based
script to
automate
device health
checks
Dashboard
completely
automated
LEAN PROJECT DETAILS: FINAL DASHBOARD
Automated dashboard
summarizing the heath of all
CUCM & CUC servers
against each parameter
Possible health check status:
• GREEN – All devices
operating normal
• AMBER – Services are
degraded or Minor
impacted
• RED – Services not
available or Major Impact
QUESTIONS / FEEDBACK
If you have a question or a feedback related to LEAN Implementation, do write to Sagnik Pal at [email protected]
Thank You