Six Sigma case study

Project 3: Hop Count Reduction

Yellow Belt Name: Mehak Singh

Date: 9th September 2023
College: Delhi Metropolitan Education
Course: BBA
 Case Study: Introduction
ABC Telecom company from India who provide Telecom services in approx. 16 countries
across the world. They provide their Services in 3 specific area.
• Mobile Services
• Internet services
• DTH Services

They have outsourced their IT Services to XYZ Company for 10 yrs. XYZ company is
responsible to manage their IT related services specific in Application development, IT
Support in managing their Servers & networks.

Now, Any new IT Services or application development or managing old running Services &
applications XYZ company will give 24X7 Supports to ABC Users.
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 High Level Overview
End User

Mode of Contact

Service Desk Team

Tech Team 1 Tech Team 2 Tech Team 3 Tech Team 4 Tech Team N

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 What is HOP Count
Tech Team 1

1
HOP
5 HOP
End User
Tech Team 3 Tech Team 2

3
NO
Issue
HOP 2
Belongs
HOP

NO YES
Issue Issue 4
Belongs Belongs
HOP Ticket
Resolved
YES YES
Ticket Ticket
Resolved Resolved
 Process Overview

If the user face any issue in their application or IT services. He will contact to service desk team by
phone call, E-mail, Chat or Self services to log their complaint.

In self-service portal, User can raise ticket by yourself. Service desk team will create ticket incase of User
have contacted by Phone, Chat or Email. Incase of Self-service portal, Service desk team will categorize
and assign to respective team. Technical Team will check the Issue whether its belongs to them or Not.
Incase Issue does not belongs to them then Ticket will go back to SD Team then SD Team will check
again & Assign to correct Assignment group. If its belongs to them After that Technical team will take
ownership of ticket and will do troubleshooting to resolve the Issue. After troubleshooting, Technical
team will update all troubleshooting step in work log and resolve the ticket.

User will check issue on basis of resolution comments whether Issue resolved or not. Incase of Issue not
resolved then ticket will be reopen else ticket will be closed.
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 Voice of Customer

“While reviewing KPIs & Metrics in Monthly Review, Customer complaint that…
• There is delay in Issue resolution.

• Whenever User contacted to SD team, they used to says that We are working on it.

• Sometimes, When we connect with technical team, they says that ticket not assign yet.

Voice of Process
HOP- Ticket assigned by Service desk to technical team is called HOP. As per customer, One HOP is acceptable
as this is important step of the Ticket assignation process. Every ticket need to be assigned on One HOP. More
than 1 HOP is a Defect

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Define phase

Define Stage- Deliverables-

S. No Deliverables Completion date Status

(WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD
1 Project Charter 10th Sep’23 Completed

2 In-Out Matrix (Process map) 10th Sep’23 Completed

3 SIPOC 10th Sep’23 Completed

4 Team Role Matrix

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 Project Charter
Project in scope : Ticket created in form of
Business Case: XYZ Company is company which have responsibility to Incidents (Sev3 & Sev4)
resolve the Issue related of Telecom company name ABC. As per
Customer issue resolution are getting longer time as expected. Whenever Exclusion: Ticket created in form of Incidents (Sev1
User ask update on ticket , SD Team responds that Team is working on & Sev2) & Service request, Change & Problem ticket
Issue. User connect with technical team, technical team occasionally
claim that ticket yet not been assigned. Project Team :
Due to this Issue are not resolving as per expected time & User dis- Sponsor – Sanjay Gupta
satisfication level getting increased. This project is extremely important
because there will be chance of SLA failure. QL – Manohar Sharma
Problem / Opportunity Statement; Core Team - Technical Team.
HOP- Ticket assigned by Service desk to technical team is called HOP. Black Belt – Nishant Bhardwaj
As per customer, One HOP is acceptable as this is important step of
the Ticket assignation process. Every ticket need to be assigned on Yellow Belt – Himanshi
One HOP. More than 1 HOP is a Defect. Project Team - Amit Tiwari, Ritwik Kumar , Neha

To Reduce High Hop count while handling/Resolving the ticket Project Plan

Phase Start Date End date Actual status

Baseline period- High Hop count ticket (Resolved) Jan’23 to Mar’23.
As per Baseline, 14% ticket of getting resolved after 1 HOPs Define 26.8.2023 28.8.2023 Completed

Measure 28.8.2023 31.8.2023 Completed

Goal Statement: Analyze 31.8.2023 4.9.2023 Completed
To reduce %age of High Hop count Ticket (resolved) from 14% to 5%
Improve 4.9.2018 6.9.2023 Completed

Control 6.09.2023 08.09.2023 Completed

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In-out Matrix
In-Out Matrix

S. No In Out

1 Ticket created in form of Incidents (Sev3 & Ticket created in form of Incidents (Sev1 & Sev2) &
Sev4) Service request, Change & Problem ticket

2 Incident Management & Service desk SR Management, Problem & Change Management
function process

3 Mobile CRM, Apple Apps, Desktop, Login, Rest of the Application will be out of Scope
Oracle, OTT app, PACS, Recharge, Voice
App & Self help are in scope application

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 HOP Process Map-
Tech Team 1

1
HOP
5 HOP
End User
Tech Team 3 Tech Team 2

3
NO
Issue
HOP 2
Belongs
HOP

NO YES
Issue Issue 4
Belongs Belongs
HOP Ticket
Resolved
YES YES
Ticket Ticket
Resolved Resolved
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Voice of Customer - Translate

Convert VOC to CTQ

VOC CTQ

There is delay in Issue resolution.

Whenever User contacted to SD team, they used to says High No. of HOP in ticket.
that We are working on it. More than 1 HOP is a Defect
Sometimes, When we connect with technical team, they
says that ticket not assign yet.

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 Team Role Matrix
Team Role Matrix
Name Category Project Management Role Technical Role Team Working Role
Sanjay Gupta Sponsar YES No No
Manohar Sharma Quality Leader YES No No
Nishant Bhardwaj Blackbelt YES No YES
Mehak Singh Yellow belt YES No YES
Sunil Service desk Team No YES YES
Vijay Sharma MOB CRM YES YES YES
Kamal ORACLE APP NO YES YES
Priyanka Sharma PACS Apps NO YES YES
Saurabh Sinha MOBILE CRM NO YES YES
Virendra RECHARGE APP NO YES YES
Neeraj DEKTOP App NO YES YES
Anjali OTT CRM NO YES YES
Sachin Bhasin VOICE App NO YES YES

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 Measure Stage

Measure Stage- Deliverables-

S. No Deliverables Completion date Status (WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD

1 Data collection plan 16th Sep’23 Completed

2 Measurement System Analysis N/A

3 DPMO Calculation 16th Sep’23 Completed

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 Measure Stage
Measurement Stage Planning Sheet
S. No. Process Step Operational Definition Data Type Stratification Sample Size Frequency Responsibility

1 Incident Creation Incident creation

desk
by Service Count N/A N/A Monthly MIS Team

2 Incident Resolved Incident Resolved by Technical Count N/A N/A Monthly MIS Team
Teams

Incident Incident Resolved by Technical

3 Resolved- Teams on basis of Contact Count N/A N/A Monthly MIS Team
Contact code code
wise

4 Open ticket data Open Incident data where Count N/A N/A Daily MIS Team
HOP Count is more than 2

5 Incident Resolved Incident Resolved by Technical Count N/A N/A Daily MIS Team
Teams

High Hop High Hop Analysis from Random

6 Analysis Technical Team on Day-1 Count Sampling 10% Daily Technical Team
resolved Ticket

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 DPMO Study

• DPMO means that Defect per million Opportunities

• Defect- Any Severity 4 Incident which was resolved after 1 HOP will be consider as Defect.
• No. of Unit- Any Severity 4 Incident ticket created by Service desk team via Phone call, Email chat or
Self-services
• Opportunity per unit- 1 Opportunity = 1 Incident

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Analysis Stage

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 Analyze phase

Measure Stage- Deliverables-

S. No Deliverables Completion date Status (WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD

1 Pareto Analysis 16th Sep’23 Completed

2 Brainstorming Session 16th Sep’23 Completed

3 Affinity diagram 16th Sep’23 Completed

4 Ranking Method 16th Sep’23 Completed

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 Analyze phase
What is Pareto Analysis:
Pareto principle analysis refers to the process conducted to ensure individuals or businesses make effective and
productive decisions. It works on the 80/20 principle, which states that 80% of the problems are influenced by only
20% of causes or 80% of the benefits come from only 20% of the effort put in by different forces, be it manual or
mechanical.

SELFSERVICE PHONECALL EMAIL CHAT

1 -HOP 485 1 -HOP 135 1 -HOP 5368 1 -HOP 15

2 -HOP 499 2 -HOP 34 2 -HOP 168 2 -HOP 1

3 -HOP 45 3 -HOP 37 3 -HOP 99 3 -HOP 0

4 -HOP 6 4 -HOP 15 4 -HOP 29 4 -HOP 1

53% 40% 5% 12%

5-HOP 2 5-HOP 3 5-HOP 10 5-HOP
552 90 309 2
6-HOP 0 6-HOP 1 6-HOP 3 6-HOP 0

Selfservice, Email & Phone call are the Major sources of High Hop count problem 18
 Analyze phase
What is Pareto Analysis:
Pareto principle analysis refers to the process conducted to ensure individuals or businesses make effective and
productive decisions. It works on the 80/20 principle, which states that 80% of the problems are influenced by only
20% of causes or 80% of the benefits come from only 20% of the effort put in by different forces, be it manual or
mechanical.
Self-service, Email & Phone call are the Major sources of High Hop count problem

Technical Team EMAIL PHONECALL SELFSERVICE EMAIL PHONECALL SELFSERVICE

MOB CRM 110 51 287 36% 57% 47%
ORACLE APP 59 14 119 19% 16% 20%
PACS Apps 62 3 88 20% 3% 16%

80%
MOBILE CRM 33 9 15 11% 10% 6%
DEKTOP App 25 5 19 8% 6% 5%
SELF HELP App 8 1 6 3% 1% 2%
OTT CRM 5 1 6 2% 1% 1%
RECHARGE APP 2 5 3 1% 6% 1%
VOICE App 5 1 1 2% 1% 1%
APPLE App 5 0% 0% 1%
LOGIN App 3 0% 0% 0%

MOB CRM, ORACLE, PACS & MOBILE CRM are major applications Whose contributes 80% of Problem related to
HIGH Hop Count
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 Analyze phase
What is Brainstorming:
Brainstorming is a group problem-solving method that involves the spontaneous contribution of creative ideas and
solutions. This technique requires intensive, freewheeling discussion in which every member of the group is
encouraged to think aloud and suggest as many ideas as possible based on their diverse knowledge.
Agenda of Brainstorming- Root Cause Identification session on High Hop Count
Participation Teams-MOB CRM, MOBILE CRM, PACS Apps, Oracle Apps

Points:

1. Service desk Agent Knowledge Issue.

2. Incident which was created by Service desk on basis of Contact code- Email does not have completed details.
3. Incomplete information shared by User while raising Issue.
4. Multiple Team dependency while Troubleshooting the Issue.
5. Self Services- Appropriate Web forms are not available while raising request from Self Services medium.
6. Governance Issue-No Report are getting publish by MIS Team on HIGH HOP Aging wise
7. Technical Team dependency or Vendor Team dependency to resolve the Issue.
8. No Queue Management process at Technical team Side.
9. Ownership Issue on Incident where HOP count more than 2

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 Analyze phase
What is Affinity diagram:
The affinity diagram organizes a large number of ideas into their natural relationships. It is the organized output
from a brainstorming session. Use it to generate, organize, and consolidate information related to a product,
process, complex issue, or problem. After generating ideas, group them according to their affinity, or similarity.
This idea creation method taps a team’s creativity and intuition. It was created in the 1960s by Japanese
anthropologist Jiro Kawakita.

Knowledge User Technical Process

Multiple Team Incident which was created

Service desk Agent Incomplete information shared by
dependency while by Service desk on basis of
Knowledge Issue User while raising Issue
Troubleshooting the No Queue Management
Contact code- Email does not
Issue process at Technical team
have completed details
Side

Technical Team Appropriate Web forms are

dependency or Vendor not available while raising Ownership Issue on
Team dependency to request from Self Services Incident where HOP count
resolve the Issue
more than 2
Report are getting publish by MIS
Team on HIGH HOP Aging wise

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 Analyze phase
Sample Study:
Take 50 Samples from In scope Application(MOB CRM, ORACLE, PACS & MOBILE CRM) to validate the Root
cause reasons
Technique used to Select Samples -Stratified Random Sampling
Stratified Sampling is a method in which group/Stratum are formed and unit are chosen at random
 Analyze phase
S.No. Category RCA MOB CRM ORACLE PACS MOBILE CRM Total Samples
RANK
Sample Size 50 50 50 50 200
Service desk Agent Knowledge
1 Person
Issue 18 15 10 12 45 2
Incomplete information shared
2 User
by User while raising Issue 15 10 15 8 48 1
Multiple Team dependency
3 Technical
while Troubleshooting the Issue 5 5 7 10 27 3
Technical Team dependency or
4 Technical Vendor Team dependency to 4 2 2 5 13 6
resolve the Issue

Incident which was created by

Service desk on basis of Contact
5 Process
code- Email does not have 3 10 5 7 25 4
completed details

Appropriate Web forms are not

6 Process available while raising request 2 3 1 5 11 7
from Self Services
No Queue Management process 8
7 Process
at Technical team Side 1 2 2 3 8
Ownership Issue on Incident
8 Process
where HOP count more than 2 2 5 8 0 15 5
 Improve phase

Measure Stage- Deliverables-

S. No Deliverables Completion date Status (WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD

1 Root cause analysis/Action Plan 17th Sep’23 Completed

2 Action Plan Implementation
17th Sep’23 In progress

3 DPMO Study- Pre & Post

Improvement 17th Sep’23 Completed

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 Improve phase
Action Plan for Implementing Improvement Ideas
Improvement Ideas/Action Item
S.No. Category RCA Responsibility Status

Service desk Agent Knowledge Process Knowledge Test conduct on monthly basis to improve
1 Person Service desk WIP
Issue Knowledge of SD Team
• Need to conduct Knowledge Session with User on regular
Incomplete information shared
2 User Interval. Ops Team WIP
by User while raising Issue
• ‘Tips of Week’ Started
Multiple Team dependency while Ops
3 Technical Weekly Call/Session started with Vendor Team on Open Ticket WIP
Troubleshooting the Issue Team/Vendor
Technical Team dependency or
Situation Management process started to cater such type of ticket
4 Technical Vendor Team dependency to Technical Team WIP
where multiple Internal team dependency
resolve the Issue

Incident which was created by • SOPs & E Mail Templates defined with Specific mandatory
Service desk on basis of Contact parameter
5 Process Service desk WIP
code- Email does not have • Regular Review on Mail template to identify need for change
completed details in existing templates or new requirement

Appropriate Web forms are not • Identify needs of New Web forms for Self-service Service
6 Process available while raising request • Regular Review on Web form to identify need for change in desk/Technical WIP
from Self Services existing templates or new requirement Team
No Queue Management process • Queue Manager appointed from every Application Team to
7 Process Technical Team WIP
at Technical team Side monitor queue on regular interval (1 Hr)
Ownership Issue on Incident Situation Management process started to cater such type of ticket
8 Process Technical Team WIP
where HOP count more than 2 where multiple Internal team dependency
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 Improve Stage- Pre & Post analysis
Defect
17%
Defect %age reduced
15%
Baseline- 14% in 3 month of data from 14% to 4%
9%

7%

4%
3%
Post Improve- 4% in 3 month of data

JAN'23 FEB'23 MAR'23 APR'23 MAY'23 JUN'23

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 DPMO Study- Pre & Post Improvement
• DPMO means that Defect per million Opportunities
• Defect- Any Severity 4 Incident which was resolved after 1 HOP will be consider as Defect.
• No. of Unit- Any Severity 4 Incident ticket created by Service desk team via Phone call, Email chat or
Self-services
• Opportunity per unit- 1 Opportunity = 1 Incident

Pre Improvement Sigma Level Post Improvement Sigma Level

2.59
Current level of Sigma is on basis of last 3 3.21
Current level of Sigma is on basis of
Months of data (JAN’23 to MAR’23) APR’23 to JUN’23
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 Analysis Stage- Deliverables-

S. Deliverables Completion date Status

No (WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD

1 Control Plan

Control Stage 20th Aug’23 Completed

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 Control phase

Control Stage- Deliverables-

S. No Deliverables Completion date Status (WIP/Completed/Delay/HOLD

1 Control Plan
17th Sep’23 Completed

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Improve Stage- Pre & Post analysis
S. No Action Item Status Frequency Responsibility

1 Process Knowledge Test conduct on monthly basis to In progress Monthly Service desk
improve Knowledge of SD Team

• Need to conduct Knowledge Session with User on

2 regular Interval. In progress Quarterly Ops Team
• ‘Tips of Week’ Started

3 Weekly Call/Session started with Vendor Team on Open In progress Weekly Ops Team/Vendor
Ticket

4 Situation Management process started to cater such type In progress - Service desk
of ticket where multiple Internal team dependency

Regular Review on Mail template to identify need for

5 change in existing templates or new requirement In progress Quarterly Ops Team

Regular Review on Web form to identify need for change

6 in existing templates or new requirement In progress Quarterly Ops Team

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Thank you

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