USING SIX SIGMA FOR EXCHANGE MAINTENANCE

 

Exchange maintenance is important in order to  pro actively address exchange problems and errors. The core of exchange maintenance has been to monitor the event log where you will find mainly 3 important events in application logs from exchange they are Error, Information and Warnings. These are logged by various exchange subsystems such as IS,DS, SA etc. When they log this event they insert the category to identify from which exch subsystems this event was generated.

 

The exchange event monitoring is a process where we do monitor regularly to address mainly 2 main events log such as errors and warnings. In a regular process we start  by filtering the event viewer to watch for Error and Warnings  event log only and traverse through each event to find the details. Once the details are extracted we start looking for solution at Microsoft knowledge base. Here the complexity to find a solution is more due to the following reasons

1.      Due to the exchange server or service pack version variation

2.      Due to variation in the part of the description details

3.      Due to network environment on which we run

4.      Due to multiple solution based on the context and environment

 

Over a period of time we tend to do the same rework where we redo the same process of filtering event logs and solution to choose the right which address our server ver, service pack version and network environment etc.

To eliminate these reworks, time and energy waste we have to devise a comprehensive event monitoring where we can quickly identify solutions based on our prior solutions and experience. So the question, which comes up is, how do we do this? which methodology to use? On of the popular methodology of today’s time is the six-sigma DMAIC methodology where we can address all the above concerns.

 

 Six  Sigma DMAIC methodology has the below phases where there  should be one or more tools as deliverable.

D (Define)

Description:-To define your Exchange event Monitoring project scope, business case, Teams and goal statement, customers  etc

Basic Tools/Deliverable:- Project Charter

M (Measure)

Description:- To measure the current process Exchange errors and warnings

Basic Tools/Deliverable:-  Data Collection Plan, Histogram

A (Analyze)

Description:- To find the causes of the Exchange errors and warnings

Basic Tools/Deliverable:- Cause & effect diagram

I (Improve)

Description:- To find the recommended action/solutions  for the  errors & warnings

Basic Tools/Deliverable:- FMEA

C (Control)

Description:- To sustain the improvements such as causes, actions and solutions 

Basic Tools/Deliverable:- Control Plan or chart

 

To keep it simple I will try to address very few issues of “Exchange event monitoring” using six sigma. It is a stripped down version of a “Six sigma Exchange event monitoring”  project.

 

 METHODOLOGY

SIX SIGMA EXCHANGE EVENT MONITORING

                                                                                                                                   

D (Define)

PROJECT CHARTER

Business Case:-

 This will yield in productivity and on-time Error and warning fixings

Goal statement:-

 To generate a quick reference guide indicating solutions for the frequent Errors & Warnings     

Team Selection

            Sponsor:- xxxxxxx (Process owner)

Team Leader:- xxxxxxx (Project headed by )

Team member:- xxxxxxx (members of the six sigma improvement team)

 

M (Measure)

Data Collection Plan

Measure the current number of errors and warning for the past one months or more  from a  exchange server.

Histogram

Generate histograms chart by first exporting those events collected in Data Collection Plan to a .cvs file. Later generate a excel sheet bar chart

 

A (Analyze)

Cause & effect diagram

Start a cause and effect diagram to represent causes of the errors and warnings listed in the histogram chart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I (Improve)

FMEA

Use a FMEA to find the potential solution or actions to be taken

Potential MTA Events Failure Mode & Effect Analysis(FMEA)

					Severity
Primary Process responsibility	Santhosh		System	Exchange server 5.5	Low - High
Other people involved	Other exch admins		Subsystem	MTA	1         10
Offices affected	Offices name
		POTENTIAL
Process description	Failure	Effects of failure	Causes of failure	Recommend Action	Action taken
MTA Warn & Err	Interface Warning9318	MTA queue building up on server	Remote MTA issues, Network issues	Check the Remote server available, If yes than try restarting MTA or server	Restarted the MTA service
	Field Engineering Warning2207
	Field Engineering Warning2219

  

C (Control)

Control Plan

• Update the cause and effect diagram with the new Errors & Warnings as you come across over a period of time with causes & solutions etc

• Do a FMEA on those new Errors & Warnings

 

Please  note that the above exchange examples are for sample and does not represent a true solution. It is just used for presentation purposes only.

 

Result of Six Sigma Project

            You no more have to keep searching for Solutions and filter for the best which applies to your environment. We just have to refer the “cause & effect” diagram to find the causes of it and than refer to “FMEA “ for the action or solution to be taken

 

Conclusion

The “Cause and Effect” diagram will help to represent all the possible causes for the frequent errors and warning of exchange as per your environment. This will serve you as quick reference guide. The control phase meets the six sigma objective which is continuous improvements. There are various tools for each phase. The selection has to be made as per your requirement and scenario.

For more information, help  & assistance in applying Six sigma to any of your Outlook or exchange project write to me. I will be glad to help you.