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NIST Service Delivery Plan
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Discussion Questions:

1. How do you pursue alignment between mission and 

support organizations?

2. How do you approach service delivery strategically?

3. Do you have similar challenges and opportunities to 

those we have discussed? 
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Takeaways

We are changing how NIST delivers services to improve 

our abilities to meet NIST mission needs.

We are investing in a service management 

framework and it is producing results at NIST.

We strive to become a transparent data-driven 

organization that benchmarks with industry leaders.

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The challenge of service operations teams

We are faced with a growing body of evidence that 

suggests that not all of our services are well 

aligned or meeting mission needs. 

When we don’t fully understand the performance 

of our services or how to improve them, we are 

left with anecdotal experiences that don’t provide 

strategic insight. 

Looking forward at NIST, this performance gap has 

increasing impact as NIST looks to become more 

agile and flexible in meeting its mission. 
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Extend service 

management across 

MR & NIST

Strengthen 

partnership and 

governance models

Better align risks 

and risk acceptance 

with NIST mission

Strategic approach to the challenge
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NIST’s Service Management Vision

VISION: Transform how work gets done at NIST

WHAT IS SERVICE MANAGEMENT?

It is a practice with standardized 

processes that are centered 

around meeting customers' needs

WHAT IS SERVICE NOW?

It is an enterprise application 

that automates and provides 

data about our processes
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The Value Proposition

For Service Providers

Better, more effective 

work

 Reduced operating 

expenses

 Process efficiency

 Better information 

 Built in 

communication

 Happier customers

For Customers

Faster, better aligned 

services

 Increased productivity

 Consistent across all 

services

 End-to-end visibility 

 Effortless service 

delivery

For Leadership

Better insight into NIST 

services

 Insight into service 

capabilities

 Enterprise wide data 

to make more 

informed decisions

 Benchmarking 

capability
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Our Current Service & Platform Capabilities

SERVICE TEAMS SERVICE PORTAL SERVICE DESK

• Request services and 

report problems

• Dashboards and reports

• Single site for all services

• Phone, email, and walk-in

• Track customer satisfaction 

• Evaluating broader service 

support

• 50 active services

• 6 different functional 

areas

• Engineered processes
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It Works: The NIST Story
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IT Incident Response

Takeaways:

• Results: SLA breaches improves from 

8.9 to 5.5%

• Lesson: Service management can lower 

costs and reduce down-time.

Incident Dashboard

OISM SLA Breaches
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Takeaway:

• Results: Processing agreements 

improves from over 27 to 20 business 

days

• Lesson: A standard process improves 

performance and is valued by both 

customers and providers.

Reimbursable Agreements
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Recruitments

Takeaway:

• Results: Time to hire improves from 53 

to 30 days.

• Lesson: We can use data to understand 

and improve our performance.
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What are our next steps? 

We now understand that 

Service Management can:

 Lower Costs

 Improve Performance

 Make Data-driven Decisions

We still need to demonstrate that 

Service Management can:

 Transform customers’ experiences

 Validate that this approach will also make 

it easier for external customers to interact 

and collaborate with NIST 

 Create a sustainable model that can react 

to organizational changes and create 

competitive advantages.
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Improving the Customer Experience

Align the customer experience to match the customer’s needs

“I need to. . .”

• Submit an HR Action

• Renovate a Space

• Submit a Telecom Request

• Request IT account and access

• Order equipment

• Schedule training

• . . .

“I want to hire a 

new employee”
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What it looks like

HR IT Finance Safety Facilities

HR function 2

HR function 1

IT function 2

IT function 1

IT function n

Acq function 1

Fin function 2

Fin function 1

Fin function n

Safety function 2

Safety function 1

Safety function n

Fac function 2

Fac function 1

Fac function n

Acquisitions Services(n)

Srv function n

Srv function 1

Srv function 2

Customer 

Says

“I want to 

hire a new 

employee”

Services Providers do not manage services the way customers use servicesHow we deliver services

Acq function 2

HR function n Acq function n

We need to be able to connect the dots
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External Customers and Stakeholders

NIST interacts and collaborates with external stakeholders and 

customers every day

Reimbursable Agreements, 

Payable Agreements, and 

CRADAs 

Open Access to Data and 

Publications

Cybersecurity outreach 

and partnerships

Associates, facility users, and 

prospective employees 

Standard Reference 

Materials, Instruments, Data 

and Calibrations

Collaboration with other 

research partners
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Benefitting External Customers

How does applying Service Management principles benefit NIST’s external 

customers and stakeholders?

• The same principles and value proposition applies for both 

internal and external customers

• We want to improve access to our products, services, and 

technology so it’s easier for customers to interact and 

collaborate with NIST

• Examples of Current Projects and Potential Future Activities

– Implementing E-commerce storefronts for Calibrations, SRM, SRI, 

and SRD

– Decreasing turnaround time for calibration services

– Extending internal service processes to include external parties: 

Onboarding and Reimbursable & Payable Agreements
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Sustainable Model 

To be successful we must continue to: 

• Performance reporting and advisory boards (underway) 

• Establishing Governance and Customer & Service Provider Working Groups (Q1 FY18)

Improve our understanding of our customers’ needs

• Establishing data collection and be able to evaluate our performance objectively 

(underway for IT Services, HR, RACO, and Acquisitions)

Improve our understanding of our services

• Start by making our services consistent by reducing variation

• Then focus on making additional improvements: reduced cycle time, reduced cost, 

improved quality, better agility...

Use the information we gather to inform focused improvement efforts
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Takeaways

We are changing how NIST delivers services to improve 

our abilities to meet NIST mission needs.

We are investing in a service management 

framework and it is producing results at NIST.

We strive to become a transparent data-driven 

organization that benchmarks with industry leaders.

1

2

3
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Discussion Questions:

1. How do you pursue alignment between mission and 

support organizations?

2. How do you approach service delivery strategically?

3. Do you have similar challenges and opportunities to 

those we have discussed?