REAL-WORLD BSM TRANSFORMATIONS & FIELD-TESTED RESULTS

CASE STUDY 1. MINING & HEAVY INDUSTRY. Translating Technical Tool Lists into Capability-Led Business Services & TBM Cost Transparency

mining trucks lined up in a row
Central London
Hand on whiteboard pinning lines to a flow chart

Executive Summary

  • Industry. Global Mining & Resources (Iron Ore Operations)
  • Scope. Enterprise IT Service Portfolio & ServiceNow CMDB Refactoring
  • Core Achievement: Reverse-engineered fragmented application lists (SAP, PitRAM, geotech tools) into business-aligned services, establishing CSDM 5.0 architecture and TBM cost transparency.

The Challenge. Fragmented Naming, Dirty CMDB, and the "Green SLA" Disconnect

Before implementing the framework, the organisation’s IT service catalogue was simply a raw list of software applications and infrastructure servers, SAP, PitRAM, geotech databases, and local site tools. This technical setup created severe operational and financial friction.

  • Mismatched Terminology. Local sites used organic, site-specific nicknames developed over years, creating total confusion between site operations, central IT support desks, and corporate leadership.
  • Inability to Trace IT Costs. IT spend was bundled into generic General Ledger towers. Finance could not trace technology costs to specific business functions or mining value chain stages.
  • The “Green SLA” Disconnect. IT often reported green uptimes while frontline mine planners faced critical outages in stockpile scheduling, risking potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in production and shipping delays
  • Lack of Clear Service Level Requirements (SLRs). Infrastructure support was not aligned with business criticality, leaving safety-critical and license-to-operate applications without formal disaster recovery tiers

The Solution. Applying the Business Services Definition Playbook

As Service Management Lead, I authored and implemented the Business Services Definition Playbook a repeatable, 4-phase framework (Discover | Design | Deliver | Measure) designed to transition IT from an inward-looking utility provider into a business-aligned strategic partner. Working across Mine Technical Services, Integrated Operations, Finance, and Enterprise Architecture, we executed a structured transformation. 

  • Established Outcome Based Service Naming. Replaced technical service names like “Wide-Area-Network”, “Voice Services” and “Audio Conferencing” with plain-language business outcomes like Ore Grade Reporting, Mine Stockyard Scheduling, and Contractor Site Access.
  • Mapped Services to a Common Service Data Model. Linked high-level Business Services down through the CSDM Application Services, Data Services, and back-end Technology Management CIs.
  • Built Cost Allocation utilising Technology Business Management. Mapped General Ledger spend into cost pools (Internal Labor, Outside Services, Hardware, Software, Overheads), establishing defensible unit costs per service offering.
  • Deployed the a simple 2-Page Business Service Canvas. Standardised all scoping and architectural sign-offs onto a visual 2-Page Canvas rather than burying teams under a 50-page SDP Word documents.

Key Insights & Author Takeaways

  • 💡 Start with Business Outcomes, Not Software Tools. Lead workshops with “What value does this service enable or what business risk does it mitigate?” rather than “What systems do you use?”. This reframes the entire discussion around business capability.
  • 💡 Socialise Early and Build Validation Loops. Introducing a new service language requires change management. Running iterative white boarding workshops gave site supervisors, finance leads, and system owners the time needed to digest and co-own the service definitions.
  • 💡 Visual Canvases Beat Long-Form Documents Every Time. Long Word documents become shelf-ware. The 2-Page Business Service Canvas & Charter provided an intuitive, visual blueprint that allowed executive owners and IT leads to sign off on boundaries, CSDM stacks, and TBM costs in a single meeting.

Value Delivered. Measurable Impact

  • Service Portfolio Alignment. Mapped 10+ core mining capabilities into CSDM 5.0 CIs.
  • Unit Costing Enabled. Established line-item TCO chargeback/showback models using TBM.
  • Reduced Incident Ping-Pong. Ticket routing automated via offering-level CMDB relationships.
  • Business Credibility. Executive owners took true RACI accountability for their services.

CASE STUDY 2. FIELD OPERATIONS & HEAVY EQUIPMENT

Escaping the “SAP Trap”. Reverse-Engineering 4,200 Incidents into Equipment Maintenance Scheduling & Compliance (EMSC)

Mining Truck

Executive Summary

  • Organisation. Rhino Tuff Crushing (Global mining, construction, and quarrying solutions provider with 65,000+ staff).
  • Focus Area. Field Mobility, Mobile Tablet Sync, and Plant Maintenance Governance.
  • Core Achievement. Dismantled a monolithic “SAP PM” help-desk black hole containing 4,200 generic incidents and reverse-engineered it into a structured, 3-offering Business Service

The Challenge. The US$150,000/Hour “SAP Trap”

At Rhino Tuff Crushing’s iron ore processing plants, frontline site maintenance supervisors on crushing gantries relied on rugged mobile field tablets to execute work orders and log grease hours. When a primary conveyor belt system ground to a halt, the site supervisor pulled out their mobile tablet to schedule an emergency repair crew only for the application to fail to load.

When the site called the central IT support desk, the remote technician checked their monitoring dashboards and replied: “Our server networks are 100% green and the SAP database cluster is online. There is no SAP outage”. Meanwhile, the site manager stood on the gantry watching US$150,000 to US$200,000 of lost production slip away every single hour. Furthermore, if mandatory safety compliance inspections were missed due to tablet sync failures, state mining regulators held the power to shut down the secondary crushing circuit entirely.

An audit of the ITSM ticket queue revealed 4,200 incidents logged against a single application Configuration Item (CI) “SAP PM”. It was an operational black hole swallowing tablet screen breaks, 5G field wireless network drops, middleware sync errors, and database table locks all while IT reported 99.9% uptime

The Solution

To drag this critical capability out of the technical dark ages, a greenfield scoping workshop was facilitated with the Business Owner (Rishi Verma, GM Mine Technical Services), the IT Platform Owner (Gary Rich), the ITSM Lead Analyst (Amelia Chen), IT Finance (Sarah Jenkins), and a frontline Site Supervisor (Mac).

  1. Breaking the “SAP Trap” The software name “SAP PM” was banned from the workshop. The room defined the end-to-end outcome and renamed the service Equipment Maintenance Scheduling & Compliance (EMSC).
  2. Drawing Hard Boundaries
    • In-Scope: 90-day shutdown planning, mobile tablet data sync, and state compliance audit pack generation.
    • Out-of-Scope: Physical replacement of mechanical conveyor rollers (mechanical labor), spare parts procurement via SAP MM, and desktop tablet hardware replacement.
  3. Walking Up the Capability Ladder The service was anchored directly to Rhino Tuff’s Level 2 Enterprise Capability Model: Asset Work and Shutdown Management (under the Manage Physical Assets domain) within the primary Mine to Ship value stream.
  4. Stratifying into 3 Consumption-Based Offerings
    • Preventive Maintenance Scheduling ($348k / 20% OpEx): Consumed by desk-bound maintenance planners to lock in 90-day shutdown windows.
    • Field Execution & Data Capture ($1.05M / 60% OpEx – Primary Driver): Consumed by gantry crews on rugged tablets via 5G field wireless networks.
    • Compliance & Audit Reporting ($348k / 20% OpEx) Consumed by engineering leads to compile monthly state regulatory audit packs.
  5. Blueprinting via the 2-Page Business Service Canvas The service architecture was mapped across CSDM 5.0 domains (Application Instance, Data Sync Instance, and 5G Connection Instance) and itemized its $1.74M annual OpEx across TBM 5.0.1 cost pools (Internal Labor $115k, Outside Services/MSPs $1.00M, Hardware $196k, Software $85k, Overheads $344k).
  6. Establishing Clear RACI Accountability Mapped Rishi Verma as the Business Service Owner (accountable for value, quality, cost, and license to operate) and Gary Rich as the IT Service Owner (accountable for technical SLAs and delivery).

Key Insights & Author Takeaways

  • 💡 Break the “SAP Trap” Early A software application (like SAP PM) is an expensive tool or database, not a service. Define the purposed facility and business outcome that your business owners and regulators actually understand.
  • 💡 Separate Business Service Ownership from Technical Recovery The Business Service Owner owns the business outcome, risk, and budget roadmap, while the IT Service Owner owns the technical delivery chain and SLAs.
  • 💡 Stratify Monoliths into Consumption-Based Offerings Decomposing a large service into distinct offerings exposes true TCO drivers and enables automated, precise incident routing.

Value Delivered & Measurable Impact

  • Eliminated Ticket Ping-Pong When a field tablet fails to sync on the gantry, tickets route directly to the 5G Field Network team rather than bouncing around back-end SAP database queues.
  • 100% Financial Line-Item Transparency Sliced $1.74M in General Ledger IT spend into transparent, offering-based unit costs (exposing why Field Execution carries 60% of OpEx due to active mobile infrastructure and rugged device maintenance).
  • Executive Alignment & Boardroom Credibility Rishi Verma (GM) now defends “EMSC” to the board as a core operational asset protecting the company’s license to operate, while IT manages technical SLAs without middle-of-the-night escalations.