The effective combination of methods, tools, metrics and data helps IT organizations in achieving clarity on the performance of IT and allows them to better align initiatives with business goals. A set of defined activities in a process lifecycle help organizations to get the most out of their IT Performance Management Initiative. The following Lifecycle model outlines these lifecycle phases, with a short explanation of each of the phases.

• Define: Understand business information requirements, determine what information is relevant for IT decision making and who requires what type and level of information.
• Measure: What are the KPIs and measures that should be used to meet the stated objectives, are they practical to use, what data is available, and what is the quality of this data.
• Manage: Define processes for collecting and transforming data into information, and manage the information distribution processes so that relevant stakeholders receive the information they require to effectively execute their job
• Improve: Recognize trends, compare performance, and proactively improve performance