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This picture shows the Service Manager modules. All modules can be made available to the users on Windows or Web clients, the ones on the right can be accessed via the Employee Self Service Interface as well. The grey boxes symbolize tools that are available with Service Manager, such as reports in ReportCenter, or tailoring tools. The blue boxes on top and bottom are external tools that can interface with Service Manager.

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In the first workflow demo, we will open a call, then open an incident from there, followed by a problem, a known error and finally a change and follow the progress through the modules.

The powerful workflow capabilities are now even more enhanced with integrated knowledge management enabling improved find ability

Interactions, incidents, problems, and known errors become part of the knowledgebase as they are written enabling faster resolution and less duplication of effort

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From and end user point of view, catalog will be the basis for all end user self service requests:

• Goods and services (links to Request Management)

• Change requests (links to Change Management)

• Service requests (links to Service Management)

• Procurement (links to AC Procurement)

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The Service Desk module is the centralized starting point for all service management activities. All customer service requests are channeled through the Service Desk whether they are initiated by a phone call, an e-mail, or the self service interface enabling IT to centralize, assign tasks, manage, and resolve issues efficiently. Service Desk manages call information and automates service desk processes. It gives service agents all the tools they need to document, capture, and update information about a customer’s reported issue, and then leverage knowledge management tools to maximize first-call resolution. This frees up technical specialists to work on more difficult issues. Solutions are captured and re-used when issues recur, and reports on overall service desk performance are easily generated. Service Desk is the vital first step in providing service that is consistent with your service level objectives.

Key Benefits

• Creates a “triage” point for all issues

• Improves agent effectiveness and productivity

• Increases first-call resolution rates

• Supports consistent quality of service

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Full Service Desk model (*Most often used)

In this model, the state of a service desk interaction record changes when each related record closes, depending on the value of the Notify By (callback) field in the interaction record. The following callback options are available.

Option Description

None The interaction record closes.

E-mail Service Desk sends an e-mail to the contact listed in the interaction record. The e-mail informs the contact that the related record is closed. Service Desk closes the interaction record.

Page Service Desk sends a page to the contact listed in the interaction record. Service Desk closes the interaction record.

Telephone The interaction record has a required action. This action describes why the customer must be contacted. It also prevents the interaction record from closing until all required actions are complete. The interaction record goes into the Open-Callback state.

All records close independently model

In this model, all service desk interaction records close independently. The state of related records does not affect closing an interaction record, and closing the interaction record does not affect related records.

Close interaction when related record closes model

In this model, when the last related record closes, the service desk interaction record closes.

Cannot close related record until interaction is closed model

In this model, records related to a service desk interaction cannot close until the interaction record closes.

Cannot close interaction until related records are closed model

In this model, a service desk interaction record cannot close until all related Incident tickets, change requests, and Request Management quotes close.

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Incident Management automates reporting and tracking an incident, or groups of incidents, associated with a business enterprise. Incident Management enables you to identify types of incidents, such as software, equipment, facilities, network, and so on, and track the resolution process of these incidents.

Incident Management is more than a message service. The appropriate personnel can escalate and reassign incidents. Incident Management can also automatically issue alerts or escalate an incident that is not resolved on a timely basis. For example, if a network printer is disabled, a technician or manager can escalate the incident to a higher priority to ensure the incident gets fixed quickly.

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Incident Management knows two closure models:

One-Step Close: The ticket is closed immediately

Two-Step Close: The ticket is resolved, the customer is informed about the resolution and if the customer accepts the solution, the ticket is closed.

Incident Management uses a 4-level categorization hierarchy:

Category

Subcategory

Product Type

Problem Type

For example: Hardware – Printer – HP – Paper jam

This detailed categorization helps identify issues in more detail as well as with reporting and finding root causes.

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The Problem Management application provides a framework for identifying and eliminating the underlying problems that cause recurring incidents. Problem Management helps resolve and document the root cause of issues more quickly, and thereby minimize recurrence by managing all of the steps in the problem identification and resolution processes. Problem Management begins with problem control: the identification and documentation of a problem and any workarounds. Once a problem has been identified a known error record is created. Known errors and workarounds are shared with Service Management and Incident Management, so associated incidents can be resolved quickly. Finally, from the known error a request for change may be triggered leading to a permanent solution. All of these steps are under the control of the problem manager, including the ability to assign diagnostic tasks to appropriate technicians. Problem Management provides the ability to link multiple incidents to problems, problems to known errors, and known errors to changes. Furthermore, Problem Management allows routing of problem records based on technical skill sets, locations, or availability.

Key Benefits

• Facilitates ITIL-based identification and diagnosis processes

• Integrates with Incident Management and Service Management ensures rapid information dissemination

• Enables faster resolution of open incidents

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The Change Management application is a powerful rules-based work flow system for controlling changes throughout their lifecycle: from initial request to approval, to planning and implementation, and to monitoring and evaluation. An intuitive change calendar provides a global view of all changes in the schedule. Change Management provides powerful phase and task change processes. Highly tailorable to the processes unique to your organization, it accommodates both planned and unplanned changes. Change Management’s internal engine documents changes through time, categorizes, and assigns resources in more effective ways. It allows changes to run in serial or parallel paths with multiple dependencies. Change Management provides comprehensive approval capabilities that ensure agreement among stakeholders about what changes are made, and that changes were made correctly. In addition, it automatically updates configuration management data, so changes to the IT infrastructure are accurately reflected in the CMDB.

Key Benefits

• Manages complex change processes across multiple departments

• Improves response time for change requests

• Enables real-time monitoring of change processes

• Ensures processes are repeatable and meet the needs of the business through reusable and dynamic workflows

• Reduces risk of unplanned outages

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The stability of an IT environment is dependant upon the stability and control of the

Configuration Management System. Accurate CI (Configuration Item) information is

critical to quickly diagnose and restore IT services. When Incident and Problem

resolutions affect CI’s, they must go through Change Management.

Anything done to resolve a Call, Incident, or Problem that affects a Configuration Item

should go through Change Control. Though Change Management is sometimes

perceived as a “no process,” Change Management should work as a “Control

Process.” It’s purpose is not to prevent change but to control the change in an orderly,

recorded manner. This allows for better identification, better troubleshooting of

problems and incidents, and better risk assessment. Ideally, anyone should be able

to initiate a change.

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According to ITIL, anything that effects IT Service infrastructure (i.e. any CI recorded

in Configuration Management) is considered a change and should be recorded by

Change Management.

One configuration item often overlooked is documentation. Process and user

documentation should be tracked as CIs. As applications (patches or upgrades) and

processes change, so should supporting documentation. Without documentation

tracking, users following outdated processes can cause incidents and problems.

Basic data changes are not recorded in Change Management. For example:

Updating a password or setting in the operator record. Though the data is modified,

these types of changes are not tracked.

ITIL also does not address Change Management in an application development

environment.

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The Change Management workflow is defined in the category and its phases. A category consists of one or many phases. Each of these phases may have one or many approvals and one or many tasks (tasks can have one or many phases and approvals as well). The combination of phase and task progress and approval requirements define the change workflow.

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The Configuration Management application establishes the foundation for effective IT service management by documenting each configuration item (CI) in the IT infrastructure. Configuration Management provides a clear model of CIs, their relationships, dependencies, and associated SLAs. The application places CI information into a central repository – an ITIL-based CMDB – which in turn ensures users of all Service Manager applications can view and utilize the CI information including relationships to other CIs, significantly improving consistency and productivity.

Configuration Management’s processes help you create a set of business rules for entering and updating CIs, identify relationships among CIs, and ensure that CI data is reliable over time.

Key Benefits

• Provides a single source for managing critical system information

• Enables impact analysis associated with requests for change

• Establishes data repository for trend analysis

• Supports root cause isolation for faster incident resolution

• Integrates and federates with third-party tools to leverage existing CI information and investments

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Configuration Items of the same device type collect the same attribute information. For example each computer will have a hard drive, memory, CPU.

Setting up a device type record defines where the attribute information will be stored and how the attribute and general device information will be joined together. Additionally it defines, how this information will be displayed to the user.

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The Service Level Management application is designed to ensure that IT services are aligned with business needs. It makes it easy to develop standardized service level objectives for calls, incidents, problems, and changes, and thereafter allows you to construct service level agreements that can be applied to various CIs, people, and business services. Once in place, SLAs become the automated mechanism by which IT tasks are prioritized and distributed. For example, when a business critical service is disrupted, the associated SLAs will dictate how the people, processes and tasks are prioritized relative to other tasks in the queue. Response time and availability criteria are used to determine key thresholds; managers and technicians can monitor and respond to SLA-based tasks appropriately. Service Level Management also provides cost tracking. It provides line-item cost calculations for both parts and labor, and empowers IT to develop rules that limit spending according to contract parameters.

Key Benefits

• Improves IT service alignment with business objectives

• Provides better measurements for prioritizing service tasks

• Aligns IT departments with service delivery goals

• Reduces service delivery costs

• Enables cost-based service delivery pricing

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Availability Service Levels are based on the availability of a configuration item or service

Response Service Levels are based on how long it takes a technician to get back to a customer or work an issue.

SLO stands for Service Level Objectives. These records define in detail under which condition the Service Agreement should be monitored, which module it is monitoring and what the allowed time for either response or availability is. This time may be using a calendar and can be based on different time zones. Response SLOs are based on an initial and final state and monitor the state progression between those states, Availability SLOs are based on the name of a CI or service.

The SLA (Service Level Agreement) is for a certain department (in the dept file) and contains all SLO Definitions that this department and the service provider agreed to. The SLA has a start and end date.

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The Scheduled Maintenance application helps IT define, schedule, and perform recurring maintenance tasks. It improves efficiency and reduces maintenance costs by allowing IT to perform maintenance at the optimum time and with minimal user impact.

Scheduled Maintenance defines and stores an unlimited number of maintenance tasks, communicates updates through a central location, and automatically alerts you when a maintenance task is due or a scheduling conflict arises. You can use out-of-the-box templates to create standard maintenance tasks or develop customized routines to meet specific needs. Scheduled Maintenance also includes an easy to use, point-and-click task creation system, making it easy for even inexperienced users to enter tasks.

Key Benefits

• Prevents scheduling conflicts

• Improves maintenance efficiency

• Minimizes downtime and user impact

• Documents completion of recurring tasks

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The Scheduled Maintenance application helps IT define, schedule, and perform recurring maintenance tasks. It improves efficiency and reduces maintenance costs by allowing IT to perform maintenance at the optimum time and with minimal user impact.

Scheduled Maintenance defines and stores an unlimited number of maintenance tasks, communicates updates through a central location, and automatically alerts you when a maintenance task is due or a scheduling conflict arises. You can use out-of-the-box templates to create standard maintenance tasks or develop customized routines to meet specific needs. Scheduled Maintenance also includes an easy to use, point-and-click task creation system, making it easy for even inexperienced users to enter tasks.

Key Benefits

• Prevents scheduling conflicts

• Improves maintenance efficiency

• Minimizes downtime and user impact

• Documents completion of recurring tasks

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The Request Management application provides the tools to configure a catalog from which users can request goods and services, an approval engine that processes the request, and fulfillment capabilities that allow for procurement and delivery of approved goods and services. At each stage, Request Management provides alerts to ensure that each request is handled according to service level agreements. Request Management automates the entire process, from initial request through delivery and distribution. It tracks existing inventory to quickly identify unnecessary orders, consolidates multiple orders for greater efficiency and cost savings, and

allows users to track the status of their requests, reducing demand on service desk agents.

Key Benefits

• Streamlines request, ordering, and fulfillment processes

• Enables sequencing of fulfillment activities

• Reduces costs of IT request and fulfillment services

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