an overview on kovair it service management saa s solution

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Kovair Software, Inc. 1533 California Circle, Milpitas, CA 95035 1.408.262.0200 (T) 1.408.904.4794 (F) www.kovair.com

http://www.kovair.com/

An Overview on Kovair (SaaS) ITSM

© Kovair Software Inc. 2010 2

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Today most of the business services are managed through Information Technology, and this led organizations to invest largely on IT just to achieve customer satisfaction. In a competitive market environment the service organizations started warfare among them to attract potential customers, and to retain existing customers. Major challenges that have been observed for IT service organizations are:

to deliver quality IT services align to business goals

to improve service efficiency within the budget

to maximize return-on-investment (ROI)

to synchronize people, process, and technology To overcome these business challenges, the service organizations started shifting their focus from ‘technology oriented IT management’ to ‘service oriented IT management’. And at the same time the service organizations realized the need of direction to manage IT and business in an efficient way so that improved services and superior quality can be achieved through optimum investment on resources (people), workflow (process), and IT infrastructure (technology).

Now a days, ‘service oriented IT Management’ is commonly known as – IT Service Management (ITSM). ITSM is a methodology that ensures greater visibility into IT operations and functional services. The crux of ITSM is Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) that provides guidance in terms of ‘best practice framework’. The framework, which is a basis of good practice in Service Management, has been used by most IT service organizations, and considered as a universal standard. The ITIL framework explains how to manage IT infrastructure and streamline the resources (People – Process -



Technology) to achieve business needs. The ‘service oriented’ approach of ITSM gives focuses on – organizing people and service operations in the best possible way, and managing IT infrastructure to deliver service. And this is how IT Service Management has offered a roadmap to synchronize – People, Process, and Technology. Kovair SaaS – ITSM is designed for service organizations looking for efficient alignment between IT service operations and business goals. The SaaS solution comes with business driven approach that ensures – ‘Quality’, ‘Agility’, and ‘Performance’. Kovair SaaS – ITSM is a 100% web-based solution, which service organizations can customize as per their business verticals.

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Kovair ITSM solution comes with – Service Request, Incident, Problem, and Change. These are the four major transactional components. Information specific to each component are managed in separate silos. To ensure practical implementation of ITSM methodology in real-life, the solution also has other components like – Configuration Items, and Knowledgebase. Kovair’s in-built Service Catalog provides the facility customers or service owners to submit their requests from a centralized location. Information on each component is managed separately through respective Processes, which are also synchronized among each other. All requests are managed through – Service Request Fulfillment Process. IT related Service Requests, if not resolved, can be logged as Incident, and managed through - Incident Resolution Process. Incidents can further transform to Problem or Change, based on certain criteria. Problems can be managed through Problem Resolution Process, and Change Requests can be managed through Change Implementation Process. Knowledgebase remains as a central repository and gets updated via Incident Resolution Process, and Problem Resolution Process. The master component ‘Configuration Item’ helps you to manage IT assets like – printers, software, servers, storage, network devices.

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In a service environment, privileges/access rights of people involved in service oriented business do not remain same. Classifications are done among the people based on their accessibility to information, scope of operations in processes, role in service operation and delivery. It means grouping of people based on their privileges. Kovair SaaS – ITSM solution comes with three pre-defined Access Groups – Service Admin Group, Service Manager Group, and Service Support Group. Each group has its own access rights that get inherited to the users when they become a member of the group.

Venn Diagram of Privileges given to Access Groups

Service Support Group – Users belong to this group can create Service Requests, Incidents, and Problems. They can create record for their own or on behalf of customers. Apart from this the group members also take participation in service management processes (Service Fulfillment Process, Incident Resolution Process, Problem Resolution Process, Change Implementation Process, and Knowledgebase Process) and at the same time manage IT assets, i.e., Configuration Items. Service Admin Group – Users belong to this group get all privileges of Service Support Group and Service Admin Group, and in addition, they can manage the entire ITSM workspace. It means they can modify existing Processes, can create new Processes from scratch, can create different Policies and Notifications, can change existing Policies and Notifications, can create Forms and Fields, can add users in the workspace, assign users to a access group and role, can remove any user from the workspace.

SSLLAA IImmpplleemmeennttaattiioonn iinn KKoovvaaiirr IITTSSMM Service Level Agreement (commonly known as SLA) is a contract between service provider (who is offering services) and customer (who is getting services). This contract is set in measurable terms (say, in terms of ‘Hours’) so that service provider can understand the time limit within which the service needs to be delivered to the customer. Customer can also know the time limit within which the requested service is going to be available. IT

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Service Organization aims to provide quality service to customers as per their need with the agreed SLA. In Kovair SaaS – ITSM the SLA determines – Expected Response Time, and Expected Resolution Time of the service requested by a customer. The Time calculation of SLA depends on the ‘Severity’ of Service Request. More severe Service Request will have less time for Expected Response and Expected Resolution. In the solution SLAs are defined at a centralized location, from where they will automatically get applicable on Service Request depending on its Severity. A service request can have severity either of four pre-defined values (Critical, High, Medium, and Low). For each value of Severity, the SLAs are defined with separate set of Expected Response Time, and Expected Resolution Time in terms of minutes. Once a request is submitted with a Severity, neither requester nor the service provider, can make any modification in its severity level. So the SLA against a request remains unaffected till its fulfillment.

SSeerrvviiccee CCaattaalloogg Service Catalog refers to a centralized inventory of service offerings, where all technical and non-technical services are articulated in an organized structure. The objective of Service Catalog is to tie business value with services – in context of business (not in context of information technology). In real life, Service Catalog is used by customers and Service Desk people. It has been observed that most Service Catalogs starts with few offerings, but with the pace of time, the catalog gets refined and expands with more service offerings. Highlights of Service Catalog in Kovair SaaS – ITSM

Service Catalog is designed as a centralized directory of services. By viewing the catalog users (intended service owners) can quickly submit the requests. Kovair has an in-built feature to define service offerings and made them visible in a dashboard like interface.

Pre-defined service offerings are Self Service (To report Incidents and Problems); Travel Services (To submit travel related requests like Flight - Round-trip/One-way, Flight - Multi Destination, Car Request, Hotel Request); IT Service Requests (To submit IT related requests); Onboarding Services (To create Companies and Contacts); Configuration Items (To add configuration items (like Add Servers & Computers, Add Software (System and Application), Add Storage, Network & Communication Devices, Add Printers, Add Computer Peripherals, Add Miscellaneous CIs); HR Services (To record HR activities related services like Request Vacation, Request Reimbursement Claim, Request Security Clearance Badge);

Service offerings are fully customized and broadly categorized in two groups – IT Services and Non-IT Services. Separate forms (with variation in layout, and fields) for separate service offerings. Services Offerings, Forms, Form-Layouts, and Fields are customizable based on different business verticals.

The catalog ensures effective communication between ‘IT’ and ‘Business’. Customers or potential service owners, by viewing the catalog can quickly select the right service for their need.



SSeerrvviiccee RReeqquueesstt MMaannaaggeemmeenntt Think of service request management application with hundreds of forms (which are actually Internet pages) provides the facility to record wide array of requests. It will not create any confusion to service requester and service provider, unless they are allowed to navigate through desperate locations, and the requests based on their types are managed through desperate workflows. The challenge for IT service organizations is to improve the service operations and delivery through a standardized process of ‘request fulfillment’. With the introduction of Service Catalog and automation of request fulfillment, the Service Request Management has become more customer–focused and streamlined. Service Catalog is a list of services (Business Services and Technical Services) that IT service organization provides to its customers. In other word, it is just an articulation of services. Highlights of Service Request Management in Kovair SaaS – ITSM

Requests submitted by customers are managed through a simple process that involves two service teams – Service Desk, and Level One Support. This pre-defined process can be enhanced (customizable) as per business need, and objectives of service request management workflow of service provider.

Closure of IT related Service Request is managed through process. Multiple IT Service Requests can be linked to an Incident, and in that case, closure of all these Requests is strictly depends on closure of linked Incidents.

IInncciiddeenntt MMaannaaggeemmeenntt For IT service organization it is essential to manage the event that is not like normal operation of a service. Usually the ‘event’ is known as – Incident, which may reduce the quality of service by means of any interruption. The challenge for IT service provider is managing the Incident in an effective way to quickly restore the normal service operation as per Service Level Agreement and with least impact on business. The objective of service team is to analyze the incident, and provide workaround to restore the normal service. But often Incidents may initiate due to failure or error in IT infrastructure, and if workaround is not available then ‘Change’ may need to record. Incidents, which are not identified as an outcome of any IT infrastructural failure, nor it have any workaround, are recorded as Problem. Highlights of Incident Management in Kovair SaaS – ITSM

Scope to create Incident from Service Request Management, and it is applicable only for IT related service requests. Incident can be created manually or automatically. If similar Incident exists, then the service team should link the Incident with existing Service Request. Otherwise (in absence of similar Incident), application will automatically create an Incident against the Service Request, and establish relational link among them.

Provision to classify Incident on different parameters, and accordingly rout it to respective service team. Classification of Incident is necessary because an Incident may have workaround to restore the service, or in absence of any suitable workaround it may be identified as a Change or a Problem. The classification done at the beginning helps to take quick action on the Incident, and streamline the activities of service team.

Defined process to identify interruption in service (that may recorded directly in then system, or transmitted from Service Request), and to restore the service quickly by suitable workaround following Service Level Agreement. This pre-defined process can

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be enhanced (customizable) as per business need, and objectives of incident management workflow of service provider.

Closure of Incident is managed through process. Multiple Incidents can be linked to a Change or a Problem, in that case, closure of all these Incidents is strictly depends on closure of linked Problem and/or linked Change.

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The difference between Incident Management and Problem Management is – the first one focuses on quick restoration of quality service, while the later one focuses on the origin/cause of service interruption. When the occurrence of an Incident is frequent or has severe impact on business operations, then Problem Management comes into the picture to determine the cause of Incident, and to seek solution. When the origin/cause of a Problem is identified it becomes – ‘Known Error’. Problem Management can be of two types – Proactive and Reactive. The objective of Proactive – Problem Management is to prevent Incident before they occur in IT environment. This can be achieved by continuous inspection of service quality, and analysis of IT infrastructure. The Reactive – Problem Management, on the other hand, focuses on root-cause analysis of occurred Incidents and to provide solution against them. Highlights of Problem Management in Kovair SaaS – ITSM

Scope to create Problem from Incident Management. It can be created manually or automatically. If similar Problem exists, then the service team should link the Incident with existing Problem. Otherwise (in absence of similar Problem), application will automatically create a Problem against the Incident, and establish relational link among them.

Supports analysis and investigation to identify the origin/causes of any interruption or malfunction in service quality (which is referred as ‘Incident’). It can be done for already occurred Incident or for a potential Incident that could be a threat to affect quality of service in future.

Provides scope to raise Requests for Changes (RFC), against the interrupted service that can be restored only by making change in IT infrastructure

Defined process for – root-cause analysis, and solution delivery, and post implementation review. Post implementation review and confirmation is necessary to make sure that solutions are appropriate to restore the quality service without any adverse impact that may again degrade the quality. This pre-defined process can be customized as per business need, and objectives of problem management workflow of service provider.

Closure of Problems is managed through process. Multiple Problems can be linked to a Change, in that case, closure of all these Problems is strictly depends on closure of that linked Change.

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Change Management is a structured methodology of planning and coordinating the implementation of changes in IT service environment. The competitive nature of the market economy allows IT service organizations to go for – improvement of existing services, and development of new services. This is the reason why IT infrastructure moves through constant changes. The challenge of IT service organization is to evaluate the requested changes and implement them in IT environment in a most efficient way that has

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minimum impact on quality and permanence of service. Change Management initiate by logging Request for Change (RFC). RFC may originate from – Problem Management, or due to some other reasons like – development of new service, change in business strategy that may affect service quality and/or continuity, updates in vendor software/hardware that may impact IT infrastructure. The lifecycle of Change consists of four major phases – Acceptance of RFCs and their classification, approval and planning by CAB (Change Authority Board), implementation of Change (this will be effective in IT environment through Release Management), and finally, evaluation of change (to review the change in service quality and continuity). Highlights of Change Management in Kovair SaaS – ITSM

Scope to report Change from Incident Management and Problem Management. A Change can be created manually or automatically. If similar Change exists, then the service team should link the Incident/Problem with existing Change. Otherwise (in absence of similar Change), application will automatically create a Change against the Incident/Problem, and establish relational link among them.

Classification of proposed changes (at review stage) based on their feasibility and risk parameters.

Post-implementation verification before a change gets effective in IT environment. This helps IT service provider to maintain high degree of service quality, with to minimize the number of potential Incident/Problem that may occur due to that change.

Define process for verification of all changes to minimize their negative impact on SLA, service quality and continuity. This pre-defined process can be enhanced (customizable) as per business need, and objectives of change management workflow of service provider.

KKnnoowwlleeddggeebbaassee Knowledgebase refers to a central repository of information, documented by service matter experts. Importance of Knowledgebase as a central repository cannot be ruled out, because ‘Knowledge’ can be valuable to resolve potential Incidents or Problems. The primary objective of IT service organization is to provide cost effective quality services align to business need. IT service operations can be more effective and proactive if a central knowledge hub is available to service team. Moreover, by exposing Knowledge (except internal) to customers, the service providers can enhance their service as ‘Self Service’. The customer when access the Knowledgebase as ‘Self Service’, they may able to solve their own problem without logging Incidents. So, there is no doubt that Knowledgebase has strong relation with IT transactional components of ITSM (Service Request, Incident and Problem). Highlights of Knowledgebase in Kovair SaaS – ITSM:

Instead of exposing Knowledgebase as a tool, Kovair ITSM considers it as a centralized repository with close association with ITSM components – Incident Management, and Problem Management.

Defined process to manage Knowledgebase items. This pre-defined process can be enhanced (customizable) as per business need, and objectives of knowledge management workflow of service provider.

Scope to search and update Knowledgebase items from Incident Management and Problem Management.



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Functional Relationships among ITSM components are pre-defined in Kovair. The objective of this relation is to obtain Traceability among related/linked items. Following the definition, links among Service Request, Incident, Problem, and Change are established either manually (by manual intervention of Service Team in the application) or automatically through respective Processes (by Kovair’s Policy Engine).

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Service Requests are broadly categorized in two groups – IT Service Requests, and Non-It Service Requests. Among these, only IT Service Requests can convert to Incident or it can be linked to an existing Incident. The linkage between Service Request and Incident is established from – Service Request Fulfillment Process. Multiple Service Requests can be linked to one similar Incident. The closures of Service Requests depend on resolution of linked Incident. In other word, the Service Requests will wait in the Service Request Fulfillment Process till their related Incident gets resolved and closed.

IT Service Request gets converted to an Incident (Automated) - when no solution is available for that request, and no similar Incident has been identified in the database. In such a case, the Service Request gets converted to Incident through Kovair’s in-built Policy (business rule).

IT Service Request gets linked to an Incident (Manual) - when no solution is available for that request, and similar Incident (not yet resolved) has been identified in the



database. In such a case, the authorized Service Team manually links the Service Request with similar Incident that has not yet resolved.

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Incident can convert to Problem or it can be linked to an existing Problem. The linkage between Incident and Problem is established from – Incident Resolution Process. Multiple Incidents can be linked to one similar Problem. The closures of Incidents depend on resolution of linked Problems. In other word, the Incidents will wait in the Incident Resolution Process till their related Problems gets resolved and closed.

Incident gets converted to a Problem (Automated) - when no resolution is available for a valid Incident, and no similar Problem has been identified in the database. In such a case, the Incident gets converted to Problem through Kovair’s in-built Policy (business rule).

Incident gets linked to a Problem (Manual) - when no resolution is available for a valid Incident, and similar Problem has been identified in the database. In such a case, the authorized Service Team manually links the Incident with similar Problem that has not yet resolved.

EEssccaallaattiioonn ffrroomm IInncciiddeenntt ttoo CChhaannggee Incident can convert to Change or it can be linked to an existing Change. The linkage between Incident and Change is established from – Incident Resolution Process. Multiple Incidents can be linked to one similar Change. The closures of Incidents depend on implementation of linked Changes. In other word, the Incidents will wait in the Incident Resolution Process till their related Changes gets implemented/released in IT environment.

Incident gets converted to a Change (Automated) - when change/updates in IT environment can resolve the Incident and no similar Change has been identified in the database. In such a case, the Incident gets converted to Change through Kovair’s in-built Policy (business rule).

Incident gets linked to a Change (Manual) - when change/updates in IT environment can resolve the Incident and similar Change has been identified in the database. In such a case, the authorized Service Team manually links the Incident with similar Change that has not yet implemented/released.

EEssccaallaattiioonn ffrroomm PPrroobblleemm ttoo CChhaannggee Problem can convert to Change or it can be linked to an existing Change. The linkage between Problem and Change is established from – Problem Resolution Process. Multiple Problems can be linked to one similar Change. The closures of Problems depend on implementation of linked Changes. In other word, the Problems will wait in the Problem Resolution Process till their related Changes gets implemented/released in IT environment.

Problem gets converted to a Change (Automated) - when change/updates in IT environment can resolve the Problem and no similar Change has been identified in the database. In such a case, the Problem gets converted to Change through Kovair’s in-built Policy (business rule).

Problem gets linked to a Change (Manual) - when change/updates in IT environment can resolve the Problem and similar Change has been identified in the database. In such a case, the authorized Service Team manually links the Problem with similar Change that has not yet implemented/released.



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Kovair SaaS – ITSM Solution comes with a set of specialized organization potentiality to provide value to the customers in the form of IT Services. Transformation of resources in valuable services remains at the core of Kovair ITSM solution. Its potentiality is achieved by implementing IT-operation processes to manage the services over a lifecycle with - well-defined strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement. The potentiality of Kovair ITSM helps a service organization to experience three C’s – ‘Confidence’, ‘Competency’ and ‘Capacity’. Kovair SaaS – ITSM comes with wide array of industry leading features –

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The workspace is available with industry standard components of ITSM. The Transactional Components are – Service Request, Incident, Problem and Change, and Master Components are – Configuration Items and Knowledgebase. These components are defined with a set of standard attributes (ITIL v3 compliant), which user can change as per their business domain.

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ITSM methodology has become a de facto standard for all IT service organizations where it emphasizes the synchronization among People, Process, and Technology. IT organizations always look for automation when it comes to implement a ‘Process’, because there is a risk of human error if too much manual intervention is observed in a process. In Kovair ITSM solution, the processes of all transactional entities (Service Request, Incident, Problem, and Change) are automated and task-based. Keeping ITIL v3 compliance criteria in mind, each process is defined with a set of activities (in Kovair application known as – Activity Node), the logical flow among the activities, and a special node (in Kovair application known as – Wait Node). The ‘Wait Node’ has been used to establish transition from one entity to another (like – from Service Request to Incident, Incident to Problem, Problem to Change), and to keep all transactional activities in sync. Whenever a new Service Request, Incident, Problem or Change is recorded in the application, the relevant process starts automatically, and generates task to respective owner (Role). Usually the task gets generated from the first activity of the process. On completion of that task, application automatically generates task for next activity.

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Traceability is an advanced feature of Kovair SaaS – ITSM that allows you to manage functional dependencies between Service Requests, Incidents, Problem, and Change, or a combination of these. One can never rule out the functional dependencies among transactional items – Service Request converted to Incident, Incident converted to Problem, and Problem converted to Change. By setting a traceability relation between the transactional components tracking a Service Request to similar request, or linked Incident becomes easier. The impacts (if considered in relation), can also be traced by a flag on linked dependent items. Without writing a single code, traceability among linked items can be viewed in a drill-down structure. Kovair has the capability to drill up to n-th level depending upon the relationship among entities. Therefore, starting from a Service Request the Service Manager can track linked



Incident, and then from Incident to linked Problem, and finally from Problem to linked Knowledgebase. The means of Traceability View (if that exposed to Service Desk) a service desk operator, when reporting to a new request, can easily track linked Knowledgebase of similar service requests.

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Graphical and non-graphical reports help Service Managers to evaluate the quality of service operation, service delivery, and distribution of IT assets (Configuration Items) among the customers. Kovair SaaS – ITSM provides the facility to create wide array of reports – Tabular, Form, Distribution Metrics, Matrix, Trend, Custom Crystal, and Word report. Tabular and Form reports are also available with Summary. All reports are generated by extracting real-time data from the database. Facility is available to create reports separately for each ITSM component (Service Request, Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration Items and Knowledgebase. Visibility of these reports can be controlled depending on their need for different service teams/groups.

DDaasshhbbooaarrdd Dashboard represents different sets of data in multiple forms that enhances clarity of visualization which is not easily achievable with other means of data analysis. Usually the components used for data representation in a dashboard include graphical reports, summary reports, trend graphs, and other information well-organized in a single place. In IT service management it is a challenge for service manager to analyze the performance of service operation and service delivery. Kovair SaaS – ITSM comes with a ready-to-use Dashboard with useful Reports exposed through different gadgets. Viewing all reports from one place helps the manager to do less navigation in the solution, and to make quick evaluation on service operations, and service delivery. Such a consolidated visibility is an aid for Service Managers to quickly evaluate the business performance.

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Policy refers to 'business rule', that executes certain action based on – occurrence of a particular event, schedule, escalation parameters, or validation of an event. The objective of business rule is to set a decision against potential occurrence of events, or for a schedule. Kovair SaaS – ITSM provides the facility to implement service oriented business rules in terms of Policies.

Event Driven Policy: Defining factor of this policy is ‘Event’. Event can either be a user performed operation, or an action of some other policy. Policy Engine executes an action against the occurrence of an event.

Example of Event Driven Policy in Kovair SaaS – ITSM: Automated creation of Problem from Incident Resolution Process.

Scheduled Policy: Defining factor of this policy is schedule. The schedule can be recurrent, specific, or manually driven. Execution of this policy can be done automatically or through manual intervention.

Example of Scheduled Policy in Kovair SaaS – ITSM: Every 30 minutes system checks whether response is pending to customer on a Service Request that has crossed 50% of



Expected Response Time (as per SLA). In that case system automatically generates Notification to Service Team to take quick action on the pending request.

Validation Policy: Defining factor of this policy is validation check of an event. The event can occur through application, through API or during import procedure. Policy Engine executes an action against validation of an event.

Example of Validation Policy in Kovair SaaS – ITSM: Since Service Requests are broadly categorized in – Technical Requests and Non-Technical Requests, therefore validation has been applied to on escalation of a request to Incident. The validation will allow only Technical Service Requests to Incident. System will automatically restrict the escalation on transmitting a non-technical Service Request to an Incident.

Escalation Policy: Defining factors of this policy are elapsed duration, and date-time field value. Policy Engine executes an action after an elapsed duration calculated on a date-time field value.

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The benefits of IT Service Management are broadly categorized in four distinct areas – Business, Financial, Employee, and Internal.

Business benefits of ITSM: Implementation of IT processes (compliant to ITIL v3) in a service organization can strengthen the business process, and can bring improvement in the quality of Service Operations and Service Delivery. By introducing specific processes to manage Service Desk operations, Incidents, Problems, and Change IT service organization can gain higher productivity and customer reliability. The well-defined ‘best practices’ ensures improved working relationship between service providers and service owners. Following the ITSM methodology, it becomes clear to service providers – ‘what is expected by a customer’, and ‘how to meet customer expectation in terms of Service’. Customer focused business operations ensures an enhanced customer satisfaction, and higher the possibility of customer retention.

Financial benefits of ITSM: Implementation of ITSM in IT service organization ensures long-term financial benefits. By virtue of ITIL ‘best practices’ the three major components – People, Process, and Technology get streamlined. As a result the cost of service operation becomes lower in several aspects – by introducing customer-focused service operations in the business, the services are not be over-engineered, by implementing well-defined root-cause analysis the recurrence of Problems can be prevented, by adopting change implementation process the impact of change in the business can be optimized. These are few of the overall improvements in service operation and service delivery mechanism that in turn generates financial benefits in the business.

Employee benefits of ITSM: IT Service Management does not undermine the right synchronization of ‘People’ and ‘Process’ in IT service operations. By adopting ITIL ‘best practices’ the IT service operations becomes more customer-focused, and this helps the employee to clearly know their responsibilities. The simplified workflow and training on ITSM helps the employee to become more motivated and productive.

Internal benefit of ITSM: ITSM has a straight forward approach of ‘roles and responsibilities’ of people participating in IT service operations. So, even if there are involvements of different service groups in a process, each of them know their area of operations and responsibilities on a reported Service Request, Incident, Problem or a Change. The inter-team communication gets improves as different workgroups or roles get synchronized in a process.