Don't want to blame my tools...

[dsquared]

... so can anyone suggest a good one?

Sorry for the salvo of questions but this stuff is starting to get relevant for me.

I am looking for an incident logging tool with some components of other ITIL practices - won't go into detail on that as the main priority at this point is incident mgmt.

Here is the scenario. I am operating a business that is supporting/driving I.T. solutions for small to medium businesses. I would like a tool that is available online to clients via a web browser but I only want the one tool to manage all my clients. So company x, y, and z can go to a URL on the internet and log/view/change etc their own incidents where I would separate them by their company/org.

Any ideas?

cheers,
D^2

[Ed]

Hi dsquared

I have just been through this one (partially - we did not get to implement our choice as the project was 'postponed').

First can I suggest that you do not want a tool that does 'some' of the other processes, but one that does 'all'.

My viewpoint here is that do you really want to take all the time, spend all the mony, expend an awful lot of effort, only to have do it all again in four or five years time? I beleive in only buying once so want the best tool I can get/afford.

My company is a Service Provider in the 'Retail' sector, so I guess we are the opposition. It also means that our needs and aims are pretty much the same.

here are some of the questions we asked in our RFI

Does the solution
4.1 Configuration Management Requirements
4.1.1. Automatically create releases from changed / new C.I.s
4.1.2. Determine the impact of a Change by an established relationship within the CMDB
4.1.3. Show graphical representations of relations between C.I.s
4.1.4. Define and name relationships
4.1.5. Couple services to a C.I.
4.1.6. Simultaneously enter / change multiple C.I.s
4.1.7. Couple SLAs to a C.I.
4.1.8. Adhere to history if the configuration is assigned to another user
4.1.9. Secure against double input of the same C.I.
4.2 Change Management Requirements
4.2.1. Register the planning of changes
4.2.2. Establish an overview of changes in a Change Calendar (FSoC)
4.2.3. Define electronic authorisations and give them
4.2.4. Couple incidents caused by a change to another change
4.2.5. Register the time spent on a change
4.2.6. Note who is involved in a change
4.2.7. Update C.I.s from Changes
4.2.8. Update the CMDB from Changes
4.2.9. Allow access via a Web interface
4.2.10. Allow updating from a Web interface
4.2.11. Allow organisation of Change Requests by Customer
4.3 General Requirements
4.3.1. Allow implementation of other ITSM Processes when required
4.3.2. Allow PCMS to design and use it’s own forms
4.3.3. Work ‘out of the box’, i.e. without major modification
4.3.4. Collect metrics on all processes
4.3.5. Integrate with Clientele Helpdesk V 7.3 from Epicor or it’s later versions
4.3.6. Contain a tool that automatically fills the CMDB with Network C.I.s
4.3.7. Contain a tool that automatically fills the CMDB with Hardware C.I.s
4.3.8. Contain a tool that automatically fills the CMDB with Software C.I.s
4.3.9. Establish templates and baselines

As you can see the questions were asked with a bias towards Change/Config, but I would suggest that these are fundamental questions that would fit most companies that are looking to buy a solution


My top three solutions, of those I looked at, would be BMC Remedy/Marimba/ Atrium, FrontRange ITSM and Axios Assyst.

Axios at 3rd because so far as I am aware, they do not have an automatic link between Change & Config yet.

The major problem is cost - how deep are your pockets is always one of the deciding factors in any purchasing decision.

None of the better solutions are cheap ( a lot of work has gone into them, as Frank (Guerino1) so ably describes elsewhere).

I hope this helps

Regards

Ed

[dsquared]

Ed,

thanks for the detailed reply. Unless you have moved into the market in Australia we aren't really direct competition... yet

Based on the likely growth of my business in the next few years I really don't need a full bells and whistles program at the moment and do believe I would be throwing large amounts of money away in doing so. At this point I am happy to go with something basic and my clients are all going to be fairly small so full blown products really are overkill.

At this point I could easily suffer a bit of paralysis by analysis if I'm not careful I think and if I overplan then yes I agree I would probably end up doing what you have spoken of in spending a heap of time and money on it. Thats the key and I am keen not to spend a huge amount of time at this early stage but just find a nice little tool that will do some incident mgmt, maybe some problem mgmt. I can probably handle a few of the other things by being smart myself.

[Johnny_Canuck]

I am very interested to see how Ed's review goes, particularly comparing ITSM to Axios. We are currently using HEAT in house, while one of our consulting offices is installing Axios for clients. Our big question is:

- should we stay with HEAT
- should we slowly implement ITSM on top of HEAT
- should we migrate to Axios
- should we migrate to ITSM

[WendyB]

I'm in the midst of something similar, but on a larger scale organization.

The Gartner group has CA and BMC in the Magic Quadrant.

HP is close, but it also is in the midst of a change since it bought Perigrine.

No one tool does it all out of the box.

Good luck

[Ed]

Hi JohnnyCanuck

I can only say that I was very impressed by the FrantRange solution, It looked very good in the Demos we saw here in Coventry, and then at Reading. It looked to do all they claimed for it.

On your questions, I have to admit to being a coward, and say I cannot possibly advise you.

Sorry

Regards

Ed

[djohnson]

[Guerino1]

Hello dsquared,

First, let me say that I recommend you look at as many possible offerings as possible before making your choice.

Also, I don't know if you're interested (and it might be a bit much for you since it's more than just ITIL), but please feel free to take a look at our offering. We offer our clients a web-based, pre-constructed, and pre-integrated platform, called KnowIT, that has all of the following:

IT Operations Solutions
• Account Management
• Application Portfolio Management
• Asset Management
• Asset Portfolio Management
• Change Management
• Client/Customer Relationship Management
• Compliance Management
• Configuration Management
• Content Management
• Defect Management/Defect Tracking
• Document Management
• Facilities Management
• Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Management
• Glossary Management
• Incident Management
• Knowledge Management
• License Management
• Location Management
• Message Management
• News Management
• Organization Management
• Policy Management
• Problem Management
• Process Management
• Product Management
• Product Portfolio Management
• Project Management
• Project Portfolio Management
• Release Management
• Requirements Management
• Resource Management
• Resource Portfolio Management
• Risk Management
• Risk Portfolio Management
• Role Management
• Service Catalog
• Service Management
• Subcomponent Management
• Task Management
• Vendor Management
• Web Link Management

Embedded Technology Solutions
• Audit & Compliance Platform
• Business Intelligence Platform
• Collaboration Platform
• Command, Control, & Communications Platform
• Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
• Data Mining Platform
• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Help Desk/Service Desk Platform
• Informatics Platform
• Intranet (Corporate Intranet/Enterprise Intranet)
• Knowledge Management System (KMS)
• Organizational Memory and Information System (OMIS)
• Portal (Corporate Portal) (Enterprise Portal)
• Reporting Platform
• Standards Platform

The platform is specifically designed and implemented to deal with many organizations simultaneously entering and managing their own data. It is an open platform so all organizations see each other's data. I don't know if this is something you would want. Anyhow, if you're interested, please feel free to contact me.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
_________________
[Edited by Admin to remove link]

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