Service desk - tools, budget and implementation

[Kiowa]

Hi all,

i'm a newbie on ITIL, but i work in IT since years (and i've seen that best practices learned from experience are often similar to ITIL suggestions...).

currently i'm in charge of the implementation of a new service desk for a company with more or less 9000 users and 200 it guys, in 80 sites.

we DON'T have a central helpdesk and i have to choose one tool. to summarize:

Target:

Move from an helpdesk to a SERVICEdesk view.
One single tool supporting all IM for the group.
Guarantee service support and service delivery
Monitor SLA, critical/frequent problems
Reporting
Improve communication
Create a knowledgebase documenting every task/problem
Move from a local support perspective to a skill oriented support
Follow (where possible) ITIL guidelines
Priority management improvement

System requirements:

Single point of contact (SPOC) for all IM requests (incidents/service requests)
CMDB - An asset register which holds their configurations and relationships
Multi language (users should be able to use it easily)
User oriented instead of IT oriented (easy to understand)
Web based
Self–service: the user should be guided to identify the problem and to route the request
Integration with our structure (AD, Exchange, if possible Sharepoint)


i would like to know if someone is in a similar condition and i would like to have some suggestions for products/implementation....


Thank you!

Kiowa

[UKVIKING]

you dont want much do you ?!!!

You need to take your requirements to the big boys who produce tools

CA, HP, remedy, etc

Get them to provide you with their options

the language issue is going to be the hard part

while the tool should support other languages

usually w/multi national companies one language usually english is its various flavours is the business language

one thng

what do you mean by guarentee service support and service delivery ?
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Timo]

Just to add to Jonh's comment. For the implementatio of that magnitude, you should have the "Big Boys" actually come in and do a proof of concept for you. We found it very handy from a couple of points:

1. Gives you a better chance to properly evaluate their abilities to meet your requirements
2. Gives your guys who will be stuck supporting these apps a leg up from technical stand point.
3. It's free, so you've got nothing to lose

[Kiowa]

[Mark-OLoughlin]

Also - at this stage do you have any workflows worked out i.e. how you want the change management process flow to be???

I find it a lot more cumbersome and time consuming to re-engineer a tool later and just taking a standard workflow that wasn't specific to your organisation.

I do understand that on the magnatude that you want that you may not get time to work out all the processes but do try to understand what flow you need for the basic operation and build on it from there rather than have to go back and totally redesign the process flow in the tool.
_________________
Mark O'Loughlin
ITSM / ITIL Consultant

[Kiowa]

good point... currently we have some workflows in place, but we rae moving our IT from a national perspective to an integrated service (without the strong relation currently in place with nations), so we are re-designing all the IT structure. This means that a lot of new workflows should be discussed and implemented. as you can imagine this is not a technical problem, but it's a big challenge from an organizational point of view...

not exactly an easy project, isn't it?

[Mark-OLoughlin]

... "This means that a lot of new workflows should be discussed and implemented. as you can imagine this is not a technical problem" ... it is if you want a particular workflow but the tool of choice cannot be configured to do what yiu want. Does it happen - yes it does.
_________________
Mark O'Loughlin
ITSM / ITIL Consultant

[xianne]

It sounds like you have a busy and interesting project ahead of you!

Are you covering all of Config, Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Service Requests, all with SLA parameters built in? Do you want to integrate systems and network event management? Do you want to integrate other tools? Do you have a good view of what you need from this implementation?

Start by developing a shortlist of vendors / products. Gartner can advise on the market leaders. Your organisation may already have preferences for good reasons.
There are a range of obvious vendors to initially engage with - which ones might be more suited to you depends on your infrastructure, your existing partnerships, and your requirements.

Define your high level requirements. Get the shortlisted system vendors in for a high level analysis of their offerings. Weed a few out after the first round of engagement / POCs with them.

Get a detailed business and technical requirements specification to take to the detailed stage - the commercials are going to be just as important to the business as the functionality and interoperability and supportability is to the IT dept.

If you want more advice, PM me, I have recently implemented just this type of project for a major UK company.

The other posters are right - you might struggle to find language translation capability!!

[new_kid-2]

I won't say something original.

1) What do you want?
2) Why do you want?

I see, you "have" so much users, you can call. That's why you need to know, what's the primary IT resource they use. And how good is it? (i mean availabiliy, continuety).

If talking about a tool, we use Axios Systems "Assyst". I think, it's ok.

[UKVIKING]

new_kid-2,

Ignore the Tool.

What documentaty evidence do you have on what the process flow is for Incident, problem, change etc

Is the process documented - beyond the document to use the tool
Is the process/documents available to all users/mgmt/etc
Do all the people in the flow know their role. have they been trained

This is what Mark is saying.

Merely having the tool being the process is not best practice.

I shudder to see an auditor ask a staff member
why are you doing that

and teh reply would be because that is what i was told to do
instead of
the process is to click ... which .... blah .blah
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Doober]

[Ed]

Hi Doober

You are in danger of falling into the same trap that you blame others for catching.

The basic premise that both John and Mark have made plain is 'Let the tool fit the process not the process fit the tool'

I cannot think of better advice.
_________________
Regards

Ed

[Doober]

[UrgentJensen]

Doober what's koolaid? Sounds tasty.

UJ
_________________
Did I just say that out loud?

(Beige badge)

[UKVIKING]

Kool AId is a powered fruity tasting sugery drink

It usually comes in a pouch

IT was famously used in the Guyana Jim Jones massacre where the followers of him drank the poisoned grape kool aid

It is an american thing

like my biscuits and gravy
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter