ITIL Single Request System

[Laurie]

I have seen a little info on a few vendor's single request systems that are ITIL compliant. Does anyone have any experience or advice of implementing a single request system? We use BMC's remedy product and are implementing the CMDB. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[m_croon]

Hi Laurie,

There is no such thing as an 'ITIL-compliant' tool. Tools might support a (set of) IT-management processes (among which there will be many ITIL-processes).

In my opinion, ARS/Remedy as I know it is a bit of an exception. It is not so much a tool as well a development platform, where you can realy build your own tool. It is a while since I've worked with their product so I am not familiair with their latest developments. The great extend of customization that you can apply with Remedy is both a strength and a risk. Before you know it, you let the tool run your business while it should be the other way around (high cost of tool maintenance due to customization).

Most tooling will to some extend help you in supporting your processes. Whether you choose HP Service Desk, Assyst from Axios etc. they all have their pro's and con's. No separate tool will ever provide you with everything you need. Therefor, I think a starting point should not be the tool, but the demands of the proces(ses) that should be supported. After this, you can look at:
* Functional specs
* Price
* Connectivity to other tooling (i.e. for other purposes/processes) (possibly from the same vendor)
* Maintenance costs
* etc.

[Laurie]

We are in the process of upgrading remedy and our goal is. as little customization as possible! We got bit with customizations with the last release and so now we are trying to use it out of the box with this release. Thanks so much - will take your advice and begin the quest.

[Mark-OLoughlin]

Hi,

no matter what tool you have, you will need to customise it. I have seen few out of the box implementations suit the actual needs of the customers as every customer has specific requirements and you need this ability to be able to taior the tool to your needs.

Some tools have an easier interface for design but this may come at a cost of it not being flexible enough in the design area.

Try out as many toolsa as you can and get demo copies and test out design elements and workflow capabilities.
_________________
Mark O'Loughlin
ITSM / ITIL Consultant

[Azard]

Hi, one thing to note with BMC is you are not buying a tool, you are buying their "philosophy". A philosophy is implemented in a different fashion than just a tool within an organization. Keep that in mind as you continue to use BMC only tools.

cheers,
_________________
Azard Omardeen
ITSM Service Manager Certified
Consultant and Trainer