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Process Automation

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Multiple Content Packs for SmartCloud Control Desk

WayneHalverson Tags: smartcloudcontroldesk wayne halverson sccd process_content_pack ‎ 5 Comments ‎ 10,166 Views

Three for one money!

That is what the auctioneer called out when he was selling used goods to a skeptical group of people looking for entertainment. Sometimes it would be 2 for 1 and other times 4 or more. It just depended on what was being sold, and how much time was still available for selling. Yes, time was important to the auctioneer. He only had so much time to finish his project of changing the ownership of items from sellers to buyers. His time was valuable.

Time for all of us is important, but for our clients, they see it as paramount to their success. They want to--no, must--use their time efficiently to accomplish their goals. And, they expect their suppliers, vendors, and partners to support their efficient use of time. This is why the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Process Content Packages were created by the Tivoli Advanced Technology Group.

SmartCloud Control Desk can be implemented and used in production in a very short time with the use of the Process Content Packages. They are not lightweight or flimsy, not used goods. They are solid, built on ITIL processes and the Best Practices of subject matter experts with years of field work helping clients accomplish their goals.

Three of the content packages are now available for accelerating the time to production use of SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1. Use only one, or two, or all three together--whichever way they meet your needs.

Perhaps a small business needs a Service Desk quickly at a low-cost entry point. They can use Package 2, Service Request/Incident for the Service Desk, to capture Incidents and provide Service Request capability to anyone who wants to assure continuous improvements. Done in a few days or less.

What about the business that wants to provide their 1,500 employees with a true self-service? They can use Package 1, Service Catalog. Every company, no matter their industry, needs an efficient, capability driven Service Catalog for some standard services. For example, they might want to give new employees the ability to pick an On-Boarding Service from the catalog and get a laptop, office and phone in one offering. Or maybe a PC needs to be upgraded. How about the need for more disk storage space? Just pick an offering from the catalog. Ten offerings are already built in the Service Catalog. Download it for free and get into production now.

IMAC is a focus of Package 3, IT Hardware Asset management, but it works well with the other Packs too. When the Service Desk gets a call, the agent can attach a ticket to an IT Hardware asset. A Service Catalog offering requests a new installation of a computer, so off goes the offering ticket into the IMAC process of hardware management and the life cycle is known and understood. The person requesting the computer can monitor how the new installation is proceeding rather than just wondering and waiting.

These packages reflect clients’ need for efficient business processes and quick delivery of an application which supports those processes. They make the best use of your time. After you have SmartCloud Control Desk, simply download the Content Packs from the ISM library at no charge and get going.

We’d love to hear from you! Please contact Wayne (whalvers AT us.ibm.com) or Jeremy (jeremy.gibson AT us.ibm.com) and let us know how you are using the Content Packs, and let us know if you have any suggestions.

IT Hardware Asset Management Pack for SmartCloud Control Desk

alucches Tags: pack pcp halverson sccd smartcloud process_content_pack process wayne content hardware ‎ 2 Comments ‎ 10,609 Views

by Wayne Halverson

Another IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Process Content Package hit the street this past week - IT Hardware Asset Management. This is the third package from the Tivoli Advanced Technology Group in the past five months.

These packages of content can be used with SmartCloud Control Desk to accelerate implementation and get you into production quickly. They use prescriptive methods based on ITIL and Best Practices. Instead of weeks or months, this content gets Control Desk operational in just a few days.

The IT Hardware Asset Management pack integrates with the other two packs that came out last year: Package #1 - Service Catalog and Package #2 - Service Desk. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Tired of spread sheets, scrolling through hundreds, if not thousands of rows for the right asset? How are you calculating dates for a refresh or disposal on all those hardware assets?

What about the management of this inventory, from Receipt to Disposal, and who is responsible for each step? Once an asset is being used, how do you assure when it gets moved, it's to the right location for the right person?

Those challenges and many others, no doubt, are the work life of a Hardware Asset Manager. So let's take a look at what this new pack will do for you.

First off, the day-to-day IMAC process - the typical work of Installation, Move, Add or Change - this pack has it covered. There are start centers and queries to automate those activities which often are the bulk of Hardware Asset management process. That is the goal - automate the simple so the complex can be managed effectively.

Classifications have been created for all your IT Hardware following the UNSPSC structure which allow for easy asset searches. If you know what you are looking for, word searches get you directly to that asset.

But what good are start centers or classifications if there are no assets loaded into SmartCloud Control Desk? You need to get your assets into Control Desk first, before using the full functionality of IT Asset Management. You can do that through a couple of different ways:

Use your Discovery tools and load the assets through the adapter as Discovered Assets, then move them into the Authorized category when appropriate.
If you have a CSV flat file of your asset inventory, use the Quick Configuration function to load them into Control Desk.

There, now you have the visibility you need into all your assets.

How does using this pack help?

Inventory store rooms and work job plans allow IMAC to proceed with full confidence every asset is under control.
The utilization of assets can now be reviewed and purchasing decisions made with full knowledge of your needs, not just a guess.

Standard reports, the ultimate method in knowing what assets you have and their status, are in this content package. Each provides insight on assets which have been potentially lost, and certainly renewed or permanently disposed--every step a factor in the asset life cycle and procurement decision making.

The pack comes at no extra cost. Once you have SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5, simply download the IT Hardware Management Content Pack from the ISM library at no charge.

We'd love to hear from you! Please contact Wayne (whalvers AT us.ibm.com) or Jeremy (jeremy.gibson AT us.ibm.com) with how you are using the content packs or any suggestions you have.

Introducing the Service Desk Pack for SmartCloud Control Desk

alucches Tags: smb wayne process sccd service-desk halverson content pack ‎ 11,536 Views

by Wayne Halverson

"Seems so simple, why can't I get one up and running quickly?"

Those thoughts have no doubt crossed the mind of many a person tasked with setting up a Service Desk or Help Desk for their group, department or even company. There sure are a lot of Service Desk vendors to choose from, or maybe you build your own instead of buy?

Immaterial of whether you are building or buying your Service Desk, "efficient," "easy-to-install" and "fast times to production" are the words every manager wants to hear. Getting your service desk into production quickly proves that your investment is giving you value now, not some time down the road. If you're building, only you know if delivery will be fast. Of course with buying, a little voice says, "but what is the quality when I get it so quickly?"

Well, the quality should be based on ITIL processes and the real-world, hard-knock experience of implementing that standard. Quality should reflect the best practical implementation of ITIL within the realm of company culture and the need to get current, if not immediate, value from a production deployment of your Service Desk.

And if I said you could have all of the above, would you believe me?

The IBM Tivoli ATG Team has created another Process Content Package for Service Desk implementation with SmartCloud Control Desk. Based on the lessons learned from the Service Catalog package, we brought the 2nd package to market this past week.

Install it alone or with the Catalog; they both work. Add your own client-specific data and bingo, in a day or so, you have your Service Desk running in production--if you want that outcome. You get it fast and you get the quality you demand and require.

The Service Desk package provides a prescriptive approach to your Incident and Service Request management. Get them as e-mails, phone calls, or through self-service; these tickets show up in your pre-defined Start Center. The workflows to process them are installed ready to use with a "one button" wizard to move the tickets through L1 and L2 as necessary.

If you thought the tickets could only be for IT, think again, there are codes to classify them for Facilities and Human Resources too. This is NOT a single-function Service Desk--this is a SERVICE desk for your ENTIRE company! And for you Service Desk Managers, the security is defined for Agents, Analysts and you. Service level agreements are auto-populated depending on your decision matrix, not the systems. This Service Desk is ready to go. Are you?

Once again we used Control Desk applications that will never limit your growth or the increased demands of your customers.

Did I mention this comes at no extra cost? Once you have SmartCloud Control Desk, you can download the Service Desk content pack from the ISM library at no charge.

*The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.*

SmartCloud Control Desk content makes Service Catalog implementation a no-cost option for Small & Medium size businesses

alucches Tags: sccd wayne service_catalog process content halverson pack smb ‎ 10,254 Views

by Wayne Halverson

The challenge of implementing a Service Catalog can be daunting to any size company. But with limited resources and subject matter expertise, this challenge can be too big, too costly, and too time consuming for a small or medium size company (SMB). Decisions and work must be completed to create the Service Catalog.

SMBs don’t have lots of resources with spare cycles to implement a Service Catalog, and they manage their cost closely. They would love the efficiencies a Service Catalog might offer, but are leery of the potential costs of getting a Service Catalog up and running.

Service Catalogs and their offerings are IT operational stuff; they are business process stuff, and they can be no-brainer stuff. No offense, but what do I mean by no-brainer? It means we don’t have to think very deeply to come up with catalog offerings which are standard, normal, and obvious.

You see, Service Catalogs can provide standard offerings which are common to any company and certainly an SMB. The service offerings in a catalog can support the process the on-boarding a new employee; change a phone; order a new lap top or desk top; move to a new desk space. Catalog service offerings can facilitate the provision a Server or allocate disk storage space. All of these offerings are standard services which employees of any company will typically need.

But how many phone calls and e-mails or office visits does it take to get them accomplished, especially in an SMB, where everyone has multiple hats and multi-tasking is the norm. Getting ‘standard’ business processes completed can be a challenge. Who is responsible for what, and did the ‘what’ get completed?

Given the above, I am glad to tell you there is a Process Content Pack for the Service Catalog function within SmartCloud Control Desk. This content provides all the data, workflows, escalations, and user portals, for 10 service catalog offerings, and is available on the ISM Library, free, for any one using the SmartCloud Control Desk. All documentation is included with the download. Take a look; the Pack should get you running a Service Catalog pretty quick.

Here's the URL for the Process Content Pack in the ISM Library:

http://www.ibm.com/software/ismlibrary?NavCode=1TW10CO04

*The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.*

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