HEAT Service Management 7.1.4

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1 HEAT Service Management FrontRange Solutions Reference Code: IT Publication Date: 15 Jan 2013 Author: Roy Illsley SUMMARY Catalyst The IT service management (ITSM) market is seeing a shift away from the on premise deployed model which manages everything internally, towards a more hybrid cross organizational cloud like model. The capability needed to operate a successful service management practice that operates in this hybrid environment is different from the current operating process and procedures. FrontRange has recognized this shift and has incorporated a converged integrated approach to voice and data in HEAT Service Management v7.1.4 (previously branded as FrontRange ITSM), allowing the service desk to improve and automate its delivery of customer service. The other key elements that organizations are looking for from any ITSM solution are rapid time to value and simple management. FrontRange has focused on these aspects, which Ovum considers more important than delivering additional features that ultimately are too complex to sustain operationally. Key findings Aligned to ITIL v3 to deliver against the core processes. Is user friendly and offers flexibility and adaptability to customers. Offers a combination of voice and Web self service in a single service platform. Provides out of the box automation templates for incidents, changes, and releases. Has tightly integrated client management and service management functionality. Offers flexible deployment options, including on premise, cloud (via multi tenant architecture), and hybrid. Ovum recommends FrontRange HEAT Service Management, which meets core ITIL requirements for an ITSM tool, is highly relevant to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) through to enterprise level organizations. FrontRange HEAT Service Management differentiates itself from the rest of the ITSM vendor pack with advanced telephony tools that combine voice and Web self service into a single service platform. In Ovum s Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 1

2 opinion, FrontRange HEAT Service Management is a highly capable ITSM offering that more than meets corporate requirements for an ITIL enabling tool. Value proposition Discussion in ITSM circles is all about the need for self service and off loading tasks from the service desk agent back to the end users. While this approach has merit, it begs the question: Is anybody looking at the cost implications of an end user taking time to resolve their own problems? FrontRange HEAT Service Management provides this level of insight to the IT service desk, and with a minor modification can also show the business cost, therefore allowing an organization to make cost/value decisions on the appropriate level of user self service. The other key problem with self service is that it is being delivered in a new way using the Web, typically relying on knowledge centers or user forums. Again, increasing user self reliance is laudable, but the interfaces are often not intuitive and automation is more complex. SOLUTION ANALYSIS Functionality FrontRange has developed a fully integrated service management and client management solution with interactive voice response (IVR) technology. While the use of IVR is not new, integrating it with a service management solution and automating actions that enable the users to interact with the service desk via a familiar communication method is valuable to organizations. In Ovum s view, this capability is well matched to the current maturity of most organizations self service and automation capabilities it effectively allows automation to be introduced without disrupting end users normal working practices. Product analysis FrontRange HEAT Service Management 7.1.4, which replaced v7 in early 2012, is a service driven ITSM tool that is strongly aligned to the ITIL v3 framework of ITSM best practices. FrontRange HEAT Service Management meets the core ITIL v3 processes out of the box and was verified by the Pink Elephant ITIL v3 certification. FrontRange HEAT Service Management is designed to support the key ITSM requirements of corporate IT organizations. It includes ten ITIL best practices of incident, problem, change, release, availability, configuration, service level management, service catalog, service portfolio management, and service request fulfillment. The ITIL process based modules run on FrontRange Foundation, an SOA platform based on Microsoft.NET technology with an integrated configuration management database (CMDB). The current version also delivers out of the box automation templates for incidents, service requests, changes, and releases; a self service and service catalog module with an Amazon like interface; a workflow designer for nontechnical users; an enhanced application UI workflow redesign; administrator module enhancements; and multi language support. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 2

3 In Ovum s opinion, FrontRange HEAT Service Management is user friendly and offers the flexibility and adaptability for customers to mold it to meet their own unique requirements for supporting ITSM and ITIL, if appropriate. The UI redesign delivers a modern look and feel and usability improvements such as tabbed working, reduced number of clicks, a simplified UI based on context, and customizable and contextual/suggestive navigation. FrontRange states that the key benefits of using HEAT Service Management are: end to end automation of the incident lifecycle with productivity enhancing workflows and integration advanced change control that meets simple and complex change compliance requirements integrated change and release management to provide full visibility and support for the controlled delivery of IT infrastructure changes complete visibility of the infrastructure via multi platform IT discovery multimedia self service that can lead to call volume reduction and improved end user experience fully integrated service management and client management capabilities with IVR technology flexibility to deploy on premise, in the cloud (via multi tenant architecture), and everywhere inbetween. In Ovum s opinion, FrontRange HEAT Service Management differentiates itself from the rest of the ITSM vendor pack with advanced telephony tools that combine voice and Web self service into a single service platform. Its best practices and out of the box automation offer the potential for a quick time tovalue and the removal of resource and cost intensive manual operations, with implementation and ongoing administration facilitated through wizards and graphical interfaces. FrontRange s inventory and integrated infrastructure management tools enable centralized management of IT assets throughout their lifecycle. Figure 1 provides an overview of FrontRange s approach to hybrid ITSM and clearly demonstrates the linkage between service management and client management, built on a common voice and workflow platform that can be delivered on premise, in the cloud, or a combination of both. In terms of missing capabilities, FrontRange HEAT Service Management does not offer an IT financial management module. It does, however, provide some financial management capabilities for service providers around costs and usage. In particular, it can provide insight into financial measures such as cost per incident, cost per service, or cost per change. The solution has been modified so it benefits from an SaaS, on premise delivery option and hybrid model, something that IT organizations are increasingly demanding. All FrontRange HEAT Service Management modules rely on a common foundation platform that provides a variety of key capabilities that are used across modules. FrontRange Foundation was developed as a metadata architecture based on a set of commonly used business functions and a common database. The integrated workflow engine controls the data flow/processing of solution modules and third party products, and external applications can be integrated via a range of communications protocols and adapters such as SOAP, XML, LDAP, WMI, and SNMP. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 3

4 Figure 1: FrontRange hybrid ITSM overview Source: FrontRange Solutions In Ovum s opinion, FrontRange HEAT Service Management is a highly capable ITSM offering that more than meets corporate requirements for ITIL enablement for SMEs and larger enterprises. The modular licensing of the solution allows smaller or less mature organizations to start with a limited number of supported ITIL processes with a view to adding to them later. Product operation The key ITIL v3 based modules contained within FrontRange HEAT Service Management are outlined below. Incident and problem management The incident management module provides the core service desk functionality required to enable IT organizations to efficiently identify, respond to, and track issues requiring resolution. Key features include the ability to automatically route incidents based on category types and priority levels, automatic escalation of incidents based on predetermined business rules and alerts to staff when issues are not resolved, and realtime views of service desk data and performance from a single dashboard. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 4

5 The problem management module allows organizations to initiate and manage actions to correct or minimize the adverse business impact of problems and address the associated root cause(s). By relating problems to particular incidents, known errors, and changes, the integrated solution provides bigger picture visibility into total business impact. By proactively managing problems, an organization can reduce the number of incidents by analyzing trends and applying permanent fixes to recurring incidents. Figure 2: Example of FrontRange ITSM workflow Source: FrontRange Solutions Change and release management The change management module provides a centralized tool to manage, track, and optimize changes. The module can help to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used to efficiently and promptly handle all changes to streamline workflow and increase productivity. Figure 2 shows an example of a typical workflow design in FrontRange. Ultimately its goal is to minimize the volume and impact of change related incidents on the business. FrontRange has added a change calendar, change scheduling, and a risk calculator, which Ovum believes is an excellent tool for making business users aware of the impact of any change. Ovum also likes Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 5

6 the automated management of new changes so that members of the relevant change advisory boards (CABs) see the changes needing approval, and mechanisms are in place to ensure all CAB members vote/authorize a change. The other key aspect that FrontRange has improved in the current release is the way FrontRange HEAT Service Management helps DevOps, by tracking changes and releases so developers can see the incidents/problems reported by their release. The release management module offers a proactive solution to plan, deploy, and manage releases in a controlled manner. It addresses the entire release cycle, increasing rollout visibility and the probability of success. Key features are the ability to package and automate individual and mass changes to the infrastructure, and provide communication tools and visible support for internal IT controls and regulatory compliance efforts. Configuration and inventory management The configuration module enables management of the configuration items (CIs) that make up the business services and IT infrastructure supported. The tool can help to define, identify, and report on CIs, with realtime CI monitoring, insight into the status of changes and requests for change, and the verification of CI completeness and correctness. To support this, the FrontRange CMDB provides a single repository for all CIs and related attributes. Additionally, the system allows for the creation of dynamic service maps to allow managers to define the structure around key business services and better understand the risks and impact prior to implementing changes. ITSM inventory management provides unified IT asset management for the service desk, incorporating the FrontRange automated IT asset discovery engine, and providing a basis for populating the FrontRange CMDB. FrontRange states that when inventory management is integrated with the service desk, end to end incident and problem management is streamlined, saving time and costs, and dramatically increasing first call resolution rates. Service level management The service level management module provides capabilities to design, build, manage, and monitor service agreements throughout their lifecycles. The module can be used to define and manage service catalogs, SLAs, operational level agreements, and underpinning contracts. Realtime monitoring and auto escalation enable IT to have insight into actual performance and to take immediate action should service fall short of established targets. Self service, service catalog management, and service request fulfillment The self service module delivers a Web based self help and ordering tool, opening up the service desk to employees for 24x7 access. HEAT Service Management has a new self service offering with an improved look and feel, and that is customizable to meet client requirements, has improved search capabilities, and is fully integrated with the FrontRange Service Catalog. The new service catalog and request fulfillment modules enable end users to request service packages or bundles, track incidents and service requests, and search and browse IT Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 6

7 knowledge bases. Service providers/owners can quickly publish a new or amended offering (using the service catalog designer) and business unit owners can easily subscribe to the service offerings. One of the enhanced features is the ability to price deployment based on when the user wants it, so an immediate release could attract a premium, whereas a standard delivery could be offered at a lower price point. Organizations can create a calendar of standard release dates, no change periods, and free choice dates (see Figure 3), and this can be displayed by release type, user, department, category, or priority, for example. Availability management The availability management module is an extension to the service level management module and can capture ongoing performance statistics for individual IT components or business services. Availability can be monitored via realtime dashboards and availability reports such as mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). The module s failureassessment tools can also be used to pinpoint critical infrastructure risk before it impacts business services. FrontRange also provides additional and integrated products that include: FrontRange Software Asset Management, which integrates with FrontRange ITSM to help organizations take control of software assets, licenses, and the ongoing management of applications on the network. Client Lifecycle Management, which automates the end to end client lifecycle via unified remote support and advanced desktop and server provisioning tools. ITSM Voice Communication Management, which is part of the FrontRange multi channel communication platform. It uses integrated IP telephony to greet callers with automated prompts for intelligent call routing. Routine requests can be handled automatically with menu driven selfhelp and automated password resets. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 7

8 Figure 3: FrontRange solution change calendar Source: FrontRange Solutions Product emphasis FrontRange HEAT Service Management is a highly capable ITSM offering that more than meets corporate requirements for an ITIL enabling tool. It sits within an ITSM solution market that has become fragmented, split between vendors and products that address enterprise or SME requirements, niche ITSM products and those that deliver against the core ITIL v3 processes, and by the method of application delivery with the emergence of SaaS only ITSM solutions. In Ovum s opinion, FrontRange HEAT Service Management v7 was highly relevant for the first two of these (traversing SME through to enterprise level needs and meeting core ITIL requirements), and with v7.1.4, FrontRange has added the ability to operate on premise or via an SaaS delivery option, which IT organizations are increasingly demanding. In an ITSM software landscape of functional parity, FrontRange HEAT Service Management differentiates itself from the rest of the vendor pack with advanced telephony tools that combine voice and Web self service into a single service platform. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 8

9 Go to market strategy Like most IT service management tools, FrontRange HEAT Service Management is industry sector independent. FrontRange targets all verticals from government to healthcare. FrontRange s usual target companies are SME size, but it has also sold to enterprise level customers based on the solution s capabilities. FrontRange sees various opportunities for its solution to add value for SMEs and enterprise level organizations. These include: Best practices and process automation for customers looking for a solution that enables workflow packages for better TCO and ROI. Consolidation of ITSM and asset/client management, with benefits realized from increased automation and integration between disparate support technologies. IT organizations need to be able to view an accurate consolidated view of their increasingly complex multi platform data center as well as employee workstations and mobile devices. Focus on the software budget and vendor license compliance as IT budgets continue to tighten and vendor scrutiny increases. Machines managing machines with IT automation less about innovation and more about cost savings. Companies who are looking to future proof their IT expenditure decisions to go cloud or onpremise; providing near term and long term investment protection by providing flexible software deployment options. FrontRange s route to market is roughly a 50:50 split between direct sales and via accredited partners. Partners include SMA Management Systems, Anton Systems, Ticomix, and Software House International in North America; CRMWorks Limited, Syscom AS, and Pål Nome in the UK; B3 System in Poland; Olaris Software Lab and Software at Work in India; BILSER Bilgisayar ve Yonetim Sistemleri AS in Turkey; Santix AG and MAXXYS AG in Germany; and Infinite Systems, Aaromba Technologies, BizCarta, CallCentrix, Advantage Systems, and Veridian in Australia. Licensing is based on both perpetual server licenses and concurrent or named user licenses. A server license is required for each module. While the customer can choose between named and concurrent user licenses, a combination of the two is possible. A foundation license is also required for each license. An entry level FrontRange HEAT Service Management implementation costs approximately 50,000 (US$80,465) with a 70:30 license to services split. FrontRange usually provides at least one major release of HEAT Service Management every months, plus three to four minor update releases within this period. In terms of the product s roadmap, the company states that it will continue to invest approximately 18% of gross revenue back into existing products and the development of new ones. FrontRange HEAT Service Management introduced new and enhanced functionality including the service catalog and request fulfillment modules plus workflow designer that can easily be used by non programmers. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 9

10 Deployment In terms of the resources and technical skills required for deployment, a pilot project (depending on customer requirements) will usually take one to two weeks. A 30 user departmental deployment, using a two module quick start program, requires a FrontRange consultant and one FTE (full time employee) administrator (customer side) for two weeks. The administrator will need to have taken two one week FrontRange IT Service Management Foundation classes and have knowledge of the customer s existing business processes. A 500 user enterprise wide deployment, again using a two module quick start program, requires a FrontRange consultant and one FTE administrator for four weeks. On premise and on premise (managed) flavors of FrontRange HEAT Service Management and new with v7.1.4 hosted (dedicated) and SaaS versions are available. Annual support and maintenance is available at 20% of the licensing cost. FrontRange Solutions Support is available from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday, excluding FrontRange Solutions recognized holidays. After hours emergency technical support is also available for all ITSM clients. Support centers are located in North America, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Eastern Europe, and South Africa. FrontRange HEAT Service Management runs on a Microsoft Windows platform (Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, and Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition) and is dependent on the Microsoft.NET Framework and a database management system such as Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 or Oracle 10g R2. Supported Web browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.1, Firefox 2.0 on Windows, and Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS Table 1: Example customer use cases Customer Scope of deployment City of Fort Worth, Texas American International Group Arbeitsmarktservice BetriebsgmbH & Co KG (amsbg) CSL Behring 125 ITSM users supporting 193,000 households with more than 60,000 incident and service requests per month 120 help desk agents 70 service desk agents servicing 5,000 customers 78 ITSM users servicing 6,000 internal users Source: FrontRange Solutions DATA SHEET Key facts about the solution Table 2: Data sheet Product name HEAT Product classification ITSM Version number Release date October 2012 Industries covered All Geographies covered All Relevant company sizes All Platforms supported MS SQL Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 10

11 Languages supported English, German, French Licensing options Named, concurrent Deployment options On premise, cloud, hybrid Route(s) to market Direct, channel URL Company headquarters Milpitas, California European headquarters Newbury, UK North America headquarters Milpitas, California Asia Pacific headquarters Sydney, Australia Source: Ovum APPENDIX Methodology Ovum Technology Audits are independent product reviews carried out using Ovum s evaluation model for the relevant technology area, supported by conversations with vendors, users, and service providers of the solution concerned, and in depth secondary research. Author Roy Illsley, Principal Analyst, IT Software roy.illsley@ovum.com Ovum Consulting We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 11