GoldMine Datasheet Title. Subtitle: Reinvent your Sales, Marketing and Support Proceses

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1 GoldMine Datasheet Title Subtitle: Reinvent your Sales, Marketing and Support Proceses

2 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 1 Table of Contents Chapter I: Evaluating IT Solutions for ITIL Enablement 2 Why ITIL? 2 The ITIL Value Proposition 2 ITIL According to Gartner 2 ITIL Certified 2 Evolutionary Improvement Path 3 Incident and Problem Management 3 Change Management 5 Configuration Management and the Configuration Management Database 7 Release Management 9 Service Level Management 11 Availability Management 12 Technical Considerations 13 Establishing Priorities 15 FrontRange ITSM Solution Match Up 16 Chapter II: Learning New Lessons, ITIL V3 18 ITIL Introduction 18 ITI 18 ITIL Goals 18 Demystifying ITIL V3 18 Service Strategy 19 Service Design 19 Service Transition 20 Service Operations 20 Service improvement 21 About FrontRange Solutions 22

3 2 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Chapter I: Evaluating IT Solutions for ITIL Enablement Why ITIL? The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a globally recognized collection of best practices for information technology (IT) service management. The United Kingdom s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) created the ITIL in response to growing dependence on information technology for meeting business needs and goals. ITIL is all about which processes need to be realized within the organization for management and operation of the IT infrastructure to promote optimal service provision to the customer of the services - at justifiable costs. In a nutshell, ITIL provides businesses with a customizable framework of best practices to achieve quality service and overcome difficulties associated with the growth of IT systems. The ITIL Value Proposition ITIL is a common sense approach to service management, doing what works. What works? A common set of practices that unite all areas of IT towards a common goal delivering value to the business. Core capabilities are developed when you build key service delivery goals from your corporate objectives. The ITIL value proposition is achieved when ITIL is followed as a guide to build and manage reliable IT services and delivery functions. ITIL can introduce the following value propositions: ITIL provides a public, non-proprietary set of recognized industry IT guidelines for evaluating ITSM solutions Defines a holistic, repeatable, integrated and scalable process that flows across the IT organization Establishes best practices for reducing IT costs Following ITIL processes improves interfaces between IT and its customers and suppliers Companies that invest in ITIL -based processes and technology improve user productivity and service levels The ITIL framework provides a structure to achieve IT service and business alignment ITIL helps companies achieve critical governance and compliance objectives Serves as a baseline for service improvement initiatives ITIL According to Gartner Service Support and Service Delivery are considered to be at the heart of the ITIL framework for IT Service Management According to Gartner (Research publication ID Number G ), the traditional entry point for ITIL is focused on resolution management - incident management and problem management. Secondarily companies add control processes - change management and configuration management, with an emphasis on the configuration management database (CMDB) as a critical foundation to support the other management disciplines. From there, release processes are addressed with release management. As an organization matures, they will focus on service delivery processes and service improvement, with the addition of service level management and availability management. ITIL Certified When evaluating a Service Management solution to determine how well they support ITIL, start by determining which of the vendor s modules and corresponding ITIL support processes are certified by Pink Elephant. Pink Elephant is committed to the ITIL best practice framework and is recognized globally for its ITIL expertise. PinkVerify is the only independent certification program worldwide that recognizes software that supports specific IT management processes. Also, find out what percentage of the vendor s employees have formal ITIL certification. These are two important indicators of a software company s commitment and focus on ITIL.

4 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 3 Evolutionary Improvement Path As Gartner notes, adoption of ITIL is typically performed as an evolutionary process. Initially, processes are chaotic and likely few processes are defined, documented or standardized. As you mature, you will begin establishing basic repeatable processes and develop a level of discipline to ensure adherence to these processes. From here you will develop all critical business processes, ensuring they are documented, standardized and integrated effectively across multiple support organizations. The next natural progression is to establish documented service levels to measure the quality of the processes. Finally, you will instill continual process improvement to reach a higher level of ITIL maturity over time. Each of the above recommended ITIL processes will be discussed in detail below. Use this Evaluation Guide to analyze how well the service management applications and modules you are considering address ITIL. Keep in mind that ITIL is just one way of evaluating and selecting a software solution that will deliver premium value against your critical business requirements. Implementing an ITIL compliant service desk does not by itself translate into service quality improvement. You must evaluate the software platform technical capabilities and evolve your business process maturity to work handin-hand with the technology tools and enablers. The ITIL framework is simply a guide to drive practical application by combining people, process and technology to achieve desired results. Incident and Problem Management The primary goal for ITIL Incident Management is to restore normal service operations as quickly as possible and minimize the adverse impact on business operations. The primary goal for ITIL Problem Management is to minimize the impact of incidents and problems on the business and prevent their recurrence. Problem Management seeks to get to the root cause of incidents and then initiate actions to improve or correct the situation. Successful incident management begins with the ability to track issues and assign clear resolution ownership as well as develop and maintain standard prioritization criteria. Successful problem management begins with the ability to track problems separate from incidents and diagnose known errors. These goals can be readily mapped to the Service Desk. A service desk provides a single point of contact to provide advice, guidance, and the rapid restoration of normal services to its customers and users. A service center is typically measured on its ability to: Provide continuity by restoring services as soon as possible following a deviation from agreed-to service levels Be accessible for questions, complaints and comments regarding the IT infrastructure Gain acceptance by customers of the added value of the Help Desk for the business processes Evaluation Criteria Look for the following key Help Desk and Service Desk features and functionality related to incident management:

5 4 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Incident Problem Lifecycle Creation of incident and problem records with extensive out-of-the-box description fields and multi-level ticket classification options Ability to set up standardized incident and problem descriptions Ability to designate unique status types for incidents vs. problem records Detailed caller/submitter information viewable from ticketing screen Auto assignment of date/time stamp, unique id, ticket creator Assign target resolution times based on priority Measure restoration of service with resolution time tracking. Tracking of multiple tasks through ticket closure Ability to record applied workarounds, root cause of the service interruption and applied resolution (solution) Misroutes and returned activity/action can be added in the ticket Standardized Incident solutions can be set up Automated caller/submitter confirmation at ticket closure Problem closure can close linked incidents to ensure proper steps are taken to resolve related incidents. Assign Ownership & Prioritization Ability to create ticket assignment to agents based on agent availability, next in line solution groups, skills-based routing Supports bulk ticket assignment Ability to record the priority of a ticket based on urgency and degree of severity Auto-approval notifications Business process automation and automated triggers for incident assignment, routing and rerouting and hierarchical escalations Speed To Resolution Customizable and pre-configured auto-tasking Automation of work order creation and processing associated with the ticket Automated entry for common problems Easy to use workflow editors to automate simple or complex business processes Templates for recurring incident and problem types Send notifications and escalations via Minimize Business Impact Define customer service level by customer contact Use call groups to manage priority businesses and customers Integration to inventory and configuration management tools to map and track tickets to impacted assets Ability to capture customer satisfaction survey responses upon resolution Mass broadcasting and integration to standard systems to keep users notified in advance of scheduled changes and system-wide outages.

6 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 5 Root Cause Analysis Customizable and pre-configured auto-tasking Automated entry for common problems Detailed resolution journaling to track root cause analysis and resolution steps as they occur Ability to initiate change directly from problem screen A knowledge base that can be updated with details from a problem record Ability to search the knowledge base directly from the incident management application by known solution, workaround and known errors The ability to control and approved corrective action from the incident management system Integrated Processes integration for dynamically creating s from incident record Linking related incidents and problems and group processing Linking and opening problem tickets and change tickets from incident record Manage and prioritize incidents and problems based on associated SLAs Seamless Integration to add-on modules or advanced applications for such areas as Knowledge Management, Voice enablement (VOIP), advanced IT Service Management, configuration discovery tools, PC Lifecycle tools, service catalog and service request Linking incident and problem to related configuration items A choice of knowledge management tools to capture and share agent expertise across your service team Integration with other fulfillment systems Integration with HR and Customer Relationship Management systems for integrated access to caller data Management s Easy-to-use User Interface for agent queue viewing and queue management A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, including statistical evaluations, complete incident management lifecycle history logs and trends Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Expansive trending tools that provide numerous avenues to report, measure and analyze service performance and trends Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive drill-downs to access detailed records. Change Management Change Management seeks to ensure corrective action is approved and performed in a controlled manner so that changerelated problems are prevented. Successful change management requires a formal process and system to support Requests for Change from initial recording through the approval, planning, testing, implementation and reporting stages. Evaluation Criteria Look for the following key Change Management features and functionality related to service management:

7 6 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Change Lifecycle Creation of change records with extensive out-of-the-box description fields and multi-level ticket classification options Auto assignment of date/time stamp, unique id, ticket creator Ability to set up standardized change descriptions, closure codes and change urgency Automated workflow and change templates for change creation can be set up Change records include fields for change activities/tasks, task scheduling, recording of back-out procedures and support attachments Supports auto-closure of all associated records when the change record is closed. Tracks estimated and actual work effort (via timer) and status by task Assign change priority based on urgency and impact Measure restoration of service with resolution time tracking. Tracking of multiple tasks through ticket closure Ability to record applied workarounds, root cause of the service interruption and applied resolution (solution) Misroutes and returned activity/action can be added in the ticket Standardized Incident solutions can be set up Automated initiator confirmation at ticket closure Ability to track and view change schedules an important aid in identifying inprogress changes that may provide a solution to an outstanding incident. Ability to track risk and probability calculations Approvals Business process automation and automated triggers for approval routing and rerouting and hierarchical approvals Controlled security access to ensure only authorized users have access to read or update detailed Change Management information Security rights can be used to control the creation and update of RFCs based on the role of each Change Management group or staff (builder, tester, etc.) Supports resource assignment to multiple resources and visualization of approver flow Supports approvals by the Change Advisory Board. Auto-approval notifications Send notifications and escalations via Corrective Action Customizable and pre-configured auto-tasking Supports change calendar Change processing can be built and standardized using automated task and business processing rules. notifications and monitoring can ensure corrective actions receive proper change control and approvals, Automation of work order creation and processing associated with the ticket Automated entry for common problems Easy to use workflow editors to automate simple or complex business processes

8 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 7 Minimize Business Impact Supports updating the configuration item as a result of the change Integration to inventory and configuration management tools to map and track tickets to impacted assets Ability to capture customer satisfaction survey responses upon resolution Mass broadcasting and integration to standard systems to keep users notified in advance of scheduled changes and system-wide outages. Integrated Processes integration for dynamically creating s from incident record Integration to add-on applications including advanced IT Service Management modules and PC Lifecycle to provide advanced corrective action and change management tools Linking change record to related change records Hierarchical change grouping and group processing Link change to related incidents and problems Manage and prioritize changes and execute escalations based on associated SLAs Seamless Integration to add-on modules or advanced applications for such areas as Knowledge Management, Voice enablement (VOIP), advanced IT Service Management, configuration discovery tools, PC Lifecycle tools, service catalog and service request Visualization of impacted users, incidents, problems and configuration items Integration with other fulfillment systems Management s A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, including statistical evaluations, complete change management lifecycle history logs and trends Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Expansive governance tools that provide numerous compliance reports Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive drill-downs to access detailed records. Configuration Management and the Configuration Management Database The ITIL Configuration Management goal is to provide a logical model of the service support infrastructure. At minimum, this requires identifying and storing configuration items (CIs) in an asset repository. As organizations mature, they will want to also maintain multiple relationships between CIs and logical CIs such as business services represented in a service infrastructure hierarchy. Evaluation Criteria Look for a configuration management tool that provides a range of infrastructure and asset management tools. Basic tools are appropriate when you have a simple infrastructure, or limited internal administration resources or infrastructure modeling expertise. Overly complex configuration management tools and CMDBs will be difficult if not impossible to

9 8 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) implement and deliver value if you don t require the level of sophistication built into the solution. Sophistication typically translates to complexity. Complex CMDBs are very difficult to implement, maintain and administer if you are not trained and staffed to manage the sophistication of the tools and data model. Look for a vendor that has different CMDB solutions based on your complexity and sophistication requirements. Overly simple or overly complex CMDBs are not a one size fits all proposition. Look for the following key Change Management features and functionality related to service management: Configuration Item (CI) Information Creation of CI information with extensive out-of-the-box attribute fields that vary by CI Type A data model that supports many different infrastructure types including software, hardware, network devices, databases and data storage devices, mobile devices, etc. Ability to associate the incident, problem and change record to the related CI Auto assignment of date/time stamp, unique id, creator Ability to set up standardized CI relationship types Automated workflow and change templates for change creation can be set up Change records include fields for change activities/tasks, task scheduling, recording of back-out procedures Ability to support attachments attached to the change record Provides a single master of record representation of your infrastructure Advanced s for Complex or Changing Infrastructure Native centralized CMDB that is shared across all ITSM processes Multi-level classification options (at least 3 levels) Bi-directional linking of CIs Auto-discovery tools that supports your environment Ability to view and reconcile actual configuration against baseline Discovery tools that populate directly to the CMDB Ability to track configuration history and state change through the use of status fields Visual representation of CI and relationships Supports status history and history of CI modifications over time Supports logical configuration items Ability to create many-to-many relationships between CIs Ability to relate CIs to the employees they relate to for business impact by person and team Integrated Processes PC lifecycle management tools for automated provisioning of operating systems and patches Integration with systems monitoring solutions for real time availability Policy-based management of actual configurations against the baseline Remote desktop support functionality like password resets Real time device monitoring Centralized system health check console Integration to contract management for maintenance contracts and service providers

10 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 9 Management s A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, including statistical evaluations, complete change management lifecycle history logs and trends Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive drill-downs to access detailed records. Configuration item archiving Release Management The ITIL Release Management goal is to control the release of new software and related IT infrastructure the availability of licensed, tested and version-certified hardware and software. This requires planned software and hardware rollouts and migrations which are dependent on controlling and tracking the distribution processes with lifecycle management tools. Once a change management process and solution are in place, a natural progression is to automate the change process with integrated lifecycle management tools, since it is often the release of a change that fails rather than the change itself. Evaluation Criteria Look for a release management tool that provides tools to support the full distribution lifecycle, and that cover the full technology spectrum based on your infrastructure environment. Look for a lifecycle management tool with the following key features and functionality related to release management: Release Record Information Creation of release records with extensive out-of-the-box and customizable classification fields that vary by release type Assign release priority based on urgency and impact Auto assignment of date/time stamp, unique id, creator Ability to set up standardized release descriptions and release closure types Ability to create a set of activities associated with a release Automated workflow and change templates for change creation can be set up Release records include fields for release activities/tasks, task scheduling, etc. Ability to link release to the related CI, incident, problem and change management record

11 10 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Distribution Lifecycle Ability to setup and customize workflow for release creation Create standardized release templates for common release processes Create link to Configuration Items for targeted infrastructure associated with the release Scheduling calendar for the release, presenting progress information on the rollout Tracks overall release status and status by activity or sub-task Captures estimated and actual work effort (via timer) and status by release activity Release closure triggers confirmation to initiator Assign Ownership and Prioritization Ability to create release assignment to agents based on agent availability, next in line solution groups, skills-based routing Supports bulk release assignment Ability to record the priority of a release based on urgency and degree of severity Auto-approval notifications Approvals Business process automation and automated triggers for approval routing and rerouting and hierarchical approvals Controlled security access to ensure only authorized users have access to read or update detailed Release Management information Security rights can be used to control the creation and update of releases based on the role of each Release Management group or staff (builder, tester, etc.) Send notifications and escalations via Integrated Processes Change management tools for relating release plan to the change record Integration with Service Level Agreements to monitor actual release delivery against standard targets Integration with real time device monitoring and the CMDB for closed loop change management Ability to integrate the release build to the work order system to track the availability of release components purchased from outside vendors. Access to a definitive software library (DSL) to maintain secure versions of master copies of all software Management s A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, including statistical evaluations, complete release management lifecycle history logs and trends Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive drill-downs to access detailed records.

12 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 11 Service Level Management A natural complement to incident management is the introduction of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to define and document normal service operation. Per ITIL, the primary goal for Service Level Management is to maintain and improve IT service quality by agreeing, monitoring and reporting on service levels and achievements. Evaluation Criteria Look for a service level management tool that provides the following features and functionality: Service Level Definition Ability for users to define their normal service operations by creating multi-tier service level agreements in the system. Preconfigured and customizable service classification schemes and extensive SLA attributes Dynamic attribute list based on service type Extensive out-of-the-box sample SLAs and Operating Level Agreements and standard templates to easily create your own customized SLAs Ability to distinguish between SLA target and guarantee Auto assignment of date/time stamp, unique id, creator Ability to link SLAs to other related SLAs or create a parent/child hierarchy of SLAs Ability to link SLA to the related CI, incident, problem and change management record Ability to create a history of changes to the SLA over time Automated workflow and change templates for change creation can be set up Release records include fields for release activities/tasks, task scheduling, etc. Approvals Business process automation and automated triggers for approval routing and rerouting and hierarchical approvals Controlled security access to ensure only authorized users have access to update SLA information Send notifications and escalations via SLM Processes Ability to set thresholds on a variety of service metrics Ability to set up SLAs to initiate automatic escalation process and reprioritization of incident, problem and change records when an SLA breach is approach or has occurred. Ability to auto-trigger service agent and/or manager alerts when SLA thresholds are breached. Ability to associate a service catalog and Service Request Management System to the SLA Ability to setup and customize service catalog fulfillment workflow for the SLA Ability to support clock stop definitions and service calendars that take into account different support levels 24x7, 14x5, etc. (excluding weekend, nights, holidays, etc.)

13 12 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Management s A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, service monitoring and achievement reports, SLA vs. actual performance comparison trends Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive SLA performance visualization Packaged analytics and ability to create custom reports to aid in the evaluation of service challenges to determine service improvement initiatives. Availability Management Service Level Management and Availability Management are two of the five ITIL Service Delivery functions. The goal of Availability Management is to ensure that application systems are working and available for use according to conditions of the SLAs. This requires that the availability management team have monitoring systems in place that monitor for defined service degradation conditions to identify service interruptions or performance problems. Real-time automated monitoring is important for mission critical or business critical applications, especially during primary usage windows. Using defined thresholds to capture service degradation situations provides a higher level of availability management capability. When a monitoring agent performs a test on the hardware, software, network or end-to-end transaction, as defined by the monitoring process and identifies a threshold breach, an alert can be set up to notify the appropriate service support personnel so immediate action can be initiated. An alert provides an early warning system of potential service failure so an incident can be opened with the service desk and proactive service restoration activities will be started immediately. With this type of proactive service, the impact to the user community is minimized. In many cases, the threshold breach is addressed and resolved before an SLA is impacted and before the users notice service degradation. Availability Management also entails impact analysis and service outage analysis initiatives, determining cause, analyzing trends and taking appropriate actions to ensure service availability meets SLAs. Evaluation Criteria Look for the following availability management features and functionality as you evaluate service delivery solutions:

14 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 13 Service Monitoring Ability to define availability requirements by business service Supports configuration item to business service mapping Ability to deploy monitoring agents to work with a variety of hardware, application, transaction and network types according to your critical business service systems and infrastructure Preconfigured and customizable threshold evaluation criteria Provides repository for recording data pertaining to IT component downtime Ability to set up the monitoring frequency at selected intervals per monitoring event, based on a service availability calendar Extensive out-of-the-box sample SLAs and Operating Level Agreements and standard templates to easily create your own customized SLAs Supports the creation of a Service Catalog Ability to link service level agreements, service level objectives and underpinning service contracts to business services View capability of the service model, related configuration items and linked service impacting events from a variety of event monitoring technologies Service Restoration Procedures Business process automation and automated triggers for SLA monitoring Monitoring events and alerts integrated to the service desk to generate tickets when events occur Send notifications and escalations via Using Problem Management, perform root cause analysis and related incidents, problems, changes and configuration items to perform root cause analysis Integrated Processes Integration of ITSM applications, Service Level Management and event monitoring systems Integration capability (XML, , file listeners combined with the Business Process Engine) Management s A wide breadth of out-of-the-box industry best practices reports, service availability calculations and trending, SLA vs. actual performance comparison reports Quick answer reporting at a glance Quick links to common queries Manager views or console with predefined dashboard analytics Dashboards with graphical interactive SLA performance visualization Packaged analytics and ability to create custom reports to aid in the measurement and evaluation necessary for optimizing service availability. Technical Considerations Your software evaluation should also be focused on an in-depth technical architecture analysis. ITIL business process alignment is key, but if the technology falls short of your minimum technical requirements, you will not be successful in implementing a solution that works. As you evaluate alternatives, the breadth of ITIL functionality and the technical platform strength need to be considered together to find a solution that fits.

15 14 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Evaluation Criteria Look for the following technical features and functionality as you evaluate IT Service Management solutions: Open Architecture Service Oriented Architecture Modular architecture and federated applications Completely integrated IT Service Management modules built on a shared platform Workflow processing that can manage transactions across multiple applications and modules Business process automation tool Integration Engine hub for event monitoring, other ITSM ticketing systems, PC lifecycle systems Native, open CMDB Sophisticated ticket integration with standard systems Multi-tenancy and row level security Flexible, intuitive user interface Packaged with state-of-the-art application development platform to support customization and extensibility User and role-based security Supports web services Native and 3 rd party integration tools for PC lifecycle, VOIP, web and self service interface, remote control, CRM, and other 3 rd party ERP applications Advanced communication protocols Supports advanced architecture deployment: VMWare, Citrix, multiple instances on the same server, distributed server Supports multiple licensing models: read only users, fixed and concurrent users, enterprise-wide license, MSP Separate, easy to use Administrator s console Role based application views for casual and power users, submitters, managers, etc. Easy to administer with minimal resources Hierarchical parent/child and multi-level table structures Supports attachments, allowing multiple attachments per record and multiple attachment types Platform Support Can be deployed on various server configurations from one server to separate web/ application/database servers Efficient CPU memory and disk space utilization High availability configurations Supports all major operating systems, hardware servers and database management systems Supports latest version infrastructure Compatible with leading reporting and business intelligence tools HTML and RTF within the Tool

16 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 15 Bundled Technology Supports out-of-the-box access to the application and your end users via multiple channels: web, , VOIP, self service, hand-held devices, remote desktop access Integration capability (XML, , chat, file listeners combined with the Business Process Engine) Automated infrastructure discovery (agents and Agentless) Customized reporting software such as Crystal Reports and Crystal Reports developer software LDAP integration tools Knowledge base and knowledge management Search engine technology Graphical, interactive dashboards Graphical visualization models Out-of-the-box & Packaged Best Practices Auto-installers for installing multiple application modules together Preconfigured to be up and running out of the box Industry best practices prepackaged data modules Extensive package of sample templates for common transaction types Quick start professional services bundles Easy upgrade and migration tools Online documentation Context sensitive Help Intuitive error and warning messages Simplified quick entry screen options Customization s Easily customizable quick answer reports and hyperlinks Extensive report customization My Views for personalization Easy to use development platform for flexible customization options Customizable forms, fields, values, classification schemes, workflow without updating code Any data item can be triggered via configurable rules and workflow Establishing Priorities Many ITSM vendors provide adequate coverage against most of these criteria. As you evaluate alternatives, consider both breadth of ITIL functionality and technical platform strength. Identify your top priorities and select a vendor that is best aligned around your biggest pain points. With limited resources, you will likely have to narrow your focus to one or two key ITIL business processes. Biting off more than your team can handle will make it difficult to achieve critical success in key focus areas. Selecting a tool that requires extensive training, customization, or significant systems implementation planning and resources will delay your return on investment. Focus on a solution that can meet your critical business objectives with as much out of the box functionality as possible. Look for a market leader that has longevity in the industry and financial strength. Consider a solution provider that has options for growth and expansion as your needs dictate.

17 16 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) FrontRange ITSM Solution Match Up Built from the ground up with ITIL and IT in mind, the FrontRange ITSM solution suite provides extensive and complete ITIL feature and function coverage. The table below highlights ITIL focus areas where FrontRange has unique strengths that hit the mark for IT enablement. Extensive customization options and an open platform make the FrontRange solution suite uniquely positioned to meet and exceed your specific ITIL requirements. The FrontRange corporate DNA is all about continued investment in ITIL alignment and keeping pace with new ITIL versions. Please contact FrontRange to schedule a product demonstration with a FrontRange representative. We will walk you through key ITIL focus areas, feature-by-feature. The FrontRange Strength Future Focus Incident and Problem Management Incident and problem management are the foundation of the FrontRange ITSM solution. With over 15 years in the help desk business, FrontRange s strength is in the delivery of a full-featured incident and problem management solution. This solution suite is uniquely positioned with a best-of-breed U/I. FrontRange is the only ITSM provider that has an integrated enterprise-caliber Voice Enablement solution. Together with a complete suite of ITIL process enablement modules and enhanced Self Service, FrontRange delivers an industry-leading proactive service desk. Built on Microsoft.Net, the new ITSM version release is designed to take advantage of next generation capabilities of.net 3.0, Microsoft ClickOnce, Office 2007, Outlook 2007, etc. Expect further enhancements as FrontRange leverages future.net technology advancement for an even better customer experience. Self Service version 3, released in early 2008, has service request management and service catalog capabilities, and click-to-call with VoIP. Expect more focus on leveraging the service catalog and voice integration to meet the needs of the advanced call center in future releases. Change Management As companies move from fragmented, departmental help desks to a controlled and centralized service desk, FrontRange is uniquely positioned as the ITSM midmarket leader. Documenting and tracking the change lifecycle from RFC through the change and release and change auditing are key benefits of FrontRange s extensive ITIL features. Easy-to-use process automation allows business users to build sophisticated workflow. Ease of use and ease of implementation and customization are core value propositions of the FrontRange solution. FrontRange is dedicated to delivering leading solutions that support critical governance and compliance imperitives. Expect new features and functionality to evolve the FrontRange suite to address new requirements mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley and others.

18 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 17 The FrontRange Strength Future Focus Configuration Management and the CMDB All ITSM modules are built around a centralized CMDB - populated by a range of FrontRange auto discovery technologies. Linking configuration items to the business service and related SLAs, service contracts, incidents, problems, changes and release records enables root cause, service impact analysis, and configuration auditing - core strengths of the FrontRange ITSM suite. Advanced reporting, quick queries, message boards and graphical dashboard analytics deliver tremendous value to both agents and management. Configuration auditing is enhanced with drift from baseline identification and reconciliation provided in ITSM 6. Released in early 2008, v6 includes a new service model visualization module for sophisticated graphical service impact/modeling. Future enhancements will focus on advanced service impact analysis The CMDB is part of FrontRange s open architecture platform, recognized as one of the key solution differentiators that sets FrontRange apart from the competition. Expect continued advancement of the CMDB and platform value prop. Release Management FrontRange enhances release planning and deployment with calendaring and scheduling functions, along with release automation when integrated to FrontRange s PC lifecycle solution. FrontRange is unique in providing automated work order generation and tracking features. Easy to use, yet sophisticated automated approval routing, including CAB approval support, make FrontRange a very robust ITIL solution. FrontRange is one of only a handful of ITSM vendors with separate Change and Release Management modules, staying true to these ITIL disciplines. Expect future focus on the combination of ITSM and Enteo, FrontRange s integrated PC lifecycle solution, as FrontRange continues to enhance integration features. Service Level Management FrontRange is unique in its ability to support service catalogs, SLAs, OLAs, and underpinning contracts. SLA variance reporting and dashboards are enabled with configurable timers to capture elapsed time against SLAs for incidents, problems, changes and releases. Real time monitoring, reporting and review date notifications provide higher level value. FrontRange s SLA functionality and ITIL features are extensive. Expect future focus on advancing self service and service catalog capability. Availability Management Extending FrontRange s service management competency to include ITIL service delivery capability with Availability Management, FrontRange has an extensive solution breadth. FrontRange delivers the most comprehensive out-of-the-box ITIL compliant solution for the mid and distributed enterprise. No other ITSM solution gives you the breadth of functionality with the ease of configuration. FrontRange delivers extensive availability measurement tools and reporting. Expect additional enhancement of proactive monitoring and further integration with third party system monitoring tools. FrontRange continues to invest in high-caliber ITIL certified Professional Services consultants. Expect future focus on ITIL workshops to play a vital role in partnering with our customers for success.

19 18 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) Chapter II: Learning New Lessons, ITIL V3 ITIL Introduction Since the IT Infrastructure Library s (ITIL ) update in 2000, the business environment has changed significantly, requiring a less IT centric and more holistic approach to the business of service management. The newest version of ITIL (ITIL V3), takes the form of processes and functions that are managed throughout the lifecycle of the service. Chapter IV describes the underlying principles of the library and how FrontRange Solutions IT Service Management (ITSM) supports those principles. ITIL ITIL is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for providing value to customers in the form of services. ITIL Goals Match customer expectations with service provider capabilities Improve quality Reduce the long term costs Deliver core processes Leverage best practices Demystifying ITIL V3 The central feature of the new version is an enhanced business relevance of IT Operations. There is emphasis on cultural and organizational issues as well delivering service management from a service life cycle perspective. To support this change in emphasis, several business concepts are now considered core best practice: Service strategies: Integration of business strategies with IT strategies ROI of a business case: Expected return of investments in improved service Service design: Establishment of innovative service planning to support sustainable day-to-day operations Knowledge database: Best practices and expertise in service implementation ITIL V3 focuses on: Business usage Service life cycle Processes Compliance requirements (SOX, HPPA, etc.) Quality management Value network innovation Dynamic service portfolios ISO/IEC These points are among those described in greater detail throughout the life cycle perspective. The five volumes that describe the life cycle are: 1. Service Strategy 2. Service Design 3. Service Transition 4. Service Operations 5. Continual Service Improvement

20 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) 19 Service Strategy A key theme of Service Strategy is the integration and alignment of business goals and objectives with IT, reducing silos and improving communication across the organization. IT is considered a service provider to the business and concentrates on the delivery of core business benefits. This includes strategic planning with an emphasis on value to the business. By creating bi-directional links between business and IT, the strategies help to define the definition of roles and responsibilities. Challenges, risks and desired business outcomes are all identified. This strategic emphasis also serves to justify investments to support compliance to standards such as ISO/IEC How can FrontRange Solutions help you? FrontRange Solutions is committed to delivering powerful yet flexible solutions designed specifically to help overcome the business challenges faced by your enterprise. FrontRange products can enable you to achieve the customer focus, productivity and optimization that support extraordinary business relationships. Because FrontRange delivers business solutions with a holistic approach - based on industry best practices, organizations will benefit from proven solutions that can be deployed quickly to produce real return on investment. Armed with solutions that are flexible enough to configure to match business needs will aid in achieving success against desired objectives and metrics. FrontRange services are designed to support you early in planning the business strategies as well as defining risks, roles, and responsibilities for the project. Service Design Service Design describes design elements of the IT infrastructure, including underlying policies, architecture design as well as documentation strategy for the consistent delivery of service solutions and processes. As the second stage in the service life cycle, it defines service objectives and elements, market models and policies. Roles and responsibilities are defined and necessary tools are identified. Cost models, risk-benefit analysis, and controlling procedures round out the best practices identified in this volume. How can FrontRange Solutions help you? The FrontRange technology vision is straightforward, providing powerful, ready-to-deploy solutions that can be extended to meet exact business needs. The FrontRange Foundation architecture supports the vision by providing a platform that is: Built on a common architecture supporting all FrontRange applications Built to create generic service processes, policies, service objectives and process modeling Flexible enough to be configured and supported by non-technical experts yet powerful enough to satisfy the most demanding enterprises Designed to integrate with third-party applications and legacy data sources Built on industry standards Designed to be secure, scalable and extendable ITIL Service Design Core Processes supported by FrontRange ITSM: Availability Management Availability Management is the process that measures the availability of a component or service to perform its specific function over time. Real-time dashboard reporting provides accurate representation of components and services. Availability reports provide information on configuration and service availability. Incident reports provide feedback on mean time between failures (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). This process is tightly integrated with Service Level Management. Service Level Management This process maintains and improves IT service quality through an ongoing cycle of agreement, monitoring and report-

21 20 IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL ) ing on IT service achievements, as well as taking action to eradicate poor service. Service catalogs, service level and operational level agreements, and underlying contracts are defined and managed. Service Transition Service Transition focuses on core change and configuration management processes to ease ongoing service operations. This includes risk and delivery options for smooth and continual business operations. This is the stage of the lifecycle where IT service transitions to support the business requirements. Managing organizational and cultural change are key issues for a smooth service transition. Also important is the implementation of a knowledge database, methods, tools and practices, and risk analysis. How can FrontRange Solutions help you? Change and configuration management are the key Service Transition capabilities delivered by the FrontRange IT Service Management solution to ensure smooth transition of services. The solution increases the likelihood of a successful transition by including considerations for business risks at all levels. ITIL Service Transition Core Processes supported by FrontRange ITSM: Change Management Change Management ensures that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes. This minimizes the impact of change-related incidents on IT services and improves the day-to-day operation of your organization. Complete life-cycle management capabilities are included. Automated approval and assignment processes result in efficient change management. Release Management With this process, you are able to plan and oversee the successful rollout of software and hardware to system users. You can also design and implement efficient procedures to distribute and implement changes to the system, and effectively communicate and manage customer expectations during release planning and rollout. Configuration Management Configuration management is the process of identifying configuration items in a system, recording and reporting the status of configurations and requests for change, and verifying the completeness and correctness of configuration items (CIs). FrontRange IT Service Management supports best practices that provide dynamic object models to easily relate assets to owners and view their relationships. Current and historical views of real-time status of assets and their relationships to incidents, problems and changes are available, as is a native, centralized configuration management database (CMDB), providing a single repository for all CIs. Service Operations Service Operations describes the activities required to keep the day-to-day operations up and running. The primary purpose of this phase is the delivery and support of services through the management of the infrastructure and operational activities. Service improvements are identified by monitoring performance, assessing metrics and the systematic gathering of data. How can FrontRange Solutions help you? ITIL Service Operations Core Processes supported by FrontRange ITSM: Incident Management This process restores normal service operations as quickly as possible and seeks to minimize any adverse impacts on business operations. Included are best practices that easily categorize incidents. Functions include automation and work flow capabilities, assignment management and real-time dashboard reports.