Critical Capabilities for IT Service Catalog Tools

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1 G Critical Capabilities for IT Service Catalog Tools Published: 17 March 2014 Analyst(s): Jeffrey M. Brooks, Chris Matchett Business demand is pushing organizations to create and operate catalogs that provide a shopping place for IT services. IT leaders need to know how this marketplace is changing, and what capabilities delineate how good a fit the vendors' offerings may be for their needs. Key Findings The IT service catalog tool vendor landscape has few vendors specializing solely in IT service catalogs; most incorporate IT service catalogs into their IT service support management tool suites. The critical capability of integration with cloud provisioning had the highest average overall rating across the vendors. No single product meets every IT organization's needs perfectly in all scenarios; IT service catalog vendors can still greatly improve their offerings. Vendors primarily focus on service request management features when positioning their service catalog tools, even when they offer functionality beyond that. Most vendors struggle to provide key reports out of the box that will enable IT organizations to make informed decisions about managing the delivery of services. Recommendations Identify the goals for the IT service catalog project, ensuring that those goals focus on benefiting business users, rather than IT users. Review the product viability ratings to ensure that the vendor can support your long-term IT service catalog needs, especially when considering an integrated IT service catalog as part of a larger ITSSM tool or IT service desk offering. Evaluate your organization's infrastructure and operations maturity using Gartner's ITScore for I&O to determine whether an IT service catalog will yield the desired results.

2 Review the use case charts to determine which vendor's tool provides the best fit for your requirements. Investigate how well the vendor's IT service catalog integrates with your data sources and fulfillment tools to automate as much of the delivery process as possible. What You Need to Know The IT service catalog market is varied. A few providers still offer stand-alone IT service catalog solutions; however, most now offer them as part of an integrated IT service support management (ITSSM) tool suite (see "Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools"). There are benefits to the catalog being part of a suite; however, there are also flexibility limitations. Purchasing as a stand-alone product has many merits (see "How to Make Selections With the IT Service Catalog Buyers Guide"). IT service catalog tools are used by organizations that are at higher maturity levels (see "ITScore for Infrastructure and Operations"); organizations at a lower maturity often have services that aren't refined and articulated enough to be interesting and usable to the buyers and users of the services. Less-mature organizations frequently present their fulfillment processes as services, which creates little to no added value to users. Business demand has pushed organizations at all maturity levels to create and operate IT service catalogs that provide an end-user shopping place for IT services. IT operations groups at lower maturity levels usually focus on IT service request management, and often incorrectly populate their IT service catalogs with technical components and processes. This makes it hard to achieve improvements in the buyer's perception of value or the user's ease of doing business with IT. Define an IT service portfolio prior to starting an IT service catalog project or selecting a vendor (see "ITSM Fundamentals: How to Create an IT Service Portfolio"). Evaluations of the vendors highlighted in this research (as well as those not appearing here) should include the importance of product capabilities by individual use case. Analysis Introduction The focus of this research is the evaluation of nine tools' critical capabilities. These capabilities are essential to the selection of the appropriate IT service catalog tool. With organizations' continued interest in deploying IT service catalogs that provide self-service assistance to end users looking to request or order IT services, the marketplace continues to change. Vendors are putting more effort into this toolset, which is often viewed as a potential shopping cart for the IT organization. Gartner clients looking to deploy an IT service catalog during the next 12 months should use this research to understand how many vendors in this space deliver their toolsets against the documented critical capabilities. Page 2 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

3 Product Class Definition IT service catalog tools simplify the documentation of requestable IT service offerings and the creation of an IT service request portal, so that end users and business unit customers can easily submit IT service requests via a portal. This portal format includes space for easy-to-follow instructions on how to request services, details on service pricing, service-level performance norms and turnaround expectations, and escalation/exception-handling procedures. IT service catalog tools are intended to improve business users' customer experiences and to increase IT operations efficiency. IT service catalogs simplify the service request process for customers and improve customer satisfaction by presenting a single face of IT to the customer for all types of IT interactions, including incident logging, change requests, employee onboarding, service requests, cloud provisioning requests, project requests and new application requests. In addition, IT service catalog tools provide a process workflow engine that automates, manages and tracks service fulfillment. Once services are described in standardized, orderable IT service catalog offerings, repeatable process methodologies for service fulfillment can be documented and automated. This will reduce errors in service delivery, help identify process bottlenecks and uncover opportunities for efficiency improvements. Users of the IT service catalog may have different views and services available based on their profiles and positions in the organization. IT service catalog tools provide reporting and, sometimes, a real-time dashboard display of service demand and service fulfillment milestones for IT analysis, enabling customers to track their service requests. In some cases, IT service catalog tools include financial management capabilities that help the IT operations group analyze service costs and service profitability, as well as communicate prices for different IT service options, enabling business unit customers to make informed decisions. The adoption of cloud management platforms (CMPs) has created a new use case for IT service catalogs, and has added new requirements for IT service catalog tools. An IT service catalog integrated with a CMP provides the interface through which end users request cloud services and have them deployed through a fully automated system. Depending on the breadth of requirements, and, in some cases, on the IT organization structure, some IT operations groups may prefer a single IT service catalog through which all types of services (desktop, cloud, application development, etc.) can be requested. In other situations, they may prefer one catalog for desktop services, and another, contained in their CMPs, that's used only for cloud services. This research focuses on evaluating the broader IT service catalog tools that can process requests for all types of IT services, of which cloud services are one example. Although many ITSSM tool vendors claim to have an IT service catalog or service request management capability, robust tools that provide a mature IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organization with the value-based benefits of a full-function IT service catalog are few and far between (see "An IT Service Catalog Is More Than Just Service Request Management"). In addition, the target market for IT service catalog tools represents fewer than 10% of the IT organizations that have attained the service-aligned level of the Gartner ITScore maturity model for I&O. As a result of Gartner, Inc. G Page 3 of 29

4 this immature buying market, it will be five to 10 years before further commoditization of the tools occurs as a result of increased demand. Critical Capabilities Definition Nine critical capabilities are essential to the selection of the appropriate IT service catalog tools for the IT I&O organization: Critical Capability No. 1. Service Request Portal The tool is evaluated based on its ability to present an online IT service catalog portal to end-user business customers to make it easier for them to order services, understand service-level expectations and know whom to contact for exceptions and escalations. Critical Capability No. 2. Create and Manage Orderable Services This is the ease of use, completeness and flexibility of functions that enable catalog administrators to create new services that will be ordered by end users or to update existing services. At this early stage in the market, clients value simplicity over rich features. Consideration is given to the availability of predefined templates and libraries provided with the product to assist with this task. Critical Capability No. 3. Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation This refers to the functions that visually map, update and automate process workflow steps, input the expected time frames for the completion of each step, issue alerts when milestones have not been achieved and forecast when a task fails to meet expectations. Consideration is given to the availability of predefined templates and libraries provided with the product to assist with this task. Critical Capability No. 4. Service Fulfillment Reporting Business unit customers should be able to track their individual service requests, current status, on-time performance and expected completion time, including differentiated results for expedited requests. IT leaders need trend and usage reports that track service fulfillment workflows. These workflows show whether milestones have been met and display the time spent on each service request by the assigned IT individuals. Critical Capability No. 5. Service-Level Expectations and Performance Norms The IT service catalog tool should document performance norms and turnaround expectations for requested services, communicate them to end users and provide "tips and tricks" that recommend behaviors that can affect short-term costs, so that consumers understand the business consequences of their decisions excessive mailbox storage, nonstandard end-user devices, etc. Critical Capability No. 6. Service Demand Reporting This comprises the trend and usage reports that track the volume of incoming demand for each offering in the IT service catalog. It also includes the ability to analyze that demand by user, business unit, geography and other ad hoc groupings. Critical Capability No. 7. Cost of Service Requests This refers to the product's ability to document service fulfillment costs, including capital expenditures (capex), hardware and software costs, operating expenditures (opex), labor and personnel costs; pricing models; and chargeback or cost-recovery approaches. This capability is applicable to the use case of IT Page 4 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

5 service catalog users who need cost transparency, as well as IT leaders, who need to report on service costs and service profitability. Critical Capability No. 8. Integration With Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools The product is evaluated on its out-of-the-box integration capabilities to link to server provisioning, software distribution, configuration management databases (CMDBs), service desks, asset repositories, purchasing/finance systems and other tools that enable service fulfillment workflow automation. Critical Capability No. 9. Integration With Cloud Provisioning With the prevalence of cloud computing, the ability of an IT service catalog to incorporate requests for cloud services is essential. The product is evaluated on how well it supports automated integration with public or private CMPs, including end users' ability to provision their own clouds through the IT service catalog portal. Use Cases There are four major use cases for IT service catalog tools for IT I&O organizations (see Table 1): IT service catalog administrators the creation and management of IT service catalog items, and the creation and management of service fulfillment workflows IT service catalog users end users and business users submitting and tracking service requests Cloud catalog users technical and business users requesting real-time, on-demand provisioning of cloud services IT leaders reporting on service demand, service fulfillment milestones, service costs and service profitability Gartner, Inc. G Page 5 of 29

6 Table 1. Weighting for Critical Capabilities in Use Cases Critical Product Capabilities Overall IT Service Catalog Administrators IT Service Catalog Users Cloud Catalog Users IT Leaders Service Request Portal 20.0% 0.0% 60.0% 20.0% 0.0% Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service-Level Expectations and Performance Norms 20.0% 40.0% 0.0% 10.0% 0.0% 25.0% 40.0% 0.0% 20.0% 0.0% 5.0% 0.0% 20.0% 5.0% 30.0% 5.0% 0.0% 10.0% 0.0% 10.0% Service Demand Reporting 5.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.0% 30.0% Cost of Service Requests 10.0% 0.0% 10.0% 0.0% 30.0% Integration With Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration With Cloud Provisioning 5.0% 20.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.0% 0.0% 0.0% 40.0% 0.0% Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Gartner (March 2014) Inclusion Criteria In this research, we included software products for evaluation based on the following criteria: The products must cover the core IT service catalog functions. The products must have been in general availability and been deployed in customer environments as of 1 November Gartner must have determined that the participants are of interest to Gartner clients based on our client inquiries. Page 6 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

7 Critical Capabilities Rating Each product or service that meets our inclusion criteria has been evaluated on several critical capabilities (see Figure 1 and Figure 2), on a scale from 1.0 (lowest ranking) to 5.0 (highest ranking). Gartner, Inc. G Page 7 of 29

8 Figure 1. Product Rating on Critical Capabilities Product Rating Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 HP: Service Manager v.9.32 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 LANDesk: Service Desk v PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Source: Gartner (March 2014) Page 8 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

9 Figure 2. Overall Score for Each Vendor's Product Based on the Nonweighted Score for Each Critical Capability PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 LANDesk: Service Desk v Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 Product Rating Chart HP: Service Manager v.9.32 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Source: Gartner (March 2014) To determine an overall score for each product in the use cases, the ratings in Figure 1 are multiplied by the weightings shown in Table 1. These scores are shown in Figure 3. Gartner, Inc. G Page 9 of 29

10 Figure 3. Overall Score in Use Cases Use Cases Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Overall IT Service Catalog Administrator IT Service Catalog User Cloud Catalog IT Leadership Source: Gartner (March 2014) EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 HP: Service Manager v.9.32 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 LANDesk: Service Desk v PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Page 10 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

11 Product viability is distinct from the critical capability scores for each product. It is our assessment of the vendor's strategy, as well as its ability to enhance and support a product throughout its expected life cycle; it is not an evaluation of the vendor as a whole. This research features standalone IT service catalog tools and ITSSM suites that include IT service catalog functionality. Product viability for suite offerings focuses on the IT service catalog aspects only. The four major areas considered are: Strategy Support Execution Investment Strategy includes how a vendor's strategy for a particular product fits in relation to the vendor's other product lines, market direction and overall business. Support includes the quality of technical and account support, as well as customer experiences with the product. Execution considers a vendor's structure and processes for sales, marketing, pricing and deal management. Investment considers the vendor's financial health, and the likelihood that the individual business unit responsible for the product will continue investing in it. Each product is rated on a five-point scale, from Poor to Outstanding, for each of the four areas, and is assigned an overall product viability rating. Figure 4 shows the results of the product viability assessment. Gartner, Inc. G Page 11 of 29

12 Figure 4. Product Viability Assessment Vendor/ Product Name Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 Product Viability Good Fair Fair Good Fair Good Good Fair Fair Fair Fair Good Good Good Fair Source: Gartner (March 2014) FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 HP: Service Manager v.9.32 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 LANDesk: Service Desk v PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Page 12 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

13 The weighted capabilities scores for all use cases are displayed as components of the overall score. Figure 5 shows the overall use case. Figure 5. Overall Use Case Overall Use Case PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 LANDesk: Service Desk v Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Source: Gartner (March 2014) HP: Service Manager v.9.32 Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Worst Fit to Use Case Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Best Fit to Use Case Figure 6 shows the IT service catalog administrators use case. Gartner, Inc. G Page 13 of 29

14 Figure 6. IT Service Catalog Administrators Use Case IT Service Catalog Administrator Use Case PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 LANDesk: Service Desk v Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 HP: Service Manager v.9.32 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Source: Gartner (March 2014) Worst Fit to Use Case Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Best Fit to Use Case Figure 7 shows the IT service catalog users use case. Page 14 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

15 Figure 7. IT Service Catalog Users Use Case IT Service Catalog User Use Case PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 LANDesk: Service Desk v Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v FrontRange: HEAT Service Management HP: Service Manager v.9.32 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 Source: Gartner (March 2014) Hornbill: SupportWorks v Worst Fit to Use Case Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Best Fit to Use Case Figure 8 shows the cloud catalog users use case. Gartner, Inc. G Page 15 of 29

16 Figure 8. Cloud Catalog Users Use Case Cloud Catalog Use Case PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 LANDesk: Service Desk v Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v HP: Service Manager v.9.32 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release Source: Gartner (March 2014) Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management Worst Fit to Use Case Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Best Fit to Use Case Figure 9 shows the IT leaders use case. Page 16 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

17 Figure 9. IT Leaders Use Case IT Leadership Use Case PMG: Service Catalog Suite v.7.4 Kinetic Data: Kinetic Request v.5.1 EasyVista: EasyVista 2013 CA Technologies: Service Catalog v.12.8 LANDesk: Service Desk v Cisco: Prime Service Catalog v.10.0 Biomni: Front Office Enterprise v.8 Axios Systems: assyst v.10 SP4 BMC Software: Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1 ServiceNow: IT Service Automation Suite, Calgary Release IBM: SmartCloud Control Desk v Cherwell Software: Cherwell Service Management 4.6 Source: Gartner (March 2014) Hornbill: SupportWorks v.3.5 FrontRange: HEAT Service Management HP: Service Manager v Worst Fit to Use Case Service Request Portal Create and Manage Orderable Services Service Fulfillment Workflow Automation Service Fulfillment Reporting Service Level Expectations and Performance Norms Service Demand Reporting Cost of Service Requests Integration to Other Data Sources and Fulfillment Tools Integration to Cloud Provisioning Best Fit to Use Case Gartner, Inc. G Page 17 of 29

18 Vendors Axios Systems (assyst v.10 SP4) Axios Systems' IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM solution, assyst, and the v.10 SP4 release is being evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, assyst v.10 received a score of The user interface for the end user is clear and easy to follow, and the catalog administrator using Windows with structured tabs is functionally intuitive. A Visio-style workflow display makes it easy to design service fulfillment processes, and a good selection of prebuilt workflow templates has been added since the previous release. There are more cloud provider adaptors available for use, and users can now control instantiated virtual servers from inside the catalog. As cloud servers are provisioned, the progress bar on the request automatically updates. The included reports provided for service fulfillment are perfunctory. There is a wizard to build reports, but dashboards must be published before it is possible to interactively drill down into the data points, and live reports built on the fly are hard to read. Colors, fonts and basic styling can be altered using built-in themes, but require cascading style sheets (CSS) skills for further customization. Axios' IT service catalog is available for deployment via on-premises or as a SaaS solution, with both deployment models sharing the same code base and operating in the same manner. The product is available for use via mobile devices, is delivered via mobile Web and takes advantage of HTML5 design aspects for a variety of functions. Axios' IT service catalog product received a viability rating of Good, based on a strategic focus on the service catalog evident in the marketing and positioning of the product, good support and reasonable sales. Biomni (Front Office Enterprise v.8) Biomni's IT service catalog product comes in four editions: Front Office Essentials Front Office Express Front Office Enterprise Front Office Service Provider Front Office Enterprise v.8 was reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Front Office Enterprise v.8 received a score of Biomni's service request portal received an above-average rating due to its engaging user interface. Biomni Front Office Enterprise also received top marks for its integration with cloud provisioning. The tool proved easy to integrate with cloud providers, including Amazon and Rackspace. I&O leaders looking to understand IT service forecasting will find Biomni's historical demand data feeding forecasting reports. Page 18 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

19 The user portal now has an App Store and can include other widgets (such as news and weather feeds) that seem to position the request portal as the home page of choice for users; however, IT departments could find that such a design lacks focus, and they may configure a simpler layout. Biomni met the standard for all the critical capabilities, excelled in cloud and had an above-average user portal. Front Office Enterprise can be deployed via on-premises and SaaS by Amazon Web Services, using the same code base and operating in the same manner. Mobile devices can use an HTML5 interface for phones with basic functionality or access the main desktop version on a tablet. Biomni Front Office Enterprise received a product viability rating of Fair, based on its small support team and a slow rate of sales, despite the specific strategic focus on service catalog. BMC Software (Remedy ITSM Suite v.8.1) BMC Software's IT service catalog product is part of its Remedy ITSSM solution, ITSM Suite, with the v.8.1, release reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, BMC Remedy ITSM Suite received a score of 25. BMC has added to the list of available, out-of-the-box workflow templates, bringing the total to more than 120. This will help get new implementations up and running quickly. Integration with other data sources and tools (such as Microsoft SCCM) is good; however, there is a lack of common client deployment packages (such as LANDesk or Altiris). BMC's service catalog product seems like a mixture of different software. A basic edition of MyIT, which lacks features such as virtual agents, replaces Service Request Management (SRM) as the user portal. A premium edition of MyIT is available for an additional cost. The MyIT portal can be used to request basic cloud services; however, a separate product, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management (CLM), must be purchased to separately request advanced cloud configurations. Defining services is streamlined and intuitive, but uses a different user interface, and workflow automation is managed via another application from the suite called BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer. The need to use so many different applications, with inconsistent user interfaces, to manage the IT service catalog creates makes it difficult for IT service catalog administrators to be sufficiently trained and proficient in each, and to know which to use for which situation. Delivery expectations cannot be dynamically managed using the tool, either out of the box or by configuring the product. Target delivery times are communicated using plain text that is manually defined by the IT service catalog administrator. Other types of demand reporting seem to be possible; however, they require further development and would not be available to business users. In addition, advanced dashboards beyond the basic, out-of-the-box reporting must be licensed separately. BMC Remedy ITSM Suite can be delivered via on-premises using Remedy or in a SaaS model using Remedy OnDemand. Mobile devices running ios or Android have access to native applications, but the MyIT application cannot be used to administer service catalog requests. BMC's IT service catalog product received a viability rating of Fair, based on its highly fragmented approach to IT service catalog and lack of investment, despite its large installed base. Gartner, Inc. G Page 19 of 29

20 CA Technologies (Service Catalog v.12.8) CA Technologies' IT service catalog product, Service Catalog v.12.8, was reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Service Catalog v.12.8 received a score of The user interface is functional, and features large icons with one-click access to favorite services. As an alternative to creating a portal specifically for IT service request and catalog, there is full Microsoft SharePoint integration that enables organizations to add Web parts to an intranet with no loss of functionality. This approach brings IT to the business users, instead of making them use several portals, which will aid acceptance and drive usage. CA's powerful process automation product is included with the service catalog, resulting in a strong rating for service fulfillment workflow automation. A good range of templates is provided; however, starting a workflow from scratch appears to be complex. This product had the most-detailed cost management options, when compared with the other toolsets evaluated for this research. For the catalog administrator who needs to create or update services, the screens are complicated and difficult to use. The user interface is dated and provides every option on the screen for every potential scenario, including many that will never apply to most customers. The product features advanced capabilities, but administrators may struggle to successfully take advantage of them. Reporting capabilities are hampered by the lack of business intelligence (BI), unless the Xtraction product is purchased at extra cost. CA's Service Catalog is available for deployment as an on-premises tool, or as a hosted solution from management service provider (MSP) partners. Phone-sized mobile devices have access to an HTML5-based app that has a user interface optimized for touch. Tablet devices can use the desktop version of the product via a Web browser. Service Catalog received a product viability rating of Good for its large, global support staff and its large installed base, although there have been no major updates to the product since the previous service catalog Critical Capabilities research. Cherwell Software (Cherwell Service Management v.4.6) Cherwell Software's IT service catalog product, Cherwell Service Management (CSM), is part of its ITSSM solution, and the v.4.6 release has been evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, CSM v.4.6 received a score of CSM's user portal met expectations, and the user interface provided for catalog administrators rated above average. It is clean and intuitive, and it provides detailed configuration options. The visual workflow designer had the best user interface, compared with its competitors. Bundles of services that react to the user making the request and the other configuration options chosen are well-implemented, and would be useful for building onboarding profiles. Out-of-the-box fulfillment reporting is weak, and service costing is rudimentary. There are limited integration connectors with other data sources and fulfillment tools, and there are no prebuilt connectors to standard cloud services. However, custom connectors can be created using CSM's built-in integration tools. Page 20 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

21 CSM can be deployed via on-premises and SaaS, using the same code base and operating in the same manner. Mobile devices can use an HTML5 interface that provides functionality that is similar to the desktop version. A native ios universal-build app offers a core set of features. CSM received a product viability rating of Fair, based on reasonable growth and support, as well as its focus on the tool as a platform, rather than an ITSSM tool. Cisco (Cisco Prime Service Catalog v.10) Cisco's IT service catalog product, Cisco Prime Service Catalog v.10, was reviewed for this research. This is an updated and rebranded Cisco Workplace Portal, which has previously been evaluated. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Cisco Prime Service Catalog received a score of 31. The user portal makes it easy for end users to request services quickly; however, the user interface changes to a less-intuitive layout when a requester opens current requests to check the progress. Integration with cloud provisioning is strong. Cisco Prime Service Catalog provides the functional richness needed by sophisticated customers; however, this introduces potential complexities, which constrained Cisco's rating in the critical capability to create and manage orderable services. Service demand and service fulfillment reports are basic and noninteractive, although a Cognos reporting add-on may be purchased to extend the functions and features related to reporting. Cisco Prime Service Catalog is not available for purchase from Cisco in the SaaS delivery model, although it can be acquired in this manner through partners, and on-premises installations can be licensed by subscription. Mobile devices with large screens can use the desktop version of the product, because it is built using HTML5; however, phone-sized devices have no touch-optimized user interface at this time. Cisco Prime Service Catalog's overall product viability was rated Good, based on good support and its strong focus on the cloud. EasyVista (EasyVista 2013) EasyVista's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM solution, EasyVista, and the 2013 release has been evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, EasyVista 2013 received a score of This product has a good user portal that makes effective use of persistent user interface elements, such as a notification bar and a shopping cart with which end users will be familiar, although the buttons are small. As requests are approved, managers can search for less-expensive alternatives and allocate the cost to specific budgets. The product also has the ability to send alerts when stock levels become too low to fulfill further requests for the same items. Service demand reports are intuitive and dynamic, including spatial analysis on regional demand using Google Maps. The ability to set delivery expectations for requesters and managers is limited to statically defined service-level expectations. End users can see target completion times for individual stages of their requests, but this does not dynamically update according to demand, and no overall ETA is shown. Gartner, Inc. G Page 21 of 29

22 Integration with other data sources and tools met the standard; however, there are no out-of-thebox integrations with cloud products and platforms. Although it's possible to build cloud connectors using the API, deployment relies on third-party products that are not included in the suite. EasyVista can be deployed via on-premises and SaaS, sharing the same code base and operating in the same manner. Mobile devices can use an HTML5 touch-aware interface, and tablet devices can directly access the desktop version. EasyVista received a product viability rating of Good for demonstrating a solid understanding of service catalog, its investment in the product and its comprehensive support. FrontRange (HEAT Service Management ) FrontRange's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM solution, HEAT Service Management, and the release has been evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, HEAT Service Management received a score of The user portal met basic expectations with a clean and consistent user interface; however, the steps for a requester to follow the progress of their requests are unnecessarily complicated the information is split across four screens. Another caution is the poor design of the administration view. Services are displayed alongside the corresponding service name as a subfield, and the category name is used as a title, which can be disorienting. The workflow automation has at least 60 service templates ready for use, and there is drag-and-drop functionality for the workflow builder and form designer. Reporting is basic and did not meet the requirements for any of the critical capabilities. The dashboards demonstrated were static, basic spreadsheets that did not offer BI. HEAT Service Management does not provide out-of-the-box cloud provisioning connectors. HEAT Service Management is available via SaaS or on-premises, sharing an identical code base. The product is available on both Android and Apple devices, with the end-user view employing a mobile Web-based solution. Field service agents have access via a native app for ios. HEAT Service Management received a product viability rating of Fair, because of the lack of investment demonstrated in service catalog capabilities and a strategy that is focused more on the broader ITSSM market. Hornbill (Supportworks v.3.5) Hornbill's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM solution, Supportworks, and the v.3.5 release has been evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Supportworks v.3.5 received a score of 23. Supportworks offers integration with the most common data sources, fulfillment tools and cloud provisioning services. It also features strong audit capabilities that provide the administrator with tracking of catalog changes. Page 22 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

23 The user portal's design is focused on IT functionality, rather than user experience. The catalog administrator's view launches many detailed pop-up windows, which can be difficult to navigate for new administrators. Supportworks offers a powerful workflow automation engine capable of automating various tasks within the IT service catalog. However, new administrator users of the product may find workflow configuration difficult until they have received appropriate training from the vendor. Supportworks can be deployed via on-premises and SaaS, sharing the same code base and operating in the same manner. The mobile interface enables users to place requests in the same way that incidents would be generated; however, the catalog cannot be browsed. Supportworks received a product viability rating of Fair for focusing on the market, but demonstrating relatively weak market growth. HP (Service Manager v.9.32) HP's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM tool, Service Manager, and v.9.32 has been reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Service Manager v.9.32 received a score of There have been no major releases since the previous service catalog Critical Capabilities research; however, there are now more data integrations and cloud connectors. Some of these, which interface with technologies outside HP's portfolio, come at an additional cost. The user portal now shows popular requests from the entire user base, but no favorites tailored to the individual, although an administrator can manually specify which common requests appear. There is also better localization support and an improved search function. Although the user interface for the end user has had minor improvements, the catalog administrator faces a challenging set of complicated screens filled with code and database references to create and update services. HP's service catalog has no service fulfillment or demand reporting for business users to track their own individual requests or for IT executives to track the IT organizations' overall performance against fulfillment milestones. Reporting in other areas (which must be built in Crystal Reports) and management of costs are just below the acceptable standard. HP Service Manager is available through on-premises or is hosted by HP Enterprise Services or a third-party-managed service provider. Mobile devices running ios or Android have access to native apps for end users to request or browse, but there is no functionality for administrators. Service Manager received a product viability rating of Fair for good support, but a lack of investment, as demonstrated by the slow pace of improvement in the product. IBM (SmartCloud Control Desk v ) IBM's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM tool, SmartCloud Control Desk, and v has been reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, SmartCloud Control Desk v received a score of Gartner, Inc. G Page 23 of 29

24 Service fulfillment workflow automation met requirements with a visual designer and adequate templates provided. Prebuilt adapters ship with the product to integrate with other products from IBM's SmartCloud product range, and this release now offers the ability to order software that will be deployed to mobile devices. SmartCloud Control Desk includes an integration framework so that customers can create custom adapters for common software distribution or can provision products from other vendors through facilities such as Web Services, SOAP or Open Database Connectivity (ODBC); however, the variety of prebuilt integrators is limited. The user interface for the catalog administrator is complicated, and isn't intuitive for the creation or update of services. There are references to internal variable type values throughout, and the demonstration showed these also appear on the user portal. Several key fields rely on static data to communicate information such as fulfillment expectations to the user. This makes it difficult to keep users updated on the live progress of their requests. Built-in reports do not show trends, are static and lack important data points, such as dates to put the information in context. The product includes robust cost tracking for the fulfillment of work orders, as well as calculation and display of the total shopping cart price to the end user. SmartCloud Control Desk is available for deployment in an on-premises or a SaaS model, and a limited subset of features can be used on mobile devices with native apps for Android, BlackBerry and ios. The product viability rating is Fair, with global support staff and a large, but static, installed base. Kinetic Data (Kinetic Request v.5.1) Kinetic Data's IT service catalog product, Kinetic Request v.5.1, was reviewed for this research. Out of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Kinetic Request v.5.1 received a score of This was the only product evaluated for this report that featured performance norms, such as average fulfillment times, and was capable of dynamically updating this information to provide the user with appropriate expectations. The reports and dashboards for fulfillment and demand are strong. Those reports are all available out of the box and can easily be added to bright and interactive dashboards. Staff can add comments to charts to explain data points and trends to provide some business context to the information. The open approach to connectors and APIs has enabled Kinetic to build a large library of integrations with other data sources and tools. This needs to be strong, because the product is not part of an ITSSM suite, and it must work well with a wide range of established tools. Kinetic Request also features numerous prebuilt task handlers that can be used to easily automate a variety of fulfillment activities. Additional task handlers can be created by users of the tool, posted to a community and shared throughout the solution's client base. The user portal demonstrated was basic, but other templates are provided. The portal does not manage session states well on simple requests when the back button is used. This may lead to frustration using the tool and create a potential barrier to adoption. Status updates on open requests are, by default, limited to the ticket number and current stage of the request as reported by a fulfillment system; however, the included task engine can be used to configure more-detailed Page 24 of 29 Gartner, Inc. G

25 feedback. The costing features are adequate, but there is room for improvement to add greater functionality to price and cost realization, as well as potential ties into IT financial management practices. The product is deployed on-premises when purchased directly from Kinetic Data. It is also available via SaaS when purchased via a partner. There are no downloadable mobile apps for particular platforms, but HTML5-compatible devices can access a basic version. Kinetic Request received a product viability rating of Good for focusing on the service catalog market and for investing in additional features that directly benefit this space. LANDesk (Service Desk v.7.6.2) LANDesk's IT service catalog product is part of its ITSSM solution, Service Desk, and the v release has been evaluated for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, Service Desk v received a score of 31. The user portal offers three display options, with the most visual template showing screenshots of requestable items. However, this template takes up a lot of space and reduces the number of items that can be displayed on the screen. Services that are already delivered and marked as one time only are hidden from subsequent visits. The My Requests view shows useful information that end users will need access to quickly. The product has a large list of integrations with other data sources and tools, including LANDesk's products, to enable the automated installation of software, as well as products from competitors. On the configuration demonstrated to Gartner, end users at the request portal are not provided with an overall estimate for the completion of a request. Instead, dynamic target times are given on a stage-by-stage basis, although there is a static target for the end-to-end delivery (but not service quality, once delivered). LANDesk's offering also did not show SLAs for the running and support of services that users would experience after they have been delivered. The user interface design for administrators is functional in most places; however, some windows have text that's hard to read due to eclectic default color choices. Service Desk can be deployed via on-premises, SaaS or a mixture of both, operating in the same manner. End users with mobile devices have access to common functions via an HTML5-based interface. Service Desk received a product viability rating of Good for investing in developments that support its service catalog strategy. PMG (Service Catalog Suite v.7.4) PMG's IT service catalog product, Service Catalog Suite (SCS) v.7.4, was reviewed for this research. Of a total possible critical capability score of 45, SCS received a score of 37. User portals built using SCS's theme and design wizards are modern and professional-looking, resembling commercial websites with which end users will be familiar and comfortable. When Gartner, Inc. G Page 25 of 29