For the past couple of months, a small group of us have been reviewing a number of alternatives to HP Service Manager. As word of this got around we have had a number of questions and inquiries. So I wanted to take a minute to fill you all in on what we are doing and why.

What are we doing? We are conducting an internal review of products. We are not engaged in a formal RFP or RFQ process. The intent is to identify how well our current product matches up with competitors in terms of functionality, ease of use, configuration vs. modification, OIT process compatibility, scalability, and eventually licensing and cost (both initial and ongoing). 

Why? Generally speaking, service management tools have evolved from a basic ticketing system to comprehensive multi-process service management suites. On the surface, it appears that HPSM has not kept pace with the competition. Our experiences with HPSM have been marred by the need for extensive in-house modifications which require significant resources to support. The adoptions of new versions are generally put off due to the difficult upgrade path. The goal is to identify a tool that can be easily configured to our processes and sustained through upgrades and process changes.

Why now? We are in the process of looking at a number of our service management processes. It’s almost a matter of the chicken or the egg. Do we define our processes and then look for a tool which will support the processes or do we find a tool that can later be configured to support our processes. Either way, some level of configuration within the tool will be necessary to support our service management processes. The industry standard framework for service management is ITIL. The major players in service management software recognize this and build the tools to work within the ITIL framework. Our processes, as well, will be based on the ITIL framework. Either way, some of the operational tasks may need to be modified if a new tool is selected however, the overall service management processes can remain intact. In the near future we will look at incident, problem and change, which all integrate closely with the tool. A detailed look at our service management software as we progress really makes sense.

What tools are included in the review and why? In order to make this a manageable effort, we decided to limit the number of products to five including the most recent release of HP Service Manager. We selected the tools based on the company’s position on the Gardner Quadrant, PinkVerify (tool assessment done by Pink Elephant based on ITIL process capability), compatibility with our 6 selected process, and personal knowledge from previous interactions with the products. The five products selected for review are: Cherwell Service Management, Service Now, Hornbill Service Desk, EasyVista and the latest release of HP Service Manager.

What is next? Upon completion of the initial review we will select the top two plus HPSM and request pricing/licensing information to complete the comparison. The information will be summarized and provide to the CITO staff for consideration. Again, we are conducting an internal review. We have not been funded or approved for procurement.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Kevin Jacobson or Kenny Coon.

Update:  Rescheduled event to 4 June.

The OIT ITSM Core Team will begin hosting a monthly IT Service Management Open Forum meeting each month, beginning June 4th at 11:00 AM in Butrovich 109.  In the future, there will be an Open Forum held the 2nd Thursday of each month.  All OIT employees and Distributed Techs are invited and encouraged to attend. This is a great opportunity to find out what’s happening with the ITSM process implementation teams and ask questions about the program.  Some of the topics scheduled for the first Open Forum are:

• ITSM Program Overview
• The new ITSM Web Site
• Service Catalog Management Update
• Incident Management Update
• ITSM Deep Dive Topic (ITSM Concept)
• ITSM Next Steps

We hope to see you there.  If you have questions about the program contact any of the ITSM Core Team members:  Jim Durkee, Kenny Coon, Kevin Jacobson, Cara Brunk and Toni Abbey.

The OIT ITSM Core Team will begin hosting a monthly IT Service Management open forum June 4th at 11:00 AM in Butrovich 109. In the future, there will be a SMU held the 2nd Thursday of each month. All OIT employees and Distributed Techs are invited and encouraged to attend. This is a great opportunity to find out what’s happening with the ITSM process implementation teams and ask questions about the program.  Some of the topics scheduled for the firstopen forum  are:

• ITSM Program Overview
• The new ITSM Web Site
• Service Catalog Management Update
• Incident Management Update
• ITSM Deep Dive Topic (ITSM Concept)
• ITSM Next Steps

We hope to see you there. If you have questions about the program contact any of the ITSM Core Team members:  Jim Durkee, Kenny Coon, Kevin Jacobson, Cara Brunk and Toni Abbey.

Karl Kowalski, Chief Information Technology Officer, and all four executive directors signed
a commitment statement to show their support to the OIT Service Management Program. The
statement reads:

“We, the CITO Executive Leadership, commit to this initiative and agree to allocate
sufficient resources to meet this timeline. We recognize the ITSM program as a top
priority within OIT and will provide ITIL foundations-trained team members for 1-3
hours a week per project”

This program seeks to improve upon six key processes within OIT. The makeup of the
implementation teams will be comprised of people from throughout OIT and include members

from outside OIT as well. The resulting processes will be endorsed by OIT leadership and
standardized throughout OIT. To ensure the processes are right for your department, get
involved. If you would like to be on an implementation or have questions about the program
contact any of the ITSM Core Team members: Jim Durkee, Kenny Coon, Kevin Jacobson, Cara
Brunk and Toni Abbey.