Ticketing service management tool
The tools offered by the information systems area are understood as pieces that support the daily activity of the business and that help to maintain existing operations. By incorporating different software modules , or by installing hardware components , greater efficiency and effectiveness is achieved in the performance of the tasks of a company unit, a specific department and even each of the workers of the company.
The fact of having tools already designed to support certain
processes implies the incorporation of these processes in the company. In the
field of service management , the development of internationally recognized
standards has triggered the appearance of tools designed based on them.
In short, the company is changing through the incorporation
of technological tools, turning the information systems department into a true
engine of change.
Ultimately, it's about efficiently using the 3 Ps:
1. People :
customers, users and IT staff.
2. Processes
: defined by standards such as ITIL.
3. Products
: technological tools.
One of the main problems facing the IT department is that
customers rarely know the technology requirements they need. Therefore,
organizations have to try to translate business requirements into solutions or
services that is what the customer really demands. The user does not want
technological products, the user is requesting a service.
In the absence of a ticketing tool, it is practically
impossible to agree on reasonable SLAs , both with the client and with the
different providers. This is so because there is no reliable monitoring
information that faithfully evidences the deviations on them.
The implementation of a ticketing tool based on
international service management standards allows us to turn this reality
around. The fundamental objective to implement it must be the desire to provide
a service with the highest quality.
The scope and sophistication of service management support
tools have grown rapidly in recent years in relation to the increasing reliance
on IT service companies .
The effective and efficient delivery of IT services also
depends on the development and implementation of an integrated set of service
management tools. These service management tools must be able to support the
processes described and presented in the IT infrastructure library (ITIL).
One of the main objectives of ITIL is the management of the
information used for quality management and optimization of IT services . As a
general rule, a tool should support 100% of the mandatory necessary functional
requirements and 80% of the desired functional.
The following is the list of compatibility requirements that
have been taken from the two ITIL books ( IT , Infrastructure Support Tools,
and Service Delivery Tools):
1. Incident
management : the objective is to give continuity to the client by restoring
services as quickly as possible in the event of a service interruption or
incident.
2. Problem
management : the goal is to ensure the stability of the IT infrastructure and
IT services and eliminate errors in the IT environment.
3. Change
management : ensuring that standardized methods and techniques are used for the
efficient and timely handling of all changes in order to avoid change-related
incidents.
The process of implementing a ticketing tool is much more
than just adding new software . It is about modifying the processes of the
company to offer a better service.
The objectives that a project of these characteristics
should pursue are:
1. Unify
ticket management tools.
2. Establish
a single methodology for ticket management.
3. Make it
possible to monitor the ticket life cycle.
4. Allow the
extraction of conclusions that allow to optimize the processes.
5. Improvement
and transparency of communication with the client / user.
With the new methodologies, the IT department goes from
being a manager of technological infrastructures, software and hardware, to a
manager of services. To be successful in this shift in focus, the organization
has to vary as well.
The difference between technology management and service
management can be better understood by the analogy presented by the differences
between a group and a team:
• Group :
set of individuals or collection of small groups working in parallel according
to a common or shared goal.
• Team :
shares the same characteristics of a group, but, in addition, a team acts and
performs its tasks according to formal roles and a predefined game plan (services
and processes).
When an organization implements a more service-oriented
management, two additional layers appear above the traditional silos of the
technology area. These two new layers correspond to the Service Owner and the
Process Owner.
The Service Owner is responsible for a specific service
within an organization, regardless of where the technology components reside or
the professional capabilities necessary to support it.
The Process Owner is responsible for the overall quality of
the process and oversees the management and compliance of the organization with
the process flows, procedures, data models, policies and technologies
associated with IT business processes.
