Most customers I interact with are so excited when they purchase Ivanti Service Manager. They are upgrading the future of their business and streamlining processes. They are also so excited about all the data they are going to be able to report. Every Change, Incident, Problem, Asset. ISM gives you access to all of it, but sometimes during the implementation they start to get wrapped around the axle in one area in particular, services. Many times these customers have never had the access to completely customize the services they provide therefore they want to categorize every little thing. So, we end up with over a 100 precise services, each one of with 50+ categories, and then 30 different subcategories for each of those. Then, they expect their users to be able to pick out the exact one for correct routing/escalation.
More times than not this seems great on the surface, but what it leads to is confusion on the part of the customer, and incorrect data on the tech side. The customer is ALWAYS going to take the path of least resistance. They don’t want to have to pick out everything single field. They just want to quickly and easily submit a request for help. They don’t care that you are routing their ticket based on what they picked. They care about getting service quickly.
My advice is less is more in this instance. Try to pair down your services, categories and subcategories, and make it easy for the customer. Really look at what your services actually are. Ask yourself, “Could I combine these 2 services, eliminate 4 categories, and so on? Will I actually get any value for splitting them up? Is that data going to end up on a report somewhere that no one is ever going to read?”. There is nothing wrong with starting simple at first and then gradually filtering it down in the future. Either way, services are not a place you should get bogged down in during an implementation therefore you should analyze the value you are trying to bring to your organization.
If you implemented your ITSM platform, but not happy with how things were set up, including how it categorizes records, give Dataseti a call! Our advisory team can help you get pointed in the right direction in no time!
-Chris Revelia, Consultant
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