Is it easy to execute ITSM? You can consult others, read and study on blogs, or even learn IT related courses. It is easy to learn about ITSM through these. But the most difficult thing is to implement these processes in the real environment. Every enterprise or organization is different; They vary by person, process, environment, type of support provided, help desk, and so on. The purpose of this white paper is to help IT managers self assess their helpdesk and its maturity level, so as to implement the right process at the right time.

Be kind to "Messenger" ITSM

As we all know, ITSM is a good practice; ITSM can provide you with various experiences and lessons from other IT peers over the years. ITSM is like a messenger, bringing you good practice information, but if you do not implement it correctly, you will hurt it, and eventually you will blame the concept of ITSM. Therefore, please think about these questions before implementing the ITSM process.

• Can my team handle this process?
• Is this process a necessity or a luxury?
• What are the benefits of this process for the help desk?

The following are some thorny practical problems I encountered in my consulting service experience; These practical problems cannot be found in any books or courses.

Thorny practical problems

Implementing ITSM is very different from what you read or hear from others. In reality, this is a completely different "game". Several factors play a role:

The first round of personnel problems

Managers are very complicated, and they are one of the most important and difficult jobs. When planning to introduce a major change, such as a new process, it is important to select the right people to implement it. Design processes for employees and engage them according to their abilities. Select the right process owner and give them the responsibility to manage the process.

The following are some scenarios that I have encountered with implementation failures.

scene

I helped implement CMDB in one company. The IT staff responsible for this process has two ways to discover CIs: scan CIs or install agents. However, to scan CIs, you must open some firewall ports. Otherwise, you must install the asset discovery agent in each individual asset. Implementing these requires that any of these processes be approved by an authorized approver. Unfortunately, neither has been approved. The approver neither agrees to open the firewall port nor prepares to install the agent; And he refused these operations without justified reasons.

Solution:

Lack of proper communication among team members: neither technicians nor approvers provided proper reasons for their suggestions. This is the advantage of CMDB. It is proposed as a change request and submitted for approval. In this way, the benefits can be clearly communicated to the approver, who can see the value of opening ports or installing agents.

Round 2 Complexity

The purpose of defining processes is to ensure that processes are processed in a systematic and strategic manner. However, in some cases, people misinterpret them in the name of agreements, procedures, etc., making them very complex. This process, which should have made things simple, eventually became complicated and deviated from the original intention. Using common sense to handle these scenarios can turn complex processes into simple solutions.

The main purpose of the help desk tool is to keep simple things simple.

scene

I met a special enterprise that is still adopting the rather old-fashioned method of recording service requests in a physical way.

This process is very long. Users (requesters) must fill in a paper form, send it to the IT department, and then the IT team submits it to authorized personnel for approval. Then scan the form signed by the approver, import it into the help desk application, record and deliver it. The service request needs to be raised in the help desk and also in the paper document and recorded!

Solution

In the above scenario, the service request process becomes very complex because each request needs to be processed twice. Instead, we can eliminate paper forms, which avoids the lengthy process of submitting the approver's signature and scanning it back to the help desk. A single service request can be proposed, approved, recorded and delivered according to specific requirements, all of which can be completed through the help desk, an information-based method.

The timing of the third round is very important

Implementing ITSM is like baking a cake. You need to make sure that the time is right and that the right ingredients are added at the right time. Similarly, it is necessary to implement the ITSM process at the right time; You can't impose a process on your team. They should be ready to accept the change. You should also consider whether this process is necessary at that time. If you ignore all these factors, you are wrong.

scene

I have witnessed some simple things, such as problem management being implemented at the wrong time. A small business organization is very interested in implementing the ITSM process. The event was repaired and closed without proper classification or file. But IT managers are very keen to implement problem management. It is difficult to analyze this problem without proper details of relevant events.

Solution

The purpose of problem management is to find out the root cause and solve it. Only by properly classifying and recording accidents can this work be successfully completed. Without these, it is very troublesome to report and analyze problems. Implementing problem management before implementing proper event management will cause you trouble.

Correctly master basic knowledge

The core purpose of IT department is to ensure the smooth operation of business services. All IT processes must be adjusted for business services without burdening the business. Therefore, it is important to understand the basic elements required to run the IT Help Desk.

Use this questionnaire to evaluate your helpdesk and see if your helpdesk has these basic processes.

S/N	problem	yes	nothing
one	Does the user have a simple channel to report problems or request services from your help desk	[      ]	[      ]
two	Classify and prioritize all incoming requests according to their criticality	[      ]	[      ]
three	Have an effective knowledge base of known problems and solutions	[      ]	[      ]
four	Whether there is service level management (SLA) that can respond and solve problems in a timely manner	[      ]	[      ]
five	Basic change process and approval capability	[      ]	[      ]
six	Appropriate documents, reports and analysis	[      ]	[      ]

What's the next step?

Don't know your service desk? Don't know what to do next?

Here, I classify the helpdesk into different types. This classification is based on factors such as technicians, users, the number of CIs and the age of the service desk. Let's share some tips on how you should do it.

Service desk type: Army type

Helpdesk Type	Number of technicians	Number of users	Number of CIs managed	Necessary ITSM process
Row	Less than 10	Less than 50	Less than 100	Event management, knowledge base, Service level management
camp	Less than 25	Less than 500	Less than 1000	Platoon+change management+asset inventory+service catalog
brigade	Less than 100	Less than 3000	Less than 5000	Camp+problem management+CMDB+release management
army	More than 100	More than 3000	More than 5000	Brigade+change workflow+other environment specific processes

conclusion

Implementing ITSM is different in each environment. As we discussed above, different realities will indeed bring you many difficulties. Only by fully understanding your IT, strengths, weaknesses, people and their capabilities can you overcome these challenges. Successful ITSM implementation means that process operations are easier than before. This process should be accepted by everyone.

It should ensure the smooth operation of business services, and should not burden the business.

About the author

Arvind Parthiban has more than 5 years of experience in ITSM and ITSM, and has comprehensive expertise in the implementation and consulting of the global help desk. As a highly skilled trainer and consultant, Arvind helped global companies such as DHL global, Wolters Kluwer, Urban Outfitters, Pre Corp USA, Smart Tech CA, Strozz llc, Franklin Universes and others to meet their IT needs.

Arvind Parthiban is currently serving as the ITSM consultant of ManageEngine. He has the opportunity to complete the complete implementation process in various environments and sees many real-time problems faced by IT administrators.

He also shared a lot of knowledge on his blog (www.absolutehelp. in). In his latest white paper, When Real Problems Affect ITSM Implementation, Arvind insisted that it is very important to understand your environment and correctly master the basic knowledge of ITSM before continuing. You can contact the author through the following email: arvind@manageengine.com

About ServiceDesk Plus

ServiceDesk Plus ITSM based Helpdesk Software that can help you establish a unified contact point. It provides integrated request management (fault notification) asset management 、 Purchase Order Management 、 contract management 、 Self-Service Portal and knowledge base Etc. ServiceDesk Plus has more than 100000 customers in 185 countries/regions and offers more than 30 different language versions.

Product website: manageengine.com/products/service-desk/
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About ManageEngine

ManageEngine is an internationally renowned brand of Zoho Corporation that specializes in the research, development and sales of IT management software. It provides services worldwide and has branches in India, Japan, China and other countries/regions. ManageEngine provides IT management tools to help IT teams meet the organization's growing demand for services and support. Traditional and emerging enterprises worldwide (including more than 60% of the world's top 500 enterprises) are using ManageEngine products to support the optimal performance of their key IT infrastructure (including networks, servers, applications, desktops, etc.).