UNCLASSIFIED Very nicely put, Mr. Molenda.
Sandra Hennigan OSD Remedy Administrator Office # 703-602-2525 x251 CACI - Ever Vigilant(tm) Apparently, there is nothing that cannot happen today. Mark Twain -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Molenda Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 11:50 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Some help regarding Remedy usage As Remedy administrators, what do you all feel that Remedy specifically does that could not be efficiently developed using Oracle programming tools? <Reply> ARServer and it's "Full Picture of Features" can do so much, that it is tough to conceive what it "cannot do". Let us take one very simple, but entirely complex component of ARS that most people take for granted and is overlooked in "port this to a custom application": ** BUSINESS TIME CALCULATIONS ** This very simple built in component will scare even the most talented programmer, regardless of the coding language!! As a cost analysis test, take just the BTC Chapter(s) from the various PDF's and ask the Oracle team "How long, and how much?". (Multiple start/stop times during the day, time-zone offset, and holidays to consider! Groups, Individuals, etc OH MY! You also need to consider the things that ARS can do that you are NOT doing! LDAP Integration for Read/Write? Why not automate Windows account creation! That saves real human $ Any DB Integration (view forms) API Programming (C, Java, .Net, ...) Free web interface... In a total TCO, ARSystem is actually very inexpensive compared to many of the other systems!! </Reply> What are some of the things you all are doing with AR and Remedy Helpdesk that I might consider implementing or enhancing? <Reply> I don't want to sound off base, but change your "Help Desk" mode of thinking, to a "Service Desk / Service Provider" organization. Yes, part of what you do is the "find / fix" (Incident Management), probably some form of issue monitoring and trending (Problem Management), probably some form if user account maintenance (Change Management), probably some form of user asset information control (Asset Management / CMDB), probably some form of Reporting and Trending of Service Quality (Service Level Agreements & BO/Crystal Reporting)... Yes are Remedy User licenses kind of costly, Yes, however if you restructure with the thinking of "Automation" and "Service Provisioning" you will be in a much better place to view TCO of the application that you utilize. As I keep telling managers here, "Define your Service you provide and we will Sell it to the customer" (so to say). For example, one recent topic was windows account creation. * Many Processes not being followed 100% * Deviances between Service Locations * Time Delays of creating accounts So, we calculated that on average 3 groups were required in different organizations to create one simple standard windows account. 1) NT Group to create account 2) Filer group to create home drive (Requires account setup for SID / user name) 3). NT Group to link Home Drive to Account 4). Exchange Team to create mailbox 5). Service Desk to train customer (well, we cannot automate this :( YET! ) Guess what? This is the latest Automation Project that is currently under development. For 6 weeks development & testing, it will pay for itself within an estimated 6 months! So, ask yourself the question, "How do I want to be doing business in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years" and ask the "ARSystem" question again based upon your long term strategy. Also ask your "XYZ Development Team" some questions as well. But remember this additional tid-bit-o-information. Do you have your system COMPLETELY DOCUMENTED? While you might have training guides, or simple documents describing system flow, you might be amazed at just how long it will take you to provide a "Complete Specifications Requirement" to the development team so they can Scope the project correctly. (Much less the weeks of meetings so they understand what you wrote!) If your specifications requirements are not rock solid, you will be in "feature creep" and the end result normally under those conditions is a system that is buggy and does not do what you need / expect. </Reply> Thanks-n-advance; HDT Platform Incident / Problem Manager & Architect Robert Molenda IT OS PA Tel: +1 408 501 6310 Fax: +1 408 501 2410 Mobile: +1 408 472 8097 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Quality begins with your actions. _______________________________________________ _______ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are" ________________________________________________________________________ _______ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are" _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
