David, (I think I did mention I have been on this topic for 10+ years???)
Yes - I understand your puzzlement and possible frustration. In Minnesota -- there was a company that was bundling frozen steaks - with a car windshield replacement. (Eventually a law was passed to prevent that kind of thing) For me -- I feel Request Management -- is WAY BEYOND an IT thing -- and should not be considered part of ITSM. Request Management is a business concept - which happens to be commonly delivered by an infrastructure Change - or possibly the reporting of some sort of Incident. (And I feel it is commonly done that way - because IT is usually the shopper for software) However -- if I think of some of our other university clients -- that is quite a small % of the types of Requests they look to make available. Things like: Request a transcript Report a theft Schedule a conference room Register a car Register a visitor Report a broken window (It is probably a 20 to 1 ratio of non-IT to IT) And TONS of others.... None of those are ITSM concepts - and are not (should not) be resolvable by Incident/Change management. So - therefore the concept of "Work Orders" comes up. However, in BMC that is a slippery slope -- as that translates to WICKED HIGH LICENSING COSTS. Now your people working Work Orders (admissions people, facilities, parking, resident assistants, etc...) need Remedy Generalist licenses (or some name like that). [[[ You will probably give them floating licenses as they don't log in that often to work a Work Order. However, those same people will come in and request things, report things, etc... (Ooops -- you just used your license -- even though you are not modifying anything (double darn) -- then the license police come around and -- well get out your wallet!!! ]]] I remember somebody saying Kinetic costs more $$$ -- I don't think that is true. So -- rock/hardplace... I feel it is appropriate to start thinking differently to approach Request Management issues. And I personally don't think connecting Request Management as part of an ITSM suite is appropriate. Kinetic Request - is designed to be an Enterprise Request Management Application - and as a result - does not have concepts of Incidents/Change etc... We treat Incident/Change and ??? - as possible fulfillment targets behind a request. (Just as we would consider your HR system, finance system, facilities system) So -- if somebody asks for a transcript (via Kinetic Request) -- we would send that to your admissions dept (or wherever appropriate) -- it would however -- never become an Incident or a Change... (I debated putting this in -- but it is true) On the topic of lawyers: my personal experience is the (product not to be mentioned) is the #1 product produced by (company not to be mentioned) that has lawsuits and people and companies fired. Too bad nobody likes to mention that stuff. BTW - it seems to get wrapped up in the "agreement" - that it is not to be discussed :( Also -- I personally invite you to our first ever users conference: KEG (Kinetic Enthusiasts Group). (See my signature below -- for links) It will be a great place to ask "how do you like X", "What don't you like about X", etc... Hopefully it will help you to be pointed in the right direction. If SRM is right for you -- awesome... If it is not -- maybe Kinetic is good for you (double awesome)... And -- maybe a custom solution is right for you. (darn, talk expensive) And if Kinetic cannot make you happy (in it's current version) - let me know (directly) -- and I will see that the product will be improved to meet your needs - in the next version. (However -- I would be surprised if our version that has been shipping for 2 years doesn't fit your needs) (Is it perfect? no -- Does it meet the needs? typically-yes) -John On Oct 28, 2011, at 3:22 PM, David Burdette wrote: ** Thanks very much to all who have responded to my question; I have been able to mine substantial useful information out of the discussions. I am a bit puzzled on one point; and I imagine my puzzlement is only a symptom of my lack of familiarity with this whole constellation of topics. The puzzlement: some responders have referred to “SRM” as if it were somehow an optional/competing product, which should be considered as one possible alternative, amongst a field of options. I’m a management-type; I have a development team whom I’m supervising in a roll-out of a product we purchased, which I know as “Remedy ITSM Suite.” It was my impression that what I’m calling “SRM” – in the context of this list, and this inquiry – is a standard component of the “Remedy ITSM Suite” product, and is the component provided by BMC for users to initiate ‘tickets’ of various types into the Remedy system. Since I *thought* this was a “Remedy-specific” list, I thought my question, and its context, would be unambiguous. But it seems I’m reading about the relative merits of competing alternatives, and that (what I think of as) “Remedy/SRM” may not even EXIST. It may be a separate optional product, which may, or may not, be a normal part of a “Remedy” (whatever that is – I used to think I knew…) installation. I find myself bewildered and distressed, that I may have a completely erroneous concept of the product I *thought* I bought. But since we bought it from a 3rd-party (not BMC), and the “consultants” (of whom I’ve seen TOO MANY) are all independent contractors working (loosely) for the 3rd-party vendor, I may not have accurate information. In fact, I may have nothing but clever sales-pitches. Lawyers, politicians, vendors, and consultants… need I say more? I’m not even sure, at this point, what my question is – if I *have* a question. But I do think I have some direction to share with my developers on how to do “SRM – Colors & Branding.” And I thank you for that. Regards, -dpb- David Burdette; Assistant Director, Computing Infrastructure Services University of Florida; Computing and Networking Services www.cns.ufl.edu : Voice 352.273-1309 : Fax 352.392-1440 From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Nathan Aker Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 3:30 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: SRM - Colors & 'Branding'? ** Let it be noted I was not endorsing SRM over Kinetic, nor the merits of said functionality. I was simply noting an option to investigate in SRM to address the question posed. I personally still find it shocking that it took 3 or 4 major versions of SRM to get beyond the 10 question maximum for a service request. Nevermind the incredibly high complexity to capability ratio. And WHY CAN’T I NEST CONDITIONAL QUESTIONS PEOPLE!!!!!! Nathan Aker ITSM Solution Architect McAfee, Inc. From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of John Sundberg Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 11:32 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: SRM - Colors & 'Branding'? ** My experience (from what our customers ask for) Logo swapping and color replacement != branding... Compare: http://www.bk.com/ http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/home.html http://www.homedepot.com/ http://www.lowes.com/ And - not only that -- but the larger the company -- the more brands/themes/catalogs they want. So - not only do they want theming -- they want multi-theming, etc... So - if you are looking to have a Service Catalog/Request Management application actually be an extension of your company -- Kinetic is a good route. And I get this info -- from the people who already tried to implement the alternative. I have found - the half-life of serious Request Management projects is about 1 year. (And that is - if they actually get past "launching") You will find if you are successful or not - in that time frame. Of which -- when serious customers have finally come to the realization that the "bundled" service catalog does not cut the mustard -- then the come to us. Now of course -- you also get the drag-on of (next version will do X) -- blah blah blah... Kinetic has had theming (proper) since DAY 1... It was designed for it. BTW - All the big vendors ITSM suites come with a bundled Request Management - of which I find few companies actually like. (I am not just talking about our favorite one) You see that nice shiny floating thing in the water??? It comes bundled with a "treble-hook" -- beware... -John On Oct 28, 2011, at 10:30 AM, Nathan Aker wrote: ** Not sure what version you’re on, but look into the “Skin” feature that allows you to brand and color SRM forms basically leveraging CSS. Think it was a new feature around about 7.6.03. Nate. Nathan Aker ITSM Solution Architect McAfee, Inc. Direct: 972.963.7611 Mobile: 469.644.7402 From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of David Burdette Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:34 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: SRM - Colors & 'Branding'? ** We’re near launch of a new Remedy system. We plan to use the SRM (“ServiceRequestConsole/enduser”) as the ‘front door’ for all our tickets. We’d like to be able to do some tweaks on it, to ‘re-brand’ it to look more like our other web pages. This would involve such things as logo, colors, banner, & footer. We’ve asked around and been told the only thing that can be changed is the logo-graphic (top-left corner). I just find it difficult to believe that other companies aren’t doing more in the way of custom ‘skins’ for the SRM user-interface. Does anyone have any suggestions they can offer regarding how we might accomplish this? Regards, -dpb- David Burdette; Assistant Director, Computing Infrastructure Services University of Florida; Computing and Networking Services www.cns.ufl.edu : Voice 352.273-1309 : Fax 352.392-1440 _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ -- John Sundberg Save the Date! First Annual KEG - Kinetic Enthusiasts Group Feb. 29th - Mar. 2nd 2012 in Denver CO For more information click here - KEG Kinetic Data, Inc. "Building a Better Service Experience" Recipient of: WWRUG10 Best Customer Service/Support Award WWRUG09 Innovator of the Year Award john.sundb...@kineticdata.com 651.556.0930 I www.kineticdata.com _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_ -- John Sundberg Save the Date! First Annual KEG - Kinetic Enthusiasts Group Feb. 29th - Mar. 2nd 2012 in Denver CO For more information click here - KEG Kinetic Data, Inc. "Building a Better Service Experience" Recipient of: WWRUG10 Best Customer Service/Support Award WWRUG09 Innovator of the Year Award john.sundb...@kineticdata.com 651.556.0930 I www.kineticdata.com _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org attend wwrug12 www.wwrug12.com ARSList: "Where the Answers Are"
