IT Service Management Software for Incident, Request Fulfillment, Event and Problem Management

ITSM Management Module

This self-contained web-based module addresses all ITIL requirements for Incident, Request Fulfillment, Event and Problem Management, is upward compatible with an SLA defined Configuration Management Data Base and may be enhanced with Change, Logistics, Inventory, HR and Supply Chain Management modules.

Incident Management

ITG’s CENTRE software can provide your organization an automated system to manage incidents customized to your organization’s needs.
CENTRE’s embedded workflow for incident management helps:

• Document service request, provide incident detection and record date and time.
• Facilitate the creation, modification, and closure of incidents.
• Classify and prioritize incidents and initiate response for support.
• Apply priority, impact, and urgency for requests and links to configuration items.
• Monitor and track incidents through creation, investigation, and resolution.
• Provide thresholds for customizable escalation based Service Level Agreements.
• Establish incident ownership, monitoring, tracking and communication.
• Provides modifiable automated alerts and customizable reports.

Project Management

ITG’s CENTRE’s module for project management includes functionality for:

• Developing project plan including assigning people, locations, tasks, and establishing timeline.
• Estimating tasks, creating timeline and sequence of activities, and allocating resources based on capacity.
• Identify risks, types and severity of risk and establish strategy for mitigating risks.
• Managing project to monitor actual performance against plan and creating metrics based on desired goals and objectives.
• Provides dashboard as a communication portal for project staff.
• Establishing reports to evaluate project and financial performance.

CENTRE will facilitate project performance by providing transparent communication: work requirements are readily accessible, tasks and records are available, and activities are monitored and controlled.

F.A.Q. about Incident Management

1. Does the tool facilitate the creation, modification, resolution, and closure of Incident records?
Yes. The tool facilitates; the creation of an incident with unique Service Record #’s, modification of the incident with permanent edit logs, resolution with comments, and closure with a close date and closure type.

2. Does the tool support the classification of an Incident by IT services as well as technology failure?
Yes. IT Services is identified by the ‘Catalog Service’ type and, technology failure is identified via the ‘Service Record’ open and close type selection boxes.

3. Does the tool facilitate the ability to automate Incident models and workflow based on record classification? For example, automated prioritization, assignment, and escalation of Incidents based on the record classification?
Yes. Prioritization is based upon Urgency and Impact values which are automatically populated to the incident when a CI is matched. These values may be modified on the incident or entered to the incident if no CI exists. The Priority value is automatically calculated from Urgency and Impact values. Incident assignment is automatically limited to technical managers assigned to the specified contract. Escalation of incidents may be achieved using the ‘Notification Events’ or ‘Workflow’ modules. These modules can evaluate the record classification and route email alerts to users, stakeholders, and any other desired individuals or groups.

4. Does the tool support the input of free text for the recording of Incident descriptions and resolution activities?
Yes. The Incident Screen has four (4) free text entry fields.

5. During Incident registration, are time, date and Incident number fields mandatory?
Yes. A unique Service Record Incident number and ‘Opened Date/Time’ are automatically generated and applied to the incident.

6. Does the tool restrict the ability to open, modify and close Incident records based on role?
Yes. The System Administrator attributes allow control to be exercised over the Users of “ITG CENTRE” by assigning permissions, passwords, and controlling the Users’ ability to see and manipulate data within the system.

7. Does the tool automate the rapid classification and recording of Incidents? For example, the use of Incident templates or rapid cloning/copying of an Incident that is already open.
Yes. CENTRE’s Incident Management ‘Auto-Population’ feature assists the user in the creation of an Incident record. By entering all or part of the POC, contract, or item information, CENTRE’s ‘Get’ auto-populate features assist the user in incident creation by automatically populating user and CI information into the Incident record.

• Auto Populate features ‘Get Contract’, ‘Get POC’, or ‘Get Item’
• Incidents may be ‘Cloned’ by selecting the ‘New Ref Incident’ Tab below the displayed incident.

8. Does the tool facilitate the association of Incident records to user and customer data?
Yes. CENTRE facilitates this by;

• Storing user identities (name, address, phone#, CI information, Agency name, etc) with the incident.
• Identifying the customer by including and validating the customer contract number on the incident.

9. Does the tool enable priority, impact, and urgency indicators to be allocated to Incident records?
Yes. The CI’s Priority, Urgency and Impact values are automatically applied to the Incident and are modifiable. If no CI exists, the Urgency and Impact values may be manually entered.
The Priority is the weighted values of the Urgency and Impact.

10. Does the tool facilitate the monitoring and tracking of Incidents based on Service Level Agreements and Operational Level Agreements? For example, automated escalations based on targets for response or resolution not being met.
Yes. There are four levels of SLA thresholds. The hierarchal sequence is as follows from lowest to highest:

• The Contract has an automatic default threshold for SLA events.
• The Item Type SLA supersedes the above SLA’s.
• The SLA Code supersedes the above SLA’s.
• The CI SLA supersedes the above SLA’s.

All SLA breach targets (which are identified by percentage of time lapsed to the SLA) are automatically routed to appropriate personnel.

11. Does the tool facilitate flexible report generation and the production of management reports from historical Incident records?
Yes. The Reports tab contains numerous management reports. Many of these reports are customizable via filtering selections once executed.
Apart from the available reports on the CENTRE reports screen, users have access to the Ad-hoc reporting system. A user is able to select desired data tables to join, filter, sort, save, and run reports from historical incident records.

12. Does the tool provide a secure historical audit log of all Incident updates and resolution activities?
Yes. Incident historical information is captured in the Incident log and is unmodifiable.

13. Does the tool facilitate Incident closures by utilizing configurable Incident closure categorization codes?
Yes. Customizable closure codes are available within the ‘Status’ and ‘Incident Closure Type’ field entries.

1. Does the tool’s use of terms and definitions align with ITIL terms and definitions?
Yes. CENTRE was aligned with ITIL terms and definitions.

Problem Management: Does the tool facilitate Incident matching and trending in support of Problem identification?
Yes. A report facilitating Incident matching can be achieved via the search Incident screen. The search can be conducted singularly or in any combination of search fields. For example, a search may be conducted on the Item or Incident Type.
Additional incident matching may be performed using the Ad-hoc reporting system.
Another means to retrieve incident matches is via the Potential Problem Management System (PPMS). Using this system, one can identify possible trends by pulling data on specific categorizations within the incident records.
Using this system to match incidents, a pre-written ad-hoc report is executed on user designed categories (such as server power supplies, equipment model, incident closure type, or any other incident fields), and is automatically executed as a background process. The PPMS system is designed to automatically send a report to the user or group of users when an established threshold of incidents which match your criteria has been breached.
On the incident screen, a search for problem records may be constructed, the incident may be linked to a particular problem, or, create a new Problem Record.

Does the tool enable and maintain the relationships between Incident, and Problem records?
Yes. Relationships may be viewed, created, or removed from the incident.

Does the tool facilitate the closure of all Incidents when the associated Problem is resolved?
Yes. All associated incidents to Problem Records are identified. Additionally, when the Problem status changes from ‘Problem’ to ‘Known Problem or Closed’, an email notification is sent to the Technical Manager’s assigned to the Incidents (if the associated Incident(s) are not closed).

Configuration Management: Does the tool integrate with a CMDB to support the association of Incident records to CI records?
Yes. The incident record integrates with the CMDB via the serial# and asset tag (which creates a unique field identifier)

Request Fulfillment Does the tool provide integration with the Request Fulfillment tool to rapidly open Requests based on an existing Incident?
Yes. Incident management provides the ability to create a request fulfillment record from the existing incident. The references between the incident and request are maintained within each service record type.

Change Management Does the tool provide integration with the Change Management tool to rapidly open Changes based on an existing Incident?
Yes. CENTRE’s Incident Management System will permit the creation of a change request and add the linkages to the incident and change records. The ‘Relate Change Request’ tab will relate to a current change request via a search, and add those linkages to the change and incident records.

Does the tool facilitate self-help and communication options? For example, an interface that allows users to check the status of Incidents or view outage information.
Yes. Users can check on the status of Change Requests, Incidents, and Problem Records. The user may enter any search criteria singularly or combined (with wildcard entries) to tailor a report to their needs. Access is secured by user ID and password validation at various levels.

Does the tool facilitate the use of knowledge and or support scripts for Incident diagnosis and resolution?
Yes. The DCS (Document Control System) maintains knowledge support and incident diagnosis/resolution documents and reports.

FAQ about Problem Management

Does the tool facilitate the creation, modification, and closure of Problem records?
Yes. The tool provides two (2) methods in which to create a problem record. The record can be created manually via the ‘Search Problems’ “New” tab and, the problem record may be created directly from the Incident Record. The 2nd method will also populate Incident data into the Problem Record and generate the linkages between them. All modifications of the Problem record (including closure) are permanently logged.

Does the tool support the ability to distinguish between an Incident and Problem Records?
Yes. The Problem and Incident Record are independent records. The Problem record maintains the ability to distinguish between Problem, and Known Error. The ‘Related Incidents’ field identifies all associated Incident records if applicable.

Does the tool facilitate the automated matching of Incidents to Problems and Known Errors?
Yes. The tool matches Incidents to Problem records which may be identified as a Problem or known error.

Does the tool support the ability to route and assign Problem records to pre-defined support staff or groups?
Yes. The Problem record is assigned to the Individual who created the Problem record. It may be modified to identify a support staff member or support group.

Does the tool enable impact and urgency codes to be assigned to Problem records?
Yes. Impact and Urgency are assignable.

Does the tool facilitate progress tracking and monitoring of Problems? For example, tracking ownership and responsibility for establishing root cause.
Yes. The Manager of the record (assigned during the creation of the record) is assigned ownership and responsibility for establishing the Root Cause.

Does the tool facilitate the escalation of Problems after pre-defined thresholds have been breached?
Yes. There are several methods to facilitate the escalation of Problems. Using the ‘Notification Events’ module, notices to users, stakeholders, or any other individual email addresses may be generated via a query designed to compare threshold values.
Additionally, the Potential Problem Management System (PPMS) has the capability to run ad-hoc scans against Problem records. The combination of the PPMS Scan Request and the ad-hoc system provides infinite methods in which to define thresholds and send notifications.
In this PPMS example, a notification is sent if any Problem records have a Priority of level 3 or higher. The ad-hoc scan is designed to periodically review the problem records and send an e- mail notification if records are found which meet the criteria.

Does the tool provide historical data on Problems and Known Errors for use by support staff during the investigation process?
Yes. Support Staff may interrogate historical data by using the Problem search screen or the ad-hoc reporting system. Using the search screen, any single field or combination of fields may be interrogated. Using the ad-hoc reporting system, reports tailored to ones needs may be executed and saved for future requirements. The ad-hoc reporting system has the capability of combining multiple tables (Problem and Incident tables) for in-depth analysis.

Does the tool facilitate the generation of customizable management reports?
Yes. CENTRE facilitates the generation of customizable management reports through the use of the Ad-hoc Reporting system as shown in Question 8 above.
Additionally, CENTRE maintains a Potential Problem Management System (PPMS) to identify trends and notify individuals or groups as stated thresholds’ breach. The PPMS tool is built upon the ad-hoc reporting system criteria, and allows one to select any field or group of fields from the Problem and Incident records. Using the Problem entry screen combined with the ad-hoc selection criteria provides the user with infinite methods to select records to identify potential issues before they become problems.
Example; The PPMS Screen is set to Monitor HP Fuser Failures. If it detects 3 or more failures within the past 120 days a notice is sent. This scan executes daily and uses the ad-hoc scan parameters (select query) to extract data and generate a report data for analysis.

Does the tool facilitate the entry of free text for the recording of Problem descriptions and resolution activities?
Yes. There are four (4) free text fields.