Symantec ServiceDesk 7.5 Review

My History with ServiceDesk

I’ve been working on the Symantec ServiceDesk product since it’s initial release in 2009.  Like many of you who in the ServiceDesk community I was excited at the prospect of ServiceDesk when it was first released and have been a part of it’s trials and tribulations ever since.  

Review

I think that ServiceDesk 7.5 is the first version of the product that has lived up to the original promise of ServiceDesk.  It is more stable, quicker, easier to install, easier to configure then it has ever been.  Is it perfect, No, but it is good and with the power of Workflow behind it can be made to be great if a company is committed to making it so.

I installed ServiceDesk 7.5 in an afternoon in a VM environment on my laptop.  Anyone who knows ServiceDesk knows it needs tons of ram to really work well and my laptop only has 4gb and it still worked fine.  The installer is easy to use and intuitive.  The documentation for ServiceDesk was completely rewritten for 7.5 and it was exactly what I needed when configuring, I always felt that the original documentation didn’t have enough practical information. Jason Short, the product manager, also recorded videos for common configuration items and you can link to them from the Implementation Guide, the videos are also available from ServiceDesk’s Connect page.  

I did experience a couple of issues, the Report Incident process, didn’t install correctly and was throwing an error when called. I was able to clean out the deploy directory open the package and redeploy and solve the issue, this took 5 minutes.  I also was messing around with the Process Type Actions and I accidentally erased all of the Incident Actions but was able to pull up another ServiceDesk implementation and recreate them in about 15 minutes.  

All in all I had a demo environment, with the most basic configuration possible, set up and running in a couple of days.  Obviously if you were going to be using this in your corporate environment you will probably need a week or two so to get everything configured correctly and to make or recreate any customizations.  

Recommendation

As a partner I get asked one question all the time, is it worth it to upgrade to 7.5? Yes, even to those people who just installed 7.1SP2 and here is why:

• For the first time Symantec has struck the proper balance between useful configuration and customization.  In 7.5 the most commonly requested Incident configuration items: SLA’s, Priority, and Routing can all be accomplished through the rules engine in the portal and don’t require editing of the Workflow Processes.
• This is the last version of the product that you will have to do a rip and replace upgrade - it is worth upgrading for that point alone.
• In the last two versions, 7.1SP2 and 7.5, Incident and Change Management have been completely rebuilt.  They are flatter, quicker, more stable, and better processes.  Since these processes are what most people use it makes sense to make sure you are using the best version of those processes.
• The documentation has never been better and makes it much easier to administrate the program.
• We still have a lot of customization ability and therefore if you have invested heavily in customizations in the past, it is worth it to start figuring out how those customizations can be re-imagined in the new framework.  
• The Workflow Framework has gone through some major improvements to support ServiceDesk development and is more stable and more secure today then it has ever been.

As I said earlier this is the first version of ServiceDesk, in my opinion, that has lived up to the ServiceDesk hype of it’s initial release.  It is a very capable program for the administration of your corporate help desk.  Out of the box you have everything you need to start taking and remediating tickets but ServiceDesk’s real ace in the hole is and always has been the Workflow framework that it was built on.  With Workflow we can automate almost any business case that you have - and therefore we can create the best ServiceDesk solution for your business.

Tommy Yionoulis is a partner at WEVO Group and has been involved in 20 ServiceDesk Implementations since it’s release on 2009.  If you have any questions about ServiceDesk or Workflow please contact him at tommy@wevogroup.com.

Automated Password Reset Process

The Active Directory Password Reset Process allows end users to quickly and securely reset their own network password without having to contact the corporate help desk.  The Automated Password Reset Process will: 

1. •Reduce Employee downtime due to expired or forgotten passwords.
2. •Reduce help desk tickets
3. •Expedites the password reset process

To learn more about the process, please watch a quick video,

End User Quick Incident Templates

The End User Quick Incident Templates business process solution is an add-on to the Symantec ServiceDesk product.

The process allows ServiceDesk admins to create incident templates for commonly submitted incidents and expose them out to the end users. End users now have the ability to select one of the templates with the pre-populated form and submit. The main benefits are:

1. Less time on the end users part to submit a common incident
2. The service desk techs are now getting the information they require and incidents that are correctly assigned to a category, priority, and impact

Here is a quick video (< 3 mins) overview on the process, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z43R7rO7uA&feature=plcp.

As always we welcome comments and questions.

Thanks!
WEVO Group

Microsoft Critical Update - Altiris ITMS

Symantec Altiris users check out the follow article re: a Microsoft critical update released yesterday,http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH194869. 

This update may impact your Altiris environment. 

Symantec Workflow Managed Services

As Symantec Workflow developers we know that it's a trial and error type of solution. There are a million (maybe not a million, but you get the point) ways to accomplish the same end result. This is great in the sense that the tool allows for a lot of creativity and flexibility when developing processes, but it can also be very frustrating when you are trying to figure out how to accomplish a specific task. Documentation for the tool is somewhat scarce and/or vague so most users rely mainly on the user community such as Symantec Connect or Workflow SWAT. Both of which can be great resources, but have their disadvantages as well.

Symantec support, and rightfully so, can not support/troubleshoot custom processes or assist with custom process development. With the tool being as flexible as it is how could Symantec train their support staff to be able to troubleshoot every single scenario that could pop up in a Workflow development project? Impossible at best. This is very common with all software companies, custom changes are not supported.

Searching Symantec Connect can furnish some great information, but it is time consuming and you usually have to read through a lot of articles and posts before you get to your specific topic. Then you have to try the solution you have found in your environment. Workflow SWAT has some great video learning tools, but not specific troubleshooting information.

WEVO Group is now bringing a custom workflow support solution to all Symantec Workflow and ServiceDesk 7 clients. Through Workflow Managed Services, by WEVO, clients can now take advantage of the following:

• On-Demand Workflow Expert to answer quick questions or to review development
• Custom Workflow Process and ServiceDesk 7 customization support
• Monthly Environment Health Check*
• 24x7x365 Pro-Active Error Monitoring**

Plans are very flexible and affordable. Contact WEVO for more information or go to http://managedservices.wevogroup.com. As always questions are welcome directly through the blog as well.

* qualifying plans only.

** qualifying plans only. Additional setup engagement required.

WEVO Group Grows in 2011

Denver, Colorado — March 2, 2011 — WEVO Group, a premier business process/workflow-management consulting firm, announced today it has hired 3 new resources in 2011, in response to a rising demand for business process automation solutions and Altiris professional services.

WEVO Group’s aim is to solve business process challenges and offer Altiris Suite support for companies of any size, with a special focus on telecom, banking/finance services, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, staffing, and hospitality.

“The downturn in the economy has brought process optimization and system automation into sharp focus,” said Erik Tversland, a principal and co-founder of WEVO Group. “The new hires were recruited by WEVO because of their experience with Symantec’s Altiris and Workflow products as well as their reputation within the Symantec community.”

Read the full press release here.

Symantec Security Enhanced by Workflow - Part V

The Symantec Workflow Business Practice has developed Workflow templates around 4 products in their Security suite; Control Compliance Suite (CCS), Critical Systems Protection (CSP), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP). The templates add some proactive business processes around the already great products from Symantec. The templates are available to Symantec clients for free and WEVO can help you get them implemented if you don't have a Symantec Workflow expert on staff.

This week we're focusing on Symantec EndPoint Protection. Below we will be sharing information from Workflowswat.com to describe the features and functionality of the template. You can also access videos at www.workflowswat.com/process-templates.html.

SEP Event Management Template

This template provides a “Best Practice” process to assist customers with managing SEP endpoints.

The main features of this template are…

• Endpoint updates and scans. When Workflow discovers an endpoint that has an unresolved alert in SEPM, Workflow automatically runs the SEP virus update process on the endpoint and initiates a targeted scan. The results of the scan are sent to the SEP admin when complete.
• Routing Rules/Automatic assignment – A console has been created in Workflow that allows the SEP administrator to configure “Routing Rules”. These rules are then used to automatically assign SEP Alert, Host Integrity, or Old Definition tasks to the various groups responsible for remediating items that SEP discovers. Note – This process is only used when an item cannot be automatically remediated via automatic updates and scans.
• Audit reporting – Who, What, When. Customers can run process reports by Group, Virus Type, and Date Range. These reports can be provided to regulators and help avoid many of the challenges that can occur during an audit. Also, these reports add value by providing metrics for continuous process improvement.
• Customers can take the base template and extend it to integrate with other systems as needed.

This is the last post in the Symantec Security Enhanced by Workflow series. We'll keep you posted as new Workflow templates are developed by Symantec as well as other topics relating to Workflow and ServiceDesk 7.