October Tips and Tricks:

LANDesk® Tip of the Month: How to FORCE the end user to enter information into a Custom Data Form There has always been the ability to display a Custom Data Form to the end user by utilising a Custom Script as follows: Which will display the Custom Data Form to the end user But did you know that you can force the end user to fill in the form with the /FE  command line parameter? This removes the option of the end user being able to select the Cancel button on the Custom Data Form, thus forcing the end user to fill out the form immediately.

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HEAT® Tip of the Month:

Automating Creation of the HSS Customer Login

A good way to reduce administrative downtime is through the automation of the creation of the HEAT Self Service Customer Login. Once a profile is created in HEAT, the Business Process Automation Module (BPAM) can run an auto-task that will automatically create a new HSS Customer login.

In order to utilize this functionality, you need to have the BPAM module running along with enabling escalation on the profile table which can be done through an edit set. The following steps will walk you through setting up BPAM to automatically create the HSS customer login.

1. Open the administrator module and go to security>>roles>>choose the role that BPAM is under>>rights>>set the customer auto-task actions to Run, Add, Edit, Delete.
2. Open a new edit set and check the box to enable business rules on the profile table.
3. Commit the edit set
4. Create a new BPAM Rule for when a Profile is created. Click Next
5. If you want to limit it to a specific CustomerType, choose a group such as Profile.CustType = ‘Customer’ Click Next.
6. Add an auto-task to create a customer login
7. Fill in a CustID by using the insert field function on the Profile that was just created, fill in a CustType, put a “1” in the Flags field, and enter a LoginID.
8. You can add a password if you require passwords for access.
9. Save the auto-task and click ok.
10. Save the changes to BPAM
11. Start up BPAM and it will begin creating the Customer Logins when new profiles are created.

 

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Just What is a Service Catalog?

Many organizations adopting best practices for IT Service Management are working hard to figure out the concept and implementation of an IT Service Catalog. So exactly what is a service catalog… is it like the Sears Christmas Wish Book of IT services?

The main purpose of a service catalog is to document IT services and establish the basis for other service management components. In essence, it clearly defines what services are available from the IT organization and aligns those services with the business goals and needs. It can be a baseline for a Service Level Agreement, or even replace it in some cases. It also becomes the basis for documenting procedures and processes in your IT organization.

What are the steps that make up defining an IT Service Catalog?

First and foremost, think about the business services provided. Examples include email services; human resource services, manufacturing services; financial services, etc.

After looking at services from the business perspective, start to define each service with the following information:

• Service Name – Provide a simple description, preferably the same name the customer would use.
• Service Description – This is a high-level description of the service written in language customers can understand. Avoid jargon.
• Support Contact Point – Where should the customer begin an inquiry or report problems regarding the service?
• Responsible Manager – List the contact person responsible for the service.
• Customers/Users – What set of customers (specific or general) utilizes this service?
• Detailed Specifications – Some items may not require all of these elements, but possible elements to include in specifications are:
• Inputs – hardware, software, infrastructure, customer inputs, etc.
• Outputs – final products viewed from a customer perspective
• Default items always included
• Optional items the customer may request or pay extra for
• Excluded items which are never included
• Service hours of availability
• Up-time and service availability goals
• Support provided
• Performance standards for the service
• Customer procedures for starting, changing or ending the service
• Charges (if appropriate)
  

By having this definition, you can begin to identify the components of the service via configuration items and their defined relationships to assist in identifying the end to end components that make up a particular service from the business perspective rather than the IT perspective.

If you have further questions….

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