Hi there

I am Alex D Paul. I work for AdventNet as

Product Manager for ManageEngine ITIL Solutions.
After a few utterly boring Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) presentations and
speeches completely based on the blue book
in Las Vegas, L.A, London, Sao Paulo, Singapore,
Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, I thought I should
try writing what IT managers really need to know
in an interesting way so that they’ll actually read
it. With all due respect, the blue book covers every
aspect of ITIL Service Support and is the ultimate
reference guide. This is for all those who don’t
have the time and patience, but still quickly want
the juice. I didn’t find an interesting ITIL Service
Support Article and here is my attempt in writing
one. I hope you find it useful.

I would love to know your views, send them to

[email protected].
Chapter

1 Introduction
What You Can Expect From This White Paper >

The goal of this white paper is to help you understand ITIL in the right spirit without getting lost in the
buzzwords. Just to keep you on your feet, I’ll start with ITIL basics however focus more on ITIL implementation.
Don’t worry if you are just getting started with ITIL, it is written simple enough for anyone with a basic
understanding of IT.

ManageEngine’s Approach to ITIL >

Most ITIL solutions in the market are too complicated. Let’s take an example where a customer wants to
implement an ITIL solution. First, customers have to get ITIL consulting to define ITIL processes and align it with
business goals. The next task is to buy ITIL software; most ITIL solutions offer incident, problem, and change
management as different modules. Even after choosing the software it takes months for product consultants to
implement the process. The cost and time factor to implement an ITIL solution drives SMBs (Small and Medium
Businesses) away.

ManageEngine’s mission is to make ITIL simple so that every business can benefit from it. ManageEngine
automates ITIL Service Support, without expensive consultants or shelling out on customization. When you
install the products, you will get the ITIL Service Support framework with Incident, Problem, Change and Release
Management framework built over a Configuration Management Database (CMDB). You can get started from day
one, with minimal configurations to suit your needs.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 4

What is ITIL? Facts and not History >

A little history is essential here. ITIL is a framework of best practices to manage IT operations and services
defined in the mid-1980s by the Government of Commerce, UK. ITIL’s main objective is to align business and
Information Technology, allowing organizations to implement what is relevant to their business. ITIL is just a
documented common sense from years of learning from helpdesk managers around the world.

Here is what you really need to know

Quick Facts Let Me Explain

ITIL is not a standard Consider it a good advice from IT Managers who

have been there. It is up to you to take it or
leave it. You can implement ITIL the way it works
best for you.

You cannot get your company ITIL-certified If you are targeting certification, you must get
ISO 20000 and BS 15000 standards, based on ITIL.

There are no ITIL-compliant products No one can certify products as ITIL-compliant. It

is common for people to refer to PinkElephant’s
certification. Please read the fine print.
https://www.pinkelephant.com/en-GB/ResourceCenter/
PinkVerify/CompatibilityCompliance.htm

ITIL is for small, medium and large companies It’s true! anyone can implement ITIL. However,
it makes sense when the size of your helpdesk
team is more than 5.

ITIL is not from a single company or a person ITIL is not backed by a single company or a
person. There is no profit motive or personal
promotion.

ITIL is not about Complicated Process Maps >

ITIL is not about complicated strict process maps. You should not follow someone else’s process or the
processes defined in some book. When you learn ITIL, don’t start drawing detailed process maps for all the
modules, taking it to consultants to ask whether they are in line with the ITIL specifications. The Truth is that
consultants cannot help you without understanding how your support works.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 5

ITIL Service Support will be our focus >

Today, IT Helpdesk is the lifeline of any business from small to large, and most IT managers and helpdesk
managers are struggling to have an efficient and productive helpdesk. We will focus on this problem here. As
ITIL Service Support offers the best practices framework for IT helpdesk, let us see how ITIL can help helpdesk
managers and IT managers. ITIL’s IT Service Support Module offers best practices to make sure IT Services
are highly available. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Enterprise Edition implements these IT Service Support
modules.

• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Change Management
• Release Management
• Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
• ServiceDesk (function)

ITIL Heroes Handbook 6

Chapter

2 Incident Management
Incident Management in your typical work day
Incident Management

An incident is a disruption of normal service that affects the user and the business. The goal of Incident
Management is to restore IT services to the normal state as soon as possible with workarounds or solutions to
make sure that it does not affect business.

An incident is an event that is not part of the standard operation; it is an event that you don’t want to happen,
however it eventually happens. In simple words, Incident Management is a process to manage disruptions in
critical IT services and restore them ASAP.

It may sound like a sugar-coated sophisticated trouble ticketing system. However, Incident Management tells
you how to implement an IT Helpdesk that understands and works to meet business priorities.

Incident Management outlines the need to have a process to restore services. ServiceDesk function is the glue
that binds the Service Support modules together with a Single Point of Contact to the user and ensures that IT
Services stay focused on business.
• Record Basic User Details
• Is the user reporting an outage or asking for a new service
• If he is asking for new service – New Service Request
o Train your helpdesk analysts to get back to users who ask for new services
o Train them to record details of requests with urgency and priority
o Train the helpdesk team to look for new service plans and milestones
o Train them on where should they look for answers to FAQs
• If he is reporting about outage or disruption—Incident
o Determine whether it is an Incident or not with basic diagnosis
o Check whether you can help with a resolution from the knowledge base
o Assign Incident to Specialist Support Group
o Work closely with Specialist Support Group to provide resolution to the user
o Close the incident with user confirmation

Here’s a sample Incident Management workflow. Consider this as a basic format and make changes wherever
required.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 8

 Incident Management Workflow

User Call

Record Basic Details

Service Request Type of Request

Incident
Service Request /
Request for
Information Lookup in CMDB

Classify Incident
Specify Category,
Priority and
Business Impact

Can ServiceDesk Assign to the

Resolve the Incident? Specialist Group

Provide resolution
After resolving
to the user

Close the Incident

ITIL Heroes Handbook 9

Chapter

3 Problem Management
Problem Management

The goal of Problem Management is to find the root cause of incidents and reduce the impact on
business. Problem Management is a proactive approach that prevents recurrence of incidents.

Problem management brings strategy to your helpdesk; it helps you move from your firefighting mode to a
proactive mode. In simple words, the disruptions faced by users are mostly differ­ent instances of a problem.
When you find and eliminate the root cause of all the Incidents, you also prevent future incidents.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 11

 Problem Management Workflow

One or many New Problem

Incident(s)

Problem Identification
Record basic details related to
problem / one or many incidents

Do we have
Known Error
workaround/
Yes Update
solution for the
Incident Count
problem?

Classify Problem
Specify Category,
Priority and
Business Impact

Problem Analysis
• Understand the impact of the problem
• Analyze root cause of the problem
• Analyze patterns and Symptoms

Request for Change /

Provide resolution to the user

Close the Problem

ITIL Heroes Handbook 12

Record the Problem and Match with Known Error Database

A problem can be raised directly or by combining one or more Incidents. Once the problem is recorded, the
problem technicians will check if it has been reported before and if there is a known workaround or solution.

Problems that have Workaround/Solution:Known Error

If the reported problem has a workaround or solution, it is a Known Error. The Helpdesk technician can get back
to the user with the workaround/solution. The technician needs to note that the problem has occurred and
increase the problem count to measure the frequency of the problem.

Classify the Problem to Determine the Right Priority

It is important to classify the problem with

• Category, Sub Category and Item

• Business impact and urgency

The classification helps technicians determine the priority of the problem.

Analyze the problem to determine the root cause

When the problem is classified, it gives a clear picture to the problem technicians as to where they should
start. Depending on whether the problem is in the users’ machine, or in the proxy server or in the firewall,
technicians may use various tools to diagnose and resolve it. The technician records all symptoms and the root
causes along with a workaround or a solution.

Provide Resolution or Initiate a Request for Change

Technicians can get back to users if there is a resolution readily available. If the problem requires a few
changes in the system, they can provide a workaround and initiate a Request for Change.

Eg: A group of users are not able to access the Internet, the root cause of which is the firewall. Technicians can
provide users with a workaround to access the Internet and initiate a Change Request to replace the firewall to
prevent Internet unavailability in the future.

Closing the Problem

Although the Problem technicians close the problem, it is the responsibility of helpdesk engineers or frontline
support staff to update users about all the activities. When users have a single point of contact, they don’t
have to repeat themselves to different technicians. Also, the frontline staff who have logged the call ensure
that the solution meets the users’ needs exactly.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 13

Chapter

4 Change Management
Change Management

The change management process helps you co-ordinate changes with minimal disruptions and
accepted risk.

Most small businesses feel that Change Management is too controlling and that it is not possible to implement
change quickly when you have a long-drawn process. Change Management will not be complicated unless you
plan to complicate it. It is about having a simple plan and organizing yourself so that you don’t have surprises
downtime.

In my opinion, every organization needs change management. It helps IT Managers and IT staff to keep
executives and stake holders informed when important changes happen. When everyone from executives to IT
staff is involved from decision-making to implementation it leaves no space for unwanted surprises.

Why did we adopt Change Management?

Our recruitment process for a fresher includes two parts: aptitude tests and personal interviews. Users have to
log on to our testing platform -Zoho Challenge. Zoho Challenge was hosted on a Windows server. The candi-
dates were all seated and going through the regular test preparation brief. Everything was supposed to go as
planned. Boom, the server crashed and our testing application went down with it. After all the pep talk about
the productivity and efficiency, it was a real embarassment to go back and say that the server crashed and
everyone had to wait till we resolved the situation.

When we checked, we found that our helpdesk staff had applied the latest security patch in the system and it
failed to start. It turned out that it was not completely their fault as they had a policy to ensure that the latest
security patch was applied on all servers.

It was a simple communication gap, but a big loss of face.

Lesson:
We did not have a method to communicate to the HR department about the system update. If informed, they
could have scheduled the test later and if it was an important test, the upgrade could have done later that
night.

Result: We got Change Management in place.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 15

Implement a Change Management System without complications, get a meaningful system in place that helps
people.

Here’s a simple and effective change management process that maps a common sense plan to ITIL.

Common Sense Plan ITIL Plan

• Formulate a well-defined Plan Request for Change

Change Plan should contain
• Define your proposed change
• Rollout Plan
• How complex is the change: major/minor/
regular • Back out Plan

• How and when are you planning to roll out • Assess Impact on Business
this change?
• Dependency Checklist
• Will your business be affected when you are
implementing this change?

• If your change plans fail, will you restore the

last-known good service?

• Make a checklist of the things you are

assuming to be available.

Identify and obtain approval from stake holders Change Advisory Board
who might be affected by the change

Prioritize and schedule the change Send Out Schedule of Changes

Test the change in a sandbox and implement it Release Management

How did the change go? Catch all the glitches. Post Implementation Review
Improve your plan next time.

For large businesses looking at controlled Change Management with projects,

I recommend you to look at http://www.PRINCE2.com

ITIL Heroes Handbook 16

A simple workflow based on these questions will help you design an effective change management
process.

RFC from Problems /

Error Control New Change

Change Classification
Change Manager filters
What is the type of changes and classifies
Change? them allocating priority

Emergency Significant Major Minor Standard Change

Emergency Committee Change Manager

Change Manager requests Change Manager approves Preapproved Changes
recommendation from the and schedules changes are rolled out faster
board members and reports to CAB.

Change Advisory Board

CAB Members look at the change plan,
review the risk and
recommend go ahead or not

Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC)

Schedule Authorized Changes

Release Management
• Implement Changes
• Educate users

Post Implementation Review Close the Change

ITIL Heroes Handbook 17

 Chapter

5 Release Management

Release Management is about how you package and deliver the message
Release Management

The goal of Release Management is to plan, educate users and implement changes smoothly

Release Management works closely with Change Management. Change Management is responsible for planning
and Release Management for execution/implementation.

Let’s take an example from our daily lives. Whenever there is an important sewage pipe repair on a busy road,
traffic cannot be stopped immediately. City officials inform commuters through news paper ads and local TV
news that the road will be closed on a particular day and alternative routes are given. Commuters are able to
plan things in advance so that there is no disappointment and changes are done smoothly.

That’s Release Management in action.

From the perspective of IT, Release Management helps you smoothly roll out changes to your IT without any
disruptions.

• A Release plan with information about what to deploy, how to deploy and specifications in which it will
work

• The Build/change to the deployed is thoroughly tested in a sandbox conditions similar to the live conditions

• Record baseline value configuration value before the change is applied.

• Release and distribute as planned

• Verify and test if the changes requested are met

ITIL Heroes Handbook 19

Chapter

6 CMDB
(Configuration Management Database)
CMDB (Configuration Management Database)

The goal of CMDB is to build and maintain an asset database of hardware, software, associated
documents and their relationships.

The main idea behind CMDB is to build an asset repository that can be uniquely identified, controlled and man­
aged.

What will the CMDB have?

CMDB should contain information on all the critical components of the business.
• People: User name, departments they belong to, location...and so on
• Assets: All assets that are part of business such as workstation, desktop, routers, printers
• Software: All commercially licensed software installed in your IT environment
The assets and components in the CMDB are known and Configured Items (CIs).
The FedEx quote is so true for CMDB
“Information about a package is as important as the package itself “- Mike Glenn, Fedex.

Where should I Start?

The first thing you need to implement a CMDB is a plan. Here are a few process guidelines that can help you
draft a good plan.

Plan Have a clear idea of

• Why you should have a CMDB
• What you plan to achieve
• Who will control and manage
• The procedures to be followed

Identify Assets/CIs have to be uniquely identified; so,

you should have a system to
• Define pattern for label name
• An identifier to each item and its version
number
• A provision to define owners of the CIs and
their relationships with other CIs

ITIL Heroes Handbook 21

 Control Maintain a controlled environment of CIs so that
only CIs are added, modified or removed through
a specific procedure. All your assets need not be
in the CMDB; you can choose to have the ones
that really matter to your business.

Asset Life Cycle Management Status It is important to track assets throughout

their life cycle. Assets can be in maintenance,
in repair or in a live environment. Asset Life
cycle reports can be useful for determining
maintainability and dependability of the assets.

Audit and Verify CMDB is not a one-time set-up. Conduct timely

audits to ensure that the CMDB reflects live
environments. If you fail on a periodic update,
CMDB will be only a myth.

Understand the Spirit of CMDB

Also, remember that the goal of CMDB is to build an asset repository with all the information about the assets.
An as­set repository can be logical and distributed. Building a CMDB does not mean trying to have everything in
one big physical database.

A Definitive Software Library (DSL) is essential

With software releases every quarter and security patches every week, it is important to include the copies of
software in a live environment. If one of your important servers crashes and you have the version number of
the software, but not a copy of the exact same version with you, you could land your­self in a big problem.

Have a Baseline Configuration

Baseline configuration is a snapshot of CMDB. In every IT environment there are so many systems with differ-
ent configurations, software, memory, processors and what not. When you have so many variables, you have to
make sure that any change you make supports all versions. Otherwise, it is simply inviting trouble. IT manag­ers
have to plan and reduce the number of variables so that you have them under control.

You could standardize on a stable operating system and version of browser, and ensure that everyone is on the
optimum configuration baseline.

Eg: You can define a baseline with the following parameters to ensure that all business applications run
normally

ITIL Heroes Handbook 22

• Standard OS – Windows xp
• RAM – 1 GB
• Processor-Intel Mobile Centrino
• Supported Browser – IE 7

Now you can generate the list of users who meet the standards and fall below the standard and you have a
program to move users below the baseline to meet the baseline so that issues and fixes can be applicable to
all.

Selecting the Right ITIL Solution

Now that you have understood ITIL Service Support, it is time for you to choose the right ITIL solution that helps
you to realize the value to ITIL. Never go with yesterday’s leader because someone flew in to give you a fan-
tastic sales presentation. Remember: marketing and sales presentations are bound to be impressive, and sales
guys will be gone once you buy. Try to evaluate at least four or five different products from the leader to the
new players. Run it in your environment, check out how easy it is to deploy, customize, and maintain. Work out
how much you are going to pay and leave no room for surprises. Put it through the test of fire, in every way.

Before you make your decision, do your homework!

Let me help you take the first step forward.

Vendors ITIL Solutions Website

AdventNet ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus http://www.servicedeskplus.com

Axios Axios Assyst http://www.axiossystems.com

BMC BMC Incident and Problem http://www.bmc.com

Management
BMC Change Management
BMC Atrium (CMDB)

FrontRange FrontRange ITSM http://itsm.frontrange.com/detail.

aspx?id=6018

Infra ITIL Solutions http://www.infra.co.uk/

Service Now IT Service Management on www.service-now.com

demand

Symantec (formerly Altiris) Altiris IT Lifecycle Management http://www2.altiris.com/itil/

Numara Software Footprints http://www.numarasoftware.

com/FootPrints.asp

Marval ITIL Products and Consulting http://www.marval.co.uk/

( login required )

ITIL Heroes Handbook 23

 Chapter
Implementing ITIL Service
7 Support with Service Desk Plus

ITIL Processes ServiceDesk Plus

You

You + ITIL Processes + ServiceDesk Plus – Get It Right

ITIL Service Support and ServiceDesk Plus

ServiceDesk Plus gives you the complete ITIL Service Support Framework with Incident, Problem,
Change Management, and Release Management with CMDB. You will see all the modules as soon as
you install ServiceDesk Plus.

Install ServiceDesk Plus- Blindfolded

ServiceDesk Plus Installation is simple and straightforward. You can install on any Windows Server / workstation
or Linux Server/ workstation. There is no web server or database configuration required. It packs a MySQL data-
base and an Apache Tomcat server that will be configured automatically when you install. Follow the installation
wizard When you click Finish, you are done.

Packed with

Works with

SQL Server Active Directory Crystal Reports

To understand how easy it is to get started, you have to run it.

Download a 30 day trial version from the website

http://www.servicedeskplus.com/download.html

After you install and start your web client you will see it in action…. Tada!

ITIL Heroes Handbook 25

Let’s Get It Started

To quickly help you understand how ServiceDesk Plus maps to the ITIL Service Support process, we need Users,
Requests and Assets. Let’s see how fast we can get them into the system.

1. Get your Users in

Import Users from Active Directory

ServiceDesk Plus integrates with your Active Directory helping you to connect and import users. To
make the demo easier, select only one Organization Unit (OU) and import users.

Admin > Users > Active Directory

ITIL Heroes Handbook 26

Don’t have an active Directory?

If you don’t have an Active Directory, it’s ok, you can import users from a CSV file or key a few requestors in
manually.

Configure Email to get requests In

To make sure that you don’t mess with the production system, I would recommend that you run this whole
setup in a test environment.

1. Create an email account, say ‘demo’ in your mail server

2. To get requests in, you have to configure Mail Server Setting under the Admin tab

3. Specify the email address you just created [email protected] and the username

4. Select the protocol in the Email Type

After you are done with this, send an email or ask requestors to send email, you will see that it will be fetched
and converted to a request.

Please keep in mind that when mails are fetched in ServiceDesk Plus it will be deleted from the mail server.
You have been warned!

ITIL Heroes Handbook 27

Scan and Get your Assets In

ServiceDesk Plus helps you to get all your IT and Non-It assets in.

IT Assets: You will be able to scan

• All workstations and Servers – Windows, Linux, Apple Macs, and HP Thin Clients

• Network Devices – Printers, Routers, Switches, and Access Points (and most devices that have an IP
address)

Use the Windows Domain Scan to discover all windows workstations and Servers and use the Network Scan to
discover Linux Servers, Linux workstations, Apple Macs and all network devices. There are no agents to be in-
stalled to scan assets. The windows scan uses WMI to connect to the workstations / Server. The Network Scan
uses SSH to scan Linux and Apple Macs and SNMP for all network devices.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 28

Incident Management

Incident Workflow in ServiceDesk Plus

• Incident Detection

• Record the Incident details

• Classify Incident

• Provide Workaround or Solution

• Escalate / File a new problem or associate to an existing problem

• Incident Closure

Step 1: Incident Detection:

When a request comes in, ServiceDesk Plus helps you to define the Request Type. When the request reports
about an outage or a drop in the Quality of Service, the request is classified as an Incident. When the request
requires a New Service to be setup, it is classified as a New Service Request.

Step 2: Record Incident Details

When a new Incident is detected, it is important for the helpdesk technician to qualify the incident. Helpdesk
technicians can qualify the incident by asking the right questions that will help Level 2 technicians to resolve
the Problem faster. ServiceDesk Plus helps you record all the incident details.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 29

Define Priority Matrix

The Priority Matrix helps you determine the right priority based on the given values of Business impact and
urgency. Helpdesk Managers can configure this one time and ServiceDesk Plus will assign the right priority. This
is one of the ITIL Incident Management best practices. However, it is designed to be flexible enough for you to
ignore the Priority Matrix and allow technicians and users to define priorities (I wouldn’t recommend that)

Admin > Helpdesk Customizer > Priority Matrix

Step 3: Classify the Incident

Helpdesk technicians can classify the incident while creating a new incident or update
Category > Sub Category > Item in an incident raised by the user. Incident classification is very important to
understand the source of all your incidents.

Step 4: Provide Workaround or Solution

Helpdesk Technicians can search for existing workarounds or solutions from the request and get back to users
immediately.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 30

Step 5: File a new problem or associate to an existing problem

Helpdesk technicians have to group similar incidents together that point to the same Category > Sub Category >
Item and file a new problem or associate to an existing problem. Once a Problem is created Level 2 technicians
or problem technicians can take control.

Step 6: Incident Closure

An incident must be closed only when the user confirms that the solution has helped the user. Helpdesk techni-
cians need to be the Single Point of Contact and keep the users informed by tracking the status and making
sure that all incidents are responded to and closed. It is really a painful process to make sure that all users are
to confirm on incident closure.

Create and Educate users about your closure policies

You can define that helpdesk will resolve issues and get back to you. Users must confirm if the Incident
has been resolved if users don’t respond within 10 days. We’ll assume that you agree on the incident
closure.

ServiceDesk Plus helps you with Incident Closure

Your Helpdesk Technicians can resolve incidents and change the status of the request to resolved state.
ServiceDesk Plus will send an email to the requester asking if the resolution helped. If the users do not
respond within 10 days the request will be automatically closed.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 31

Problem Management Workflow in ServiceDesk Plus:
• Problem Detection & Classification

• Problem Priority

• Problem Analysis

• Solutions, Workaround, and Known Error Records

• Problem Closure

Step 1: Problem Detection & Classification

Problem Technicians can look into source of all the incidents based on the classification in the (Category > Sub
Category > Item). Reports about top 10 repeated incidents in a category give a clear picture on what needs to be
fixed first.

Step 2: Problem Priority

Depending on the Urgency and Impact level of the problem, the priority can be set for the problem. This priori-
tization will help the technicians to assess the various problems and take necessary actions, focusing on the
critical problems first.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 32

Step 3: Problem Analysis

The technicians can analyze the root cause and impact of the problems and attach the same in SDP as part of
the problem. This helps in giving a one-stop understanding of what may be cause of the problem and solutions
or a workaround that can be given.

Step 4: Solutions, Workarounds and Known Error Records

Solutions are permanent fixes to the problems raised. Workarounds are temporary solutions that can be used
by the technician till actual solution is ready. Optionally, you can also add Tasks that need to be done to clear
the Incident.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 33

Step 5: Problem Closure

Technicians tend to rush to close the problem, but managers need clear reports to analyze patterns of the prob-
lem. The problem closure rules allow technicians to close the problem only if they provide all the mandatory
fields. You can set rules for problem closure in Admin > Problem/Change Management > Problem Closure Rules.
Only if the mandatory fields are completed can a problem be closed.

Change Management Workflow

• Initiate Change Request

• Change Plans and CAB (Change Advisory Board)

• Approval from CAB Members

• Coordinate Change Implementation

• Post Implementation Review

• Change History

Initiate Change Request

You can initiate New Change Request or initiate a change from one or more Problems. The Request for Change
is considered based on the Business Impact, Urgency and Priority. The Change plan is formulated to get started
with a the change process.

The Change Plan needs to have complete details about the reasons for considering the change, such as how
this change can impact business. The Change Planning stage needs to have the following information so that
Change Managers and CAB have all the details to make informed decisions.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 34

 • Impact Analysis - risk involved in implementing the change

• Rollout Plan - how the plan will be implemented

• Back out Plan - plan to restore things back to original state if plan fails

• Checklist - List of mandatory items required for the plan to succeed

Change Plans and CAB (Change Advisory Board)

• ServiceDesk Plus offers 4 different types of built-in Change Plans.

• Standard Change

• Minor Change

• Major Change

• Significant Change

ServiceDesk Plus allows you to define and configure your own Change Types with color codes to denote sever-
ity.

Standard Change

Standard Changes are pre-approved changes authorized by the Change Manager based on Management policies.
Frequent changes such as permitted RAM upgrade to users’ PCs or list of allowed software applications can be
pre-approved by the Change Manager so that the changes are fulfilled faster.

Minor Change

A Minor change is defined as a change that has low impact on business and does not consume a lot of resourc-
es. The Change Manager approves the Minor Changes.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 35

Major and Significant Changes

Major and Significant Changes need the approvals from all the members of the Change Advisory Board and the
Change Manager. The members of the CAB (Change Advisory Board) are determined based on stakeholders who
will be affected by the change. Based on the change plans and risk involved the CAB members will vote and
recommend to Accept or Decline a change plan.

Change Advisory Board

ServiceDesk Plus enables you to create CABs. Based on the defined change type, you can choose to send the
change plan for approval to CAB members. You can create different CABs such as Emergency CAB, Technical CAB
and so on.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 36

Approval from CAB Members

The CAB Members meet once in two weeks or once in a month to discuss the changes that are submitted for
approval. Based on the change plan and the risk analysis, the CAB Members take a unanimous decision to
Accept or Reject a Change Plan.

Coordinate Change Implementation

• Forward Schedule of Change (FSC)

All approved changes have to be implemented with minimal service downtime. ServiceDesk Plus gives you
built-in reports based on Priority, Urgency, by Incident, and Problem counts that helps Change Managers to
prioritize and schedule changes.

Change Calendar

Based on the changes considered for the next implementation, the changes are scheduled and published. The
Change Calendar keeps everyone informed when a particular service will be down for maintenance and when it
will be restored.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 37

Implementations

ServiceDesk Plus helps you keep track of important tasks involved in implementing an approved change. The
Change Request can be broken down into multiple tasks with different owners. The Change Manager can del-
egate tasks to technicians, schedule and track status of the task completion. Tasks give Change Managers more
fine-grained control while implementing a change.

Post Implementation Review

The Post Implementation Review helps Change Manager to keep track of the rolled out change to

• Capture the glitches that happened during the change

• Track KPI (Key Performance Indicators) to measure the effectiveness of the change

Keep Track of the Change History:

As Change Management involves key business, it is important to maintain clear documentation about the
change. ServiceDesk Plus keeps track of the complete change History. This helps to audit changes and get all
the information such as, when the change plan was edited, when it was approved, who approved it and what
time. The Property View helps you keep a record of all changes for auditing purposes.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 38

Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

Scan

Discover Assets:
ServiceDesk Plus helps you discover all your IT assets such as workstations (windows, Linux and Apple Mac),
printers,
routers, switches, and access points and get all the asset and asset details in one place. ServiceDesk Plus
helps you assign asset id and asset name to uniquely identify assets.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 39

Detailed Asset Inventory

The detailed discovery provides detailed information such as model number, asset state, and detailed asset
configuration and inventory.

Software Library

ServiceDesk Plus discovers all software installed in your organization and builds a software library to track
licenses. It allows you to get quick reports on purchased versus installed software and rarely used licensed
software that helps you streamline software license management.

Asset Relationships

When an IT Service goes down, do you need to know how many users will be affected?

ServiceDesk Plus helps you define and manage relationships between assets. ServiceDesk Plus offers three
types of relationship that you can use to denote relationship between assets.

• Connection Relationship

• Usage Relationship

• Container Relationship

ITIL Heroes Handbook 40

 Summary:

ITIL was meant for businesses of all sizes-small, medium and

large. Today, ITIL is not given a fair chance in SMB market place,
mostly dismissed for being complicated and expensive. The ITIL
Heroes Handbook is an initiative that hopes to change the general
perspective and help IT Managers and staff understand ITIL in the
right Spirit.

The whitepaper presents a practical approach to ITIL. Get started

with practical ITIL processes and workflows that worked for most
businesses worldwide. Implement an ITIL solution in a day; you have
to try it to believe it.

ITIL Heroes Handbook 41