Build an ITSM Tool Implementation Plan
Nail your ITSM tool implementation from the outset.
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Contributors
- Rod Weir, Founder and Managing Director, PRD Software
- Nicklas Fredriksson, CEO and ITSM Magician, Penguin Consultants Brasil
- Kamal Roz, IT Operations Manager, USO
- Gautam Bangalore, Business Analyst, Optus
- Michelle Hoyt, Enterprise Application Supervisor, Matanuska-Susitina Borough School District
- Anusha Das, IT Governance Analyst-ITIL, Oregon Lottery
- Ravi Prakash Singh, MS IS Student, Stevens Institute of Technology
- Brett Andrews, Managing Director, BAPTISM Consultancy
- Marty Miller-Crispe, Manager – Service Management Office, Griffith University
- Vlad de Ramos, General Manager, AIM Corporate Solutions, Inc.
- Pete Langlois, Systems Administrator, Century Bank
- Scott Walling, Co-founder, Monitor 24-7
- Pedro Soto, Managing Director, TOPdesk
- Roeland van Rijswijk, Service Management Consultant, TOPdesk
- Yev Khovrenkov, IT Consultant,
- Lucas Gutierrez, End-User Services Manager, City of Santa Fe
- Dave Smith, IT Trainer, Quanta Training Ltd.
Your Challenge
- An IT service management (ITSM) tool implementation can be a complicated task, requiring customized templates and workflows and correct integration with other tools that can be challenging to get right the first time to ensure the tool delivers value.
- If an RFP is required to select a service provider to implement the tool, it is critical to clearly structure the project tasks and service desk processes and services to develop the RFP.
- Managers without a project plan are often pressed into making decisions during the implementation without fully understanding their impact.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Buying a new tool is not a silver bullet for service desk woes. Your project needs to incorporate both a review of service desk processes and a product implementation to ensure the tool will support your current processes and any future processes you plan to implement.
- Whether or not you rely on professional services, there is a lot of work to do to ensure the project will be successful. It’s important to develop and manage a detailed plan to avoid hasty decisions that could undermine the tool’s value in the long run.
- Customization of the solution can hinder its performance down the road, but configurations can ensure the tool will deliver the value you need. However, there’s nothing wrong with an out-of-the-box solution if that’s what works for your organization.
Impact and Result
- Build an implementation plan to ensure the tool continues to meet business requirements in the long run. Make key decisions about configuration, integrations, and data migration before the implementation begins and you’ll have time to forecast the impact of your decisions.
- Include a service desk process review into the implementation plan to ensure you are not carrying over poor data and bad habits. The new tool doesn’t need to recreate your old service desk environment; it needs to create one that meets business requirements.
- A detailed implementation plan can help you decide whether your team can do the tool implementation in-house and identify requirements for the RFP if you choose to draw on professional services.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should build an implementation plan for your ITSM tool, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Plan for the implementation
Determine the implementation project scope and goals, and get buy-in for the change.
2. Organize the approach and resources
Establish the approach to the implementation phases as well as the resources needed to complete the project, both internal and external.
3. Design, build, and test the ITSM tool
Plan and build the solution, including decisions on all necessary configurations to support service desk processes.
4. Deploy, monitor, and maintain the ITSM tool
Communicate any changes and train the users to adopt the solution before deploying it.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is an eleven call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Plan
Call #1 - Document goals, strategy, and business requirements. Identify and address potential objections.
Call #2 - Formalize an engagement strategy. Identify metrics to measure progress towards your implementation goals.
Call #3 - Set up diagnostic and receive results.
Guided Implementation #2 - Organize
Call #1 - Identify and document the scope of the implementation. Define and document existing and future processes the tool will need to support.
Call #2 - Evaluate pros and cons of different implementation approaches. Define what each phase will contain.
Call #3 - Develop and issue an RFP for professional services for implementation. Define roles and responsibilities of implementation team.
Call #4 - Track implementation tasks, timelines, and resources.
Guided Implementation #3 - Build
Call #1 - Identify and document functional tests to be performed.
Call #2 - Develop a UAT plan and test case scripts.
Guided Implementation #4 - Deploy
