ITIL Implementation in Dovetail CRM

russ — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:09:00 GMT

ITIL is a descriptive set of best-practice methodologies for efficiently and effectively managing IT services. While these methodologies can be applied to essentially any business environment, in the CSS space they are likely to be of particular interest to enterprises using CRM software in an IT Helpdesk context, or to those whose business is itself a Web-based service.

ITIL provides process models for Service Delivery and Service Support. The focus of Dovetail CRM is on the Service Support model, where processes can readily be mapped to existing workflow objects:

Process Goal/Requirement Dovetail Object

Incident Management Restore normal service ASAP Case

Problem Management Fix problems, RCA, prevention Solution

Change Management Provide standards, reduce risk Change Request

Configuration Management Maintain infrastructure records Site Part

Function Operation Application

Service Desk Point of contact for users Dovetail Support

Companies are increasingly looking for ways to align IT infrastructures more closely with changing business needs; growth and the ability to adapt quickly in a competitive environment require well-defined processes operating across different functional areas, and the ITIL framework has helped define and implement such processes.

Many of our customers are contemplating adoption of the ITIL methodology, or have already begun to bring it in-house. One large retailer operating Dovetail CRM as an enterprise-wide Helpdesk has substantially implemented the ITIL Service Support model, using the Dovetail SDK to create several custom workflow-enabled objects, including a hierarchical Configuration Item associated with the infrastructure [hardware, software and related services]. These Configuration Items are linked to existing Part Numbers and Site Parts, providing comprehensive CMDB facilities. In this way, the customer has been able to fully leverage existing Dovetail OOB capabilities as well as to quickly and safely enhance them.

Many benefits have already been realized: management dashboards display the real-time status of the entire corporate computing infrastructure, including all stores; drill-down to the individual CI enables rapid identification, diagnosis and resolution of any problems; and design and use of the Problem object prevents recurrence, as Root Cause Analysis and Lessons Learned must be performed before the Problem can be closed. Finally, all proposed Changes must be approved by the relevant [CI-associated] Approval Group before they are implemented, significantly reducing the risk of problems resulting from changes to the infrastructure.

The point here is that there really is no such thing as OOB ITIL; every enterprise has different needs and objectives that must be reflected in an ITIL deployment to deliver unique value. The Dovetail platform provides many of the functions and features required for ITIL – a suitable baseline database schema, workflow-enabled objects and relations, activity logs, and so forth – as well as development facilities that make it easy to customize and extend the existing environment to meet enterprise-specific needs.

Russ Resslhuber

ITIL Implementation in Dovetail CRM