April 2013, Issue 2, Volume 15

The dynamic infrastructure of the St. Elisabeth Hospital

More in this issue:

A time for change Connecting TOPdesk to other programs Communicate your SSD to success!

editorial

22

Do I have everything?
Snow chains? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Ski socks? Check and check! Ive spent all week packing for my first skiing vacation. With these trips, you ransack your house and discover that you have factor 30 lip balm and even a pair of snow boots lying about. My more experienced friends also gave me handy to have tips. Without them, I never would have added bruise ointment or thermal underwear to my list! I always make a holiday checklist to make sure I dont forget any important things like my passport or tickets. Now I think about it, I actually use checklists for everything. Have I arranged everything for this magazine? Check. Do I have all my groceries for tonights meal? Check. These lists provide certainty and clarity for a variety of situations. TOPdesk also uses a lot of checklists and overviews. In this issue, for instance, you can read about how the St. Elisabeth Hospital maps and monitors all systems and equipment with TOPdesk. Our SaaS specialists also tell us about their checklist for the coming SaaS upgrade to TOPdesk 5. Hopefully these stories will inspire you to take a look at your own Configuration Management, or check whether youre running through all the required steps in a process, for instance. I think I have everything on my list, but Im still worried about forgetting something. Its not a disaster if I dont take my sun screen, but maybe I should make my checklist in TOPdesk and get a barcode scanner. Just in case... Enjoy reading! Nienke Deuss, editor-in-chief

20

contents April 13
Now an installation takes only fifteen to thirty minutes
Erwin Bothof SaaS coordinator at TOPdesk

Continue reading on page 16

News

6 The dynamic infrastructure of the St. Elisabeth Hospital

10

10 A time for change 13 Connecting TOPdesk to other programs 16 How we upgrade your SaaS 19 COLUMN Coming clean 20 Behind the scenes at the TOPdesk beta programme 22 Communicate your SSD to success! 24 working smarter Gain insight into time spent and costs 28 tips + tricks

MUST

WANT

On the cover:
Aart van Stiphout and Hans Boonk of St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg.

Can

Want to stay up to date?

To stay on top of the latest TOPdesk news and service management developments, follow us on Twitter via @TOPdesk and @TOPdesk_UK.

TOPdesk kicks off 2013 with Swedish sales partner

TOPdesk started the new year with a sales partner in Sweden. IT Software is a new company focus in Swedens IT market. With this new partner, TOPdesk hopes to better serve the Swedish market. officially introduced to the Swedish market in the second quarter of 2013. This will also mark the availability of a completely Swedish version of the software. TOPdesk will collaborate with IT Software to organize a theme session in Sweden to spread the word In 2012, IT Software approached TOPdesk, proposing to sell TOPdesk in Sweden, as they see Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia as a great market for the product. IT Software If you wish to learn more about the partnership and IT Software, visit www.itsoftware.se. about the softwares possibilities. This session will take place in Stockholm in April.

@TOPdesk
A selection of our recent tweets:

@JeroenBoks Service Management and System Management combined: celebrating #LANDesk implementation at #TOPdesk with partner @Axle_IT

says that TOPdesk offers all capabilities the market is looking for. TOPdesk will be

@SITSLaura @itsmreview good freebies need to be memorable! Great example by @TOPdesk_UK Remember that for #SITS13!! @SITSLaura @itsmreview Great to hear you like our freebies. See you at the TOPdesk stand at #SITS13! @daniel_vicrea @TOPdesk it works well but Ive still got some ideas. Who can I contact?

TOPdesk SaaS featured in Forrester market overview

In response to customer demand, Forrester, solution, says Kirill Dementev of TOPdesk UK. We have provided a web-based solution since 2004, so it was easy to transition to the cloud. Forrester Research has confirmed what our customers already know. TOPdesk is pleased with the results, and are confident that they will continue this success with the SaaS environment upgrade to TOPdesk 5. For more information about the report, please visit Stephen Manns blog at: http://blogs.forrester.com/stephen_mann. a global research and advisory firm, recently completed their market overview of SaaS ITSM tools. In addition to weighing the general pros and cons of SaaS solutions and reviewing customer satisfaction, Forrester also took a closer look at the various providers.

@TOPdesk @daniel_vicrea Ideas are always welcome! You can send us your ideas via http:// extranet.topdesk.com > log incident (feature request)

@roelsnijders Started using TOPdesk as a knowledge base for application and technical management #verseon

TOPdesk was included in their review, and rated very favourably. In their overview, TOPdesk SaaS customer success was rated as a major success the highest attainable level in the report. TOPdesk are delighted to receive recognition for our SaaS ITSM

NEWS

Calendar
UK
23 24 APR APR
Service Desk & IT Support Show Earls Court, London

University of St Andrews accredited by SDI

UniDesk user the University of St Andrews has received a 2 star service desk certification from the Service Desk Institute (SDI). St Andrews is the first British university to be accredited with such a certification. This is the result of an extensive audit focusing on several areas, including processes, performance results, and customer satisfaction.

TOPdesk on Tour visiting the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark

In May and June, TOPdesk is organizing the latest edition of TOPdesk on Tour. We will be visiting various museums to share our knowledge about the art of service management. This year, the theme is improving services through collaboration both within and between service departments. Our experienced consultants share their knowledge through presentations, case studies and interactive sessions. In a single afternoon, we will share our vision for the future of service departments. This knowledge will help you take the next step towards improved services within your organization. Visit www.topdesk.nl/ontour, www.topdesk.

16 17 MAY MAY
Demo days TOPdesk office, London

Belgium
28 29 30 MAY MAY MAY
Realty Lets talk real estate Tour & Taxis, Brussels

The University of St Andrews uses the TOPdesk-based service management solution UniDesk. Developed by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with the University of Abertay Dundee and the University of St Andrews, this shared service is tailored to cater specifically to the needs of higher education institutions. Visit http://www.unidesk.ac.uk/ for more information about UniDesks shared service for universities and colleges.

18 JUN
TOPdesk on Tour

Czech Republic
22 23 24 MAY MAY MAY
European Facility Management Conference Prague

be/ontour, or www.topdesk.dk/ontour to sign up or for more information about the programme and tour dates.

TOPdesk named Mavims Most Promising Partner

During the partner event on 24 January, Mavim handed out several awards to its partners. TOPdesk also received an accolade, being named Most Promising Partner. As the event progressed, it became clear that Mavim values its partners. From the jurys report: (...) Listening to your customers, quickly reacting to the markets needs and translating this into practical solutions that enable organizations to improve are only a few characteristics of this organization. This partner is an example for Mavim when it comes to entrepreneurship. With an international focus and a down to earth mentality, this young enterprise already has over 4,000 customers worldwide. This valued partner exudes confidence and innovation and, like Mavim, believes in the power of simplicity and collaboration.

Denmark
16 17 APR APR
Service Desk anno 2013 Hotel Scandic, Copenhagen

18 JUN
TOPdesk on Tour

6 customer in focus

Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

The dynamic infrastructure of the St. Elisabeth Hospital

Text: Nienke Deuss

customer in focus 7

The Information and Automation department (I&A) is the invisible caregiver at the St. Elisabeth Hospital. However, supporting all employees and the various systems is no simple task. Over the past year, the CMDB underwent extensive changes to help the hospital gain more insight into its dynamic infrastructure.

The St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands has approximately 3,500 employees. For the I&A department, this means 3,500 login names and passwords and 28 different specializations, each with its own systems and equipment. There are also 2,500 workstations which are available to everyone, and therefore must have access to various types of software. Hans Boonk, integration specialist at I&A, says that the system has become increasingly complex: In the past ten years we have gone from eighteen to three hundred and fifty servers . We support all workstations for employees who perform administrative tasks, such as doctors, assistants or lab technicians who enter data in Electronic Health Records (EHR). The hospital also has a boulevard, complete with shops, a chemist and places to eat. We make sure that they can use the facilities as well.

Our CMDB was forty-five per cent reliable

Aart van Stiphout (l) and Hans Boonk - St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg The I&A department has been using TOPdesk since 2004. In addition to Incident Management, they have started using the Con-

8 customer in focus

Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

In the past ten years we have gone from eighteen to three hundred and fifty servers
Hans Boonk Integration specialist I&A

figuration Management module to register all systems. However, in 2009 it became apparent that the TOPdesk set-up no longer accurately represented their situation. Aart van Stiphout, change and release manager at I&A, tells us more. When preparing for the Windows XP SP3 update, we discovered that our CMDB had a lot of incorrect and incomplete information; the data was about forty-five

per cent reliable. Apparently equipment was moved regularly, but the changes were not registered properly. With the CMDBs relational data often being incorrect, processes became less efficient. When dealing with an incident, change, or problem, it was impossible to quickly find all the relevant data to determine the impact, for instance, says Van Stiphout. This is why we

customer in focus 9

started a large project to get the CMDB up to date and, more importantly, keep it that way.

the focus to the systems. All configuration items are now registered in a configuration. This let us create a relational object database, a kind of blueprint of our infrastructure. The graphical overviews grant us immediate insight into the relationships between servers and systems, for instance, and make it easy for us to respond to malfunctions.

them to the right configuration. The decision was made to create a central system management to ensure that the registered data remains up to date. The managers have to integrate management tasks in their departments daily routine. They have to keep track of changes or updates to their systems in Incident Management or Change Management, says Boonk. To make things easier, we purchased the TOPdesk Barcode Scanner module. After all, equipment and monitors are moved around. After moving something, you just have to use the scanner and the information is automatically updated in TOPdesk. The goal is to make the CMDB 90 per cent reliable. We aim for ninety per cent, but that doesnt mean much if you reach your goal for a single testing moment. If it turns out that eighty per cent is more viable and easy to maintain, Ill be satisfied.

Infrastructure blueprint
First they needed to determine the information the different processes required and how to register it. We decided to register all objects in TOPdesk, says Boonk. All servers, network components, printers, software, and so on. But we didnt want to just register our objects: we also wanted to gain insight into how the systems are related. After all, if a specific server goes down, you want to know the impact and which systems are affected. Many TOPdesk customers use configurations in the Configuration Management module to map out the relationships between objects. These are usually based on employees: person X has PC 1281-l, telephone 1455 and laptop Dell3401. When the employee in question moves or leaves the organization, the configuration can easily be linked to another employee or location. The St. Elisabeth Hospital decided against this user-based set-up for their configuration right from the start, as Van Stiphout explains. You cant link a group of assets to a single person in a hospital. Employees dont have a fixed workplace: they can log in to any workstation. This is why Van Stiphout and Boonk decided to completely change the configurations and shift

Escalating in TOPdesk
Hospitals have a wider range of systems than the average organization. In addition to the standard PCs, printers and company applications, the I&A department also has to deal with medical equipment and software to save x-rays, for instance. As a result, they have also saved a lot of information about the responsibilities and agreements relating to the systems. In the graphical overviews we can immediately see who manages a system, says Boonk. We have also included supplier contact information, so we can see the agreements made about repairs or round-the-clock services, for instance. The hospital has a number of critical systems that have a large impact on primary and supporting systems. We used the Object Cards Attention field to specify system priority, so how quickly it must be repaired, says Van Stiphout. The systems are classified based on the impact they would have should they become unavailable.

Future challenges
The project is not yet finished, but the next challenge is already on the horizon. The management of the St. Elisabeth Hospital will be fusing with the nearby TweeSteden Hospital, which also has a branch in another city. The goal is to concentrate the healthcare services on offer. As a result, a number of specialisms will be spread across the three locations. The management will be fused this year, says Boonk. All processes and systems must be linked. This also means that we need to coordinate the methods and tooling with I&A at TweeSteden. Van Stiphout continues, We dont know whether we can continue to use this configuration set-up, or even keep using TOPdesk, but its clear that uniformity should be our strength; we have to align our processes.

Staying up to date

it is easier for us to respond to malfunctions

Hans Boonk Integration specialist I&A

There was already a lot of information in TOPdesk at the start of the project, but the CMDB was not complete. That is why we designated contact persons for each specialization. They have to help with the catch-up effort, says Van Stiphout. They are busy registering the missing objects and linking

10 Process and practice

Photography: Robin Kuijs

irene kruijff
is a TOPdesk consultant and specializes in occupational psychology. Irene supports TOPdesk implementations and provides training.

A time for change

Do you recognize the following situation? Your project is finished on time and within the budget, but the results are not quite what you expected. There is unrest among your colleagues and every meeting starts with complaints. It turns out that there is not enough support for the project within your organization. What can you do?

Conditions for success

Many projects focus on efficiency: you have to meet the deadline and cannot go over the reserved budget. However, it has been shown that these issues are not as important as is commonly thought: most projects considered to be a success actually breach the deadline or budget. The condition for success is more closely related to the project content and the acceptance of changes introduced by the project. This means that in order for your project to succeed, it is important to consider your colleagues willingness to change.

Recognizing resistance among your colleagues

Resistance is the lack of willingness to change. Recognizing resistance within an organization is often easier said than done. Many symptoms of resistance can also have other root causes. In extreme cases, employees will literally say, I wont take part in this. In other situations, you can recognize resistance by the participants attitude. They can become passive when the project is discussed, or repeatedly complain about unimportant matters. Unfortunately, recognizing resistance often boils down to a feeling.

process and practice 11

If you wish to prevent or address resistance, it is important to understand the source. This lets you think about the expected resistance in advance and directly address it using this information. There are three general categories of resistance1:

a projects Success = quality + willingness to change

MUST
The participants do not understand the need for change.

WANT
People are not motivated to participate in the change, because of bad experiences in the past or negative emotions, for instance.

CAN
The participants do not have everything they require for change.

From resistance to willingness to change by Erwin Metselaar, Anton Cozijnsen, Peter van Delft, 2011

12 process and practice

Prevention is better than cure

Prevention is better than cure; this is also true for resistance. Your colleagues willingness to change can be increased by taking this into account when preparing the project. Here are a number of tips based on the three types of resistance.

Increasing the willingness to change

If you encounter resistance during a TOPdesk implementation or another project, you should actively address it. In most cases, the resistance will not simply disappear by itself. The right approach to doing this depends on the underlying cause, so it is important to discover the source. Here are some tips to increase the willingness to change based on the three types of resistance.

TIP: Make it clear why change is necessary

Your colleagues should understand the reason behind the change. You could communicate about this during a kick-off, in the company newsletter, or on the intranet.

TIP: Give personal attention

The most important thing for your colleagues to know is how their work will change and what the

MUST

consequences will be. If you notice that someone is having trouble with the change, a personal chat during office rounds can help considerably. Try to translate the company and departments interests to the individual colleagues interests.

TIP: Involve your colleagues in the project

Involve your colleagues in the change and give them responsibility within the project. Set up a team comprising colleagues from various departments and involve the group with decisions. Discuss your colleagues contributions and results during assessments.

MUST

WANT

TIP: Link positive emotions to the change TIP: Train your colleagues
Train your colleagues in the new working method. Provide clear instructions and reference material so that it is clear how things should be done even after the project is finished. Celebrate reaching milestones, such as with coffee and cake. Reward employees who contribute, and reward positive results with an honourable mention or a positive evaluation during an assessment.

want CAN TIP: Provide a point of contact

Designate a contact person who can help colleagues with their questions. This could be a key user, or someone who was involved in implementing the change.

Find out more

Are you experiencing resistence among your colleagues regarding the TOPdesk implementation? Ask your TOPdesk consultant for help. If you do not have any consultancy days left, please contact your local TOPdesk branch by telephone or email.

CAN

Text: Paul Balvers

Tool 13

connecting

TOPdesk to other programs

14 tool

Can you connect TOPdesk to another software program? We seem to be getting this question a lot lately. In this article, you can find out how a connection process works, how you can prepare and how to spot potential pitfalls.

The advantages of connecting

Being able to connect software programs has been a trend for quite some time. A connection lets you combine the strengths of one package with those of the other. You can also cut down on routine and manual tasks with a connection, helping you improve the speed and accuracy with which you process data. An example could be a connection between TOPdesk and an accounting software package. Your operators use TOPdesk to register their time spent. The accounting software takes care of the project administration and invoicing. Another option is to connect several TOPdesk installations, enabling each installation to maintain their individual set-up. This could be a connection between the front office and supplier. The front office uses TOPdesk to support the workstations. Calls about specific hardware can be assigned to the supplier, who also works in his own TOPdesk installation.

Phase 2: design
Once the right people have been selected, they can start working on the design: a document in which the specific linking details are recorded. It can be useful during this phase to determine step by step what needs to be made later on. TOPdesk has a so-called top-down approach when it comes to creating a design. The start of the design is very general, and becomes more detailed with each step. The design includes the following topics: 1. Connectivity: the programs need to communicate with each other via a medium. This medium can be an HTTP(S) connection, but also email or file transfer (either with or without FTP). Once the medium is determined, you need to establish the specific settings. This can include server names, URLs, IP addresses, file names, file locations and mailboxes. Security also plays an important role here. 2. Process: the use cases to be supported by the connection. This could include registering the time spent on an incident, which sends a message including time spent, operator and customer from TOPdesk to program B. 3. Messages: messages are exchanged between the programs and consist of several matching data items. These messages are defined in XML: a language to save structured data in a document. 4. Fields: a message is composed of fields. Fields can be caller, time spent or call type, for instance. Determine the source of the field within the program and where it needs to go in the other program. A field like time spent in TOPdesk, for instance, can be moved to the quantity field in the accounting software. 5. Values: data values will be sent from field to field, but in some cases the values might not match. For instance, because one package is in

How does a connection process work?

TOPdesk has a lot of experience with creating connections. To actualize them, TOPdesk follows a best-practice process comprising four steps: identifying project members, design, implementation, and acceptance test.

Phase 1: identifying project members

Before we can start a connection process, it is important that the right people are present: the functional experts and integration specialists. They are essential because you need the functional knowledge of two packages and your processes. It is also possible for someone to have expertise in several areas and thus have several roles within the project. The diagram on the next page explains this further. As you can tell from the diagram, functional experts can be put forward by you, but also by the suppliers. These suppliers then often have specific knowledge about integrating the software packages.

Text: Paul Balvers

tool 15

Connection process roles

TOPdesk Customer Third party

Functional expert

Functional expert

Functional expert

Integration expert

Integration expert

Dutch and the other is in English. You can prevent this by translating all the values before they are sent. These measures are documented in the design. Please note: you might not run into any issues until the development. An accurate estimate of the connection costs can be made based on the information in the design. You can then make a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the project should continue.

More information about connections

Would you like to learn more about connections or start your own connection process? You can contact TOPdesk to schedule an appointment with an integration expert. To prepare for his or her first visit: Make sure you understand the goal of the connection and what you hope to achieve. This is not only useful when creating the design, but also for the cost-benefit analysis. Make sure there are people available with functional and technical knowledge of both systems. Find out who you can appoint and who you have to hire. Make sure your infrastructure is organized. This means you should have test environments for all relevant programs, and communication between the programs should be possible.

Phase 3: implementation
Has a go been given to the rest of the process? Then the people identified in phase 1 can get to work. During development it often turns out that minor design adjustments need to be made. Each program needs a test environment for the development. If they do not yet exist, they should be set up first.

Phase 4: acceptance test

The implemented connection should be officially approved by the end users, which is done with an acceptance test. If the connection is accepted, it can be moved to the production environment.

16 project in focus

Photography: Robin Kuijs

Pouyan Daddeh
is a TOPdesk consultant. He specializes in technical issues.

How we upgrade your SaaS environment

Our SaaS customers are now also TOPdesk 5 users: all SaaS environments were upgraded in March and April. We spoke to Erwin Bothof, SaaS coordinator at TOPdesk, before the upgrade.
Start as a Service
When TOPdesk first started selling SaaS, we had to carefully consider the set-up we wanted. We formed a team of about five people. The future growth of the service was kept in mind, right from the start. As a result, we decided to involve a hosting provider in the project. Bothof has been involved in the SaaS project since the very beginning. The first SaaS environment installations were entirely manual, he says. This took about four hours to complete. Eventually the SaaS team grew, and we started automating installations. This reduced the installation time to two hours. We have implemented a number of improvements since then, and use different technology. Now an installation takes only fifteen to thirty minutes . port team a weekend, with ninety-five per cent of the work being automated. We try to get the most out of our hardware in order to perform the update as quickly and efficiently as possible. The main reason we cannot complete the upgrade in a single day is the database conversion. The databases are converted to TOPdesk 5. With the bigger databases, this takes so long that the upgrade cannot be completed until Sunday.

Efficient updates
Optimizing and automating the technology we use for our updates increases efficiency, says Bothof. The first fifty environments we updated took four members of the SaaS Support team an entire Saturday, with most of the update performed manually. We expect upgrading five hundred environments to TOPdesk 5 to take six members of the SaaS Sup-

Large-scale communication and support

Another interesting aspect to the upgrade is the large-scale approach to communication

Text: Pouyan Daddeh

project in focus 17

hour-long web conferences) and publishing a

an indication of the time required to update and test all the bespoke work. The current upgrade has an estimated duration of six to eight weeks. Writing and testing the scripts for installing and updating is done parallel to updating all the bespoke work, explains Bothof. We use a test network to perform the tests. Its an identical copy of the production network, with the exception of the customer environments. Once the scripts have been approved, we can start upgrading: first the test networks in March, then the production environments in April.

Now an installation takes only fifteen to thirty minutes

Erwin Bothof SaaS coordinator at TOPdesk

variety of manuals and videos. We have also prepared a knowledge item that customers can use as a news item to announce the upgrade to their end users.

Bespoke work is more work

The upgrade itself requires hours of preparation. One of the reasons for this is the add-ons and bespoke work used by SaaS customers. In order to accurately assess the quantity and impact of this bespoke work, we use scripts to create an inventory, says Bothof. This shows us what is present and in which environments. We use this inventory to create

and support. Customers are kept up to date through mail-outs, but we are also offering a number of supplementary services. For example, we are organizing webinars (free

SaaS team, from left to right: Patrick Nigrini, Menno van der Bijl, Xesc Arbona, Arjan s Gravendijk, Sietse Eling and Erwin Bothof

18 project in focus

did you know

TOPdesk has 450 SaaS customers, using 500 environments? the first SaaS customer, McDonalds in Germany, is still a customer? our SaaS servers are still hosted by the same company that hosted our very first servers? we will start using a second hosting location this year? the SaaS team is working hard on getting their ISAE 3402 certification?

Semi-annual update
All SaaS environments are updated at least once a year, but we strive to update environments without bespoke work twice a year. SaaS adheres to TOPdesks version planning, releasing a new version twice a year. The SaaS team waits for the first service pack before updating, so that they can guarantee the stability of the new version.

environment is not functioning properly, were already working on a solution, says Bothof. Meanwhile, the SaaS team is growing rapidly. In the beginning there were only a few people closely involved in the project. Nowadays, the team comprises 26 members from all departments. The biggest improvement is that the whole organization is becoming more aware that they have to keep SaaS in mind.

SaaS is here to stay

The SaaS teams activities are constantly being improved. For instance, they started using automatic monitoring for the servers and accompanying TOPdesk environments a few years ago. This keeps us up to date on any problems. Now, if a customer calls in to say that their

More information?
Visit www.topdesk.com/saas-update for more information about SaaS or to request a free demonstration environment.

Adve r tisement

How can I make Change activities dependent on each other

the question mark icon, featured on every process page, gives you access to the new help & support website. here you can nd the answer to all of your questions in the form of faqs, manuals, tips & tricks and getting started instructions.

Text: Jasmijn Moerman

Photography: Robin Kuijs

column

JASmijn moerman
...is a service management consultant at TOPdesk. She combines her consultancy activities with facility coordination within TOPdesk.

Coming clean
Research shows that the cleanliness in many holiday homes leaves a lot to be desired, says the radio news anchor. Unfortunately for me, she does not refrain from going into detail.

Kitchens may seem clean at first glance, but samples show that counters in holiday homes are often a major source of bacteria. Some were even dirtier than the toilet seat. Even the cleanest house could use some extra suds. The dirtiest holiday park reviewed is shocked and promises improvement. Ive had similar shocked reactions myself, such as whenever I get my hot plate out of the cupboard for the first time in months. Dust and crumbs somehow manage to accumulate under the box. This also happens with the cutlery tray. The cutlery itself is washed every day, but sometimes I need a kitchen utensil from a little deeper down. Apparently clean cutlery doesnt guarantee a clean cutlery drawer. As a consultant I get to take a look behind the scenes at various types of organization almost every day. Here too some things are not as tidy as they first seem. Take property management, for example.

When registering a call or change activity, incorrect naming or double Branch Cards do not immediately interfere with daily tasks. Until a new department starts using TOPdesk, processes change or a new version of TOPdesk is installed, that is. Then it becomes apparent that a clear overview of branches and rooms is very important. I once visited a customer I was helping implement the Reservations Management module. One of my first questions, whether they had already registered all their buildings and rooms in TOPdesk, was met with a nod. This indeed turned out to be the case. However, finding out that the main building was registered under five different names (on five different Branch Cards) was less wonderful. This made finding the right room for a reservation quite tricky. How many printers are in building X? Does this new employee work at the main office, the main building or the main Dutch office? Such questions remain unanswered.

You can also imagine how confusing the resulting reports would be. We had to sort out the underlying issues before we could get started with setting up the customers reservation process. An unexpected but unavoidable delay for the project. Hopefully the holiday parks have learned from their mistakes and will keep their buildings in order from now on. However, it is still bad that they didnt find out that their cleaning was not enough until it was too late. All previous visitors who had to make their sandwiches on a counter with more bacteria than a toilet seat will surely agree. The truth will come out, so coming clean is unavoidable. High time to tidy up those cupboards and drawers!

20 project in focus

Photography: Robin Kuijs

bram verheij
is a technical product consultant and involved in the TOPdesk beta programme.

Behind the scenes at the TOPdesk beta programme

TOPdesk plays an important role within many organizations. It is therefore important that each new version of the software is as good as possible. Each release is preceded by an extensive period of tests and improvements. Thanks to TOPdesks beta programme, our customers are an essential part of this process.

From alpha version to beta version

Every year, TOPdesk releases two new versions with various new features. In 2013, our customers can expect the arrival of versions 5.2 and 5.3 in the second and fourth quarters, respectively. In addition, service packs will be released as maintenance to previous versions. Here at TOPdesk, we put a lot of effort into

the quality of these releases. Each individual part of the software is tested thoroughly during the development process. The functional development ends three months before the planned release; after this point, individual parts of the version can no longer be adjusted. After completing the functional development, the so-called beta phase starts. In this period, the beta version is tested extensively, with the Development department setting aside time to address problems and implement improve-

used to perform further tests. Once the beta version has been in use without any problems for some time, the final important part of the beta phase starts: the beta programme for customers.

What is the beta programme?

Beta customers are the first ones to use the new version in their test environment, and sometimes even their production environment. These customers feedback is very important for TOPdesk when completing the final release, because the beta version is used with various environmental variables. Examples include specific TOPdesk licence combinations, operating systems, database history, and number of end users. TOPdesk is interested in seeing whether beta customers can discover things that are technically, graphically, or functionally not up to par with the quality

TOPdesk beta versions are stable and perform well

Serge Wol

ments. Once the first tests have been successfully completed, the beta version is installed in TOPdesks own production environment and used intensively by our various departments. Any problems with the software during this period are immediately communicated to the Development department. This input is incorporated in the next beta version, which is then

Text: Bram Verheij

project in focus 21

we were able to benefit from new features and bug fixes earlier than ever before
Arno van Turenhout

Arno van Turennout and Serge Wol at BRAIN FORCE

expected of the final release. The beta programme lasts a number of weeks. If there are no changes to be made, the new version of TOPdesk is made available to all customers. To ensure that this period progresses smoothly, customers who wish to use the beta version in their production environment are assigned a personal contact at TOPdesk Support. They also receive remote support during the beta version installation and the later update to the release version. Customers who wish to use the beta version in their test environment have access to the download and can provide feedback .

and customers four years ago. BRAIN FORCE is a corporate IT service provider that supports organizations in optimizing their IT and cloud infrastructures. Arno van Turennout (IT support and facilities manager) and Serge Wol (first line support specialist and TOPdesk application manager) were both involved in the beta programme, as Van Turennout explains. We make software, so we know how important it is to have customers take part in the development of new versions. By taking part in the beta programme, we were able to benefit from new features and bug fixes earlier than ever before . BRAIN FORCE takes a professional approach to implementing the beta version. After the test environment installation, we let several intensive TOPdesk users see if they encountered anything that would hinder their daily tasks, says Wol. We have never run into any-

thing that disrupted our working process, so we could install the beta on our production environment quite quickly. In our experience, TOPdesk beta versions are stable and perform well. Van Turennout continues, Because BRAIN FORCE makes software, we are not surprised by small imperfections in a beta version. In such cases, it is great that TOPdesk Support provides such excellent guidance, or we might not be able to take part in every programme. This gives us the feeling that our input is taken seriously for improving the eventual release. An added bonus from having more frequent contact with TOPdesk Support during the beta programme is that we get tips and ideas about utilizing TOPdesks possibilities.

Beta customer in the spotlight: BRAIN FORCE

BRAIN FORCE has taken part in the TOPdesk beta programme several times since they started using TOPdesk to support colleagues

22 process and practice

Communicate your SSD to success!

A self service desk could be the perfect solution for your service department. However, it is important that your employees use it and continue to do so in the future. This article provides a number of tips for setting up a successful self service desk and the key lies in communication.

The SSD lets service departments shorten the lines of communication with their customers, enabling them to help colleagues more quickly. Even if there is not an immediate solution for the logged problem, clear communication will improve customer satisfaction. Callers can track the status of their call in the SSD, and they always know where they stand. Quick support is important, but knowing that someone is working on your problem is just as reassuring.

The SSD for the service department

Problems that service departments deal with can be critical at times. In these cases, it is important for both the caller and the operator that the problem is processed as efficiently as possible. Are there critical malfunctions to important company systems? Are the cleaning, technical services and catering organized properly? Do reservations run smoothly and do visitors receive a warm welcome? Displaying accurate messages via the SSD is the first step in the right direction. An SSD is always available, as opposed to technical services staff who are not always on-site. And if you receive an email with additional information about the call, there might still be details missing. This means someone has to call the customer after all, which takes time and the call is put on hold. The SSD provides one location that is always available.

Improved services with the SSD

A good self service desk (SSD) is often the perfect solution for organizations that want to move forward and professionalize their services. It is an essential part of any service management tool and lets you collect all questions and requests in a single system. Because the SSD channels the information for you, the service department no longer has to collect the data and can focus on its core tasks. Customers also benefit from the SSD, because they know exactly where they can log their questions or requests. If the tool has a knowledge base or FAQ, customers can find the answers to their own questions. Whats more, managers can easily keep an eye on their service levels, and step in if necessary.

The SSD is live now what?

A self service desk is usually bought and installed with a lot of enthusiasm from the service departments. Everything seems to work technically, but there is no sign of the previously mentioned advantages. Why? The answer is simple: the self service desk cannot be successful until it is actually used and considered important within the organization. People are reluctant to change the way they work. They cannot see the advantage of a new tool, or the step to actually start using the tool is too big. Most organizations are aware of this and try to moti-

Text: Timme Hos & Stefanie Klaassen

process and practice 23

The SSD should not only go live, but also keep its momentum

We are all on the right track!

Keep track of your HR calls in the Self Service Desk

Are you ready for the HR Self Service Desk?

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vate their employees. In practice this is often done by email, a message on the intranet, or a specially organized introduction session. This works at first, but is also easily forgotten. The organization then returns to the situation when it needed to implement a self service desk in the first place.

Communicate!
The key to successfully using the self service desk lies in communication. This means you should consider your employees acceptance of the SSD even before the implementation of the self service desk. How are we going to handle the implementation and promotion of the SSD within the organization? How are we going to gain the acceptance needed to innovate the company processes? The answer to these types of questions is not: Lets send everyone an email. It is important that you ask questions about the future SSD users during the implementation. Who fits the company profile and our target groups? But also: what is the specific aim of the SSD? Implementation and communication strategy go side-by-side.

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Communicate in phases, like with these types of posters

Communicate in phases
It is important that you continue to communicate during all the phases of the SSD implementation. Before the SSD goes live, you can focus on announcements like: Coming soon: the SSD! Once the SSD is live, it is a challenge to activate the target group with a different type of communication. Later on it can be useful to continue communicating as a reminder, keeping your employees motivated to use the SSD. It is important to make sure the SSD not only goes live, but also does not lose its momentum.

Choose your products

It can be useful to specify the goals of the SSD at an early stage. The goals can be different for every organization: easing the pressure on the service desk, more international SSD users who communicate through the same channel, etc. Once you have set your goals, you can select the products with which you want to support these goals. For instance: posters, a desktop card, a tutorial or screensaver, or a fun gadget. A good way of integrating the SSD in your organization is changing the interface to match your organizations corporate identity. This lets you put your mark on the tool and makes it recognizable to the end user. You can use your in-house marketing or communication department for this, or ask a specialized agency.

Measure the goals and adjust if needed

If you analyse a promotion process properly, you can check whether the goals are being met. In other words: you can see whether your communication plan has resulted in a return on investment. There are many tools that feature a reporting functionality. You can step in if necessary, find out where the problems are (which departments do not yet use the SSD?) and initiate a specific campaign. Your SSD will remain a success. Timme Hos and Stefanie Klaassen work at TOPdesks Communication and Design department, and for Design Agency DDC: an agency specialized in self service desk promotion.

24 working smarter

Photography: Robin Kuijs

patrick mackaaij
is an information coordinator at TOPdesk. He specializes in technical issues and optimizing processes.

Gain insight into time spent and costs

The Spent Time and Costs add-on lets you create a single overview of time spent and costs from several modules. You can use this overview as the basis for passing on costs and discussing services.

Operator time registration

If you wish to report on spent time, operators must register this on a process cards Time Registration tab. You can add a new time registration using the Enter Time Spent icon in the top left corner.

A report displaying spent time and costs TOPdesks process cards let you register time spent and costs. Doing so helps you create overviews of how much time and money was required for incidents and problems, or project, change or operational activities. You can group these key numbers per module with the standard report wizards and widgets. In the pop-up you can register time spent for a specific operator or operator group. You can also antedate the time spent registration.

Text: Patrick Mackaaij

working smarter 25

Creating the report

To gain insight into your total spent time and costs, use the Spent Time and Costs add-on, available in Dutch, English and German. Initiate the report via: http://[TOPdesk server name]/tas/secure/spenttime

The Salary value is determined based on the hourly rate of the operator (group) involved at the moment of time registration. If you based the report on a selection in Step 1, you are only able to select the values. This is because selections are always limited to a specific module. Step 3. It is also possible to group the key numbers per period or based

The report follows the same steps as the TOPdesk Reports Wizard. Step 1. Select the period to report on, and specify whether or not to include archived incidents. You can also base the report on a selection. The selection menu groups all selections per module. The report displays the module to which the selection applies. Your TOPdesk application manager can set up the module prefixes on the server. Step 2. Tick the modules for which you want to group the data.

on a property, such as branch, cost centre or department. You can also use free searchlists to report on project level, for instance. The default number of grouping levels is three, but your TOPdesk application manager can expand this to ten. You will be able to click on groups to access more detailed overviews. Step 4. Indicate whether you wish to create a dynamic or static table. With a dynamic table, you can click through grouping levels. Static tables display all data in a single overview, and are intended for export to Excel or PDF.

Reusing report settings

If you wish to use the overview of total spent time and costs on a regular basis, it is useful to add a shortcut to the add-on URL to TOPdesk. You can use the Quick Launch Bar on the left side of the screen, or the widget on a Module Page or Dashboard. It is also possible to set up the shortcut so that it automatically fills in the steps for the report. The URL at the bottom of the generated report lets you create the exact same report again, without having to use the wizard. Copy the URL and add it to the Quick Launch Bar. Removing the beginDate and endDate parameters from the URL will cause TOPdesk to ask for the time period when you use the shortcut. You can also run through all steps each time by creating a shortcut to the add-ons main page. If you often select the same options in the report, your TOPdesk application manager can register these options on the server. The report will select the correct options, but you will be able to change them when running through the steps.

26 working smarter

Activating time spent and costs registration

In TOPdesk, you can (de)activate the registration of time spent and costs per module. To do this, go to Settings > Module Settings for the module in question and tick the option Time Registration > Use Time Registration. You can make filling in the time spent mandatory and have TOPdesk ask for time registration at logical moments in the process. To register costs, tick the Costs functionality per card type. For instance, this can be done via Settings > Module Settings > Call Management > First Line Calls > Functionality block > Costs. If you wish to include changes in registered costs and the hourly rate of an operator (group) in reports, it is important that these are recorded per card. To do this, you can use the add-on to create (and remove) the required events and actions. This is done on the following page: http://[TOPdesk server name]/tas/secure/spenttime/install The standard settings for the Spent Time and Costs report steps can be set up via the TOPdesk server, in the bespokeworkresources\spettime_settings.properties file. Here you can specify the prefix for selections and tick the related modules. You can also expand the number of grouping levels to a maximum of ten.

Editorial
Want to comment? Go to www.topdeskmagazine.com The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects that are topical in the world of professional service desks in IT, facilities and other service providing organizations. TOPdesk Magazine is intended for managers, service desk employees, facilities organizations and electronic city councils anyone who is involved with supporting clients on a daily basis. This concerns both the processes and the technology behind these services. TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication Tel: +44 (0) 207 803 4200 Email: editorial@topdesk.com Chief Editor: Nienke Deuss Editors: Nienke Deuss, Timme Hos, Stefanie Klaassen, Milou Snaterse Translators: Leah Clarke, Nicola van de Velde Contributors: Paul Balvers, Pouyan Daddeh, Irene Kruijff, Jasmijn Moerman, Patrick Mackaaij, Bram Verheij Layout: Louise van der Laak Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn, Robin Kuijs Copy editor: Nicola van de Velde A print run of 6,000 Quarterly magazine Languages: Dutch, English

TOPdesk add-ons
TOPdesk offers Enterprise customers a number of add-ons to address questions relevant to several customers. Add-on installation usually happens under supervision of a TOPdesk consultant, who can provide information and take care of the initial set-up. You can request the Spent Time and Costs add-on via the TOPdesk Extranet.

Adve r tisement

want to make the most of Your organizations self service desk?

A successful SSD starts with a successful promotion!
Desktop card with easy-to-follow steps for Waternet

One of the animated manuals for Waternet

The more your end users use the SSD, the more time and money you will save. After a successful promotion, the number of calls logged in the SSD increases by 40% on average!

t Please feel free to contact us to discuss the possibilities of your Self Service Desk promotion.

+31 (0)15 270 09 60

e contact@designagencyddc.com w designagencyddc.com

28 klant in beeld

tips + tricks
Implementing many changes at once
TOPdesk has a trick that lets you apply the same change to 100 cards with a single click. This works in all versions of TOPdesk. Simply follow these steps: 1. Create an HTTP request* for the desired change. 2. In the Event Management module, link this HTTP request to an action that takes place for the event move to this card type from an archived card. 3. Create a selection of the cards you wish to adjust and archive them. 4. Create a selection of the desired archived cards and activate them. > The HTTP request will now be run and the cards will be changed. Please visit the TOPdesk Community for more information and a step-by-step guide: https://community.topdesk.com/showthread.php?t=1337 * The HTTP request manual is available in the Event Management module manual on the Help & Support site (PDF).

Mail import
Did you know: the mail import can also create and update changes? the mail import can also use IMAP on SSL? the mail import can also be used in combination with Office 365?* you can have the creator of the card filled in? you can have the creator of the card trigger an event for elapsed time (such as automatically sending a registered email)? * Contact TOPdesk Support for more information.

TOPdesk UK limited t +44 (0)20 7803 4200 e info@topdesk.co.uk w www.topdesk.co.uk TOPdesk Deutschland GmbH t +49 (0)631 624 00 0 e info@topdesk.de w www.topdesk.de

TOPdesk Belgium bvba t +32 (0)3 292 32 90 e info@topdesk.be w www.topdesk.be TOPdesk Nederland BV t +31 (0)15 270 09 00 e info@topdesk.nl w www.topdesk.nl

TOPdesk Danmark A/S t +45 7015 7500 e info@topdesk.dk w www.topdesk.dk TOPdesk Magyarorszg Kft. (Hungary) t +36 1 301 0190 e info@topdesk.hu w www.topdesk.hu

Copyright 2013 TOPdesk UK limited. Although this magazine has been produced with the utmost care and attention, the writers cannot be held responsible in any way for any damages that may occur due to errors and / or deficiencies in this publication.