Email Summaries

It is no secret that I strongly believe Email is a productivity tool from the last century and recommend against enabling one-off email notifications unless absolutely necessary.

A much better way and extremely advanced configuration is to create email summaries.

Some popular examples of email summaries are:

• Daily SLA (Escalation) Email Summaries (combined with a19 SLA Indicator)
• Daily Assignment (Task) Email Summaries
• Daily Incident Email Summaries
• Weekly Change Request Email Summary
• Software Asset Management – License Reconciliation and Audit Summaries
• Procurement Purchase Order Summary
• Hardware Asset Management and Inventory Bar Code Scanning Summaries
• Service Request Schedule Summary
• Knowledgebase Activity Summary
• Project Status Updates
• Email Errors in the last 7 days
• Log Errors in the last 7 days
• Workflow Instance Errors in the last 7 days
• LDAP Errors in the last 24 hours
• SCCM Errors in the last 24 hours

Email Summary for Incident. One weekly Email to Incident Owners

Why would you opt out of one-off emails and implement email summaries? Email notifications become counter productive when there is a flood of email notifications for just 1 incident, service request, or task. Back in the day (last century) when ticket volumes were much lower, email made sense. In today’s fast paced Service Desk world, ticket volumes have gone up and turnaround times have gone down, requiring targeted emails, just-in-time (JIT), meaningful, precise and concise emails.

What happens when HEAT ISM End Users get overwhelmed with emails?

• Recipients interact with outdated information in emails
• Recipients spend more time on emails than the actual resolution
• Recipients create email filters and frankly set and forget or ignore one-off emails
• Morale goes down and the Ivanti Implementation‘s emails are deemed a nuisance
• Ivanti HEAT Administrators are re-active and are not aware of Log, Workflow, or Email Errors until they search for them. Email Summaries are pro-active and only send if there is an error, with all the details and relevant saved search.

How to solve the Ivanti service manager email notification dilemma?

Balance, just-in-time emails, with precise, concise information, and email summaries.

When should emails be one-off and when should emails be summarized?

One-off email candidates are any time-sensitive emails, typically high priority. P1 and P2 Incidents Updates, P1/2 Tasks Creations and Escalations, Urgent Service Request for example.

Email Summaries should be employed whenever to expect frequent email notifications on the same subject (think business object) throughout the day. For example summaries of new tasks assigned and outstanding, every morning, or daily incident SLA/Escalation breach warnings and breaches.

What information should be in the email? Email notifications should be precise and concise and contain minimal information, less is more for sure, especially for one-off emails as the information can change quickly. Symptoms for example may get updated and journal notes are added frequently for high priority incidents, so it’s best to redirect the user to a link to open the incident in the HEAT ISM Application.

Advanced Ivanti Service Manager Configuration

How do you implement email summaries? This is an extremely advanced configuration topic that requires scheduled workflows, saved searches, quick actions, and use of the ChildFold and ForEachChild functions to create a custom email summary business object that is used to trigger and manage HTML emails as well as provide the user with a link to the email summary within the HEAT ISM Application, and Email Summary Dashboard for a better overview for executives, managers, service desk analysts, and end users alike.

The simple answer is that if you are still unsure how to implement Ivanti Email Notification Summaries, then seek a seasoned Ivanti Consultant that can get it done.

The estimated effort for a simple email summary is anywhere from 5 to 10 days depending on criteria. Please be sure to contact me or set up a discovery session to take your Ivanti implementation to the next level!

Book NOW!

Email Summaries – Independent ITSM Podcast covering Ivanti Service Manager ISM HEAT Latest Solutions & Best Practices

It is no secret that I strongly believe Email is a productivity tool from the last century and recommend against enabling one-off email notifications unless absolutely necessary.  A much better way and extremely advanced configuration is to create email summaries.  Do you have an Ivanti Podcast Topic or Question?  Submit it at podcast.a19consulting.com

PS: If you’re still reading this, here is another tip: Consider Targeted Mobile App Notifications and SMS Notifications as well!

PPS: Ask a19 Consulting about their a19 Email Summary Module for Ivanti Service Manager! The first 3 customers that mention my blog, get a special bonus.

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How to show Customer History using Quick Action

One of the HEAT Classic Features that is frequently requested is to bring back the customer history. There are several implementations for this, yesterday covered how to implement Incident Customer History for Related Items, aka Object Matching, today we will cover how to show Customer History using a Quick Action.

1. Create a UI Quick Action for Incident
2. Scope: ObjectWorkspace
3. Command ID: Search
4. Confirmation: null
5. Command Data:

‘ObjectType’:’Incident#’,
‘SearchCriteria’:[
{‘ObjectId’:’Incident#’,’FieldName’:’ProfileLink_RecID’,
‘Condition’:’=’, ‘FieldValue’:’$(ProfileLink_RecID)’}
],
‘FillSearchPanel’:’true’

Save and add to the Incident Layout Form View Toolbar with disabled expression:
$(nvl(ProfileLink_RecID, “”) == “”)

How to show Customer History in Related Items (Object Matching)

One of the HEAT Classic Features that is frequently requested is to bring back the customer history. There are several implementations for this, today we will cover how to implement Incident Customer History for Related Items, aka Object Matching.

1. Open the Incident Layout you wish to implement this for
2. Open the Form View
3. Click “Edit Matching Settings“
4. Edit the Existing Incident Object
5. Click Edit Filter
6. Edit the “Resolved Filter” and change it to “Resolved + Customer History“
   Note that you could add a new filter but then the user has to select that filter manually or disable
7. set Condition to $([MatchedObject]Status == “Resolved” OR [MatchedObject]ProfileLink_RecID==ProfileLink_RecID)
8. Save all your changes
9. Refresh your Browser
10. Test your Changes
11. Like my Blog and tell all your friends!

Tips & Best Practices:

You can add additional filters or edit existing filters to show:

• Master Incidents
• Incidents from Employees with the same Org Unit, Department, Location
• Incidents that are Logged or Not Closed (where you want to see what similar Incidents are out there that haven’t been Resolved/Closed

Former Kifinti Solutions Consultant releases a19 UAT Test Scripts Module for Ivanti Best Practices System

Listen to my First Podcast Episode on this topic

Gregor, a former Kifinti Solutions Consultant, is without doubt a unique and distinctive authority in the Ivanti ITSM space with his consulting and development experience and extensive insight to best practices going back over 24 years with the HEAT and now Ivanti ISM/IAM products.

Gregor Anton
a19 Consulting
 
“Give me just 19 minutes of your time,
and I guarantee I will streamline your
Ivanti Service Manager implementation”

Providing HEAT Best Practices and now Ivanti Best Practices, since 1996, with his tested and true implementations and upgrades, Gregor now focuses on his company a19 Consulting which provides Ivanti Professional Services and Ivanti Best Practices.

Ivanti Best Practices

Developing, streamlining, best practices and latest solutions for fortune 500 companies and Frontrange Business Partners (Change Control, Avante Solutions, Kifinti Solutions) and Ivanti Business Partners (Kifinti Solutions, DDS IT), worldwide.

a19 UAT Test Scripts Module for Ivanti Service Manager (HEAT)

The a19 UAT Test Scripts module significantly improves your Ivanti Service Manager Implementation, Upgrades, and collaboration internally and with your Ivanti Consultant.

Gone are the days of using Excel for UAT Test Scripts, or worse, heading into darkness without UAT Test Scripts!

Long time Ivanti Consultants, Ivanti Business Partners, and Ivanti Customers alike only dream of having a simple UAT Test tool that cuts their implementation time and cost.

Lets face it, when you’re implementing Ivanti Service Manager, you want to focus on strategy and quick execution. Validation Testing is the #1 problem with most ISM Implementations, upgrades, customizations, and integrations due to a lack of UAT Test Scripts.

The #2 problem is a lack of process. With an average of over 100 test cases, you need a tool that redefines your Ivanti Service Manager Validation Process.

The #3 problem is collaboration. How do you keep your team’s morale up and focused on the key areas for testing when you don’t have a proper UAT Testing System that’s real-time, easy-to-use, and clearly defines key roles, responsibilities, and lets the Subject Matter Experts focus on their area of expertise when you don’t have a proper system?!

On top of that, you need precise, concise, timely, and relevant Test Cases and Results to make informed decision and identify actions needed, all while keeping a bird’s eye view with relevant dashboards, analytics, simplified ISM Change Control, and an executive summary.

“Give me just 19 minutes of your time,
and I guarantee I will streamline your
Ivanti Service Manager UAT Testing“

Gregor Anton | a19 Consulting

Contact Gregor at a19 Consulting

and take your UAT Testing to the next level!

Just see what others had to say! Click here to find out.

Ivanti Best Practices

The ITxM Space (ITSM, IT Service Management, ITAM, IT Asset Management) has never been more exciting, as is the transformation to ESM (Enterprise Service Management).

Experience dictates that the happiest Ivanti Customers are those that are actively following Ivanti Best Practices.

Best source for Ivanti Best Practices

Ivanti does a pretty good job at providing best practice advice and marketing material, but if your’e looking to take your Ivanti Service Manager implementation or upgrade to the next level, then you owe it to yourself to seek the advice of a professional services company that has been there in the trenches, implementing Ivanti Service Manager (formerly HEAT by Frontrange) since 1996.

Best Practice advice is good. Experience Is Better!

There is no doubt that Ivanti is a leader in the ESM space, but when it comes to professional services, implementations, upgrades, configurations, integrations, latest solutions, and best practices, then professional service experience of consultants trumps that of a software company. Every time.

Ivanti Business Partners and Independent Consulting companies such as www.a19consulting.com are there in the trenches, dealing with the day to day, operational challenges, supporting customers long after Ivanti has done their sales presentation.

Are you getting the most out of your Ivanti Implementation?

You aren’t. Guaranteed! The most important decision you need to make to take your Ivanti Implementation to the next level is contacting an Ivanti Professional Services provider with Best Practice experience.

Introducing the Ivanti Best Practice System

Developed by a veteran Ivanti Consultant and Systems Developer, who has consulted for and mentored Frontrange Business Partners (Change Control, Avante Solutions) and Ivanti Business Partners (Kifinti Solutions, DDS IT) alike.

http://ivanti.bestpractice.systems

Join other Ivanti Customers and Ivanti Business Partners and contact us, we are here to help.

UAT Test Script Case Example

One of the biggest issues with writing UAT test cases, is knowing where to start and insisting on building your test script around the software. The fact is, you do not need access to Ivanti Service Manager (ISM, powered by HEAT IT Service Management) and it is actually encouraged not to use ISM at all when devising UAT Test Scripts.

Writing UAT Test Scripts for ISM HEAT is not unlike writing a letter to a long lost friend. At first you don’t know where to start, the first few words are tough to get out. But as you start writing, and you focus on the subject matter, the words turn into sentences, paragraphs, and pages.

Same goes for UAT Test Cases. Start simple, and remember, it’s about defining test cases for day-to-day job functions, not system testing of software, features, or functionality.

You should focus on:

• Test Script Case Subject | What are we validating?
• Test Script Case Details | Optional if you need to expand on the subject at hand
• Subject Matter Experts | Who is validating?
• Input Steps | What are the steps, think SOP, that testers need to take to carry out the test
• Input Data | Sample test data and supporting artifacts
• Expected Results | What is the expected output?

For example, if you were to write use cases for a kitchen, you would make a list of all the use cases (criteria if you will), such as Making Breakfast, Making Lunch, Coffee, Washing Dishes, etc. You don’t need to have a kitchen, and you don’t need to cook an omelette to document a use case for breakfast. All you need to do is visualize the steps, intended input, and expected results. High level, bullet form. Anything more becomes training documentation.

In this Use Case example, steps would be prepare ingredients, follow recipe, cook, season to taste, and eat. Input would be your ingredients, output is an omelette. The case steps may reference a combination of training materials (how to crack eggs, mix ingredients, recipe steps if you will) and standard operating procedures, aka SOPs (using the stove, properly food handling, storage, etc). Training materials and SOPs are important references, however separate from UAT Test Script Cases.

As you can see, UAT Test Cases should be simple, high level, and do not require ISM HEAT access, and shouldn’t be confused with Training Materials or SOPs. You should consult Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), the end users, to ensure you have covered all the possible scenarios. In this example, this would be the chef. In the real world this could be the Service Desk Manager, Service Desk Analyst Lead, Storage Techs for Asset Scanning and Storage Management, Procurement Lead for Accounting, Purchase Order related cases, and so on.

Last but not least, your focus should be on Test Case Scenarios, not features, functionality, or software. That’s System testing. We’re not testing the recipe or stove’s every button and dial. We are constructing high level use cases and scenarios, of day-to-day operations.

If you’re looking for sample ISM UAT Test Cases and Scripts from the a19 Consulting – Ivanti Best Practice System then be sure to contact us! We’ve been providing HEAT (now Ivanti Service Manager) Professional Services since 1996 and can help!

IAM Bar Code Scanning – Best Practices

With the release of Ivanti Asset Manager (IAM) you are now able to scan bar codes with the Ivanti Asset Manager android application.

UPDATE: 2020-11-19 a19 Asset Scanner | Apple iOS Mobile Application | Ivanti Service/Asset Manager | Click Here to View

UPDATE: 2020-11-05 a19 Asset Scanner | Floating Bar Code Reader | Ivanti Service Manager | Android | Click Here to View

a19 Asset Scanner | Apple iOS | Mobile Application | Ivanti Service/Asset Manager

a19 Asset Scanner | Android | Mobile Application | Ivanti Service/Asset Manager

IAM Asset Scanner Requirements

Presently only available to android devices, more specifically Android OS Based Scanning Devices, there are two models that have been tested by Ivanti.

• MUNBYN – tested by a19 Consulting
• ScanSKU

IAM Asset Scanner Getting Started

1. Purchase Asset Scanner device above.
2. Download IAM Android App from Google Play Store
3. Contact me to streamline your asset scanning and overall asset management operating procedures

Note: Enhancement requests have been made to include scanning ability for android smart devices (smartphone, tablet) with APP. There is a workaround for using android smart devices, contact me to find out more.

IAM Asset Scanner UI

Ivanti Asset Manager
Android App
Asset Scanner UI

IAM Asset Scanner Role Functionality

The Out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality allows for scanning bar codes and looking up Asset Tags, creating and adding assets, with Asset Type, Sub Type, Asset Name, Serial Number, Location, Assigned Model, and Manufacturer. The “Scan Log” is then attached to the new/updated Configuration Item (CI, now Asset)

Sample Asset Tag and Serial Number Bar Codes

Best Practice

a19 Consulting has taken the asset scanner to the next level customized the Asset Scanner UI with an asset scanning wizard that after scanning an asset tag walks you through creating a new asset or updating an asset, plus the ability to scan packing slips for procurement, with pictures of the packing slips, and 1 or more Assets (CI’s) attached to the packing slips, which roll up into the Purchase Order and Invoices for reconciliation.

For more information on the a19 Best Practice System and the a19 Asset Scanner Wizards be sure to contact a19 Consulting – Ivanti Developers and Consultants since 1996!

Roles and Permissions CRUD

Roles & Permissions have been become more complex with the Ivanti Asset Manager release. There are a few key roles like Asset Scanner, Storage Managers and Procurement Manager that need to be considered.

CRUD – Create Read Update Delete

A CRUD is an acronym for Create Read Update Delete, the basic four functions for record storage.

Sample CRUD

Sample CRUD
Ivanti Asset Manager

Notice that the Asset Admin and Asset Manager Roles are left off by design, as the focus for existing Ivanti Service Manager implementations are the SDM, SDA roles and Asset Admin/Manager roles typically introduce unnecessary complexity.

a19 Consulting – Best Practice System – Tip

• Never Ever Delete – use a status value or hide checkbox
• Limit Access – add more access as needed; less is more!
• K.I.S.S.– Keep It Simple Smart people
• Review during UAT – It is recommended to review the CRUD during UAT as core T.E.A.M. members will have had an opportunity to use the system and get familiar with the workspaces and their relationships. Furthermore Record and Field Level access permissions by Role, Team, Organizational Unit, or other criteria can be determined at that time.

T.E.A.M. T.ogether E.veryone A.chives M.ore

Best Practice – List Styles

Here is a great example for “Quick Wins” which are low effort and high benefit, as discussed the other day in my post Scoping Priorities.

Project Task List – Color Coding

A best practice that you can find throughout the a19 Consulting Best Practice system is to use color coding where possible, especially with lists, so it is visually easy and quick to identify important records or columns, such as the Status, Start Date, End Date, and Owner of Project Tasks by using style expressions. Why the owner? For a meaningful project overview of project tasks.

ISM Project Dashboard Example

a19 Consulting – Best Practice Tip
Style Expressions

• Tasks with a status of Logged (Yellow)
• Tasks assigned to self (Blue)
• Start/End Date met (Green)
• Start/End Date not met (Red)

sample style expression

$(if CurrentDateTime() > EndDate &&
Status not in (“Completed”, “Rejected”, “Cancelled”)
then “RedBox”
else if CurrentDateTime() > StartDate && CurrentDateTime() < EndDate
then “GreenLabel”
else “Default”)

Scope of Work Priorities

When you are gathering Ivanti Service Manager (ISM) and Ivanti Asset Manager (IAM) requirements to build your Solution Design Documentation and Scope of Work (SOW) there is one very important best practice. Set Implementation Priorities!

setting priorities for your ISM project

Scoping is an art of finding the right balance between effort, benefits, and long term gains. Quick Wins should be your 1st Priority (P1) followed by long term gains which are Priority 2 (P2) and have the highest benefits.

For example, on a recent Asset Management implementation the core project team determined that the quickest wins and highest benefits would be asset scanning and a foundation for procurement and assets (hardware and software) that we could built upon on future phases.

ITSM Priorities by Benefit and Effort

That lead us to this high level scope:

• P1 – Asset Scanning / Procurement Foundation
• P2 – Software Asset Management (SAM)
• P3 – Hardware Asset Management Enhancements

What this meant was that we would build asset scanning capabilities not only for assets but also packing slips, replace the existing purchase order tracking excel sheets, and vendor inventory tracking sheets from Softchoice and various software vendors, with an Ivanti Service Manager product catalog for hardware and software, utilized the purchase order workspace for sales orders, enabled contracts and entitlements for software inventory, and built a softchoice integration to automatically update invoice and shipping information and functionality to reconcile against packing slips and purchase orders.

These were just our P1’s and P2’s! With further integration to discovery tools, enhancements to assets, and workflow automation for P3. Of course keep in mind that upon project completion some of the other requirements from the parking lot will become P1’s and P2’s and the cycle begings.

Along the way we identified more quick wins that improved overall product usability and project tracking:

• ISM Administrator Level 2 Role – for limited admin access with dedicated top level tabs to manage assigned validation lists and some configurations without full administration console access
  
• a19 Consulting Tracker – a custom built project tracking tool by a19 Consulting with backlog, artifacts, parking lot, status updates, project dashboard, heat release project and package tracking, to-do list, and many more features
  
• a19 Consulting Change Control with Announcements, Alerts, Notifications, and approval process for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
  
• a19 Consulting UAT Test Scripts Workspace for ISM Administrators and Consultants to develop test scripts, run test scripts, log defect, pass/fail tests, request enhancements and identify show stoppers, must-haves, and nice-to-haves

If you would like more information for the a19 Consulting Best Practice Tool set or need help defining and executing your scope of work please contact me!