Procurement – ITSM/ITAM/ESM Blog

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.

ivanti service manager scoping SOW solution design priorities best practices project tracker ISM Change Control P1 P2 Nice-to-have Must-Have Show-Stopper UAT Test Scripts — 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!

Ivanti Asset Manager 101

Ivanti added their Asset Manager product (IAM) into Ivanti Service Manager (ISM) in late 2019 with the 2019.3 release. While a new product to some, and definitely a huge learning curve for many ISM customers, Asset Management is not a new concept to ISM.

Ivanti Asset Manager IAM Asset Scanner Procurement CMDB Configuration Item CI Software Inventory Product Catalog Contracts Invoices Purchase Orders Scan Log Storage Entitlement ITAM Asset Management

Back in the HEAT for Windows (HFW) days under Bendata ownership, that’s right, going back over 20 years now, “Asset Tracking” was accomplished with the HEAT Ticketing System, now called HEAT Classic (by Frontrange Solutions) or HEAT Call Logging, using Profiles, subsets, and detail screens until configs were introduced and then later the HEAT ITSM introduced the CMDB (Configuration Management Database Base) which consists of CI‘s (Configuration Items) such as Services, Software, Enterprise Applications, Servers, Computers, and other hardware, and complimenting Service Request Offerings, Workflows, and Automation, as well as integration with Discovery Tools such as SCCM, EPM, and others.

Fast forward to 2020 and Asset Management takes a front-seat, especially now with Covid-19 and work-from-home projects. The new interface combines IAM into ISM, hence the introduction of new business objects with the ivnt (Ivanti) pre-fix, new roles (Asset Administrator, Asset Manager), new CI type for Software Product, as well as General Assets, Un-managed Assets, Infrastructure, and Peripheral Device that combines some of the previous CI Types for “peripherals” into one.

The new business object structure and ERD takes some time to study and getting used to, especially since the ITxM (ITSM/ITAM) architecture has been combined over time, with some FRS (Frontrange Solutions) prefixes, such as the revamped Product Catalog (FRS_Price_Item), and the standard naming convention (without prefix), and ivnt prefixes. On top of that there are legacy and legacy discovery (DSM) business objects (which are partially used by the EPM and SCCM integrations). Software Asset Management (SAM) becomes even more convoluted as there are new workspaces, legacy workspaces, and depending on which discovery tool you’re using, there may be a subset of workspaces and objects. Plus SAM is closely integrated with Contracts and Purchase Oder now.

Procurement has gone through major improvements as well, and Contracts, Purchase Orders, and their respective line items, plus Invoices added. This can be a project of its own, and can be integrated with your ERP or accounting system.

Asset Scanning with the Asset Scanner Mobile app is another major feature introduced that allows your Storage Manager’s (another new role) to scan assets into inventory, check them out, do floor sweeps of inventory, and track stock levels as well as shipments for orders.

Understanding, implementing IAM, and doing so correctly and efficiently, can be a daunting task.

Before you waste time, energy, and resources, be sure to contact a19 Consulting for Ivanti Professional Services, the testimonial from the latest of many Asset Manager installations speaks for itself.

Ivanti Service Manager Upgrades

Before you consider upgrading your on premise Ivanti Service Manager (ISM) and/or Ivanti Asset Manager (IAM) you should consider the What’s New Releases, the Ivanti Release Schedule, Steps Involved, and Impact to your Service Desk Implementation.

For example if you are upgrading from the HEAT Classic Ticketing System then the changes and impact to your organization, business processes, and day to day operations, is substantial versus just a minor release upgrade.

Of course if you’re using SaaS (Software as a Service) hosted by Ivanti then you are privy to the most current version and should review the What’s New information and Ivanti Cloud Calendar for regression testing, training, and identifying a communication plan.

Here is a quick summary of the latest Ivanti Service Manager (ISM) and Ivanti Asset Manager (ISM) Releases. This is my personal cheat sheet.

Ivanti Service Manager Releases – What's New – What you need to know before you upgrade from a19 Consulting – Ivanti Professional Services

https://www.slideshare.net/IvantiServiceManager/ivanti-service-manager-releases-whats-new-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-upgrade-237947346

Be sure to Contact me for more information!

What are ITSM, ITIL, and Ivanti?

ITSM began with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which provides best practice guidance and an extensive set of processes and policies for improving IT service delivery and customer satisfaction.