I N C I D E N T A L S

Criticality and Impact Analysis

Using Configuration Item Criticality to drive SLA priority

LiveTime Supervisors are well aware that the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is at the heart of all LiveTime installations. Its central role is vital in providing high quality service management. The CMDB provides the blueprint of the organization's IT infrastructure.

The infrastructure consists of individual items - hardware, software, services, documentation - whose relationships can be mapped within the CMDB and, if planned from a service perspective, related to business functions that the organization offers.

Each Item, or in ITIL terminology, Configuration Item (CI), has configurable attributes and data types to which corresponding values can be applied. The definition of these attributes occurs at the Category level of the CMDB.

The Criticality field, located on the Item Information tab, is used to identify the importance of an Item relative to its role within the organization. When the Incident Priority is set to Derived (Admin > Setup > Privileges > Requests), the criticality drives the impact on any underlying service request.

The priority of the request is subsequently derived from the request impact and urgency which determines the approriate SLA priority for the selected agreement. If required, the Impact can be overridden on the Request Summary screen.

Since many Customers rate most of their requests as urgent, using derived priority ensures that each request is assessed relative to the Item's importance within the organization. Similarly, Customer requests that are logged through the LiveTime Customer Portal apply the Item Criticality to determine the Priority of the request. The Technician servicing the request can adjust the Priority as appropriate.

Table 1.0 displays the calculations used by LiveTime when the Item Criticality is mapped to a request's Impact, which is then combined with the request's Urgency to derive the importance or Priority of the request:


Table 1.0.

These calculations result in the request being assigned the Priority level as displayed in Table 1.1:


Table 1.1.

LiveTime's ability to calculate the Priority ensures adequate resources are allocated to every request relative to the importance of the underlying infrastructure or service. The time taken to set the Criticality levels of Items within the CMDB is time well spent, as it gives support personnel a clear indication of the Impact of a service request from the moment it is logged.

Closing the Loop on Email Request Management

Investing time and effort in the development of your Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is one of the most crucial aspects of setting up LiveTime. It not only provides a logical map of your infrastructure and services, but defines the hierarchy of your service catalog and knowledgebase.

In addition, the CMDB provides key relationships between the underlying Service Level Contracts and Service Teams. Once Technicians have been grouped into logical Teams, escalation layers are created and skill sets assigned to the individuals. LiveTime 5.5 also provides the ability to define individual work hours so that Technicians are selected when available.

This cascade of rules is important in understanding how requests are assigned and particularly when setting up email based assignment.

Request creation via email occurs when a registered Customer emails the Service Desk. LiveTime parses the contents of the email, as well as any inline graphics and attachments, into a new request. The Customer is subsequently notified of the new request's number via email.

Managing requests via email is handled by the application sending its initial email with the subject line prefixed by 'Incident #' or in the case of Change Management, prefixing the RFC subject line with 'Change Request #', followed by a series of numbers that make up the individual request identification number.

Customers simply reply to any email originating from LiveTime to communicate directly with the Technician handling the request. This can also include any attachments or inline graphics, which are automatically parsed out into the request. This closed loop email management means a customer doesnt even need to use LiveTime's Customer Portal, providing seamless customer service, while still maintaining all compliance and audit trails for your organization. Technicians can also update the request via email when for instance they are on the road or using a mobile device.

The email request creation has also been extended to include Item assignment upon request creation. To utilize this feature, a Customer must prefix the email subject with 'Item #' followed by the Item identification number as recorded in the CMDB. As long as the customer has appropriate ownership rights, the request is created against this CI. LiveTime will then assign the most approriate technician based upon skillset, availability and Service Level Contract.

In the case where 'Item #' is not included in the email subject line, the system reverts to pre-5.5 logic, which means that if the Customer only has one Item in the CMDB it will assign it to the request, thus also capitalizing on a well-configured system. If the Customer owns multiple Items, then 'Unknown Item' is applied until the Technician reviews the request.

Effectively configuring LiveTime at both the CMDB and Team level is one of the cornerstones of efficient and automated request handling. Used in combination with email request management, Technicians and Customers improve overall efficiency and decrease resolution time.

Tips and Tricks

Skillset Assignment

• Selective Technician assignment based upon infrastructure and/ or service skill can significantly reduce the number of Teams required. Allocating skills requires a thorough understanding of Item Categories, Item Types and Classifications and how they combine to produce a skillset for each Technician.

• A Supervisor can easily add Technicians to support teams in the Team tab of the User Information screen. However, to make them available for request assignment it is necessary to add them to the escalation layers as well.
• As of version 5.5 the default system Request Notification option can be set on a per team basis. So after upgrading to the latest version, remember to take advantage of this capability and set the Request Notification relevant to the work style of each team.

Partner Update

LiveTime Partners with G2 in Spain

LiveTime is pleased to announce G2, Gobierno y Gestión de TI, as the latest addition to its European Reseller Program. Based in Mataró near Barcelona, in Spain, the founders of G2, Antonio Valle Salas and Luis Fernandez, have a history deeply entrenched in the service management industry. Their wealth of experience in ITIL consulting is a perfect complement to the LiveTime Product suite, and LiveTime Software looks forward to building a great future with G2 throughout the Spanish region.