Service Desk to Service Desk Integration

More and more of our customers are seeing a real need for integrations between Service Desks. These may be within their organisations or, more recently, to Service Desks within external organisations. As companies migrate systems to the Cloud,  outsource some services or use external suppliers, the need for integrated systems to reduce the need for manual data input has increased. However, even if the software for two endpoint systems is the same, the effort required for integration should not be underestimated.

 What do you need to consider if you are about to start such a project?

 Here are 10 things to get you started:

1. Objective

 As with any project before starting it should be very clear to everyone involved what the project is aiming to achieve and why. This is even more important with a Service Desk integration project because of the different parties involved. As a minimum this will be multiple departments within the same company but is increasingly likely to span company boundaries and possibly include multiple geographies. If everyone is working towards the same clear objectives the project is far more likely to be a success.

 2. Systems Thinking

 This is often the most difficult thing for people to accept. When you integrate two systems you are building one larger system. If the solution is considered in these terms, then a number of the other items on this list can be addressed far more readily. These include:

• Roles and Ownership
• People
• Support
• Open Communication

One system, one team, one solution - irrespective of departmental or company boundaries.

3. Roles and Ownership

 As well as the objective being clear from the start the roles of the various actors relating to the solution need to be clearly defined. With departmental or company boundaries involved it is far too easy when a production error occurs to blame someone else. There will be existing owners of the endpoint systems but ownership of the integration needs to be defined, understood and agreed by everyone.

 4. Monitoring

 The technology supporting an integration works in the background and is typically invisible to the end user until it breaks. However once it does break the symptoms can become very visible very quickly. As the data most frequently transferred between Service Desks is Incident information by definition something else is already broken. Adequate monitoring is therefore important and this also relates to 'Roles and Ownership'. The monitoring not only needs to highlight something that is not working but also notify the correct people to resolve the issue.

 5. Technology

 A wide range of technologies can be used to transfer data between Service Desks. From tools designed specifically for the task, such as Enterprise Service Bus messaging systems, to tools that can be adapted to the task of systems integration, such as Run Book Automation or Orchestration tools. There is no silver bullet; the best solution depends on a number of factors, some of which are:

• What software is used in each endpoint system?
• How much and what type of data is to be transferred?
• What are the skill sets of the people who will support the solution?
• Is this part of a larger implementation?
• Is the use of Open Source an option within the organisation?

 The costs and features of these options will vary. The best option within your organisation may not be the slickest message passing system. It may make more sense to reuse a technology you have already licensed and have knowledge of but which is less efficient.

 6. People

 Joining two systems involves collaboration between the teams owning and supporting those systems and as such the people involved need to be team players. Practice makes perfect and integration is no exception. The project is more likely to run smoothly if you have people on the team who have done this before. This includes those involved from the two endpoint systems, project management and integration partners.

 7. Support

 Once the project has completed it will be handed over to support to manage the 'Business As Usual' activities. It is prudent to involve the support teams early in the development process, consult them on the monitoring and logging requirements, include them in the testing and provide clear processes and documentation for the finished system. This will help to ensure that the transition is smooth and uneventful. Involvement from an early stage will help promote ownership for the longer term.

 8. Logging

 After go live most issues occur either because of something that wasn't adequately tested or because of an issue with one of the endpoint systems.  The purpose of logging is to enable the source of an issue to be identified quickly, the correct responsible party engaged and for them to be able to rectify the issue. Logging is fundamental to a process that runs in the background, as it is the only way to 'see' what has happened. Appropriate time needs to be allowed during implementation to ensure that logging is designed and implemented properly.

 9. Open communication

 It is very easy to adopt a 'them and us' mentality when working with other departments, external customers and suppliers. From the outset of any integration project, open communication, honest discussion and the sharing of ideas should be strongly promoted. Only with an environment of openness, where no one is afraid to speak up when they spot a potential issue, can a project be really successful.

 10. Continuous improvement

 This key element of ITIL is important here. A good integration solution will typically be invisible to the end user, as it will be providing seamless data transfer between the systems they use as part of the service provided. As such it will be easy to overlook in the process of Continual Service Improvement, However In order for this to remain the case it must be evolving, when the end systems change, as the traffic increases, after every outage. Only by continual review and improvement will the expected service levels be maintained.

 We hope this is helpful when considering your next Service Desk to Service Desk integration, and if we can help in any way please don't hesitate to contact us at info@alderstone.com