Vinay’s approach to ITSM Categorization Data

Scope

Operational Categorization (Classification tab)

Product Categorization (Classification tab and Resolution tab)

Operational Categorization (Resolution tab)

Approach to collect Foundation Data

Scope

Following ITSM Components are in the scope of this approach. This approach is for incident management module. However, similar approach can be used for other modules with little change.

  • Operational Categorization (Classification Tab)
  • Product Categorization (Classification Tab)
  • Operational Categorization (Resolution Tab)
  • Product Categorization (Resolution Tab)

Operational Categorization (Classification tab)

  1. Operational Categorization here will be used to classify the type of Incident occurred (based on or while) symptoms, activities and operations are performed by the End user. Eg. User is not able to install an application. It can be classified as Installation issue. Or User is not able to login to application. It can be classified as Login/Access Issue. For this purpose Operational Categorization will be used
  2. Operational Categorization label on classification tab can be renamed Incident Classification (or any other suitable label name) for the ease of understanding of the end user.
  3. There are 3 tiers provide by ITSM. It’s not mandatory to use all three tiers of Operational categorization. However, First Tier is mandatory in our approach to ensure appropriate incident classification. Rest 2 tiers can be used based on organization’s need. Tier 2 and Tier 3 of Operational Categorization can be obtained by ticket analysis of the organization
  4. Context sensitive help can be attached to this label to assist and guide users about Operational categorization and how to select appropriate value.
  5. Operational categorization can be correlated to Product Categorization to populate only specific Operational categorization value associated with product selected.
  6. Here are sample Tier 1 Operational Categorization
  • Access/Login
  • Application Performance
  • Printing
  • Not working/Failure/Error/Bug
  • Installation/Reinstallation
  • Functional Issue (Application/workflow specific problems)

Product Categorization (Classification tab and Resolution tab)

  1. Product Categorization provides 5 tiers in ITSM Foundation.
  2. Tier 1
  3. Tier 2
  4. Tier 3
  5. Product Name +
  6. Manufacturer
  7. Version/Module(Optional)
  8. Product Categorization is available in 2 tabs, i.e. Classification tab and Resolution Tab)
  9. Product Categorization information provided at the time of Incident classification stage of Incident management gets stored in Classification tab.
  10. Product Categorization information provided at the time resolution stage of Incident management gets stored in Classification tab. However user has freedom to change Product classification in Classification tab at the time or anytime before the resolution of the incident.
  11. Purpose of 2 Product categorization is to capture both Product (or Service) involved in Incident Identification and Incident Resolution. It can be same and it can be different based on the issue. E.g. Outlook problem reported could be due to problem in exchange server. In this case Outlook will in Product categorization of classification tab and Exchange will in Productcategorization of Resolution tab.

Note: Some Organization can prefer to use only one product categorization. However it is not recommended in our approach, as it gives use more granular information about the incident without making it complicated for the end user.

  1. Use of Product categorization can be highly simplified for the end user. Product name can be correlated to rest of the 4 tiers of product categorization. If you know the product name (which 99% of the case), Remedy will auto populate the rest of the tiers for you.
  2. Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 of product categorization are used for classification of actual product involved in the incidents. This can be done on the based of Type of product (Software, Hardware etc), use of product (Communication, Networking etc), characteristics (Email, Telecommunication etc). Here are the Sample Tier 1 and Tier 2 and Tier 3

Tier 1

  • Desktop/Laptop Application
  • Infrastructure Hardware
  • Infrastructure Application
  • Server
  • Enterprise Application
  • Network
  • Security
  • Storage

Tier 2

  • Application
  • Hardware
  • System Software/Tools

Tier 3

  • Reporting
  • Financial
  • Example of Product Categorization

Tier 1: Communication Application

Tier 2: Email

Tier 3: <Clear>

Product Name +: Exchange

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Operational Categorization (Resolution tab)

  1. Operational Categorization here will be used to classify the type of Resolution action, activities and operations are performed by the Support Staff. Eg. Rebooting the server resolved the incident. In this case Reboot Server values can be provided in Operation categorization in Resolution.
  2. Operational Categorization label on resolution tab can be renamed Resolution Classification (or any other suitable label name) for the ease of understanding of the end user.
  3. There are 3 tiers provide by ITSM. It’s not mandatory to use all three tiers of Operational categorization. However, First Tier is mandatory in our approach to ensure appropriate incident classification. Rest 2 tiers can be used based on organization’s need. Tier 2 and Tier 3 of Operational Categorization can be obtained by ticket analysis of the organization
  4. Context sensitive help can be attached to this label to assist and guide users about Operational categorization and how to select appropriate value.
  5. Operational categorization can be correlated to Product Categorization to populate only specific Operational categorization value associated with product selected.
  6. Here are sample Tier 1 and Tier 2 of Operational Categorization

Tier 1

  • Reboot
  • Reset
  • Unlock
  • Restart
  • Install/Reinstall
  • Upgrade
  • Debug/Fix Bug
  • Configure/Reconfigure
  • Reimage
  • Replace

Tier 2

  • Firmware
  • Software
  • Hardware

Approach to collect Foundation Data

  1. This job would be done Remedy Business Analyst(Process)
  2. Use the sample Incident Data (for 1 month to 3 months, different seasons etc) from the system)
  3. Extract Classification, Categorization, CTI from the existing tool
  4. Review monthly, daily, weekly reports
  5. Use the attached excels sheets to collect the data/information from the support group team lead/track lead/manager. These sheet would collect the following information from the support groups
  • Top 30-50 Products they deal with and their purpose/use.
  • Top 10-20 Services they deal with purpose/use
  • Top 30-50 incidents that they deal with, How to they resolve those incidents(brief resolution actions, operations), and cause of the incidents
  1. BA would use the above information to produce the final classification method appropriate for the organization. New taxonomy would have following characteristics
  2. Flexible to accommodate future changes
  3. Easy to understand
  4. User-friendly
  5. meeting the organization’s requirement(User, support group etc)
  6. It can take anywhere to 5-10 days to develop the final data that can be used for the organization.
  7. Note: Not all the requirement will can be met using ITSM foundation data. It advisable not to use foundation data for constantly changing things like Departmental scope of support, Organization structure etc. Reporting on these parameter should be achieved through appropriate reporting tools and application of appropriate rules to extract the required information.