SUMMITSoftwareInc.forIncidentManagement

Analyst – Vawns Murphy

Irish mum of 3. ITIL V2 Manager (red badge)

and ITIL V3 Expert (purple badge). SDI

Managers certificate. Further qualifications in

COBIT, ISO 20000, SAM, PRINCE2 and

Microsoft. Author of itSMF UK collateral on

Service Transition, Software Asset

Management, Problem Management & the

“How to do CCRM” book. Reviewer for the

Service Transition ITIL 3 2011 publication.

When not being pelted with brightly coloured

balls in the name of ITIL, I am a senior analyst

for Enterprise Opinions.

Executive Summary – SUMMIT

Overview • Strong Incident Management functionality • Pink Verified (ITIL V3 2011 12 processes) • Available as SaaS and On-Premise • Integration with 3rd party products supported via web

services & ODBC

Strengths • Comprehensive Incident Management offering • Can be used for other functions for example HR, Legal

& Facilities Management

Weaknesses • Lack of UK market coverage • No automatic link to IT Service Continuity process

Primary Market Focus

• Large & very large customer accounts

Independent Review SUMMIT is a relatively new player in the UK but is already well established in the Asia-PAC market. The Incident Management module provides an effective set of Incident, Request Fulfilment, chat, remote desktop and communication options. The Incident Management module provides textbook Incident Management functionality along with some exciting added extras. The first thing you see when logging on to the system is the Service Desk dashboard giving you the highlights (or if you’re understaffed and under appreciated, the lowlights) of what the day ahead looks like. The dashboard is fully customisable and easy to navigate. Some of the dashboard headings could be:

• Total number of outstanding Incidents • Number of Incidents by analyst • Number of Incidents by priority • Number of VIP Incidents

The dashboard can be easily changed to suit each individual using drag and drop. One really cool aspect of the tool is that you can have multiple Helpdesk dashboards for different functions for example you could have a HR Helpdesk, Facilities Helpdesk, Legal Helpdesk and so on. Each Helpdesk will have a separate dashboard and permissions to view or log Incidents can be locked down using role-based permissions. Each Helpdesk module can be made to look completely different to make the user journey easier by the ability to change colours and font types - again this is all standard, out of the box functionality. The application layer is common to all Helpdesks but each Helpdesk will have it’s own database to protect data integrity and security. The user experience is clear and easy to navigate. When an end user logs on to raise an Incident they can see their five most recently logged Incidents along with its status. There is also a live chat option, if the person logging the Incident uses this to talk to an analyst, the chat is captured and added to the Incident and forms part of the audit history within the Incident record. An Incident can be logged directly from the Web, Email, Mobile App and Telephony Voice integration. When the Incident is resolved, the customer is automatically e-mailed a link to a customer satisfaction survey, which again is configurable. The out of the box configuration is visual so a smiley face for excellent service and a sad face for terrible service. The user also has the option to reopen the Incident (within five days of initial closure) if they are not satisfied with the outcome.

The Service Request module is directly accessible from the Incident screen and is clear and fully configurable. Up to ten levels of approval can be used which to me covers every possible scenario for example line manager approval, project manager approval and department head level approval. Request Fulfilment is fully automated so the system will email the customer every time the status of the Service Request is updated. The analyst view can be configured by personal preference. As the team from SUMMIT suggested, most analysts will chose to have their welcome dashboard to be configured to show number of Incidents by team member “to encourage healthy competition”. Incidents can be logged directly from CI items from the CMDB or from line items in the Service Catalogue. One of my favourite things about the Incident form as an ex techie, is that you can click the user information button and that gives you the option to remote desktop onto their PC. I remember the horrors of faffing about with Carbon Copy and PC Anywhere so anything the de-faffs the direct support option has to be good news. The vendor primarily works with large enterprises and has an impressive client list. This product is a good option for medium and large sized organisations to get up and running quickly. Buyers would have to have a clear view on requirements to ensure they get the most of the tool, there’s lots of options and lots to customise but the vanilla, out of the box setup gives a strong base for an ITIL aligned Incident Management process. Technical Summary

Incident logging, categorization & automation options

An Incident can be logged directly from the web interface, e-mail, mobile App, IVR system or via web services integration to an Event Management / Availability Management system.

System access options (web, fat client, mobile, etc.)

Solution is available as SaaS and On-Premise. SUMMIT can integrate with 3rd party systems management software using Web-services or ODBC.

Incident tracking and lifecycle

The end user is notified every time the Incident record is updated. There is a “bounce count” and the Incident Manager is notified if the Incident breaches SLA. If an Incident breaches SLA, the Analyst must state the reason in a mandatory field.

Prioritizing and escalating incidents

Priority can be configured based on the customer needs. The tool can support up to 10 priorities Out of Box. Incidents can be classified using priority matrix based on impact and urgency. Categories and Subcategories can be configured based on the needs of the customer and if the customer wants SUMMIT to provide the same out of the box then SUMMIT provides to 60+ Categories and 25+ Classification options

Major incidents

Major Incidents can be flagged by one click by a Service Desk analyst. Once a Major Incident is logged the Service Desk landing page is updated via Runbook and the ACD system is updated-mail updates are sent out every time the status changes to pre defined distribution lists.

Applying industry models and frameworks

The tool is aligned to ITIL and ISO 20000.

Incident closure

When an Incident is resolved, it goes through a two-stage closure process. The root cause is captured and can be uploaded as a Knowledge Base article.

Reporting and analytics

User Dashboards, Analyst Dashboards, CIO Dashboards and Customizable Dashboards are available Out of the Box.

Technical Summary continued Interaction/workflow with Problem Management

Incidents can be directly linked to Problem records.

Incident Mgt beyond the service desk

SUMMIT is a multi-tenant system and can be transposed to other areas of business such as HR and Facilities

Strengths

• Comprehensive Incident Management process • Excellent customer and user interface for Incident Management • Strong and intuitive portal and user request functionality • iPhone/iPad integrations clear & easy to use • Vendor offers clear understanding of Incident Management process &

functionality • Easy to link in to Request Fulfilment and Problem Management • Simple & effective SLA criteria (traffic light approach)

Weaknesses

• Low coverage in UK Market • No automatic link from Incident Management to IT Service Continuity

Management but is on the SUMMIT road map planned for future releases Customers

• KPMG • Toyota • Toshiba • Dell • Panasonic

In their own words “Symphony SUMMIT: The Intelligent ITSM Platform for Smart Organizations In today’s ever-demanding world of 24x7 global operations, business requirements are getting increasingly complex. Limited budgets are compelling enterprise IT functions to reduce costs while still maintaining high performing IT operations. CIOs and service providers are looking for solutions that leverage today’s technologies such as Analytics, Automation and Mobility to improve productivity, ensure compliance & control and deliver high customer satisfaction on a 24x7 basis. Symphony SUMMIT aims to help CIOs deal with today’s challenges. Our flagship product, the SUMMIT ITSM platform, is an advanced, ITIL 2011 certified solution (12 Processes) that unifies key applications across Service Management, Asset Management, Availability Management and Project Management in one single suite.” Further Information Product Brochure: http://symphonysummit.com/products/platform-overview Technical Brochures: http://symphonysummit.com/resources This independent review is part of our Incident Management group test 2016, read the full report at http://www.theitsmreview.com/2016/02/incident-mngt-2016/. Also participating; Alemba Ltd, Atlassian, Cherwell SoftwareTM, HPE, InvGate Inc., ManageEngine, Marval Software Limited, Matrix42 AG, Nexthink.

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CommercialSummaryVendorSUMMITSoftwareInc.ProductSUMMITVersionReviewed5.1DateofVersionReleaseMarch2015YearFounded2011Customers100+PricingStructureSUMMITServiceManagementpricingisbasedonaperanalystbasis(nameduserorconcurrentUser).Annualsubscriptionpricingforcloudcustomers.Foron-premiseimplementationsbothsubscriptionandperpetuallicensemodelsareoffered.ThereisnoadditionalcostforEnd-users,Administrators,ApproversandReportAccessUsers.