Key Reports for a Well Managed IT Services

Key Reports for a Well- Managed IT Services Organization

© Kovair Software, Inc., 2011

Document Version History

Release Date Reason

Version 1.0 (Initial Release)

06/20/2011 Initial Release


The Kovair ITSM Solution — Reporting Feature ........................................................................................... 4

Benefits of Reports ............................................................................................................................... 4 Types of Reports ................................................................................................................................... 4

Service Request Management Reports .................................................................................................... 5 Service Request Submission Trend ....................................................................................................... 5 Service Request Resolution Trend ........................................................................................................ 6 Service Request Matrix Report – Severity by Status ............................................................................ 6 Service Request Distribution by Severity .............................................................................................. 7

Incident Management Reports ................................................................................................................. 7 Process Behavior Chart ......................................................................................................................... 8 Incident Matrix Report – Classifications by Severity ............................................................................ 8 Open Incidents Exceeding SLAs ............................................................................................................ 9 Open Incidents within SLAs .................................................................................................................. 9 Closed Incidents within SLA ................................................................................................................ 10 Incidents Grouped by Status for User- Specified Date Range ............................................................ 10 Incidents Converted to/ Linked with Problems .................................................................................. 11 Incidents Converted to Changes ......................................................................................................... 11

Problem Management Reports .............................................................................................................. 11 Problems Originated from Incidents .................................................................................................. 12 Problems Converted to Changes ........................................................................................................ 12 Problem Distribution by Status ........................................................................................................... 13

Change Management Reports ................................................................................................................ 13 Change Submission Trend................................................................................................................... 14 Change Resolution Trend .................................................................................................................... 14 Changes Originated from Incidents .................................................................................................... 15 Changes Originated from Problems .................................................................................................... 15

IT Asset Management/CMDB ................................................................................................................. 15 Configuration Items Grouped by Company and Type ........................................................................ 16 Configuration Items Allocated to ACME Corp .................................................................................... 16 Configuration Items Distribution by Type........................................................................................... 16

Custom Reports ...................................................................................................................................... 17 The Kovair ITSM Solution — Dashboard Feature ....................................................................................... 19


The Kovair ITSM Solution — Reporting Feature A well-managed IT services organization delivers quality IT services by minimizing risks and maximizing returns, while achieving enterprise goals. It is imperative that an organization focus on all the process areas of IT Service Management (ITSM) to establish a reputation, which can be best achieved by using visual reports. Graphical and non-graphical reports help the organizations in evaluating the quality of service operations, service delivery, and distribution of IT assets/Configuration Items among the customers. The Kovair ITSM solution allows for the creation of a wide array of real-time reports for each ITSM process area with completely accurate data.

Benefits of Reports

Accelerated decision-making processes

Increased organizational control on IT services

Enhanced problem- solving ability across the organization

Generation of new evidences in support of a decision

Creation of a competitive advantage

Automation of managerial processes.

Types of Reports

Kovair lets you generate several types of ITSM reports, including:

Bar Chart: Used for observations over time or under different conditions requiring small data sets.

Line Chart: Used to discern and compare trends.

Pie Chart: Used to convey approximate proportional relationships at a particular time.

Tabular Report: Used to display detailed information.

Kovair helps you produce meaningful and easy- to-understand reports for any aspect of ITSM. With the ability to combine data from all sources, including your business operational systems, as well as many other forms of business knowledge, Kovair provides a single consistent reporting framework that can describe ITSM across the board.

http://www.kovair.com/index.php/itsm-solutions


This whitepaper discusses reports pertaining to the following ITSM process areas: 1. Service Request Management 2. Incident Management 3. Problem Management 4. Change Management 5. Configuration Items(CIs) Management

Service Request Management Reports Service Request Management (SRM) refers to the process of managing a service request throughout its lifecycle — from submission through delivery and follow-up. Kovair’s ITSM solution includes an SRM component that enables an IT procurement or service request to be reliably submitted, routed, approved, monitored, and delivered. It also includes pre-defined reports that enable organizations to manage progress and resolution of service requests. Some of the Kovair SRM process reports are displayed below.

Service Request Submission Trend

http://www.kovair.com/index.php/itsm-solutions/it-help-desk


Service Request Resolution Trend

Service Request Matrix Report – Severity by Status


Service Request Distribution by Severity

Incident Management Reports An ‘incident’ is an event that disrupts a normal service operation. The goal of an Incident Management solution is to restore normal service operations following an incident. . The Kovair Incident Management solution facilitates the following:

Incident detection and reporting

Incident classification

Investigation and diagnosis

Resolution and recovery

Incident closure

Incident ownership

With Kovair’s automated visual task-based workflow, the total cycle time of incident resolution can be reduced considerably and streamlined for a consistent incident response implementation. The Kovair solution also includes state-of-the-art reports that provide complete visibility from the time the incident is submitted till it is resolved and closed.

http://www.kovair.com/index.php/itsm-solutions/incident-management

http://www.kovair.com/index.php/itsm-solutions/incident-management


Some of the reports related to the Incident Management process are given below.

Process Behavior Chart

Incident Matrix Report – Classifications by Severity


Open Incidents Exceeding SLAs

Open Incidents within SLAs


Closed Incidents within SLA

Incidents Grouped by Status for User- Specified Date Range


Incidents Converted to/ Linked with Problems

Incidents Converted to Changes

Problem Management Reports A problem is a condition that is often identified when multiple incidents exhibit the same symptoms. Problems can also be detected from a single significant incident, indicating an error with an unknown cause, but with a significant impact. The goal of a Problem Management solution is to resolve the root cause of incidents and minimize the adverse impact of incidents and problems on the business.


A well-managed IT services organization must implement proactive processes that identify and resolve problems before incidents occur. The activities under proactive processes should include: performing trend analysis, targeting support actions and providing information to the organization. Kovair’s flexible reporting and dashboard features facilitate designing of proactive processes. Further, Kovair’s process engine can automate the workflow of problem identification and recording, problem classification, and problem investigation and diagnosis. Kovair’s Problem Management reports help technicians in managing problem submission and resolution lifecycle. Some of the reports under the Problem Management process area are given below.

Problems Originated from Incidents

Problems Converted to Changes


Problem Distribution by Status

Change Management Reports Change Management is the process of planning and coordinating implementation of all changes in the development environment in a logical way. A Change Management solution should enable you to:

Minimize the adverse impact of necessary changes on system integrity, security, and SLAs.

Co-ordinate and plan changes in order to provide a stable development environment.

Maximize the productivity of people involved in planning and implementation of changes. The goal of Kovair’s Change Management solution is to help you achieve the above mentioned objectives through standardized processes and methods for optimal tracking and management of all changes. The Kovair solution allows an IT organization to make additions, modifications, or removal of Configuration Items (CIs), implement a Request for Change (RFC) process and even schedule for future changes as part of regular maintenance activities.

http://www.kovair.com/index.php/itsm-solutions/change-management


Some of the reports for the Change Management process area are given below.

Change Submission Trend

Change Resolution Trend


Changes Originated from Incidents

Changes Originated from Problems

IT Asset Management/CMDB A Kovair Configuration Item (CI) is an IT asset or a combination of IT assets that may depend on and have relationships with other ITSM process areas, such as Service Request, Incident, Problem and Change Management. Kovair allows integration of its CIs with other federated CMDB tools through its Omnibus Integration technology, enabling a distributed approach to managing a large number of CIs.


Moreover, the Kovair CIs Management reports allow users to view complete details of their CIs, some of which are shown below.

Configuration Items Grouped by Company and Type

Configuration Items Allocated to ACME Corp

Configuration Items Distribution by Type


Custom Reports In addition to the reports already defined for each ITSM process area, you can create custom reports using the Kovair ITSM solution. Custom report requirements come from different stakeholders as and when they need information for reviewing and analyzing the operations. Kovair lets you create the following types of custom reports:

The following table describes the reports displayed in the preceding figure:

Report Type Description

Tabular Tabular reports allow users to define reports in Portrait and Landscape formats. A tabular report’s definition involves the following aspects:

Scope- Entity, Immediate Relations and Nested Relations

Filter based on which data will be extracted from the database

Fields, which will be printed in the report

Sorting order based on which data will be ordered in the report

Grouping (example: Group by Severity and Status)

Visibility options (Visible to All, Visible to a specific group of users or Visible only to the report creator )

Tabular with Summary Includes all the properties of tabular reports mentioned

above plus the facility to define the summary of fields displayed in the report. For example, an organization may want to print out the sum of planned costs.



Form Includes all the properties of tabular reports mentioned above plus the facility to print out comments, grid fields, and relation- type fields.

Form with Summary Includes all the properties of form reports mentioned above plus the summary of fields displayed in the report.

Distribution Metrics (Pie-chart)

Displays the data in a graphical (pie-chart) format. A distribution metrics report’s definition involves the following aspects:

Scope- Entity, Immediate Relations and Nested Relations


Field(s) on which distribution is to be based

Distribution criteria (Count, Sum, Average, Maximum and Minimum)

Multiple levels of distributions (Distribution by Type and Severity)

Drilldown capability to allow users to access the record by clicking on the report

Visibility options (Visible to All, Visible to a specific group of users or Visible only to the report creator)

Graph-type options (Column 2D Chart, Column 3D Chart, Line 2D Chart, 2D Area Chart, Bar 2D Chart and Bar 3D Chart)

Matrix Represents a grid formed by rows and columns. The grid displays the summary of the fields, selected as row and column. A matrix report’s definition involves the following aspects:

Scope (Entity, Immediate Relations and Nested Relations)


Rows and columns for displaying fields

Check boxes for displaying cumulative graph and percentage columns

Drilldown capability to allow users to access the record by clicking on the report.

Visibility options (Visible to All, Visible to a specific group of users or Visible only to the report creator)


Trend Performs trend analysis by plotting two fields along



horizontal (X - Axis) and vertical (Y - Axis) directions. Along the X - Axis, only the time period is measured by available 'Date' type fields. Along the Y - Axis, only 'Lookup' type fields are available to measure the trend of selected lookup value(s) for the time period specified by 'X - Axis Configuration'. A trend report’s definition involves the following aspects:

Scope (Entity, Immediate Relations and Nested Relations)


Trend analysis (Date / Time related field to be plotted on X-Axis)

Trend range

Trend interval (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly)

Summary operations (Count, Sum, Average, Maximum and Minimum)

Provision to display Cumulative Trend

Visibility options (Visible to All, Visible to specific group of users or Visible only to report creator )


Custom Crystal Kovair integrates with Business Objects Crystal Reports.

You can define reports via the Crystal Report Designer using the Kovair database / views. The Crystal Report can be uploaded in Kovair, and upon execution, this report extracts data from the Kovair database as per the crystal report structure.

Word Report Kovair integrates with Microsoft Word. You can define Word Report templates using the Kovair MS Word Add-ons. The Word Report template can be uploaded in Kovair. On execution, this report extracts data from the Kovair database as per the template design.

The Kovair ITSM Solution — Dashboard Feature A dashboard is a user interface that provides a consolidated view of multiple items on a single screen. It is an effective tool for real -time information tracking and can be useful for a CIO, Business Manager, or any other executive. The information displayed by a dashboard is easy to monitor, and indicates where action needs to be taken.


Kovair allows you to design customized dashboards as per your needs. Its dashboard feature is fully configurable, capable of being designed as per the user needs by adding suitable gadgets. For example, in order to create a dashboard for the CTO, you can add Column 3D, and for Technical Support Executives, you can add tabular reports and links to the knowledgebase. Moreover, all configurations are codeless. In Kovair, you can view, edit, clone, and delete dashboards according to your needs. While all users are entitled to view dashboards, only those users who have the authority to ‘Override’ are allowed to modify the existing dashboards A Kovair dashboard sample is shown below:

Technology

Key Reports for a Well Managed IT Services