ITS is scheduled to launch ServiceNow, a platform for automating business and support processes, to various University organizations on July 30.
The initial rollout is focused on users of Remedy, the current system for managing business and support processes, and replacing Remedy Request for Service. ServiceNow will not only change how ITS manages its service requests, but also how other departments that use Remedy for support infrastructure manage their own service requests. Such departments include the School of Medicine and School of Nursing.
“We have a lot of interest from other partners on campus who want to use ServiceNow to improve service to their customers too,” said Brenda Carpen, IT Manager, Lead Project Manager of the ServiceNow team.
Campus-wide collaboration
Although the ServiceNow project began three years ago, the scope of the project narrowed in January 2019 in order to bring the benefits of the system to users sooner. In addition to the 15-member team managing the project, more than 75 people across campus – from ITS and other IT employees to people who do not use Remedy but are interested in ServiceNow – are also working on the rollout.
“This is very collaborative because everyone has a vested interest in providing the best services they can to their users,” Carpen said of the project.
Changing how requests are managed
Some of the changes from the current Remedy system to the new ServiceNow platform include reducing the number of portals available for users to submit requests, updating the help articles available online and rerouting how service requests are processed. Although the new platform will impact how many ITS employees do their jobs, end users should not experience a significant difference between the two systems.
“We expect there to be some growing pains for a month or two, but the new platform will become much more efficient in the long run,” said Kate Hash, Program Sponsor and Co-Lead on the project and Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor of ITS User Support & Engagement.
The distributed nature of ITS and other on-campus IT organizations challenged the ServiceNow project team to configure a system that did not significantly impact the way employees organize their workflows. Carpen thinks the diverse group of people on the project team, who are representative of users who will actually use the product, has been an advantage in organizing the launch.
“We will determine what we work on next based on the feedback from people who actually use the service,” Carpen said.