ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, today announced the general availability of change workflows for its flagship ITIL-ready help desk software, ServiceDesk Plus. The move lets IT teams define a systematic way of initiating and implementing a change and automate the entire process. An online demo of the ServiceDesk Plus change workflows is available at http://demo.servicedeskplus.com/.
For most IT organizations, change is a constant. The objective of change management is to ensure that positive changes are made and that the required changes are controlled and do not have serious impact or cause major disruption to their IT services. Most of these changes may involve some level of risk during implementation, and users should be made aware of that risk. Change workflows make it easier to initiate and execute the change as well as keep people informed throughout the change process.
“Organizations need to be proactive and counter resistance to critical changes well in advance,” said Uma Shankar, product manager, ServiceDesk Plus, at ManageEngine. “To do that, you need an organized and methodical process to give you complete information at each stage of the change management process. ServiceDesk Plus now offers a systematic way of handling the complete change process to ensure change is accomplished successfully.”
ManageEngine has enhanced the change management module of ServiceDesk Plus to include several new features, including change roles, change templates, additional change fields, change stages/statuses and change workflows. With the new change management module in ServiceDesk Plus, users can now:
- Automate the change management process
- Configure the change process for each individual stage
- Trigger the asset scan process
- Configure templates for commonly occurring changes
- Get complete visibility on the current progress
- Assign roles to users and technicians so that each can be a part of the change process
- Receive notifications based on stages and status
- Document all notifications, stage comments, etc. which will help for auditing purposes
- Analyze the level of risk in the change management process.
ServiceDesk Plus is available in three editions. The Standard Edition which includes help desk is free for five technicians. The Professional Edition comes with help desk and asset management and is $395. The Enterprise Edition which includes help desk, asset and project management, and ITIL features is $995. Change management is included with the Enterprise Edition and available as an add-on for the other editions.
