with Products such as Ivanti Neurons | Ivanti Service Manager (HEAT ITSM) | since 1996 | UK EU Ireland DACH Australia New Zealand APAC Canada USA | 100+ Implementations
Blackout, is a point in time in the development process when a system becomes unavailable (off-line) by design. The term comes from Electricity “blackouts”when there is a complete electric shut down.
An a19best practice is to take the UAT system off-line when UAT is undergoing maintenance or configuration in preparation for End User Acceptance testing. This is to prevent any unauthorized access by end users that might want to start testing the system before it’s ready, which is never a good idea. After all, you don’t call the building inspector until you’re up to code, right? Leaving UAT available during configuration can be disastrous. Don’t make this rookie ISM mistake, you will thank me later!
When you are gathering Ivanti Service Manager (ISM) and Ivanti Asset Manager (IAM) requirements to build your Solution Design Documentation and Scope of Work (SOW) there is one very important best practice. Set Implementation Priorities!
Setting Priorities for your Ivanti Service Manager Project
Scoping is an art of finding the right balance between effort, benefits, and long term gains. Quick Wins should be your 1st Priority (P1) followed by long term gains which are Priority 2 (P2) and have the highest benefits.
For example, on a recent Asset Management implementation the core project team determined that the quickest wins and highest benefits would be asset scanning and a foundation for procurement and assets (hardware and software) that we could built upon on future phases.
ITSM Priorities by Benefit and Effort
That lead us to this high level scope:
P1 – Ivanti Asset Manager | Asset Bar Code Scanning
What this meant was that we would build asset scanning capabilities not only for assets but also packing slips, replace the existing purchase order tracking excel sheets, and vendor inventory tracking sheets from Softchoice and various software vendors, with an Ivanti Service Manager product catalog for hardware and software, utilized the purchase order workspace for sales orders, enabled contracts and entitlements for software inventory, and built a softchoice integration to automatically update invoice and shipping information and functionality to reconcile against packing slips and purchase orders.
These were just our P1’s and P2’s! With further integration to discovery tools, enhancements to assets, and workflow automation for P3. Of course keep in mind that upon project completion some of the other requirements from the parking lot will become P1’s and P2’s and the cycle begings.
Along the way we identified morequick wins that improved overall product usability and project tracking:
Ivanti Service Manager | Administrator Level 2 Role – for limited admin access with dedicated top level tabs to manage assigned validation lists and some configurations without full administration console access
a19 Consulting Tracker– a custom built project tracking tool by a19 Consulting with backlog, artifacts, parking lot, status updates, project dashboard, heat release project and package tracking, to-do list, and many more features
a19 Consulting Change Control with Announcements, Alerts, Notifications, and approval process for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
a19 Consulting UAT Test Scripts Workspace for ISM Administrators and Consultants to develop test scripts, run test scripts, log defect, pass/fail tests, request enhancements and identify show stoppers, must-haves, and nice-to-haves
One of the most crucial steps in System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)is User Acceptance Testing (UAT), a type of system and business objective validation, performed by the end users, and business objective sign off by the project owner; not to be confused with System Testing which is performed by the Ivanti Developer and/or ISM Administrator
Many Ivanti Service Manager implementations fall short when it comes to proper UAT Testing, be it due to a lack of resources, time, or budget, but more often than not due to a shortcoming of proper UAT Action Plan and UAT Test Cases and Scripts.
Today we will focus on a sample high level UAT Action plan:
Refresh UAT with PROD (ISM Administrator)
Push Asset Scanner Packages to UAT (ISM Consultant)
Create UAT Test Cases/Scripts (ISM Administrator/Knowledge Manager; with assistance from ISM Consultant)
Create Documentation for ISM Users (ISM Administrator/Knowledge Manager with assistance from ISM Consultant)
Test Data Preparation (ISM Administrator)
Test Run (ISM Administrator)
UAT Run (ISM Administrator+ Storage Managers)
Remediation (ISM Consultant)*
UAT Run (ISM Administrator+ Storage Managers)*
Including Validation of Documentation and Knowledge Article Creation (ISM Administrator/Knowledge Manager)
Confirm Business Objectives – Sign Off (Project Owner)
Schedule Push to PROD (ISM Consultant)
Communication Plan (Core Team)
ISM Change Control Announcement
ISM Change Control Email with Documentation
Determine schedule
Before – for example 3 days before
At PROD Push
After – optional – follow up
PROD Push (ISM Consultant)
Validate PROD Push (Core Team)
PROD Emergency Support – 1 to 2 hours after push – (ISM Consultant)
a19 Consulting has released the a19 Ivanti Best Practices System for Ivanti Service and Asset Manager
It takes time to develop an overnight successful Ivanti Best Practices System. In our case over 2 decades of HEAT IT Service Management andIvanti Service Manager experience.
Who is a19 Consulting?
Providing HEAT Best Practices and now Ivanti Best Practices, since 1996, with our tested and true implementations and upgrades, and these are just 2 of many Ivanti professional services.
Developing, streamlining, best practices and latest solutions for fortune 500 companies and Frontrange Business Partners (Change Control, Avante Solutions, Kifinti Solutions) and Ivanti Business Partners (Kifinti Solutions, DDS IT), worldwide.
Best Practices for almost every sector, including, but not limited to Government, Financial, Insurance, Communications, Information Technology, Energy, Utilities, Education, Retail, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Medical, Aerospace, Entertainment, Food, Health Care, Transportation, Engineering.
Worldwide Since 1996
From Austria to Brussels, Calgary, Denver, Edmonton, Frankfurt, Georgia, Halifax, Italy, Kelowna, London, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, Penticton, Quebec City, Rochester, Sliedrecht, Toronto, Utah, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Yellowknife, Zurich
The result, Ivanti Best Practices and Latest Solutions that will take your ITxM Implementation to the next level, ITIL, ITSM, ITAM, to name just a few.
Contacta19 Consulting – Ivanti Professional Services for more information on the latest solutions& best practices for your Ivanti Service & Asset Manager implementation and upgrades.
a19 Consulting Ivanti Best Practices Ivanti Professional Services for Ivanti Service and Asset Manager (ISM/IAM)
