—

Remedyforce Cloud ITSM Services Specialist

June 5th, 2015Nick Glaser

Remedyforce CategorizationAn Evolution into IT Service Desk Self-Service

Agenda

• Overview and Best Practices• Application in Remedyforce• Configuration Steps• Final Thoughts

—

01Overview and Best Practices

Categorization: A named group of things that have something in common. Categories are used to group similar things together, usually to three or four levels of granularity. (Source: ITIL, v3)

Two reasons why categorization in Remedyforce service desk software matters…

We Categorize for two primary reasons1. Routing: To enable automatic assignment of

issues or requests to the appropriate teams for resolution

2. Reporting: To enable Reporting against the nature of the issues or requests that the organization is dealing with

Basic Categorization StructureTaxonomies follow a basic: Type >Subtype > Detail structure

Note that all Shirts are Clothing, but not all Clothing are ShirtsEach subsequent layer describes a “Kind” of the previous layer in more specific detail, and therefore has further constraints

Establishing Categorization Taxonomy

Step 1: Triage – Establish the customer’s need

Step 2: Assignment – Route to the responsible group

Step 3: Resolution – Validate categorization

Categorization Activities

AssignmentInitialState

CategoryResolutionTriage Category

ValidationCategory

Finalization

Process Flow

Step 1: Triage Activities

Step 2: Assignment Activities

Step 3: Resolution Activities

DO’s Categorization Rules of Thumb– For IT Staff consider using

your services as the high level category choice• Server Services• Network Services• Accounts and Security

Services• Facilities Services

DO’s Categorization Rules of Thumb

– Remember that the Subtype represents the ‘Kind’ of high level services being offered• Ask what ‘Kind’ of Application Services the client offers

Cloud

Application Services

On Premise

DO’s Categorization Rules of Thumb

– Use Details where appropriate

– Consider whether the customer has the CMDB and use it for ‘named’ devices or applications• Keeping these out of the

category tree helps avoid duplication

Mixing across subsets can cause confusionInconsistent approaches make both routing and reporting impossible

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

– Create categories that mimic the your org chart• While it may sometimes

work out that way, the category will enable routing to the Assignee so no need to duplicate data

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

– Provide categorizations to Customers unless they are broken down into Outcomes / Symptoms

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

– Assume that there is no time / staff to categorize properly• Ticket routing can only occur after proper categorization• Improperly categorized or uncategorized issues will still need to be

categorized by someone, thus taking (more expensive) time

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

– Assume that different categories or teams has to mean different ticket types• Categories represent kinds of Services that can be provided, and are

merely a way to classify and obtain that service when properly assigned

– Waste a category layer with redundant information• Service Request and Repair Request can be determined by using Activities

and do not need their own drop down devoted to them

– Exceed 3 layers of Dependencies plus 1 Activity• Think efficiency and avoid more detail than is absolutely necessary

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

– Place Verbs in your Type/Subtype/Details• Use Activities for these terms – it streamlines categorization tremendously

– Duplicate Activity words with verbs that have similar meanings• E.g. Provide and Give have essentially the same meaning

– Use ‘Other’ at the Subtype layer, or use too frequently in Details

DONT’s Errors to Avoid in Categorization

—

02Configuration in Remedyforce

cloud help desk software

Application of Categories in Remedyforce service management

– BMC Remedyforce on the Salesforce Platform• Custom Object• Leveraged by multiple objects in the SFDC database• Other objects align with ITSM practices

– Agent and customer facing category structures• Self-Service

– Leverages automation• Categories can be aligned with urgency values• Urgency values help calculate priority

Customer vs Agent facing categorization - Customer

BMC Confidential – Subject to Change

• Symptom Based Focus

• Minimal hierarchy (One to two layer hierarchy)

• Activity, if included, comes first and is hierarchical

Customer vs Agent facing categorization - Agent

BMC Confidential – Subject to Change

• Classification Based Focus

• Three layered hierarchy

• Activity based

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce– Remedyforce Administration• Web Based Training (www.bmc.com/education)• Configure Application – Category

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce

– Remedyforce Administration• Configure Application -

Category

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce Service Management software

– New Category• Populate data

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce– New Category

• Populate data

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce– New Category

• Populate data

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce

– New Category• Populate data

Configuration of Categories in Remedyforce

– New Category• Populate data

—03Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Final Considerations

Help Desk Service Owner owns the responsibility for final categorization.The days of asking an end user to select the correct category are fading away.Using “other” without a supporting process to do gap analysis will be detrimental to metrics.

Top Five Take-Aways

1. Measure Twice, Cut Once2. Stick to the basics3. Don’t leave anything on the table4. Things change5. Ask for help

VIDEOSLearn how to quickly

navigate Remedyforce

COMMUNITIES Join our active

Remedyforce groupWHITE PAPERSGet more out of

Remedyforce