IT Service Management System (NU Service)

Service Description

Workflow-based system to log and track IT service requests, incidents, change requests and problem tickets which are allocated to teams of analysts to be worked on. Means of distributing work within teams and communicating internally and with customers.  Other functionality (some not yet utilised) includes knowledgebase, service catalogue, CMDB, and other process workflows such as project tracking.

This system is the main source of data for reporting on ticket throughput and volume of operational work for NUIT.

Features

  • Facility for customers of the IT Service to log and track their own requests via the self-service facility.
  • Incident management including categorisation, impact and urgency assessment, prioritisation, and service targets. Incident management also includes workflow for managing information security incidents and major IT incidents.
  • Service request management including links with the service catalogue.
  • Change management including different approval procedures according to the level of change (minor, significant or major). Facility to schedule changes in advance and to show whether or not the change was successfully implemented.
  • Problem management to allow teams to work through incidents with an unknown root cause, logging workarounds and potential root causes.

Users

The system is accessible by ‘customers’ of the IT Service via the web-based self-service system. This is a key administrative system for the IT Service, used to log and monitor all requests and issues, for example, those reported by customers of the service. ‘Analysts’ within the IT Service access the system to manage tickets and interact with customers.

The system is also used by some teams outside of the IT Service for logging and tracking work. 

Service Hours

As a web-based service, it is available 24/7 except for planned maintenance times which are published in advance.

Support for the service is available via the IT Service Desk.

Note: the Service Desk operates support hours 08:00 – 17:00 Monday-Friday (excl. University closure days).

The NUIT “at risk” period is 07:00-09:00 every Tuesday. Further planned maintenance times will be publicised in advance if there is expected to be disruption to the service.

Level of Service

The service is developed iteratively using a ‘configure, not customise’ approach. It is upgraded at least once a year to a current supported version. Customers and analysts may offer suggestions for improvement by logging a service request in the system. 

Standard targets apply for incidents and service request tickets, based on impact and urgency.

 

Impact

High

Medium

Low

Urgency

High

1

2

2

Medium

2

3

3

Low

3

3

4

 

Priority Code

Description

Target resolution time

1

Emergency

2 Hours

2

High

9 Hours

3

Medium

5 Working days

4

Low

6 Months*

* This is intended for very low-level requests – 'nice to have'. 

Support and Documentation

Support is available via the IT Service Desk on 85999 or https://nuservice.ncl.ac.uk

Self-service guides are available at https://services.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/help-services/itself-service

Analyst guides are available on the NUIT internal web pages.

Request Process

Requests for aspects of this service include:

  1. Manage user accounts (analysts and end-users)
  2. Manage ticket categories (Incident and Service Request)
  3. Manage support groups (resolver groups of analysts)
  4. NU Service Education/advice

All of these are available through the self-service system, here: https://nuservice.ncl.ac.uk/

Requests for any other aspect of the service should be made via the IT Service Desk on extension 85999.

User Responsibility

To help us to effectively prioritise requests and issues regarding this service we need as much information from you as possible, including your machine name, what you were trying to do when the issue occurred (if applicable) and if possible a screenshot showing any important information such as error messages.  

Costs

There is a licence cost for each new analyst account. Please check with the Service Management Office for current details. There is no cost for members of the university to log and track requests in the Self-Service portal.