There are few topics in IT today that generate more confusion than the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The promises of a successful ITIL implementation are among the holy grails of IT service management: improved operational efficiency, reduced risk from change, faster problem resolution times, lower cost of IT services, and better alignment between IT and the business. The challenges of ITIL are daunting, however.

In this session learn the what, why and how regarding this ever-growing methodology using “real-world” scenarios. Participants can expect to learn how to combine industry best practices with realistic implementation goals.

Manitoba Hydro

Manitoba Hydro is a electrical and gas utility headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Operating as a provincially owned Crown Corporation, Manitoba Hydro serves over 500 000 electric customers and 260 000 gas customers throughout the province of Manitoba. The Energy Management System (EMS) Support Group is responsible for supporting, maintaining and developing the Information Technology infrastructure that is used to operate the company's electrical grid and gas distribution systems. We provide 24x7 support to our control centres to ensure that operators are able to remotely monitor and operate field equipment on a continuous basis. Our systems interface to various partners both internally and externally and we exchange data with them in realtime. Our complex environment of network infrastructure, software, and communications makes it difficult to stay on top of all events and changes. Without a formal tool for tracking changes and documenting incidents, it has often lead to support staff being unaware of critical changes and has lead to confusion and unnecessary troubleshooting for repetitive issues.

Triggered by industry standards to meet NERC compliancy, the EMS System Support Group, has taken TechExcel's ServiceWise Suite product and applied the foundations of ITIL in developing a complete workflow to better track and manage work in their day to day environment. Using ITIL foundation training as a baseline, we took the philosophies learned and applied them to generate a complete workflow process. Taking Incident, Problem and Change management and breaking them off into their own unique workflows, yet linking them via inter-project automation and inter-project copy techniques, we were able to encompass a complete solution for managing our daily work.

Service Level Agreements Setting and Exceeding Expectations

Service Level Agreements must contain clearly defined levels of service; these levels must be capable of measurement, and they must be directly relevant to the effective performance of the service supplier. An SLA that doesn't contain meaningful, measurable levels of performance is not worth the paper it's written on. The linked concept of Service Level Management (or 'SLM') arises from the idea that, if you have agreed levels of service, you should have an agreed method of monitoring performance-- of dealing with exceptions and changes while managing the service.

In this session, learn about Service Level Management and the new Service Agreement Manager now available in both ServiceWise and CustomerWise. Participants can expect to gain an in depth can be monitored and managed within TechExcel products.

ServiceWise 8.0-On the Cutting Edge

Come see the new features designed to take you to the “cutting edge” in service desk applications.

Release 8.0 for ServiceWise/CustomerWise will be discussed.

The following contains a list of some of the important new features participants can expect to learn and understand during this session:

• Smart Screens: Providing limitless form layouts per project
• Outlook Integration: A new Microsoft Outlook plug-in to enable two-way sync between Outlook events and appointments with ServiceWise and CustomerWise events.
• Microsoft Active Directory Password Reset Users may reset/change their Active Directory password using TechExcel password reset forms.

ServiceWise and CustomerWise-A Look into The Future

Product Managers at TechExcel will deliver a 12-month product roadmap for conference attendees. Participants can expect to learn the direction for each product as well as the competitive advantages associated with each scheduled feature.

This session will provide attendees with information on the many exciting features and additions planned for both ServiceWise and CustomerWise. A Q&A session will allow users to address any specific features.

Increase Acceptance and Empower with Self-Service

TechExcel service products stand at the forefront of the rapidly evolving market for web-based tools for self-service for the IT Help Desk. Most support professionals are aware of the huge potential savings a well-executed self-service strategy can deliver to an organization. To put a number to it, at $25 per first level incident, deflecting just ten calls per day to a Self-Service Portal will save $60,000 per year! Getting started can often be the hardest part of any new initiative.

This session is designed to highlight some of the key best practices that we have observed in the field. Participants can expect to learn how to develop their own successful strategy for selfservice using this session as a starting point.