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Improving your IT Service Management: How IT inventory helps those working in Service Desk

The Service Desk is the IT department’s primary interface with the business. It is to a Service Desk that the end-user turns when they have problems, questions, or technical concerns. For those working in a Service Desk, the challenges are many. In addition to routines, security aspects, and technical complexity, the department has a constant goal to be cost-effective by improving processes. At the same time, the fastest possible service and the best possible user experience are expected by the business. Let’s discuss how IT inventory can make everyday life easier and help companies work more efficiently with their ticket management and IT delivery.

What does one actually do in a Service Desk?

The daily work of a Service Desk, or “Support”, includes everything from solving users’ technical problems and providing support, to managing changes and ensuring smooth IT delivery. Its responsibilities include monitoring and managing tickets, user support, and ensuring a functional IT delivery. Here are some examples of tasks that a Service Desk performs:

• Troubleshooting for various devices such as mobile phones, laptops, monitors, and printers.
• Receiving and handling tickets when IT services are not working for the end-user.
• Answering common queries and technical questions from the end-user.
• Structuring help pages and guides to educate users.

Common daily challenges for someone working in a Service Desk

In their daily work, those working in a Service Desk encounter a number of challenges:

• Technical complexity: The increasing number of technologies and systems in the IT environment makes troubleshooting more complex and time-consuming.
• Security requirements: Maintaining security requirements and compliance according to the company’s and/or industry’s guidelines.
• Lack of documentation: Insufficient documentation can lead to increased troubleshooting time and more time having to ask other people for information.
• Communication & Collaboration: The challenge of effectively collaborating across first-line, second-line, and third-line support.
• Cost focus: Constant focus on optimizing workflows to find cost savings.

These are examples of challenges where IT inventory and vScope can provide you with the tools to make the work in a Service Desk easier!

How IT Inventory Helps You Working in a Service Desk

To eliminate unnecessary time thieves and simplify work within issue management, more companies are choosing IT inventory to collect and visualize information about the IT environment in one place. Below you will find four examples of how those working in a Service Desk use vScope and IT inventory to simplify daily life and collaboration within the organization.

1. Find Information About Patches and Updates

Freely search or explore tables and documentation to locate “KBs” (Windows patches and updates) installed on devices in your IT environment. This enables quick insight into the current status of devices and shows which other updates are installed.

In the above scenario, vScope demonstrates its capacity to inventory multiple platforms and systems simultaneously, offering a consolidated view of all assets in one place. This comprehensive approach eliminates the need for seeking permissions or assistance from others to gather necessary information, potentially resolving issues in this initial phase. If not, it lays a strong foundation for further troubleshooting.

2. Exploring License Allocation and Account Information

A common initial troubleshooting step is to verify if a user has the appropriate licenses to access the services they require. vScope simplifies this process, allowing for easy searches for an account or the construction of a table detailing which licenses are assigned to whom. This feature streamlines the process of verifying license entitlement, which is crucial for ensuring that users have access to the tools and services necessary for their roles.

In the scenario described, vScope’s capability to present a detailed view of an individual’s account in Azure, including the devices associated with them and the licenses assigned, is showcased. This view is particularly valuable for Service Desk personnel, as it simplifies the initial steps of troubleshooting by providing a comprehensive snapshot of the user’s IT environment and entitlements. The ability to directly link or attach this detailed documentation to a support ticket before forwarding it enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the support process. This feature not only accelerates the resolution of issues by ensuring that the next level of support has all the necessary information at hand but also enhances the overall user experience by potentially reducing the time to resolution.

3. Service documentation for easier troubleshooting

By deepening the understanding of the context and how assets relate to IT services, vScope acts as a comprehensive encyclopedia of your organization’s services. This makes collaboration in troubleshooting much simpler, as a Service Desk can easily visualize technical configurations and use documentation to facilitate the troubleshooting work. With vScope, each step in the troubleshooting process becomes more intuitive and efficient. Imagine being able to share this view with IT operations?

In the image above, for example, we can easily see who is technically responsible for the service, find documentation for any service windows, and the devices that the service includes. If access is correctly documented, we can quickly see if the user reporting the issue is in the right group to even access the service. Maybe this is where the problem lies…? This could be the key to understanding and solving the problem efficiently!

4. Proactive Incident Management with Ready-Made Analyses

One of the standout advantages of vScope for those working in Service Desk is the concept of “Proactive Incident Management.” By collecting all relevant data in one place, vScope helps companies identify configuration errors and anticipate potential problems before they occur. Many of the suggestions that vScope generates are typically aimed at technically knowledgeable recipients, often within the operations department. However, there are several valuable insights that are especially useful for you working in a Service Desk, enabling you to anticipate and manage incidents before they even reach your support.

In the analysis above, I find no accounts that are about to expire, good! However, I find 140 accounts that have expired. These should be investigated and cleared from our Active Directory. Either by deactivating the account, or simply removing the account. Perhaps most interesting is to investigate whether there are “real” users whose account should not expire. If that is the case, we will soon have a case reported to us…

Proactive incident management is the key to a smooth Service Desk. For example, vScope can be used to prevent the following (common…?) problems:

• User accounts that are expiring (especially before holidays such as Christmas and/or vacation periods).
• Certificates for critical services.
• Low toner in printers, or printers warning about too little paper.
• User accounts that are in different groups than they should be.
• Outdated laptops.
• License assignments on accounts.
• User accounts with misconfigurations causing Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) to not work as expected.

Get started with vScope…

vScope is used daily by thousands of users to enhance their IT delivery. From compliance and security, to lifecycle management and cost control. The advantage of vScope is that it is a tool that brings the entire IT department together, and in some cases even business personnel, in one place. This makes it easier to collaborate, visualize the IT environment, and step-by-step build a more productive organization.

Would you like to learn more about how vScope can support and improve your Service Desk? Contact us today to explore how vScope can be customized to meet your specific needs and challenges.

Learn More

• Integrate vScope with ServiceNow
• Feed other systems with data from vScope’s API

Learn more…