University of Aberdeen has recently upgraded to Hornbill's ITIL-compatible Supportworks ITSM software to improve support for over 14,000 students and 3,000 staff based across the institution in Aberdeen and six research sites. The IT service delivery team has benefited from the adoption of ITIL best practice for many of its support processes, but required a software solution to help integrate these processes and provide a seamless continuity of service. The Directorate of Information Technology selected Hornbill's solution for its ease of use, out of the box functionality and to enable it to implement ITIL for Incident, Problem, Configuration and Change Management. Following its successful implementation, the IT team has been able to provide a faster, improved customer service despite an increased number of calls.

According to Brian Henderson, Head of Service Delivery in the Directorate of Information Technology at University of Aberdeen; "We deliver service to a large number of users across disparate systems, so it was important for us to ensure that we could employ a system that enables us to consistently log and monitor calls through to resolution.
"Supportworks ITSM required little customisation – its out of the box functionality meant that the changeover was carried out over a weekend with minimum downtime. We now have more accountability and transparency of all calls. The improved data collection, reporting and integrated communication across our IT teams also means that we can provide a more joined-up and proactive service. We are in better control of our IT, which means that we can provide a more professional service."

The IT services team is using the data recorded in Supportworks ITSM for Problem, Change and Configuration management. It is able to review the history of IT assets, recommending replacement rather than fixes to users where appropriate. Supportworks is also used by the IT infrastructure team and staff that support the finance and administration services.

The IT team has replaced its home grown 'quick log' system with Supportworks ITSM now providing statistics for calls received on low scale, repetitive user requests, for instance password resets, an area that increases as students start at the beginning of each academic year. Reporting on these calls has led to an increased awareness of resource loading and the justification of the need for new solutions in this area.

"Now that we are using Hornbill Supportworks ITSM to log everything, we have actually seen call volumes rise – a result of the improved confidence in the service department. It has reduced the DIY element that existed in departments before where they would try to fix their own problems, sometimes using non-standard or non-approved equipment or software, which could lead to other problems. Other groups in the organisation are also seeing the benefits. We now have a platform that can take our IT services forward in the future," said Vince Donaldson, Service Centre Manager at University of Aberdeen.

Gerry Sweeney, CEO of Hornbill Systems, commented: "Managing calls from large numbers or users across multiple locations can be challenging for IT service departments with limited resource. For educational establishments the resource implications for a service team are made more complex by the peaks in demand that result from working to the academic calendar. We have designed Supportworks as a service management tool that enables the adoption of ITIL best practice to automate processes, allowing the service team to work more efficiently. It helps IT service teams to 'do more with less', while still providing a professional and proactive service."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About University of Aberdeen
Founded in 1495, the University of Aberdeen is one of the UK's most internationally distinguished universities. It has a student population of around 14,000 and a large international community of students drawn from 120 different countries. The University has over 3,000 staff - of whom 1,400 are academic, 4 nobel prize winners, and excellent results in the 2009 Research Assessment exercise.

It is currently placed 129th in the QS World University Rankings and has a capital investment programme of £272million over the next ten years. It offers over 550 first degree programmes and more than 110 taught Masters programmes. Teaching is organised in three colleges: College of Life Sciences & Medicine, College of Physical Sciences, and College of Arts and Social Sciences.

For more information, please visit: www.abdn.ac.uk