Supportworks will support NEP's move to ITIL best practice and will form a foundation for the organisation's on-going SAS70 Type II accreditation. NEP currently supports 64 NHS Organisations using its financial applications. One of the key elements of the new service management software is its change management features which will enable NEP to plan upgrades and changes to its systems with minimal disruption to its customers.

Nicola Lowther, Project Manager for the Hornbill implementation and Applications Specialist IM&T Manager, explained, "With the rapid growth that NEP has seen, our existing helpdesk software did not have the functionality to meet our future service requirements. After a competitive tender process, Hornbill Supportworks ITSM Enterprise was selected as providing the best match for our requirements. Supportworks will enable us to adopt ITIL best practice, to extend our services and its powerful reporting will enable us to monitor targets, SLAs and other performance indicators, ensuring that we provide the best possible service to our customers."

Supportworks ITSM will replace an existing in-house system and will enable NEP to introduce a SelfService option, allowing its customers to make service requests online and out of hours for the first time. The new system will provide clearer request logs from customers helping to speed resolution, develop an improved knowledge base and will enable the grouping of related calls so that they may be closed off together. All of these features will enable the service desk to provide a faster, more efficient and more proactive service to its end users.

Frank McIlroy, CEO of Hornbill Service Management said, "The whole of the public sector is facing efficiency drives like never before and this is particularly pertinent for NHS organisations. ITIL best practice is proven to help service desks streamline operations, enabling them to optimise service delivery to customers. Supportworks ITSM Enterprise has been designed to provide a fully ITIL-compatible solution that can be implemented step by step, allowing IT departments and service desks to undertake their ITIL journey at a pace to best suit their organisational requirements."

NOTES TO EDITORS

About NEP Shared System Group

NEP is one of the fastest growing providers of financial solutions to NHS Organisations, competing directly with private sector suppliers on reliability, quality and price. NEP is an NHS Consortium providing NHS Organisations with fully supported access to Oracle e-Business Suite. The NEP solution uses standard Oracle functionality with built in flexibility to accommodate all types of NHS Organisation.

NEP works with its partners to provide a range of services which ensure the ongoing development and enhancement of the NEP solution.

NEP is subject to a yearly SAS70 Type II audit by an independent service auditor.

For further information please visit: www.nepssg.nhs.uk