Looking back on an exciting project

In April 2007, TOPdesk Magazine reported on the ambitious plan to restructure the IT department of the Academic Hospital in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The entire IT department was reorganized and its infrastructure was updated; this included the implementation of a new service management application. Now, almost a year after the official kick-off of the Upgrade Project, we take a look back on the implementation of TOPdesk Enterprise with project leader Ben Sollet.
TEXT: AMANDA DIRKSE

Precision, discipline and communication

The discussions with Ben Sollet in March 2007 and in early 2008 were focused on the meticulous implementation of TOPdesk. Besides the steps that preceded the implementation, processes were also written, established and then posted for everyone to read on the network. Ben Sollet: We adapt the procedures to what we have learnt and make sure that we can guarantee quality. I think that it is important for people to feel that the progress of the implementation is a collective effort. Therefore, clear and open communication plays an important role. The IT Service Centre sends a newsletter in which the various Process managers and their teams report on the progress of their projects. These projects concern the entire upgrade project that we began a year ago. I report primarily on the progress of the TOPdesk implementation.

A well-planned jump into the deep end

It was quite exciting for the hospital to make the transition from HP Openview to TOPdesk. It all began on 6 July 2007 that was when the first TOPdesk modules went live at the service desk. When the telephones began to ring, the first few incidents were awkwardly recorded. To optimise the transition for the 80 IT employees, a number of preparations were touched upon. Ben Sollet: Each employee was trained on how to use Incident and

Configuration management. We also had a test phase. We intentionally planned to start using TOPdesk on a Friday because Fridays are usually the least busy day for the service desk. Despite our preparations, it still felt a little like being thrown into the deep end. We used the off-peak hours to log the incidents that we were unable to log during the busier times because of our unfamiliarity with TOPdesk.

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A Self Service Desk for key users

The hospital is also planning on making use of the TOPdesk Self Service Desk. Right now it is being tested by the so-called key users. Key users are people that work with a certain application and for which they can report incidents themselves in the Self Service Desk. In most cases they are immediately escalated to the second line. The regular end users report their incidents by telephone to the IT Service Centre.

handled more efficiently. That promotes teamworkwhich was one of our goals.

simultaneously within the hospital. And many variables automatically mean more uncertainty. But we are very pleased with the progress!

Collaborating with TOPdesk

The hospital is an excellent example of a very ambitious TOPdesk customer with a rigorous project plan and high expectations. The fact that the implementation of TOPdesk Enterprise is a small part of a much bigger transformation within the IT department gives this project an extra dimension. Dennis Roozemond (TOPdesk project leader) and Jordi Recasens (consultant) regard this extensive project as quite challenging. Dennis: We are pleased that our approach of phased implementations has been successful. By implementing one module and its accompanying ITIL process at a time, we were able to anticipate the changes and adapt the planning as needed. Working within the constantly changing environment of the hospital was an aspect that needed to be considered in order to achieve desirable results. Jordi: There are many things changing

Proud?
The step-by-step implementation of the new application resulted in the new procedures spreading very quickly across the IT department. Ben Sollet: In the meantime, we have reached quite a few milestones. Some colleagues needed to be convinced that the changes would bring about a win-win situation. The sharing of responsibilities has made that possible. I am rather proud of that. The introduction of the Problem management module will follow shortly. After that, the hospital will begin with an evaluation phase in order to further fine-tune the processes. We wish Ben Sollet and his team at the hospital much success with the continuation of the project.

The to-do list on a big screen

In order to clearly present the tasks that need to be completed, each team has received a large monitor on which the to-do list is visible to everyone. Ben Sollet: We are still busy with a pilot, but the intention of these centralized screens is to keep the teams up-to-date on the progress of their incidents. In this way, the employees do not have to continually log into TOPdesk to stay updated. And because everyone knows exactly what needs to be taken care of, the incidents are

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