TOPdesk plus

Business processes are supported by many different IT applications and, as a result, many different applications are used alongside one another. Many organizations record employee details in Active Directory or Beaufort, System Management information using LANdesk or Nagios and use TOPdesk to support both Service and Facilities management; hence why we are always looking at the integration possibilities with other software packages.

TEXT: NIENKE DEUSS

Over the past few years, TOPdesk has entered into a number of sustainable partnerships with experts in the area of business processes and technologies, with capabilities outside the realms of TOPdesk software. As a result, TOPdesk has acquired expertise in-house to create practical, new applications of the software. Accordingly, we have developed links that combine the best of TOPdesk with the expertise of other specialists, such as telecommunications providers and barcode specialists. This article discusses a number of these integrations based on their daily application at TOPdesk clients.

22

The Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Module

The CTI module was developed in collaboration with AskRoger, a provider of high-quality solutions in the area of Unified Communications. The module links the computer with the telephone. When you want to call a client, you simply press the Call button next to the telephone number on the Person or Branch card. When the telephone rings, you can immediately see who is calling and where they are calling from, ensuring that the client always reaches the right person.

You can also call clients with one click of your mouse, as Slokkers explains. From our intranet, the order registration system and TOPdesk, you can call clients directly. If, for example, you want to answer a question about an order, you can directly connect your telephone to the correct branch from the incident. TOPdesk support Three TOPdesk departments Sales, Office Sales and Support use the CTI module. Support employee, Roland de Schepper, tells, Only once you begin using the CTI module do you realize how useful it really is. You dont have to dial every number, eliminating the chance of calling a wrong number. You also save loads of time. The CTI module is also proving very useful for the managers of the Support department, as Roland tells. Our manager sets his phone to silent and keeps an eye on pop-ups of incoming calls. He can then see how often calls are coming in and has a live view of how busy the department is. The CTI integration also works outside of the TOPdesk software. When you see a telephone number on a website, you only need to select it and press F8 to call the number, Roland explains.

Overview of call history

At the FujiColor help desk Employees at the FujiColor help desk mostly receive queries from clients who have placed orders who sell FujiColor products, such as photo processing stores. When the telephone rings at the help desk, a window appears on the screen that displays which client is calling. You can see a name, branch or store and client number and you can easily see which calls and questions employees from this store have logged in the past, explains Andr Slokkers of Fuji. When you accept the call, you can select what you wish to do in the menu. During a call, you can open a Call card in TOPdesk with one mouse click. Whether the client has a question or needs to modify an order, you can then open the intranet or the order registration system. This solution saves the help desk a lot of time logging incidents.

Telephone integration process

23

The barcode solution

Taking stock of all your company assets is timeconsuming, to say the least. It involves going to the location, noting down every object, returning to your desk and entering all the information you have just collected not forgetting when you move something and then have to update all the data. The barcode solution enables you to register objects with barcodes. Each code is linked to an object ID in TOPdesk, you can easily keep all data up-to-date. After taking stock of all your objects, the current situation is comparable with Configuration management in TOPdesk and any discrepancies will be revealed.

scanner collects are sent via a docking station to the network or the server. You can then see in TOPdesk whether the data are correct. The additional fields also show you the last date of inventory and whether the previous scan was correct. TOPdesk can also generate the barcode labels with the print wizard. In the past, the barcodes could only be printed on A4 sticker sheets, but now it is also possible with label printers. We use a label printer and, at first, we had to guess where we aimed on a sheet of 2x4cm. Now, everything is guided and we can directly label and scan all new incoming objects. Prefer Technology: expert in barcode solutions To develop the barcode solution, TOPdesk has joined forces with Prefer Technology, specialist in barcode and RFID systems. Prefer Technology offers advice for all barcode solutions, from permanent labels to barcode scanners and supporting software. Clients can now take stock of all company assets using barcode scanners, explains Peter van Hoek van Prefer. Because every object has a unique ID, you can keep an overview. When you scan a room, the input is saved in the scanner. The information is then synchronized with the data in TOPdesk via the docking station. According to Peter, the biggest advantage of the barcode solution is that you can register everything without making errors and the fact that this can be done quickly.

Report of discrepancies between scanned and registered objects in TOPdesk

The printers, computers and monitors of the Veenendaal City Council It was installed and fully operational within the space of a day. Putting stickers on all the equipment will still be a lot of work, but after that well have an overview of where each object is located, tells Karel Klumpenaar, IT team leader at Veenendaal City Council in the Netherlands. The council uses the barcode scanner solution to register all configurations. An employee goes to the location, scans the ID of the room and the item numbers of all printers and computers in that room. Each item number refers to an object in the TOPdesk database. The data that the portable barcode

TOPdesk can generate and print barcode labels

24

Performing inspections with Keur-IT

TOPdesk has formed its most recent partnership with software supplier Keur-IT. Keur-IT develops software that supports inspectors and consultants with their inspection activities of buildings or installations on location and with the processing of these data. This yields great advantages. The performed inspection or condition monitoring with Keur-IT is often used for the long-term planning, which can be imported directly into TOPdesk. The solution means that jotting down the details of inspections in notepad file and calculations in Excel are a thing of the past, tells Wolter Smit, TOPdesk Managing Director. Keur-ITs Managing Director, Helmut Faust, also sees numerous advantages for clients as the result of this collaboration. TOPdesk clients can begin working with Keur-IT software immediately or can have their buildings and installations inspected using Keur-IT by a building engineering consultancy firm. Around 20 such consultancy firms already work with Keur-IT. The inspections performed by external parties can also be processed in your own TOPdesk database. Easy inspections The consultant or inspector determines the objective of his inspection, such as assessing the condition of the building, in advance. He or she then chooses a suitable template in Keur-IT, which can then be arranged further according to his or her wishes. If it concerns an inspection taking place for the second time, then the template will already have been filled in with the data that need to be added or collected on location. The inspection is then performed using the PDA or tablet PC and cyclical activities are then generated over the entire operating period based on the conditions, norm files and the chosen starting point. Finally, the complete planning is exported to TOPdesks Long-term planning module. You can also make reports in this module. With the insight you have gathered, you can build scenarios or formulate or adjust the current long-term planning accordingly. Keur-IT applications include long-term maintenance planning, condition monitoring (whether or not according to NEN 2767) and benchmarks.

And lots more

TOPdesk can be integrated with numerous other applications. In addition to the aforementioned links, TOPdesk can also be integrated with system management tools, for example; indeed, we are currently also working on a link with the SAP Solution Manager. The links with the SAP Solution Manager and ISM (Integrated Service Management) will be discussed further in the next issue of TOPdesk Magazine. The Performance Monitor will also be explained further, which is another example of a module that came about as the result of collaboration with a partner.

If you have questions, wishes or ideas about collaboration between TOPdesk and partners, please dont hesitate to contact our Sales department on +44 (0)20 7803 4200. Perhaps you would like to participate in the discussion about system integrations. Then go to community.topdesk.nl or www.topdesk.com/ magazine.

25