This document outlines John Borwick's iterative implementation of the TeamDynamix IT service management tool at Virginia Tech University Libraries over several improvements. It began with a bare-bones implementation allowing users to submit tickets and IT staff to update them. Subsequent improvements included adding user surveys, verification reports, a new employee request form, service level targets, procedures for takedown notices, and integrating major incident notifications with PagerDuty. The iterative approach allowed for continuous learning and improvement compared to a traditional waterfall implementation.

1. J O H N B O R W I C K
V I R G I N I A T E C H U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R I E S
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5
Iterative IT service management
implementation using
TeamDynamix

2. Virginia Tech
 Located in Blacksburg,
Virginia
 31,000 full-time students
 16:1 student-faculty ratio
 Main campus includes
more than 125 buildings,
2,600 acres, and an
airport

3. Virginia Tech University Libraries
 Growing since ~2012
 150+ employees
 ~10 IT Services FTE
 Client-side computing
 Systems administration
 Web application
development

4. John Borwick
 University Libraries IT
Services Director
 ITIL® Expert, PMP®,
CGEIT®
 5+ years full-time
experience conducting and
consulting on IT process
improvement
 Experience with ITSM tools
My career goal is to make
people’s lives easier through
improved IT management.

5. Agenda
 Waterfall vs. iterative implementations
 Preparing for TeamDynamix
 Improvement #1: Bare-bones implementation
 Improvement #2: Surveys
 Improvement #3: Verification reports
 Improvement #4: New employee form
 Improvement #5: Service level targets
 Improvement #6: Takedown notices
 Improvement #7: Major incident notifications
 Wrap-up
 Q&A

6. Iterative improvements

7. Traditional waterfall implementations
Plan
Design
Build
Test
Implement

8. Iterative implementations
(oriented around time rather than scope)
Plan/Design/Build/Test/Implement
#1
Plan/Design/Build/Test/Implement
#2
Plan/Design/Build/Test/Implement
#3

9. One huge change vs. many smaller changes
Time
Improvement
Value

10. One huge change vs. many smaller changes
Time
Improvement
Value
Value
Value
Value
Value

11. Preparing for TeamDynamix

12. Home-grown issue tracker
Web form
• Username
• Location
• Issue Type
• Description
Public issues list
• Status
• History

13. User base
 Library employees
 Library student workers

14. IT service management goals
 Users log in
 Tickets assigned to IT staff
 Work made visible: work log entries, status
 Services can be measured and improved

15. TeamDynamix contract
Tool requirements
 3 year “tool horizon”
 Minimal maintenance effort
Site
 “Entity fee”
 10 licenses
Consulting
 Biweekly consultant calls

16. Improvement #1:
Bare-bones implementation

17. Essential requirements
 Users can log in
 Users can submit tickets
 IT staff can update and resolve these tickets

18. TeamDynamix admin categories
o Overall admin stuff
o Authentication
o Roles
o Resource Pools
o Accounts
o Users
o Client Access
o Service Catalog
o Projects
o Workspaces
o Portfolios
o Tickets
o Questions
o Knowledge Base
o Tags
o Assets
o Configuration Management
o Attributes
o CRM
o Portfolio Planning
o Expenses
o Time Reports
o Workflows
o Desktops
o News/RSS
o Notifications
o Days Off
o Saved Reports
o Custom Pages

19. TeamDynamix admin categories
 Overall admin stuff
o Authentication
 Roles
o Resource Pools
 Accounts
 Users
o Client Access
 Service Catalog
o Projects
o Workspaces
o Portfolios
 Tickets
o Questions
o Knowledge Base
o Tags
o Assets
o Configuration Management
o Attributes
o CRM
o Portfolio Planning
o Expenses
o Time Reports
o Workflows
 Desktops
o News/RSS
o Notifications
o Days Off
o Saved Reports
o Custom Pages

20. Required admin categories, in order
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users
*
means significant
work

21. TeamDynamix required roles
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users

22. TeamDynamix required accounts
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users

23. TeamDynamix ticket type
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users

24. TeamDynamix ticket request form
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users
*

25. TeamDynamix service catalog entry
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users

26. TeamDynamix default desktop module
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users Hello! Welcome to IT Services' tool for
recording and tracking requests and
issues.
Please use the service catalog to submit
new issues and to track your requests.

27. TeamDynamix authentication
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users
*

28. TeamDynamix user importer
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users
 “Converter” Excel file
that needs
 vtpid (Think: Virginia
Tech account name)
 First name
 Last name
 Title
 Phone number
 Fields then mapped to
TeamDynamix import
sheet

29. TeamDynamix users: groups
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users

30. TeamDynamix users: IT staff
 Roles
 Accounts
 Tickets
 Service Catalog
 Desktops
 Overall admin stuff
 Users
For each user…
 Applications
 Groups

31. Roll out:
 Blog post and email
 Old tool replaced with a link to TD
 Link to TD request:

32. User feedback
 I love that I can log in from off campus!

33. Improvement #2:
Surveys

34. The Deming (PDCA) Cycle
Plan
DoCheck
Act/Adjust

35. Created one survey

36. Survey: four questions

37. Survey: conditions
 100% of tickets
 1 day after closed
 7 days between requests
 Status = Closed

38. Review survey feedback weekly
 Ratings and especially comments

39. Improvement #3:
Verification reports

40. Verification: On hold but no date
 Status is “On Hold”
 Order by “Goes Off Hold” ascending

41. Verification: Not modified in 3 days
 Status class is not “On Hold”, “Completed”, or
“Cancelled”
 Modified is less than the run date minus 3 days
 Sorted by last modified date, ascending

42. Improvement #4:
New employee form

43. Ticket type -> Attributes -> Request Form
 Type “New Employee”
 Attributes
 Employee classification
 VT PID
 First and last name
 Job title
 Primary supervisor
 How to contact the new employee
 Role
 Start date
 Requested software
 Office phone
 Special instructions
 Request Form

44. New employee tasks
 Order computer hardware
 Verify VT PID
 Add to library directory
 …
 Employee has arrived on site
 Mark employee as active in directory
 Add to TeamDynamix
 …

45. Implementation and outcomes
 HR manager sends link to hiring manager
 Fewer forgotten steps
 Future improvements identified
 Figured out how tasks work

46. Improvement #5:
Service level targets

47. Met to clarify targets
 Reflect on how we’re currently doing
 Not used to blame people
 8 hour response
 40 hour resolution

48. SLA: Generic agreement

49. Effects of Service Level Management
 “Tickets Needing Response” report
 “Tickets Needing Resolution” report

50. Improvement #6:
Takedown notices

51. Met with users about ownership and process
steps

52. “Super Urgent” SLA
 30 minute response
 At 1%, reprioritize to Emergency and notify the responsible
resource
 2 hour resolution

53. Improvement #7:
Major incident notifications

54. PagerDuty for alerting

55. PagerDuty/TeamDynamix integration
For “Super Urgent” tickets, at 1% email the PagerDuty
email address

56. Wrap-up

57. Iterative improvements allow learning
(cc) http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html

58. Review
 Waterfall vs. iterative implementations
 Preparing for TeamDynamix
 Improvement #1: Bare-bones implementation
 Improvement #2: Surveys
 Improvement #3: Verification reports
 Improvement #4: New employee form
 Improvement #5: Service level targets
 Improvement #6: Takedown notices
 Improvement #7: Major incident notifications
 Wrap-up
 Q&A

59. Q&A