TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER. Introducing BMC Control-M Self-Service

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TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER

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INTRODUCTION

On-demand self service is a way of life. Whether we are paying bills online, checking in at the airport, or managing IT services, people demand always-on access to information and services. Sometimes that information may be available, but require a “middleman.” These middlemen are costly, and using them takes time. As we demand more visibility and access, self service is increasingly important. People want to be empowered to help themselves with access to the information and services they need.

WHY WE NEED SELF SERVICE

Business users consume IT and application services on a daily basis. They have high expectations and demands for access and control to services that support their job functions. They need what they need—when they need it. Let’s look at a few areas where self service models are quite useful.

Consider a check-in kiosk at the airport. When you need to check in for a fl ight, you can stand in line and talk to an agent or you can use a self service kiosk. It is almost always faster to use the self service kiosk, but the only things you can do there are check in for the fl ight and check baggage. If you need to change a fl ight, you must wait for an agent. By implementing a self service kiosk, the airline has reduced the number of check-in agents required and has enabled users, in this case travelers, to save time. It’s a win-win situation.

Another example of how a self service model saves time and money is an online brokerage ﬁ rm. If you want to trade stocks, you can call your broker, wait for him to call back, wait for him to execute the trade, and then pay a he y fee. Or you could use an online brokerage service to execute the trade yourself and pay a nominal fee. You have access to the same trading information in both cases, but the self service model is faster and less expensive.

An example of self service in IT is an online help desk. Without an online help desk, you would call the help desk, wait for an agent or a return call, and then wait for a resolution. If the problem takes a while to resolve, you may call back several times and wait for an agent or call-back each time. This process is time consuming for you, and it keeps the agents busy checking on the status of the problem and unable to devote time to ﬁ xing it. With an online help desk, you can report problems, specify a severity level, and check on the status of the resolution—all without the help of an agent. You get the information you need, and the agents have more time to devote to solving the problem.

It’s clear that self service models save time and money. But how does self service apply to workload automation?

Users need real-time visibility into their workload-related services through a simple, consistent, straightforward view. They don’t want to be forced to open a help desk ticket to ﬁ nd out how a service is doing. When all users who need the status of a service or who need to make a minor change to a service open help desk tickets, help desk overhead and volumes increase to support workload status and change requests.

IT organizations are interested in expanding their workload automation services, but they cannot lose control. They are bound by SLA and compliance requirements to ensure workload automation remains secure.

Self service workload automation uses the same principles as the airport kiosk, online brokerage ﬁ rm, and online help desk. With self service workload automation, you can see just the service you need, without all of the hundreds or thousands of other services that are running concurrently. You can execute a limited number of actions without opening a help desk ticket or waiting for someone to help you. You can ensure that only authorized users can make only authorized changes.

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BMC CONTROLM SELFSERVICE

BMC Control-M Self-Service delivers workload automation services for business users. It empowers business users to view and request IT workload services without requiring in-depth knowledge on how to use the schedul-ing tools. When you implement this type of self service model, you improve service delivery by eliminatschedul-ing the delay of information caused with service requests, providing better and timelier service to the business user. Users have access to a service catalog, enabling them to initiate workload services that are important for them.

BMC Control-M Self-Service delivers a service view that meets the needs of the business. When users understand the impact of their services on the overall business, they can better judge when to make changes that will aff ect other business processes. When IT understands the needs of the users, it can deliver workload services when users need them. Business/IT alignment is important—a manufacturer measures IT eff ectiveness through direct alignment of IT initiatives with delivery of their corporate business strategy. Each project is prioritized against growth drivers, including improving productivity, accelerating innovation, and building core brands. They measure each of these projects against specifi c business benefi t targets.

REDUCE HELPDESK TICKETS

BMC Control-M Self-Service eliminates a large percentage of help-desk tickets and the overhead and work associated with them. It gives business users secure access to only the items they are authorized for, leaving IT operations in control of workload priorities and scheduling.

A North American outsourcing fi rm reduced the number of help desk tickets opened by 90 percent a er implementing BMC Control-M Self-Service. At the same time, they signifi cantly improved service delivery to teams around the globe. They have 300 client teams that regularly use automation services. When a user needed to request or change an automation service, they submitted one of 75 diff erent help desk forms. The backlog of help desk tickets caused low customer satisfaction, and the overhead of processing those tickets was high. A er implementing BMC Control-M Self-Service, users were able to request and change automation services on demand, signifi cantly reducing the number of help desk tickets required—and eliminating the associated overhead. Users have more control, and satisfaction levels have risen.

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY

When business users can ﬁ nd the information they need quickly, they are more productive. When help-desk personnel have fewer requests, they are more productive. BMC Control-M Self-Service helps both business users and IT personnel to be more productive. Business users can request services and monitor status directly, and IT personnel are freed from processing these requests.

A US-based government organization that processes millions of transactions each day increased the productivity of end users and reduced the operators’ workload by implementing BMC Control-M Self-Service. Users occasion-ally need access to workload services, but they don’t have any scheduling experience. BMC Control-M Self-Service enables the users to monitor and change their services without knowing the technology behind workload automa-tion. The end result is that the users get what they need, when they need it and the operators can focus on issues other than responding to status and change requests.

A package delivery company in Europe monitors and tracks thousands of shipping transactions each day. Many of the users who need access to automation are oﬀ site and are using the Internet or mobile devices. Building a proprietary GUI that provided visibility into automation services was impractical and expensive. With BMC Control-M Self-Service, the delivery company is able to provide immediate, context-based access to users regardless of where they are.

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MAINTAIN SECURITY AND CONTROL

Security is imperative. When you implement a self service model, you give access to dozens, if not hundreds, of new users. BMC Control-M Self-Service ensures that users can view and change only the services for which they are authorized. All changes are captured so that you have an audit trail.

A European IT services company provides automation services to 50 clients. The clients need to have a view into their services, but it is critical that the clients do not perform any actions that would aﬀ ect the performance or availability of the services. It is also important that each client see only the services that they are authorized to see because if one client saw another client’s services, the services company could be liable for damages. With BMC Control-M Self-Service, the services company can guarantee that clients are able to view and change their services without aﬀ ecting or compromising other clients’ services.

QUICK TIME TO VALUE

BMC Control-M Self-Service provides quick time to value. As soon as you deploy BMC Control-M Self-Service, you enable business users to manage their own services and reduce help desk tickets. The easy-to-use Web interface does not require any special training, and users don’t need to have any experience with or knowledge of workload automation tools. Business users simply log on and start using the interface. In many cases, you can be productive in 10 minutes or less.

A QUICK LOOK

With BMC Control-M Self-Service, you can monitor services and perform actions. Let’s take a look at how easy it is.

Monitor a service

You can monitor all the services that you are authorized to view.

In this example, the Ins HAS Conversion service shows a slowdown. You can drill into a service to see where the problem lies.

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Find the problem

When you click on a service, a new tab appears and shows you what is happening.

The Check Credit service is slowing down. Because of this, none of the dependent services (Submit Order, Billing, and so on) can run. This causes an order to be denied.

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Perform an action

You can drill down to the exact service you need and perform an action such as Hold, Conﬁ rm, or Bypass.

You can perform the actions for which you are authorized.

All actions performed by all users are captured so that you have an audit trail and you can see who did what – and when.

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SUMMARY

BMC Control-M Self-Service aligns IT with the business. It enables IT to deliver a service view that meets the needs of the business and provides on-demand service delivery. When users understand the impact of their services on the overall business, they can better judge when to make changes that will aff ect other business processes. When IT understands the needs of the users, it can deliver workload services when users need them. Business/IT alignment is important—a manufacturer measures IT eff ectiveness through direct alignment of IT initiatives with delivery of their corporate business strategy. Each project is prioritized against growth drivers, including improving productivity, accelerating innovation, and building core brands. They measure each of these projects against specifi c business benefi t targets.

BMC Control-M Self-Service enables on-demand workload automation services for users. By empowering business users to view and request workload services, regardless of their workload tool expertise, it increases productivity. It also increases productivity for help-desk agents because the agents receive fewer requests. BMC Control-M Self-Service improves service delivery by enabling users to change and request services on demand. It enforces security to ensure that users can view and change only the services they are authorized for. BMC Control-M Self-Service provides a quick time to value with an easy-to-use Web interface that both local and remote users can access.

BUSINESS RUNS ON I.T.

I.T. RUNS ON BMC SOFTWARE.

Business thrives when IT runs smarter, faster, and stronger. That’s why the most demanding IT organizations in the world rely on BMC So ware across both distributed and mainframe environments. Recognized as the leader in Business Service Management, BMC off ers a comprehensive approach and unifi ed platform that helps IT organizations cut cost, reduce risk, and drive business profi t. For the four fi scal quarters ended September 30, 2010, BMC revenue was approximately $1.96 billion. Visit www.bmc.com for more information.