Alloy Navigator: Co-pilot for IT Infrastructure
Regardless of whether the company has a developed fleet of equipment and software or provides services for the maintenance of someone else's IT infrastructure, sooner or later there is a need for control and management. Moreover, it is important to organize management correctly not only at the level of workstations, but also at the level of the entire network and divisions. You can use a set of separate tools, and you can keep all records in a single interface. The latter approach allows you to comprehensively assess the state of IT assets, build interconnections, serve incoming requests efficiently and in a timely manner and systematically approach infrastructure management. It saves time, strength and nerves.
The main objective of the product Alloy Navigator is to ensure the efficiency, transparency and efficiency of IT infrastructure management; This is a complete functional solution for managing assets, user requests, licensing, and so on.
Often, standardization and a kind of “codification” of rules in the field of system administration are perceived with hostility. However, the abandonment of recommended practices begins to have a strong effect on the state of IT infrastructure during a period of intensive growth, when engineers and administrators, as well as IT managers, experience difficulties due to the fact that their own equipment and software fleet grows or several customers with a different type of business. In such conditions, every little thing becomes an important element of work and the process approach perfectly helps to keep track of everything, not to lose sight of anything and not to forget.
In developing Alloy Navigator , we initially decided to follow the recommendations of ITIL and create a product in such a way that it immerses the client in the streamlined paradigm of the ITSM approach. Alloy Navigator 7.0 implements the basic modules that allow you to manage the company's IT infrastructure in accordance with the principles of ITIL, but at the same time providing maximum flexibility for customizing the product to the needs of each specific user.
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Technical support (Service Support). This module collects information on incidents - cases of interruption or reduction in the quality of IT services. It is important to create incidents in a timely manner in order to ensure minimal impact on the business process and to recover the IT infrastructure element as quickly as possible. Each entry contains detailed information about the problem: type, category, description, priority, time to fix, incident activity, solution description, related infrastructure, interaction history.
The user can create groupings of incidents by performers, status, deadlines, order of receipt of applications, etc ... This is necessary in order to establish the procedure for handling incidents in accordance with their urgency and importance. In addition, groupings by incident type and affected service help identify problems that may adversely affect the operation of multiple users or even the entire business as a whole.
Another important essence of this section is the problem, the reason underlying one or more incidents. As a rule, the problem is fixed during the work to resolve the incident.
All data is organized in the form of tables with the possibility of flexible filtering by a set of parameters, which means that you can create any groupings and easily see the solved tasks or tickets that require immediate solution. The technical support module can be used both for external customers in service departments and for servicing internal requests. Such an organization of technical support is extremely useful in large companies with a large office or a distributed network of branches. Service Support mechanisms in combination with KPIs and schedulers built into Alloy Navigator can solve important management tasks:
A ticket is created in conjunction with any element of the IT infrastructure and, in full compliance with ITIL recommendations, can be created from any section.
The ticket is one of the basic Alloy Navigator entities and contains the entire history of relationships and actions on request. In fact, the ticket provides the ITSM principle of maximum attention to the needs of the end customer.
Module SLA (SLA Management). Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an ITIL term for a formal agreement between a customer of a service and its supplier, containing a description of the service, rights and obligations of the parties, and an agreed level of quality of the service. The Service Level Agreement describes the IT service, documents the target indicators of the service level, indicates the areas of responsibility of the parties - the IT service provider and the customer. A single service level agreement may extend to multiple IT services or multiple customers.
Simply put, an agreement determines who, to whom, when, and what quality of services it provides. SLA regulates not only external and outsourcing, but also intra-company relations between departments. Alloy Navigator defines service support availability hours, quality level, SLA validity time, type, category and status. In this module, you can actually define the rules of the technical service response to requests.
The company's IT asset management module (Asset Management) includes a list of tangible (equipment) and intangible (soft) assets, taking into account the date of their commissioning and cost. Also in this module is a list of contracts (agreements) for maintenance, service and warranty.
Inside the contract card, links are created with specific equipment / software, history of tickets and events under this contract. In the Library section, cards of the equipment and software (asset) subject to accounting are created, displaying the launch date, movement history (for example, one monitor may belong to several employees during its life), type, description, related infrastructure objects. In the same card, you can reserve equipment directly in the calendar interface (for example, a projector for the duration of the presentation or a laptop for the duration of the trip); all reserves are displayed in a separate section.
The asset module also takes into account locations (rooms, halls, classrooms) and consumables. This module greatly simplifies the IT asset management system:
The purchasing section displays invoices, a list of vendors and suppliers, a grocery catalog with the exact name, model and manufacturer of equipment.
Software Asset Management is a section created to implement the demanded concept of SAM, software license management. If you are dealing with software, then you know that software licenses have several features.
The SAM module solves these problems. The module is based on a software catalog and three related sections. Software Licences contains registered software licenses based on the number of installations, compliance requirements and updates.
The license card takes into account general parameters, registers keys and identifiers, contains information about upgrades and related tickets.
Tracked Software and Discovered Installations take into account the installed software, save the settings of its installation and track the actual use of existing licenses.
The Configuration Management module (configuration management) contains several related sections that give an idea of ​​both the individual elements of the infrastructure and the whole nodes.
The module of Organization Management consists of several sections, including organizations (units can be made), locations (cities can be made, rooms and floors can be made), people and working groups. The person’s card contains contacts, information about the position held, activities, related infrastructure, tickets, work calendar, if we are talking about an employee.
This solution allows not only extremely transparent control of the IT infrastructure in conjunction with a specific employee of an external company or his own company, but also to have easy and quick access to information about each person. This is especially important if you need to quickly contact the responsible person from the external organization. This module is an important link and completes the program logic as fully compliant ITIL.
In addition to the main modules, Alloy Navigator includes several other important elements that are not only necessary for the logic of the program, but also solve independent tasks.
Reports + KPI. In the system interface, you can generate reports with any nesting of data, create your own custom views and generate reports on KPI indicators for the selected period. The system of KPI key performance indicators is an essential element of the ITIL methodology, which, among other things, allows you to monitor the result of the work of the entire department, as well as each employee individually. Such monitoring of indicators is very important for service departments and technical support, as it allows to assess the level of satisfaction of the external / internal client.
The knowledge base is organized fairly standard for those who are accustomed to accounting programs: this is a kind of set of question cards that is created using a simple built-in text editor. In the question card, you can leave comments, attach files, save links. Some companies came to the internal corporate directory in wiki markup, but the solution built into Alloy Navigator meets the general logic of the program and is easily accessible to the needs of operators. By the way, the added value of an integrated knowledge base is the rapid adaptation of new employees who, during training, can refer to the accumulated articles. Access to the database can be provided to external users - in this case, they will be able to solve the most common problems on their own.
The program desktop can be configured at the request of the employee. It displays tickets by status, new information about the equipment entered, as well as dashboards displaying histograms necessary for the user to quickly assess the situation in his sphere of influence. Sections of the modules are opened in separate tabs, between which you can switch. Cards in each module open in separate windows. All groups of the left sidebar are customizable and can be created as it is most convenient for the user.
The main program is not localized, all sections are English-speaking, inside the cards data entry in Russian is supported. All English terms are understandable to the user, owning a minimal technical dictionary. Users (clients) have access to a Russified self-service web portal, which reduces the number of calls to technical support services due to the possibility of access to the knowledge base and the ability to create applications (tickets) on their own. In addition, there are mobile versions for convenient and continuous access to the system.
In the Alloy Navigator product, all objects are interconnected, they can be accessed from various sections and cards. This architecture solves several key IT infrastructure management tasks.
Unlike competitors, Alloy Navigator is a comprehensive software that includes the maximum set of modules for the successful management of IT infrastructure. During development, we avoided attempts to create a new-fashioned interface to the detriment of the product's functionality, and we had a structured solution with high speed and convenient arrangement of elements. We took into account the principles of ITIL and organized Alloy Navigator in such a way that users do not have to learn the whole methodology for effective work. Our goal was to provide an effective tool for managing and controlling infrastructure. The user can customize the behavior of the system "by itself", thus combining the basic ideas of ITIL and the requirements of real life. Just install Alloy Navigator and start working. The order in the IT infrastructure and significant savings on surplus assets are not long in coming.
The main objective of the product Alloy Navigator is to ensure the efficiency, transparency and efficiency of IT infrastructure management; This is a complete functional solution for managing assets, user requests, licensing, and so on.
Often, standardization and a kind of “codification” of rules in the field of system administration are perceived with hostility. However, the abandonment of recommended practices begins to have a strong effect on the state of IT infrastructure during a period of intensive growth, when engineers and administrators, as well as IT managers, experience difficulties due to the fact that their own equipment and software fleet grows or several customers with a different type of business. In such conditions, every little thing becomes an important element of work and the process approach perfectly helps to keep track of everything, not to lose sight of anything and not to forget.
Alloy Navigator Modules - Overview
In developing Alloy Navigator , we initially decided to follow the recommendations of ITIL and create a product in such a way that it immerses the client in the streamlined paradigm of the ITSM approach. Alloy Navigator 7.0 implements the basic modules that allow you to manage the company's IT infrastructure in accordance with the principles of ITIL, but at the same time providing maximum flexibility for customizing the product to the needs of each specific user.
')
Technical support (Service Support). This module collects information on incidents - cases of interruption or reduction in the quality of IT services. It is important to create incidents in a timely manner in order to ensure minimal impact on the business process and to recover the IT infrastructure element as quickly as possible. Each entry contains detailed information about the problem: type, category, description, priority, time to fix, incident activity, solution description, related infrastructure, interaction history.
The user can create groupings of incidents by performers, status, deadlines, order of receipt of applications, etc ... This is necessary in order to establish the procedure for handling incidents in accordance with their urgency and importance. In addition, groupings by incident type and affected service help identify problems that may adversely affect the operation of multiple users or even the entire business as a whole.
Another important essence of this section is the problem, the reason underlying one or more incidents. As a rule, the problem is fixed during the work to resolve the incident.
All data is organized in the form of tables with the possibility of flexible filtering by a set of parameters, which means that you can create any groupings and easily see the solved tasks or tickets that require immediate solution. The technical support module can be used both for external customers in service departments and for servicing internal requests. Such an organization of technical support is extremely useful in large companies with a large office or a distributed network of branches. Service Support mechanisms in combination with KPIs and schedulers built into Alloy Navigator can solve important management tasks:
- plan the loading of technical staff and engineers;
- plan the purchase of equipment, software and consumables;
- identify responsible;
- reallocate tasks depending on the complexity and importance among employees in accordance with experience and qualifications;
- automatically calculate KPIs (key performance indicators), which can form the basis for deciding whether to award bonuses or to deprive employees.
A ticket is created in conjunction with any element of the IT infrastructure and, in full compliance with ITIL recommendations, can be created from any section.
The ticket is one of the basic Alloy Navigator entities and contains the entire history of relationships and actions on request. In fact, the ticket provides the ITSM principle of maximum attention to the needs of the end customer.
Module SLA (SLA Management). Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an ITIL term for a formal agreement between a customer of a service and its supplier, containing a description of the service, rights and obligations of the parties, and an agreed level of quality of the service. The Service Level Agreement describes the IT service, documents the target indicators of the service level, indicates the areas of responsibility of the parties - the IT service provider and the customer. A single service level agreement may extend to multiple IT services or multiple customers.
Simply put, an agreement determines who, to whom, when, and what quality of services it provides. SLA regulates not only external and outsourcing, but also intra-company relations between departments. Alloy Navigator defines service support availability hours, quality level, SLA validity time, type, category and status. In this module, you can actually define the rules of the technical service response to requests.
The company's IT asset management module (Asset Management) includes a list of tangible (equipment) and intangible (soft) assets, taking into account the date of their commissioning and cost. Also in this module is a list of contracts (agreements) for maintenance, service and warranty.
Inside the contract card, links are created with specific equipment / software, history of tickets and events under this contract. In the Library section, cards of the equipment and software (asset) subject to accounting are created, displaying the launch date, movement history (for example, one monitor may belong to several employees during its life), type, description, related infrastructure objects. In the same card, you can reserve equipment directly in the calendar interface (for example, a projector for the duration of the presentation or a laptop for the duration of the trip); all reserves are displayed in a separate section.
The asset module also takes into account locations (rooms, halls, classrooms) and consumables. This module greatly simplifies the IT asset management system:
- it is always known for whom and for how long the equipment is assigned or reserved;
- the exact time of introduction and service life of equipment, the cost of equipment are known;
- in a few clicks you can refer to the documentation and warranty agreements.
The purchasing section displays invoices, a list of vendors and suppliers, a grocery catalog with the exact name, model and manufacturer of equipment.
Software Asset Management is a section created to implement the demanded concept of SAM, software license management. If you are dealing with software, then you know that software licenses have several features.
- Licenses are superfluous and are not really used in the activities of the company, while they are updated and bought new versions. If the company is large enough, the system administrator does not have time to track changes in user profiles and expensive software "hangs" until the moment of registration, that is, for about a year. This situation leads to additional irrational costs.
- Sometimes the problem of optimizing the number of licenses can be solved by buying non-registered, competitive licenses (not for the user, but for the connection). But for this you need to know at what time and how employees use software.
- Morally obsolete licenses need to be updated in a timely manner at the request of users.
The SAM module solves these problems. The module is based on a software catalog and three related sections. Software Licences contains registered software licenses based on the number of installations, compliance requirements and updates.
The license card takes into account general parameters, registers keys and identifiers, contains information about upgrades and related tickets.
Tracked Software and Discovered Installations take into account the installed software, save the settings of its installation and track the actual use of existing licenses.
The Configuration Management module (configuration management) contains several related sections that give an idea of ​​both the individual elements of the infrastructure and the whole nodes.
- Computers contains a list of workstations with an indication of the operating system, category, owner, computer name, audit date, and other parameters. In this section, it is convenient to create a variety of groupings based on the technical characteristics of the PC: memory size, CPU, and so on. This possibility is achieved due to the many parameters of the computer card, which can be filtered. In addition to the configuration, in each card you can see all the software installed on the computer, the cost of equipment, related tickets. External tools can be used to work with each workstation: ping the computer, use Telnet and Remote Desktop.
- Hardware includes hardware that corresponds to a workstation or a group of workstations (for example, a network printer), as well as portable equipment (projectors, mobile phones, etc.). The cards contain information about installed programs, associated objects and tickets. Directly from the card you can write off the equipment, indicating the base.
- Networks include a description of networks with a pool of IP numbers, owner, activity status, holding organization or location.
- Documents contains any regulatory documents and procedures necessary for configuration management.
- Configurations includes new database, intranet, Internet connection, and so on configurations.
- All Cls aggregates the information from the previous sections for a complete view of the configurations within the IT infrastructure.
The module of Organization Management consists of several sections, including organizations (units can be made), locations (cities can be made, rooms and floors can be made), people and working groups. The person’s card contains contacts, information about the position held, activities, related infrastructure, tickets, work calendar, if we are talking about an employee.
This solution allows not only extremely transparent control of the IT infrastructure in conjunction with a specific employee of an external company or his own company, but also to have easy and quick access to information about each person. This is especially important if you need to quickly contact the responsible person from the external organization. This module is an important link and completes the program logic as fully compliant ITIL.
There are no trifles
In addition to the main modules, Alloy Navigator includes several other important elements that are not only necessary for the logic of the program, but also solve independent tasks.
Reports + KPI. In the system interface, you can generate reports with any nesting of data, create your own custom views and generate reports on KPI indicators for the selected period. The system of KPI key performance indicators is an essential element of the ITIL methodology, which, among other things, allows you to monitor the result of the work of the entire department, as well as each employee individually. Such monitoring of indicators is very important for service departments and technical support, as it allows to assess the level of satisfaction of the external / internal client.
The knowledge base is organized fairly standard for those who are accustomed to accounting programs: this is a kind of set of question cards that is created using a simple built-in text editor. In the question card, you can leave comments, attach files, save links. Some companies came to the internal corporate directory in wiki markup, but the solution built into Alloy Navigator meets the general logic of the program and is easily accessible to the needs of operators. By the way, the added value of an integrated knowledge base is the rapid adaptation of new employees who, during training, can refer to the accumulated articles. Access to the database can be provided to external users - in this case, they will be able to solve the most common problems on their own.
The program desktop can be configured at the request of the employee. It displays tickets by status, new information about the equipment entered, as well as dashboards displaying histograms necessary for the user to quickly assess the situation in his sphere of influence. Sections of the modules are opened in separate tabs, between which you can switch. Cards in each module open in separate windows. All groups of the left sidebar are customizable and can be created as it is most convenient for the user.
The main program is not localized, all sections are English-speaking, inside the cards data entry in Russian is supported. All English terms are understandable to the user, owning a minimal technical dictionary. Users (clients) have access to a Russified self-service web portal, which reduces the number of calls to technical support services due to the possibility of access to the knowledge base and the ability to create applications (tickets) on their own. In addition, there are mobile versions for convenient and continuous access to the system.
In the Alloy Navigator product, all objects are interconnected, they can be accessed from various sections and cards. This architecture solves several key IT infrastructure management tasks.
- Provides a comprehensive, systematic approach to management and control.
- It allows you to quickly access the cards of all objects related to the incident or ticket: persons, equipment, software, locations, etc.
- Allows you to combine tickets into projects and, if necessary, manage all the processes on projects.
- It plays an important role in the inventory when it is necessary to collect and analyze information in a short time.
Unlike competitors, Alloy Navigator is a comprehensive software that includes the maximum set of modules for the successful management of IT infrastructure. During development, we avoided attempts to create a new-fashioned interface to the detriment of the product's functionality, and we had a structured solution with high speed and convenient arrangement of elements. We took into account the principles of ITIL and organized Alloy Navigator in such a way that users do not have to learn the whole methodology for effective work. Our goal was to provide an effective tool for managing and controlling infrastructure. The user can customize the behavior of the system "by itself", thus combining the basic ideas of ITIL and the requirements of real life. Just install Alloy Navigator and start working. The order in the IT infrastructure and significant savings on surplus assets are not long in coming.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/272419/
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