Peregrine's ServiceCenter 6.0

ServiceCenter in Action

When a call comes in, a support person opens a new record in ServiceCenter. He or she selects the user from a list, and data about that user--including office location, phone number and equipment--is filled in automatically. Calls are assigned a number and linked to an incident or change record.

I created a user identity, made a call and initiated an incident. I then logged on as a Level 2 technician and assigned the incident to myself. From the incident report, I recorded my plan to resolve the problem. The ServiceCenter docs talk about this in terms of diagnosing what's wrong, which is misleading: ServiceCenter doesn't have diagnostic tools. Rather, it has information about service interruptions and restorations that can be used for guidance. The software uses previous incidents to build a searchable knowledge base. Problems are indexed and cross-referenced with calls and equipment records. For example, if I threw a protocol analyzer in front of a server farm and found a high level of runt packets, that would go into the diagnostic determination ServiceCenter associates with the incident and would be highlighted as leading to resolution.

The interface has a directory tree on the left and detail screens on the right. As easy as the interface is to navigate, though, ServiceCenter is complex, with detailed admin tools, including a reporting engine. You'll need to devote someone full time to implement and administer it.

ServiceCenter includes Service Wisdom, which references the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), the international standard for IT best practices.

Executive editor Bruce Boardman tests and writes about network management and systems. Write to him at [email protected].0