From IT frameworks

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeffrey_HS_Lee

1. Management commitment is crucial – not just the IT management, but the corporate management (the higher up and the more solid the commitment, the better). This is the usual ITIL slide slogan. Experience show it is the basic ITIL implementation truth.
2. It is a good idea to implement ITIL in the shortest possible timeframe. Sure, the stress will take some, but the drag of a prolonged implementation will strain even more.
3. Make sure to commit personnel resources to the project or it will fail.
4. No ITIL implementation should be attempted without getting the entire IT department through the ITIL Foundation. Get important outside stakeholders through the certification as well.
5. Get someone from outside with good ITIL competence to facilitate the implementation. This injects objectivity into the project to vaccinate against the urge to defend current bad habits.
6. Putting the coming CSI Manager as the Project Manager for the implementation project is an excellent idea. This creates better stability than having an external PM, and it builds internal competence on ITIL.
7. If the CSI/PrjM is also technical competent to the point of being able to implement the tools, this is a real plus.
8. In reality, one starts with the CSI process area and improves the scene from scratch.
9. Map the current scene. All systems. All customers. All system responsibles. Creating a spreadsheet or such with all this helps get a grip on where you are. This is needed to know where you should be going.
10. Know the people involved. Know their potential before assigning responsibilities.
11. Please keep it simple. It’s better with a simple implementation that works 70% than a complex implementation that works 70%. The simpler implementation costs less.
12. Assess the number of employees against the number of processes to be implemented. Assign responsibilities for the process as early as you can. Assign backup responsibles as well. Start treating the process owners as real responsibles. The FreeCode ITIL Map is the overview to use here and elsewhere to make it possible to easily understand and use ITIL.
13. First create a basic Demand Management process as a filter to ensure the IT department get to focus on the implementation of ITIL. The Demand Manager must create acceptance with top management that there will be fewer new services implemented all while the ITIL implementation project is running.
14. The next process to formalize with an iron grip should be Change Management. Put a person with high tolerance for stress in the role of Change Manager. The person should keep a positive focus on solutions even as hell breaks loose.
15. The next is the Service Operations process area to ensure customer satisfaction and goodwill. It creates a breathing space to implement the other areas of ITIL.
16. Put the nicest, smiliest and most service oriented person at the Service Desk. Technical competence is junior to friendliness. Keep that person happy.
17. As the IT department exercises the processes, service will be slower. Running down a flight of stairs is easy. Doing it while you think about how it is done will slow you down or get you to the hospital. But you need to train on how to do it right before you push for speed. When the users and customers goodwill starts to wear out, then you focus on the speed of service.
18. When designing processes, keep bureaucracy at a minimum. If the work flow becomes to cumbersome, short cuts will be taken and the process will be seen to fail. Keep it simple.
19. It is important to inform all customers on how ITIL will affect them.
20. It is important to inform all users on how ITIL will affect them.
21. Make sure there is an agreement within the IT department (and with management) when you start the project. Agreement at the start and throughout the project determines its success.
22. ITIL will not solve your personnel issues. Only good management will. An ITIL implementation will never be better than the people it should serve.
23. Tools will facilitate behavioral change, but personnel issues will persist.
24. Choose tools that are as flexible as possible. The tools should be adjusted to the best work flow. Avoid adjusting the organization to a specific IT tool. Likewise; Adjust ITIL to fit the organization. The KPIs/metrics will show what works. Keep it simple.
25. Creating a CMDB is a long time investment, but starting the task can be seen as a quick-win as it shows structural progress. It is beneficial to start this task early as much will be hinging on this tool. Keep it simple.
26. Bullshit will be abundant. People will resist change. Disregard negative comments. Simply solve the relevant content of any critique.
27. The major change is to make people go from “building the whole car, one-by-one” to “implementing the assembly belt of ITIL processes”. This is a significant mental change. It is a matter of trusting ones fellow workers and the processes created. Trust is hard to come by.
28. Make sure each and everyone focus only on their responsibilities and do their job to the best of their abilities. Make them forget about how the others do their job. If the tuba player in the orchestra stops in the middle of the concert to correct the violin player that fumbles a note, disaster will ensue.
29. Stick to the party line: Keep grinding at the processes, use discipline if necessary. Make sure the processes work through understanding and acceptance – within IT and with management. Keep it simple.
30. Make sure to put down all the deliverables of the implementation project in the Project Brief. Make sure no new deliverables comes creeping up unless the Project Steering Committee formally approves it (PRINCE2 covers this). Accepting demands nilly-willy from outside the project induces pain. Creating new expectations from inside the project is seriously bad form.
31. Help the managers in IT become better managers. Their workday should be profoundly changed by implementing ITIL. No more by-passing of other’s responsibility. No more “do-it-myself”-attitude. Delegating responsibility may be hard but it is necessary.
32. Help creating a positive attitude in the IT department. A negative, “us<->them”, “they are jerks”-attitude may be the only internal mood that can suffocate the implementation.
33. Keep at it. Tenacity is the trait to embrace. Ultimately, through hell and high waters, reason will prevail and the people will work more smoothly together. Witness Henry Ford, look to Toyota. The process system is sane. It keeps people from getting ulcers. It also keeps people from being indispensable. Herein lays perhaps the main problem.
34. Keep it simple.

How to Survive in an Unhappy Workplace

When you don’t like your job, going to work every day can be a challenge. Your problem might be with a bad manager, that you constantly feel stretched to the breaking point, or that you are resentful about taking a pay cut. Or, the whole environment may just feel toxic. You might need to stay in your job because it provides health benefits, or maybe you’re only staying while you look for another position. Whatever your reasons for being unhappy, you need to maintain your professionalism and prevent a bad attitude from sabotaging you.

What the Experts Say
Timothy Butler, Senior Fellow and Director of Career Development Programs at Harvard Business School and author of Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, believes there’s something elemental about the statement ‘I’m unhappy at work.’” Butler, whose research focuses on personality structure and work satisfaction, says that to understand your unhappiness, you need to turn towards that feeling of unhappiness, experience it in a deep way, and not try to solve things too quickly. He suggests observing the feelings and not expecting anything. You may just find yourself at a frontier, considering what you’re going to do next. “The existential nature of unhappiness is a wake-up call,” Butler says. “There’s some part of the self that is not being heard, that wants your attention, and that’s the issue.”

Similarly, Joe Mosca, an associate professor in the Leon Hess Business School at Monmouth University, who specializes in human resources management and organizational behavior, agrees that looking within is the first step. “That may be hard for some people to hear,” he suggests, because while it’s true that sometimes people just don’t match well with their jobs, employees tend to rationalize their job dissatisfaction rather than consider that they may be part of the problem. But if you are part of the problem, you may be part of the solution, too.

Tammy Erickson, a workplace expert and author of Plugged In:The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work, advises that if you’re unhappy, see if you can upgrade your contribution to the company, or find a way to be more creative about your job. She once performed very dull work in a book bindery but avoided becoming negative about the job by finding a way to make it less boring. Erickson was “interested in the process” and tried completing the tasks in a different order, which made the work quicker, easier, and less monotonous. “No work is uninteresting if you can think how to do it differently,” she says.

That’s not to say unhappy workers don’t have valid complaints. One thing you don’t want to do, however, is let your feelings boil over at work.

Signs That You Need to Take Action
Perhaps you’ve heard of someone who was so unhappy he quit on the spot or blew up at a boss. Losing control at work helps no one and may have repercussions in both your current job and in the future — you never know when you’ll work with one of your current colleagues again.

Indications that you need to address your emotions may be physical or behavioral, explains Catherine McCarthy, a clinical psychologist and COO of The Energy Project, an organizational consulting firm. The signs include feeling distracted, sluggish, angry or irritable, not sleeping well or sleeping excessively, relying on alcohol or food to comfort yourself, and withdrawing from friends and activities. All may indicate underlying depression or anxiety, which you shouldn’t ignore.

If you feel you have nowhere to turn, are about to burst, or are depressed, one option is to seek out your company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) if it has one, adds McCarthy. Some EAPs will help you find a counselor, and all are bound by healthcare and workplace laws to keep your request confidential.

There are also things you can try to change in your approach to your job. Consider these solutions for surviving and even thriving in a job that’s less than optimal:

1. Face the reality head-on. China Gorman, chief global member engagement officer of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reminds workers that during a recession or slow recovery, people at all levels experience the pain. Such an economic climate makes it more difficult to leave a job, but it doesn’t mean you should feel stuck. Erickson advises that you “Accept that this job is not where you want to be, even if you can’t make a change today. But begin taking steps to change things.” McCarthy seconds this advice. “Practice radical acceptance,” she says. “Tell yourself, ‘This is where I am, this is where I’m going to be for a certain amount of time.’ You have more control over how you think than you realize.” Understand what you’re feeling, and that if you show up to work irritated, it affects your performance.

2. Develop a plan. Be proactive. Brainstorm with trusted friends and family members about your ideas. If there’s something you’d like to change, decide whether your boss is approachable and if so, the best tactics to use. If you have suggestions, discuss how they will improve your performance as well as others’. The Human Resources department may also be able to help in some way, suggests Gorman, from helping you find a job within the company you’re better suited for, to assisting with work/life balance.

You could also try learning a new skill. At the very least, it may help you prepare for another job. It can also lift your spirits and lead to new possibilities at your current job. If your problem is with your boss, Gorman offers advice from personal experience. She once had a boss who was smart and a strategic thinker, but terribly lacking in people skills. Gorman decided to be the boss she wished she’d had. “I made a list of what not to say, for example, and developed skills I still use today,” she says.

Finally, consider looking outside your job for fulfillment. Having an outside interest or two gives you another outlet and an activity to look forward to.

3. Find (or Accentuate) the positive. Make a list of the good points about your job, advises McCarthy. Gorman calls this a benefit log. You may be thankful to have healthcare and other benefits. You may like your coworkers, or the fact that you have a short commute. Maybe there’s a great gym on-site, or you enjoy the opportunity for travel or the mentoring you do. Listing what you do like about your job will help shift your perception and keep you from feeling so trapped. If you don’t take responsibility, “it will hurt your performance, erode your satisfaction further, and make your time at the job worse,” she says.

Principles to Remember

Do:

       Differentiate between what you can change and what you can’t.

       Take responsibility for making a change.

       Focus on making the best of a bad situation.

Don’t:

       Assume nothing will ever change.

       Allow negative thoughts to rule you.

       Go it alone.

Case Study #1: Finding Satisfaction in Some Part of Your Job
Elizabeth Roman (not her real name) had been head of marketing at a professional services firm in New York for four years when she fell out of favor with her boss. He had always given her good performance reviews, so she was stunned the day he let her know that he had little respect for her work.

After that conversation, Roman “hated going to work every day.” She resolved to find a new job, but in the meantime, she wanted to find some ways to make her job bearable. “First, I pushed myself to perform at the highest level possible after that conversation so he’d have no further ammunition against me,” she said. Along with that, she came up with a creative project for attracting clients, suggested it to her boss, and threw herself into organizing it with her staff. Roman also contacted a mentor at another firm who served as a sounding board and lifted her spirits. She never betrayed her boss and never let her feelings affect her relationship with her employees. When she finally found another position and resigned, she mustered the grace to thank her boss for all he had taught her.

Case Study #2: Finding Satisfaction Outside of Work
Allen Smith (not his real name) is a technologist at consulting giant Bain who became frustrated with what he saw as a lack of a career path. “I also felt like my manager didn’t understand what I needed day to day to do my job,” he says.

But he liked the people he worked with, so he did some soul-searching, asking himself whether he was unhappy because of someone else or because of his own attitude. He decided it was the latter. Smith had been toying with the idea of starting a business, and he thought if he could do it on the side, it would affect his outlook. He was right.

He was given permission to work three days a week, which allowed him to start the part-time property management business he envisioned. “With a reduced work week, regular chats with my manager, and a focus outside of work, I’ve become much happier about my time here,” he says. In turn, working fewer hours helped reduce his department’s budget.

Source : http://freeengineer.org/learnUNIXin10minutes.html#Directories.

Sections:
Directories:
Moving around the file system:
Listing directory contents:
Changing file permissions and attributes
Moving, renaming, and copying files:
Viewing and editing files:
Shells
Environment variables
Interactive History
Filename Completion
Bash is the way cool shell.
Redirection:
Pipes:
Command Substitution
Searching for strings in files: The grep  command
Searching for files : The find command
Reading and writing tapes, backups, and archives: The tar command 
File compression: compress, gzip, and bzip2
Looking for help: The man and apropos commands
Basics of the vi editor
FAQs

******************************************************************************************
   Basic UNIX Command Line (shell) navigation  : Last revised May 17 2001
******************************************************************************************

Directories:

File and directory paths in UNIX use the forward slash “/”
to separate directory names in a path.

examples:

/              “root” directory
/usr           directory usr (sub-directory of / “root” directory)
/usr/STRIM100  STRIM100 is a subdirectory of /usr

Moving around the file system:

pwd               Show the “present working directory”, or current directory.
cd                Change current directory to your HOME directory.
cd /usr/STRIM100  Change current directory to /usr/STRIM100.
cd INIT           Change current directory to INIT which is a sub-directory of the current
                        directory.
cd ..             Change current directory to the parent directory of the current directory.
cd $STRMWORK      Change current directory to the directory defined by the environment
                        variable ‘STRMWORK’.
cd ~bob           Change the current directory to the user bob’s home directory (if you have permission).

Listing directory contents:

ls    list a directory
ls -l    list a directory in long ( detailed ) format

   for example:
$ ls -l
drwxr-xr-x    4 cliff    user        1024 Jun 18 09:40 WAITRON_EARNINGS
-rw-r–r–    1 cliff    user      767392 Jun  6 14:28 scanlib.tar.gz
^ ^  ^  ^     ^   ^       ^           ^      ^    ^      ^
| |  |  |     |   |       |           |      |    |      | 
| |  |  |     | owner   group       size   date  time    name
| |  |  |     number of links to file or directory contents
| |  |  permissions for world
| |  permissions for members of group
| permissions for owner of file: r = read, w = write, x = execute -=no permission
type of file: – = normal file, d=directory, l = symbolic link, and others…

ls -a        List the current directory including hidden files. Hidden files start
             with “.”
ls -ld *     List all the file and directory names in the current directory using
             long format. Without the “d” option, ls would list the contents
             of any sub-directory of the current. With the “d” option, ls
             just lists them like regular files.

Changing file permissions and attributes

chmod 755 file       Changes the permissions of file to be rwx for the owner, and rx for
                     the group and the world. (7 = rwx = 111 binary. 5 = r-x = 101 binary)
chgrp user file      Makes file belong to the group user.
chown cliff file     Makes cliff the owner of file.
chown -R cliff dir   Makes cliff the owner of dir and everything in its directory tree.

You must be the owner of the file/directory or be root before you can do any of these things.

Moving, renaming, and copying files:

cp file1 file2          copy a file
mv file1 newname        move or rename a file
mv file1 ~/AAA/         move file1 into sub-directory AAA in your home directory.
rm file1 [file2 ...]    remove or delete a file
rm -r dir1 [dir2...]    recursivly remove a directory and its contents BE CAREFUL!
mkdir dir1 [dir2...]    create directories
mkdir -p dirpath        create the directory dirpath, including all implied directories in the path.
rmdir dir1 [dir2...]    remove an empty directory

Viewing and editing files:

cat filename      Dump a file to the screen in ascii.
more filename     Progressively dump a file to the screen: ENTER = one line down
                  SPACEBAR = page down  q=quit
less filename     Like more, but you can use Page-Up too. Not on all systems.
vi filename       Edit a file using the vi editor. All UNIX systems will have vi in some form.
emacs filename    Edit a file using the emacs editor. Not all systems will have emacs.
head filename     Show the first few lines of a file.
head -n  filename Show the first n lines of a file.
tail filename     Show the last few lines of a file.
tail -n filename  Show the last n lines of a file.

Shells

The behavior of the command line interface will differ slightly depending
on the shell program that is being used.

Depending on the shell used, some extra behaviors can be quite nifty.

You can find out what shell you are using by the command:

    echo $SHELL

Of course you can create a file with a list of shell commands and execute it like
a program to perform a task. This is called a shell script. This is in fact the
primary purpose of most shells, not the interactive command line behavior.

Environment variables

You can teach your shell to remember things for later using environment variables.
For example under the bash shell:

export CASROOT=/usr/local/CAS3.0               Defines the variable CASROOT with the value
                                               /usr/local/CAS3.0.
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$CASROOT/Linux/lib      Defines the variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH with
                                               the value of CASROOT with /Linux/lib appended,
                                               or /usr/local/CAS3.0/Linux/lib

By prefixing $ to the variable name, you can evaluate it in any command:

cd $CASROOT         Changes your present working directory to the value of CASROOT

echo $CASROOT       Prints out the value of CASROOT, or /usr/local/CAS3.0
printenv CASROOT    Does the same thing in bash and some other shells.

Interactive History

A feature of bash and tcsh (and sometimes others) you can use
the up-arrow keys to access your previous commands, edit
them, and re-execute them.

Filename Completion

A feature of bash and tcsh (and possibly others) you can use the
TAB key to complete a partially typed filename. For example if you
have a file called constantine-monks-and-willy-wonka.txt in your
directory and want to edit it you can type ‘vi const’, hit the TAB key,
and the shell will fill in the rest of the name for you (provided the
completion is unique).

Bash is the way cool shell.

Bash will even complete the name of commands and environment variables.
And if there are multiple completions, if you hit TAB twice bash will show
you all the completions. Bash is the default user shell for most Linux systems.

Redirection:

grep string filename > newfile           Redirects the output of the above grep
                                         command to a file ‘newfile’.
grep string filename >> existfile        Appends the output of the grep command
                                         to the end of ‘existfile’.

The redirection directives, > and >> can be used on the output of most commands
to direct their output to a file.

Pipes:

The pipe symbol “|” is used to direct the output of one command to the input
of another.

For example:

ls -l | more   This commands takes the output of the long format directory list command
               “ls -l” and pipes it through the more command (also known as a filter).
               In this case a very long list of files can be viewed a page at a time.

du -sc * | sort -n | tail 
               The command “du -sc” lists the sizes of all files and directories in the
               current working directory. That is piped through “sort -n” which orders the
               output from smallest to largest size. Finally, that output is piped through “tail”
               which displays only the last few (which just happen to be the largest) results.

Command Substitution

You can use the output of one command as an input to another command in another way
called command substitution. Command substitution is invoked when by enclosing the
substituted command in backwards single quotes. For example:

cat `find . -name aaa.txt`

which will cat ( dump to the screen ) all the files named aaa.txt that exist in the current
directory or in any subdirectory tree.

Searching for strings in files: The grep  command

grep string filename    prints all the lines in a file that contain the string

Searching for files : The find command

find search_path -name filename

find . -name aaa.txt    Finds all the files named aaa.txt in the current directory or
                        any subdirectory tree.
find / -name vimrc      Find all the files named ‘vimrc’ anywhere on the system.
find /usr/local/games -name “*xpilot*”      
                        Find all files whose names contain the string ‘xpilot’ which
                        exist within the ‘/usr/local/games’ directory tree.

Reading and writing tapes, backups, and archives: The tar command 

The tar command stands for “tape archive”. It is the “standard” way to read
and write archives (collections of files and whole directory trees).

Often you will find archives of stuff with names like stuff.tar, or stuff.tar.gz.  This
is stuff in a tar archive, and stuff in a tar archive which has been compressed using the
gzip compression program respectivly.

Chances are that if someone gives you a tape written on a UNIX system, it will be in tar format,
and you will use tar (and your tape drive) to read it.

Likewise, if you want to write a tape to give to someone else, you should probably use
tar as well.

Tar examples:

tar xv      Extracts (x) files from the default tape drive while listing (v = verbose)
            the file names to the screen.
tar tv      Lists the files from the default tape device without extracting them.
tar cv file1 file2     
            Write files ‘file1′ and ‘file2′ to the default tape device.
tar cvf archive.tar file1 [file2...]  
            Create a tar archive as a file “archive.tar” containing file1,
            file2…etc.
tar xvf archive.tar  extract from the archive file
tar cvfz archive.tar.gz dname   
            Create a gzip compressed tar archive containing everything in the directory
            ‘dname’. This does not work with all versions of tar.
tar xvfz archive.tar.gz         
            Extract a gzip compressed tar archive.  Does not work with all versions of tar.
tar cvfI archive.tar.bz2 dname  
            Create a bz2 compressed tar archive. Does not work with all versions of tar

File compression: compress, gzip, and bzip2

The standard UNIX compression commands are compress and uncompress. Compressed files have
a suffix .Z added to their name. For example:

compress part.igs    Creates a compressed file part.igs.Z

uncompress part.igs  Uncompresseis part.igs from the compressed file part.igs.Z.
                     Note the .Z is not required.

Another common compression utility is gzip (and gunzip). These are the GNU compress and
uncompress utilities.  gzip usually gives better compression than standard compress,
but may not be installed on all systems.  The suffix for gzipped files is .gz

gzip part.igs     Creates a compressed file part.igs.gz
gunzip part.igs   Extracts the original file from part.igs.gz

The bzip2 utility has (in general) even better compression than gzip, but at the cost of longer
times to compress and uncompress the files. It is not as common a utility as gzip, but is
becoming more generally available.

bzip2 part.igs       Create a compressed Iges file part.igs.bz2
bunzip2 part.igs.bz2 Uncompress the compressed iges file.

Looking for help: The man and apropos
Basics of the vi editor

                Opening a file
vi filename

Most of the commands have a manual page which give sometimes useful, often more or less
detailed, sometimes cryptic and unfathomable discriptions of their usage. Some say they
are called man pages because they are only for real men.

Example:

man ls      Shows the manual page for the ls command

You can search through the man pages using apropos

Example:

apropos build     Shows a list of all the man pages whose discriptions contain the word “build”

Do a man apropos for detailed help on apropos.

                Creating text
Edit modes: These keys enter editing modes and type in the text
of your document.

i     Insert before current cursor position
I     Insert at beginning of current line
a     Insert (append) after current cursor position
A     Append to end of line
r     Replace 1 character
R     Replace mode
<ESC> Terminate insertion or overwrite mode

                 Deletion of text

x     Delete single character
dd    Delete current line and put in buffer
ndd   Delete n lines (n is a number) and put them in buffer
J     Attaches the next line to the end of the current line (deletes carriage return).

                 Oops

u     Undo last command

                 cut and paste
yy    Yank current line into buffer
nyy   Yank n lines into buffer
p     Put the contents of the buffer after the current line
P     Put the contents of the buffer before the current line

                cursor positioning
^d    Page down
^u    Page up
:n    Position cursor at line n
:$    Position cursor at end of file
^g    Display current line number
h,j,k,l Left,Down,Up, and Right respectivly. Your arrow keys should also work if
      if your keyboard mappings are anywhere near sane.

               string substitution

:n1,n2:s/string1/string2/[g]       Substitute string2 for string1 on lines
                                   n1 to n2. If g is included (meaning global), 
                                   all instances of string1 on each line
                                   are substituted. If g is not included,
                                   only the first instance per matching line is
                                   substituted.

    ^ matches start of line
    . matches any single character
    $ matches end of line

These and other “special characters” (like the forward slash) can be “escaped” with \
i.e to match the string “/usr/STRIM100/SOFT” say “\/usr\/STRIM100\/SOFT”

Examples:

:1,$:s/dog/cat/g                   Substitute ‘cat’ for ‘dog’, every instance
                                   for the entire file – lines 1 to $ (end of file)

:23,25:/frog/bird/                 Substitute ‘bird’ for ‘frog’ on lines
                                   23 through 25. Only the first instance
                                   on each line is substituted.

              Saving and quitting and other “ex” commands

These commands are all prefixed by pressing colon (:) and then entered in the lower
left corner of the window. They are called “ex” commands because they are commands
of the ex text editor – the precursor line editor to the screen editor
vi.   You cannot enter an “ex” command when you are in an edit mode (typing text onto the screen)
Press <ESC> to exit from an editing mode.

:w                Write the current file.
:w new.file       Write the file to the name ‘new.file’.
:w! existing.file Overwrite an existing file with the file currently being edited.
:wq               Write the file and quit.
:q                Quit.
:q!               Quit with no changes.

:e filename       Open the file ‘filename’ for editing.

:set number       Turns on line numbering
:set nonumber     Turns off line numbering

commands

1. Read email in batches. Don’t scan your email for urgent messages and leave everything else for later; that’s how you begin to get buried. Check your email at set times during the day and immediately file messages into one of three folders: follow-up, hold, or archive.
2. Use the “two-minute rule.” If an email will take less than two minutes to respond to (and many should), respond right away and get rid of it. Letting those easy-to-respond-to messages pile up can wreak havoc on your inbox.
3. Unsubscribe. There’s nothing worse than unread messages from mailing lists that clog your inbox. Think about which lists add value and unsubscribe from the rest.

BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand provides the leading enterprise-class solution via a flexible, cost-effective delivery model

HOUSTON, January 19, 2010 – The popularity of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model has never been higher among enterprise IT organizations. The attractiveness is buoyed in large part by a flexible and cost-effective delivery model and the ability to quickly roll out new features, solutions and best practices without the need for additional capital investment or incremental IT staff.

Today, BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) announced it is making its market-leading Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) Suite available to customers via SaaS.

The BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand solution is based on BMC’s service management suite that natively integrates ITIL® processes with service desk, incident, problem, change, release, asset, service request and service level management. This enables IT operations to quickly resolve business-critical incidents, reduce risk and enforce service level agreements without any on-premise infrastructure or support requirements.

“Our customers rely on us to deliver a diversified and comprehensive range of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Consulting and Services,” said Steve Loubser, hosting executive at GijimaAST, a leading ICT service provider in Southern Africa. “In much the same way, we rely on BMC Remedy ITSM to provide the foundation for us to add new IT services and expedite the restoration of service should an incident occur. Having these capabilities available on demand will allow us to speed the deployment of new IT systems and ensure consistent access to tools, best practices and information across our company.”

Unlike alternative SaaS offerings, BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand is the only cloud-based solution that delivers a fully integrated enterprise-class service management suite and a comprehensive self-service model that provides a dramatic increase in operational efficiency and service quality. As with BMC’s on-premise Remedy ITSM Suite, the on-demand solution natively integrates with the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB) – which gives customers a single view into how technology components support critical business services – in addition to the rest of the Business Service Management (BSM) platform.

“BMC Remedy ITSM is the heart of our service management implementation and provides a single point of entry for the thousands of daily incident and change requests coming into the support desk,” said Steve Carrell, director of Service Support at Intermountain Healthcare. “An on demand Remedy application that provides the flexibility to move from on-premise to SaaS while maintaining BSM workflows is very intriguing to us.”

Tightly integrated with BMC’s BSM platform, BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand is also the only solution that allows customers the flexibility to seamlessly move from an on-premise service management solution to a SaaS delivery model and back again as business conditions warrant. The result is a true enterprise-class SaaS solution that provides the functional breadth and scalability that highly sophisticated customers demand while offering unmatched flexibility and investment protection.

“For years, our customers have relied on the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite to successfully manage their increasingly complex IT environments and drive greater business value from technology,” said Tim Yario, president, Column Technologies. “By making the world’s leading service management suite available on demand, BMC and Column Technologies will provide customers additional flexibility and speed in rolling out new IT services and reduce the overall cost of their service management deployments.”

“In today’s tight economy, both enterprise and SMB IT buyers are looking for options that enable them to match spending to business requirements,” said Mary Johnston Turner, research director, Enterprise System Management Software at IDC. “IDC expects the system management software-as-a-service market will top $1 billion by 2013. The availability of BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand, along with the previously announced BMC Service Desk Express on Force.com, means that BMC will be an important option for both enterprise and SMB customers to consider as this market matures.”

BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand is the latest BMC solution to be made available in the cloud. In November 2009, BMC and salesforce.com announced a strategic alliance to deliver BMC Service Desk Express on Force.com.

“After carefully observing and analyzing the SaaS market, we believe this is the right time for BMC to make an aggressive move into SaaS. The overwhelmingly positive response from customers, partners and the analyst community is clear confirmation that the market needs access to an enterprise-class ITSM SaaS solution that makes no compromises,” said Dev Ittycheria, president, Enterprise Service Management at BMC. “This announcement noticeably extends our leadership in the service management market and is further proof of our commitment to delivering the most advanced portfolio of BSM solutions.”

BMC Remedy ITSM Suite On Demand will be available in the second quarter of 2010. For information, visit www.bmc.com/ondemand.

Step by Step Instruction to create a record in a Remedy Form using the .NET API created by @author Bryan Behling

The following instructions will give you an example of how to use the Remedy .NET API to submit a new request into the Action Request System. It will walk you through creating a new Project in Visual Studio .NET and creating the code required to use the Remedy .NET API.

In this example, we will use a test Remedy form called “test” that includes only core fields.

NOTE: You must have the .NET Framework 1.1 and MS Visual Studio .NET installed before you can start. You can have windows install the .NET Framework for you at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Download and install the Remedy .NET API.

1.    Type the following address in a browser: http://supportweb.remedy.com.

2.    After logging in, select Developer Community from the top navigation bar.

3.    Select Community Downloads on the left side navigation bar.

4.    Under Quick Search, select Download Type: Utility and Category: API, click Search.

5.    Click on the AR System .NET and COM API entry and select View Download.

6.    On the View Download page, click the Attachment tab and download Install.msi.

7.    Run the Install.msi file (double-click it) and install to a directory of your choice. For this example we will refer to this directory as <Remedy.NETAPI_dir>.

NOTE: The full Remedy .NET API documentation is also installed. To open it, double-click the <Remedy.NETAPI_dir>\ARSystem.NET.chm file.

Creating the Project in Visual Studio .NET

1.    Open Visual Studio .NET

2.    Select File > New > Project?

3.    Under Project Types, select “Visual C# Projects” and under Templates, select “Console Application”.

4.    Name the Project “CreateEntry”.

5.    Under Location, select a directory you want to have your new Project loaded in (you can select an existing directory or create a new one). We will refer to this directory as <Project_dir>.

6.    Click “OK”. Visual Studio .NET will now load your new Project.

7.    Select View > Solutions Explorer (this may already be opened). You will now have the Solutions Explorer opened in the top right hand side corner.

8.    In the Solutions Explorer window, right-click “References” and select “Add New Reference?”.

9.    In the Add Reference dialog window, click Browse and select the <Remedy.NETAPI_dir>/DotNet.dll and click “OK”. You should now see a new Reference (in the Solutions Explorer window) called “DotNet”.

10.   In the Solutions Explorer window, double-click the Class1.cs file and start editing.

11.   Add the following code inside the Main method, just below the “TODO: Add code to start application here”:

try

{

ARSystem.Server server;

      server = new ARSystem.Server();

server.Login(“bbehling”, “Demo”, “”, “”);

      String formName = “test”;

ARSystem.FieldValueList fieldValues = new ARSystem.FieldValueList();

      fieldValues[2] = “Test”; //Submitter

fieldValues[8] = “Test from Remedy .NET API”; //Short Description

      fieldValues[4] = “Test”; //Assigned To

      fieldValues[7] = “New”; //Status

ARSystem.EntryIdList entryId = server.CreateEntry(formName, fieldValues); Console.WriteLine(“Created Entry: ” + entryId.ToString());

}

catch(ARSystem.Exception e)

{

      Console.WriteLine(“ARSystem.Exception caught\n” + e.ToString()); }

12.   Note the server.Login() method above. It is passing the ARServer, Username, Password, and Authenication. You will need to adjust this to your environment. You will also need to adjust the String formName value to refer to the name of your Remedy form. Also note that in the code above, there are only values being passed to 4 fields for simplicity sake. If you wish to add more fields you may. Refer to the commented code under “Example code for specific data types” to get examples of how to submit values to different field types. Refer to the Remedy .NET API documentation for a full description of how to use these objects and methods.

13.   Now that your code is finished, save the project.

14.   You are now ready to build the Project. Select Build > Rebuild CreateEntry.

15.   You are now ready to run your Remedy .NET API executable from:

<Project_dir>\CreateEntry\bin\Debug\CreateEntry.exe

16.   You should see the following output:

Created Entry: 000000000000001

17.   You have now successfully created a Remedy .NET API program.

When you talk to a 3GL developer/a manager with limited exp in Remedy it is hard to explain how Remedy is Organized etc., Most of the times they ask the questions from a pre-concieved mindset. So, thats Ok it is not thier Fault. Have the patience and if you have some programming background in other languages you know where they are coming from and explain to them. Trust me, they will still not get it. but “persistence breaks all resistance” – amen.

In AR System 7.5.00, there is a new feature that tracks historical usage of licenses.  While the licenses tracked are the write licenses (fixed / floating) and thus wouldn’t represent what most think of as a traditioal “login” time, the feature may be useful to you as well.

Current and historical license usage

To provide data for flashboards so that they can display current  and historical license usage, these  read-only forms were added to AR System 7.5.00:

• AR System Current License  Usage—Tracks all licenses currently in use on the server when the Enable License Tracking option  is selected in the AR System Administration: Server Information form. You can use the data in the AR System Current License Usage form to  generate flashboards that show current  license usage.

• AR System Historical License  Usage—Tracks information about licenses that are released while the Enable License Tracking option is selected in  the AR System Administration: Server  Information form. You can use this data to generate flashboards that show the following information for specified  time periods:

•  
  • License usage for a single user, including  each time that the user acquired or released a particular license type

•  
  • Number of licenses used by all users for a  specified application, license type, or  license pool

See “Displaying license usage” in Chapter 2 of the Configuration  Guide.