I would generally concur with that. However, it is important to recognize that some organizations aren't at a point where they can or will recognize that changing some of their practices could be a good thing. The best we can do in those instances is to guide them around the train wrecks and use best practices in the customizations they require. Rick _____
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Charters Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 7:55 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Custom App vs Out of the Box questions ** As a consultant I use the 80-20 rule. 20% or less customization is acceptable, beyond that I advise going with a custom app. As for migrations, the key is to do your customizations correctly. Follow the rule of no deletions and use the proper naming conventions for changes and additions. I have worked in many fortune 500 companies that have customized the OOTB ITSM and as long as the rules were followed, upgrading was not a huge issue. >From an ITSM stand point I normally advise trying to adjust your business practices to the software. The reason is that Remedy ITSM is an industry standard, Remedy/BMC has spent millions of dollars to determine the correct way to write the software. Since it is the top recommended software in the world for ITSM, it makes sense to me that they must have close to the "correct" process for ITSM from an ITIL standpoint. _____ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Cook Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 10:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Custom App vs Out of the Box questions To answer a slightly different question, whether an organization wants to use OOB or customized applications depends on whether they want the way the company does business reflected in how the software works, or whether they want the practices accompanying the software to set and enforce the practices the business will follow. Address that issue, and you'll have the answer to your question - it shouldn't matter what other places do. Do what's right for you. Rick _____ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Barber Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 7:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Custom App vs Out of the Box questions ** Andy, My only experience on such a migration was from an ARS5.1.1/HD4 to ARS 6.3/HD6 migration. One of the stated aims of my management at the time was to reduce the application customisations, to allow for easier on-going maintenance (as there was no official full time Remedy developer, although that was probably what I spent a good 90% of my time doing). >From memory, the applications we were using had a fair amount of customisation, split evenly between actual workflow and the look/feel of the applications. On the migration from one suite to the other, my initial concern was the look and feel - I knew how resistant our user base would be to major changes to the look and feel (mild version of "we don't like change round here"), so had to come up with some happy medium between the mildly nightmarish v4 suite that we'd got in place, and the clean look of the v6 apps. I was fairly lucky with the workflow changes though - I'd been working with the applications for quite a while, knew them inside out, so knew the basics that needed to be migrated to keep the business happy, so just had to spend time working through the v6 apps to see if there was anything new in there that would replace what needed to be migrated. I'd figure we went from about 20% customised to between 5 and 10%. At the current employers, at least on the helpdesk apps, the customisations are probably more like 50%, which will make for a most entertaining time in the possible migration to v7. Regards Dave On 07/02/07, Andy Wilkerson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: We are having an internal discussion and I wanted to get a feel from the list. Who uses a totally Out of the box application and who uses a total custom application? I am more concerned with Help Desk (problem tickets) and Change Management. For the sake of this discussion, it doesn't matter what DB or Remedy release you have in production. If you customized the OOTB applications roughly what percentage is custom. If you customized the out of the box applications and upgraded the application how did that go and what if any issues did you have. If you have a custom application what issues have you found when you upgraded. thanks Andy ____________________________________________________________________________ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are" __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
