How do you handle incidents that are projects

[jjarka]

My company currently is tracking long lead items, and in many cases, projects within the Incident Module.   While I know this isn't the best way to do that, I am researching other ways to accomplish this. Some of these items should be tracked in the problem module, which was never configured.   However, other items such as PC refresh activities or adding storage capacity to our network I think would be best tracked in the project Module in ServiceNow or in another project tracking application.   What are your experiences and suggestion here.   BTW, I have left the issue rather vague, on purpose.

[rackerman]

I'd be happy to dialog with you on this.

rich.ackerman@aptris.com

815-847-3514

[Uncle Rob]

Hey Jeff,

Not sure it was your intent, but posting in user group subsection restricts who can reply (in this case, only members of Chicago SNUG).   There's pillars of the community, like Kelly Kaufmann who'd have a lot of free advice and experiences to share

For my money, the more you use OOB modules for their intended purpose, the better.   If you hack Incident for Projects, it will look / feel / perform like a hack.   Same goes for Problem.   My advice is simple:   if you're dealing with Problems, use Problem management module.   If you're dealing with Projects, *price* the SN PPM solutions and do Project Management on the respective components.

Assuming that's the advice you expected, the next step is understanding what you might be getting into.

- Problem is an easier module to build out, but *very* challenging for organizations to adopt as a practice.   There's more to Problem Management than simply having a tool for it.

- Project is a harder module to build out, given all the moving parts.   You're also fighting against org cultures that typically have thresholds before something can be called "project".   The trick is building PPM with the lowest friction possible to enter/manage projects AND making sure its a platform capability (not claimed and customized out the wazoo for a single team)

[jjarka]

Thanks for the response.   I agree, unfortunately we have hacked it and now I have a mess to clean up.   Unfortunately, there is no easy answer, I feel, for this issue.   Like I said some of the issues are projects and some are problems.   Our issue is that we don't have either implemented here.   I have to get the problems and projects out of the incident module right now.  

Do you have any heads up or issues that I need to watch out for when instituting a problem management process?

[Uncle Rob]

Setting up a Problem management *process* is definitely the harder part of getting it into SN (or any other tool you decide to use for that discipline).   It requires a substantial shift in the perception of resource utilization.   The organization must realize they will be actively taking fire-fighters away from the flames.   I'm exceptional at tooling those processes but for the kind of process guidance and culture change necessary, I'd recommend a partner like Maryville (reach out to mattberan(2)(lol)

That's one strategy, and probably the one with the highest long term gains.

Another strategy is to accept a more cut-throat reality that your org only has limited capacity to change culture, and what you really need is for the tool to provide a low friction Problem Management facilitation area. I've done similar "brutal reality bare bones enablement" for Knowledge with surprising success.   I've *also* been at the helm of a large scale ServiceNow rebuild so I know exactly what you mean by "mess to clean up".   Been there, done it.   HAPPY to help someone through it.