Improving Efficiency Through IT Automation
With the launch of a portal, the approximately 1,000 employees of the Baden-Baden municipal administration can now see at a glance which IT services their colleagues in the IT department are providing. Non-IT services are also increasingly being requested and approved through the platform. The consistently high level of automation has resulted in maximum efficiency gains and reduced the workload on the IT department.
The city of Baden-Baden can look back on a 2,000-year history as a spa town. As the “Summer Capital of Europe,” it developed in the 19th century into a hub for an international clientele. In the 21st century, Baden-Baden offers central civic services as well as so-called e-civic services, which allow the residents of Baden-Baden to communicate electronically with public agencies in a straightforward manner.
These include, for example, forms available for convenient download, a virtual mailroom, and a single point of contact who acts as a guide to help citizens navigate a wide variety of administrative procedures.
Changes were needed
Unlike modern e-government services, requests for IT services submitted to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department of the City of Baden-Baden were often still handled on paper. “Paper forms—for example, for requesting workstation equipment for a new employee—no longer seemed appropriate to us,” recalls Matthias Götz, Head of the IuK Administration Department at the City of Baden-Baden. The associated manual inventory management for the requested services also consisted of a simple database with a rudimentary knowledge base and was, technically speaking, obsolete. IT assets such as PCs, monitors, and printers were managed. The high manual maintenance effort resulted in poor data quality. From an organizational perspective, the focus had previously been more on administrative tools—rather than on standardizing the processes for providing IT services.
Measures have been defined
By introducing an internal service portal, the ICT Department sought to take a significant step toward a service-oriented approach. A digital shopping cart with approval workflows for process managers was intended to replace the paper-based application system. An additional requirement was an integrated solution that would also allow for the replacement of the outdated inventory management system.
In addition to the traditional IT hotline, employees in the business departments should in the future also be able to report issues via a digital form on the portal. Another project goal was to professionalize processes in accordance with ITIL. Consequently, only comprehensive solutions were considered that would allow the ICT department to map its internal processes via an ITIL-certified service desk module. The focus was on the classic ITIL processes for structured IT service management: Incident, Problem, and Change, as well as Service Request.
Market Evaluation
In late 2011, the market was scoured for a suitable solution. Following a thorough analysis, the decision was made to go with Matrix42, a software vendor based in Frankfurt, due to its holistic approach. “We particularly liked the holistic approach. Matrix42 stood out not only for its comprehensive service management solution but also for its seamlessly integrated software distribution,” notes Klaus Thomas, technical director at the city administration. To fully leverage the benefits of the holistic approach, the decision was also made to replace the software distribution system previously in use. Consulting4IT was recommended as the service provider, as it had long been known to the spa town as a reliable partner. The system integrator from nearby Waldbronn, as one of the leading German Matrix42 Competence Partners, possesses extensive expertise. At the same time, the consultants at Consulting4IT also have more than a decade of experience in process consulting and were able to provide coaching during the implementation of the process standards.
The Project Timeline
The project was launched and the software was procured in November 2011. As the contracts for the old software distribution system were expiring, the project began with the installation of the new software distribution system, Matrix42 Empirum. “After just one week, we were already able to perform a fully automated rollout of the OS and applications for the standard PC using Empirum,” says Stefan Hanmann, who is responsible for software distribution at Bäderstadt.
The smooth migration of business processes across the entire administration was completed in just a few weeks—while operations continued—from the old system to the new solution. The Service Management project launched in March 2012. Just four months later, the solution went live for recording and processing incidents and requests, as well as basic problem and change management. To enable proactive problem management, incidents are categorized by business topic to facilitate root cause analysis. In the change calendar, the IT specialists of the City of Baden-Baden document comprehensive changes, such as server updates.
Based on its positive experience with Matrix42 and its Competence Partner, Consulting4IT, the city decided in June 2012 to implement Matrix42’s mobile device management solution. The basic installation took two days. Encryption, password protection, and increasing complexity could no longer be managed using the Apple Management Configurator. The ICT department presented the shopping cart with approval procedures in the Service Portal to colleagues from the line departments at the end of 2012, along with the first services.
“Once we had reorganized, we were able to confidently reach out to our customers. We had come a good deal closer to our goal of presenting ourselves as a modern, proactive service provider,” commented Philipp Roland, who is in charge of the service portal at the city administration.
What successes have been achieved
Employees appreciate that what used to be complex requests requiring multiple levels of approval can now be submitted easily and transparently at any time—as simple as placing an order with a mail-order company. “Great! We no longer have to worry about who to contact,” said Mayor Margret Mergen. Today, employees of the Baden-Baden city administration can request a wide variety of services through the portal. These include typical IT services such as setting up a Notes mailbox or an AD account for a new employee, as well as deactivation upon termination of employment, which is important from an audit perspective. Other examples include access permissions for the resident registration system or financial services. Customers can also request so-called non-IT services via the new platform.
Matthias Götz comments: “The goal is to provide a unified service platform for all needs.” This includes, for example, a time-tracking chip, an employee ID card, or ordering an office chair. Other examples include requesting asset numbers for the city’s asset management system.
And when it comes to access rights to the IDEAMA database, the solution’s full flexibility becomes apparent: here, the applicant must first agree to the terms and conditions before proceeding with the process. Human resources also benefits from this new convenience: here, requests for changes to work schedules can be submitted, as well as confirmation of the start of employment. Services such as the screensaver for Paul’s back exercises—recommended by the Ministry of Health—round out the picture. After submission, the services undergo a predominantly two-step approval process in the portal, where they are submitted for approval to the department head responsible for costs or the person in charge of the procedure.
For example, a request regarding the cash register archive is sent directly to the Finance Department for a decision. The IT department then conducts a technical review in accordance with its own requirements. Once approved, the services are provisioned. To manage the provisioning process, the Matrix42 system creates follow-up tasks for the service manager to process.
However, administrators see the greatest value of the solution in the often fully automated provisioning of services. For example, the Matrix42 solution allows software to be installed fully automatically using Empirum once it has been approved. Using the Matrix42 Mobile Device Management solution, the city’s IT staff now manage 160 iOS devices.
This ensures that the equipment complies with the city administration's requirements.
Where things got difficult
“We underestimated the complexity of license management at the outset. Ensuring compliance while simultaneously identifying cost-saving opportunities was a step too far,” Götz notes self-critically. The issue is significantly more complex than anticipated. For legal reasons, Baden-Baden therefore decided to prioritize compliance in the first phase, so that the initial focus with the Matrix42 License Management module was on determining license requirements in order to receive notifications of potential under-licensing during ongoing operations as quickly as possible.
Summary and Next Steps
“We’re particularly thrilled with the high level of acceptance of the service portal,” says Phillip Roland. Today, 500 requests from 1,000 employees are processed through the portal each month. Software and supplies top the service list, accounting for 75% of requests. When it comes to service bundles, traditional workplace equipment ranks among the top items.
At the same time, the IT staff handle 1,000 incidents and requests per month in the Matrix42 Service Desk. “Thanks to the analytics capabilities, we can, among other things, assess and document our own performance. This figure corresponds exactly to the industry standard of one ticket per month per employee,” explains Götz. Today, the IT specialists in the city of Baden-Baden even handle inquiries from city council members regarding their mobile devices for paperless council work through the central Service Desk.
In the near future, we plan to integrate the mobile device management solution into the service management processes—similar to software distribution. Once this is done, the data will be automatically available in asset management. In addition, device profiles and apps will be rolled out fully automatically when the corresponding services are requested.
Furthermore, plans are in place to expand license management in order to continue navigating the increasingly complex licensing landscape of software vendors without neglecting the core business. In the medium term, the focus here is on identifying over-licensing. In conclusion, Götz praises the collaboration with the Matrix42 Platinum Partner: “It is precisely through the personal and direct contact with Consulting4IT that we are making progress on the project and don’t have to struggle through hotlines with voice assistants.”