Wolverhampton City Council has selected Infra’s ITIL Service Management software, infraEnterprise, to improve customer service and align IT support to the needs of the wider organisation. The Authority’s Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) department uses infraEnterprise to support over 12,000 Council employees and local service providers, providing Incident and Problem Management and managing service requests using integrated Change Management and automated workflow. Infra’s 100 per cent web-based solution was selected for its flexible out-of-the box functionality, comprehensive reporting and easy integration with third party applications.

According to Nigel Bacon, Technical Operations Manager at Wolverhampton City Council, “Quite simply Infra ticked all the right boxes for Wolverhampton City Council, meeting our requirements and providing best value for money for the depth of functionality required by the Council. With Infra software the move from reactive call logging to proactive service management has been entirely straightforward. Our mission is to provide high quality yet cost-effective support for the Authority’s diverse operations and we see our relationship with Infra as key to achieving this goal.”

infraEnterprise provides out-of-the-box connectors to enable easy integration with popular third party applications, allowing ICTS to rapidly populate the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) with user and asset data from existing Active Directory and SMS repositories. The Service Desk now logs an average of 700 calls a week with analysts able to view the individual records of over 4,500 desktop and laptop systems using SMS asset tag data.

Using the Infra system, ICTS can escalate Incidents to second or third line support and track them through to closure, including issues relating to third party suppliers. Around 50 per cent of all calls to the Service Desk are now resolved within one hour and the number of outstanding calls at the end of each week has been reduced by 70 per cent. Proactive reporting of information relating to call type and length has enabled management to measure performance and identify training issues.

The integrated Change Management facility within infraEnterprise allows the Authority to record, prioritise and track Service Requests easily. Infra software provides easy-to-implement templates for standard tasks such as installing users, while automated workflow has streamlined Change and Authorisation processes within the Authority. ICTS is also using Infra’s performance management tools to prepare formal Service level Agreements. Plans are in progress for a branded Customer Portal and Knowledge Base.

For more information see www.wolverhampton.gov.uk, www.infra.co.uk