SAP ITSM simplified: The “Simple IT Request”!

With Focused Build, SAP has launched the requirements-to-deploy (R2D) solution for SAP, which has been available free of charge since January 1, 2020 and is installed on SolMan using the ST-OST add-on.

However, what is still underestimated – in addition to Focused Insights, which is also available with this add-on on the SolMan – are the additional standalone extensions that can be used independently of the R2D process.

One of these smart standalone extensions is the Simple IT Request, which extends the standard ITSM of the Solution Manager: With the Simple IT Request, your business users can use a Fiori application as a “single point of entry” to start the IT services based on SolMan via a catalog.

Easier recording for the business user and simplified processing for the IT service desk

Since the predefined content of the transaction templates is displayed as a service in the service catalog, handling is greatly simplified for the business user: he can easily select from the catalog which IT process (fault, change, service request…) he wants to start.
In addition, the effort required by the IT service desk to process the notification is also optimized: As the transaction is already created on the correct process type and based on predefined data, the necessary data for processing this service is requested from the business user right from the start.

This prevents the reporting party from being asked. A good example of this is ordering additional authorizations: The business user can find the “Order authorization roles” service in the catalog under “Service requests”. Here he adds the relevant information about the missing authorization and the backend system together with the details of why and how long the authorization is required. The business user then submits the application. This order is now sent to the IT Service Desk with the correct transaction type and can be processed quickly, as all the important information for processing the notification has already been requested.

One UI5 app on all devices for all IT process types

The Simple IT Request UI5 apps can be run on any device and consist of two parts:

In addition to the “Create Request” app for easy recording of the notification, the intuitive user interface of “My Requests” can be used for post-processing and communication with the service desk for the requested IT services.

Maintenance of the service catalog via transaction templates

The service catalog is based on the familiar multi-level categorization scheme and can therefore be optimally adapted to the needs of the IT organization: For example, there is complete flexibility in choosing which fields to fill in. In addition to ordering a service, a service can of course also be a fault message, which can be easily selected and filled by the business user.

Which services are visible to business users in the service catalog is controlled via transaction templates, which are available for all different transaction types. In this template, the required information fields are selected and pre-assigned as required. If the service is used in the Simple IT Request Fiori app, the system creates a new instance of this service template.

Authorizations can be used to control which services are displayed to certain business user groups in the catalog. In addition to “simple” transaction templates, an approval-based workflow is already standard in the system, which offers the option of having service requests approved before they reach the implementer. Approvals can be made either in the CRM UI or in the UI5 app “MyInbox”.