This independent review is part of our Integrations 2013 Group Test.
- Integrations 2013 Group Test Overview and terms
- Also participating – Absolute Software, BDNA, Bomgar, Cherwell, EasyVista, LANDesk, ManageEngine, Matrix42, Nexthink, ServiceNow
Executive Summary
Elevator Pitch | A key understanding of what is required and the ability to provide innovation across the whole organisation – Cherwell show they understand what organisations need and are ready to supply connectors to a wide variety of additional sources of information. A comprehensive solution throughout. |
Strengths |
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Weaknesses |
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Primary Market Focus | Based on the information provided, Cherwell are typically active in the mid-market but are scalable to Enterprise customersThey are classified for this review as:Specialised Service Management Suite – Offering ITIL processes and proprietary discovery tooling and Data Integration Points |
Commercial Summary
Vendor | Cherwell |
Product | Cherwell Service Management® |
Version reviewed | Version 4.6 |
Date of version release | July 2013 |
Year founded | 2003 |
Customers | 550+ |
Pricing Structure | Saas, Subscription, Perpetual options |
Competitive Differentiators |
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Independent Review
Cherwell recognise that all points of integration can be applied to any part of the ITSM suite, and that organisations are going to have tools in place and so focus on making the inevitable need to pull in data from external sources as easy as possible.
Integration points are all guided by wizards – even at the start of the pre-deployment, which is in keeping with their fundamental principle that everything should be codeless – so the UI hides the administrator from the backend XML magic that goes on behind the scenes.
Within their admin panel – the customer is created as a business object – which creates a core table in their database and allows the flexible wizard driven interfaces to map across to whatever is required.
There is a lot that can be done with their One-Step macros, that allow simple customisation for repeatable task – a clued-up admin can make light work of many of the pre-deployment and scheduled updates using these customisable objects.
They have utilised some nice new innovative touches to lend itself not only to ITSM staff (travelling technicians being able to use either mobile devices or RSS feeds to pull information depending on their location), but also to continue to build on what IT can offer other business areas – that same technology can be applied to business managers travelling from location to location.
Perhaps an area could still benefit from attention – more and more vendors recognise the value of linking with resource or task-management tools, as tools start to connect with Outlook calendars and put intelligence around task management and more importantly task distribution.
Cherwell very much hold by an 80/20 philosophy in what they offer – and that still provides one of the most comprehensive ITSM and business process suites on the market.
Integration and specific recognised criteria
Cherwell offer the following points of integration with no additional coding required (everything is driven by wizards):
OLE DB
Connect to External Databases – commonly used to pull data from SCCM, LANDesk, SNOW, Lansweeper, CRM data.
Active Directory (and other Directory Services)
Used for Authentication and Data Population (e.g. Customer Contacts)
SAML
SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is an XML-based open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between Identity Providers and Service Providers to support Single-Sign-On (SSO) capability
Email (POP/SMTP, IMAP, Exchange (EWS))
Used for inbound and outbound electronic communications
Bomgar
Secure Remote Control and Chat
Monitor Feeds and Send Tweets
RSS
Monitor Feeds and RSS Query for Cherwell
Web Service
Consume external (WSDL and REST) Web Services via our codeless one-step functionality
File System
Write File and Read File functionality from our codeless one-step functionality
Run program
Run any external program from our codeless one-step functionality – call any program or Powershell script parsing parameters from Cherwell
Cherwell Windows API
Any .Net developer can utilize the Cherwell Windows API to call Cherwell functions and features
Cherwell Web Service
Any .Net developer can utilize the Cherwell Web Services API to call a subset of Cherwell functions and features
Security Controls
Cherwell use the security controls which are governed by the specific type of integration.
Pre-Deployment Integration
Typically Cherwell will look to use Active Directory for contact information to import with all subsequent updates as a scheduled activity.
Asset and Configuration Information
Cherwell has its own Discovery and Inventory to capture data on network devices, printers, windows PCs and devices and Apple MAC workstations, utilising it’s scheduled and automated processes.
Again Cherwell use wizards to handle migrating the collected data into the CMDB including mapping the fields, frequency of updates and so on.
Cherwell also recognise that third party ITAM tools (SCCM, LANDesk, Centennial, SNOW, etc.) are often in place in organisations – they recommend using an External OLE DB Connection method to map, import and schedule updates from external database tables and views into Cherwell.
After the CMDB is populated with information, then a configuration manager can manipulate and maintain the non-auto-discovered aspects of the data and the relationships. That then is used across all the other ITSM processes (e.g. incident, problem, change, etc.)
Support Services Integration
- Remote Control
Cherwell partners with Bomgar and can use their Chat function in any ITSM and/or business process that has been built into the CSM platform. This allows them the flexibility of linking what would be considered as service management tooling into parts of the business that may not necessarily use the same interfaces (for example HR portals).
- Social Media
Twitter, Email and RSS are all possible communications methods that can also be incorporated into any of the processes (Business or ITSM processes). The platform used then depends on the kind of process – Major Incident communications might use Twitter and RSS, regular Incident may suffice with email. Cherwell can offer the flexibility depending on an organisation’s requirements.
Additional Areas of Integration
- Cherwell offer the flexibility to build out business processes (for example to Finance or HR) to help join one part of the business to another. When the industry is constantly looking at ways to show how IT can help the business – this is a useful area of development.
- Event management – the tendency is for it to be centred around email integration – alerts come in and get converted into an event record from that point.
Cherwell Customers
From the Cherwell Brochure
- Fully integrated, comprehensive view of the relationships between Incidents, Problems, Changes and other processes and resources.
- Intuitive wizards and drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to quickly and easily modify processes to match your specific business needs
- Service management teams move from managing activities to delivering solutions.
In Their Own Words:
Positioned on the 2013 Gartner® Magic Quadrant for ITSSM tools and recognised by Forrester Research as one of the top three enterprise SaaS ITSM tools worldwide, Cherwell Software is one of the fastest growing IT service management software providers. It has corporate headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S.A.; EMEA headquarters in Wootton Bassett, U.K.; and a global network of expert partners. Cherwell Software is passionate about customer care and is dedicated to creating “innovative technology built upon yesterday values.”
Its flagship product is Cherwell Service ManagementTM, a fully-integrated service management software solution for IT and technical support professionals with out-of-the-box PinkVERIFY accredited ITIL processes. Its wizard-driven customisation allows customers to tailor the tool to match their processes without writing any code. Cherwell Service Management offers unmatched flexibility in hosting and concurrent licensing for low total-cost-of-ownership.
Please visit www.cherwell.com for more information about Cherwell Software.
Screenshots
Further Information
This independent review is part of our Integrations 2013 Group Test.
- Integrations 2013 Group Test Overview and terms
- Also participating – Absolute Software, BDNA, Bomgar, Cherwell, EasyVista, LANDesk, ManageEngine, Matrix42, Nexthink, ServiceNow