Case Study

A World-Class Automated ITSM Solution to Scale at the Speed of Cyber Defense

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Our client, an American defense contracting firm, supports cyber warfare training for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC). The contractor designs, builds, tests and operates a fully accredited cyber range and training environments capable of simulating full-spectrum computer network operation scenarios to prepare future Cyber Warriors anytime, anywhere across the globe.
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Windward Abstract
Goals

The client needed to provide a powerful centralized ITSM platform for improved management and reporting across the enterprise. This would enable process and workflow automation to manage their complex IT environment at an on-premise data center and in the cloud. Windward was chosen to implement the ServiceNow© platform using repeatable industry best practices.

Challenges

The RSA Archer® application used for support ticketing, service catalog, and project events neared EOL. Overall lack of integrated solutions for configuration management, network monitoring, reporting, forecasting, and capacity planning significantly impacted operations and their primary mission.

CSR experienced a 75% increase in cyber project events over the life of the current ITSM. The process had remained unchanged and was mostly manual, relying on one application for ticketing.

Technical Challenges

• License management was a key requirement and very manual -supported by Excel and Access.

• The Service and Product catalog, another key requirement, was not available.

• The RSA Archer® application was coming to EOL.

Solutions

The ServiceNow SAM module significantly automated the license management capability and provided reporting and dashboards to effectively track and manage license usage and renewal requirements. Service and Product catalog capability increased support event automation and capability management through orchestration.

To address decommissioning RSA Archer, Windward delivered a solution the client can provide to future customers. We also provided knowledge transfer to ensure future projects were a success.

ServiceNow Ticket Management replaced the old application with integrated workflows to speed ticket completion, track metrics, and enhance operations to execute efficiently.

Automation and Orchestration was achievable for the first time through the implementation of PPM, workflow, and the Service Catalog.

Automated event scheduling met another key requirement by supporting customer submission of events from an online portal using PPM. This replaced another inadequate process from the legacy system by increasing resource efficiency through workflow, and swift processing of events.

The Results

The customer continues to realize previously unrecognized operational value for every department of the team including dashboards, reporting, drill downs, and out- of-the-box capabilities from all modules.

  • The customer now has visibility to a much larger breadth and scope with more impactful information and operations insight. Tailored dashboards provide focus and situational awareness.
  • Better tracking & visibility into all assets and equipment to respond to their customers for scalable capacity in support of mission events, exercises, and training saving man hours in the design and support of the environment.
  • Change Management is now a reality — before the CSR had only manual processes without any automated verification to schedule or support processes.
  • Automated workflows enhance operations, reduce response time for customer demands and ensure consistent actions to be performed for events and exercises.
The Deliverable

Windward installed a self-hosted ServiceNow instance in a phased approach including:

  • Set up a CMDB base foundation incorporating Change Management & Performance Analytics and a configuration process.
  • Implemented capabilities for Incident Management, Software Asset Management, Service Mapping, Service Catalog and ITAM to address the decommissioning of RSA Archer.

The biggest benefits are a new workflow to incorporate repeatable processes, time savings, and proactive responses through real-time alerting. The customer also needed online capabilities to feel connected and informed. Windward strived to provide continuous technical updates, briefings, and discussions to ensure project communication exceeded the customer’s expectation.

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