University of Glasgow, the fourth oldest university in the United Kingdom, has invested in Hornbill's Supportworks IT service management software. It uses Hornbill's solution to provide IT support from a centralised service desk and distributed support teams to over 30,000 students and staff users. Since implementing the software, the IT team has seen improvement in customer satisfaction, demonstrated by feedback from its service questionnaire. The need for manual logging has also reduced as a result of implementing the Supportworks Web SelfService portal. The University has also employed Supportworks to automate change management, adopting uniform processes, and with new workflows and improved data collection now has an improved formal audit trail. The software has also been adapted for use by the university's Data Protection and Freedom of Information offices to improve both efficiency and reporting.

"We selected Hornbill's solution for its functionality, ability to be customised and its user friendly look and feel," said Bill Wright, Helpdesk and Training Manager of IT Services at University of Glasgow. "For us it is really important that the product is easy to use, in order that we can encourage its adoption across the organisation. It has to deliver tangible productivity benefits very easily.

"Supportworks processes have replaced patchy notification methods with a published change management schedule that is sent in advance of changes. It suits our needs very well and provides a formal audit trail to a more consistent and improved quality standard."

Hornbill's Supportworks was selected for its ease of use as well as its ability to be easily customized, and its web portal access from the wide range of software platforms - Linux, MAC, UNIX and web platform - used by the different IT teams across the University.

Since installing Supportworks, the team has successfully customised the solution for two key areas; change management and The Data Protection Office. Adopting industry best practice, the University has customised Supportworks to provide a bespoke module for change approval and forward-schedule publishing, replacing a manual process with uniform and easy to use workflow-driven automation. The University's Data Protection and Freedom of Information Office has also used the functionality within the database to create new forms and procedures that have improved workflows and efficiencies within the department and enabled them to comply with strict regulatory requirements.

The Central Service Desk team is now able to process additional calls, allowing service centralization, and is measuring its performance with automated reports generated by Supportworks. Following the success, a regional support centre is in the process of implementing Supportworks to provide support to users in Further Education Colleges across West Scotland.

Gerry Sweeney, CEO of Hornbill Systems commented, "Large organisations like the University of Glasgow present a challenge for IT support and other services, where different teams may provide local departmental services. Supportworks is an ideal tool to support such a scenario. It has been designed to be adaptable to any service scenario and easy to use such that it enables teams to be more productive, which encourages uniformity of process and results via its widespread adoption, particularly important in any regulated environment."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world. Founded in 1451, it has spent the last half-millennium earning an international reputation for research innovation, making connections with experts in global business, and inspiring thinkers, from eminent scientist Lord Kelvin to the father of economics, Adam Smith. Building on such vast experience, it’s no surprise that Glasgow is in the top 1% of the world’s universities today (Times Higher Education Supplement World Rankings).

Ranked in the top ten in the UK for research, and a member of the elite Russell Group of 20 major research universities, Glasgow provides an education that inspires respect from employers and satisfaction from students. Welcoming more than 15,000 undergraduates, 4,900 postgraduates and around 5,000 adult learners each year, it attracts students from Iceland to India, from Cardiff to Korea and from South America to the south of England. Finding community within diversity, the University's students come from more than 120 countries around the world to build friendships and networks that last a lifetime.
For more information, please visit:
www.glasgow.ac.uk