Case Studies > Cireson Helps Loyola University Unlock True Potential of Microsoft System Center

Cireson Helps Loyola University Unlock True Potential of Microsoft System Center

Customer Company Size

Mid-size Company

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Cireson Business Management Solution
Cireson My Active Work Items
Cireson Analyst Portal
Cireson Outlook Console

Tech Stack

HTML5
Microsoft System Center Service Manager

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Employee Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Facility Management

Use Cases

Process Control & Optimization
Remote Asset Management
Remote Control

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Established in 1852, Loyola University Maryland is a Jesuit Catholic university in Maryland, Baltimore. Catering to 6,080 students, Loyola has a main campus for undergraduate and graduate students, and two satellite campuses for graduate students only. Dedicated to academic excellence, for more than a decade, Loyola has been ranked among the Top 10 master’s universities in the North by U.S. News & World Report. The university is committed to providing a high-quality education and fostering a supportive and inclusive community. Loyola's IT department manages over 3,500 devices across the campus, ensuring that both students and staff have access to the necessary technological resources to support their academic and administrative needs.

The Challenge

Loyola’s University IT department, managing over 3,500 devices across the campus, had been using a service desk product to automate and fulfill service requests for a number of years. They were quite familiar with the management of the old product, and were generally satisfied with the capabilities it offered. It also allowed them to manage their unique non-homogenous environment – while 85% of the students and staff at the university use Windows, the remaining 15% are dedicated Mac users. Once the old service desk product reached end of life, the university decided to switch to Microsoft’s System Center Service Manager. The reason behind it was twofold – the product’s extensive capabilities, as well as lower overall costs. While offering a wealth of capabilities, Service Manager was at times difficult to navigate for those without extensive training and also presented challenges for integration of non-Windows based devices. While the staff was enthusiastic about the potential capabilities of Service Manager, they were unanimous in the decision that – they had to find an add-on to make the solution more user-friendly and more robust for their unique environment. They started looking for an add-on product to speed console operations, streamline workflows and clicks, increase functionality of the product, and allow Service Manager to be functional from non-Windows platforms.

The Solution

While Loyola looked at a number of competing solutions to improve the functionality of Service Manager they eventually selected Cireson’s Business Management Solution. The platform enabled Loyola’s team to discover the true potential of Service Manager and its capabilities. Originally, Loyola started with two Cireson solutions – My Active Work Items, and Analyst Portal. The Cireson Portal, according to Nicholas Velich, Client Services Engineer, “was one of the best things to ever happen to our Service Manager implementation.” The fully featured, HTML5 based, Cireson Portal enabled the large portion of Loyola’s IT staff to work from OSX devices, as well as other mobile devices, including low-power laptops and tablets. The recently implemented Outlook Console was another product that significantly contributed to the improved workflow and faster resolution of ticketing problems. Allowing users to do most of their work with Service Manager from the familiar interface of Outlook, it cut down on the time needed to open and close additional windows. It also enabled users to multi-task and keep aware of other important messages delivered through Outlook. The deployment of all of the Cireson solutions was quick and pain-free, with no downtime for Loyola’s end users. Designed with intuitive interfaces, Cireson solutions usually don’t require any formal training for the end users. In Loyola’s case, once the apps were implemented, a “digest” email was sent to all the users with basic instructions. Following the email, the users were able to start working right away. The benefits of bringing on Cireson have proved boundless, and Loyola continues to discover new ways to make the most of the software as new products are released.

Operational Impact

Cireson solutions cut down on the time spent to complete tasks, allowing employees to focus on the tasks at hand rather than the process needed to complete them.
The Cireson Auto Close feature saves time and energy by automatically closing completed tasks and requests, enabling users to focus on current events.
The Cireson Portal allows a large portion of Loyola’s IT staff to work from OSX devices and other mobile devices, enhancing flexibility and accessibility.
The Outlook Console enables users to do most of their work with Service Manager from the familiar interface of Outlook, reducing the time needed to open and close additional windows and allowing for better multitasking.
The deployment of Cireson solutions was quick and pain-free, with no downtime for Loyola’s end users, and the intuitive interfaces required no formal training.

Quantitative Benefit