ARCAD Updates IT Service Management Tool

February 19, 2013 Alex Woodie

ARCAD Software recently announced the release of ARCAD-Customer version 9.5, the latest release of its IT service management and customer request tracking tool.

ARCAD is best known for its application lifecycle management (ALM) tools, which provide the capability to track source code changes to applications running on IBM i and other platforms, and ensure they make it into production.

In the ALM cycle, the source code modifications are often initiated through user change requests, and that’s where ARCAD-Customer comes in. The product provides a system for accepting, analyzing, and tracking change requests originating with users of the applications. The software enables users to create and manage a knowledge base, and features 5250 and Web-based interfaces.

ARCAD has bolstered version 9.5 with new features from user feedback, which was undoubtedly tracked with CUSTOMER itself. Among the new features is the capability to customize the Service Level Agreement (SLA) an IT shop has with its customers, with the goal of tailoring the IT shop’s response times and notifications to contractual obligations.

The new release also gains a new auto-closure feature that will help IT shops keep CUSTOMER tidy, and prevent “a proliferation of old, unused, or invalid cases from overloading the system,” ARCAD says.

Version 9.5 also brings a new report design tool that features configurable report templates based on standard ITIL best practices. The new Report Designer is based on the open source BIRT reporting tool from Eclipse.

There is also a new Download Server module that’s designed to simplify the delivery of new software releases and patches to customers. The vendor says the new module will enable customers to receive a notification when their incidents are resolved and a patch is available, and allow customers to initiate downloads at their convenience.

Marc Dallas, the director of research and development at ARCAD, says the new release of CUSTOMER helps to address a gap in the market for “pragmatic, easy-to-use” IT service management tools that enable adoption of ITIL best practices.

“Our goal is not to impose a methodology but allow our customers to select the best process for their organizations,” Dallas says in a press release. “ARCAD-Customer has the advantage of offering a complete ‘service supply chain,’ from incident right through delivery. With Version 9.5, we give the end-user total transparency over the progress of incidents and a richer notification loop.”