Microsoft SCOM ITSM Ticketing System Connectors
Connecting Microsoft SCOM with ITSM Ticketing Systems
Selecting the right SCOM ITSM ticketing connector
SCOM (System Center Operations Manager) is a powerful tool that allows experts to monitor and manage their IT environment. However, to make the most out of SCOM, choosing a suitable ITSM connector that integrates with your existing ticketing systems is essential. In this blog post, we will explore different SCOM connectors available in the market and compare their features to help you make an informed decision.
Understanding the importance of SCOM ticketing connectors
In today’s rapidly evolving IT landscape, having a robust and efficient ticketing system is crucial for IT operations and effective problem resolution. For experts in the field, understanding the importance of ITSM and ticketing systems, especially within the context of the System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), is essential. So, first and foremost, let’s delve into the significance of ticketing systems in SCOM.
SCOM is a comprehensive monitoring and management tool that provides deep insights into the health and performance of IT infrastructure, applications, and services. However, monitoring alone is not enough to ensure smooth operations. A practical method to manage and track these incidents, whether a critical server outage or a minor service disruption, is essential.
This is where ITSM and ticketing systems come into play. They act as a centralized hub for handling and resolving IT incidents, ensuring no problem slips through the cracks. By creating tickets, IT teams can effectively communicate, collaborate, and track the progress of each incident until its resolution. Moreover, ticketing systems enable organizations to adhere to service level agreements (SLAs), maintain audit trails, and generate insightful reports for analysis and improvement.
Today, we will explore the three central connectors that serve the most relevant ticketing systems: ServiceNow (by ServiceNow), BMC Remedy (by BMC), Cherwell (by Ivanti), and Jira Service Management (by Atlassian).
SCOM ITSM Ticketing Connectors
Options for integrating SCOM with your favorite ITSM ticketing system.
1. Native Integration
SCOM has some native integration capabilities, which allow you to configure custom alert notifications via email, SNMP traps, or scripts. Depending on your ticketing system’s capabilities, you can use these notifications to trigger ticket creation or updates. Native integration might require custom scripting and configuration.
2. Custom-Built Integrations
Organizations with specific requirements or unique ticketing systems may build custom integrations between SCOM and their systems. This typically involves developing scripts or using APIs to automate the ticketing process. Custom-built integrations offer flexibility but require development expertise.
3. Third-Party Connectors
Third-party connectors are often designed to be plug-and-play solutions, making integration straightforward without extensive coding or development work. They typically offer a wide range of features and pre-built integrations with various ITSM tools, saving time and effort in configuring and maintaining connections. They usually come with updates, maintenance, and support, reducing the burden on your IT team.
Central Microsoft SCOM ITSM Ticketing Connectors for
ServiceNow, BMC Remedy, Cherwell, and Jira
SCOM Connection Center by Cookdown
Cookdown offers a powerful ticketing system for SCOM that neatly integrates with popular IT service management (ITSM) platforms and ticketing systems like ServiceNow, Jira, Cherwell, BMC Remedy,but also into other channels such as Slack, Teams, Webhooks, Splunk, and basically everything that has an API. With this connector, SCOM alerts can be automatically converted into tickets, ensuring timely incident resolution. Its strength lies in its simplicity and ease of use. The SCOM Connector allows bidirectional communication, enabling alerts and incidents from SCOM to be automatically created as tickets within the connected ticketing system and vice versa. This automation significantly reduces manual efforts and ensures efficient incident management.
Integration Pack for Microsoft System Center by Kelverion
Kelverion provides an integration pack for Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (SCOrch), enhancing SCOM’s ticketing capabilities. This pack enables the automation of ticket creation, assignment, and closure processes. By leveraging SCOrch’s workflow capabilities, organizations can design custom ticketing workflows and streamline incident management processes, enabling integration with various ticketing systems, including ServiceNow, Jira, and BMC Remedy. One of its notable strengths is its extensive support for different ticketing systems, providing users with a wide range of options. Moreover, this connector offers advanced features like customizable workflows and rich automation capabilities. However, some experts may find its initial setup and configuration slightly complex and time-consuming, especially when dealing with multiple ticketing systems. The Integration Pack for Microsoft System Center by Kelverion currently supports Operations Manager 2016 & 2019 only.
BMC Remedy Connector
BMC Remedy is a widely used ITSM platform, and its connector for SCOM offers seamless integration between the two systems. It enables automatic ticket creation for SCOM alerts and allows for two-way synchronization between SCOM and Remedy. The connector also provides detailed incident information within the ticket, facilitating better troubleshooting and resolution. As the name suggests, this connector solely focuses on integrating BMC Remedy with SCOM. Its strength lies in its deep integration capabilities. This connector allows bidirectional communication, enabling incidents and alerts to flow effortlessly between SCOM and BMC Remedy. Additionally, it provides advanced features like automatic ticket creation and resolution, ensuring smooth incident management. However, its limited compatibility with other ticketing systems might be a drawback when working with diverse IT environments.
Key points to consider when choosing a SCOM ticketing connector
Integration capabilities
Evaluate the ease of integration with your existing ITSM platform and the level of automation provided in ticket creation, updating, and closure processes.
Customization options
Determine to which extent the connector can be customized to align with your organization’s incident management workflows and processes.
Real-time updates
Look for a connector that offers real-time synchronization between SCOM and the ticketing tool, ensuring that incident data is always up to date.
Ease of use
Consider user-friendliness, as this will impact efficiency and adoption within your IT operations team.
Further SCOM and SCCM ITSM Integrations and other resources
IT Service Management Platforms Market by Gartner PeerInsight
Atlassian OpsGenie Integration
Each connector has unique features and advantages, depending on an organization’s requirements. In conclusion, integrating a reliable ticketing system with SCOM is crucial for effective incident management in an enterprise IT environment. Evaluate your organization’s needs and choose the SCOM ITSM connector that best aligns with your requirements.
NiCE Services for Microsoft System Center
Feel free to contact us for any questions you may have. We are ready to help you get your Microsoft SCOM environment future-proof.
NiCE Services for Microsoft System Center encompass consulting services tailored to System Center Operations Manager, Configurations Manager, and Service Manager. Our offerings include SCOM Health Assessments, advice and provisioning for third-party SCOM tools, as well as SCOM-centric monitoring solutions for a wide range of business elements such as applications, databases, operating systems, services, and custom applications.