Wednesday August 27 2008
Information Technology Central Services at the University of Michigan

MRequest

Benefits Support Costs Test Before
You Buy
Terminology Questions?

ITCS MRequest — formerly known as ITCS FootPrints — is a web-based service providing central tracking and management of customer support and other issues. More than 20 University departments use the service, accounting for over 200 projects, or individual databases.

While primarily used by campus IT departments, campus units have discovered other uses for MRequest as well. For example, ITCS uses it to help manage its annual budgeting process and for managing facilities. Another unit uses MRequest for procurement-related issues.

MRequest uses Numara Software's FootPrints software as its engine. We have highly customized it for the U-M environment, and you can further customize it for your needs.

OTHER FOOTPRINTS SERVERS: In addition to ITCS MRequest, the Medical School, University Library, and Institute for Social Research (ISR) maintain their own FootPrints servers.

Benefits

We believe both you and your customers will benefit by using MRequest.
  • Your Benefits

      Customizable
      Interface
      Department administrators can define shared views, while individual users can create views that help make them most efficient.
      E-mail AlertsRules can be created for e-mail notifications of critical support issues.
      SearchingProvides extensive search capabilities, including full text.
      Reporting
      Features
      Agents can view issues assigned to them as well as a summary of all active and closed issues. Provides over a dozen pre-defined reports, including historical tracking, as well as customizable reporting.
      Time TrackingIncludes providing total time devoted to an issue.
      KnowledgebasesAllows users to create knowledgebases containing tips and solutions.
      Create Global
      Issues
      Allows a wide-spread problem to be consolidated so that all individual issues are linked to it.

  • Customer Benefits
    Project managers can customize projects to provide:

      Automatic E-mail
      Notification
      Customers receive automatic e-mail notification whenever an issue has been opened in their names and whenever the issue has been updated.
      Online
      Self-Service
      Customers can login to FootPrints to open a new issue or to review the history of all open and closed issues in their names.
      Global Issue
      Notification
      When multiple customers are affected by a similar issue — such as a network printer being offline — they can subscribe to receive notification when the issue is resolved.

Support

    MRequest
    Community
    Joinable peer listserv mailing list. Ask questions, get answers, and share tips. The MRequest Service Team also monitors the messages and will resolve issues unanswered within the community.
    Test
    Server
    Test projects and configurations before going into production.
    DocumentationAvailable at request.umich.edu; click on Documentation and resources.
    KnowledgebaseMaintained by Numara Software. Leaving this site.
    MRequest
    Service Team
    The MRequest Service Team provides consulting.

Costs

    Campus units are billed at the initiation of service and then annually at the beginning of the University's fiscal year. Sub-units within a campus unit may create projects at no additional cost. There is no limit to the number of projects a unit or subunit can have. The campus unit contracting person can authorize sub-unit projects by sending a message to mreq-st@umich.edu.

    The MRequest fees are:

    • a $1,000 one-time service initiation fee that includes the first year's (or part thereof) maintenance fee
    • every July 1, a $250 maintenance fee

Test Before You Buy

We offer several no-cost, no-commitment opportunities to help you find out if MRequest is right for you.

Terminology

MRequest uses FootPrints software terminology.

Projecta single database
Issuea record in a Project (field can renamed to e.g,, Call or Ticket)
Agenta standard, full-strength user. Typical agents are Help Desk Agent, Call Center Agent, Developer, Engineer, Manager, and Project Member
Customer Accountintended for employee end-users or external customers, allowing those users to submit and track their own requests and to search the knowledge base

Individual License Types (Permissions)
Agenttypically help desk personnel, customer service representatives, or engineers; able to use all functions including creating and managing Issues, and running queries
Project
Administrator
all Agent capabilities, plus adding custom fields, setting options, and adding users
System
Administrator
all of the above, plus has control over the whole FootPrints software tool, including administration of any project, adding new projects, and administering licenses

Customer License Types (Permissions)
Read KBView and search the Knowledgebase.
Read KB/
Requests
View and search Knowledge Base, and check the status on their requests (entered by an internal user, or via e-mail)
Read/SubmitIn addition to the functionality described above, users can submit Requests via the web interface
Read/Submit/
Edit
In addition to the functionality described above, these users have limited edit privileges of their own Requests

Questions?

Please contact the MRequest Service Team.

July 11, 2008

 

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July 21, 2008