ManageEngine has announced a custom application platform for its SaaS ITIL-ready help desk solution featuring integrated asset management. The new online platform works with the company’s ServiceDesk Plus On-Demand SaaS offering and is designed to let IT help desk managers and staff use web browsers for creating online custom applications.
Users may create applications for automating help desk functions as well as general IT and business processes, without any programming knowledge necessary. The offering is built on Zoho Creator, which enables custom database and application building using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
ManageEngine’s new platform may be used in a variety of scenarios. A few examples include IT teams developing a conference room booking application so employees may check for date conflicts and reserve time slots for specific meeting rooms. HR departments may also require an application for automatically submitting requests to appropriate managers for approval. And office managers can utilize a procurement application that includes a tiered approval mechanism.
"The scope of services provided by IT teams is expanding rapidly, and traditional service desk applications are not able to keep pace," said Rajesh Ganesan, director of product management at ManageEngine. "While IT teams can build applications based on their company's process changes and additions, integrating those apps seamlessly with their central ITSM system has always been a challenge. ServiceDesk Plus On-Demand bridges this gap, letting IT teams rapidly build, launch and manage custom applications as extensions of their service desk."
Additional features of the new platform include a report builder that enables users to visualize data in multiple formats as well as drill down on critical information. Help desk staff may also define access permissions to end users of the application. Processes related to custom apps are performed through a web browser throughout the entire process, from development to launch and management. Applications are then made available to users through a self-service portal via ServiceDesk Plus On-Demand.
Environmental solutions provider averda is using the platform and the company is looking forward to significant reductions in emails and paperwork. "When our users access and raise requests through these applications from their self-service portals, everything is so much more centralized and so much more organized,” said Tarek Saade, IT service desk controller at averda. “Building apps on this platform is easy. I got the first one up and running in minutes, and I am no programmer."
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
