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Inok Systems

In this issue : Plans for FY2008 Numara Software FootPrints v8 earns PinkVerify ITIL Service Support Certification Numara Footprints Configuration Module and what it means to you		Representing :

We are both proud and happy to note that in our recently concluded FY2007, we were able to meet our business targets for the year which represents significant growth over the previous year. A big Thank YOU to all our Principals, Business Partners and Customers !

The Inok Systems team has worked hard to earn your business and will continue to strive and improve all aspects of our business to serve you better. Besides achieving our revenue targets, we have also spent the year investing in systems and automating our processes. These efforts which are ongoing will hopefully translate into better service to our partners and customers.

In the FY2008 ahead besides keeping our eye on an ambitious target, we will also :

- introduce new and exciting products in the IT Audit and Compliance areas
- provide even more regular product updates through our newsletters
- provide more features on our website
- expand our reach and support to customers and partners overseas

It's exciting times and we look forward to your continued support and feedback. And please don't forget to tell your friends about the good things we are doing !

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Numara Software FootPrints v8 earns PinkVerify ITIL Service Support Certification

“Pink Elephant’s PinkVerify™ certification is the standard in our industry for evaluating a tool’s compliance with the ITIL best practices framework,” said Mark Krieger, vice president of development, Numara Software. “Achieving this certification further distinguishes Numara FootPrints 8 as a powerful ITSM solution, delivering the highest level of value and assurance to our customers and addressing the critical role that IT Service Management plays in overall business success.”

ITIL has emerged as the measure for IT service management given its new lifecycle structure that better aligns IT processes with a company’s business strategy. Numara FootPrints 8 offers extensive ITIL enablement with integrated service desk processes for full IT service management support. The new ‘ITIL wizard’ allows any IT department to easily create a complete IT service management infrastructure in mere minutes without custom programming. And the solution’s comprehensive CMDB features a unique graphical relationship manager for powerful visualization of Configuration Item (CI) relationships and a built-in import tool for automatic loading of CIs from a variety of sources.

Pink Elephant is one of the world’s leading IT Service Management consulting organizations and educators. The PinkVerify™ Service Support certification – issued by Pink Elephant – assesses IT Service Management (ITSM) software based on ITIL best practices. In order to be licensed to use its logo, a tool must meet the minimum functional criteria for ITIL processes. Now that Numara FootPrints 8 has passed this rigorous assessment it can be found in the toolsets section of Pink Elephant’s PinkVerify™ web page at www.pinkelephant.com.

If you are interested to find out more about FootPrints please call +65 6233 6808 or email sales@inoks.com. Top..

What is Configuration Management ?

Configuration Management is part of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ITIL was originally developed almost 20 years ago by the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to improve IT service management for the United Kingdom central government. ITIL has since evolved into a detailed set of best practices relevant to organizations that wish to align IT practices with business objectives and deliver effective service management.

The Configuration Management Database(CMDB) is made up of Configuration Items (CIs). CIs can be Hardware, Software, Documentation, People, and Services - anything that IT is responsible for. There is some crossover with Asset Management, but the CMDB is a federated, controlled repository of assets that are essential for running the business. Defining the relationships between CIs is one of the things that distinguishes Configuration Management from Asset Management. The CMDB is used by and integrated with the other ITIL processes, like Incident, Problem, and Change Management.

Graphical representation of your CMDB at a glance with FootPrints v8

Using FootPrints Configuration Management and Integration with “Issues”

The CMDB is to be used by potentially anyone in IT for a multitude of purposes and it can be integrated with all the other ITIL processes. In Numara FootPrints, agents will be linking CIs to there Incidents, Problems, Changes, and Release records. Upon enabling a CMDB, this integration with various Numara FootPrints’ Projects is already established in Numara FootPrints out-of-the-box. There is no need for any lengthy integration process involving programming and database administration as always with Numara FootPrints.

In addition to the integration with Numara FootPrints’ Projects, the CMDB will also be used in a stand alone capacity. An agent can visit the CMDB to get additional information about a CI, run complex searches to find lists of CIs that meet certain criteria, and get printable graphical reports.

FootPrints Configuration Management Features :

1. Support for multiple CMDBs in Numara FootPrints. Each CMDB can be linked to one project or multiple projects. There is a built-in Project Wizard template that will automatically setup four projects for Incident, Problem, Change, and Release Management connected to one CMDB.

2. You can define your own customized CI Types in addition to those that come in the templates .

3. Custom attributes for each and every CI Type that aredefined. Some examples might include Memory, IP Address, Operating System, and Purchase Price for a desktop, Manufacturer, Version Number, and Maintenance Expiration Date for an application, and Manufacturer, Model, and IP Address for a network printer.

4. Each CI Type can have its own set of statuses. This will show at a quick glance if a desktop is out on someone’s desk (Active), on the shelf ready to be used (In Inventory), or retired waiting to be used for parts (Retired).

5. You can define relationships types between CIs. Examples of types of relationships are “Prints To”, “Backs Up”, and “Is Connected to”. This flexibility lets the user know not only that one CI is connected to another, but how it is connected and how it may affect other CIs. The constraints prevent two unrelatable CIs from being linked using that relationship. For example, a Router should never “Print To” a Switch.

6. Building CMDB from external data sources. CMDB may be populated from commonly used Asset Management tools, SQL databases or manually created. After initial creation, CMDB may be configured to draw on external sources for regular updates

7. Advanced searching and reporting functionality.

8. Instant and time-based automations can be setup based on CI criteria. These automations can automatically alert agents, customers, or anyone else via email letting them know a CI has met criteria of interest to them. Automations could also automatically create incidents/problems/changes associated with that CI.

9. Access control to CMDB and individual CI items by user roles to prevent unauthorised access

10. The CMDB can be viewed in a visual representation showing CI and relationships between them. The icon and colors representing different CI types and relationships is customizable with out of the box defaults. The visualization has zoom in/out capabilities, filters on types of CIs and relationships to display, as well as how many levels of relationships to traverse.

If you are interested to find out more about FootPrints please call +65 6233 6808 or email sales@inoks.com. Top..