What’s New in ALVAO 10

We live in a world of services and of demanding customers accustomed to perfect service. The pressure on service providers is greater than ever, which is why the new ALVAO 10 has been released – to help service teams face all their demanding challenges. Paper forms as well as e-mails and slow communication are a thing of the past. An efficient team does not waste time with unnecessary administration but focuses on what’s important. Company processes are undergoing digitalization and automation. Different company departments are looking for a way to break free of the burden of bureaucracy and provide internal customers with top-quality experience. In this, they often look towards the IT department, which is usually the most developed in this area. They too wish to reap the rewards of long-term development of service provision and use best practice in ITSM (ITIL). Another key trend is the move of applications to the Cloud and their operation as SaaS. This goes hand in hand with the ever increasing need for global implementations and multi-language environment support, as well as increased security. Let’s have a look at how these needs and trends have been addressed in the new ALVAO 10.

Use ALVAO for All Departments

ALVAO is now readier than ever to support the management of non-IT teams. Thanks to requester licensing, you can immediately start using ALVO even for marketing, building management… or any department at all. ALVAO is successfully used outside IT for example by Linet, Sazka, Compass Group (Eurest), and Mondi Štětí.
Using service management methodology for other company departments is referred to as Enterprise Service Management (ESM). This is a natural phenomenon that significantly increases the efficiency of every company, as it unifies the contact points of internal departments as well as the catalogs of services offered. Let us inspire you. Choose one department and let’s try to modernize it.

Create a Company Market

Create a company-wide market where employees will be able to order phones or computers, – and also get business cards or rent a car. We have significantly improved the e-shop in ALVAO 10. It newly offers devices based on employees‘ job titles or other customizable parameters.

Record the Whole Company’s Assets

An ever-rising number of organizations is using ALVAO for recording all the assets in the company. This is made easier by the option to use bar code readers during inventory (stocktaking), as well as the unique option to carry out inventory electronically via a web interface and e-mail.
The new version introduces the option to record assets by responsible person even when the given asset is not located directly under the responsible person in the objects tree. You no longer have to worry about how to handle a printer in the corridor whose responsible person is the department manager. The web portal allows responsible persons to easily monitor which assets they have been entrusted with. The change has also been reflected in the new handover protocols.

Easy and Quick Reports

Users appreciate the option to create reports from ALVAO, using analytical Excel files directly connected to the database, which allows them to quickly and easily create new reports. These analytical files have been localized in the new version, and so they are suitable even for multinational companies.

Enjoy an Open Platform to Its Fullest

The new version has further developed the openness of the whole platform. This allows ALVAO to be used for various agendas within the whole organization. It is also easier to automate agendas within IT. This sets the stage not only for your own development, but also of course for partner solutions. This technology is also available and useful for SMB customers. You will be able to have a look at specific applications on ALVAO Technology Day.
ALVAO 10 allows creation of automatic actions triggered by a request’s events, for example upon creation, editing, or removal of an event in the request log. Meanwhile it also enables adding custom demands to the main menu of WebApp and the Service Desk Console, or hiding the standard ones. Complex approval schemes with the option to add custom forms are likewise newly supported.

Increased System Security

ALVO has undergone a Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) audit, and as one response to its results, we have added new security improvements. We support the configuration of password principles monitored directly via ALVAO. WebApp is newly protected against attacks based on password guessing. The protection can be strengthened even further by enabling a CAPTCHA. You can also specify the time of inactivity after which a user will be automatically logged out. Furthermore, you can disable the attaching certain file types that you consider high-risk.

A Unique Solution for International Use

ALVAO is much more than just a local tool. We have been mentioned among the notable ITSM tools by the Gartner Magic Quadrant international report once again this year. ALVAO is also increasingly used in international companies. This is why we have decided to take our standard for user interface localization to the next level. We now enable customers to localize their own data, namely concerning communication with requesters. For example, you can localize a service catalog so that it is displayed in various countries in the local language. Similarly, for processes and workflow it is possible to localize not only the process status but also instructions for solvers and requesters. In addition, you can localize information about the SLA and the notifications sent to the requester, as well as custom database items, including codebooks. We have expanded localization options as never before. In this respect, Alvao is unique even in a global perspective. Furthermore, the whole localization system enables easy cooperation with an external translator, who does not have to have direct access to the system.

Unique Tools for Communication and Work with Requests

Communication is crucial when resolving a request. Users often send colored text, charts, and pictures. The support team needs to be able to do the same. This is why we have improved HTML support in e-mails in the new version. Sent and received e-mails are displayed including formatting and newly also with pictures directly in the e-mail body. Previews of attached pictures are shown above the message. The HTML editor has also been improved.
Another change in the WebApp development regards the option to perform batch operations on requests, for example batch operations that forward to a resolver, change a deadline, send a message, or resolve a request. This significantly improves your options when using the system at operator workplaces that process large numbers of requests and cannot or do not want to use desktop applications.

We Care About Your Opinion

We have assigned a part of our development capacity in the new version to changes that you have voted for on our web. Here we have recorded all your ideas from workshops, plus ideas that you entered directly via the web. Your ideas have been a great inspiration for us.
We have implemented many such improvements. The most attractive ones include for example the option for operators to select a device from an easy-to-navigate tree when recording a new request. Users are now offered only those devices that they are authorized to view and their entrusted assets. It is not possible to select computer components and Computer Set objects. Improved monitor detection. We have also added several improvements to the license registry.

Easier System Administration

We did not forget about system administrators either. The new version has significantly improved the option to create new services. Services can be copied including their subtree, which makes it easy to copy a service including the usual sub-services regarding entry of incidents, requests, and ideas. You can also newly copy permissions and SLA configurations from another service.

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