ITSMnet
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What can I expect from
ITSMnet?
A neutral environment that provides services in the
best interest of our members
Continuously refreshed, member-driven
content, research and services
Peer
facilitation and the protection of proprietary
content and information
What does
ITSMnet
expect from
it's members?
Leverage peers, common resources and distributed knowledge
Participation and interaction within the
ITSMnet
community
Financial support for the provision and
maintenance of our services
Q: Why should I join
ITSMnet
?
A:
By
adhering to three basic core objectives,
ITSMnet
provides significant value to its members by:
Continuously improving services based on the
collaborative needs of our members
Focusing on IT Service Management and supporting
frameworks
Providing tactical content and useful information
that provides immediate value
ITSMnet
provides a unique and innovative platform for IT
professionals to jump start and continuously improve IT Service Management activities.
Simply put, ITSMnet
serves as
a consistent and fresh resource for new ideas, and a provider of tactical
content for some of the most pressing problems facing IT
organizations today. Although IT Service Management principles,
concepts and related frameworks provide a great foundation for
standardization and streamlining IT services, they do not provide
sufficient detailed tools, templates and guidance
required for a continuous improvement lifecycle. ITSMnet
provides up-to-date content
and a collaborative environment that cannot
be captured by any library or methodology.
Q:
How much does
ITSMnet
cost?
A: Membership
dues are required for each member on an annual basis.
Registration fees may also be required for initial registration
of members or for their organizations. All services fees
are dependent on the type of
licensing and participation anticipated within a given organization. However, to
ensure the service is accessible by smaller organizations, the overall cost is
kept considerably lower than larger independent
research organizations.
Fees include a registration fee (per organization)
and annual dues (each individual member)
Corporate
rates are available for extended participation
within a single organization
Discounted membership is available for
non-profit and government agencies
Q: How do I
become a member?
A: ITSMnet
services are provided on a 12-month
renewable subscription basis and is offered by invitation or through
applications submitted directly to ITSMnet.
Subsequent to membership approval, participants submit a
membership agreement prior to activating
individual user accounts. Please note that
participation in the
ITSMnet
network may not be extended to all applicants and we may restrict
certain software vendors, consulting firms or academic
institutions from participating at our discretion.
Q:
Are there other options besides collaborative membership?
A: As an
alternative to collaborative participation,
ITSMnet also
provides a variety of alternate service models based
on our core knowledge and content management
systems:
-
Turn-key installations hosted by member
organizations
-
Dedicated, remotely hosted installations
-
Private areas
within the ITSMnet site
Q: Can vendors or consultants access the network
and/or contact
members?
A:
As part of our
Membership Agreement, vendors are
strictly prohibited from soliciting members or their
organizations, including any form of product or service
marketing or sales activities. However, as requested by or deemed appropriate by our
membership, vendor information may reside in the repository for
the purposes of product evaluation, member discussion or
knowledge exchange. One core objective of
ITSMnet is to
create an unbiased environment for
our members, and promote a culture of sharing and collaboration
without external pressure from third party service providers or
vendors.
Q: Can I preview ITSMnet
services prior to
submitting an application?
A:
Anyone interested in learning more about our services
can contact us to learn more about our services.
However, in order to protect intellectual property and
proprietary information, access to specific content and
collaborative services are limited to members only.
Q: Why do companies share
content and practices with
ITSMnet
?
A: The primary reason companies share content with us is to
improve their own existing practices. Progressive companies
understand that a network of peers provides value beyond the
extent to which a single organization (and single culture) can
provide themselves. Since no company is best
at everything, organizations find that exposing themselves to
feedback through collaboration allows them to improve their own
IT Service Management practices.
Q: Does membership require a
substantial time investment?
A:
One way ITSMnet
measures successful
client relationships is by how much time we save our members.
ITSMnet
allows members to compress the time required
by the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of IT process and service
improvement.
Q:
How do I gain access
to premium content within the site?
A: You need a
personal login to enter the site, which is provided upon
establishing a membership with ITSMnet.
You can obtain more
information on
membership within the site and interested IT professionals
can submit an
inquiry to us.
Q: How do you decide what type of
content and research to pursue?
A: All
ITSMnet
is reviewed for relevance
and quality-- firstly, content must be directly related to furthering the
principles of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the underlying frameworks,
standards and/or supporting tools that directly impact and
further IT process and service maturity. Second, our overall
research agenda is determined by our members, including any
feedback, suggestions or specific content requests.
Q: Can I request specific
research from
ITSMnet
?
A: Yes, member driven research and content
is one of the main objectives of ITSMnet
services. Basic research
services are available to all members and is prioritized based
upon the overall needs of our members. We make every attempt
to follow-up with each request, but may not always be able to generate
specific content based on these priorities. Additional dependencies
may include the scope of each request, resource
availability and information currently available on the topic
requested.
Q: Does all content come solely from
member organizations?
A: No. In addition to shared content
provided by our members,
ITSMnet
generates and refreshes a core set of content
that can be leveraged immediately and used by member
organizations for their own internal purposes. Additionally,
ITSMnet
will continue to research, create, update, revise
and share more content and features based on the
needs of our members.
Q:
How do members actively participate?
A:
Although any participation is optional, members
greatly benefit from contributing towards the development of
content or participating in
ITSMnet
projects. However, members may also monitor and
extract existing content for the purposes of using it within their own organizations, without direct participation with other
members.
Q: Are members required to share
information with
ITSMnet
?
A: No, members are free to participate or collaborate with
peer members or not, as schedule and preference dictate.
However, research and experience shows that collaborative
activities between peers provides
additional
return on their investment and allows substantially more value to be
derived from the membership.
Q: How are members able to safely
share proprietary information with other members?
A:
ITSMnet
provides a straight-forward membership agreement, which must be
acknowledged by each member and their organizations prior to
network participation. This allows peers to more freely exchange
knowledge, share ideas and collaborate on content without the
concern of publicly exposing proprietary information.
More information on membership and agreement terms is
provided subsequent to membership approval.
Q:
What does the annual membership fee cover?
A:
The annual
ITSMnet
membership fee covers site administration, research
and member facilitation, including ongoing
maintenance and improvement of core content services.
Q: Do you provide consulting or work with any
consulting firms?
A: In order to maintain an unbiased environment,
ITSMnet
does not sell or promote
software, hardware or other third party consulting services. However, for the
purpose of serving our members, we may engage in discussions of
ideas with consultants considered subject matter experts in the
topics we address. Consultants may be cited for contributions
made to the repository, but are not endorsed, or granted access
to the ITSMnet
network or any member services.
Additionally, ITSMnet
may provide specific services that allow organizations to
jumpstart their own knowledge management initiatives. However,
these services are neither related, nor do they influence any
content or services we provide.
Q: How do my colleagues
access the ITSMnet
Network?
A: All individuals must be authorized by and
registered with ITSMnet
prior to accessing the network. In order to maintain the
integrity of the member community, individual members are not
permitted to share login credentials or establish multiple
logins to the site. If your colleagues are not
currently members but would like to access the site, they may
contact us for additional assistance.
Q:
How is content submitted to
ITSMnet?
A:
Members have access to a submission and request portal, which facilitates specific member
requests and the process of member content submissions.
Content submitted to
ITSMnet
is reviewed and reformatted for use, feedback and
collaboration with peer organizations. Any proprietary and/or
extraneous information submitted by members is removed prior to
general release within the network.
Q:
Can other member organizations contact me directly?
A:
Member profiles are always kept confidential,
including individual contact information. However, members may
share personal information and interact with peers at their
discretion.
Q:
Are private workspaces supported within the
ITSMnet
portal?
A:
Yes. Although
ITSMnet
promotes open sharing of intellectual property
among its members, some situations, such as application
development activities or the initial creation of complex
deliverables may warrant limited interaction among peer
organizations.
ITSMnet
may, at its discretion, assist with the creation
and maintenance of these spaces to promote strategic development
of content by its members.
Q:
What client-side tools will I need to access and use
ITSMnet
?
A: Members only
require a
web browser and an
email client-- no special tools, applications or additional
infrastructure is required, since all services are
hosted by ITSMnet for the
exclusive use of our members.
Q:
How do I know when content is added, created or revised?
A:
Members can receive updates
on specific content, areas within the portal or changes to content through
user-defined subscriptions and/or notifications, including RSS
feeds and email alerts.
Q: Is the information contained
within ITSMnet
kept confidential?
A: Yes. All
members should feel comfortable that any information contributed
to ITSMnet,
as well as interaction with other member organizations is
maintained in a confidential and secure environment.
Additionally, contributions to the knowledge repository are
reviewed for any
proprietary and/or extraneous information, which
is removed prior to general release to the member community.
For
more information regarding
ITSMnet
services, please contact us at
service@itsmnet.com.
