You don’t have to be an expert in the Cireson Portal or Microsoft System Center Service Manager (SCSM) to get specific functionality quickly and inexpensively. One option available to all Cireson customers are Add-Ins, extensions that provide specific no code functionality that sits in between customization and baked-in features.
How You Benefit from Using Add-Ins
Add-Ins offer a middle ground, empowering your system’s performance and Cireson’s service delivery. Traditional feature development, managed by the product team, takes time because it tracks along defined roadmap stages. But Add-Ins offer a degree of support now. The brainchild of Geoff Ross, developed by support engineers and consultants in the Cireson Professional Services team, Add-Ins have been in the works for the past year. Six were released in November 2001. Three new Add-Ins launched this week.
“We needed a middle-ground option instead of full customization, which is challenging to upgrade and manage, and a baked-in feature, which is complex and often requires special knowledge,” says Geoff Ross, global service delivery manager.
Both Cireson portal and SCSM are flexible and built to customize, but they often involve a steep learning curve, says Geoff. Most admins don’t possess this expertise, so a solution was created to bridge the space.
No Code: Technology Everyone Can Use
Most organizations need some such option, given an enormous need for technology, integration, agility, cost-effectiveness—despite a shortage of talent. No code solutions are one such trend that has emerged to support professionals inside and outside of IT departments. You don’t have to be a programmer to get desired functionality. You just have to know how to find options.
For many, low and no code solutions are the answer. Gartner estimates that 65 percent of app development by 2024 will be low code, which offers a boost to programmers. Forrester estimates that no code development will grow from $3.8 billion in 2017 to $21.2 by 2022.
Relationships with technology consultants gives companies the best of all worlds: technical expertise and support for gaps existing in-house. Products like Add-Ins give IT staff more control and independence, while still receiving external expertise and support.
Cireson Portal Add-In Options
Cireson Portal Add-Ins are pre-built custom relation packages that can be downloaded, stored in your Cireson portal and toggled on and off as needed. Action Log Private By Default, Export All Grids and Hide Approval Button are new to the list. Choose from:
- Action Log Private By Default: automatically check the ‘Is Private’ option in the Work Item Action log, allowing notes to be entered without making them visible to users
- Activity Progress Banner: view the progress of a SR, CR, or RR based on the Activity Title or Stage in a banner that appears at the top of the page
- Affected User Tickets: see the number of Work Items attributed to an affected user.
- Convert IR to SR Task: convert an In-Progress Incident into a Service Request
- Convert SR to IR Task: convert an In-Progress Service Request into an Incident
- Export All Grids: export a wide variety of grids in the portal to report, view or further drill data down into a simple exported file
- Hide Approval Buttons: allows more control of the Review Activity form within a parent Work Item, so that you can do things like remove the Approve All and Reject All buttons or remove the Approve on Behalf concept.
- Hide Out-of-Box Task: specify tasks you wish to hide on each out-of-box Work Item and Configuration Item form.
- Resolve Incident Task: customize which fields are set when an analyst resolves an Incident.
- Auto Show History: streamline steps so that an object’s history is automatically loaded when the history tab is clicked.
Additional Add-Ins are on the way, including those that show activity history, custom dashboard widgets, and the ability to filter templates. What functionality would you like to see? Let us know in the Cireson Community.
Add-Ins represent one way Cireson is improving customer experience and the Cireson Portal. In part 2 of the series, we’ll cover how to Create Easy “Custom” SMP Experiences with HomePage Widgets Add-Ins.
Interested in other customer-focused improvements in the Cireson Portal? Check out Cireson’s 2021 Q4 Customer Update Webinar.
