Tool List of Requirements not met/ or partially met/ or met with restrictions Strongest points Most Critical Points Functional Evaluation Technical evaluation Integration with 3rd party tools Tool Roadmap Legacy/ continuity Look&Feel Estimated Cost
*Travel Expenses excluded Recommendation / Scope of Project Comments OTRS # No Change Management
# No Request Fulfillment
# Not easy to create/ manage workflows
# No import/ Export functions
# Cannot put tickets on hold to stop SLA clocks
# No nested Structure for Support Groups
# Status changes for incidents do not follow pre-determined workflow
# Very difficult to make modifications to the Tool code due to PERL.
# Tool does not run on Windows Server
# Tool does not run on SQL server
# Freeware
# Expertise stay in Barcelona with the tool Expert
# Low training cost: Application is very easy to use
# Consistent with ITIL # Tool has never been used in MEV environment
# No Change Management
# Not possible to create/manage workflows
# No import/ Export functions
# Very difficult to make modifications to the Tool code in PERL.
# Tool does not run on Windows Server and SQL server
# Look&Feel is minimal and Tool looks very basic
# OTRS AG did not prove very supportive so far, and are not answering any more questions if not paid
# The modifications and support will have a big impact in term of workload for MEV tool expert Although OTRS is ITIL compliant, the functionalities OTRS offers are very basic, and not well adapted to MEV specific needs, therefore a lot of customizations would be necessary to adapt the tool. Customizations are not easy to performed, as there are four major concerns: Some reverse engineering would be required, PERL coding makes modifications difficult to perform and maintain, and any modification made on Tool code will also void the support from OTRS AG, and any change in the tool code will have to be recoded and retested in the future, if we decide to migrate to a newer version of the product.
OTRS currently does not cover Change Management Process, which is a critical standard operational Requirements. Therefore, either Change Management will have to be performed from another tool or it would have to be developed in OTRS by our tool expert.
Performance test pointed out some performance issues with number of concurrent users and stability problems. One server with 2 CPU and 2GB RAM can support 50 concurrent users.
OTRS is based on Linux and MySQL, and there is no possibility to use the tool under Windows or SQL Server, which would require to staff the TOC with Linux and MySQL expert.
OTRS supports distributed architecture, with AD user validation, and MySQL database (N web servers with 1 DB server, using from 1 to N+1 computers) Monitoring Tools: Nagios 2009: ITIL Compliant with Change Management.
No information on roadmap at mid-term, long-term. The ownership will remain in MEV Barcelona, but the knowledge will be concentrated in one unique person.
There is absolutely no guarantee that the changes and customizations MEV will make in the tool will be compatible with newer version of OTRS.
This product was GNU GPL v2 till 19-4-2009. From 20-4-2009 the license of this product was changed to AGPLv3. Meanwhile with GNU GPL v2 it was possible to not share the code modified with other parties, with AGPLv3 the code MUST be distributed to everyone who uses the service, including OVR/T&S provider. The tool has a very basic interface and look&feel, which does not match the standard of professional solutions. It is not very suitable to commercial presentation. OTRS Basic with few customizations = 37840 Euros
Tool Expert (140 days)
OTRS AG (8 days)
OTRS AG Support (2 years PLATINUM)
OTRS with ZERO modification = 17912 Euros
Tool Expert (52 days)
OTRS AG (8 days)
OTRS AG Support (1 year GOLD) OTRS tool has the advantage to cover basic ITIL functions, but those functions are very basic, and not completely adapted to MEV specific needs. Change Management function is critical gap to ensure smooth Operations and during the project itself.
Modifying OTRS to adapt it to our needs will induce risks for the project that shall be properly assessed. Despite being freeware, there is a cost associated to the support and implementation of this tool that should not be underestimated.
The tool although simple in terms of functionality is too complex in terms of coding to afford going to Operations without OTRS AG support.
Support only include Response Time 1 hour and Resolution time 12 hours, and a maximum of 50 issues (each request or question to OTRS AG is accounted as an issue). Customizations or modifications to the tool by will not be supported by OTRS AG and could void incident resolution from OTRS AG.
Extra hours are charged at a very high rate (1250 Euros/ day).
OTRS tool could be suitable for:
- Very small to small projects where we can guarantee that there will be no modifications to make on the tool, where we would not be required to make customizations, MEV would just perform tool configurations (the added value from MEV would be quite limited then).
- If we can limit the number of users for instance, if the users are Service Desk Associates only, it is not suitable for full Operational Support in TOC and Venues.
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