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Cherwell Service Management

Cherwell Service Management

Overview

What is Cherwell Service Management?

Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Cherwell is a versatile IT service management tool that has been widely adopted by various organizations across industries. Users have …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 13 features
  • Organize and prioritize service tickets (52)
    10.0
    100%
  • Self-service tools (51)
    9.8
    98%
  • ITSM reports and dashboards (51)
    9.7
    97%
  • ITSM collaboration and documentation (48)
    9.5
    95%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Unavailable

What is Cherwell Service Management?

Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://pages.cherwell.com/pricing.csm.…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

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ServiceNow is a fast-growing service management provider that went public in 2012. Built on the ServiceNow Now Platform, the IT Service Management bundle provides an agent workspace with knowledge management, and modules supporting issue tracking and problem resolution, change, release and…

What is Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center Suite is a family of IT management software for network monitoring, updating and patching, endpoint protection with anti-malware, data protection and backup, ITIL- structured IT service management, remote administration and more. It is available in two editions: standard…

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Product Demos

Cherwell 8 Overview

YouTube

Cherwell Service Management 10.0 Demo

YouTube
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Features

Incident and problem management

Streamlining ticketing and service restoration processes

9.7
Avg 8.2

ITSM asset management

Managing all IT assets and enforcing policy rules

9.7
Avg 8.2

Change management

Ensuring standardized processes for making changes to IT infrastructure

9.8
Avg 8.4
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Product Details

What is Cherwell Service Management?

Cherwell Service Management is designed for organizations seeking large reductions in software license spending, IT overhead, and software audit risk. By integrating all the data related to hardware and software inventory, application usage, license entitlements, and IT purchases, users can track and manage IT investments from purchase to retirement and abandon Excel spreadsheets.

Cherwell Service Management Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.

ServiceNow IT Service Management, IFS Assyst, and CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager are common alternatives for Cherwell Service Management.

Reviewers rate Organize and prioritize service tickets highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Cherwell Service Management are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(107)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Cherwell is a versatile IT service management tool that has been widely adopted by various organizations across industries. Users have reported positive experiences with the software, citing its customizable GUI and flexible reporting capabilities. One of the key use cases of Cherwell is in the realm of ITSM and ITIL initiatives. It is utilized for incident management, problem management, change management, configuration item management, and knowledge management. The software helps organizations streamline their IT processes and improve service delivery by providing a centralized platform for managing tickets, tracking incidents and problems, and facilitating knowledge sharing among team members.

Additionally, Cherwell extends beyond ITSM to address other organizational needs. It is used as a ticketing system for various departments such as HR, facilities, and IT support. Users leverage Cherwell to handle service requests, facilities management tasks, new hire requests, and even training participation tracking. The software's highly customizable nature allows it to be adapted to different workflows and business processes, making it a valuable tool in areas beyond traditional IT functions.

Another notable use case of Cherwell is its role in improving communication and collaboration within organizations. Users have highlighted how Cherwell serves as a central tracking system for IT issues, replacing inefficient methods like email-based work assignment. By providing real-time tracking and metrics, Cherwell enhances accountability and promotes institutional collaboration among different departments.

Overall, Cherwell's ease of use and wide range of applications have made it an essential tool for organizations seeking effective IT service management, streamlined workflows, improved communication, and high-quality customer service across various departments.

Extensive Customization Options: Many users have praised Cherwell's extensive customization options, allowing them to personalize dashboards and move touch points according to their preferences. This flexibility has been appreciated by several reviewers who value the ability to tailor the system to their specific needs.

Efficient Automation Capabilities: Several users have highlighted Cherwell's automation capabilities, mentioning that it has allowed them to automate various tasks in their support department. From ticket creation and classification to responding with specific attachments, this automation feature has helped eliminate wasted time and improve overall efficiency.

Easy Configuration Process: Numerous users have mentioned that Cherwell's configuration process is easy to navigate without requiring expensive consultants for every adjustment. They appreciate being able to make minor as well as major enhancements on their own, giving them more control over the system's configuration.

Web and Mobile App Issues: Users have reported various issues with the web client and mobile app, including frequent locking up and clunkiness. These problems significantly hinder their workflow and productivity.

Lack of Apple Client: In environments that use a mix of Windows and Apple devices, some users have experienced difficulties due to the lack of an Apple client. This absence creates compatibility challenges and limits their ability to effectively utilize the software.

Issues with Active Directory Integration: The built-in remote control capabilities on tickets do not work well with active directory, causing problems for users. This issue disrupts their ability to efficiently manage tickets and collaborate with other team members.

Users commonly recommend the following when using Cherwell:

  1. Utilize all the available features, such as workflows and customizations, to increase productivity and resolve IT and system-related issues effectively.

  2. Take time for proper implementation and customization by conducting a hands-on proof of concept (POC) to understand customization needs, considering the implementation process and ease of system configuration, and allowing enough time for implementation and user acceptance testing (UAT).

  3. Seek support from the Cherwell community by attending user groups and seeking guidance during the implementation process.

Overall, users recommend fully utilizing Cherwell's features, dedicating sufficient time for implementation, customization, and training, and seeking advice from the Cherwell community for successful use of the software.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-1 of 1)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Cherwell Service Management as an enterprise service management solution - where our IT department is actually NOT the largest consumer of the tool! We have branched out from the typical ITSM processes in Cherwell to use it for managing new store openings, DC safety incidents, and numerous finance-related workflows unique to our organization. We are able to consolidate more and more of our organizational functions within a single pane of glass, which is precisely the reason (and one of the many benefits) of purchasing Cherwell.
  • Workflow Management
  • Automation
  • Integrations
  • No-code/low-code content development
  • Flexibility to use on multiple operating systems
  • Updated web UI/UX
  • Standardized form creation
  • Improved machine learning
  • Built-in AI chat bot
Cherwell is a well-rounded product that can really be utilized as far as one's imagination can stretch. I've used the product in both a corporate and medical environment, where the tool was used for vastly different reasons (i.e., ITSM, business & retail functions, vs hospital orderlies & medical equipment tracking in a CMDB, etc.). Cherwell is so versatile that you can really use it to develop any workflow or process that is unique to your line of business - there are more than enough functions and tools available within Cherwell to effectively manage any enterprise solution your organization needs. The major drawback of flexibility is supportability. Given that you can essentially develop anything you want (content-wise) in Cherwell, it can quickly become highly complex and difficult to support by anyone other than the original developer. Documentation is key (F-spec & T-spec especially!) when developing larger solutions in Cherwell.
Incident and problem management (7)
81.42857142857142%
8.1
Organize and prioritize service tickets
100%
10.0
Expert directory
100%
10.0
Service restoration
60%
6.0
Self-service tools
60%
6.0
Subscription-based notifications
70%
7.0
ITSM collaboration and documentation
90%
9.0
ITSM reports and dashboards
90%
9.0
ITSM asset management (3)
83.33333333333334%
8.3
Configuration mangement
90%
9.0
Asset management dashboard
90%
9.0
Policy and contract enforcement
70%
7.0
Change management (3)
76.66666666666667%
7.7
Change requests repository
100%
10.0
Change calendar
60%
6.0
Service-level management
70%
7.0
  • Saved thousands of dollars on third-party products by developing the same solution in Cherwell.
  • The ability to have cross-functional departments using the same tool increases efficiency considerably.
  • Knowledge Management has assisted to drive customers to self-help, allowing support teams to focus on more important objectives.
Both Remedy & CA were far more complex to implement, enhance and support. The architecture and framework each solution was developed on didn't lend itself to be no-code or low-code like Cherwell, and therefore the ability to expand and utilize either tool on an enterprise-level was severely restricted. The cost-benefit of those options vs Cherwell was also a primary reason to steer clear.
10000
Several departments in the organization are using Cherwell, from distribution centers, retail, HR, IT, InfoSec, Finance, Transport, and Legal. There is more usage by departments outside of IT, making Cherwell a true ESM tool in our organization.
4
Our team comprises of a manager (who also helps with some development), two BAs (one principal one senior), and a developer. We cross-train as much as possible but each have our primary responsibilities.
  • ITSM
  • Distribution Center Safety Management
  • HR
  • Retail New Store
  • DC Safety Management process to report incidents & send data to OSHA
  • New retail store opening process that uses user-managed templates to generate hundreds of tasks at various stages of the workflow
  • Europe transport claims for issuing credits/invoices to suppliers
  • Integrating with HR solutions (i.e. Workday, Kronos, etc.)
  • MS Teams integration (inc. cards)
  • Future DC safety enhancements (inspections)
Cherwell is still the best tool for the job in the market. Even though Ivanti bought them and are trying to convince everyone to move over to Neurons for ITSM, they have stated Cherwell will remain supported indefinitely and have a roadmap for future Cherwell development. Unfortunately, ISM is not as flexible as Cherwell (and the UX is atrocious), hence why many people are sticking with Cherwell (and why many Cherwell customers never purchased ISM originally).
Yes
We had an extremely old version of Remedy which had to be supported by external vendors due to the complex nature of the tool. It lacked a lot of core (common) functionality on the market today and the expense of keeping (or upgrading) didn't match the benefit of keeping it.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
Cherwell has the richest feature-set in the market today, and is incredibly flexible to develop within. There are no other tools that offer no-code/low-code as effectively. The cost of the licensing is reasonable (and concurrent) which made it an easy sell financially.
I don't believe our evaluation/selection would change. We had a robust RFP to determine the best tool on the market for our organization.
Implementation is a breeze. Each time I've implemented it, we had an outsourced vendor overseeing it & assisting where needed. However, Cherwell OOTB is ready to go, and configuring it for LDAP/SAML, etc. for authentication and user-imports is really straight forward. The infrastructure needed for Cherwell is extremely simple too - and installing the server & database takes no more than 20 mins.
  • Third-party professional services
We are hosted as a SaaS client by Ivanti (formerly Cherwell, who stood up our environment for us).
Yes
We spent over a year designing and developing the product in-house. That included rebuilding Incident/Request, Change, the self-service portal and some customized objects for announcements. The service catalog was built from scratch, and now spans over 800+ services on offer - which we were able to build based on several meetings with every single stakeholder who would house their service offerings in Cherwell. We have 400+ forms on our portal site as a result of those meetings & requirements gathering.
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
Change management had their own requirements for their process that was custmozied by Cherwell as a part of our project (since our in-house developer was focused on other features). The down-side is that Cherwell just did as they were told, without sanity checking the requirements provided, and unfortunately there was some overly-complex solutions in place for Change that were ultimately not necessary.
  • Stakeholders being change-averse, due to their lack of understanding of Cherwell & pushing out the timeline
  • In-Person Training
We had a 'train-the-trainer' session from Cherwell to some of our users who were unfamiliar with the product, and we had an individual who 'championed' training internally and provided several training classes over the period of a few weeks for new Cherwell users. We also had a team who traveled to remote sites to conduct in-person training there too.
Highly configurable, anything you can imagine you can build!
Start simple and work from there. You will come across some wild requirements when developing content in Cherwell, and I usually try to talk people off the edge and start with something more streamlined and build upon it as they determine what their needs actually are. As I have said, you can build really complex solutions in Cherwell (and sometimes you have to), but documenting that and supporting it has to be taken into consideration too.
Yes - we have customized the interface extensively
I have had several years experience with Cherwell, so developing entirely customized solutions from nothing has been both fun and relatively easy to do. Depending on the organization's usage of Cherwell, you will often step outside the boundaries of ITSM and move more into the ESM space - which is what we've done. We have really taken the core capabilities of Cherwell content and used it across several departments in our organization.
No - we have not done any custom code
We have also integrated with numerous systems in our organization - something else that is fairly straight forward to do using REST API calls via One-Steps!
Support is generally very lackluster unfortunately. Both before & after Cherwell was acquired by Ivanti, support has remained fairly consistently poor. As a hosted customer, you have to rely on support for day-to-day requests such as access to view logs, restarting services (although this is automated, it can fail a lot); and the room for error when relying on support for these tasks is high. Not to mention the turnaround time for tickets to be addressed (I've had some tickets open for over a year before a DR was created). Suffice to say that the product sells itself, the support nor the organization who own Cherwell benefit consumers much at all.
Yes, we had to. Ordinary support was that bad. Premium support has so far not really lived up to the expectations (or cost), but response times are generally more prompt. However, we still have the same issues with resolution times, the skills of the support staff, etc.
Yes
Some bugs were resolved in future releases, there are some I logged 3 years ago which still have not been addressed. Development for bug fixes in Cherwell is not quick, and fixes depend on you upgrading the entire platform which is not desirable either.
No.
I love how easy it is to design and develop solutions in Cherwell. There is yet to be anything I've come across that I can't do in the tool - the question usually becomes, 'we can do it, but should we?'. Most of the features in Cherwell are intuitive, and the development can be as simple or compelx as you wish.
  • API integrations
  • Workflows
  • Form design
  • Automation
  • Dashboards
  • Reports
No
We have never had any major show-stopper issues with Cherwell itself - more so with the infrastructure it sits on. Moving from in-house cloud (on Cherwell's side), to AWS then to Azure has caused multiple problems over the years (some still on-going), however the product has remained fairly stable.
Almost always available, with exception for a handful of outages due to infrastructure related issues.
The browser client is mostly acceptable in terms of performance, but still lacks parity with the rich client. The rich client is not very performant at all. It's built on old architecture and relies heavily on a fast internet connection, good caching and database indexing. There are several unwritten rules with form design (and form arrangement) which most users are not aware of, but can severely impact performance in the rich client. This is where the flexibility of Cherwell can come back to bite you if you step outside the boundaries of these unwritten rules...
We've integrated with several systems, and using REST API calls in One-Steps is really straight forward and easy to do.
  • Pagerduty
  • Jira
  • MS Graph
  • Loopback to Cherwell
  • In-house enterprise service APIs
  • MS Teams
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
If it makes sense to integrate with another system to streamline workflows and processes, then don't be afraid to do it. It's easily controlled and maintained and secure!
I was not involved in this process.
Mostly it was fine. The project management on their end was not great, but the solutions engineers we worked with have always been fantastic.
As mentioned, they were always great to work with (minus the project management side). My only feedback would be to push back on requirements that don't make sense.
Unknown by me.
We have had great contracts with Cherwell and love the concurrent licensing model.
Stand your ground, and escalate when you need to (which you will probably need to).
Yes
We always do extensive testing prior to any upgrades; and sometimes there are things we miss. However, after each upgrade, even if we did miss something, there's almost always a workaround we can put in place to address it. The major issues we've had with upgrades is the vendor (support); they often do something wrong, or forget to configure something the way it previously was, and they take a LONG time to upgrade (in excess of 2 hours sometimes). The process on-prem would take 20 mins max. - but being a SaaS customer you don't have the luxury of an experienced engineer upgrading your environment, nor are they solely focusing on your upgrade at that point in time (they're still answering calls and working other tickets).
  • Increased browser performance & parity
  • Improved UI for forms
  • Bug fixes!!
No
No
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