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CA Service Desk Manager for an enterprise.
Updated April 18, 2015

CA Service Desk Manager for an enterprise.

Steven Lascarro | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

r12.6

Modules Used

  • Incident, Request, Knowledge

Overall Satisfaction with CA Service Desk Manager

CA Service Desk Manager was used by our entire organization to meet the needs of incident, request and knowledge management. It is a web based ticketing system allowing our customers to log their own tickets (incident or request) and reference existing problems using self service. The solution allows tickets to be routed automatically depending on the customers location and product, this some takes some volume away from our call center. Because the solution is web based the customer does not need to install special software to log their own tickets and technician's do not have carry a pc with them to resolve a ticket. Our knowledge module contains a library of documents where customers and technicians can reference already discovered problems that either have solutions or workarounds. The use of this knowledge can be tracked and linked to incidents. This product is ITIL driven.
  • CA Service Desk Manager is scalable, it can handle any sized organization. The product can be load balanced and clustered.
  • CA Service Desk Manager has a patching utility and support site where to download the patches. This is very useful as not all products have software patching available.
  • CA Service Desk Manager offers a PDA site and the newer versions offer a mobile app. This is great.
  • CA Service Desk Manager does not have a right click for copy and paste in version 12.6 on the major forms and fields, that is a major bummer.
  • CA Service Desk Manager is buggy, if bugs are not addressed immediately you could lose your customers faith in the product. Since CA Service Desk Manager tends to be buggy, you need a good admin to get them addressed.
  • CA Service Desk Manager's patches tend to break other functionality.
  • CA Service Desk Manager education does not address their proprietary code enough. This is for customizations.
  • CA Service Desk Manager is sensitive to it's environment and may require a full system reboot monthly.
  • CA Service Desk Manager has allowed us to provide better customer service with self service. Customers can manage and reference knowledge articles and their tickets.
  • CA Service Desk Manager does not require much customization and can be implemented quickly.
  • CA Service Desk Manager is a solid product.
I have worked with many solutions. I believe CA Service Desk Manager is overall better then Front Range HEAT and BMC Remedy and BMC Footprints. However there are newer products out there offered as cloud / Saas that may suite your needs better then CA Service Desk Manager. I would place CA Service Desk Manager in the top 5 overall but not the best.
CA Service Desk Manager is ideal out of the box and can be used for ITSM (IT Service Management). A lot of customizations can weaken the product and it's upgradability. The LDAP functionality is great for importing new users automatically, however if your Active Directory environment is a mess then the LDAP functionality will be compromised. Everything the solution boasts depends on your environment and process. This product is designed to fit into a company where ITIL processes are followed.

Using CA Service Desk Manager

We will not renew our use of CA Service Desk Manager as we have found something better of similar cost. Our organization has recently tripled in size and the cost simply was too much. A competitor offered a more streamlined solution and is cloud / SaaS. I believe if our renewal was not so costly we would have stayed.

CA Service Desk Implementation