TOPdesk is what we needed, easy to use, and affordable!
Updated May 28, 2022
TOPdesk is what we needed, easy to use, and affordable!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with TOPdesk
We are using TOPdesk as a replacement for an older ITSM platform, primarily in the IT department. We're using it primarily for incident management, change management, asset management, contract management, knowledge management, as well as a Self Service Portal. We're able to transform many of our paper form-based processes to digital versions, while also having MUCH better approval and request routing control than before.
A few of the big improvements that we've been able to make are:
- Digitally transforming the organization's employee off-boarding process from one of calling around two dozen offices to one of all needed departments being notified electronically.
- Allowing end-users to administer digital assets that would normally require contacting the IT Help Desk for servicing.
- Automating many requests to free up operators' time.
A few of the big improvements that we've been able to make are:
- Digitally transforming the organization's employee off-boarding process from one of calling around two dozen offices to one of all needed departments being notified electronically.
- Allowing end-users to administer digital assets that would normally require contacting the IT Help Desk for servicing.
- Automating many requests to free up operators' time.
100 - Most of the TOPdesk users are in the IT department since it was primarily intended as a replacement for a much older platform. We do have a few people in Human Resources that use it due to the digital transformation of the employee off-boarding process, as well as some other internal requests that require approval from a Human Resources operator. The organization's primary inventory asset manager uses TOPdesk for asset management. Other business units include ID Services, the university library, Bursar, Business & Finance, and Parking Services.
- TOPdesk provides a clean and modern interface for all of its modules. Many of the modules have a similar look and feel, which makes it easy for users to utilize each one.
- Its workflow system allows administrators and developers to define what needs to occur when certain events happen. This can ensure that processes happen in the correct sequence.
- TOPdesk includes a vast API system to allow for external systems to integrate with it, and for TOPdesk to communicate with external systems.
- For the forms that are available in the Self-Service Portal, a good improvement is to be able to validate user input so that it conforms to any required parameters. As of now, a request can be validated after submission via workflow, then rejected if needed.
- A few of the modules do not have an accompanying API. This has made some integration and automation processes not possible.
- Some customers may need to use an external process, such as Powershell or Python, to accomplish some automation needs.
- A great, positive impact has been in the employee off-boarding process. Instead of being the last to know, Human Resources is the first to know of a departing employee or one that is changing positions. The workflow notifies all offices that need to know in a timely manner so that all of the required tasks can be done efficiently.
- We've been able to utilize TOPdesk to increase the automation of certain requests. Since the beginning of 2021, automation has processed nearly 2,700 requests that previously required human intervention. Not only is this a win for the department, but it is a win for the user to not have to wait for someone to see the request and process it.
- With TOPdesk's asset management platform, we can use it to manage "non-physical" assets, as well as tangible ones that may typically come to mind. This feature has allowed us to identify and remove unused "generic" user accounts, improve the lifecycle management of system access requests (i.e. firewall exemptions, CMS page editor, remote access), and ensure that things that require periodic renewal are either renewed or removed.
- BMC Helix ITSM (Remedy)
To be fair, we used BMC's Remedy Action Management System (ARS) instead of the full-blown Helix ITSM. We only had access to what would be called Incident Management, Asset Management, and Change Management, although Change Management was not used. We are using the SaaS version of TOPdesk, so implementation is easier. I think TOPdesk's integration with other services was easier to implement. Regarding features, TOPdesk had most of what ARS included. We selected TOPdesk because of the licensing costs, which gave us access to more features than we may have been able to afford on the Helix platform.
Do you think TOPdesk delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with TOPdesk's feature set?
Yes
Did TOPdesk live up to sales and marketing promises?
I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process
Did implementation of TOPdesk go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy TOPdesk again?
Yes
TOPdesk Feature Ratings
Using TOPdesk
2 - It depends upon what an organization wants to do with TOPdesk, or any other ITSM/ESM platform. For an organization that's happy with it out of the box, then someone who is proficient with computers can easily make any small changes or adjustments. To make it really help with business processes and pain points, it would take someone who:
- Is knowledgeable about scripting/programming, because there's probably not a platform that does everything an organization needs out of the box
- Is able to understand workflow in general
- Is passionate about increasing efficiency in multiple processes / procedures and relieving pain points for the organization
- Recording, tracking and escalating issues that are reported to the ITS Help Desk
- Allowing users to submit request forms, gathering electronic approvals, and routing to the appropriate group (change enablement / change management)
- Managing physical and digital assets (primarily IT-related)
- Assisting with the employee off-boarding process
- We're able to provide end-users with a way to update the password for departmental or guest accounts that are assigned to them. Prior to TOPdesk, this required manual intervention by the Help Desk.
- We're using the Asset Management portion to utilize "digital" assets for software licenses, items that require periodic renewal, and even automating some firewall configurations.
- Processes that used to require filling out a paper form or PDF are now an online form. The system knows who to route the request to, based on the requester's information. Many requests are also now automated, freeing up time from the Help Desk.
- Employee onboarding. This is still a major pain point for IT. While we have automation that generates accounts for users and can add them to some general security and distribution groups, it doesn't know what security groups and ancillary systems that the user's position should have. Many times the department who hired the employee doesn't know and expects IT to have the answers.
- Utilizing the Asset Management module in TOPdesk, we could define a "Role Based Access Control" template that has the position numbers and what each should have access to. For each new employee account, it could be automatically added to what the employee needs without the new employee or department manually submitting the appropriate request forms.
- Related to the previous point, whenever TOPdesk receives information from the ERP system for a new employee, it can send the employee a "Welcome" email welcoming the employee to the organization, to contact the Help Desk (with contact info provided) if there are any IT-related issues, and whatever else we want the new employee to know, such as cybersecurity training. For those who actually read the email and complete all the steps, have a link/button that opens the Self Service Portal to a form where the user could choose from a T-shirt or a hat (or maybe something else). The user gets rewarded and it provides valuable feedback for management.
- For physical assets like computers, have a complete Asset Lifecycle Management process. The completed process would track an asset from the time it's ordered until the time it becomes surplus. There are still some pain points for IT since part of the current process relies on ancillary systems that currently don't communicate with TOPdesk.
- Shared mailbox management. Currently the systems administrators have to manage membership of shared mailboxes. With TOPdesk, a form can be set up in the Self Service Portal that allows the user to choose the shared mailbox that they manage, enter in the information of the user(s) to add or remove, and also to designate the users as having the same management capability. The employee off-boarding automation could be improved to remove users from any shared mailboxes whenever they transfer departments or leave the organization.
Using TOPdesk
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Creating an incident or a change request via the GUI
- Converting an email into an incident
- Creating asset templates/types
- Allowing users to view data with different Dashboard types
- When trying to query the system for incidents or changes that meet certain criteria, many people may think of that as a report. In TOPdesk, it's considered a selection of data. When constructing a selection, the user has to know what parts of the data matter and construct the query in a SQL-like fashion. SQL isn't used, but it sort of flows like it. Some people might find this to be cumbersome. However, once the query is created, it can be saved for other operators to use.
- For those who work in the workflow, actions that need to be repeated (or looped) such as updating a group of assets returned from a query wasn't possible. As of the time of this review, TOPdesk added a new "repeating steps" option which may alleviate that aspect. There may be some things that require an external process that is able to loop (like Powershell or another scripting language) and can communicate with TOPdesk via its REST API.
Yes - As of the time of this review, it can be something of a limited function interface. There are many things that you can do in the regular interface that you currently can't do with mobile. However, TOPdesk has lots of things planned for the mobile platform on its roadmap. They appear to be dedicating a lot of developer resources to it, and it seems to be a major focus item for the company.