(v1) Tracking non-traditional Services within PCR-360

Overview

There are many non-traditional services other than the various traditional (v1) Services and (v1) Equipment that need to be tracked, Software Licenses are one example.  Due to the flexibility of PCR-360, your organization has a variety of possible options. Which option is selected will be dependent on Organizational needs.

For information on tracking other types of Services, such as Service Features, please review our article on Tracking Service Features.

Here are some items to consider:

1. Is Billing needed? Will it be based on Usage or just a flat rate? 
2. Do the non-traditional services need to be associated with another Service?
3. Is the ability to order from CustomerCenter needed?
4. Are they going to be individual services or a bundled set of services for a whole department? 

Depending on Organizational needs, there are three recommended practices for tracking non-traditional services within PCR-360.

Recommended Method	Usage Billing	Flat Rate Billing	Service Association	CustomerCenter Ordering	Individual Services	Bundled Services
Using Equipment
Using Service
Hybrid Service-Equipment

To help illustrate the usage of tracking these non-traditional services, we will be using the example of Software Licenses.

Understanding the available tools

Through the use of User-Defined Fields, your Organization can set up any number of fields desired for the license; however, this article is only focusing on using built-in fields.

Some examples of fields that might be good inclusions as UDFs are:

• Contact details for the Company owning the licenses.
• A link to procurement process documentation. It is recommended to create a Knowledgebase Article.

Equipment

(v1) Equipment Catalogs and (v1) Equipment have a natural feel for usage as a non-traditional services security keys.

Equipment Catalogs:

To create a non-traditional service, you will need to create a primary Equipment Catalog. When creating an Equipment Catalog, it is recommended to create a Parent for each type of non-traditional service desired, and then create a Child for each specific usage. For example, a Parent Catalog to represent a Software License in general, and then Children to represent the licenses for Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Photoshop. It is not suggested to use any of the Catalog flags outside of Units in some cases. 

Equipment Catalogs have a lot of useful and intuitive fields to help define a Software License.

• Part Number: This field appears on the Bill, so it is not recommended for use in storing security information, such as a license key. This is a required field, so it is important to populate it with a unique value to help distinguish the licenses within this Catalog.
• Manufacturer Part Num: This field is recommended for use for storing the license keys when it is a shared license, as it allows for all the characters and lengths of common license keys. It is not suggested when a Department has many different license keys to track. 
• Warranty: PCR-360 uses this and the purchase date to determine the warranty period. For Software Licenses, Warranty can show when they expire and need renewal.

Equipment:

Non-traditional services can be represented by Equipment records. When a Department has multiple license keys to track, it is recommended to use Equipment records. An assigned record can represent the license with only the required fields.

It is not recommended to use the Asset Tag field to store anything that is shared as it can only be assigned to one owner at a time. Also, Asset Tags appear on Bills so make sure to not store security identifiers such as license keys. 

Services

(v1) Service Catalogs and (v1) Services using (v1) Service Pools is recommended to represent non-traditional services when Billing individually not a bundled group. Otherwise, it is only recommended to be used within the Hybrid method because the use of Service Pools creates a challenge for managing the list of Services. Creating an AdHoc Grid to both see and interact with the records will simplify management.   

Service Catalogs:

Service Catalogs have some useful flexibility in how they can be used.  When creating a Service Catalog, it is recommended to create a Parent to represent each type of non-traditional service desired, and then create a Child for each specific usage.  For example, a Parent Catalog to represent a Software License in general, and then Child Catalogs to represent the licenses for Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Photoshop, much like the example using Equipment Catalogs.  Alternately, if the non-traditional services have a similar format, it is possible to use Service Host Permissions to enable the use of the Service Hosts instead of Child Catalogs and merely have one primary Catalog. 

• Type: This field helps define the type of non-traditional service. For simplicity's sake, it is recommended to use either "Other" or add a new Type.  Note that Service ID for any Type can be masked so it will not display on the Bill. 
• Format: When using Service ID to represent an externally generated ID, like a License Key, we recommend leaving this field blank. Formating the Service ID could cause problems later on, particularly with Imports. 

Service Pools: 

It is suggested to use (v1) Service Pools with Services to manage multiple non-traditional services, such as Software Licenses. Service Pools allow Service Desk to be restricted so that invalid Services are not created by mistake. It is strongly recommended to create a Pool for each type of non-traditional service in use, this will prevent confusion between a Microsoft Office license and an Adobe Photoshop license.

Services:

Services have two fields that can be used for defining non-traditional services.

• Service ID: It is recommended to use the Service ID field for storing security information when it isn't a shared item. For shared items, the creation of a UDF is suggested because of limitations with the Owner field. 
• Service Host: A different Service Host can be set up to differentiate types of non-traditional services. While we don't suggest using Service Host for non-traditional services, there are two ways this could be implemented:
  1. Using the Service Host to represent different groupings of Service Catalogs. 
     • This method uses the Service Host to differentiate non-traditional services (Software License VS Company Vehicles). This should match or replace the parent Catalogs. Each non-traditional service will still require it's own Service Catalog to allow for any restrictions (Service Catalogs for "Microsoft Office License", "Adobe Photoshop License" and "Company Vehicle License".)
  2. Using the Service Host to represent individual non-traditional services with one Service Catalog to distinguish them from traditional Services.
     • When utilizing the Service Host field in this way, it is important to use the Service Host Permissions on the Service Catalogs so that Services can not be assigned to Hosts in error. In this use-case, the Service Catalog would be "Non-Traditional Services" and then the Service Hosts are "Microsoft Office License", "Adobe Photoshop License" and "Company Vehicle License", in effect, replacing all Child Catalogs. 

It is not recommended to use the Reference field on a Service to store any security information as this appears on the Bill.

Billing

No matter what method your Organization does for non-traditional service tracking if there are plans to Bill, some form of GLA Catalogs and (v1) Charge Catalogs will be needed to manage the Charges. 

It is strongly encouraged to create new GLA and Charge Catalogs to represent the non-traditional service fees so that they can be changed and updated independently from traditional services to ensure clean billing. 

Charges can be placed on Services, Equipment, and GLAs. PCR recommends that Charges be placed only on Services to allow for detailed visibility and the ease of setup. When bundling non-traditional services, the Owner should be the Users' Department. Each individual Service can have either the User or their Department as a Contact Owner. 

Note: To show on a Bill, an item must be Active and Assigned to an Owner. Non-traditional services, such as software licenses, will not appear on a Bill until they have been activated and assigned an Owner. 

Examples

Using Equipment Only Tracking

Equipment Only Tracking (EOT) considers the non-traditional services as a piece, or group, of Standalone Equipment. This method excels for the most basic level of tracking, every Child Equipment record indicating who is using the non-traditional service. EOT uses the following:

• An Equipment Catalog to define a specific kind of non-traditional service.
• A single "Parent Equipment" will represent a set of non-traditional services.
• "Child Equipment" standing for each individual User within the set of non-traditional services.

Using Services Only Tracking

Service Only Tracking (SOT) simply represents the non-traditional services as a Service within PCR-360.  This method excels for more refined levels of tracking non-traditional services since Services have the most amount of flexibility when it comes to the creation of Charges. SOT uses the following:

• A Service Catalog to represent a specific kind of non-traditional services.
• A Service Pool for each Service Catalog. This will prevent accidentally creating new non-traditional services by mistake using (v1) Service Desk "Add" Actions.
• A Service for each individual non-traditional service. Assign these Services to the Service Pool. Each Service will be assigned to the individual User (Owner) of the non-traditional services.

When Billing for non-traditional services usage, it is important for the Service to be assigned and active. Only a status of "Active" will generate Charges on the Bill. If your company does not use (v1) Service Pools currently, setting up Perspectives will aid in searches.

Using Hybrid Service-Equipment Tracking

Hybrid Service-Equipment Tracking (HSET) considers the non-traditional services as a piece, or group, of Equipment associated with a Service. PCR recommends HSET as the most inclusive method for tracking non-traditional services, since Software is technically a Service License, and the Equipment relation to Services is a good connection between Users of the Licenses and the actual Product. This method excels for detailed levels of tracking, using the advantages for both Equipment management and Services Billing. HSET uses the following:

• A Service and Equipment Catalog to represent a specific kind of non-traditional service.
• A single Parent Equipment and Service to represent a bundle of non-traditional services.
• A piece of Child Equipment for each usage within the bundle.
• The Parent Equipment will put the Service ID into the "Associated Service" field 

The Service will always be owned by the Department paying for the bundle of non-traditional services, while the individual Child Equipment show each User. When using HSET, it is recommended to apply restrictions to the Service Catalog so that only the appropriate Equipment Catalogs can be used with it. When Billing for a non-traditional service using HSET, the Charges would only be applied to the Service.

HSET utilizes the best of both EOT, using Equipment to quickly track availability, and SOT, complex Charges capability in Services. Each Department may be granted its own Service to track the number of non-traditional services available to it and perform Billing based on that Service.

Other Information

It is important to remember PCR-360 provides more tools for non-traditional services tracking than just the core structures for Ownership and Billing. The (v1) API is available to manage transitions from 3rd party sources. The non-traditional services can even be set to be ordered within (v1) CustomerCenter either on their own or as a Package.  (v1) Importing a File can greatly speed up creation within PCR-360.

While PCR has recommended approaches, due to the flexibility of the application and the use of User-Defined Fields, many different approaches are possible. To that end, your Organization should pick the method for tracking that meets its needs. For any further questions in setting up tracking non-traditional services within PCR-360, please contact us through the Customer Portal.