Integrating ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) with a Service Desk System

The integration of ObserveIT’s user activity monitoring solution with an IT Service Desk system provides additional layers of security and monitoring to your organization.

When ObserveIT's session recording system is integrated with a Service Desk system, selected IT administrators or remote vendors can be requested to enter a valid ticket number in order to complete the login process to a corporate server.

A ticket is an element in an issue tracking system that references specific information about the issue. Each ticket has a unique reference number, also known as a case, issue or call log number, which allows the user to quickly locate, add information to, or update the status of the issue or request. The ticket number that is entered by the user is validated against the Service Desk system.

The benefits of integrating a Service Desk system with ObserveIT's session recording system include:

Enforced segregation of duties.
Improved security by limiting server access to administrators and remote vendors who are in possession of a specific ticket number for which access to the server is required.
Improved tracking of sessions. You can search for all sessions that relate to a specific ticket's unique reference number instead of using search key words or looking through lists of sessions.
Faster and easier user activity auditing. By linking tickets directly to the video recording of the server session that addressed the ticket, you can easily review the exact actions performed by administrators in the context of the ticket.

Two types of Service Desk systems can be integrated with ObserveIT: Built-in and Customized.

Built-in systems are provided by ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) as out-of-the-box integrations (ServiceNow is currently supported).
Customized systems are implemented by customers according to their own requirements.

ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) provides API instructions to help customers build a Web Service that will enable them to implement the integration of ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) with their own Service Desk system. The ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) installation package includes an example of a Web Service that was created by ObserveIT, in order to demonstrate how the customer Web Service should be built. For detailed information, please refer to the ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) Service Desk Integration Guide.

When an administrator or remote vendor attempts to log in to a monitored endpoint, a message is displayed requesting the user to enter a valid ticket number from a service desk system before they can log on to the endpoint.

Overview of the Service Desk System Integration Process with ObserveIT

An IT administrator/remote vendor logs on to an ObserveIT-monitored server or workstation, by entering their credentials in the regular Windows Authentication log on screen.

If ObserveIT's Identification Services are enabled and configured, users will be required to identify themselves with a secondary ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) log on prompt. For details, see Identification Services.
Before the user can access the requested server, a message is displayed asking the user to enter a valid ticket number from a ticketing system in order to log on to the server, as shown in the following example.

A ticket policy may be configured to allow a user that does not have a valid ticket number to request the creation of a new ticket on-the-fly and be logged in, or to allow access to the system even without a valid ticket number (in this case, the Skip button will be enabled) . For details, see Configuring Service Desk Policies.
ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) verifies, via the Service Desk system, that the ticket number is valid before allowing the user to proceed. If the user enters an incorrect ticket number, an error will be displayed.
After logging on to the server, the user can make required session changes, including any requests specified in the ticket itself.
The ticket associated with the session is linked to a video recording of the session. In addition, specific information about the login session is automatically saved by ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) and included in the Service Desk system.

Viewing the Ticket Details

In the Service Desk system itself, you can open the ticket number and view the ticket details, as shown in the following example.

The lower part of the system window displays all the activity that occurred on the ticket, including user comments. You can see all the sessions that are associated with the ticket with links to the video of each session, and other information that was included by ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) (such as, the server that was used, date of session, etc.).

You can click directly on the link in order to call up that session, and play back the session on the Session Player, as required.

The following topics in this section describe how to manage Service Desk policies and configure Service Desk system settings: