Firstly, I have to echo Jennifer's comments.
Secondly, being a consultant, I work with various companies using Remedy and I know of companies still using 5.X and 6.X systems because they built their own custom applications and the migration path to the new versions of ARS sometimes seems too painful and costly, especially when it comes to paying to evaluate and convert thousands of (working) user macro's before re-training your user base again. Even though 7.X has come a long way (especially if you look at the performance gains of Mid-Tier 7.5) many people are still wary of upgrading just for the sake of upgrading - especially if "...the system isn't broken to begin with...". <RANT> So many users have become accustomed to creating their own macro's to automate various things and without having to wait for the red tape associated with a change management process, so it is sad to know that yet another selling point for Remedy is being canned as macro's will disappear when the AR User Tool is finally deprecated. There was a time when we sold Remedy (very successfully) with the slogan "...Run your business YOUR way..." (remember that one Doug?). That, in practice, has unfortunately changed with the growing popularity of ITIL and the OOTB modules. It feels like the end of an era, where we now sell OOTB applications instead of having fun with writing our own reliable apps faster than anyone else on any other platform... </RANT> In spite of all that, there is still light at the end of the tunnel: 1) There are shiny new features with each new major version of ARS that help in some or another way...and with that the OOTB apps are getting better too... 2) Going forward, with Remedy's "Adapt-Or-Die" capabilities still (largely) intact, an attitude of "...You cannot prevent change ... but you can adapt..." still gives those investing in Remedy a leading edge to do things in a better way and to stay ahead of the curve... (IMHO, even if you are still running on 5.X) Best Regards, Theo From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Meyer, Jennifer L Sent: 07 July 2010 03:55 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: AR User Tool Deprecated? ** Susan's post brings up an excellent point. It is now 2010, and the current most-recent-version of ARS is 7.5. Susan's system is 8 years old. In 2002, she would have been installing a 5.X system. The 5.X releases were stable, reliable, and flexible. (Others may recall 2002 as the year of the P-word.) I recall being highly impressed with 5.X's flexibility and the ease of developing new applications. I believe that BMC announced with the release of 6.X that macros would not be supported in future versions. Those who moved on to more recent versions of ARS parted ways with macros along the way, often with users kicking and screaming; however, a number of organizations remain on 5.X and 6.X systems-and their users continue to use macros. The answer to Susan's question is that the 7.X experience is quite different from the 6.X or 5.X experience. The users will have to ditch their macros in any case and start over. 7.X introduced templates and decision trees to the ticket creation process. The Reporting Console will satisfy most of your users' reporting needs and Saved Searches will assist with the custom search and reporting issues without resorting to keystroke logging. Jennifer Meyer _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org attend wwrug10 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"
