Geisinger's Success with ServiceNow ITSM

15,000

24,000

7 Million

"This is a strong team. I really like that they are detail-oriented and feel confident to raise questions."

Summary

Geisinger, one of the largest U.S. health service organizations, sought to modernize its outdated IT systems by implementing ServiceNow. They transitioned from a 20-year-old customized Remedy platform to a cloud-based solution to improve efficiency and streamline services. The transition faced challenges in requirements gathering, organizational change, and knowledge transfer, but with our support, Geisinger successfully implemented ServiceNow’s IT Service Management (ITSM) modules. The project led to increased workflow automation, better data management, and expanded use across departments.

Overcoming Legacy System Challenges: Geisinger's Transition to ServiceNow

Before adopting ServiceNow, Geisinger relied on a fully-customized, in-house Remedy application for over 20 years. This system was outdated, requiring manual data entry, with limited integrations for paging and emailing. As an innovative organization, Geisinger recognized the need for a modern, cloud-based solution to enhance efficiency and consistency in their IT operations. The Remedy system lacked uniformity, with not all IT teams using it, and all tickets being tracked as incidents, making it difficult to assess costs or service impact.

Geisinger started transitioning to a service management model, training over 800 IT employees in ITIL Version 3 to prepare for a comprehensive IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. The leadership set an ambitious timeline:

Q1: Implement core ITIL functions (Event, Incident, Problem, Request, Change, Discovery/CMDB).
Q2: Implement Events, Incidents, and CMDB to start recording metrics.
Q3: Complete installation of all modules and retire Remedy.
Q4: Focus on continuous service improvements and metrics.

Geisinger aimed to adhere to this fast-paced timeline while avoiding a heavily customized ServiceNow solution. However, their initial CMDB implementation was limited, taking only four months of training and planning but facing multiple roadblocks due to their lack of ServiceNow experience.

Geisinger turned to us for assistance, identifying three key challenges:

Requirements Gathering: Initially, Geisinger was unclear about their requirements, launching the project with 20 IT requests to avoid losing workflows during the Remedy transition. However, these workflows were underdeveloped, and form owners struggled to provide the necessary information. Without formal governance or a service catalog, the team needed help gathering and understanding the right requirements for development.
Organizational Change: Defining new structures and processes while simultaneously building a new platform was challenging. Teams had to adapt their workflows to ServiceNow rather than altering the system to fit existing processes. Early ownership and decision-making were unclear, causing difficulties in managing workflows, which had not been standardized in the old system.
Knowledge: Moving from a highly customized tool to a feature-rich platform like ServiceNow required employees to unlearn old practices. ServiceNow’s capabilities demanded more time and experience to understand, making the transition more complex.

Streamlining IT Operations: Geisinger’s Successful ITSM Reimplementation

The Geisinger team successfully navigated multiple reimplementations of their ITSM modules. By breaking down each module individually, they were able to identify areas for improvement and conduct in-depth reimplementation processes.

We also led staff training and remained with the ITSM team for two years, enhancing data reporting, refining service portals, and improving incident intake processes for the service desk. Their solutions were tailored to Geisinger's specific needs, allowing for continuous adjustments and optimizations.

By leveraging ServiceNow’s out-of-the-box capabilities, Geisinger unlocked new opportunities, including the implementation of seven active modules, three knowledge bases, and a mobile app. Throughout the process, we guided the team step-by-step, ensuring a smooth transition to standard ServiceNow tables and tools while providing a valuable learning experience that helped the team understand how to configure modules effectively.

Major Milestones and Future Enhancements in Geisinger’s ServiceNow Transformation

Geisinger had fully transitioned to out-of-the-box ServiceNow tables, removing 100% of the custom tables from their platform. The successful implementation of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), using ServiceNow Discovery and Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) plugin, added over 7 million new records to their CMDB.

These platform enhancements significantly increased user adoption. With our help, the ServiceNow solution expanded to additional business units, enabling employees to automate workflows, manage approvals, and build dashboards for data analysis. Geisinger also introduced a robust Knowledge Management module, creating three distinct knowledge bases: an IT knowledge base, a portal knowledge base, and an emergency alert knowledge base. Together, these now host over 1,900 published articles.

Geisinger’s monthly service intake volume grew rapidly following the ServiceNow implementation. The Incident Management module handled nearly 24,000 incidents, supported by more than 200 request forms. Additionally, demand for ServiceNow development surged across non-IT departments, with over 15,000 request items submitted in just one month.