National Archives to check health of its 15 service desks

National Archives of Australia is set to perform a "health check" on 15 service desks atop ServiceNow, its first such activity after six years of using the software.

The Commonwealth administrator of historical, government records will outsource the check-up on its ServiceNow tenancy and configuration.

It also hopes to learn whether its setup is optimal or can be improved, such as through tighter integration with core systems.

Among the 15 service desks in operation are ICT, human resources, property and other unspecified business areas. A ServiceNow-based “HR and property portal” was developed in 2021, according to indexed files during the period [pdf]

A National Archives of Australia (NAA) spokesperson told iTnews that it is particularly interested in identifying “missed opportunities” to gain more “benefits of ServiceNow'' such as through “the implementation of additional workflows and/or potential integrations with other systems.”

The NAA spokesperson told iTnews that “examples of workflows that might qualify could be staff onboarding, cross-boarding and cessation, which all have touchpoints across many business units.”

The spokesperson added that part of “looking for ways to make our internal processes more efficient” involved scanning which core systems to integrate ServiceNow-enabled workflows with.

“In support of the workflows mentioned above, there may be benefit in integrating ServiceNow with our human resources and finance systems to streamline some tasks that involve those systems.”

The spokesperson said that the NAA “routinely performs health checks” of its “complex IT environment.”

“This sometimes involves an independent review of systems that have been in use for years," the spokesperson said.

NAA laid the groundwork for ServiceNow in late 2017 with a portal to support “Comms, Publishing [and] Events,” according to records made between July and December of that year [pdf].

NAA also replaced project and construction management software provider ArchDesk’s solutions with ServiceNow tools during the period and invested in “ServiceNow Knowledge Management” to support its project team during the transition.