The National University of Colombia selected Aranda Software based on its experience in implementing the application and the software-as-a-service option it offers. Support for configuring the tool has been essential
The National University of Colombia is a national public institution with a research focus and a leading role in the Colombian higher education system, offering 94 undergraduate programs and 335 active graduate programs. It has a student body of over 53,000 students and operates eight campuses across Colombia; nevertheless, it is referred to as a single National Campus.
As the nation’s university, it promotes equitable access to the Colombian education system, offers the widest range of academic programs, and trains competent and socially responsible professionals. It contributes to the development and redefinition of the national project, and studies and enriches the country’s cultural, natural, and environmental heritage. As such, it provides guidance in the scientific, technological, cultural, and artistic spheres with academic and research autonomy.
The organization did not have a defined, documented, managed, and controlled model for IT service management that covered IT services and resources.
The University had independent IT support at each of its campuses through the OTICs (Information and Communications Technology Offices); each office received and provided support to different users, and in general, the technical support process focused on addressing cases without classifying them as requests, incidents, or problems.
Furthermore, there was no mechanism in place to ensure the continuous improvement of the services provided by the IT organization. No management strategy had been proposed to change the situation, which is why the National Directorate of Information and Communication Technologies (DNTIC), through an enterprise architecture exercise, structured the project “Evaluation, definition, adoption, and implementation of an IT management model based on international standards for the National University of Colombia.”
One of the challenges identified by the DNTIC as a priority is:“Establishing a unified, nationwide IT support operation and set of metrics, with the involvement of functional departments, to manage incidents, requests, issues, and the configuration of IT assets at the National University of Colombia. This will be achieved through various channels supported by a single information system offered across different cloud computing platforms.”
“The implementation of Aranda Software has been instrumental in helping us view technology departments as service providers and in establishing national-level indicators that enable us to analyze and make decisions regarding the performance of these departments.”
Alejandro Bolívar Bolívar and Liliana Guáqueta Munar, Engineers – ICT Service Management
A lengthy process was carried out that included preliminary studies, proof-of-concept testing with various tools, and an evaluation of different implementation options (on-premises; IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).
Among the specifications that were defined, the features that set Aranda Software apart from its competitors were:
- Certified ITIL Processes
- The application is available in any deployment model (on-premises; IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
- A centralized catalog with views for each location, detailing the specific support and service level agreements for each one
- Connection to the LDAP authentication directory
In addition to technical capabilities, the evaluation criteria included the vendor’s experience in implementing the application, specifically in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deployments, which was one of the technical criteria selected following the analysis; similarly, the bid price was one of the most attractive.
The Software-as-a-Service solution provided by Aranda Software has led to cost savings in infrastructure management, and the manufacturer’s support in configuring the tool has been essential.
The market research assessment took into account the best option for the University in terms of implementation. The options evaluated were:
On-Premise
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS)
The analysis showed that Software as a Service (SaaS) was the best option in terms of cost and functionality, given the significant savings in infrastructure and administration costs.
“These are the main reasons why we chose to implement the Aranda Software solution:
We feel that the support team in Colombia is approachable and attentive to our needs, and their assistance in resolving issues has been efficient.
It has become a strategic partner in advancing the university’s IT Service Management project, thanks to its range of tools and expertise in the implemented management model.
"The new interface has been a great help to specialists and users alike, thanks to its smooth operation and ease of use when managing cases."
The implementation of this project with Aranda Software has been instrumental in achieving the project's objectives.
- Process optimization with a focus on service delivery
- Adoption of best practices (ITIL)
- Promote the perception of ICT Offices and IT Coordination Units as departments that provide technology services.
- An opportunity to define and standardize services through a single catalog, while still accommodating the specific needs and characteristics of each location.
- To have data on service delivery through centralized indicators that allow us to monitor service performance at both the overall and specific levels.