From the CIO

VCU Technology Services

May 2025 CIO Update

by Alex Henson

Another academic year is in the books and we are now in the full swing of preparing for next fall. This month, I want to highlight RamsCentral. Not only am I excited for all of the substantial improvements we are making in IT Service Management with this tool, but I am even more excited that we are leveraging this in other areas of VCU’s service delivery.

Introducing RamsCentral: A New Era for IT Service Management

In October 2024, we proudly launched RamsCentral, our new IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. This significant upgrade replaced our previous system, Cherwell, marking a major step forward in how we deliver and manage IT services.

Core Capabilities from Day One

From its inception, RamsCentral provided robust support for key ITSM functions:

  • Incident Management: Effectively handling and resolving IT issues.
  • Service Request Fulfillment: Streamlining the process for all service requests.
  • Change Management: Managing and implementing IT changes smoothly.
  • HR Case Management: Providing integrated support for human resources inquiries.

Enhancing Our Service Delivery: The Benefits of RamsCentral

RamsCentral was designed with efficiency and user experience in mind, delivering immediate benefits:

  • Streamlined Request Catalog: We’ve drastically reduced our service catalog from over 1,200 unique offerings to under 400, with plans to refine it even further. This makes it much easier for users to find what they need, improving navigation and searchability.
  • Direct Form Linking: Technicians can now send direct links to request forms, simplifying the submission process for end-users.
  • Customizable Forms: Each request form is tailored to capture only the necessary information, improving accuracy and user experience.
  • Integrated Knowledge Management: RamsCentral seamlessly integrates with Right Answers, our knowledge management solution, enhancing self-service options and improving support efficiency.
  • HR Case Management with Integrated Knowledge: Our HR case management includes integrated HR knowledge, leading to faster case resolution and improved employee support.

Navigating the Challenges of a Major Transition

As with any significant system overhaul, we encountered a few challenges:

  • Email Limitations: As a Google Workspace user, we’re limited by Google’s outbound email limit of 2,000 emails per day per account. With Cherwell, we mitigated this by using multiple outbound email accounts for different activities. RamsCentral, however, is limited to one outbound account. Our initial workaround for this proved problematic after launch, so we’ve since reverted to using native Gmail and reevaluated our communication strategy from RamsCentral.
  • Process Alignment: RamsCentral is built around a Request Management process, while our Cherwell integration was centered on Incident Management. While not inherently an issue, this required us to reimagine some business workflows, especially since we can convert a request to an incident, but not the other way around.
  • Routing Issues: We’ve also addressed various routing issues as they were reported, ensuring smoother operations over time.

What’s Next for RamsCentral: Building for the Future

We’re continuously enhancing RamsCentral, with several exciting developments underway:

We’re actively building out the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). We’ve completed the development of the Application Inventory and are continuing to develop the Server and Endpoint Configuration Items.

We’re also working closely with our vendor to develop comprehensive Reporting, Survey, and Process Adherence Review Dashboards. Beyond that, we’re exploring the integration of an AI-powered chatbot to enhance knowledge retrieval and leverage other benefits AI can provide in the ITSM space. Looking further ahead, we’re investigating the potential for expanding RamsCentral into Project and Portfolio Management, as well as supporting other key business processes.RamsCentral represents a significant leap forward in our IT service capabilities, and we’re excited about its continued evolution to serve our community better.  If you have any questions regarding RamsCentral, please email [email protected] and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

Many thanks to the ITSM team for all of their efforts in bringing RamsCentral on-line, and many thanks to all of those in TS and across the IT community for providing the content and expertise to make this tool a useful and effective resource for the entire VCU community!

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