Service Manager Beta 1 Now Available for Download

I’m pleased to announce that the new beta of System Center Service Manger is now available. This beta includes the updated infrastructure components that will both deliver the performance we are targeting for the release and support our objective of delivering an IT service desk that is tightly integrated with the rest of the System Center product family.

How to Get the Bits: You can access the beta on Microsoft Connect, where you will first need to fill out a nomination survey. Once you've completed the survey, you will see the Service Manager beta connections page, which provides links and instructions for downloading.

As a reminder the objectives of Service Manager are to deliver an IT service desk that provides:

• Built in service management best practices
• Simple customization and extensibility
• Common platform and workflows across System Center

You can download a whitepaper outlining the vision for Service Manager here.

Key capabilities available for testing in this beta release include:

• Administrative tasks such creating users and groups
• Change management activities such as creating and monitoring the progress of requests
• Creating and viewing configuration items (CIs)
• Editing incident notification templates or workflows
• Create incidents and editing the incident (and problem) workflow
• Integration with System Center Configuration Manager

We’re excited to make this beta available publically and will be delivering a second beta in the middle of 2009. Until then I hope you enjoy this important step on the journey to expand the System Center family to include a strong Service Desk capability

Visit the Connect site to download and start trying out Service Manager today.

Regards
Paul