15.2. Overview

The Managed Services Provider (MSP) market is forecast to reach $329.1 Billion dollars by 2025 – Ref.

Targeted at this MSP market, CIOCTO is a multi-tenant cloud-based Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) platform and control plane, that is fully compliant with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, that delivers tools and business intelligence to manage complex IT & Communications environments built around an Entity Relationship Management (ERM) model..

XSTRA operates as an MSP and currently uses Version 4 of the CIOCTO platform as its Professional Services Automation (PSA) system under the moniker of XCRM.

Key Features of CIOCTO include:

• Web-Based User Interface (ASP.net + Telerik Controls)

• “API First Design” model:
  • Restful API – both Public & Private access

• Microsoft SQL Data Warehouse
• Every CIOCTO Tenant is a separate CIOCTO instance

• Entity Relationship Management (ERM) model which supersedes the traditional CRM models so common in comparative solutions:
  • 3-Dimensiional Super Mesh Grid for visualisation of ERM (think Autocad)
  • Nested Entity Schemas providing for the most complex business structure scenarios including:
    • Boards
    • Franchises
    • Publicly Listed Companies
    • Venture Capitalists
    • Any Group managing other Groups
  • Entity Schema
    • Client Entities
      • Legal Entity
        • Legal Entity Information
          • ABN
          • ACN
          • Registered office – (being a nominated Site)
          • Stock Exchange Listed On
          • Stock Exchange Ticker Symbol (with live price lookup)
        • Multiple Domain Names
        • Multiple Trading Names
        • Multiple Other Names
    • Locations
      • Sites – are physical and they have addresses – (can contain multiple of lower level locations)
        • Warehouses – are physical or virtual and can contain Shelves, Pallets, Bins, Rows or as defined – (can contain multiple of lower level locations)
          • Spaces – are ethereal ad-hoc entity locations – (can contain multiple of lower level locations)
    • People
      • Users (the Legal Fiction of a Person)
    • Devices
    • Groups – with Group types including:
      • Billing – (for invoice routing)
      • Security
      • Geographical
      • Departmental (eg: Committee or Board that has an interest in multiple Companies)
      • Distribution
    • Nested Groups

• Entity Relationships

• Smart Tickets
  • “Smart Ticket First” approach to every action as a business policy
    • The Smart Tickets are a sophisticated object that operates and controls internal routing of business process modelling
  • Nested Tickets
  • Excel type grid for managing complex Tickets with multiple sub-Tickets and levels – the grid contains all Entity information relevant and allows closure of Tickets directly from the grid
  • BPMN System – connecting entities and business processes using Smart Ticket functionality – PMBOK methodology using Smart Tickets including:
    • Incorporating PIMS (Project Information Management Systems)
    • Participants
      • Pools
      • Lanes
    • Activities
      • Tasks
      • Sub-Processes
      • Call Activities
      • Event Sub-Processes
      • Adhoc
    • Gateways
    • Events
    • Definitions
    • PMBOK Methodology
  • Complex Task Definitions =
    • Control Sheets +
    • Procedures +
    • Checklists
  • Smart Electronic Forms/Document Signing System to confer contractual agreements between Entities
  • ITIL influenced – incident, request, problem, change, release, service level, knowledge and configuration management

• XPERT – X stra P roduct E ncapsulation, R evision and T racking
  • Encapsulation or kitting
  • Revision – product life cycle management
  • Tracking
    • How many?
    • Where are they?
    • What are they anchored to? – Operationally and Financially
    • How is the item apportioned or proportioned and against what entities
  • Catalog Management
    • Multiple Catalogs
    • Category Tree Per Catalog
    • Serial Number Tracking
  • Common Product Specification Templates for field placement on screen
  • Warehouse Management
  • Despatch
  • Definable field selectors for Billing
    • Units of measure
    • Periods of activity units of measure
    • Selection of other fields of importance based on Rules
    • Commission structures
    • Smart Ticket integration
      • The ability to attach a Smart Ticket Template to a product
    • Pre and Post Deployment Process Flows via Smart Tickets – such as:
      • SSL certificate allocation
      • Further Kitting
      • Client engagement fulfilment

• Billing Engine
  • Per line item fields from XPERT:
    • Internal additional notes
    • Client additional notes

• XACCESS integration
  • controls access to CIOCTO and all downline systems
  • includes Active Directory synchronization and control with the addition of periodic Client verification via a Smart Ticket

• White Label ready
  • Separate database per tenant
  • Many customisations opportunities out-of-the-box

• Industry Dash Boards – (think AdminDroid)
  • Office 365
  • OLA / SLA
  • SOC\SEIM

• CIOCTO Universal Agent – (think Atera agent)
  • Runs as a Windows Service
  • Store & Forward design based on a database local to the Agent – (think Firebird, XML/Jason)
  • Has a Heart Beat that tracks the Agent ID, Date & Time history
  • Installation: Unique Agent ID is set during installation, calls home, and gets “Adopted”
  • Logs all errors it encounters in undertaking tasks set for it
  • Agent performs many regular tasks. Examples include:
    • Active Directory management including 2-way-sync for:
      • Azure AD
      • Active Directory
    • Data collection
    • Network tests
    • Router configurations

• RMM – Remote Monitoring and Management – using CIOCTO Universal Agent for End Point control and Access (Same or better than Atera version) including:
  • PowerShell
  • Telnet
  • SSH
  • MRTG – (PRTG replacement – see https://www.mrtg.com)
  • Remote Access – (AnyDesk integration)
  • API integrations – (Eg: Mikrotik RouterOS)

• Built-in application functionality including:
  • On-Demand creation of Microsoft Office documents (OneNote, Word, Excel, OneDrive) via Graph-API
  • Web Based Email Client (connected to Microsoft Exchange)
    • All email functionality is “email chain” cleansed (maybe via AI)
  • Chat client (extended to Teams chat 2-way sync as needed) and extended to Client end-points via the CIOCTO Universal Agent that may be installed on an end-point
  • Telephony client (connected to FreePBX API)
  • Folders – functionality for file storage with folder hierarchy that mirrors the ERM structure in CIOCTO. Offers global search capability (think SharePoint) – Sharing Feature – via URI links (secured & un-secured)

• Real-Time Server to Client communication using Signal-R
• Electronic Sticky Note feature – CIOCTO user can capture information on a CIOCTO Sticky Note which sits on 1 or more virtual boards that can be arranged exactly as the CIOCTO user wishes. The Sticky Note object is also used in the feeds on Tickets
• Reporting – using Telerik Reports as an interim solution

• Vendor Bill Transformation services
  • Functionality similar to MagicOrange
  • Clients own Accounts Codes can be uploaded and used to assign costs when anchoring products to entities

• Client Portals
• Client Dashboards and Business Intelligence

• Planes & Sub-Planes
  • Planes & Sub-Planes contain 3rd Party functionality consisting of Settings and associated information. Settings will include:
    • Name
    • Contact Information
    • Price List; etc…
  • Planes exist at a Global Level
  • Sub-Planes exist within the Entity framework
  • Many 3rd Party Integrations integrations can be accommodated by the Planes concept including:
    • XACCESS
    • Ingram
    • O365
    • Telstra
    • DNSMadeEasy

• DCIM – Data Center Infrastructure Management based on NetBox
• CMDB – Change Management Database
• XERO Accounting Integration
• Single-Currency system

• Many API implementations including:
  • Company Number Lookup
  • Logo Implementation
  • Email Validation
  • Phone Number Validation and Normalization
  • Physical & Postal Address Validation and Normalization
  • GICS codes for entity identification

• Custom Lookups – allowing quick access to groups of entities

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) metrics at all CRM entity levels
  • Ability to separate NPS scores from 3rd parties at fault

• IoS and Android App incorporating:
  • XCRM login Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Reporting
  • Ticket Management
  • User information management
  • Smart Ticket responses
  • Business Card Photo Mobile App – allowing quick snaps of business cards to be associated with the correct User entity in XCRM

• XPRESSION – is a C# module that overlooks the SQL database and automatically provides logic, workflow and external system interactions
  • SMS
  • Smart Ticket Scheduling
  • Centralised SSL management

• Knowledge Base
  • A unique approach where common content is able to be anchored outward against Client entities and separated for custom modifications to suit each Clients unique requirements, but, still trackable from the source content after separation and a side-by-side comparison against the source KB article can highlight changes

• Template Editor

• Custom Modules and Module Manager incorporating information exchange with 3rd parties using the following technologies:
  • API
  • Screen Scrape
  • Offshore Human Data Processing and Entry services

• Gamification for users and clients and other entities
  • Application controls can have rewards associated with different control states in the application
  • Users of the system are instantly rewarded for doing the right thing at the right time
  • Users enjoyment in using the system is heightened and stake-holder “buy-in” increased across the board at all levels

XSTRA has adopted many of the CIOCTO methodologies as shown HERE

• Scope Of Service Definition System
  • Scope of Service definitions are critical components that must be well defined to allow clear service delivery expectations to be set with Clients
    • Scope definitions need to be created per:
      • Brand; and then
      • Ticket Type (either Incident or Request – Project and Initiative type tickets are something else)
    • Ultimately it is at XSTRA’s sole discretion to determine whether something is “in” or “out” of Scope
  • Tickets of type “Incident” do not need any approval to be completed so long as the work to be done is “in Scope”
    • if a Ticket Type changes from Incident to Request then the ticket could now need approval depending on the “Requires Authority” status of the User
    • Remember that if the ticket changes to a Request, it could still be “out of Scope” or “in Scope”
  • If a Ticket is regarded by XSTRA as “out of Scope” then the Client\User is asked to indicate their acceptance of costs associated with the ticket. (a script will appear on-screen for the XSTRA team member to read out)
  • Client Settings
    • Setting: Requires Authority – Global
  • User Settings
    • Has Authority – now changed to “Authoriser” – no one higher needs to be consulted if they request something to be done unless “Requires Authority” is also selected (See below)
      • Has a Start and End date (all inclusive 00:00 to 23:59)
        • End Date can be blank meaning – never ends
    • Requires Authority – for any tickets other than “in Scope” Incidents

• Service Disruption Notification System