Matrix42 Core 

Matrix42 Core is an entry package to service management that helps you to speed up your digitalization process. Whether you’re at the beginning of your service management journey or searching for a better solution, Matrix42 Core can allow a short time to value, while keeping the flexibility to grow with evolving needs.

Matrix42 Core has been pre-configured to allow any organization to start using the solution as is. Matrix42 Core is available through our secure European cloud. 

The figure below shows the processes included in Matrix42 Core: incident management, service request management, service level management, and knowledge management. These processes and their use cases are described in this document.

In addition to the processes and use cases shown above, Matrix42 Core comes with the readiness for managing IT assets, in terms of its templates and data model. The solution allows to manage IT assets on the various asset templates included in the configuration. However, the default delivery scope does not include the implementation of IT asset management processes nor the setup of integrations to inventory management solutions for fetching asset data.

The Self-Service portal and the Matrix42 Service Management tool are at the core of the Matrix42 Core solution. Therefore, Matrix42 Core comes with a broad variety of platform capabilities such as native reporting and extensive automation capabilities, including the Matrix42 Visual Workflow Automation (VWA). The full list of capabilities is presented in Table 1 later in this document. 

Matrix42 Core solution includes the necessary integrations for starting the service management journey: Azure AD integration for fetching user information and for facilitating authentication, and email integration to M365 Exchange Online for allowing support teams to receive tickets over email, to send emails to customers, and for allowing the solution to send automatic email notifications. It also includes the entry tier of the REST API interface allowing you to build integrations. You can find the full list of included integrations in Table 1.

Matrix42 Core is the first stage of the service management journey with Matrix42. Figure 2 below showcases the expansion opportunities enabled by the platform's flexibility: the solution can be expanded to any service management and identity & access management process. The expansion possibilities are not limited to the following ones: the platform's flexibility allows you to implement also custom processes with the necessary forms, templates, and workflows.  

What's included in Matrix42 Core

The following tables describe the scope of the Matrix42 Core solution.

Environments

Processes

Capabilities

Integrations and authentication

Add-ons

Note: Matrix42 Core comes with the Matrix42 Self-Service 2 (ESS2). The included processes and use cases are supported by ESS2, with the exception of publishing knowledge articles into the self service portal and providing the self-service portal in multiple languages. In 2024, Matrix42 Core knowledge management use cases are for agents. The current plan is to support end-user use cases of the knowledge management process through Matrix42 chat in ESS2 in 2024.

Matrix42 Core capabilities 

Matrix42 Core solution provides a broad variety of platform capabilities. This chapter describes briefly a selection of capabilities.

Matrix42 Self-Service for end users

Matrix42 Core solution uses Matrix42 Self-Service portal for end-user services. When Matrix42 Self-Service portal is deployed in your Matrix42 environment, it already contains ready-made services.

End-user services contain capabilities for creating incidents and following them up, and for creating service requests as end-user and approving them as a manager. These capabilities are pre-configured in Matrix42 Core as ready-made use cases.

You can personalize Matrix42 Self-Service portal and provide useful features to your end-users by changing the settings in Matrix42 Self-Service portal admin view.

The figure below shows the entry point in the new Self-Service portal for incident and service request management processes.

Visual Workflow Automation

Matrix42 Core solution employs an extremely powerful and versatile workflow engine to enable easy in-house process automation. The Visual Workflow Automation capability allows admins to visualize and automate organizational processes. 

Admins can create multiple workflows to represent complex service management processes and automate various activities such as approvals, data manipulation based on conditions, timers, and email notifications. New flows can be created in minutes by admins with a low-code, no-code approach.

Native reporting capabilities

Performance monitoring, service level management, and trend analysis for decision-making are made easy with the native reporting capabilities of the platform. The report and dashboard capabilities allow users to find and visualize any data cards stored in the system with just a few clicks. 

Matrix42 Core comes with a broad variety of ready-made reports that allows service managers, team leads and team members to gain an overview of the service management processes and their efficiency and effectiveness. Users can also easily create new reports based on their needs.  

Matrix42 Chat for Service Management

Matrix42 Chat for Service Management allows organizations to simplify their support processes and serve customers more efficiently. Matrix42 Chat includes both chatbot and live chat, inbuilt in Matrix42 Self-Service portal and Service Management tool. 

The inbuilt chatbot within the Self-Service portal helps to solve issues quicker and provides 24/7 support, and the embedded live chat allows the end-user to connect to support agents to solve more complex topics, or to escalate from chatbot to live chat when needed.

Matrix42 GPT-powered live chat allows agents to have more conversations with less effort, with autogenerate, autocomplete and autocorrect response capabilities. The human agent is always in control, and decides when to use the GPT-powered features and what is the final answer to be sent to the end-user.

With the autogenerate feature, agents get instant, contextual and accurate suggestions to address customer issues and inquiries, by integrating non-sensitive user profile data.

With autocorrect, agents can easily replace casual language with more formal alternatives to ensure clear and coherent communication in any language.

With autocomplete, sentences are completed automatically, to save effort and respond faster to end-users. This also ensures consistent and standardized responses, improving customer support quality and avoiding errors, leading to more accurate and effective communication.

Matrix42 Chat for Service Management is an add-on capability to Matrix42 Core.

Matrix42 Core processes & use cases

The processes and use cases are available here: Matrix42 Core processes & use cases 

Matrix42 Core includes four processes: 

• Incident management
• Service request management
• Service level management
• Knowledge management

Each process is described in its process overview. The process overviews provide summaries of each process, while the high-level use cases describe each use case. Both the process overviews and the high-level use cases provide recommendations and best practices based on the collective experience of Matrix42's service management consultants and relevant industry best practices, to make it easy to start using the solution. 

More information about the solution documentation is available in this guide: How to read Matrix42 Core solution library documents. The following chapters describe briefly each process.  

Incident management

The incident management process facilitated by the Matrix42 Core solution offers streamlined incident handling, improved communication, enhanced visibility and reporting, compliance and governance adherence, and a focus on continuous improvement. 

With the solution, businesses can efficiently log, track, and prioritize incidents, ensuring timely resolution and minimal disruptions. The solution facilitates efficient communication among stakeholders, reducing miscommunication and enhancing coordination. 

Businesses gain comprehensive visibility into incidents, enabling data-driven decision-making, trend analysis, and proactive measures. Matrix42 Core ensures compliance with agreed service levels, avoiding penalties and maintaining a positive reputation. The solution promotes continuous improvement by providing reports for identifying areas for service and process enhancements. 

Agents can use various features to make processing tickets easy, such as: 

• Populating predefined information to frequently occurring tickets by using the quick-fill feature
• Using resolution texts from the knowledge base and copying the texts immediately to the resolution field of the tickets
• Grouping incidents related to the same major issue (such as an email service outage) to parent incident and resolving them automatically when the parent issue is resolved

The incident management process includes the following high-level use cases: 

1. Creating incidents
2. Processing incidents
3. Resolving incidents

Service request management

The service request management process facilitated by the Matrix42 Core solutions streamline the process by leveraging automation, self-service capabilities, and standardized workflows. With a user-friendly self-service portal, customers can directly submit requests and track their progress, reducing dependency on IT personnel. 

Predefined rules ensure requests are routed to the appropriate teams or individuals, minimizing delays. Standardized processes and predefined tasks for fulfillment maintain consistency and efficiency in handling requests. 

SLA management and real-time status tracking enable compliance with service level agreements and provide transparency to customers. The reporting capabilities offer insights for optimizing services and processes and improving performance. 

The service request management process includes the following high-level use cases: 

1. Creating service requests
2. Approving service requests
3. Fulfilling service requests
4. Closing service requests

Service level management

The service level management process facilitated by the Matrix42 Core solution allows organizations to define and customize SLAs according to their specific requirements. It offers real-time monitoring and tracking of SLA performance, capturing data on response times and resolution metrics. 

The predefined SLA reports and the platform's reporting capabilities enable organizations to generate insights, track trends, and make data-driven decisions. Visual representations through dashboards and graphical reports offer a quick assessment of service performance.

The service level management process includes the following high-level use cases: 

1. Defining service level agreements
2. Defining business hours
3. Managing service level agreements
4. Service level reporting

Knowledge management

The knowledge management process facilitated by the Matrix42 Core solution provides organizations with efficient tools for creating and capturing knowledge resources. Users can easily author and contribute to the knowledge base, ensuring valuable information is captured and organized. 

The solution allows for structured categorization, enabling easy navigation and retrieval of knowledge. With comprehensive search functionalities, users can quickly find relevant information through advanced search options and filters. Matrix42's Knowledge Base Management integrates seamlessly with other IT service management processes, linking knowledge articles to relevant records.

The knowledge management process includes the following high-level use cases: 

1. Creating knowledge base articles
2. Searching and viewing knowledge base articles
3. Reviewing knowledge base articles
4. Copying resolution texts to ticket