Freshservice intergration

[jalcorn]

Has anyone got this to work? I keep getting a sync error.

https://freshservice.com/product-updates/jamf-pro-freshservice-integration-blog/

[junderwood]

I'm also interested to know if anyone has gotten this to work. It "completed sync" once with some errors. It has failed every sync since. FS is a decent platform, but their integrations are generally horrible. Seems like this yet another instance.

[jalcorn]

@junderwood So it looks like it only works if you use jamf cloud.

[junderwood]

We actually use Jamfcloud and the integration still doesn't work well. I've made a few complaints to FS support and they've been pretty useless. Definitely considering FS alternatives for when our contract is up.

[nickconway1]

Any update on this integration for those experiencing issues? About to transition to FreshService and integrate and wondering if there have been any improvements.

[junderwood]

@nickconway1 : Nope. Still doesn't work well at all. I have assets that don't sync at all from Jamf, completely missing in FS. I also have many assets where the info is out of date and won't update (i.e. computer name, assigned user, etc). I have had multiple support calls with FreshService and their ability to troubleshoot and level of concern so far has been pitiful. It doesn't seem like a priority at all. I am going to look into running the FS discovery agent on our Macs, but that's one more tiny resource drain for my users. Not pleased. We are actively looking for alternatives to FS inventory mgmt--like Snipe IT. In general, FS has been ok for IT ticketing, On/off board process, and documentation, but inventory is not useful. I'm just going to ask my FS rep to remove inventory features from our bill. If not, we'll be looking at other helpdesk systems next year.

[T_Armstrong]

I know that we have it working, but was not involved in the setup at all (before my time here). I'll try to ping a couple of colleagues who may know more. We are cloud based fwiw.

[Andy_McCaskill]

I would like to jump on any updates if you all get any. I have been using FreshService for about a year. We got it to initially update the very first time using it but since then we just have that sync error and the assets are out of date.
I sent another email today to FreshService asking for help on this. Very odd behavior.

[Madmax85]

We are actively looking for service desk alternatives and FreshService is one of the options we are considering. One of our much needed features is asset tracking and I'm a bit concerned to even consider them now seeing as their integration with Jamf doesn't appear to work very well.

[quentinIT]

Any update to this? We're having the same problem.

[Andy_McCaskill]

I've been waiting for a month now for this to be resolved. Last email I received was 6 days ago stating he is pushing up to their engineers. I replied stating we are all concerned about this and need it resolved soon otherwise they are losing customers over a simple API connector tool.

[mohanasidhaarth]

Hello folks, I am from the Freshservice product team. @Andrew.McCaskill ,@quentinbutler , @junderwood , I just reviewed the support tickets you have raised. I'll reach out to you separately and schedule time for us to troubleshoot the issues you have.

[LucianoVH]

@Andrew.McCaskill @quentinbutler @junderwood @mohanasidhaarth

Hey guys. Did you manage to get a fix working for the sync error?

[Andy_McCaskill]

I am still working on the issue but a bit tied up with our distant learning tech support. Last thing from them they were stating that the Name; Location; Department need to be the same from JAMF to FreshService. I replied back what exact data is it pulling for location since JAMF doesn't have an editable space for that. Honestly, I think they are a bit lost on what is causing the issue. I would hope it used more of a unique Identifier instead of fields that are variables to track assets. I am trying to work with them on that to figure out why they don't track by UDID.

[LucianoVH]

Yeah I agree with you on that; less room for errors like we are experiencing now.

Thanks for the update! If they do manage to help you figure it out, it would be great to hear from you.

[tom_s]

Hey guys (@Andrew.McCaskill @quentinbutler @junderwood)

Don't mean to harass, but just curious whether any of you managed to get your issues resolved with the Jamf <>Freshservice integration?

@mohanasidhaarth : we are currently a Jamf customer, and seriously looking towards Freshservice for our ITSM needs, but finding this thread here with what seems like no resolution is rather disconcerting, especially considering the integration was launched a year and a half ago.

Any updates would be appreciated - thanks everyone!

[Andy_McCaskill]

This is the last information they gave me.

The fields required to pre-exist in Freshservice, for the asset updates to be captured from Jamf into Freshservice. ​​Fields to check: ​1. Department 2. Used by (user's profile) 3. Location

Problem is Location, I don't know what attribute it is pulling for that, and our Departments change often since we have spare devices that change hands when users devices are out for repair. The other issue is we will assign a user to a device then revert those changes later on. So by their terms, this will not reflect in FS and not update the data until it checks in as they state below.

To find the last time a device was updated, check 'General' > 'Last Inventory Update' in jamf. Any changes to the device after this time will not be reflected in FreshService ​ Also, when ever a new device is added and this 'Last Inventory Update' value is present, the new device will be added to FS automatically. ​ Furthermore, ​ When you manually edit a value in jamf, the asset in freshservice will not get updated. The only time it gets updated is when the inventory is updated or when a mobile device checks in. In other words, when the event "ComputerInventoryCompleted" and "MobileDeviceCheckIn" are updated. Currently, when a new device is added, we must run a sync manually from freshservice backend.

Problem I am having is that this is not always the case. I have multiple devices that have checked in and updated inventory on JAMF but FS gets hung up on something and doesnt update the data.

Overall, I've been having helluva time getting it to work and since the pandemic, I stopped chasing that for a bit as it just frustrates me on why it's so complicated.
Footnote: You DO NOT need to purchase their Asset Addon to use this. The Asset management is if you use their discovery on your network to fill in assets. I was misinformed and ended up spending a substantial amount of money on that and working with them to refund the cost since I informed my original sales person that we only use JAMF yet they still charged me for that service.

[tom_s]

Andrew, thanks so much for your response, as well as the tip on the asset management add-on!

Cheers!

[ardentadmin]

Hi - has anyone been able to integrate ticket submissions?

[user-dzIJnCprEb]

...

[junderwood]

Hi All, just wanted to post an update in case anyone here in Jamf Nation is considering FreshService. Overall, our experience with inventory has been very similar to @Andrew.McCaskill : since there is no way to see error logs or what attributes are going where, it's nearly impossible to troubleshoot when it behaves unexpectedly. Therefore, it's only somewhat useful. Since covid hit, we also lost bandwidth and can't spend much time on it. I fully agree that it shouldn't be this complicated. An enterprise sync tool for inventory should have logs. Full stop.

I know this thread is about inventory syncing, but I think it's worth posting more info here for anyone coming upon this post considering FreshService (like @tom_s , sorry for the delay): the shortcomings with the inventory integration for Jamf are consistent with our overall experience with the platform. Basic features like ticketing, rules, basic automation work OK, but their standard for what constitutes enterprise-ready features and integrations with reliable operation, error logging, proper documentation, clear road-mapping, and attention to detail and UI seems much lower than what most corporate IT departments expect from a SaaS marketed as a platform upon which you can build your department. Yes, FS offers a lot of features on paper for the money, but many just don't work well (like inventory with Jamf). What you gain in cost, you often lose in time spent on ill-conceived implementations. For example, the only way to pull your employees' directory profile data from Okta is by using a third-party SCIM integration from a tiny app studio called "Effy" based in India. When this SCIM app encounters errors, you must seek support from Effy. They're fairly responsive, but it's a hassle to email yet another contact on another continent with a huge time difference. FS should have a true native connector for Okta to sync directory data. It's 2021: if a service doesn't integrate natively with Okta directory (or Jamf inventory, for that matter), I think it's hard to call it enterprise-ready.

Another example: there is a JIRA integration app, but if you sync a service request to JIRA, it doesn't pull any info from the service request fields, it only pulls the ticket headings, which means you have to c+p the service request fields into JIRA manually. So, like, yes there is a JIRA integration... but no, it is not ready for primetime because it doesn't do the basics. The documentation for setting up the integration is also lacking essential info about account visibility settings required in JIRA for FS agents, which in our case necessitated a support request and delayed setup. There are countless examples of this kind of behavior in FS, where a feature exists but is severely hampered (if not completely useless) by a lack of attention to detail.

@mohanasidhaarth , product mgr at FS, was kind enough to follow up with me a few months back about our inventory issues. He seems like a good guy and was helpful to a point, but we should be able to get that level of support from the FS account and support teams, probably not a great sign that it's trickling up to an overworked PM. We are also anxiously awaiting some features in the newly announced orch center, but we still can't access it because we're on the old "estate" pricing tier. All we've been told is we'll be migrated at some point, might happen today, might happen next month. We were told we'd be added to a priority list, but that was well over a month ago and there's been no update. I followed up with our account exec for more specifics about these forthcoming features so we can plan helpdesk upgrades accordingly for this quarter. I am currently waiting 9 days and counting with no answers. Keep in mind: we are fully paying customers on a high tier plan spending over $10k/year asking about publicly announced features that other customers have access to. That's just hard to accept.

So, in short: we're getting by with FS, but it's not wonderful. If anyone has suggestions on an alternative, I'm all ears. Would obviously would love to cut down on this kind of hassle.

OK, rant over. Hope it helps someone.

[AtillaTheC]

Its really sad that this was posted in 2018 and today in 2022 this integration still seems broken with no solutions. One of the big reasons we went with Freshservice was this integration with JAMF cloud, without it it seems like a giant waste of money now. 

[billgryta]

Our integration seems to work, with the notable exception that devices assigned to agents do not sync from Jamf. Seems like the sync is only looking for requesters. It also seems to not sync unassigned devices. 

[McGinn]

I was able to get this working by setting up the Freshworks Jamf app with failover login URL.

https://COMPANYDOMAIN.jamfcloud.com/?failover

[askjason]

I started using Freshsevice in January 2023. It works great for us. I had an amazing FreshService pre-sales team that got my instance up and running and they helped me set up the inventory integration. I purchased Enterprise licenses. When I have a question on how to do something, I just usually start a chat with the help desk group and they guide me through the steps. Maybe, the service has improved since everyone had issues years ago. 

[jobscommasteve]

For the record, the Freshservice integration with Jamf Pro is still bollocks.

We have 2000+ devices in Jamf Pro, and 819 in Freshservice. The majority of those came from a manual dump from the previous Freshservice admin. Maybe 10-15 devices synced after setting up the integration. 

And don't get me started on doing a .csv import...