Executive Summary

Driven by a commitment to digital transformation and service excellence, Angus Council sought a modern solution to streamline internal operations surrounding ITSM. Angus Council partnered with Marval Software to implement Marval Service Management (MSM) on Microsoft Azure, replacing their legacy on-premise ITSM application. With Marval’s training and consultancy support, and a strong commitment to mastering MSM, Angus Council expanded its ITSM capabilities beyond previous processes and introduced innovative customisations, including CSS enhancements for improved layouts and functionality. Some of these innovations were so impactful that Marval later adopted them as native features.

Since go-live, Angus has continued its service improvement journey, adding asset and change management and sharing best practices with the wider Marval community through Marval’s internal community platform, Connect.

About Angus Council

Industry: Local Government, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland

Location: Forfar, Angus, Scotland

Size: Approximately 5,000 employees, serving 110,000 residents in the county

Overview: Angus Council delivers essential public services, manages local infrastructure, and oversees planning, education, and community wellbeing, funded primarily by Council Tax, Scottish Government grants, and fees.

The Challenge

Angus Council faced several challenges before implementing Marval’s MSM:

• After ten years of reliable service, Angus Council’s legacy system no longer met the growing demand for sophisticated self-service capabilities. Prompted by a lack of support, Angus took the strategic lead on their next build, choosing to bring the design and expansion of their ITSM scope in-house.

• Migrating and improving existing processes in their old tool, while introducing new ones.

• Executing a comprehensive Configuration Management Database (CMDB) migration to manage assets such as laptops, phones, and servers across different processes.

• Unifying and integrating directory services into MSM’s organisational structure.

• Implementing multi-gated change management workflows with robust reporting and automated notifications for non-responses, to ensure all requests are processed.

The Solution

Marval worked closely with Angus Council’s leadership to review existing tools and design a roadmap for ITSM maturity. Key elements included:

• Core ITSM features: Angus configured service catalogues, SLAs, and key request processes (incident, service request, change, and custom types) using MSM’s flexible interface.

• Asset Management: With Marval’s consultancy support, Angus imported its asset register into MSM’s CMDB, enabling full lifecycle tracking of assets.

• Custom enhancements: Angus leveraged MSM’s flexibility by applying custom CSS to improve UI aesthetics and navigation on both Service Desk and Self Service. Some of these Self Service enhancements were later implemented as native functionality of MSM by Marval.

• Integration: Angus integrated MSM with directory services while decommissioning OKTA, using an innovative approach devised by Marval’s technical consultants.  They have since also leveraged Microsoft Power Automate to achieve additional process efficiencies.

• Governance: Angus implemented sophisticated disposal procedures linked to business intelligence reporting and even integrated a self-serve labelling system on site with MSM to help staff manage their assets.

The Results

Angus Council achieved significant improvements in IT service delivery and operational efficiency. By streamlining workflows and enhancing visibility, they substantially accelerated ticket resolution times. A key indicator of this success is the shift in user behaviour on the self-service portal, now accounting for 73% of all requests logged.

Automated notifications and multi-gated processes have streamlined change approval cycles, while the migration to a robust CMDB has ensured high levels of asset accuracy, minimising compliance risks and strengthening governance. Custom UI enhancements have transformed the user experience, making the portal the primary point of contact for staff. Additionally, by reducing reliance on third-party consultants and eliminating legacy system maintenance costs, Angus Council has realised annual savings of approximately £20,000.

On top of all of that, Angus have become a leading contributor to the Marval community, showcasing best practices on our customer Connect platform.

"Working with Marval gave us the tools and confidence to take ownership of our ITSM journey. MSM’s flexibility allowed us to innovate and create solutions tailored to our needs."

- IT Manager, Angus Council

Looking Ahead

Angus Council continues to mature its ITSM capabilities and explore new integrations. The partnership between Angus Council and Marval has evolved into a dynamic, collaborative relationship built on trust, innovation, and shared goals. Today, our teams work more closely than ever, combining Angus’s vision for service excellence with Marval’s deep ITSM expertise to deliver solutions that make a real difference.

As Angus continues its journey toward greater ITSM maturity, we remain committed to supporting their ambitions, exploring advanced integrations, and co-creating strategies that set new benchmarks for public sector service management. Marval looks forward to supporting their ongoing journey and future innovations.

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