Help Desk Operations

Process, Tools, Evaluation

Help Desk Structure

• Single Point of Contact

• Multi-level Support Model

Incident Management Process

• Well-defined

• Formal

• Uses telephone, face-to-face, e-mail, web-based interfaces

Step 1: Receive Incident

• Establish relationship with user

• Scripted / recommended greetings

• Language used

• Identify support person/group

• Notice of monitoring

• Name of user

• Apologies for wait

Step 2: Prescreen The Incident

• Filter process

• Information or incident?

• Determine what needs to be incident

• Try to close w/o going to next step

Step 3: Authenticate The User

• Authorized to help user?

• What level of service

Step 4: Log Incident

• Tracking #

• User Information

• Date/time opened

• Who logged incident

• Problem category

• Priority

• Problem Description

Step 4: Log Incident (cont)

• Assigned to/ escalation

• Action Taken

• Resolution

• Closed by

• Date/time of resolution

Step 5: Screen Incident

• Categorize

• Describe

Step 6: Prioritize

• Who is affected

• How many are affected

• Queue philosophy

Step 7: Assign The Incident

• Try to solve at the lowest level

• Appropriate assignment

Step 8: Track

• Update progress

• Serves as history

• Limit time to check progress

Step 9: Escalate

• Set policy/procedure for when

• Set period of time – make automatic

Step 10: Resolve Incident

• User’s problem has been solved OR

• Complaint has been noted and referred

• Doesn’t mean customer is satisfied!

• Minimize dissatisfaction

• Goal is win/win

Step 11: Close

• Feedback

• Insure resolution

Step 12: Archive

• Scheduled times for archiving

• Knowledge Base

• Review trends/ patterns

Tools

• Help Desk Software– Log/Track Incidents– Contact information – Product information– Information resource links– Configuration information– Diagnostics / Remote Access– Problem-solving Database

Tools (cont)

• Help Desk Software (cont)– Order Entry– Customer Feedback – Asset Management (Inventory– Service Management

(warranties/maintenance)

Tools (cont)

• Help Desk Software (cont)– Statistical Reports

• Abandoned calls, call closure rates

• Receipt to closure

• FAQs

– Customizable Interface/Reports – Phone/Computer Integration

Other Support Tools

• ACD (Automated Call Distributors)

• Web Site Support

• Remote Diagnostics

CRM

• Customer Relationship Management:– Meet needs of customer– Each customer is reason company exists– Cost to replace a customer is greater than cost

of managing a customer

Evaluation Method

• Decide on criteria

• Determine importance of each criteria

• Rate each product for each criteria

• Compute average ratings

• Weight ratings by importance

• Compute/compare total rating for each product

Criteria

• Hardware/Sofware– Speed– Capacity– Capabilities/features– Transaction volumes– Compatibility– Upgradability/Scalability

Criteria (cont)

• End User Needs– Ease of learning– Ease of Use– Mandatory Features– Desirable Features

Criteria (cont)

• Support– Technical support service, troubleshooting– Installation assistance– Training– Documentation– Maintenance, Repair

• Cost– Total cost of ownership (TCO)

Example: Weighted Evaluation

Criterion Importance Product X Product YConfiguration 25% 90 * .25 = 22.5 70 * .25 = 17.5

Scalability 35% 70 * .35 = 24.5 70 * .35 = 24.5

Vendor Support 10% 50 * .10 = 5.0 95 * .10 = 9.5

Ease of Learning

30% 60 * .30 = 18.0 90 * .30 = 27.0

Totals 100% 70.0 (/ 100) 78.5 (/100)