Chapter 6 Help Desk Operation

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Chapter 6Help Desk Operation
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Learning Objectives

• About help desks and a typical help desk
  organization
• The incident management process
• The physical layout of help desk work areas
• How hardware and software tools are used to
  manage incidents
• Help desk trends

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What Is a Help Desk?

• An organization that provides a single point of
  contact for users in need of technical support
• Goal To enhance client satisfaction by
  effectively and efficiently resolving problems
  and questions
• Alternate titles hotline, information center,
  lab assistance, tech support, client services

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Multi-level Support Model

• Multi-level Support Model is a help desk
  structure
• Organizes support staff and services into several
  levels (or tiers)
• Each level is staffed by a worker with different
  skills
• Also called the frontline/backline model
• Goal to handle as many incidents as possible at
  the lowest level in the support hierarchy
• Save scarce resources for incidents where more
  expertise is necessary

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Multi-level Support Model
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The Incident Management Process

• Incident Management is a well-defined, formal
  procedure that help desk staff use to
• Handle problem incidents
• Get information to users
• Solve user problems
• Maintain records about the incident
• Call Management is primarily concerned with
  handling telephone contacts

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The Incident Management Process (graphic view)
4. Log 5. Screen 6. Prioritize 7. Assign
8. Track 9. Escalate 10. Resolve 11. Close 12.
Archive
1. Receive 2. Prescreen 3. Authenticate
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Steps in the Incident Management Process

• 1. Receive the incident
• 2. Prescreen the incident
• 3. Authenticate the user
• 4. Log the incident
• 5. Screen the incident
• 6. Prioritize the incident

• 7. Assign the incident
• 8. Track the incident
• 9. Escalate the incident
• 10. Resolve the incident
• 11. Close the incident
• 12. Archive the incident

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1. Receive the Incident

• Sources of incidents
• Goals
• Establish a relationship with end user
• Get basic information from user
• Who is the user?
• What is the purpose of the contact?
• May use a specific greeting script
• Warn that the call may be monitored
• Apologize for any delay or wait time

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2. Prescreen the Incident

• Prescreening is a filtering process to determine
  how the help desk staff will handle the incident
• Goal Incident screener may be able to handle a
  simple request for information
• Product information
• How to order
• Where to purchase

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3. Authenticate the Incident

• Authentication determines whether help desk staff
  are authorized to handle an incident
• Usually involves checking
• a product registration database
• a product model or serial number
• a warranty database
• a support service database of authorized clients
• Goals
• Determine the status of each client
• Establish a billing procedure (where appropriate)
• Filter out unauthorized clients

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4. Log the Incident

• Incident logging begins to document the incident
  and its related problem
• Basic information about the incident is recorded
• Trouble report form
• Incident tracking database
• Goal
• Start a record of the incident

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5. Screen the Incident

• Incident screening categorizes and describes the
  incident
• Common Incident Categories
• Request for information (that could not be
  handled during prescreening)
• Question
• Problem
• Complaint
• Work order
• Goals
• Define the category of an incident
• Capture a brief description of the incident

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6. Prioritize the Incident

• Priority code is assigned based on
• How serious the problem is for users
• How many users are affected
• Consequence of not handling problem immediately
• Goals
• A priority code often determines the kind of
  attention an incident will receive from staff
• Alternative to priority codes
• handle incidents on first-in, first-out (FIFO)
  basis

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Priority Codes and Incident Handling

• Example priority codes
• 1 Urgent
• 2 High priority
• 3 Medium priority
• 4 Low priority
• High priority incidents are usually serious
  problems that affect the productivity of a large
  number of users
• Priority codes may be used to determine response
  time of support staff
• Priority codes may change as an incident is
  handled

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Priority Codes and Queue Management

• A queue is a waiting line into which incoming
  incidents are placed when they cannot be answered
  immediately
• Queues may be defined for
• Priority codes
• Different products
• Types of customers
• Levels of support

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7. Assign the Incident

• When a level 1 Incident Screener cannot respond
  to an incident directly, they assign it to
  another agent who
• has specific product knowledge
• has specialized expertise
• Goal
• Move an incident to a queue where it will get
  appropriate attention

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8. Track the Incident

• Incident tracking updates information
• as an incident is processed
• as new information is added to the incident log
• Goals
• Provides a record
• When important events occur
• A history of how the incident was handled
• Provides data
• Measure the quality of incident handling
• Evaluate support agent performance
• Identify support staff training needs

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9. Escalate the Incident

• Escalation is a normal process in which an
  incident is transferred to a higher level support
  agent who has
• greater ability or expertise
• resources to handle more difficult problems
• Goal
• Resolve a difficult problem effectively and
  efficiently
• Escalation may be automatic if an incident is not
  resolved within a limited period of time

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10. Resolve the Incident

• Resolution means that a users problem has been
  solved or information has been provided
• A complaint may be referred to product designers
  as a suggestion for the next product revision
  cycle
• Caveats
• Not all calls can be completely resolved by the
  Incident Management Process
• Resolution doesnt necessarily mean the client is
  completely satisfied
• Goal
• Minimize the percent of incidents that cannot be
  resolved satisfactorily

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11. Close the Incident

• Incident closing may include
• Review the steps to solve the problem
• Seek mutual agreement (verification) that a
  solution has been reached
• Thank the user for contacting the help desk
• Invite the user to recontact if not satisfied
• Make final entries in incident log or database
• Goal
• Provide technical and interpersonal closure to
  the incident

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12. Archive the incident

• Archive means to copy resolved incidents to a
  database of completed incidents
• Incidents are retained in an active database as
  long as they remain relevant
• Goal
• Reduce the size of the active database by
  removing less relevant information
• The archives
• can be searched if needed in future
  problem-solving situations
• can serve as a source of data for statistical
  analysis

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Physical Layout of Help Desk Work Areas

• Desk in a cubicle
• Access to one or more computer systems
• Access to reference library
• Telephone headset permits freedom of motion
• Issues
• Job stress
• Diversions for staff
• Ergonomic work place

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Help Desk Technology and Tools

• Impact of automation on help desk industry
• Help desk software packages
• Computer telephony systems
• Web-based support

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Help Desk Software Features

• Log and track incidents
• Manage incident queues
• Interface with telephone system
• Set incident priorities
• Assign incidents to support staff
• Escalate incidents
• Contact information
• Store, edit, and recall contact and location
  information in a contact database

continued
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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Product information
• Product features
• Product limitations
• New versions
• Configuration constraints
• Known bugs
• Product availability

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Configuration information for client systems
• Hardware configuration
• Software licenses
• Network protocols
• Diagnostic utilities
• Diagnostic software is used to analyze
  performance of a remote system and look for
  potential problem areas

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Problem Solutions knowledge base
• Contains information about common problems and
  their solutions
• Sometimes called a smart database
• May use search strategies based on artificial
  intelligence
• Expert systems (sequences of IF-THEN rules)
• Neural networks (automated learning systems)
• Case-based reasoning (pattern-matching strategies)

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Product order entry
• Order entry capability
• Can integrate with other business systems, such
  as shipping and invoicing
• Client feedback
• Client feedback measures the level of
  satisfaction with
• Products and services
• Help desk support

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Asset management
• Equipment inventory
• System installation information
• Service management
• Warranty information
• Reminders of next preventive maintenance
• Service history

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Telephone system interface
• Manages large number of incoming and outgoing
  calls
• Links to Communication and Information Resource
• E-mail
• Internet
• Online help
• Product documentation
• Problem archives

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Help Desk Software Features (continued)

• Statistical reports
• Predefined reports
• Abandonment rate (callers who hang up)
• Number of unresolved incidents
• Average length of time on hold
• Average time to resolve problems
• Productivity of agents
• Inventory control reports
• Frequently asked questions
• Customizable interface and reports
• Augment built-in reports to address specific needs

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Popular Help Desk Software Packages

• Large-scale Operations
• Remedy Help Desk
• Peregrine ServiceCenter
• Magic Solutions Service Desk
• Clientele for Help Desks

• Small or Mid-scale
• HelpTrac
• Track-It!
• Manage-IT!
• Soffront Customer Helpdesk
• BridgeTrak

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HelpTrac Contact Information for user Kevin
Barnes
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HelpTrac Problem Ticket from Kevin Barnes
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HelpTrac Solution Tree Database Record
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HelpTrac Sample Management Report
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Computer Telephony Systems

• Computer telephony is the integration of computer
  and telephone technology into a seamless help
  desk tool
• Automated Call Distributor (ACD) is a computer
  telephony system that automates the first steps
  in incident management
• answer calls
• greet callers
• provide menus
• route the call to support agents

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Computer Telephony Systems (continued)

• Goals
• Reduce amount of time and cost to respond to
  calls and route them to support agents
• Collect information about performance of help
  desk operation
• Monitor calls
• Problems
• Reputation for poor customer service
• Poor design of menus
• Lengthy hold times
• Repetitious requests for information
• Dropped calls

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Interactive Voice Response

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems let
  users interact with a database of information
• User presses keys on telephone handset
• User speaks simple words into telephone
• IVRs can be programmed with decision-tree logic
  to
• ask and answer questions
• without a human agent

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Web-based Support

• Product information
• Order entry
• Rebate status
• Automated responses to information requests
• Online documents
• Software downloads
• Troubleshooting wizards

• Knowledge bases
• Search engine
• Chat rooms
• E-mail links to staff
• Submit problem reports
• Contact information
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Links to related sites

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Web Support Advantages

• Lower cost to provide support than other methods
• Makes users more self-reliant
• Reduces errors due to misinformation and
  miscommunication
• Eliminates user time spent waiting on phone for
  help desk agent

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E-mail Support Advantages

• E-mail is asynchronous
• user and support staff do not have to be
  available online at exactly the same time
• E-mail responses make more flexible use of
  support agents time
• E-mail responses to frequent questions can be
  composed in advance and then pasted into messages

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Impact of Web and E-mail Use on Support Staff

• More efficient use of support staff resources
• Writing skills become more important for support
  staff than telephone skills
• Quick recall is less important than ability to
  locate information
• Ability to listen is less important than ability
  to read and understand
• Customer service skills remain important

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Impact of Intranets on Support Staff

• An Intranet is a network modeled after the
  Internet with information organized into Web
  pages
• Facilitates communication between an
  organizations employees and support staff
• Uses familiar technology
• Web browser
• Search engine
• Provides better security for communication than
  the Internet

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Trends in Help Desk Operations

• Outsourcing
• will reduce need for telephone support agents who
  serve external clients in US
• will have less impact on support agents who serve
  internal clients
• Greater reliance on electronic mail and the
  Internet to provide support
• Increases in support staff productivity with
  remote diagnosis
• Remote diagnosis is the use of a help desk
  computer to connect to a remote users computer

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Trends in Help Desk Operations (continued)

• Increased use of voice recognition and artificial
  intelligence in support products
• Help desk operations will become more proactive
  (anticipate user problems) and less reactive
• Help desks will play significant role in client
  relationship management (CRM)
• Client relationship management (CRM) is a
  business process that aims to meet the needs of
  clients by providing excellent client service

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Trends in Help Desk Operations (continued)

• Certification of help desk professionals and
  their knowledge and skills will become more
  common and an expectation in the job market
• Future help desk managers will need better
  information for decision making

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Chapter Summary

• The goal of help desk operations is to provide
  clients with a single point of contact for
• Information requests
• Problem resolution
• The steps in the incident management process are
  designed to effectively and efficiently manage
  the process of handling an incident

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Chapter Summary (continued)

• Several hardware and software tools are used to
  manage incidents
• Help Desk Software packages
• Computer telephony systems
• Automated Call Distributor (ACD)
• Interactive Voice Response( IVR)
• Web-based support
• Future help desk trends will continue to impact
  the support industry