Confidence restored when HEAT came on
Staff and students at Unitec were rapidly losing faith in the ability of the IT department’s helpdesk to answer their technical queries on time. That is until the tertiary institution turned on the HEAT...
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With a large staff and student customer base, Unitec’s Information Technology department's helpdesk challenges were many. Communicating job status to customers, tracking details of change requests and managing external contractors, was all difficult, whilst there were performance issues with the incumbent helpdesk database. This, in turn, affected the helpdesk’s ability to accurately report on expected and actual response times and service level agreements with the schools on both campuses. As Virginia Hunt, customer support services manager, information technology, at Unitec, explains, “We meet with representatives from each school on a monthly basis and provide a report on the number of helpdesk calls logged from within their schools, and the expected and actual call response and resolution times in line with our service level agreements (SLAs). “However, until recently, our call logging system didn’t provide email confirmation to customers when a call was logged or resolved. As a result, staff and students had to make multiple calls to the helpdesk requesting job status, which contributed to a lack of faith in the helpdesk in general.” Without an accurate call tracking system, the helpdesk also had to contend with multiple calls for the same technology problem. For example, teaching staff members may log multiple jobs for the same problem in a computer lab. “This resulted in multiple calls to the helpdesk and a strain on resources because multiple technical support staff were deployed to resolve the same job,” says Hunt. Resolving multiple assignments within the one job, such as establishing equipment and connections for a staff change request, was also difficult. “When a new staff member starts on campus, they need a new computer, phone and all the necessary connections. Because we couldn’t create multiple assignments for one job, we also couldn’t drill down into the job profile to determine if a particular connection was delaying the entire change request process,” says Hunt. Unitec formulated a list of business requirements, which it took to market for an IT service management solution. “We needed an accurate call logging system with a Web-based interface to enable customers to track the status of their jobs online. We also wanted the quick call feature to ensure that the Help Desk team logged all the jobs they solved. Also on the wishlist was a system that had the ability to record shared assets against particular user profile sets, and a more streamlined method to generate and meet our monthly SLA reporting requirements,” says Hunt. Solution “We purchased 27 licenses of FrontRange HEAT off the shelf, but Olympic Software played a key role in customising the solution to suit our particular needs. Olympic also trained two of our staff to perform additional customisations on our own,” says Hunt. Results The reports and queries extracted from HEAT have assisted staff involved with incident and problem management. In addition, reported results can now be crosschecked against IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practice, in which many of Unitec’s IT staff are now trained. “We can now quickly and efficiently generate reports which, for example, show the number of calls logged by a particular school, and the percentage of calls met within the service level agreement expected response times. The HEAT system enables us to measure and report very accurately our performance against these SLAs and has improved the speed with which we can deliver these reports,” says Hunt. In addition, HEAT’s Quickcall feature enables helpdesk staff to quickly record information on jobs they resolve over the phone. “Data entry in the previous system was cumbersome to the point that staff didn’t bother to log smaller jobs, so having this information available has greatly increased the accuracy of our reports by showing the high percentage of jobs that are resolved at the first point of contact,” says Hunt. The Web-based interface and email confirmations also mean staff and students can track the status and progress of their jobs. “With every job that is logged within the HEAT system, the customer receives an email confirming the job has been logged, the call description, the priority it has been assigned and the agreed response time, which means they are no longer placing repeat calls to the helpdesk. This has increased overall customer satisfaction with the helpdesk by providing customers with a feedback mechanism to rate the quality of service that the IT helpdesk provides. “Current feedback indicates the IT department has significantly improved its understanding of customer needs, as customers now have a lot more faith that calls will be logged and resolved within the agreed times,” explained Hunt. This transparency also extends to IT helpdesk staff using the system. “Because HEAT allows us to create multiple assignments within one job, we can now pinpoint delays in staff change requests, such as setting up voicemail or a computer log-in, and take action quickly and efficiently. This also ties into the asset recording features, which allow us to record any new equipment that is brought onto campus and to link it to a particular user or school’s profile,” explains Hunt. Conclusion “Information Technology staff have since customised and implemented 12 licenses of the HEAT helpdesk system to enable the Facilities Management department to log and track maintenance calls across both campuses,” says Hunt. “Another service department, the Copy Centre, will soon use FrontRange HEAT to track and record job information,” adds Hunt. |
July 2005
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