Service Support

• Help Desk / Service Desk
• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Configuration Management
• Change Management
• Release Management

Service Desk: Define Stage

Scope

The Service Desk or Help Desk acts as the primary support liaison between customers or end users and the technology staff. It is responsible for receiving reports of incidents that affect individuals and groups of end users. It is generally considered to be effective only if the Service Desk is able to resolve a significant percentage of requests upon first contact. The Service Desk is generally the coordinator of incident resolution and acts as a communication point both to end users and technologists for incidents.

Opportunities

Creating clear channels for reporting incidents and obtaining resolution has a very positive effect on the overall organization. Keeping end users up and running means that sales representatives are able to spend more time selling, accounts receivable is able to spend more time collecting revenue, and forecasting is able to spend more time optimizing inventory levels. IT support, especially the Service Desk, is a key enabler for improved business performance.

Key Activities

• Act as the single point of contact for customers.
• Classify incidents and assign the severity level.
• Own the incident control process and monitor progress of resolution.
• Reporting of incidents.
• Dissemination of relevant information to end users.

Critical to Quality (CTQ) Goals

• Availability - How quickly the service desk responded to the call or email.
  
• Turn Around Time - How quickly the end-user's request was satisfied.
  
• Communication - How adequately the service desk communicated with the end-users.
  
• Courtesy - How well the analyst listened and empathized with the end-user.