Use Cases Logica ASP Help Desk

Development of recommendations for automating an IT Help Desk Mark Kane Contact me at:mk01693@yahoo.com BSc. Business Computing 2001 -1- School of Computing University of Abertay, Dundee Table of Contents Chapter 1 Help Desks ..................................................................................................................................... 3 1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 2.0 What is a Help Desk? ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Escalation Procedures ..........................................................................................................................11 1.3 Service Level Agreements ....................................................................................................................15 1.4 Help Desk software .............................................................................................................................15 1.5 In-house Vs Off the shelf.....................................................................................................................16 1.6 Knowledge Technologies ....................................................................................................................18 1.7 Web Support ........................................................................................................................................21 1.8 Reporting Tools ...................................................................................................................................23 1.9 Self Support Tools/Remote Access/live support .................................................................................24 1.10 Summary ...........................................................................................................................................27 2.0 Chapter 2 - Method .................................................................................................................................29 2.1 Interviewing .........................................................................................................................................29 2.2 Participative Observation ....................................................................................................................31 2.3 UML ....................................................................................................................................................32 2.5 Analysis ...............................................................................................................................................37 2.5.1 Overview of Oil Company IT services and an IT consultancy Help Desk ...................................37 2.5.2 The Help Desk ..............................................................................................................................38 2.5.3 Call Database ................................................................................................................................40 2.5.4 SLA (Service Level Agreement) ..................................................................................................41 2.5.5 Super Services ..............................................................................................................................42 2.5.6 Engineering Consultants ...............................................................................................................42 2.6 Overview of Help Desk Diagram 1 ..................................................................................................43 2.7 UML Models .......................................................................................................................................44 2.7.1 Use Case Diagrams .......................................................................................................................44 .7.2 Use Cases Problem Process Scenarios ...........................................................................................44 2.7.2.1 Use Case Senario 1 ................................................................................................................44 -2- 2.7.2.2Use Case Senario 2 .................................................................................................................44 2.7.2.3Use Case Senario 3 .................................................................................................................44 2.7.2.4Use Case Senario 4 .................................................................................................................44 2.7.2.5Use Case Senario 5 .................................................................................................................45 2.7.3 State Diagram for Class Calls .......................................................................................................46 2.7.4 Sequence Diagram of use case 1 ..................................................................................................47 2.7.5 Sequence Diagram of use case 2 ..................................................................................................48 2.7.6 Sequence Diagram of use case 3 ..................................................................................................49 2.7.7 Sequence Diagram of use case 5 ..................................................................................................50 2.7.7 Sequence Diagram of use case 5 ..................................................................................................51 ..................................................................................................................................................................53 3.0 Conclusions .........................................................................................................................................54 3.1 Web FAQ’s ......................................................................................................................................54 3.2 Web Knowledge Base .....................................................................................................................55 3.3 Self-support tools.............................................................................................................................55 3.3.1 Suggested Model for Support Diagram 2 .........................................................................56 3.4 Change and Asset Management.......................................................................................................56 3.5 Cross Party solution/Off shelf software ...........................................................................................57 3.6 Reporting Tools ...............................................................................................................................60 3.5 Summary/Future work .....................................................................................................................60 Appendices Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………………………………… .60 Appendix 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 73 Chapter 1 Help Desks 1.0 Introduction Help Desks in organisations are very important to the running of organisations. Over the last decade or so we have seen the model for the Help Desk change from being a basic IT Help Desk that solves users problems to a more business orientated support centre Thomas (1996). The Help Desk has emerged as very important part of organisations and has been recognised as a place where organisation can gain competitive advantage. We have seen the proliferation of organisations providing support for Help Desk managers such as the Help Desk.com, The Help Desk institute Help Desk Online and -3- others. These provide the latest information on Help Desk organisation. These magazines have established the Help Desk an important element within organisations. In 1999, the costs worldwide Help Desks were approximately 23 billion dollars and are set grow for at next several years according to the International Data Corporation. (Monaghan 1999) There is some research available that has been done in Academia that have tried to identify successful implementations in Help Desk though they have not focused on the Software used in Help Desk Marcella and Middleton(1996). The Internet provides a good source with information available Organizations like the Help Desk Online, Help Desk institute, and others. The information is somewhat generalized and scattered; this dissertation will be looking using software to make the Help Desk more effective and efficient. This paper cannot give a software strategy for every Help Desk but some of criteria that can be applied to most Help Desks. The paper discusses different definitions of a Help Desk and has come up with a definition that is most appropriate to large organizations and well organized Help Desks. -4- 2.0 What is a Help Desk? “A Help Desk is a generic name typically associated with the end user support center. Increasingly, the Help Desk is being seen as an integral part of the service function, responsible for bringing multiple resources to bear to solve issues to the client's satisfaction.” (Vergis 1998) Help Desk Definition “An Organisation that provides technical support for users internally or externally to the company”(Microsoft Source Book 1997) A Help Desk is a part of the overall support mechanism that is responsible for the IT function in such areas as rolling out new software, writing software and developing -5- software. Most writers define the Help Desk as a technical function that is placed in an organisations IT Department. As Vergis (1998) wrote in the popular Help Desk FAQ’s website that the Help Desk is a general term that is applied to the support function. Bruton (1995) writes that in many organisations the entire support function is called the “Help Desk” which would include selecting PCs and installation. It may also include network and communications support. In a British Library report. Help Desks: An analysis of areas critical to Help Desk development and functionality by Middleton and Marcella (1996) found that there is no definition of a Help Desk that is agreed by everyone. They found that Help Desks are typically internal, usually within an IT department or under customer services department. They concluded Help Desks are typically responsible for supporting software applications, making repairs, adjustments to systems. Help Desks are also responsible for inventory management, selecting equipment and statistical reports. Help Desks support user training but to a lesser extent. The capability and form of user support provided varies depending on the organisation. Bruton(1995) wrote that user support comes in different forms. He divides support into the following forms: -6-  Help Desk : This typically provides support to users by a telephone, email, and fax to answer user queries and solve as many problems as possible. The Help Desk may be there to provide support for simple problems and escalate this on to other groups.  Technical Support : Its function is to provide solutions to technical problems, which may sound the same as his definition of a Help Desk, it is generally more of a source of information and guidance than actually providing solution in this respect it differs from the Help Desk.  Research and Development : Users go here when the resources of the Help Desk are not adequate; this could be used where a product has a bug. This can be provided by the software supplier or within the organisation.  Technical Library : This is another form of support, it manages technical documentation. Users can find documentation on software to help them. It only enables the user to help themselves rather than directly solving their problem.  User Group Representative : A certain group of users or a department will have a user who is experienced in using the applications they use. This user will be an expert in -7- the software and can filter out problems before going to the Help Desk or Technical Services. This is a popular method of support.  Workstation Management and System Maintenance : Users are supported in making a list of their requirement of software, hardware. PCs may have software installed that changes certain settings. If a PC is moved then a technician will be need to set up the PC in the new location. System maintenance involves replacing hardware when it malfunctions rather than waiting for the supplier to replace the hardware. The Help Desk provides IT support to help users in organisations do their tasks effectively and efficiently. A Help Desk is typically a function of an organisation where information technology problems are fixed and is preventative measures are taken. The Help Desk is usually a centralised point within an organisation. More than just fixing problems the Help Desk is proactive to in trying anticipate likely problems, find malfunctions, interruptions or network such as communications, revision levels, compatibility, configurations and capacities(Thomas 1996). Thomas (1996) defines two types of Help Desk, External Help Desks and an Internal Help Desk. This dissertation shall look at Internal Help Desks. Internal Help Desks operate within organisations and provide support for users within the organisation. They solve problems for users in all the different departments in an organisation. Typically the -8- Internal Help Desk supports the infrastructure such as the networks, PCs and peripherals. Internal Help Desks will deal with application problems and operating system problems. External Help Desks are typically set up by software vendors to provide product support. This can be in the form of product updates/bug fixes, providing help with installing and using the software. Typical User Support in Organisation: Diagram 1 USER REPRESENTATIVE USER FROM ALL DEPARTMENTS TECHNICAL LIBRARY INTERNAL HELP DESK RESEARCH AND DEVELOPME NT -9- WORK STATION MAINTENCE AND SYSTEM MANAGEMENT THIRD PARTY/EXTERNAL HELP DESKS TECHNICAL SERVICES/SPECIALI SED HELP DESK From the diagram 1 above you can see that a typical Help Desk act as a means of communication between the entire IT resources within an organisation. The Help Desk is the customer front line on a technical function. However some organisations may not have for example workstation and system management functions as this is contracted out to an External Help Desk. No Technical Library defined within the support function. There may only be a simple internal Help Desk to solve user queries and the Support Analysts on the Help Desk carries everything out. This diagram is an example of support in a large organisation where the problem management is well defined. Simple application/hardware problem are solved at the Help Desk or by the User representative. When a problem cannot be solved then it can be escalated and passed on to a specialised Help Desk or support could be gained using vendors External Help Desk.Often users will phone up the Help Desk looking for software, in this case the Help Desk would pass the problem on to technical services. (Bruton 1995) It is the job of the Help Desk to try to solve as many of the user problems as possible. When the problem cannot be solved then the Help Desk has to decide if the problem is escalated. When the problem is escalated it has to be passed on; the Help Desk has to decide where the solution to this problem will be found. - 10 - 1.2 Escalation Procedures Most Help Desks try to treat the simple problems over the phone and by email immediately or within a few days. Typically these problems are recorded in a database by a first line support. If they cannot be solved they are passed to second line support that are more experienced and look into the problem in more detail or they may be passed to an outside company. First Line support are used for general application support and try to solve problems within a certain time, that has been defined in the SLA(Service level agreement). They try to solve a wide range of problems on large selection of hardware or and software, of course this is dependent on what the Help Desk supports. The second level support will have a more in depth knowledge of smaller group of applications. Support is divided divided up the different part of the areas of the business. Such as business applications, and mathmatical software applications. This is divided into areas where the Support Analysts are expert. Second line Support Analysts are more experienced therefor they will be Support Analysts, technicians and programmers. Beyond second line support some organisations have a of third line support. The staff are usually very experienced possibly a senior programmer. Any problem that cannot be dealt with by second level support or the vendor are passed to third level support. First level support will usually be less experienced analysts and may be in training, their job is to try to solve the initial problem over the phone or by email. - 11 - Typical Help Desk Escalation Path (Adapted from Microsoft Help Desk Source Book) Diagram 2 Incident Reported USER/USER REPRESENTATIVE TECHNICAL LIBRARY Yes Support Analyst attempts to Solve problem Is Incident Resolved Incident Closed No FIRST LINE SUPPORT Yes INTERNAL HELP DESK - 12 - Support Analyst passes to second Line Support. Yes SECOND LINE SUPPORT TECHNICAL SERVICES SPECIALISED HELP DESK R&D/SYSTEM MAINTENCE Alternative Resources used second Line Support work to find solution. Is Incident Resolved No Is Incident Resolved Supplier Resources Used No Is Incident Resolved EXTERNAL HELP DESK Yes Second line support divides up Typical types of Problems. When aproblem cannot be solved and it appears more difficult then the support analyst has to decide where to pass the problem. Network problems are passed to either Technical services or System Management depending on the problem. The Help Desk may work with system management to find a solution to the problem. Problems software that cannot be solved by first line support it is passed to possibly a specialised Help Desk that specifically deals with this software and where the Support - 13 - Analysts have an in-depth knowledge of the software. The specialised Help Desk or second line support will try to solve the problem. In the case where they cannot deal with the problem they will work in conjunction with an External Help Desk of the supplier of the software to find a resolution. As mentioned earlier third level support may deal with the problem. A user representative for that software may work between the Help Desk and the vendor. The user representative can act as a useful source of information about the software. Users need expert knowledge on how to carry out tasks,which is quite advanced, they can contact the user representative, which may be done via the Help Desk if the user does not know the user representative. Users call the Help Desk call the Help Desk to get software installed. The Help Desk will then pass this on to Technical services who will go send out a technician to install the software in person or remotely. In the case of hardware not working then the first line support will pass this on to technical services and they can ether replace it or deal with an external Help Desk to correct the problem. Users may need a functions added to an application then it may be passed to their R&D team who can add a function by writing a macro or contacting the programs author to aid writing the code. Of course this may be the case with only in-house applications and cannot be used for typical off the shelf software. - 14 - 1.3 Service Level Agreements Help Desk have agreements with their customers or users these are known as SLA (Service level agreements) this tells the user of what levels of service to expect from the Help Desk. Although not every Help Desk has a SLA they may be have an informal standard level of service it offers to its customers. The SLA is formal document written and signed by both the client being served and the provider of the Help Desk. It gives everyone involved expectations of what the Help Desk will do, defining such things as the hours of service and agreed length of time for resolution of problem. The service level agreement is used to give an overview to management of what the service will provide. This gives the Help Desk a business purpose and helps everyone involved discuss the services available within the Help Desk and helps remove ineffencies. Bruton (1995) writes that SLA is best used in large organisation were the Help Desk is well organised and were the support is largely repetitive. For any organisation were the Help Desk has been outsourced a SLA is a must, so the service provider is compelled to provide the level of service they agreed to. 1.4 Help Desk software Help Desk software systems used in organisations are typically used to record faults. These users name will be on the record of the fault, saying what the problem is, how the problem was resolved and by whom. Faults can be assigned to a particular person. Middleton and Marcella (1996) found that 62.1% of UK Help Desks used some sort of - 15 - Call logging software/tracking system. These faults can be received typically received via email, telephone and over the web. As with the organisation of the Help Desk the type of software system used will depend on the type of Help Desk services provided. Thomas (1996) writes that to cope with demand for the Help Desk services. Help Desks are using call-handling software to record and track calls. Typically call tracking software works by recording the details of a problem, obviously not every problem will be recorded only problems that have come to the second line support from first line support. The customer details as mentioned previously are recorded and the problem is given the status open until the problem has resolved then it is recorded as closed. Within call tracking software there is usually a way of specifying the importance of a problem. Thomas (1996) writes that outstanding calls should be continually highlighted therefore any service level agreement can be met and this should be visable to everyone. Support analysts should be prompted by the system to enter the Call information in a IT Consultancyl manner. 1.5 In-house Vs Off the shelf Marcella and Middleton(1996) found that most of organizations are now using off the shelf software. The main packages on the market are supplied by Goldmine System, Onyx Software, Broadbase software which are used in both internal Help Desks and External Help Desks. - 16 - These are well tested and are used in a multitude of organizations therefore this makes them attractive to implement. There seems is agreement that off the shelf is better. Nearly all the companies in the Fortune 500 are using slightly customized version of the main off the shelf software products. These packages have a range of different modules with call tracking facilities, reporting tools, expert system functionality integration with management tools. The vary in price for very expensive tool used for major organisation to freeware tools. Some organisations go ahead and develop their own software. Marcella and Middleton (1996) found that a significant numbers of organisations are using in-house solutions though not as the many as are using off the shelf software. The general consensus is that an off the shelf solution is better than in-house because of the complexities of developing the software and increased support. However it may not always be appropriate to use an off the shelf product. The organisation used in the Case Study for this dissertation developed an in-house product because no commercial product satisfied their requirements fully. Another factor is the huge cost of purchasing licences for a large support organisations, which can lead them to using an in-house solution. In a paper written by Black, Saul and Larsson (2000) where they explored purchasing Help Desk software packages they found that none of the main packages on the market fully satisfied their requirements. There requirements was the ability to track in taken computers, record action to solve problems, to keep track where in the repair process a computer is. Thomas (1996) is against developing in-house Help Desk software, he - 17 - writes “if you have a Help Desk then there is a product out there for”. In-house products work best where they are small and easy to develop. Although the advantage with in-house products is that they can customised exactly to the organisations needs and will run on the organisation systems. Off the shelf products advantages are that they are well established, generally less expensive and they are hundreds of hours work gone in writing the software. There is no lag between development and using software thereby giving a quicker return on money being invested. Another advantage with off the shelf products is that they often come in the form of modules, such as call incident tracking modules, asset management and these can be integrated together and modules added as requirements of the Help Desk change. 1.6 Knowledge Technologies Over time Call tracking software builds up a huge amount of information that can be exploited by Expert Systems technology. Marcella and Middleton (1996) found that Expert systems account for 29.7% and these are predominately in the private sector. Expert systems are suited to where there are a large number of Support Analysts and in they are popular in customer Help Desks where more resources are available. Barr (1990) says the use of knowledge technologies has been driven by Total Quality Management and the influence of GroupWare. Middleton (1998) says that the knowledge management - 18 - role within organisations is an important implication for the Help Desk. He says that the Help Desk can become a major item of intellectual capital. Indeed the Help Desk is becoming a focus of experts in knowledge management because the benefits are easily measured. Coventry and Kane (1992) give the reasons for automating the Help Desk is that there is a huge amount of software, increasing complexity of applications, the diversity of calls means that no one person can be an expert in every area. They believe that using an Expert Systems to help maintain knowledge and acquire knowledge from various sources helps in the diagnosis of problems. However Bruton (1995) warns against the use of relying on knowledge bases. A knowledge base can be a source of useful information and past fixes, however he says that based on his experience these are only effective in a small amount of problem resolutions. Barr (1990) a consultant who specialises in the automation of Help Desk defines one the knowledge technologies as intelligent text retrieval. This means searching of databases and documents in parallel. The simplest use of Experts systems technology is the simple text retrieval where a search of past problems can be made to help with a solution to for to a new problem. A complete service history is available for that user therefore helping to diagnose if this problem has occurred before. Another is using hypertext to organise documents to browse quickly through documents. Other interesting technologies used in the Help Desk is Case based reasoning. This can more accurate in finding a solution to a problem than text retrieval. Basically what Case - 19 - Based reasoning does is looks for any similar problems to the problems being reported. Other interesting technologies such as Decision tree programming and Experts systems technology work along a similar principle only that the Support Analysts can work through a diagnosis of a problem. Experts put their trouble shooting knowledge into rules that are automated in the Expert system. Thomas (1996) says that Support Analysts can become proficient in their jobs through the use of experts systems. Support Analysts using expert systems facilities are increasing their knowledge about problem resolutions as they use the software. A study conducted for Hewlett Packard by Delic and Hollmer (2000) where they discuss how much a knowledge based system actually improves Help Desk performance. As been mentioned by various authors it is assumed that Knowledge bases increase performance in Help Desks . They performed a study over 18 weeks comparing how long Support Analysts took to solve a call using a knowledge base compared not using the knowledge base. They found that the knowledge base speeded up performance by 10.76 percent. Which mean that with a knowledge base it took 17.84 minutes overall average using a knowledge base and not using a knowledge base. the average time was brought down to 15.92 minutes using only the knowledge base. Other studies discussed in the paper was one by the Gartner group which found that a knowledge based system made the speed of the call increase by 22 percent. - 20 - The paper concludes by reiterating what other authors have found that knowledge based systems have more of an impact than just call resolutions but they impact on the overall learning of the organisation and personnel training. However knowledge technologies are not suited to all Help Desk environments they are at their most effective when used in large customer support environments where they calls are of repetitive nature. The use of Expert system is not advised where the information is changing week to week. Barr (1990) advises that Case Based reasoning tools approach is better where information is changing regularly. Purchasing these tools can be expensive plus there is the effort involved in engineering the knowledge can take a lot of resources. They are most commonly used in first line support for providing answers to simple queries. The Support Analysts using the knowledge base does no have to expensive skilled programmers and technicians. These types of knowledge have been implemented successfully in such things like large PC support environments. They are less effective in second and third line support where they are mainly configuration problems and high levels of skills are needed. 1.7 Web Support Knowledge bases are increasing being deployed over the Web. This has implications for Help Desks. Since one of the strengths of the Internet is its way of deploying knowledge. These knowledge bases are being deployed using company Intranets. As the Internet has only become really popular in organisations recently so these web enabled knowledge bases have popped up in Help Desk software packages over the last 5 years or so. - 21 - On a practical level what this actually means is first of all Support Analysts being able to search for through problem fixes as they had done previously the difference being that it is deployed over the internet so it can be accessed from anywhere. Very useful if the Help Desk is over a few geographical locations. Another benefit is the ability to be able to post the status of a call for customers to check on the Help Desk. This allows users to check the resolution to their problem on the internet is being solved rather than contacting the Help Desk and using up a Support Analysts time. Another benefit is that customers can post their problem over the Internet. Rather than using an email this makes the user specify his or her problem in the same format as everyone else. Vergis (1998) writes that some sites have actively providing a service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Users can post problem, check the status of their problem, use web support 24 hours a day rather than only office hours. Another way in which the Web is making an impact is through FAQ’s (Frequently asked Questions). Support Analysts create web pages with FAQ’s, that are lists of solution to the most commonly asked questions. Instead of contacting the Help Desk at the first sign of a simple problem users can view the FAQ’s page and look for a solution to their problem. If the solution is tricky to implement then they can contact the Help Desk, this can cut down drastically on the calls to the Help Desk therefore allowing Support Analysts to work on more complex problems. As with knowledge bases FAQ’s are only effective for first line support environments. - 22 - According to Burdett (1999) preparation of the information is essential the Help Desk has to decide what information is stored. The level of support has to be decided for instance should simple answers queries only be put on or should all types answers to problem even if the might prove too difficult to carry out for the average user. The solutions should constantly updated by Support Analysts. Burdett (1999) says that according to some experts first line support will be replaced completely by web based support or esupport . Although Kilton (1999) who is a consultant in support environments argues that Web based support can never replace human because it does not create customer loyalty and customer don’t want to get lost in a maze of hyperlinks. Web support should be used in conjunction with human support and the web site needs to developed well with all types of user in mind. 1.8 Reporting Tools Help Desk software should provide reporting tools to make sense of all the information recorded. This enables the manager to assign resources to a particular application or section of the Help Desk. McGarahan (2000) says, “if you don’t measure it, you can’t improve upon it!” Help Desks collect a huge amount of data from call handling databases and this need to be collated and presented in a useful format. This information is very useful to planning the future of a Help Desk. They show the changes over time in the Help Desk. These reports can be produced on a standard basis to measure the performance on a weekly or monthly basis or at Ad-hoc depending on the wishes of the manager. - 23 - Reporting tools will typically show the performance of the Help Desk, the about extended and overall volume of call and this help show how productive Support Analysts. How costly the Help Desk operation and what reports could be the amount of calls that week, percentage resolved within SLA, Call open etc. There is a host of different types of reports available. Microsoft Help Desk Sourcebook (1997) Bruton (1995) raises an interesting point saying that Help Desk software should record all incidents, for example simple problems solved over the phone by first line support should be recorded to show a more accurate account of the call levels. The reason for the Help Desk being there has to be justified therefore the true level of use should be reflected in management reports. 1.9 Self Support Tools/Remote Access/live support Self support tools are another way for the Help Desk to lessen the reliance on Support Analysts. Organisations using self supports tool for simple support procedures. As with knowledge bases and Web support this can reduce the amount of calls received by the Help Desk therefore allowing Support Analysts to work on more difficult problems. These self-support tools are being provided on company Intranet and Internet portals. These Self-support tools provide features such as password resets; self-diagnostic and healing programs and PC reset tools. Monaghan (1999) says that organisations such as PC manufactures and software companies are using self-support tools not just as another support method as a way of building up adding value to the Help Desk. Although at the - 24 - moment they only provide basic support functions but it is expected in the future that the functionaility of these tools will increase. Monaghan (1999) gives some examples of the impact self support tools, where Compaq have made saving of 20 percent using Self support Tool and HP currently have about 20 % of total support in self support tools. The big successes have IBM support portal and PC manufactures such as Dell. Soon this type of support will be used in internal first line support environments. Kris Britain of Gartner research group says that self support tools are still immature and only part of the overall support package (Monaghan 1999). They would only be useful in first line support dealing with simple problem and obviously cannot be used for complex problems. Along with self-support tools live support tools are being used where user can chat over the web with an analyst rather than using the telephone. This has advantages obviously in savings of phone cost and could be useful for leaving one person dedicated to providing advice and support for users. Another method used in Help Desk is remote access tools such as PC Anywhere. Which allow one user to take complete control of another PC from a remote location. Support Analysts can diagnose and resolve problem from a remote location rather than despatching an analyst this obviously has saving on the costs of sending out an analyst. However putting remote access tools on every user PC within an organisation is too expensive therefore these tools should be used where user is located for example in area where there no support Support Analysts in the vicinity. - 25 - - 26 - 1.10 Summary Simply purchasing a Help Desk to use on an already poor Help Desk model will not help matters. A good organisation model needs to be established before any software is used. The range of services, SLA (service level agreements) and levels of support need to be considered. Off the Shelf products give better solutions than using in-house software simply because these off the shelf products are tried and tested by the best in the industry. As discussed in the chapter these off the shelf packages have call tracking databases, expert’s systems technology, reporting tools and web access. These features are often contained in one software product. For example, a manager may purchase the calltracking module of the vendor’s software, after using this they may wish to purchase the expert systems technology module and then this could be deployed using the Web knowledge base module. The other option is to purchase these tools separately, although it is better to use one vendor. In the chapter the various types of expert system technologies were discussed in this chapter, in reality a Help Desk software product may use all these techniques or only a few of them. Knowledge bases and web support are popular in large first line support environments where the nature of support is repetitive therefore managers need to decide how may similar call are coming in and whether this warrants building a knowledge base. Good reporting tools give an indication of the range of call and are essential in planning the Help Desk. Self support tools are relatively new and are being used in external Help - 27 - Desks, but they will make their way into Internal Help Desks. These are the different way of cutting down on the barrage of call received by first line support environments. The problem they receive range from simple problems and queries that can be solved by a user finding the solution over the web or by Non-IT staff using a knowledge base. Not only are knowledge bases useful for first line support but they increase the overall knowledge and learning in the organisation. Therefore, everyone in the organisation benefits with an well-organised and efficient Help Desk. The use of software tools is one element in organising an effective Help Desk. Other elements such as getting the right staff, Business Alignment, problem management, communicating with Users, integration with Change and Asset Management are beyond the scope of this project. They will only be discussed briefly in areas where the effective use of software is blurred in the final recommendation in Chapter 3. - 28 - 2.0 Chapter 2 - Method This is a case study using an oil company in the UK Help which is provided by an IT consultancy company. None of the names of the companies has been mentioned therefore they will refered to as Oil company and IT consultancy. 2.1 Interviewing It is essential the current system is investigated thoroughly, for this dissertation two data gathering techniques will used. The first method is interviewing. This will involve interviews on two levels. The first interview is with a Support Analyst. The second interview is with a Portfolio Manager. From the Data gathered in these interviews the system is then modeled using UML. A structured interview is a useful way of finding out how a system works. It gives a good insight to how a system works. The system explored by talking directly with users of the system rather than looking at company documents, organization charts which are out of date and inaccurate. Fitzgerald (1987) argues that a formal interview is better than informal interview or having a chat with the user. The were questions written out before the interview, this puts the interviewee at ease so they know that the interview is well structured and gives more confidence in the analyst. - 29 - In order to prepare the interviewees questions had been emailed to both the Support Analyst and Portfolio Manager before the interview to prepare them. Fitzgerald (1987) says that the interview method should depend on the person interviewing. Using an informal approach is another approach if the interviewer is so inclined. For the interviews, both the formal and informal approaches are used in the two interviews. Informal questions depending on the answers to the formal questions. This makes the interview less daunting to the interviewee and more like a friendly discussion. The two interviews will be tape recorded and transcribed. The first interview with the Support Analyst. The purpose of this is to gain an understanding of how the Help Desk works, who works on the Help Desk, how many people work on the Help Desk, what are the procedures are carried out when a call comes in. The problem solving process is explored in further detail. The second interview is with a Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager is responsible for the support an entire portfolio of applications and manages a number of Support Analysts. The interview with the portfolio will give a different perspective on the Help Desk rather than using another Support Analyst which would replicate the results of the first interview. Some of the same questions asked as in the first interview are asked to verify the results of the first interview. Mostly new questions are asked looking at the Help Desk from a managerial perspective. This will give a better overview of where and why the Help Desk is there. - 30 - More than just gathering information on how the current system works Fitzgerald (1987) says that interviews can be a source of opinions and ideas experienced by staff that does not come across in other data gathering methods. This is evident in the questions in both interviews where they move on to asking on why current Help Desk software has been used and what their feelings are on how the Help Desk can be improved. The answers to these are likely to be more open ended based on the interviewee’s opinions. Based on these results and the research on Help Desk software these will be applied to the design of a proposed Help Desk and the findings on Help Desk software. Briton & Doake (2000) say that the interview can be a source of different types of information. From the interview it should lead to formal information that is already in formal documents such the in the case of Help Desks the SLA (Service Level Agreement) or Help Desk escalation procedures. It is expected that formal documents with procedures can found explaining how the problem management process. 2.2 Participative Observation Another method for data gathering in a system analysis that can be used is Particpative Observation. As the name suggests this, mean actually not only observing how the user carries out their tasks but going through the steps of carring out the users tasks. Avison & Fitzgerald (1995) write that observation can give a useful insight into problems, work conditions, and methods of work. - 31 - Although observation techniques take longer and can change the way users change their behavior if they are being viewed this will be needed to consolidate the results of the interview which are may not provide data. The observation results are used to back up the results of the interview to find any information that is missed out in the interview. The Support Analyst is observed using the Help Desk software to record the view and record the details of a call received. This will give an unbiased view of how the software and the problem solving process takes place rather than interviewing techniques which are biased based on the interviewees opinions. The observation will take place with the Support Analyst recording the calls and phoning up a user to confirm the call has been received, and is being worked on. Then after a demonstration of how problem solving works by the Support Analyst. We will then participate in the using the call tracking database right through recording a call through the problem solving process. No actual documentation will be recorded only notes taken and compared with the two interviews. 2.3 UML There is a wide range of systems development methodologies; they all have a different view of the development process. (Jayaratna 1994) Rather than using a full methodology such as SSADM, SSM or an object orientated methodology. A full methodology would be too large and cumbersome for this project. The aim of the project was to develop a prototype Help Desk application based on findings found on Help Desk software. The - 32 - Unified Modeling Language is notation for object orientated modeling techniques and it is not a full methodology yet. It is well used and is a defacto standard in industry. Although not a methodology, the modeling techniques can be used for analysis and design. Briton & Doake (2000) write that the methodology chosen has to be appropriate to the organization and the particular development context since it will have major factor in it successes. For this project, UML is appropriate because not all the modeling techniques have to be used, in that it is not as rigid as a methodology. The diagramming techniques within UML such as Use cases and Class Diagram are easily understood. Another reason is that there a lot of literature available on modeling systems in UML. The Analysis will explored using first a Use case diagram to give an overall view of Help Desk and the Actors in the System. In UML Actors are the people who interact with the system such as Customers and Support Analysts. Then Use case Scenarios are constructed showing all the different scenarios possible within the system. Use Case Scenarios are then converted into interaction diagrams can showing messages between the different Objects within the System. Only basic scenarios will be constructed not going into details of every possible scenario. Only the problem solving process will diagrammed, other areas such as software development, management processes would beyond the scope of this project. Therefore, the model will focus on the Help Desk organization and the problem solving process. - 33 - Furthermore the Class Diagram is constructed showing the different classes within the system. Then State diagrams can be used to show different states classes are in. There is no use of other techniques such as implementation diagrams. Based on the recommendations in the previous chapters they will go towards recommending a strategy for the Help Desk. - 34 - 2.4 Interview Summaries Interview Summary System: IT Consultancy Help Desk Project Ref: 02 Participant s Date:10/03/01 Mark Kane Portfolio Manager Time: 3:30 PM Duration: 30 Minutes Place: Managers Office Purpose of Interview: Second Interview to verify result of initial interview and look at Help Desk from a managerial perspective No m 1 Items The Help Desk provides first and second lines support. Mon-Fri 8:30–4:30 The Help is funded by various groups within the Oil company, and is there to provide a single point of contact for customers. First line supports capture, classify and priorise call. Second line support investigate, diagnose rectify and resolve problems. In comparison to other support done by IT Consultancy, this is very well organised and the model could be used for other businesses. Off the shelf software not used because, they did not have all the requirements of IT Consultancy. Globalisation in the Oil company Help Desk, therefore IT Consultancy may provide second level support in other Oil company companies Recommendations on using single incident reporting software, - 35 infrastructure and application support alignment alignment with change management and asset management Action 2 3 Find out more information type of problems reported to first and second line. 4 5 6 Interview Summary System: IT Consultancy Help Desk Project Ref: 01 Participant s Date:22/02/01 Mark Kane Support Analyst Time: 3:30 PM Duration: 30 Minutes Place: Analysts Office Purpose of Interview: Initial Interview to find out how Help Desk is Organised, Help Desk software works and any requirement for new Help Desk software. No m 1 Item General first line support Help Desk, most problems can be solved here. Problem then passed on second line support. 40 Support Analysts support 2500 users in two locations supporting approx. 200 application. Help Desk divided in 3 portfolios, and then into further sub portfolios. Action Look for documents on organisation 2 3 Problems reported by directly email, telephone, and via first line support. 4 Levels of service are defined in SLA between Oil company and IT Consultancy. Applications given status critical or non critical Problem passed from first line support then to second line support. Then customer contacted. Expert users on application used and third party vendors used. Organization very good not many problems. In-house developed Call tracking Database to record all call uses text retrieval and some reporting facilities. Rated as a good tool. Allowing customer to view status of a - 36 problem via web could be useful and alert messages showing how long before a call needs to solved. Gain more information on SLA 5 6 View and use software being used by Support Analysts 7 8 Look into using Web for Support 2.5 Analysis 2.5.1 Overview of Oil Company IT services and an IT consultancy Help Desk Oil Company has been produces British oil and gas. They have operated a joint 50/50 venture with other Oil companies. Oil Company is among the highest ranked in the UK based on its profit after tax. They produce oil, gas, and petrol for cars user and gas for domestic use in the United Kingdom. Oil Company Information Services is the name for there entire IT support organisation. They provide:  Full range of Information Technology and Telecommunication services - from PCs to telephones, to development of Oil Company specific applications for optimising production operations  In partnership with Oil Company Services International and an IT consultancy to provide expertise in all aspects of the IS supply chain  5000 customers in 80 locations, 45,000 emails sent per day Within Oil Company IS there is a three way partnership which is a Help Desk, Engineering Consultant and Super Services. Super Services provides technical support for applications and writes software specifically used by Oil Company worldwide. - 37 - Engineering Consultants are consultants, who provide advice, support and design proposals on software used. 2.5.2 The Help Desk The Help Desk provides first and second line support to a set of applications within Oil Company in various locations in the UK, both on shore and off shore applications in the North Sea. The Help Desk supports around 2500 customers in two locations. The people supported are mostly Well engineers and Finance staff with varying levels of IT knowledge. Using a general IT Help Desk this provides first line support and this is provided by Oil Company. First line support purpose is to solve user queries on using applications. First line support captures, classifies, and prioritizes the incoming calls. A telephone number know that is promoted throughout the oil company is used for the general Help Desk. This number provides a single point of contact for all user to contact the Help Desk. First line support will take calls or email and if they cannot solve the problem. They will pass it on to second level support or on to Super services depending on the nature of the problem. Second line support investigates and rectifies the problems. IT consultancy provides second line support. The Help Desk is divided into 3 areas, which are Subsurface, Surface, and Business Administration. There are approximately 40 Support Analysts who provide support mainly for configuration problems. - 38 - Within the three portfolios these are divided up in to small portfolios such as subsurface is divided in Well Engineering and Petrochemical applications. The largest portfolio is subsurface with around 20 analysts working in that department. The other portfolios have approximately 10 each. Surface Subsurface Business Admin Well Engineers IS Sub Portfolio Sub Portfolio Sub Portfolio Sub Portfolio Sub Portfolio Every sub portfolio will have one or sometimes two analysts providing second level support for a suite of applications. For example the Well Engineers IS support around 30 applications that are used by Well Engineers onshore and offshore.. The applications are specialist software that is used by Well Engineers offshore and onshore. There are several hundred applications in total supported. The Help Desk is manned by support analysts Mon –Fri 8:30 – 4:30. Each application supported will have an application focal point that is an expert user. The focal point may support a number of applications. Any questions that are asked such as - 39 - how to use the application, what can be done with the application is directed to the application focal point. A Support Analyst may contact the focal point for an application for guidance on solving a problem, the focal point may be familiar with the problem and can help the Analyst. In addition, the focal point can contact other users of the application to find whether they are experiencing the same problem and fins if is an application problem. The support analyst may have to contact software vendors if the analyst cannot solve a problem. Calls can come from a number of different sources. The most common way is through the Main Oil Company Help Desk where a call that cannot be solved by the first line support, it is then passed to second line support by passing it into a IT companies Call tracking Database. It can be picked up and assigned to the relevant Support Analyst. Another way in which calls are received is via an email to a generic email account where they are again passed to the relevant Analyst. Another way is that customer can directly contact second line support if they are sure that it a problem with an application. 2.5.3 Call Database IT consultancy uses an In-house Database to log all calls details. The application was created specifically for Oil Company and developed in MS Access 97. The application is used to log details of all calls, such as the status of the call, who the problem is being - 40 - solved for etc. The database has a list of all support analysts so calls can be assigned to the relevant analyst. Monthly reports are generated to give idea of how much time is being spent on a particular application that could be used to assign extra resources to that application. Ad-hoc queries are created easily for managers by using the facilities within MS Access 97. The software has searching facilities to allow analyst to search for the resolution to a problem by looking at previous solutions. This is only effective in a small number of problem but does provide a useful way of training up new support analysts. 2.5.4 SLA (Service Level Agreement) There is a Service Level Agreement between the IT consultancy and Oil Company. This specifies when time lengths within are to be solved. Calls are given the status critical or non-critical. Applications may be given the status depending on importance to the business. If people cannot do the job because an application does not work or where a large amount of downtime could cost a lot of money. The application would be given the status critical. Other applications that are not as important are given the status noncritical. The difference being critical applications have to be responded within 24 hours and resolved within 72 hours. Where as non-critical application have to be responded to within 72 hours and can be resolved within another week or two. Support for critical applications are more expensive than non-critical to the customer concerned. A call being given the status responded means that the analyst has back to the customer saying the call is being worked on. - 41 - 2.5.5 Super Services Super services support the Oil Company IT infrastructure. This means that Super Services looks after the Oil companies network, hardware and software maintenance. Having access to the network therefore they correspondingly look after giving users access to applications. Should a change have to be to an application IT consultancy would have contact Super Services with the changed applications would be put on to the Network. 2.5.6 Engineering Consultants Their role within the Help Desk is to provide user focal points for the every application. As mentioned before user focal points are expert users since most of the applications are specialist applications. They also make proposals on new releases, functionality, and design proposals on applications with third party vendors. - 42 - 2.6 Overview of Help Desk Diagram 1 USERS IT faults and Questions Patches, advise training/pilots Functionality and Advice OIL COMPANY IS HELP DESK - ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS SUPER SERVICES ASP Partnership 3rd party Advisors – ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS UESG Functionality Design Proposal Vendors New Releases Use Casesan IT consultancy ASP Help Desk - 43 - 2.7 UML Models 2.7.1 Use Case Diagrams .7.2 Use Cases Problem Process Scenarios 2.7.2.1 Use Case Senario 1     Customer phones/emails Oil Company Help Desk(First Line Support) with query Support Analyst listens/reads to customers query Support Analyst gives guidance with query Telephone call ends. 2.7.2.2Use Case Senario 2     Customer phones/emails Oil Company Help Desk(First Line Support) with problem with software Support Analyst attempts to solve problem over phone Support Analyst checks application is working Telephone call ends. 2.7.2.3Use Case Senario 3             Customer phones/emails Oil Company Help Desk(First Line support) with problem with software Support Analyst attempts to solve problem over phone Details of problem recorded after problem cannot be solved immediately Call Details passed to IT consultancy Help Desk(Second Line support) Call then passed to relevant Analyst for solving that problem Call logged as critical or non-critical Support Analyst contacts customer via email/phone to confirm call being worked on Support Analyst logs status of call as responded Support Analyst solves problem within agreed time on SLA using his/her knowledge. Support Analyst logs status of call as resolved Support Analyst contacts customer to find out if customer is happy with work Support Analyst logs call as Closed 2.7.2.4Use Case Senario 4     Customer phones/emails Oil Company Help Desk(First Line Support) with problem with software Support Analyst attempts to solve problem over phone Details of problem recorded after problem cannot be solved immediately Call Details passed to IT consultancy Help Desk(Second line Support) - 44 -           Call then passed to relevant Analyst for solving that problem Call logged as critical or non-critical Support Analyst contacts customer via email/phone to confirm call being worked on Support Analyst logs status of call as responded Support Analyst contacts Application focal point. Application Focal Point checks with other application users to check whether problem is with Users PC or is an application fault Fault is a fault with users PC therefore corrective action can be taken Support Analyst contacts customer to find out if customer is happy with work Support Analyst logs status of call as resolved Support Analyst logs call as closed 2.7.2.5Use Case Senario 5                  Customer phones/emails Oil Company Help Desk with problem with software Support Analyst attempts to solve problem over phone Details of problem recorded after problem cannot be solved immediately Call Details passed to IT consultancy Help Desk Call then passed to relevant Analyst for solving that problem Call logged as critical or non-critical Support Analyst contacts customer via email/phone to confirm call being worked on Support Analyst logs status of call as responded Support Analyst contacts Application focal point. Application Focal Point checks with other application users to check whether problem is with Users PC or an application fault Fault is appearing on other users of the software Contact third party vendor to solve application problem Solution passed back to IT consultancy and then passed to Super Services Solution tested by users Support Analyst logs status of call as resolved Support Analyst contacts customer to find out if customer is happy with work Support Analyst logs call as Closed. - 45 - 2.7.3 State Diagram for Class Calls Call made Wait for Call Call comes in Call Logged Customer contacted Call Responded Application Problem Not solved Application Problem solved Unresolved Resolved - 46 - Call Closed 2.7.4 Sequence Diagram of use case 1 Customer Oil Company Help Desk Query Application Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Consultancy Query resolution - 47 - 2.7.5 Sequence Diagram of use case 2 Customer Oil Company Help Desk Application Problem SLA Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Consultancy Resolution - 48 - 2.7.6 Sequence Diagram of use case 3 Customer Oil Company Help Desk Application Problem Application Problem SLA Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Consultancy Application Problem Details Recorded Details Call urgency Confirmation Call Status Responded Resolution Status resolved - 49 - 2.7.7 Sequence Diagram of use case 5 Customer Oil Company Help Desk Application Problem Solve Query/ Problem SLA Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Consultancy Application problem Call details recorded Call priority Confirmation Application Problem Application problem Guidance on resolution - 50 - 2.7.7 Sequence Diagram of use case 5 Customer Oil Company Help Desk Application Problem Application Problem SLA Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Passed toan IT consultancy Help Desk Call details Call priority Customer contacted Call logged as responded Customer Call Database IT consultancy Help Desk Super Services Vendors - 51 - Application problems Advice on Resolution Solution Call Logged as Resolved - 52 - Customers 2.7.9 Class Diagram 1 * Agreements HELP DESK ANALYST 1 * Application 1 * Calls Business Admin Surface Sub surface - 53 - 3.0 Conclusions In Help Desk environment there is no “silver bullet” solution to the typical problems that arise, with the amount of users increasing mean that no one is an expert in every area. However, things can be done to improve the efficiency. The oil company in the case study has very effective first line support, this has proved to be popular and efficient with users because of it the value of using a friendly personal service. The recommendations in these conclusions are based on the findings from the analysis in chapter 2, which included two interviews and participative observation. The findings are based on chapter 1, which was a discussion on Help Desk and the software solutions used in Help Desks. The conclusions are on divided up into 2 areas, the first area being on the user this will the use of Web knowledge bases, FAQ’s and Self support tools commonly known as esupport. The second will be with the Help Desk organisation such as alignment with the change management and asset management alignment. 3.1 Web FAQ’s The solutions are combination of different elements In first line support environments it is important to stop the sheer volume of calls that are received from genuine problems to idiotic questions. For the Oil Company in the case study they need to put up a Web page on the Intranet of Frequently asked questions. The type of problem will include simple problems such as how to reinstall software, how to reboot the PC, how to carry out a task in particular software. These should be built up over time by first line Support Analysts according to what they believe to most commonly received calls. Of course, this has to be promoted to all employees to use before they contact first line support. This will take - 54 - certain amount of time for employee to get to grips with; Support Analysts should where possible try to guide users to the web FAQ’s. These FAQ’s need to be updated overt time as products are updated. The FAQ’s are divided up in there different areas such as hardware solutions, software solutions and then into the different types of software. Obviously, FAQ’s are only going to be useful for first line support queries. 3.2 Web Knowledge Base Over time the Help Desk has built up huge amount of information on solutions to problem, this knowledge should be exploited by using expert system technologies and deploying this over the oil companies intranet. This would be useful not only for user searching for solutions over the Intranet or letting support analyst’s search for solutions using the knowledge base. Another way in which the knowledge base is to be exploited is allowing users to check the status of their problem, in the interview with the support analyst he said “I think one of the big problems which we find is that we spend so much time actually communicating with customers to tell them what action has been taken and how near we are to arriving to a solution” (Interview - Support Analyst 2001). The advantage of web knowledge bases is that the information is accessed from any PC that has a browser therefore allowing support analysts in remote location to search for solutions in the knowledge base. 3.3 Self-support tools - 55 - The next recommendation is purchase Self-support tools particularly remote users such as offshore users. These self-support tools are placed on the same web page as the FAQ’s within the Internet. This again cut downs the amount of time the support analyst has to spend dealing with the user. Obviously these self support tools are only useful in limited problem such as password reset and reset a PC, however as they become more commonly used in first line support environments they should deployed where they are deemed Advantageous over traditional support methods. These decisions have to be taken by management. Suggested Model for Support Diagram 2 Pre-emptive support Self support tools Web FAQs/Web Knowledge Base Self Service Email/Chat Web based assisted service Phone Direct contact with analyst Adapted from Support.com 3.4 Change and Asset Management - 56 - The portfolio manager said that the “Integration with Change and Asset Management within the oil company” (Portfolio Manager Interview 2001). Change management processes within the Oil Company are very important. All departments have to be made aware of what effect any changes will have on the organisation, therefore it is the recommendation that all Hardware and software should be placed under change management so the consequences of changes to the support environment are known in the oil company. Many off the shelf products have Change and Asset Management modules integrated. 3.5 Cross Party solution/Off shelf software The argument for using an in-house solution to call handling/knowledge base is a strong one because the exact requirement can be specified. In the interview with the support analyst he said “what the have done is captured the requirements which all the clients have and basically put these into one application” (Support Analyst Interview 2001). However, both the Consultancy Company and the Oil Company would benefit using an off the shelf software product. Now an off the shelf package is used for first line support and in second line support use an-house in-house software. It is recommended that first an off the shelf software product should be used for both the consultancy and oil company Help Desk, indeed the interview with the portfolio manager they recommended the “Adoption of single cross-partnership incident recording and reporting system” (Portfolio Manager interview 2001). - 57 - The product selected will need to run on the systems available within the oil company, they use windows 95/NT this should not be a problem as most products tun on Windows software. This is configured and used for both parties this would allow improved organisation in the problem management process. Currently when problem are passed on from first line support they are passed on via email into the consultancy companies’ inhouse software. “Adoption of single cross-partnership incident recording and reporting system” This would have a number of benefit firstly in that problem are passed and assigned to analysts in both first line support and second line support more effectively, secondly problems are recorded in the a uniform manner thereby increasing the reliability and quality of the information. It would lead to more comprehensive knowledge base of solutions in one source rather than in two sources. One option could be to engineer the information contained both the knowledge bases to the same format to make the presentation of information coherent, however this would take too much time and effort therefore the information the two knowledge bases should be put together in their present form. Better engineered knowledge was suit a Case based reasoning tools With regard to the actual software product selected this would require an investigation into the specific requirements, however there are in the region of 250 Help Desk software products in the UK. - 58 - Selecting the right product requires a thorough investigation, in an email interview with Help Desk Consultant Noel Bruton he says “measure the quantities, compare them with industry averages, assess the quality, define the service portfolio, assess its match to business needs, consider the structure, look at the relationships between the helpdesk and its various resolvers and see how well the escalation process works”. Selecting right product is a complex process that depends on the predefined problem process. They have similar features, they may wish to have the following requirement. First all the current call tracking information has to be transferred into an potential package this is from both first line support and second line support Help Desk systems. This is for the purpose of using a knowledge base to search through for solutions to problems. The software product should have reporting facilities, such as standard reporting features and the ability to create adhoc reports. There is agreement that web knowledge bases are a good idea, in the interview with the support analyst he said, “I think it would definitely help us and I think it would also help people who are more or maybe less experienced. Because it would actually be giving them more information and therefore helping to educate, the analysts as well as helping us solve the call quicker.” (Support Analyst Interview 2001) Not only using knowledge bases deployed over the web give the obvious benefits; the oil companies first line support could benefit from the knowledge in the organisation. This - 59 - helps new staff coming learn solutions to common problems that can. Therefore the software product selected should have the ability to deploy their knowledge base over the web. 3.6 Reporting Tools It is recommended that the Help desk product has sufficient standard reporting tools, these are essential in management and planning of the Help Desk. In the interview with Portfolio Manager “The ease with which new functionality could be added and ad-hoc management reports (Financial, performance and resource utilisation generated for timewriting and other metrics was an important consideration” These reporting tools need to customizable to the manager needs. 3.5 Summary/Future work What has been found in this dissertation briefly discusses a huge and relatively new area of research in academia. Looking at the types of software in not enough, the type problem solving process and the organisation has to researched. Perhaps an area for future work would be take several of different types of Help Desk and do an in-depth analysis to match particular software products to the Help Desk implementations. Another type of research would be to look at the best Help Desk implementations in industry, measure their quantities, and compare with other Help Desks. This would create benchmark figures for other Help desks to compare their figures. Perhaps interviews with Help Desk consultants would have been better than reading through - 60 - literatures, although getting interviews with consultant is difficult and this was the case in gathering data for this dissertation. - 61 - Appendix 1: Interview with Support Analyst - 62 - Support Analyst Interview Transcript Mark>This is Mark Kane, I am doing an interview with a Support Analyst who works as a support analyst with IT consultancy. Mark>Todays date is the 18th February Mark>the first question I would like to ask is who does the Help Desk serve? Support Analyst>Right, Mark as you correctly said I work for IT consultancy at the moment. I am based at the Oil company The the Oil company in Aberdeen. The Help Desk that we have allows us to support around 2500 people at Tullos and Seafield house locations. The people we support are both onshore and offshore, currently is both at the north and central field and the people work along side us in a number of key areas. The key areas are Subsurface, Surface and Business admin. - 63 - In addition to that the people we support come from a number of areas. Examples are Well Engineers, Finance staff people. So there is a whole range of people with varying skills. Mark>Ok, Support Analyst The next question I would like to ask is could you tell me how are problems typically reported to the Help Desk? Support Analyst>Problems are generally reported in a number of ways, the main way taking from my own perspective. I work for the Subsurface Help Desk; we have our own Help Desk number which is in addition to the the the the Oil company Help Desk Number. So what happens is phone calls come in and the person who has been allocated the Job as the person who mans the Help Desk will take the call and then allocate it to the relevant person, this is actually done in the IRIS application. In that they take the details and when the application name is recorded it will automatically be passed to the person who supports it. Also problems can be reported via email, we have own generic email account in which these calls are received. Once again the person who is dealing with the Help Desk that week will the email assigns it to the relevant person after they have logged into. And finally another way, which is commonly used, is that problems are often reported through the main The the Oil company Help Desk. What happens is that they will report the call and it actually gets filtered from the Help Desk system into IRIS where one of our support analysts can pick up the call? - 64 - Mark>so problems are actually come from the The the Oil company Help Desk before they come to you? Support Analyst>well on occasion yes, obviously everybody at The Oil company knows the The the Oil company Help Desk number whereas as only a limited number of people know our number. So there is a lot of people who haven’t had a problem with a Subsurface application wouldn’t actually know our Help Desk number, they would phone up the Main Help Desk number and it would get passed to us. Whereas once that happened the customer would be informed that if in future they had a problem with that application to email are Help Desk and therefore we would pick it up in future. So normally on first occurrences of a problem with an application would go through with an application would go through the The Oil company Help Desk put after that customer would then become aware of how they should log the call in the future afterwards. Mark>Support Analyst, could you tell me approximately how many analysts use the Help Desk software? Support Analyst>Right, Mark. Its difficult to question to know exactly how many but I would say a ball park figure of 40-50 people, Sub surface have approximately 20 that being the largest of the three portfolios. Then we have surface with around 10 people and the remainder working in the business admin. And what’s good is that each of the analysts looks after the phone calls once they are put in IRIS. So what happens is - 65 - obviously they are logged and its up to the individual who supports that application to deal with the call until it is closed and therefore they need to make sure they meet the Service level Agreement which may or may not exist. Mark>Ok the next question I would like to ask it, how are calls prioritised typically? Support Analyst>Right, Mark when an application comes into our support it is the IT consultancy service delivery manager who will sit down with the portfolio consultant. They actually decide how critical the business is. They decide how critical that application is to the Business. And then based on this the consultant will sit down and decide on how quickly and problems need to be resolved with the application. So what happens is the application will ether be given a critical status or a non-critical status. The main difference is that the critical application normally have to be responded to within 24 hours, and we have approximately 72 hours to resolve the problem. Where as with a non-critical application you would have around 72 hours to respond then it could be another week or two to actually resolve and get it closed out of our system. Once a call is actually logged its then up to the support analyst to prioritise with the calls. They have obviously they must deal with the critical call first, when all the critical calls have been dealt with and resolved then they need to actually prioritise the non-critical applications. That would normally be on first come first serve basis but would obviously - 66 - be an occasion where a problem will be fairly urgent and need to be dealt with quickly. So it is really up the support analyst to use their judgement with non-critical calls to decide which ones should be dealt with first. Mark>Support Analyst, Could you take me through the typical steps from a problem being recorded to it being resolved for the User? Support Analyst> Right, first of all the call is reported as we spoke about earlier, we would enter all the details in IRIS. Such as the customers name, details, phone number, the name of the application and call would be given the status logged, After this what happens is they would then contact the customer get more details about the problem. Then tell them what action we plan to take. Obviously, this would be done in line with the Service Level Agreement, which I spoke about in the previous question. So as long as I said once we have got back the customer we would change the status of the call to responded and then it is up to us to keep the user informed to the progress we are making and we try to keep getting back to them what we have tried and how long it will be before the problem is resolve d. This basically is what the customer wants to know so once we have dealt with the problem and we fixed it. We can actually set the status to be resolved until we have actually the confirmation back from the user that they are happy with the work we have done is now functioning as it should. Once its been set to responded it would disappear out of the list of open calls, because what happens in - 67 - IRIS it always defaults to open. So when the support analyst opens it only shows the list of calls, which aren’t resolved. Mark>Ok, Support Analyst could you tell me what are the typical communication problems in resolving a problem? Right typically the first step would be to speak to the application focal point. This normally is a guy who can be though of as an expert user, so I’ll speak to him first and he can give me more information on the application. I think most importantly he be able to check with the other users of the application user if they are having the same problem. Therefore, by doing this we would be able to identify if the problem existed with the user in which case it could be there PC, or if it was actually an application problem which affect all of the users. In addition IT consultancy support a lot of third party applications and what this means if a problem is reported obviously because third party would support the source code. So what would happen is we would report a problem to the vendor who would then try to resolve the problem and once they had come to some sort of solution it would be passed back to us and then we would the problem to super services who would obviously involve user testing which we would take part in before actually releasing the change on to the live network. - 68 - Once it been tested we would then get back to the users focal point who will to do a test. Because it will make sure that it is functioning but because we don’t actually use the application. It’s up to the user focal point to test it. It is getting or viewing the correct data, and once we have had the go ahead. Then we would liase with the customer. This makes sure that application is now functioning, as it should both across the network and on their PC. Mark>Yes, in your last answer there you mentioned super services could you tell me who are Super services and what do they do? Support Analyst>Super Services are the Oil company Services international what they do is they are basically support the the Oil company infrastructure where as we support are The Oil company applications. The applications reside on a P:/ Drive which IT consultancy do not have access to, so what happens is if any changed need making to the larger application such as say word, excel or they need supplying to the customers. That would lie with Super Services because they have access to the network therefore they can do things like copying files, making changes that obviously lies with them, so we would make sure that the customer is happy, We liase with 3rd party to make sure that the changes are implemented. Finally we go through to Super Services to make sure that the changes are implemented on the Network. Mark>Support Analyst, could you tell me what is the current Help Desk software? - 69 - Support Analyst>IRIS is the an in-house application which was developed by IT consultancy it was developed in Access 97 and it uses text retrieval to allow us to track back past calls, this is really useful for people who aren’t familiar with the applications because it allows them to see what actions have been taken to see and what type of action should be taken. Mark>Support Analyst, in the last answer, you mentioned that IRIS was an in-house application. Why did IT consultancy use an in-house application solution when one of the commercial packages which have so many more features available than could be put in an in house application? Support Analyst>I think IT consultancy use an in-house solution for a number of reasons, obviously they do a lot of work for may of the large companies both in the UK and on a global basis. What they thought they needed some sort of call handling system, which could be used in any of these businesses, rather than having to use commercial products, which would of course be extremely expensive. So what the have done is captured the requirements which all the clients have and basically put these into one application. Its not just used at The Oil company it is used at other companies which IT consultancy support so it been very successful tool and being developed in-house they have saved a lot of money. Mark>In IRIS software do you think there could be any improvements to the software? - 70 - Support Analyst>That’s a difficult one mark, I mean IRIS is a very good tool which really helps us with our day to day work, but think one thing I would like to see incorporated is some sort of warning device, some sore of message tool used so it comes up in the screen like five hours left to resolve the call. This would allow us to keep on top if the Service Level Agreement rather than having to actually go in the call and when it should be resolved. It would certainly prove as good warning and I think would lead to more Service Level Agreements being met rather then being missed by a few hours. Mark>Support Analyst, there is a lot of organisations which are using the web knowledge bases frequently asked question web pages to limit the amount of people contacting the Help Desk through traditional methods such as email, telephone and so on. Do you think IT consultancy could use this type of support themselves? Support Analyst>Certainly it is a good idea for the web based system and this would allow us to access the important information a lot quicker and easier. This would help us resolve call quicker and it would also give us access to information. At the moment, it might be quite difficult to get hold of this. I think it would definitely help us and I think it would also help people who are more or maybe less experienced. Because it would actually be giving them more information and therefore helping to educate, the analysts as well as helping us solve the call quicker. - 71 - Mark>Support Analyst, Can you tell me with the IRIS software have there been any problems to date with it? Support Analyst>No not really as I said, IRIS is a plain and simple access 97 application, yes on occasions there have been network problems which have resulted in it not functioning. I think that happens with all applications and some point in time. I think one of the big problems which we find is that we spend so much time actually communicating with customers to tell them what action has been taken and how near we are to arriving to a solution. So I think it goes back to the previous question, you asked me what improvement could be made. It might not be a bad idea of the web could be used to actually allow them to use a piece of software. This could actually let them type in the name of the application, and then it would actually show them the work we have been doing and what we would have tried and how near we are to a solution. So then, they would actually be able to do that through the web rather then contacting us. This can quite annoying at times Mark, trying to deal with a call and have got customers phoning up make it more difficult and it does lead to resolutions being a lot longer than they perhaps should be. Mark>Support Analyst, are you aware of any management reporting facilities in the IRIS software? - 72 - Support Analyst> Well on of the reporting facilities which is for time writing obviously its important for both the IT consultancy Services Delivery Manager and the portfolio consultant to know how much time is being spent each application. So what happens is on a daily basis we go into the time writing section in IRIS and we fill in their time we spent dealing with each application? Then at the end of the month a report is generated in IRIS, which shows how, much time was spent on each application during the last month. This would be passed to the IT consultancy Portfolio Manager who would sum all the figures up and pass them, on to the portfolio consultant. This obviously helps with the charging because calls for certain applications mean higher charges than other application such as critical applications. So this reporting certainly help us with all the billing process also helps managers assigning resources if we are getting a steady stream of calls for one application each month then maybe we need extra resources for this software. Mark>Well Support Analyst I would like to think you for answering all my question and I would like to make the point that none of this will go outside the scope of this dissertation and Support Analyst name will not be used in the documentation. This concludes the interview. - 73 - - 74 - Appendix 2: Interview with Portfolio Manager - 75 - Interview with Service Portfolio Manager Mark>This is Mark Kane, I am doing an interview with a Service Portfolio Manager who works as a support analyst with IT consultancy. Mark>Todays date is the 10th March 2001 Mark> Could you take me through the overall structure of where the Help Desk fits in within the Business? Service Portfolio Manager>The purpose of the ASP portfolio Help Desk is to provide a dedicated team of 1st and 2nd line analysts to provide support for applications paid for by The the Oil company business customers. The ASP is one member of the three way partnership called The the Oil company IS that provides all IT services to The Oil company The the Oil company. The Other partners are the Enginering consultant and Super services. Mark>What are the Business Objectives of the Help Desk? The Objectives of the Help Desk are to provide a single point of contact for seeking support for application related incidents. The Help Desk is funded by different The the Oil company customer groups and is so structured to deliver a managed service that meets an Agreed SLA. - 76 - Service Portfolio Manager>Have you any suggestion for the Help Desk that you would like to see? Mark>Improvement of end to end problem management process. Integration with change management and asset management within The the Oil company. Alignment of Infrastructure and application support SLAs; Adoption of single cross-partnership incident recording and reporting system. Mark>What is the typical communication channels for resolving a problem? Service Portfolio Manager>The Help Desk is manned throughout the day between 8:30 and 4:30 Mon-Fri to take calls and emails from customers for existing and new problems with their application. The Help Desk itself provides 1st line support to capture, claSuper servicesfy and prioritise calls effectively and to hand them off to the relevant analyst providing cover. 2nd line support investigate, diagnose rectify/resolve the problem and feedback to the customer in line with the SLA. Out of hours, support is provided by special arrangement for certain applications. Customers are advised to contact the appropriate ASP portfolio Help desk when if they are pretty sure that it is the application that is at fault. Mark>How is IT consultancy support done in other Businesses? - 77 - Service Portfolio Manager>The ASP contract at The Oil company is for several hundred applications, many of them 3rd party. For in-house developed application provided to other clients, IT consultancy would typically provide off-site support and maintenance via dedicated Help Desk number. Provision would be made for call-outs where dial up access is not available or appropriate. Mark>Have there been any problems with the Software? Service Portfolio Manager> The Help Desk system is an MS Access application specifically for the the Oil company contract. There were a few teething problems during the mobilisation (e.g. distinction between transitioned and untransitioned applications e.g. 3rd party and super services actions, next actions, expected completion date but it all runs fairly smooth now. Mark>Could you tell me about Management reporting used in the Help Desk? Timewriting Information is stored in the same tool so it is poSuper servicesble to generate management reports on call metrics (e.g. Ageing, unresolved call, response and resolution performance against targets portfolio or by resource, effort split between support and essential enhancements. Mark>Why was an in-house solution developed? - 78 - Service Portfolio Manager> No tool of the right scale with the required functionality was identified in the marketplace so we decided to design our own. The ease with which new functionality could be added and ad-hoc management reports (Financial, performance and resource utilisation generated for timewriting and other metrics was an important consideration Mark>Is there any Expert system functionality? Service Portfolio Manager> No. Mark> I would like to think you for answering all my question and would like to make the point that none of this will go outside the scope of this dissertation and Service Portfolio Managers name will not be used in the documentation. This concludes the interview. - 79 -