Panayiotis Christodoulou

Objectives
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The types of common end-user computer problems
How problem-solving processes are applied to several typical support problems

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

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Organizations can elect to provide support for customers and employees in a variety of ways. Some elect to have existing employees provide informal peer support where others may choose to have a more formal structure which might include a computer support center or Information Technology Center.
Although support structures might differ between companies, many companies organize their user support function into a help desk.

A help desk is an organization that provides a single point of contact for users in need of technical support, whether they are internal employees or external customers. It is important to have a single point of contact. Multiple points of contact can result in users contacting support representatives that are inexperienced with their product and even in extreme cases different points of contact might disagree about the source of the problem and the strategy for resolving the problem.

Some help desks provide a wide range of services and others may limit support to a specific products. It is common for an organization to structure its help desk into several levels (or tiers) of support, sometimes called a multi-level support model or frontline/backline model. In this model, people with different skill levels staff each level. Level 1 support is usually an entry-level employee.
Each level requires support staff to have greater knowledge and experience. A supervisor or manager staffs level 4. The number of levels may vary from one organization to another. Regardless of the help desk structure, all help desks have the same goal: to promote customer satisfaction by effectively and efficiently resolving problems and questions. To accomplish this, help desk staff use well-defined processes, tools and strategies.

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Incident management is a well-defined, formal procedure that help desk staff follow to handle problem incidents, get the information users need or solve their problems, and close the incident. Call management describes the steps in handling primary telephone support contacts between end users and support staff.

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The first step is to receive the incident. Some support groups have a script that guides the support member in collecting information about the problem including information about the caller such as contact information in case the problem requires a call back. Next, the incident is prescreened. Prescreening is essentially a filtering process to identify and respond to simple requests for information quickly without initiating an official incident. If an incident is more than a simple request for information, many help desks or hotline services have an authentication procedure designed to identify the user as an authorized user that has access to the help desk resources. Authentication may require asking a user for a part ID number, product version number, model number, or a software license number. The help desk staff member determines whether the user has a legitimate claim to support services, and if so, at what service level.

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Once the user has been authenticated, the incident handling can begin. The process starts by the support representative beginning to log the incident. The purpose of incident logging is to begin to document the incident and its related problem. Next, he or she starts to screen the incident. During the incident screening, the help desk staff member asks questions to categorize and describe the incident. Incidents are often categorized according to whether they are a request for information that could not be handled during the prescreening, a question, a problem, a complaint, or a work order. In addition to the incident category, the support staff member enters a brief written description of the incident including a few essential facts about the incident.

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Next, the support staff member assigns the incident a priority code. A priority code indicates how serious the problem is, how many users are affected, and perhaps the consequence of not addressing the problem immediately.
Sometimes incident management software assigns the priority code and other times the help desk staff must reply upon what they were taught during training. The type of incident and the priority rating generally determines the queue that the problem is assigned. A queue is a waiting line, like the line at the cash registers in a grocery store. If the level 1 help desk staff cannot handle the incident they may assign it to another help desk staff member based on which support person is best suited to that type of problem.

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Incident tracking refers to the process of updating the incident record with information about a problem as it progresses. A record of how an incident was handled can be useful information to help desk staff when they encounter a similar problem. If the initial attempts to resolve the problem do not result in success, the problem might be escalated. Incident escalation is a normal process in which a problem is transferred to a higher level of support that has a greater ability or resources to handle more difficult problems. Some help desk management software can be programmed to automatically escalate a problem based on such factors as how long the incident has been open or other preset specifications.

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Incident resolution means that the user’s problem has been solved or a complaint has either been noted, referred to product designers as a suggestion for the next product revision cycle or the customer has been given a return authorization. In incident closing, the support staff member may review the steps the help desk took to solve the problem, get feedback from the user about his or her satisfaction level and terminate the incident by thanking the user for contacting the help desk. Closed incidents may stay in the active database for a period of time in case a customer needs to follow-up later. After a preset amount of time, the system generally copies the incident to an archive of completed incidents and deletes it from the active cases.

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Most large scale help desk operations have agents working in cubicles that are enclosed on three sides by carpeted wall panels. The wall panels can be from four to six feet high depending up on how much contact is needed between coworkers and the need to reduce background noise. A typical cubicle is eight to ten feet long by six to eight feet wide.
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Support agents have a desk that includes space for one or more computer systems. They also have their own system where they run incident
(call) management software as well as the software packages that they support.

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There may be computer systems in the cubicle that are used to replicate a user’s problem. The support center may also have systems used to replicate problems located in a separate computer area. When mainframe access is needed, it can be made available through a terminal emulator on the support person’s desktop or a separate terminal. Most support agents prefer to use a headset instead of a standard telephone handset. A headset provides for more freedom of motion, helps prevent neck and shoulder problems and can be unplugged when needed to confer with a coworker or supervisor about a problem. There are also wireless headsets that provide for more even freedom of movement.

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The physical environment of the help desk work area can either add to job stress or diminish it. The work area should be designed to reduce distractions from excessive noise, motion, and other interruptions as much as possible. It is also important to have frequent and scheduled breaks to reduce stress.

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Automation has significantly impacted the help desk industry with products such as sophisticated help desk software, computer telephony, and Web support. There are software packages that can help both large help desks, such as those that handle hundreds or thousands of requests each day and smaller help desks that might handle a few incidents each day. Most help desk software packages include features to log and track incidents.
These systems can often work in conjunction with a telephone or an e-mail system to manage incident queues, set incident priorities, assign incidents to agents, and escalate incidents when necessary. Often, these packages can also store, edit, and recall contact and location information about internal clients, external clients, help desk and information systems staff, and vendors. It is also helpful to support staff to have product information available to answer common questions.

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The help desk software often includes the ability to document hardware, software, and network information about client systems. It is difficult to keep accurate information about external client systems, but information about the internal client systems can be very helpful for support staff.
Diagnostic utilities are also very helpful to assist with specific system problems.
Diagnostic software is useful to analyze the performance of a remote system and to look for potential problem areas.

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Knowledge bases used as a support tool can contain information about common problems and their solutions.
Some knowledge bases are built as user problems are solved and archived. Many help desk software packages include an order-entry capability that permits a user or a support agent to enter an order online. Help desk can also collect feedback for an organization. Client feedback information includes the level of user satisfaction with an organization’s products or services, as well as with help desk support. Product and service satisfaction can be measured from complaints about features that don’t work as advertised to suggestions for new features. Help desk measures can also include feedback about the handling of a specific incident, the problem resolution process, or the help desk support in general.

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In addition, some support groups are also responsible for asset management. This means that they keep track of an organization’s inventory of computer hardware, peripherals, software package licenses, network components, spare parts, and related equipment. In addition to configuration and asset information, some help desk packages include features to manage hardware service contracts and agreements including warranty information and a service history for each product.

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Another helpful feature for help desk software is the ability to interface with a telephone system. Most packages also provide external connections to e-mail and Internet resources as well as internal connections to online help files, product documentation, and problem archives. Help desk software generally includes built-in statistical reports to meet the information needs of help desk staff and management such as the abandonment rate, the number of unresolved incidents by hour and day, the average length of time telephone callers spend on hold, the average length of incident processing, the productivity of staff members, inventory control reports, and frequently asked questions. Some help desk software includes features that let a help desk group modify the user interface, toolbars, menus, and dataentry forms the support staff uses.

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Computer telephony is the name used to describe products that incorporate telephone and computer technology into an integrated package. Automated call distributors (ACD) are telephone systems that can answer calls, greet callers, provide menus to indicate the type of call, and route the call to a support specialist or to a queue. When integrated with a help desk software package, an ACD system can take call management a step further and signal the appropriate support specialist when that line becomes available. An interactive voice response (IVR) system allows a user to interact with a database of information by pressing keys on a telephone handset or speaking simple words into the telephone.

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Web sites offer a variety of support services to users including product information, order initialization and order fulfillment status reports, product rebate status, automated requests for literature, online manuals and documentation, software downloads, troubleshooting wizards, knowledge base access, a search engine, bulletin boards and chat rooms, email access to technical support staff, problem report submission, contact information, feedback on customer satisfaction and links to other sites with more information. When a support organization can make a user more independent and allow them to find help without the need to contact a person it saves time and money.

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Even when e-mail contact between a support specialist and a user is required, e-mail is less costly than telephone support. First, email is asynchronous, which means that the communications between the user and support staff do not have to occur at the same time. Second, e-mail responses to frequently asked questions could be composed in advanced and modified when needed.

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The skills and abilities needed for support specialists are changing. Web based support has taken the emphasis away from speaking skills. Now support specialists need to be able to search knowledge bases and communicate effectively in writing. Many organizations now use an intranet, which is an internal network modeled after the
Internet that is organized into Web pages that is available to employees within an organization.

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As with all other aspects of the technology industry, help desk operations are changing rapidly. There is a recent trend to outsource some help desk jobs to Asia because relative wages are significantly less than in North America.
Also, automation is changing the face of helpdesks. In the past help desks were based on walk-in or telephone support.
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Future help desks will undoubtedly rely increasingly on email, the Internet and remote diagnosis to provide services.
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Remote diagnosis is the use of a computer system at a help desk site to connect to a customer’s system, and then test various components of the user’s hardware, examine the user’s software configuration, and replicate a problem scenario.

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Help desks in the future will likely become more proactive to customer’s needs. They will be seen as the front-end of a customer relationship management (CRM) program. In addition, as help desks evolve the skills and requirements of help desk support personnel will change. We should expect to see more certification requirements.