HELPDESK SYSTEM
A Project Study
Presented to the IT Project Evaluation Committee
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Quezon City, Philippines
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
by
Guemo, Maricar
Rosales, Mira Nova
Tibayan, Daniel Jr.
October 2013
HELPDESK
CHAPTER I
Introduction
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1.1 Statement of the Problem
Our client Municipality of Santa Cruz, Laguna is currently facing problem of
managing concerns and questions of people around their municipality. As said by them,
they lack on a tool to acquire all of those concerns and questions. And by this it slows
their other processes and transactions, because many people are needed to
accompany every request/concerns and questions of people. And by that the
researchers thought that they need a web-based software/system to do what they want
to that will also lessen the need for many employees to put effort on servicing people’s
requests.
1.1.1 What your project will address
For the past year the local government unit suffers from a heavy flood of people
doing transactions to them, one reason to that is the people lacking knowledge of what
they will do. The project was proposed for the compliance of helping the local
government unit have their electronically way of addressing the inquiries and questions
of the people who will do transaction to them soon or already done one.
1.2 Background and Objectives of the Project
The project is a comprehensive help desk that provides help desk agents and IT
managers, an integrated console to monitor and maintain the assets and IT requests
generated from the users of the IT resources in an organization. The IT help desk plays
an important part in the provision of IT Services. It is very often the first contact the
users have in their use of IT Services when something does not work as expected. The
IT help desk is a single point of contact for end users who need help.
1.2.1 Current relevant institutional gaps
The system does not have any relevant institutional gaps, because the system
will be flexible to any local government units.
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1.2.2 Improvements/enhancements to the current running systems
The basic improvement for the current system is its automation. Our client
practices a walk-in entertainment of people’s inquiries and questions. The system will
contribute to the faster request handling and processing for the local government unit.
1.2.3 Requests by users/clientele for systems development initiative
The client and the users we interviewed do not have any request; they just
wanted us to stick to process that the employees of every department will have an
account to the system. They let us do what we want as an addition. And we assure that
we will comply what they need and want if any.
1.3 Significance and Scope of the Project
To make the process of reporting the issues to the IT help desk easier, the
project provides you with a Self-Service Portal where you can log your complaints and
issues online with the help of a web-based form. Once you have filed your issue, it gets
listed in your request view page, where you can keep track of the logged issue. You can
also update your personal information using the Self-Service Portal. In the Self-Service
Portal, you will be able to access the following modules:
Requests: You can create a new request and view the same. Also all the requests that
you have raised till date will be saved in your requests module for future references.
Solutions: From the solutions knowledge base that has been developed and
maintained by your IT help desk team, you can search for solutions for the issue that
you are currently facing.
My Details: You can view and edit your account details including your password. This
updated information will be displayed whenever your information is requested.
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1.4 Documentation of Existence and Seriousness of the Problem
1.4.1 Documentation of current system/s (if any)
A standard help desk offers a single point of contact for users to get assistance.
Normally, the help desks handle requests by using help desk software, or issue tracking
system, which enables the help desk operators to keep track of the user requests using
a unique identifier, easily find solutions to common queries, prioritize cases, and so on.
Larger help desks make use of different levels to manage different kinds of
questions. The first-level is usually set up for answering probably the most common
questions, or for offering answers that typically belong in a knowledgebase or FAQ. If
the help desk technicians cannot solve the issue at the first level, the issue is then
transferred to the second level, which will usually have better trained staff who are able
to handle more complex queries. Organizations may also use a third higher level, a
group that usually handles software-specific requirements, for example, bug fixes and
updates that have a direct impact on larger clients.
The Kaseya Service Desk Solution provides a comprehensive and flexible webbased helpdesk environment. It integrates and automates all basic IT tasks. Systems
Management, Patch Management, IT Asset Management, Software Deployment, Data
Protection, Compliance, Endpoint Security and SERVICE DESK are all included in this
full featured, integrated, extensible and easy to use IT management solution. It also
creates automated templates for commonly used responses, status and resolutions to
improve communication between Service Desk and end users. It has built in reporting,
track the productivity of employees and document incidents that prove the most time
consuming. It provides the flexibility to define multiple service desk structures based on
your unique service delivery model. Each service desk can be configured with unique
processing characteristics, roles and policies. The system can include preconfigured
desks to track Incidents, Problems and Change Requests in accordance with ITIL best
practice. It defines and streamlines your service desk processes, identify roles and
responsibilities and map these to your automated service desk environment. It allows
you to document service level policies, set goals and objectives and define escalation
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rules, insuring that you achieve the goals set in your SLA, alerting you if you are in
danger of failing to meet them and the ability to escalate accordingly.
The Helpdesk Pilot has multiple ways to create requests such as email
management, support requests sent into corporate mail boxes with individual categories
for each of mail boxes allow for efficient filtering of incoming mails, a self service ticket
management interface for end users allows them to submit requests over the web
where they can subsequently use the interface to view requests they've submitted in the
past as well as responses from the help desk, and each help desk staff has the ability to
create a new ticket within their respective staff interface with automated notifications
sent via email ensure that the end user is aware of a phone request that has since been
ticketed. It is customizable designed to adapt to requirements such as set a default and
determine the order of statuses and priorities to be displayed, template based
notifications allows you to have specially customized content for various categories, and
custom fields to track more information. It has support ticket system where help desk
staff can be given access to single or multiple categories, ensuring that the relevant
staff are able to view, manage and respond to requests, use of tags making it easier
and quicker to identify tickets at a later stage, and display of queue allowing help desk
staff to define their preferred ticket-view and have tickets displayed in the sequence
they wish. It is manageable for efficiency where a dashboard with charts for quick
viewing of requests, assigning tickets for help desk staff which automatically notifies
assigned staff, help desk staff can exchange notes on a ticket for further collaboration,
and precise search functionality like tags, assigned, category, and status. It is also
capable of quick response with email integration, total time spent on a ticket is
automatically summed and tracked on a ticket, which allows maintaining time records
and export time spent reports for end user billing purposes. Reports can be run on any
data range and exported to CSV or Excel format for further analysis. Determine the
overall workload on each of your help desk staff relevant to the number of tickets
assigned to them, over a given date range and pie chart representations of ticket status
and assignees as well as a line chart display of tickets assist in conveying all the right
information in a simple manner.
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The
DIT
(Department
of
Information
Technology)
HelpDesk
receives,
troubleshoots, and responds to end-user problems or requests, logs and tracks the
problems or requests and determines the best manner to address the problems or
requests. One of the top priorities of the DIT HelpDesk is to ensure a consistent
response to problem resolution, service requests, status reporting and notification of
changes related to the information technology environment of the Navajo Nation.
Most helpdesk indicates logging all incidents/service requests details, allocating
categorization & prioritization, providing first-line investigation & diagnosis, resolving &
closing incidents/service requests, escalating incidents/service requests that they
cannot resolve within agreed timescales, and keeping users informed of progress &
changes. The qualities that users are looking for helpdesk are those with flexibility to
implement, in usage, and data sharing, ease of use, performance and availability of
system, ease of maintenance, etc., back-up, control, and security provisions, references
(reference sites, partners, documents), event management tools that can detect
incidents before they actually affect the users & respond to incidents using scripts or
automated procedures, links to automated incident alerting and logging tools, and
automatic escalation features
1.4.2 Problem/s identified with the existing systems
Helpdesk systems cater inquiries and questions of people regarding particular
categories such as IT solutions, asset management, etc. Commonly, a helpdesk
provides solutions or answers to topics under a certain subject matter.
It usually
accommodates queries and topics that a company or organization provides to
customers. For a municipal, a helpdesk which covers most of the queries and requests
of their services and others is an opportunity to lessen the burden for tracking and
accommodating the needs of clients. It would be ideal for a helpdesk to accommodate
most application systems. Other than manually answering questions by a helpdesk
staff, it would be better if the Frequently Asked Questions displayed are auto-generated
depending on what the common questions asked for up to date FAQ’s. Especially if a
client prefers to communicate through writing than verbal at the same time have a real
time communication.
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1.4.3 Process models of existing systems contributing to the problem
Having lack of adequate integration across technologies. It’s extremely difficult to
integrate multiple technologies. Poor integration fragments support processes, resulting
in an inefficient workflow. Failure to integrate technologies also fragments information,
so each service desk has only a partial view of the IT environment. This incomplete
view limits the service desk staff member understands of the technical and business
result of incidents. This can also be confusing for clients if ever they will look into FAQ
since they are distributed into different service desk and have not been centralized
which can eventually result to redundancy. Thus a service desk consolidation is
appropriate.
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1.4.4 Data models of these existing systems
Among helpdesk systems, they follow almost similar standard operating
procedure of accommodating clients then some eventually add service desk tools, etc.
1.4.5 Data (or any form of statistics) that may be relevant to prove existence
and seriousness of the identified problems
According to a recent survey conducted by Forrester Research, 41 percent of the
more than 2,000 service desk users they interviewed were “on the fence” about their
satisfaction. They cited several areas in need of improvement, such as time to resolve
requests, timeliness of status updates, and even expertise. Creating a circle of success
is the key to addressing these critical concerns among help desk users.
Most Service Desks commit two major mistakes when it comes to performance
measurement: 1) they track too many metrics, and 2) they do not exploit the full
potential of their performance metrics as a diagnostic tool. You can effectively track and
trend your Service Desk performance using just seven KPI’s (Key Performance
Indicators). The two “foundation metrics” that every Service Desk should track on an
ongoing basis are Cost per Contact and Customer Satisfaction. The next two metrics in
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the top seven are the ones that have the greatest influence on cost and customer
satisfaction: Agent Utilization and First Contact Resolution. Then we suggest tracking
First Level Resolution because it is a proxy for Total Cost of Ownership, and is an
overall indicator of Service Desk efficiency. The sixth metric on our list, Agent
Satisfaction, is important because it is so strongly correlated with a number of important
metrics on the Service Desk, including Cost per Contact and Customer Satisfaction.
And the final metric, what we call an aggregate metric because it provides an overall
measure of Service Desk performance, is the Balanced Score. These seven metrics not
only allow you to effectively measure your Service Desk performance, but they enable
you to:
1. Track and trend performance over time
2. Benchmark performance vs. industry peers
3. Identify strengths and weaknesses in the Service Desk
4. Diagnose and understand the underlying drivers of performance gaps
5. Prescribe actions to improve performance
6. Establish performance goals for both individuals, and the Service Desk
overall
1.5 Review of Existing Alternatives
The alternatives that our client are currently using are softwares that caters
typing and recording features for storing the data gathered from the people such as
Microsoft Products (MSWord, MS Excel, etc.). These alternatives can compromise the
storage of their computers or offices. Bulky paper stacks will be produce just to transfer
information through different department/offices in the municipality.
Also, when disaster strikes, these papers can be wiped away and will be loss and
may stun their transactions around the municipality. And when it comes to this
duplication is also an issue. Duplicating these paper works will only add to the number
of papers in the office.
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CHAPTER II
Study of Related Literature and Studies
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1. Related Literature
1.1 Foreign
At a time when IT is supposed to be getting simpler, less complex and easier to
manage, more people are calling help desks for assistance than ever before, according
to a new study. That's one of the findings that HDI, formerly known as the Help Desk
Institute, uncovered in its recently released 2010 study of help desk trends.
What HDI found is that the number of incidents reported to help desks via chat,
e-mail, telephone, self-help systems, social media, the Web and walk-ins is rising, with
67% of all help desk operations experiencing increases in 2010. That's roughly the
same percentage who reported an increase in 2009.There's no single explanation for
the growing number of support requests.
In recent years, many organizations have moved to centralize their help desk
operations and establish a single point of contact for workers, said Roy Atkinson, an
analyst at HDI, whose members represent a help desk community of about 50,000
people.
Those centralization efforts have improved incident data collection, which helps
to explain the spike in reports. Moreover, creating a single point of contact -- and
offering multiple ways for people to reach the help desk -- encourages users to seek
assistance, Atkinson said.
While centralization and better record-keeping may explain much of the increase
in reported calls, it doesn't completely explain it. Atkinson said another part of the
explanation could be the fact that IT complexity is actually increasing, especially as
users seek to connect multiple devices, including mobile phones, tablets and laptops to
corporate networks.
"There is the trend to being able to work anywhere and anytime," Atkinson said.
And that "requires more support, so the environment as a whole is probably more
complex."
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Earl Begley, who heads HDI's desktop advisory board and is an IT project
manager at the University of Kentucky, said incident volumes for the university's
healthcare help desk, which serves the UK hospital, have increased by 15% to 20% a
year. Part of this increase can be attributed to the use of new technology in the
healthcare industry, he said.
Begley is working to reduce call volumes by leading an Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) implementation at the university, which has the long-range
goal of improving IT efficiency.
ITIL incorporates practices and procedures in a number of IT management
areas, including the help desk, that are designed to enable organizations to figure out
the root causes of IT problems and predict future difficulties.
The increasing call volume at the university keeps the staff busy, said Begley,
adding that "it is frustrating, because they see the same problems occurring over and
over again." His hope is that ITIL implementation will lead to reductions in some of those
repetitive calls.
Technologies that could reduce help desk support demand include things like
desktop or application virtualization, where an application can be accessed via a
browser. And increasing use of voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology reduces the time it
takes support phone systems.
For those organizations reporting an increase in help desk calls, about 41%
attributed the uptick to infrastructure or product changes, upgrades or conversions; 26%
cited expanded service offerings by the support center; and 22.5% said they have more
customers, according to the HDI study.
The increase in the number of help desk support requests is happening at the
same time IT managers are cutting money spent on supporting help desks, according to
another new study that was released recently by Computer Economics.
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In its survey of IT organizations, the IT research firm found that help desk
employees now represent about 6% of the total IT staff, after accounting for about 6.9%
of the average IT staff for the past several years.
The report said that this decrease "represents a relatively substantial dip and
indicates that providing high-quality support to users assumed a lower priority amid the
wave of operational budget-cutting and staff reductions that accompanied the official
end of the recession."
Computer Economics also said that a number of factors affect the size of a help
desk, including the use of outsourcing, an increase in the number of workers with
smartphones, ITIL adoption, and improvements in applications and devices.
"Some of these trends are working to diminish the size and function of the help
desk, while others are putting more pressure on help desk staff," the research
organization said in its report.
The help desk of the International Office offers counseling and support for
enrolled international students and PhD candidates concerning the following issues:
a.
Problem-solving strategies
b.
pre-departure information
c.
questions concerning your arrival, stay and your studies *
d.
accompaniment to administrations
e.
advice on our support service options
f.
information on living and working in Germany
A department in a company that is dedicated to the technical support of its own
employees. Typically, this encompasses computer hardware and software support, and
it may also include other functions such as on-going quality assurance, inventory
management, etc.
For external Help Desks (typically called customer service
departments), the definition is similar: A group that fields questions and resolves
problems, with the same end goal in mind—keeping the end user productive and
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satisfied. However, here's a more typical definition of the in-house Help Desk, one that
is unfortunately far more common is today's businesses.
The nerdy-looking guy in the back cubicle with a VR helmet on his head who
knows the secret hot-keys to every Windows, OS/2 and UNIX application in existence.
All the employees in the department know his extension, and they call him with every
little problem, causing him to finish almost none of his own work. This is the natural way
a Help Desk gets started, though. And it takes real, concentrated effort to tear away
from this and bring structure to the task of
Supporting the employees.
In a cost-cutting environment, internal help desks are often seen as an
expendable luxury. However, nowhere is the need for productivity greater than in a
recently downsized or reorganized company. Employees may be responsible for work
once covered by two or three people, often on unfamiliar systems with little training or
preparation. In this situation, it’s clear that the expected cost savings will never
materialize if employees can’t get their work done. Even under normal circumstances,
demonstrating the financial benefit of an in-house Help Desk is relatively easy, once you
calculate the true dollar value of lost productivity. That’s why we cover it here in some
detail.
What does an hour of employee productivity cost your company? One common
mistake companies make is believing that the salary they pay an employee is equivalent
to the expense. Following this line of thinking, you might think that an hour of
productivity from an employee costs around $18 / hour (based on a salaried $35,000 /
year employee). However, the actual cost of an hour of productivity is really many times
higher. First, remember to include all the fringe benefits and payroll taxes for the
employee. This alone will typically add at least 15% above and beyond their salary.
Next, figure in all the computer equipment you have to buy and maintain for this
employee, probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of at least $5,000 per station.
Next, consider the time that been invested in training the employee. And what about the
expense of their office space and other occupancy charges? And to take it even further,
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if we're talking about sales or marketing staff, you also have to consider the cost and
time of obtaining sales. In other words, if you spend $25 getting a sales lead for your
product and you hand it over to your salesperson, you are essentially investing another
$25 in that person's job function. If they miss the sale, you’ve just wasted $25. In
addition to all this, there's also company overhead such as insurance, taxes, company
business cards, stationery, etc., and other expenses that are driven by the number of
employees you have. (The Monarch Bay Help Desk © 2003 Monarch Bay Software,
Inc. Permission is granted for reprint and distribution)
Process improvement should be done to help the business— not for its own
sake.
“In God we trust, all others bring data.” - W. Edwards Deming
Business-driven IT department priorities result in IT service management and support
pressure:
a. Provide On-Demand Services “utility model”
b. Respond to increased service demand – shrinking budgets
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c.
Create effective Enterprise-wide service delivery structures and accountabilities
d. Demonstrate Business Value and impact of IT
e. Improve Credibility of IT
Vision and strategy
The IT organization recognizes that it delivers a portfolio of products and services
to the business. Evidence of IT strategic planning, little input from business. Services
are defined in technology terms such as bandwidth, processing performance, disk
capacity. Reporting and steering on IT defined parameters.
Processes
Strong focus on ITIL Service Support processes and the more operational
aspects of the ITIL Service Delivery processes, such as performance measurement and
tuning, availability measurement and building resilience. Reporting mechanisms are
used to improve product and service performance.( Help Desk of the Future:Service
Management Center with George Spalding)
Providing top-notch customer service is much easier with help desk software.
Most would say that one of the top benefits of help desk software is that they can use it
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to better tend to their customer or employee needs. But it provides several other
solutions that help to keep your business streamlined and efficient.
Benefits of Help Desk Include Incident Management
Having a problem with IT? File an incident report and begin the process of finding
the right person to solve it. One of the benefits of help desk solutions is that whether a
problem comes from event management, a user phone call, an email, or from a web
interface, it can be classified and assigned using help desk software. An incident filed
within the system asks for all the information, including prioritization, which will have it
assigned to the appropriate staff to resolve the issue.
Benefits of Help Desk: Problem Management
Another one of the benefits of help desk is trend analysis, which spots problems
in your system. Efficient problem management is essential to your productivity and
profitability. IT help desk software will help you get the information you need to identify
what’s causing incidents that create problems and to see the pattern of failure in these
reports. Problems can also be logged, which involves tracking the information within the
problem and preventing future issues. Some help desk solutions also provide tools that
let you customize your own workflow templates. Every scenario is different, so why
should your workflows look the same?
Benefits of Help Desk: Reports
Whether through standard, pre-defined or customized reports, one of the benefits
of help desk software is that it can help you schedule, export, and send reports with
built-in reporting tools. Run a report on a defining query using a query editor, or get
information on changes, problem, incident requests, etc. You can also schedule routine
reports on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis and have them sent to the appropriate
parties via PDF, XL, CSV, or HTML formats.
Security is at the Top of the List of Benefits of Help Desk
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Security is one of the better benefits of help desk software. You can limit the
access of your support staff and customers to specific departments and set permissions
for all of your staff. You can regulate guest access by creating user accounts, and there
are also tools available to prevent spam by requiring human validation. Some software
packages come with password self-service, which lets your users reset forgotten
passwords without having to contact your IT staff. Some security tools also give you
reports on user activity.
These benefits are just a few that help desk solutions can deliver. Conduct a help
desk software comparison to find the best help desk software that will deliver the most
benefits to your business.
Benefits of Help Desk: Remote Access
You can extend the reach of your IT staff with tools that allow them to log in to
the system from anywhere. More workers are now working from satellite offices, or from
home, and need access to the system and an employee desktop. Remote access gives
them this access and more. A technician can take control of a user’s screen, which can
be done with the upmost security. Users can utilize chat functions to discuss what’s
going on during an incident report or transfer files and folders to help resolve issues.
Furthermore, some help desk dashboards allow you to monitor and analyse from afar.
The benefits of help desk solutions listed above are just a few those your business will
reap from implementing the best help desk software for your business. Research and
compare your options to ensure that you find the right solution for your needs.
1.2 Local
Local government refers to the provision and maintenance of public services and
infrastructure at local levels utilizing funds generated from the local community, in
addition to grants and loans from central Government, and other sources. In essence,
local government refers to the establishment of participatory and democratically elected
structures that can identify with the needs of the people at grassroots level and ensure
the translation of those needs into the actual programs and projects and maintenance of
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essential services. Where a system of local government is efficient and effective,
transparency and accountability are central to the decision-making process and the
system is able to provide and maintain quality service and infrastructure.
The National Computer Centers Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in Local
Government Units (eLGU) Project has laid the groundwork for local governments in
information and communications technology by, among others, assisting them in
establishing an online presence and in upgrading their respective websites to an
enhanced or interactive stage.
Recognizing the need to bring local government web presence to an even higher
level, the NCC, thru the eLGU Project, once again introduces an initiative that seeks to
revolutionize the way local governments interact with citizens.
Citizen-centric is the new rule of the Internet. It puts citizens in control over the
information they access. It responds effectively to their particular needs or life events
without bothering them about what particular local government department or section is
responsible for providing a certain service. In other words, interact ion takes place on
the citizens own terms, how and when they want it.
By way of this Citizen-Centric Website Development Guide, the NCC hopes to
facilitate the transformation of an LGU s website to a citizen-centric Internet presence.
By laying down the guidelines for a citizen-centric local government website, it seeks to
make the LGUs transition a little less complicated.
2. Related Studies
2.1 Foreign
Computer systems can grow very large from small beginnings. This often
appears to happen overnight without being planned and takes users and technicians by
surprise. Eventually the management and support of such an environment becomes
very expensive, time consuming and frequently an exercise in futility.
There is nothing more frustrating than calling for technical support and getting
passed around until you find the right person to speak to – provided, of course, that they
are not out at lunch or on holiday or have just gone home.
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A “help desk” or “single point of contact” in a organization can provide benefits
that are cost effective:
Using a common shared database
Using a common shared database of calls – which can be paper based, on a
spread sheet or in a database – will provide benefits:
a.
The ‘single point of contact’ role may enter the call details into a central log.
b.
To reduce time in resolving a call, the log is used for checking how the same
incidents were previously resolved by using the search functionality
c.
The approach will improve the service offered to users and the users’ perception
and overall satisfaction.
d.
The call log is used to track progress on calls and ensure that action has been
taken.
e.
Non-technical staff can spot common problems.
f.
Organization leaders responsible for budgets and management actions
can monitor service levels.
g.
Decisions on future enhancements can be made by accessing information from
the log, to aid in deciding which problem areas to address.
Using the same escalation processes and the same communication
process
a.
The single point of contact should check all incident/request forms to ensure
that they contain enough information for the technician or person dealing with the
call form.
b.
The support agent can log calls to the technician using an agreed, known process
– this will aid in the technician’s understanding of the call.
c.
Report on resolutions quickly to the users in organization when the technician
has completed the work – due to familiarity with the communication process.
d.
There will be improved teamwork and communication.
e.
The users have increased access to support through the single point of contact
for communication and information.
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Additional benefits to be gained by computerizing the help desk. If you
computerize a help desk everyone knows what is happening, because requests are
accessible by all support staff. The turnaround of user requests is faster;
yielding improved efficiency and request tracking, escalation and Workflow is improved.
Better information is available in the form of on-line access to:
a.
known errors, solutions and request histories
b.
external knowledge sources
c.
management information is more accessible and accurate
d.
duplicate, lost or forgotten requests are eliminated
e.
skilled staff and resources are better used
f.
complex support tasks and calculations are made easier.
Improved communication about calls
Having a help desk leads to improved communication between technical support
and the user during the reporting, diagnosis and resolution of the call. The advantages
of this are:
a.
better quality and speedier turnaround of calls logged and user requests
b.
an enhanced focus on a proactive approach to service provision
c.
a reduction in the negative focus sometimes placed on technicians.
While the term "Help desk" initially implied the place where employees
receive technical support relating to their organization's IT infrastructure, the scope of
the term has expanded in meaning and use. In major academic institutions, "help desk"
can also refer to help provided in an academic library. The 2012 HDI Practices and
Salary Report reported that for the first time in the 20 years since its inception, the name
"service desk" (at 32.3%) is more frequently used than "help desk" (at 26.6%) or other
names (which total 40.1%). The primary reason is likely to be the global adoption of the
terminology of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which uses the
term "Service Desk" to describe a one-stop function providing support and assistance,
replacing the concept of a "Help Desk" within the context of the provision of IT support.
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The Help Desk Institute (HDI) was formed as a professional association in 1989,
its purpose being to focus on the development of technical support personnel and the
sharing of optimal practices. It adopted the name HDI in 2004 to reflect the maturing of
the support industry. Technical support was expanded to cover desktop systems as well
as provide other types of assistance for customers of organizations.
A typical help desk can effectively perform several functions. It provides a single
point of contact for users to gain assistance in troubleshooting, get answers to
questions, and solve known problems. A help desk generally manages its requests
through the use of software such as issue tracking systems. These systems often
involve the use of a "local bug tracker" (LBT). This system allows the help desk to track
and sort user requests with the help of a unique number, and can frequently classify
problems by user, computer program, or similar categories. Many software applications
are available to support the help desk function. Some target the enterprise level help
desk and some target departmental needs.
2.2 Local
A wealth of knowledge has been accumulating in various Philippine government
and non-government (NGO) institutions useful for local governance and local
development planning and management. A mix of databases and knowledge bases has
been started by these institutions at various levels of conversion to electronic format, for
various purposes and at various stages of web readiness. Among them are:
The Galing Pook Foundation
The Local Government Academy of the Department of Interior and Local Government
(LGA-DILG)
The Development Academy of the Philippines
DevWatch in Mindanao Island
The Philippine Sustainable Development Network Foundation.
Meanwhile, the Philippine e-Commerce Law of 2000 had mandated all
government agencies to develop e-governance capabilities. Although slowly, an
increasing number of local government units (or LGUs, such as municipalities, cities
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and provinces) had launched first-stage websites, sending their staff to ICT (information
and communication technologies) training and learning from each other and from those
LGUs who are ahead.
Knowledge sharing is happening through traditional methods of distribution of
printed materials, training and occasional meetings and conferences. Through the
World Bank, an association of the few biggest cities was organized, the City
Development Strategies Executive Association or CDSEA. CDSEA facilitates the
sharing of development knowledge among those cities, through its website and by
publications and meetings.
However, there are 1,610 municipalities or towns in the Philippines, an increasing
number of which are getting connected to the Internet.
The project is being implemented on a co-management and partnership basis
between the Galing Pook Foundation, Philippine Sustainable Development Network
(PSDN) and the Centre for Conscious Living Foundation (CCLF). Galing Pook
Foundation serves as the repository of best practices in good local governance. Much of
the expertise and best practices are drawn from Galing Pook’s chest of awarded
programmes. The PSDN is tasked to undertake all ICT-related activities, including the
creation of an experts’ directory, design and execution of a web-based knowledge
database, the development of a portal and help desk, and the corresponding workshops
and training that the initial users of the network require. CCLF provides advisory
services to the partner organizations in the areas of knowledge management and
organizational learning. The implementing partners used a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to define a clear programme of work and scope of responsibilities.
So far 15 LGUs have signified their willingness and commitment to enter into
partnership on the ICT-enabled knowledge-sharing project. Eleven of these have
consistently participated in project activities. The project performed a participatory LGU
needs assessment to determine the information requirements and the capacity of the
users. The results of the assessment formed the basis for the preliminary system
design. The project also consulted the LGUs to facilitate the process of identifying
priority areas of knowledge that would be most helpful to the LPDOs.
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Two major workshops were held. The first was LOGOSHARE Consultation
Workshop held on 8 September 2004, at the National Computer Centre(NCC),
University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. This workshop organized a core
group of users composed of selected LPDOs that would help define the LOGOSHARE
ICT infrastructure contents and protocols. Results from this meeting helped determine
the information requirements and define the capacity of users. The second workshop
was the LOGOSHARE Project ICT Training Workshop, held at the NCC of the
University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on 3 - 4 November 2004. A followup workshop was held on 28 March 2005 at the NCC to test run the portal and
LOGOSHARE website.
Based on interim reports the remaining months of the project were devoted to
completing the technical aspects of the project, developing a sustainability plan and
strengthening the network. The following components were in progress: a knowledge
base of best practices in local governance and development called the e-Kaban Galing
(“Kaban” means storage chest), an e-directory of expertise in local governance and
development, piloting an e-group among LPDOs, set up of the bottom-up portal, design
and testing of an LGU Help Desk, and launching of LOGOSHARE. The project notes
that the establishment of the physical infrastructure (website), although an end in itself,
is more appropriately understood as a means to reach the desired outcome; a core
group of people able to identify and resolve local governance issues aided by a network
of practitioners providing knowledge and expertise.
The BPLS (Business Permit and Licensing System) Help Desk is an online help
facility that serves as the repository of data, information and other resources on the
streamlining of business permits and licensing system (BPLS) in the country. Its
objectives are: (1) to disseminate information to the public on the government reform
program for making business registration more efficient; (2) to support trained coaches
from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) in rolling-out the BPLS service standards to cities and
municipalities; and (3) assist local government officials and staffs like Business permits
and Licensing Officers (BPLOs) in implementing BPLS reforms.
The Help Desk website features the following:
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a.
BPLS Helpline: a discussion group among BPLS coaches and interested
BPLOs to exchange experiences and questions in rolling out the BPLS reforms.
b.
BPLS Nationwide Streamlining Program:
contains information on the
objectives, benefits and components of the government program.
c.
National BPLS Standard: describes the four service standards for processing
business registration applications.
d.
Target LGUs in the BPLS Program: list of the targeted LGUs that gov’t will
capacitate in implementing the BPLS standards, including the criteria for their
selection.
e.
Policy Issuances and Guidelines: · contains the official documents issued by
DTI, DILG and other government offices related to BPLS.
f.
BPLS Knowledge Products/Files: · contains downloadable presentation
materials used in various BPLS workshops, which may be useful in rolling-out the
BPLS standards to LGUs.
g.
Frequently Asked Questions: lists down answers to questions on BPLS
reforms raised in various workshops on BPLS.
h.
Directory of Coaches: contains the names and contact details of participants in
the Training of Trainers Workshops on BPLS Streamlining.
i.
Updates and Events: contains news on recent BPLS-related activities.
Information dissemination is one area that, traditionally, has not been given
sufficient attention by statistical agencies. Thus, many statistical outputs have gone
unutilized even if their production had required much human and financial resource. In
addition, gathering of statistics has not been an easy task for many data users. To
address this concern, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) put up the
National Statistical Information Center (NSIC). Thru the NSIC, the Philippine Statistical
System (PSS) has recognized the need to give greater emphasis to effective
information dissemination to optimize the use of scarce resources. More importantly, the
NSIC has facilitated the data search process.
But information must also be available and easily accessible at the local levels to
provide LGU executives, local investors and other concerned sectors with the
quantitative tools needed in the formulation of sound plans and programs.
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The De La Salle Help Desk is an information and assistance resource that
troubleshoots problems our users encounter. It is the central point to receive
immediate help on various IT problems/concerns through a wide range of activities
including:
a.
Providing Internet accounts such as e-mail, remote access, hosting of web
pages, etc.
b.
Advisory on IT problems such as password retrieval, errors in operating systems
and application software, computer viruses, etc.
c.
Distribution and installation of licensed software and other packages
d.
Repair and maintenance of hardware, and upgrade of software
e.
Consultancy on IT Equipment specifications based on the purchasing
requirements of various offices.
f.
Continuous tracking of network access failures.
g.
Development and maintenance of Help Desk web site and its solutions database
h.
Referrals to specialists on IT problems/concerns that cannot be directly
addressed by the Help Desk.
They aim to provide users with a single point of contact where they can aid
them with solutions on their queries on internet/network problems, procedural matters,
and other IT problems/concerns. It is their duty to give their users the assurance that
they are of their utmost concern.
Related Systems/Softwares
The following help desk systems will help the researchers to improve the scope
and build a more complex and more useful help desk for municipalities. Laying down
these help desk system will provide a brief explanation of different features that can be
put to the system that the researchers are documenting.
The OrgSync’s Help Desk, the help desk was inspired by the need of people for
better training and learning materials. The following words can be seen through their
help desk’s home page.
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Welcome to the new help desk!
Over the last year we've heard feedback from a lot of our clients that they wanted
more training materials and a public, interactive support community. We've long had the
admin club in OrgSync which is a great tool for our campus admins, but we wanted to
open this forum up to a much broader audience. That is why we have re-designed, reenvisioned, and relaunched help.orgsync.com.
This upgrade is a huge step forward for our training and user self-support
system. Any user of OrgSync from users to administrators should be able to come here
for a complete training on any aspect of the OrgSync system. They'll also be able to
participate in discussions, ask questions and share best practices with the rest of the
community. One of our favorite tools is the ideas board which is the new place to go and
talk to us about what you want to see next in OrgSync. Submit feature requests or lend
your votes to existing ones, participate in discussions about these features so that
together we can partner to build the next killer OrgSync feature.
We'd love to hear what you think about the changes and what you see as the
next step for training and support. Stay tuned because this is just the first step to a more
robust, complete knowledge base
The best feature that the researchers saw on the OrgSync’s Help Desk is their
ability to collect ideas from their clients/customers through their Ideas Board. This helps
them to still do a poll of suggestions from the people while running their help desk and
company.
Another existing help desk is the help desk of NIH (The National Institute of
Health USA). The NIH provides some training and seminars about biomedical
information, relationship management and a lot more. And this kind of company needs a
support for handling people’s concerns. So their help desk served as one.
At the heart of IT support at NIH is the NIH IT Service Desk, which provides
technical support to the NIH community via the Web, phone and email. The IT Service
Desk receives over a thousand requests for service every business day, and where
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issues cannot be resolved in-house, they are assigned to support staff in each of NIH’s
Institutes and Centers. The following are the NIH IT Service Desk Support Channels
and Information.
The NIH IT Service Desk site offers assistance to NIH staff by providing ticket
status updates, links to technical solutions, and event-related news. NIH staff can
submit a ticket to the NIH IT Service Desk from this site and once logged in, can
specifically view their current ticket and ticket histories, access simple solutions to top
NIH IT requests via the Knowledge Base, and get the latest news from the Hot News
feed.
Online Service Request– The online service request lets you submit a request for IT
support directly to the NIH IT Service Desk using an online dialog that prompts you for
your contact information and then allows you to describe your issue for the help desk
technicians. This is the most effective way to request IT support.
Search Knowledge Base– The CIT Knowledge Base (KB) is an online repository of
information that the help desk uses when responding to customer inquiries. Much of the
information in the KB is made available for searching by the general NIH community via
this Web interface.
Frequently Asked Questions – The NIH IT Service Desk maintains a repository of
customer Frequently Asked Questions about a variety of topics, including electronic
mail, ITAS, and remote access, among many others. You may view a list of topics here.
Service Request Information– If you have the ticket ID of an existing IT Service Desk
support case, you can check the current status of the request and update the
information via this interface.
Hot News– Hot News items represent IT service items of impact to the NIH community.
The current list of Hot News item is available on the main IT Service Desk Web site.
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Maintenance Calendar– When maintenance on NIH’s IT infrastructure is scheduled,
the dates and times of the planned outages are listed here, on the Maintenance and
Outage Calendar.
Hours and Full Contact Information
This list shown a lot of basic tasks that the help desk should do, and the
researchers thought that the feature that can be helpful for their research is their Hot
News, that does not only served as latest news list for people but let them talk on the
topic right away.
There is also a software existing that can manage request of a company’s client,
the Helpdesk Pilot.
Helpdesk Pilot allows you to manage your support services more efficiently,
treating each and every incoming request as a unique, traceable ticket.
Collate support requests sent in via email, through the web or over the phone
into a feature rich help desk solution that both empowers your support agents and
reassures your end-users of quick, efficient and quality support.
The following are the features that the Helpdesk Pilot offers:
Manage customer support emails
Allow your customers to contact you by sending an email to your dedicated
mailbox, say support@company.com. Helpdesk Pilot transforms each and every
incoming customer support email into a unique, identifiable ticket. Link your generic
mailboxes into categories, allowing tickets to be worked on by relevant staff members.
With helpdesk pilot's powerful two-way email integration, you can provide your staff
members the ease and flexibility of responding to tickets via email, even from their
mobile devices.
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Easy installation
Helpdesk pilot runs on your own servers and is easy to install. It is delivered as a
packaged Virtual Machine, complete with the application, database, webserver and
other necessary pre-requisites.
Powerful secure admin
Helpdesk pilot provides great control to the help desk administrator for managing
the help desk. Administrator controls are organized in a lucid manner, allowing ease in
help desk customization. Features like customizable notifications, custom fields, smart
rules and SLA add to helpdesk pilot's power and customizability.
Active directory / LDAP Authentication (Available only for Pro and Enterprise license
customers)
Authenticate help desk users with your existing Microsoft active directory,
openLDAP or Novell eDirectory setup with Helpdesk Pilot. Do away with the hassle of
creating multiple accounts for your help desk staff and end users, allowing secure help
desk access with their active directory credentials.
Create custom fields for tickets
Helpdesk Pilot's custom fields allow you to collect specific information from your
users, by customizing your submission form. Maintain a set of fields, specific for each
ticket, for internal reference. You can also add multiple levels of dependent custom
fields, or control the order in which you want your contacts to fill in the custom fields.
Customer panel
Provide your customers with a simple yet comprehensive ticket management
system that can be easily accessed through any web browser. Extend the customer
panel significantly by integrating it with your knowledge base. Provide your customers
with a direct link to the knowledge base, or let them search for articles they need
assistance on.
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Activity tracking
Helpdesk pilot documents various actions performed on a ticket, providing a clear
audit trail of activities that have been performed on a ticket, from creation to resolution.
Activity tracking focuses on ownership and responsibilities for various actions
performed.
Private collaboration
Helpdesk pilot allows staff users to exchange notes on a ticket for further
collaboration by sending an alert via email to each other. These notes will be appended
to the conversational view of the ticket between staff and customer. Any information on
a private note is visible only to support staff and not to the customer.
Comprehensive search
Helpdesk pilot's precise search functionality lets you get to the ticket you're
looking for instantly. Search supports smart operators like ticket number, tags, contact
name, email and even custom fields. You can also look for tickets through an end user's
info, like phone or email ID.
Customizable notifications
Helpdesk Pilot allows you to customize all your outgoing emails. Template based
notification allows you to have specially customized content for various categories. Add
any of the available dynamic tags in each notification, tailor based to your requirements.
Create reports
Create insightful reports on-the-fly based on your business requirements.
Helpdesk pilot's custom report-building module gives you the flexibility to create reports
using any combination of data sources. At any time, reports can be exported to CSV or
excel format.
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Canned Replies
Canned responses help you get past run-of-the-mill standard emails in no time.
You can set a filter to automatically send an auto response or just pick a canned reply
while replying to your email. Respond faster to standard customer requests and support
queries with canned replies.
In addition to inserting responses, you can also automatically change the ticket
status, priority and/or the assignee by simply loading a canned action.
Multi-lingual support
Helpdesk pilot's multi-lingual support gives you the flexibility to operate the help
desk in a language of your choice. Your end users can submit requests in any
language, and Helpdesk Pilot’s robust language engine ensures seamless handling of
international language content.
Ticket Management
Helpdesk Pilot provides your support staff with an intuitive and feature-rich ticket
management interface. On logging in, they are presented with the tickets view page,
displaying all tickets submitted by your end users. Each ticket is categorized by a status,
marked in a unique color, making it extremely simple to reference them. Use filters for
ticket status specific views, and also performs various actions on multiple tickets at
once.
Mass reply
Helpdesk pilot's mass reply feature lets you perform a single action on multiple
tickets. Save time required to send out individual responses, by allowing your support
agents to respond instantly to multiple support queries with mass reply.
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Move tickets
Helpdesk Pilot lets you move tickets across departments, facilitating easy and
simple collaboration across teams. Move one or more tickets at a time across
departments, and avoid having to raise a new ticket every time the scope of the issue
shifts to another department.
Print tickets
Convert your service requests into print-friendly tickets using Helpdesk Pilot. All
ticket details are displayed in a tabular, well-spaced format for easy viewing or can also
be exported in a PDF format, for a concise digital version of the original ticket. This
makes it extremely useful for your field techs during their daily support calls.
Helpdesk Pilot’s features are so much helpful and a helpdesk software to
consider for a certain company. Its features are broad and can easily comply for the
company’s need.
3. Synthesis of the Reviewed Literature and Studies
As mentioned local government is efficient and effective, transparency and
accountability are central to the decision-making process and the system is able to
provide and maintain quality service and infrastructure. Thus this unit is responsible for
the general welfare of the people within the covered locality. Currently, LGUs in the
Philippines is also making ways to serve the people through modern technology. The
National Computer Centers Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in Local Government
Units (eLGU) Project has laid the groundwork for local governments in information and
communications technology by, among others, assisting them in establishing an online
presence and in upgrading their respective websites to an enhanced or interactive
stage. It responds effectively to their particular needs or life events without bothering
them about what particular local government department or section is responsible for
providing a certain service. In other words, interact ion takes place on the citizens own
terms, how and when they want it.
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As the foreign studies gathered, it is stated that help desk is an important tool for
people who always ask for help especially when they are in hurry. A help desk is a
resource intended to provide the customer or end user with information and support
related to a company’s or institution's products and services. The purpose of a help
desk is usually to troubleshoot problems or provide guidance about products such as
computers, electronic equipment, food, apparel, or software. Corporations usually
provide help desk support to their customers through various channels such as toll-free
numbers, websites, instant messaging, or email. There are also in-house help desks
designed to provide assistance to employees.
And for the researchers the best features are their comprehensive search, mass
reply, their ability to move tickets and printing of those for future use. The researchers
are looking forward on putting these features and on improve them.
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CHAPTER III
Software Requirements Specifications
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1. Introduction
1.1 Goals and Objectives
The project is a comprehensive help desk that provides help desk agents and IT
managers, an integrated console to monitor and maintain the assets and IT requests
generated from the users of the IT resources in an organization. The IT help desk plays
an important part in the provision of IT Services. It is very often the first contact the
users have in their use of IT Services when something does not work as expected. The
IT help desk is a single point of contact for end users who need help.
The main objectives of the project is to have a better way of helping people to
find solutions for their problems and to have an easy access for asking questions to
LGUs. Help desk will bring people convenience of sending their questions or inquiries
simply called as requests to the municipality’s employee or management. Help Desk will
be helpful in such way that it can lessen time that the people will spend when
processing their papers in the municipality because they already knew exactly what to
do when they enter the municipality through the response of the employee through this
help desk.
It will also give the employee a better way of answering the people’s
requests/questions. Through this online help desk, employees can easily distribute
tasks of checking for people’s request. They can then quickly reply to any request they
are into (department).
1.2 Statement of Scope
Help Desk comprises the services of the municipalities regarding processes than
is done by the people who do transactions to the municipality. It also serves as the
information centre for the people who have inquiries for what they are doing or about
the papers that they are getting from the municipality only. The help desk service is not
only concerned about the computer systems of the municipality but everything that
could be ask to their processes.
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To make the process of reporting the issues to the IT help desk easier, the
project provides you with a Self-Service Portal where you can log your complaints and
issues online with the help of a web-based form. Once you have filed your issue, it gets
listed in your request view page, where you can keep track of the logged issue. You can
also update your personal information using the Self-Service Portal. In the Self-Service
Portal, you will be able to access the following modules:
Requests: You can create a new request and view the same. Also all the requests that
you have raised till date will be saved in your requests module for future references.
Solutions: From the solutions knowledge base that has been developed and
maintained by your IT help desk team, you can search for solutions for the issue that
you are currently facing.
My Details: You can view and edit your account details including your password. This
updated information will be displayed whenever your information is requested.
1.3 Software Context
Infrastructure changes, customer satisfaction, process improvement, servicelevel achievement, performance management, cost reduction, security. Historically,
these topics have dominated IT support managers’ day-to-day routines. Traditional IT
service and technical support responsibilities and methodologies are on the edge of
obsolescence. For example, users are not seeking out the service desk portal for
support, they are utilizing blogs, vendor and user online support sites, and social and
informal networks; third parties are continuing to provide more resolutions to users. IT
support organizations need to continue to reevaluate their service offerings and the
impact of these offerings on business goals, and ensure that their services provide
value to the business.
In April 2011, InformationWeek Analytics and HDI surveyed 1,214 business
technology and service management professionals to determine the current state of the
IT service desk. Many of the emerging trends identified by respondents are spreading in
influence among support organizations that report increasing incident volume as well as
those with decreasing incident volume; nevertheless, these trends are not yet the
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operational norm. And, in keeping with the trends reported in the past three annual HDI
Support Center Practices & Salary Reports, the rate of increase for incident volume is
slowing.
The primary reason for call-volume increases continues to be change-related:
new hardware, new mobile devices, new applications, new infrastructure architecture
and more customers. Service desks continue to focus on IT-related and process-based
metrics versus metrics that demonstrate the value the service desk adds to business
processes and how the service desk contributes to the achievement of business goals.
Based on the rate of framework and methodology adoption reported by survey
respondents, IT support management needs to better understand and leverage service
management frameworks, standards and practices to better align service offerings with
customer needs.
1.4 Major Constraints
a. The Help Desk will use JAVA programming language to build it and it needs a
web server in able for it to function for the government unit.
b. Registered clients are the only ones who can send requests.
c. Registered employees are the only ones who can view and reply the request.
2. Usage Scenario
2.1 User Profiles
The following are the actors and their description in the system.
Municipality Employees
Municipality Employees are the responsible for answering all
the questions and gives the solution for the problems of the
requesters. They are also responsible for registering New
Requester. They are also able to communicate to each other
if anyone from among them are the ones to make a request.
Requesters
Requesters are the people who ask for request and help
through helpdesk. They are usually the citizens but
municipality employees can also send requests.
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2.2 Use-Cases
The following are the use-cases are typical interactions between the
external environment and the internal software system.
1. Log on to the system
2. Add new Category
3. Add new Announcement
4. Chooses request category
5. Checks for new requests
6. Replies to any request of his category
7. Register new Requester
8. Opens a new request
9. Receive reply from employees
10. Check for request status
11. Print the Answered request
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2.2.1 Use-case Diagrams
Figure 2.2.1 Use-case Diagram
The figure above shows the use case diagram of the help desk, as an employee
you should first log in to the system, after successful log in it is that then that an
employee will be able to their transactions such as adding a new announcement,
category, check for new request and reply to these. And as a requester, they must first
register a new account, and also log in to the system. After this they will be able to open
a new request and manage it.
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2.2.2 Use-case Descriptions
Use-case:
Log on to the system
Primary actor:
Employee
Goal in context:
To gain access to the system
Precondition:
The employee must have a valid username and password.
Scenario:
1. The system prompts the employee for their username and
password.
2. The employee enters their username and password.
3. The system sends the username to the web server.
4. The web server sends back the password registered to the
username.
5. The system verifies the password and sets the user’s
authorization.
6. The employee is given access to the system to perform
their job.
Exceptions:
The username and password cannot be verified.
Use-case:
Add new Category
Primary actor:
Employee
Goal in context:
To add new category for the system
Precondition:
The employee must give the information about the category
that they will add.
Scenario:
1. The employee will log on to the system.
2. The employee will add new category through the system
setup.
3. The employee will field out all the information about the
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category.
4. The system will validate the adding of category.
Exceptions:
The existing category must not be doubled.
Use-case:
Add new Announcement
Primary actor:
Employee
Goal in context:
To add new announcement for the system
Precondition:
The employee must give the information about the
announcement that they will add.
Scenario:
1. The employee will log on to the system.
2. The employee will add new announcement through the
system setup.
3. The employee will field out all the information about the
announcement.
4. The system will validate the adding of category.
Exceptions:
Use-case:
Choose new request
Primary actor:
Employee
Goal in context:
To choose new request
Precondition:
The employee must choose the category to choose request.
Scenario:
1. The employee must log on to the system.
2. The employee will choose a category.
3. The employee will check for the requests.
4. The employee will choose the new request.
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Exceptions:
Use-case:
Reply to request
Primary actor:
Employee
Goal in context:
To reply for the request.
Precondition:
The employee must choose request category
Scenario:
1. The employee must log on to the system.
2. The employee must choose a category.
3. The employee will check the request.
4. The employee will reply to the request.
Exceptions:
Valid requests can be only entertain.
Use-case:
Register new requester
Primary actor:
Requester
Goal in context:
To register new requester.
Precondition:
The registration must be performed by the requester.
Scenario:
1. The requester will visit the HelpDesk
2. The requester must field out all the required information.
3. New Requester registered.
Exceptions:
All information must be valid.
Use-case:
Open New request
Primary actor:
Requester
Goal in context:
To open new request.
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Precondition:
The request must be performed by the requester.
Scenario:
1. The requester must log on to the system.
2. The requester will open new request
3. The requester will field out all the required fields.
4. New request open.
Exceptions:
All information must be valid.
Use-case:
Receive reply from employee
Primary actor:
Requester
Goal in context:
The requester will see the reply of the employee.
Precondition:
The requester will have the permission to check their inbox.
Scenario:
1. The requester will log on to the system.
2. The requester will open request.
3. The requester will check the reply.
4. New request opened.
Exceptions:
All information must be valid.
Use-case:
Check request status
Primary actor:
Requester
Goal in context:
To check the request status
Precondition:
The requester must choose the category
Scenario:
1. The requester will log on to the system.
2. Category must be chosen.
3. The request will be check.
4. Must check if the request has a reply.
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Exceptions:
Use-case:
Register new requester
Primary actor:
Requester
Goal in context:
To register new requester.
Precondition:
The requester must be performed by the requester.
Scenario:
1. The requester will visit the HelpDesk
2. The requester must field out all the required information.
3. New Requester registered.
Exceptions:
All information must be valid.
2.3 Special Usage Considerations
a. The employee and the administrator are the only types of the system users
that will be able to reply to a request.
b. The help desk will be used internally and externally, internally for the request
handling through department managers/employees and externally for request replies
passing to one of the integrated system to the help desk, the Local Citizen’s Portal.
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2.4 Activity Diagrams
<=3
Figure 2.4.1 Log on to the System Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.1 shows log in activity of the system and the constraints upon logging
into the system.
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Figure 2.4.2 Add New Category Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.2 shows an activity where a user will be able to add a new request
category.
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Figure 2.4.3 Add New Announcement Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.3 shows an activity where a user will be able to add a new
announcement from the government unit.
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Figure 2.4.4 Choose Request Category Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.4 shows the activity where the client will be able to choose request
category that happens upon creating a new request.
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Figure 2.4.5 Check for new Request Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.5 shows the activity where in the employee will be able to check for
new request to make their replies.
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Figure 2.4.6 Reply Request Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.6 shows the activity of an employee replying to a request chosen.
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Figure 2.4.7 Register New Requester Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.7 shows the activity of registering a new requester or client.
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Figure 2.4.8 Open Request Activity Diagram
Figure 2.4.8 shows the activity of the client where they can open a new request.
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3. Functional Model Description
3.1 Data Objects
Requester Data Object
RequesterID A unique identifier assigned to the requester.
Fname The requester’s first name.
Mname The requester’s middle name (optional).
Lname The requester’s last name.
Gender The requester’s gender.
ContactNumber The requester’s contact number.
Email The requester’s email address.
Address The requester’s address.
Username The requester’s username used to log on to the computer system.
Password The requester’s password used to log on to the computer system.
Request Data Object
RequestID A unique identifier assigned to the request.
RequesterID The requester’s identifier number.
CategoryID The category’s identifier number.
RequestName A brief description/detail of the request.
RequestMessage The content of the request.
ReportedDate The date the request is created.
ClosedDate The date the request is expected to be replied.
History Request Data Object
HistoryID A unique identifier assigned to the request history.
RequestID The request’s identifier number.
StatusCode Indicates the status of the request whether assigned, opened, or closed.
EmployeeID Indicates the employee’s identifier assigned to the request.
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Reply Data Object
ReplyID A unique identifier assigned to the reply.
HistoryID The history request identifier number.
ReplyDescription The content of the reply to the request.
Category Data Object
CategoryID A unique identifier assigned to the category.
CategoryName The name of the category.
CategoryDescription A brief description of the category.
Status Code Data Object
StatusCode A unique code of the status.
StatusDescription A brief description of the status code whether assigned, opened, or
closed.
Skill Code Data Object
SkillCode A unique code of the skill.
SkillDescription A brief description of the skill.
Employee Skill Data Object
EmployeeID The employee identifier number.
SkillCode The skill identifier code.
Employee Data Object
EmployeeID A unique identifier of the employee.
Fname The employee’s first name.
Mname The employee’s middle name (optional).
Lname The employee’s last name.
Gender The employee’s gender.
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ContactNumber The employee’s contact number.
Email The employee’s email address.
Address The employee’s address.
Username The employee’s username used to log on to the system.
Password The employee’s password used to log on to the system.
EmployeeStatus The employee’s status whether active or inactive.
Announcement Data Object
AnnouncementID A unique identifier of the announcement.
AnnouncementDate The date the announcement is created.
AnnouncementMessage The content of the announcement.
EmployeeID The employee identifier number.
3.2 Relationships
To become able to send a request, you must first register as a requester to the
system. Basic information is needed in registering in order to give specific replies to
particular requesters regarding their concerns. As a requester you are entitled to send
requests more than once and at least once had submitted a request.
A request is a query/question raised by a requester. It is categorized depending
on the subject matter. Also dates are indicated such reported date, when it was
submitted, and closed date, the date the request is expected to be replied before it is
considered as overdue. One request can only be put to one category while a category
can have many requests under it.
Skills are listed wherein they are chosen is the employee is entitled to have
particular skills. An employee can have many skills but the skill code is only entitled to
one particular skill.
The history request is the list of details of requests regarding its status and to
whom it is assigned. Status codes are used to indicate the condition of the request
whether it is not yet assigned or not. A status code indicates only one status. If an
employee replies to the request, that reply is only entitled to that request while a request
may, at some time, not be replied.
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Employees have their own username and password since they are the one
responsible to answer requests sent by the requesters. They can be assigned to answer
requests or not. But a request is always assigned to at least one employee.
3.3 Complete data model
The relationships between the data objects describe in section 3.1.3.1 are shown in
Figure 3.3.1.
.
Figure 3.3.1 Data Model
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4. Functional Model Description
4.1 Class Diagrams
Figure 4.1.1 Class Diagram
4.2 Software Interface Description
4.2.1 External machine interfaces
The software will be capable of printing reports on a local printer.
4.2.2 External system interfaces
The Help Desk System will be accessible on the Internet preferably through a high
speed network connection.
4.2.3 Human interface
The web pages shall allow complete navigation using the keyboard, mouse, or mouse
and keyboard combinations.
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4.3 Reports
4.3.1 Inventory of Generated Reports
Form
Summary of Requests
Fields
Reported Date
Description
Contains the list of requests
Request Name
Requester
Request Message
Closed Date
Pending Requests
Reported Date
Contains the list of pending
Request Name
requests
Requester
Request Message
Closed Date
Assigned Requests
Reported Date
Contains the list of assigned
Request Name
requests to employees
Requester
Request Message
Assigned Employee
Completed Requests
Reported Date
Contains the list of
Request Name
completed requests
Requester
Request Message
Closed Date
Requests by Category
Reported Date
Contains the list of requests
Category Name
by category
Requester
Request Message
Closed Date
Replies
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Employee Sender
Contains the list of replies
Reply Message
among requests
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Reply Date
Announcement
Date
Contains the list of
Employee Name
announcements
Announcement Message
List of Requests by Date
Reported Date
Contains the list of requests
Range
Request Name
by date range
Requester
Request Message
Closed Date
Summary of Requesters
Requester
Contains the list of requests
Reported Date
of a requester.
Request Name
Request Message
Closed Date
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4.3.2 Report’s Layout
Figure 4.3.2.1 Requests
Figure 4.3.2.2 Pending Requests
Figure 4.3.2.3 Assigned Requests
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Figure 4.3.2.4 Completed Requests
Figure 4.3.2.5 Request by Category
Figure 4.3.2.6 Replies
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Figure 4.3.2.7 Announcement
4.3.3 Data dictionary for each Report
Table Name: tbl_t_request
Description: used for creating and recording requests by requester
4.3.3.1 Data dictionary for Request
Table Name: tbl_t_history_request
Description: used for tracking the details of the request, to whom it is assigned, who
the requester is and the status of the request.
4.3.3.2 Data dictionary for History Request
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Table Name: tbl_r_status_code
Description: used for creating status codes for requests
4.3.3.3 Data dictionary for Status Code
Table Name: tbl_r_category
Description: used for creating category for requests
4.3.3.4 Data dictionary for Category
Table Name: tbl_r_requester
Description: used for login credentials and creator of requests
4.3.3.5 Data dictionary for Requester
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Table Name: tbl_r_skill_code
Description: used for creating skills
4.3.3.6 Data dictionary for Skill Code
Table Name: tbl_r_employee_skill
Description: used for recording the skills of employees
4.3.3.7 Data dictionary for Employee Skill
Table Name: tbl_r_employee
Description: used for login credentials and creator of reply to requests
4.3.3.8 Data dictionary for Employee
Table Name: tbl_t_reply
Description: used for creating replies and recording of its historical data
4.3.3.9 Data dictionary for Reply
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Table Name: tbl_t_announcement
Description: used for creating announcements
4.3.3.10 Data dictionary for Announcement
5. Behavioral Model and Description
5.1 Description for software behavior
5.1.1 Events
Requester Class Events
Requester logs onto the system
Requester opens a new request
Requester receive reply from employees
Requester check for request status
Requester logs off of the system
Employee Class Events
Employee creates an account
Employee chooses request category
Employee checks for new requests
Employee replies to any request of his category
Employee logs off of the system
5.1.2 States
Requester States
Description
Registering
The requester is the process of being registered.
Requesting
Requester is making his/her request.
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Checking
Requester is checking the status of his/her request.
Receiving
Requester has received reply from employees.
On Line
The requester has logged on to the system.
Off Line
The requester has logged off the system.
Employee States
Description
Creating
Employee is creating his/her account.
Checking
Employee is checking for new request from the
requesters.
Replying
Employee is replying to a request.
On Line
Employee has logged on to the system.
Off Line
Employee has logged off the system.
5.2 Statechart Diagram
Following figures will show state that the users are taking. Requester after
registering an account can immediately make a new request and check its status every
time and close it when resolved, and employees can create an account and see the list
of new request for then to answer, after replying any request, the replies will be sent to
the requester of that request.
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after <=3
trials
Figure 5.2.1 Overall System Statechart Diagram
Figure 5.2.2 Requester Class Statechart Diagram
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Figure 5.2.3 Employee Class Statechart Diagram
6. Restrictions, Limitations and Constraints
a. The system shall be acquired by an internet and intranet connection of both
requesters and the employees.
-
The users should have a LAN and wireless connection to access the system.
b. All server code shall be written in JAVA.
-
Servers where required for their codes to be written in JAVA because it is
what the system will support.
c. Only registered requester accounts can send a request.
-
Unauthorized user cannot be a requester.
d. Only employees with accounts can reply to requests.
-
Unauthorized employees cannot send reply to registered requesters.
e. Request shall only be seen by the requester and the employees only.
-
Unauthorized viewing of request is prohibited.
f. A requester creating a request that has already been answered is redirected to
the link of FAQ.
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6.1 Validation Criteria
System validation will test the system for its usability to the users, and therefore
needed for the participation of them in few stages of tests/validations. All results will be
enumerated after testing and bugs will be addressed accordingly what is needed.
6.1.1 Classes of tests
A. Testing of every functions of the system will be done
1. Registering/Creating Account
2. Logging on to the system
3. Opening a request
4. Checking request status
5. Closing request by the requester
6. Replying to requests
7. Reply showing
8. Closing request by the employee
B. Every function testing will be graded by both developers and the testers/end
users.
C. Acceptance testing will be conducted at the customer’s/client’s site for their
convenience and usability of the system to their processes.
6.1.2 Expected software response
a. Error should be clearly shown by the system for the end users.
b. All requests shall be kept by the server.
6.1.3 Performance Bounds
a. System should be able to handle more than 100 simultaneous users against the
Website/Web Server at any given time.
b. System database should be able to process queries less than 15 seconds.
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APPENDICES
Integration with Other Systems
The figure above shows the integration of helpdesk among the other systems
connected to it. It requires the information of the employees from the Human Resource
Information System who are responsible for answering the requests as well as opening
a ticket. From the Management monitoring Information System is where all the LGU
systems are connected thus the HelpDesk will just have to connect to it to fetch
information related to requests. While in the Local Citizen’s Portal is the avenue where
the HelpDesk along with the other systems are found.
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Solution Architecture
System Layout
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System Workflow
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Project Timeline
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REFERENCES
http://www.comparehelpdesk.com/article/top-5-benefits-of-help-desk-solutions/
http://www.ncc.gov.ph/
http://www.amic.org.sg/ict/external/awards/0302a6ppL25.htm
http://www.logoshare.ph
http://helpdesk.dlsu.edu.ph/aboutus/
http://dginstitute.com/?q=resources/case/access/logoshare
https://sites.google.com/site/bplsph/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9203218/Help_desk_calls_on_the_rise
http://scopedesk.com/blog/column/benefits-of-a-local-help-desk/
https://help.orgsync.com/home
http://cit.nih.gov/Support/NIHITServiceDesk/
http://www.helpdeskpilot.com/
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ncs/9thncs/papers/ict_Empowering.pdf
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