ITIL Foundations
by James Pengelly (ed)
Stephen Bajada. (c) 2004. Copying Prohibited.
Reprinted for Elzbieta Pluta, Symantec
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Table of Contents
The Service Desk (Function)...........................................................................................................1
Overview................................................................................................................................1
To deliver high quality support to achieve business goals...............................................1
To aid in user retention and satisfaction..........................................................................1
To improve the service but reduce the cost.....................................................................1
To highlight customer training and education needs.
.......................................................1
To close incidents and confirm customer satisfaction......................................................2
Contributing to problem identification...............................................................................2
Roles and Responsibilities...............................................................................................2
Benefits:...........................................................................................................................3
Exercises The Service Desk (Function)...........................................................................3
The Service Desk (Function)
Overview
The service desk is the window of the IT community and as such should be viewed as the single or
central point of contact for all IT products and services. This course will answer the question "Why
do we need a Service Desk?"
The service desk will provide the user with a single point of contact.
A single point of contact provides the user with one number to call for all their IT service concerns
and issues.
The Service Desk will:
" Represent "IT" to the customer and the user
" Offer the ultimate in customer satisfaction
" Prioritize highest perception of quality to its customers
" Co-ordinate people, processes and technology to deliver business services
To deliver high quality support to achieve business goals
In order to be successful, the service desk must give the customer the highest quality of support
possible while staying within budget and delivering business goals directed by management. This
can be achieved through Service Level Management.
To aid in user retention and satisfaction
Good quality service will keep customers coming back for more! As mentioned earlier, positive
perception is key to the success of the Service Desk. When a customer's needs are met, there is no
need to look beyond the Service Desk. Satisfaction can be measured not only by the speed at
which the phone is answered but also by the level at which the organization understands their
customer's business and needs.
To improve the service but reduce the cost
This can be achieved by improving the response time to the customer. Time is money, and the
faster you can move forward with a customer's concern the more cost efficient the resolution will be.
Collecting the vital information needed to resolve the customer's request the first time (that is, via
1st level support) will also reduce the amount of time the customer and 2nd level support has to
wait. If wrong or insufficient information is collected at 1st level then 2nd level support has to get
back to the customer or Service Desk for data collection. The Service Desk is also responsible for
ensuring that the right 2nd level support group is working on the customer's issue. Again, making
efficient use of resources will reduce costs.
To highlight customer training and education needs.
As the single point of contact, Service Desk will understand the customer's needs. All requests for
both incidents and service are filtered through the Service Desk. The Service Desk will identify
trends that highlight a possible IT need, for example, training. The Service Desk will also be aware
Reprinted for [e-mail], Symantec GTSLearning, Stephen Bajada (c) 2004, Copying Prohibited
ITIL Foundations 2
of new technology that will be introduced to the business and will make recommendations on
training needs based on historical data from previous software or hardware releases.
To close incidents and confirm customer satisfaction
Before closing records/tickets, the service desk will consult the customer, giving them the authority
to ensure that their problem was resolved to their satisfaction. This is an excellent way of confirming
satisfaction with the customer. This type of service is not very common and is very well received by
customers.
Contributing to problem identification
The Service Desk staff will have a combination of both superior technical and soft skills, which will
enable them to be more involved in the problem identification process. The Service Desk will use
both experience and a knowledge base to collect data for both a work-around and resolution. Since
it is the responsibility of the Problem Management Process to resolve problems, the Service Desk
can identify previous solutions to Problem Management. Tools play a vital role in this area. A call
tracking device or knowledge base can be considered a tool.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Service Desk is responsible for accepting and recording all calls, without exception. This
information, no matter how insignificant, will be vital for statistics. All calls are important - even if
they are wrong numbers. A large number of wrong numbers coming into the Service Desk may
identify a problem with the lines or trunks coming into the Service Desk.
It is the directive of the Service Desk that own the Incident Management Process to resolve as
many calls as possible at 1st level. World class 1st level resolution is set at 85%. This can be
achieved by close co-operation with 2nd level support. As calls are being forwarded to 2nd level
support for problem resolution, the Service Desk has to ensure that information regarding resolution
is placed in the call-tracking tool. This information can be used for similar calls received in the
future. If the skill set is adjusted to allow 1st level (Service Desk, Incident Management) to resolve
the issue then the % of resolution will go up. In any case the fact that the information is being
collected will reduce the waiting time for resolution to the customer and the research and diagnosis
for 2nd level support, resulting in a cost saving and efficient use of resources.
The Service Desk is responsible for monitoring and escalating according to all SLAs. It is a given
that on all Service Level Agreements the Service Desk is highlighted as the point of escalation.
Close monitoring of all tickets being escalated will ensure that 2nd level support does not miss their
SLA targets to resolution.
The Service Desk will keep users informed on the status and progress of their requests.
Management of the customer's expectations and informing the customer of any status changes or
progress with their requests is vital to customer satisfaction. If close monitoring of requests is
adhered to, the customer's expectations will be exceeded. In addition to keeping customers
informed the Service Desk is responsible for closure and verification of every request.
Communication of planned and short-term outages will be done when information is gathered from
either the Change Advisory Board or Service Level Management. The Service Desk will broadcast
these messages to the users using whatever means are available at the time, be they phone
messages, e-mail, broad cast messages, bulletin boards, intranet, and so on.
Co-ordination of 2nd level and 3rd party support for all customers' needs is another responsibility.
The Service Desk owns all problems being escalated. They will ensure that the right 2nd level group
is handling the customer's request. They will also ensure that the proper 3rd party vendor is
involved and providing the service within the underpinning contract.
The Service Desk has the ability to inform management on all recommendations for service
improvements. Being the single point of contact, the Service Desk will have insight into or input from
customers' needs.
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ITIL Foundations 3
Benefits:
" Improved user service, perception, and satisfaction
" Increased user accessibility via SPOC (Single Point of Contact)
" Improved quality and faster response to user requests
" Improved team work and communications
" Management of infrastructure and control
" Reduced Cost (Efficient use of resources)
Exercises The Service Desk (Function)
You are the new ITIL process owner for the ABC COOKIE COMPANY. You are assigned to set up
a service desk.
How will you apply the benefits of the service desk to the ABC COOKIE COMPANY?
1. True or false? A call to the service desk to place an order for cookies is an incident?
2. True or false? The service desk makes recommendations on service improvements?
3. Which of the following are true?
(A) The service desk has to give the highest quality of support possible within budget
(B) The service desk has to deliver business goals directed by management
A. Both A and B
B. Just A
C. Just B
D. None
Answers
1. Any call to the Service Desk is considered an incident (True)
2. The Service Desk does make recommendation for improvements (True)
3. Both A and B
Reprinted for [e-mail], Symantec GTSLearning, Stephen Bajada (c) 2004, Copying Prohibited