Slashdot Mirror
Improving Operations in a Small Helpdesk System?
El Presidente asks: "I'm the department head of a small IT helpdesk in a not-quite-so-small business. The department's small in the sense that (a) there's only three people (including me), and (b) not only do we do helpdesk, but develop all the in-house systems, build our own servers, and more. We're supposed to log every helpdesk call that comes in (we've previously developed our own software for this), log notes on each call, and log the resolution. However, although I do set a good example by logging (most!) of my calls, the other two don't, even though I've asked them to do so numerous times. Although they do the job well, this is the one area that is letting the department down, and now management wants full stats on what we do every day, so obviously a full helpdesk log for each day would go a long way to prove what we do (or don't do). I don't want to come down on them with the Big Iron Fist (tm) and check up on them every few minutes, because I've got my own work to do. How can I actually get them to buy into logging calls, and not 'forget' or be 'too busy' to log things properly?"
There's a time to be a buddy, and there's a time to be a boss.
This is an excellent point. I don't advocate dishonesty, but you could point out to them that they are asking you to justify your time and personnel, which is essentially what is going on here. Point out that you have to show your boss what is going on and prove that you need two people. Without their logs, you can show what you're doing, but not what they're doing. It's even possible they could eliminate one or both positions unless you have proof that they are both kept active and busy -- and that proof would be their logs. If there are no logs, you can't prove they're busy.
They will log their calls or you will find people who can follow simple instructions.
I'm willing to bet that was written by someone who has never run his own department or business. It would be nice if one could do that, but in the real world, if you've got an employee that does 90% of the job well, then you're damned lucky. Sure, you can fire them, but there's a good chance their replacement won't do as well as they do. Logging and documentation are two areas programmers, admins, and other IT people are notoriously poor in. People can claim to do that in an interview, but once someone else tells them he's never done it, they won't bother with it either.
It's hard to find good employees and you don't want to replace a 90% fit with an unknown that could be 90% bad.
Two things from my prior helpdesk experience:
1) Typically, the reason management wants statistics on helpdesk call volume is so they can make staffing decisions. I was not management at the time, but was at the same tier as helpdesk management when I was asked to compile statistics for average call volume by hour. Two weeks before Christmas, management cut helpdesk staffing hours by something on the order of 25%. We managed not to fire anyone, but they certainly weren't happy. After that, we saw a significant increase in calls logged. When the employees were faced with the real consequences of not demonstrating their workload, they decided that logging calls was a better alternative to not having jobs.
2) One way to increase logging numbers is by making certain simple helpdesk tasks self-logging. For example, when a client wants their password changed, it's tempting for the helpdesk consultant to just change the password without ever opening a ticket. Why not write the password change utility so that it automatically opens a ticket, provides some minimal level of notes, and then presents this to the consultant? If you can make ticket tracking easier to do than to not do, people are more likely to do it. Don't make the logging process completely invisible to the consultant, though--the idea is to integrate these steps with their workflow so that they get used to doing them, not to hide them altogether. One presumes that for the more difficult problems, consultants are opening tickets, anyway.
Just two ideas.