Staffing levels

Service Desk staffing

Note on building a single point of contact

Regardless of the combination of options chosen to fulfil an organization ’s overall Service Desk structure, individual user s should be in no doubt about who to contact if they need assistance. A single telephone number (or a single number for each group if separate desks are chosen) should be provided and well publicized – as well as a single e-mail address and a single web Service Desk contact page.

Ideas that can be successfully used to help publicize the Service Desk telephone number and e-mail address, and making it available close to hand when users are likely to need them, are:

• Including the Service Desk telephone number on hardware CI labels, attached to the component s the user is likely to be calling about
• Printing Service Desk contact details on telephones
• For PCs and laptops, using a customized background or desktop with the Service Desk contact details, together with information read from the system that will be needed when calling (such as IP address, OS build number, etc.) in one corner
• Printing the Service Desk number on ‘freebies’ (pens, pencils, mugs, mouse-mats, etc.)
• Prominently placing these details on Service Desk Internet/intranet sites
• Including them on any calling cards or satisfaction survey cards left with users when a desk visit has been necessary
• Repeating the details on all correspondence sent to the users (together with call reference numbers)
• Placing the details on notice boards or physical locations that users are likely to regularly visit (entrances, canteens, refreshment areas, etc.).

The issues involved in, and criteria for, establishing the appropriate staffing model and levels are discussed in this section. Details about typical Service Desk role s and responsibilities can be found in paragraph 6.6.1 below. They include the Service Desk Manager, Supervisor, Analysts and, in some organizations, these roles are complemented by business users (‘ Super User s’) who provide first-line support.

An organization must ensure that the correct number of staff are available at any given time to match the demand being placed upon the desk by the business. Call rates can be very volatile and often in the same day the arrival rate may go from very high to very low and back again. An organization planning a new desk should attempt to predict the call arrival rate and profile – and to staff accordingly. Statistical analysis of call arrival rates under current support arrangements must be undertaken and then closely monitored and adjusted as necessary.

Many organizations will find that call rates peak during the start of the office day and then fall off quickly, perhaps with another burst in the early part of the afternoon – this obviously varies depending upon the organization ’s business but is an often occurring pattern for many organizations. In such circumstances it may be possible to utilize part-time staff, home-workers, second-line support staff or third parties to cover the peaks.

The following factors should be considered when deciding staffing levels:

• Customer service expectations
• Business requirement s, such as budget, call response time s, etc.
• Size, relative age, design and complexity of the IT Infrastructure and Service Catalogue – for example, the number and type of incidents, the extent of customized versus standard off-the-shelf software deployed, etc.
• The number of customers and users to support, and associated factors such as:
• Number of customers and user s speaking a different language
• Skill level
• Incident and Service Request types (and types of RFC if appropriate):
• Duration of time required for call type s (e.g. simple queries, specialist application queries, hardware, etc.)
• Local or external expertise required
• The volume and types of incidents and Service Requests
• The period of support cover required, based on:
• Hours covered
• Out-of-hours support requirement s
• Time zones to be covered
• Locations to be supported (particularly if Service Desk staff also conduct desk-side support)
• Travel time between locations
• Workload pattern of requests (e.g. daily, month end, etc.)
• The service level target s in place (response levels etc.)
• The type of response required:
• Telephone
• E-mail/fax/voice mail/video
• Physical attendance
• Online access/ control
• The level of training required
• The support technologies available (e.g. phone system s, remote support tools, etc.)
• The existing skill levels of staff
• The processes and procedure s in use.

All these items should be carefully considered before making any decision on staffing levels. This should also be reflected in the levels of documentation required. Remember that the better the service, the more the business will use it.

A number of tools are available to help determine the appropriate number of staff for the Service Desk. These workload modelling tools are dependent on detailed ‘local knowledge’ of the organization such as call volumes and patterns, service and user profile s, etc.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23