Centralized Technology Support: An IT Help Line/Help Desk


Copyright 1994 CAUSE. From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 17, Number 1, Spring 
1994. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is 
granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for 
commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear, and 
notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association 
for managing and using information resources in higher education. To 
disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For 
further information, contact Julia Rudy at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East 
Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; 
e-mail: jrudy@CAUSE.colorado.edu


                     CENTRALIZED TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT:
                        AN IT HELP LINE/HELP DESK
                   by Bruce Longo and Barbara Robinson

ABSTRACT: The Information Services department at Monroe Community 
College has used existing computer and telecommunications equipment and 
non-technical personnel, together with purchased problem-management 
software, to create a centralized problem management and technical 
support system through its Information Technology Help Line/Help Desk.


Organizations conducting business in the 1990s have 
discovered that computer technology is an effective tool to 
help support and meet their mission-critical strategic 
goals, objectives, and initiatives. As these organizations 
become dependent upon computer technology and the data 
processed by computers, they often find themselves trying to 
overcome the hurdles of:

  *  duplication of effort among technical support personnel 
trying to resolve problems;

  *  inefficient use of technical resource time addressing 
repetitive, non-technical issues;

  *  no central point of contact for users in need of 
technical support.

It is imperative that the organization provide quality 
customer support services for the technologies to all 
personnel, and implement an effective problem-management 
tool to help the organization and its personnel keep pace 
with the ever-changing technical world of computing. 
Implementation of a centralized help line in conjunction 
with departmental help desks can provide the answer!

Help line/help desk approach

The Information Services department at Monroe Community 
College implemented such an approach to technical support in 
October of 1992. Our help line/help desk service utilizes a 
problem-management approach that effectively provides the 
user community with a single source of contact throughout 
the College for technical resources located in several 
departments, while at the same time streamlining problem 
management within technical support departments.

To utilize our service, users simply dial one telephone 
extension linking them with a voice messaging tree that 
electronically directs their call to the proper help desk 
(we have two help desks at this time, one for equipment-
related calls, and one for general information services 
calls). The call is then answered by the help desk operator 
who utilizes problem-management software to log the call 
with a unique customer identification and problem number, 
and searches the problem database for a pre-existing 
resolution. If the help desk operator is unable to bring the 
problem to resolution, it is referred by the operator to the 
proper technical resource for research. The resolution to 
each and every call received by the help desk is logged into 
the problem-management software, thus building a centralized 
problem-management database for future reference and prompt 
resolution of problems.

Benefits

Many benefits are associated with this kind of centralized 
problem-management approach:

  *  Problems won't "fall through the cracks."

  *  User support service is improved by providing a single 
source of contact for technical resources, and providing 
complete follow-through of customer inquiry and problems 
from receipt to resolution.

  *  A complete history is maintained of customer problem 
calls for personalized service.

  *  A centralized problem-management database for reference 
purposes is developed.

  *  Technical support operations are streamlined by 
eliminating duplication of efforts and directing technical 
resource time away from non-technical issues and toward 
mission-critical issues.

  *  Customer inquiries and problems are resolved on a timely 
basis.

  *  Timely and detailed statistics can be captured to 
identify common hardware and software problems and 
unresolved issues, to help determine user training needs, 
and to eliminate problematic hardware and software.

  *  Streamlined management reporting has identified such 
information as number of users serviced, number of calls per 
hour/day, and peak calling times.

There are significant financial benefits associated with 
implementing a centralized problem-management system, as 
well. Prior to the implementation of our service at MCC, 
Information Services devoted approximately 11,960 person 
hours to problem management, and realized a staggering 
$299,000 in annualized problem-management expense. This 
figure takes into consideration the average number of 
problem calls received and the total person hours dedicated 
to problem management by technical resources within the 
department. These numbers were greatly reduced upon 
implementation of the help line/help desk concept. After one 
year of these operations, the department devoted 
approximately 9,880 person hours to problem management, 
equating to $182,000 in annualized problem-management 
expense, providing the department with an immediate 
annualized savings of $117,000 and approximately 4,545 
person hours offloaded per year from technical resources. 
These numbers speak for themselves!

We anticipate that the amount of savings realized by the 
department will increase proportionally as time goes on, and 
as help desk operators are able to resolve more problems 
without the assistance of technical resources.

Costs

The true benefit of centralized problem management as a 
means for streamlined technical support, and efficient and 
effective user support, is that the concept can be applied 
to all organizations regardless of their size or budgetary 
constraints. In fact, a budget constraint was one of the 
issues that led us to implement the help line/help desk 
approach. Effective centralized problem management can be 
accomplished with a variety of systems and personnel support 
including a manual paper log system, a personal computer 
system, a mainframe system, or a complete department with 
full-time staff dedicated to technical support and problem 
management. The size of the problem-management system 
implemented is directly proportional to the size of the user 
community it will service.

There can be significant start-up costs associated with a 
central problem-management implementation, depending upon 
the size of help desk operations an organization chooses to 
implement. (MCC had approximately $41,000 in implementation 
expenses.) Weighing these costs against the hard-dollar 
savings an organization can realize in problem-management 
expense, and the intangible benefit of improved user support 
service--it is well worth the expense!

Advice to others

If some of the problems detailed in the introduction of this 
article sound familiar to you, don't delay in implementing a 
centralized problem-management approach in your 
organization. There are several steps associated with 
implementing a successful central problem-management system, 
including the following:

  *  Develop the central help line telecommunications system.
  *  Select and configure the problem-management software.
  *  Develop a help desk manual.
  *  Select and train help desk operators (help desk 
operators must learn to wear several hats).
  *  Develop an effective marketing campaign to "sell" the 
system throughout the organization.
Before starting the implementation process, be sure to:
  *  Obtain full management support.
  *  Rightsize help desk operations for your organization.
  *  Be realistic in estimating implementation time (it will 
involve input from all levels of the organization).
  *  Select a problem-management system which will adequately 
meet the needs of your organization.

It is important to remember that the work does not stop once 
a central problem-management system has been implemented! To 
ensure continued success it is necessary to continue 
marketing help desk operations, maintain constant 
communication and feed-back with end users, constantly 
evaluate problem-management software specifications, and 
look for new uses of the problem-management database.

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Bruce Longo is Assistant Vice President, Administrative 
Affairs, Information Services, at Monroe Community College 
in Rochester, New York, where he is responsible for 
supervision of the administrative computer systems, the 
computer programming and technical support staff, and 
telecommunications.

Barbara Robinson is Systems Administrator in the Information 
Services department at Monroe Community College, responsible 
for supervision of technical support for administrative 
computing systems; she also serves as Network Administrator 
for the campus-wide backbone network.

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03/30/94 (meh)
Centralized Technology Support: An IT Help Line/Help Desk