Service Requests

Service RequestsBP4SM 9.3Greg Baker (gregb@ifost.org.au)

Usually make less experienced staff do the following:Answer the phonesMonitor for incoming email requestsProcess requests coming in through employee self-serviceHandle what they can, escalate what they cant

Often called a help desk or service desk

How to structure a teams work

When your customers time is much more valuable that your staffing costs.Stock brokingParliament

When your team is very small.

When your team is a Theory-of-Constraints bottleneck for the organisation.

When is that a bad idea?

Request information (service request)Request some service (service request)Report that something has broken and needs to be fixed (incident)Needing a change in process or environment (change)

What do customers call about?

Service RequestsLogging (Entitlement Phase)Registering a new interaction ( service request )

Whos asking?

Leave Service Recipient blank and it will copy from Primary Contact.

Enter a name if a secretary is calling on behalf of an executive, or someone calling for a colleague.

Remember: you can auto-complete this field. Leave it blank and hit Fill to search.Type the persons whole name. Usually Surname, Firstname. Press Alt-F9 to make sure its right. Type *DAVID* and then Alt-F9 (finds all the Davids)Hit Alt-F9 on an empty field. This brings up a search screen.

Reminder: ways to find contacts

Is this person a whining, annoying repeat complainer?

Get a list of the customers other requests by clicking on the magic colour wand icon.

Business Service: the service you offer to the customer has a name.EmailFinanceHRService and Affected CI

Required: either Business Service, Affected CI or both. Determines team who will handle this problem (unless over-ridden) Configuration Item: the unique name for the thing affected.PC1024256SAPK: drive

Note: magic wand buttons (shows other active calls about this item or service) Not everyone can call about every service.Your department doesnt use that application.You arent authorised to use that application.

To be allowed to call, there must be a Subscription between the contact and the business service.A note about subscriptions

Title and Description

One-line summary

Full details of the nature of the problem.

Search the knowledge base for solutions and information related to the description text.

Cheque yore spelingTo bring up the spellchecker,Hit Ctrl-Alt-C or Shift-Alt-C or press the spell checker icon:

This is only active on long text fields (such as the Description and update journals).

Categories

If you choose request for administration or request for information the menu bar adds Quick Close and Submit.

A service desk call can get escalated to a new incident or escalated to relate to an existing incident; or you can fix it immediately.

A request for a change will have to escalate into a change ticket and go through the appropriate workflow.

Just used for reporting. Get tweaked occasionally.Options depend on chosen CategorySubcategory and ClassificationIncidentsDataDesktopHardwareNetworkPerformanceSecuritySoftware

Request for AdministrationGrant AccessPassword Reset

Request for InformationComplaintGeneral InformationHow ToInvalid RequestStatus

Request for ChangeEmergencyNormalStandard

Which subcategory and classification should I use?Make a reasonable guess.They are only used for reporting. It doesnt affect the workflow.

Classifications for Incidents (out-of-the-box)accessdatasoftwarehardwareperformancesecurityauthorization error

data or file corruptederror messagehardware failureperformance degradationsecurity breachdata or file incorrectfunction or feature not workingmissing or stolensystem or application hangssecurity event/messagelogin failure

storage limit exceededjob failedvirus alert

data or file missing

system downauthorization error

Impact and Urgency define PriorityImpactUrgency1 Enterprise1 Critical2 Site/Dept2 High3 Multiple Users3 Average4 User4 - LowEnterprise + Critical or High = Highest priority.Site/Dept + Critical = Highest priority....User + Low = Lowest priorityHigh priority incidents have special handling.Congratulations! You have completed all mandatory fields!

Other common fieldsMedium of request (email, chat, phone,fax)Call back methodAlternate contact numberAttachments (other supporting documents)Expected resolution dateClosure code and Solution

Can you solve it now?

(Quick Close) Provide a fulfillment code and solution

And then press Finish.

(Quick Close) Done!The customer has just been emailed by Service Manager to say that this ticket has been opened and then closed. It also appears in employee self-service view.Imagine you have been called by a customer asking for some information. Log a ticket in their name by going to Service Desk then Register New InteractionYour instructor will suggest an appropriate Service and/or Affected CIWrite a title and description.Set the category to request for information.Find a suitable subcategory and classification.The impact and urgency are likely to be low.Hit quick close and supply a solution and fulfillment code.Exercise Quick CloseSearchingSearching TricksSmart Search Enter 10146 to find SD10146ROB* This field begins with ROB*ROB* This field has ROB in it somewhere>SD10148 Find any ticket newer than SD10148A search can return several results; possible output styles

Style 1

Style 2Only one match? You go straight to the record.

No matches?

Small matches

You want to find the ticket you just closed.Look for records closed between yesterday and todayOr, look for records where you are the ownerOr, look for records with that primary contactSearch for all open tickets

Exercise SearchingShould do stuff about views hereService RequestsService Manager tools; what you can work onWhat if I cant solve it immediately?Log the ticket as beforeHit Submit instead of Quick Close.

Submit = Save

The ticket is now in the to-do view

What can I do with a ticket?Someone else called asking for the same thing.

You can also create templates if this happens a lot. (Then use Apply Template to fill fields in quickly.)

What can I do with a ticket?Show or link to related records.

What can I do with a ticket?Its a good idea to write up anything complicated. Then other staff can search for it later and learn from your wisdom.

What can I do with a ticket?Send yourself an email to remind yourself to work on this again.

Send Reminder ScreenHow long? D HH:MM:SS.Is that working hours, or clock hours? On what shift?Do you want the reminder even if youve worked on it?What do you want the reminder to say?

What can I do with a ticket?Its not real unless youve put it on to a dead tree, eh?

What can I do with a ticket?Add something that must be done before this ticket will be allowed to close. (Only applies to tickets which have a related incident.)

Adding a required action

What can I do with a ticket?If you have service level agreements, this shows the alarms that have fired. E.g. 50% of allowed time has been used.

What can I do with a ticket?They dont need it any more.Imagine you have been called by a customer asking for some information that requires some research. Log a ticket in their name.Instead of Quick Close, use Submit.Find the ticket in your to-do queue. Double-click on it.Send yourself a reminder to work on it in a few minutes time. Use a Pop-up or Email.

Exercise More actionsService RequestsAssignment and JournalsTicket Lifecycle(Request for Information or Incident)AbandonedCustomer Not SatisfiedRequest for administration adds a status Waiting for Approval.Request for change has no Categorized or Fulfilled status.StatusMeaningRegisteredRecorded, written downCategorisedSubcategory and classification have been filled in.AssignedGiven to a group and/or a person to work on.FulfilledWe think were done; waiting on the customer to say soClosedThe customer thinks were done tooNormal Status

Moving to the next status

The only status after Registered is Categorized.Updating the status like this lets the customer know that a ticket is being worked on. (Quick Close is no longer available.)Some Service Level Objectives are based around the length of time a ticket spends in each state.Why should I bother?

Some organisations simplify ticket workflow further.Some dont bother updating the status.Some just use one kind of ticket (everything is an interaction, or everything is an incident).Some remove or add other fieldsFeel free to sleep for the next few slidesBut everyone keeps Assignee and Assignment Group and Activity Logs

Im not persuaded

.anyway, remember to save your work

And on to the Assigned status

Notice that the Assignment Group and Assignee Name are mandatory now (Red asterisk.)How to fob off your work onto someone elseChange the assignee to someone else in your team (They are the expert at this sort of thing.)Change the assignment group (This kind of request is handled by another team). Leave the assignee field blank unless you know who to assign it to.

How do I get a list of possible assignees?

Clear the Assignee field, and then hit the fill button.

The most annoying error message when you are trying to save a ticket...A journal update is required for almost every change you make to a ticket.Answer the question: why did you do this?

Journal Updates (History and Audit Log)

What kind of update?

Appears in employee self-service portal?

Say what you just did.History of this ticket.

ExampleFind the ticket you created previously.Update the status to Categorized and hit Save.Update the status to Assigned and hit Save. You will receive an error about needing an update.Assign the ticket to your colleague by clearing out the Assignee field and hitting Alt-F9. If your colleague works in a different team, update the Assignment Group field as well.Write a suitable update and hit the Save button.Confirm that the ticket now appears in their To-Do list. (They might need to refresh the To-Do list.)Exercise AssignmentService RequestsFulfillment and Closure

Fulfilled

Fulfillment Code and SolutionNote: collapsed the section called Interaction Details; expanded the section called Resolution.After fulfillment, there are two possibilities:Ticket closure = Close Interaction = CompletedCustomer Not SatisfiedUsually you wait a few days after fulfillment before closing.Some organisations have policies on this.Some organisations do this automatically.

Now what?

Closure

Closed at last!Note: read-only. History still visible. The customer receives an email to say that this ticket has been closed.Find a ticket which is assigned to you.Move it to the fulfilled status. Remember to hit Save and put in a suitable journal entry.You will need to fill in a resolution

Close the ticket.Exercise ClosureService RequestsEverything elseWhen no-one seems to care about the ticket being finished any more.Default reasons:Not ReproducibleNo Fault FoundUnable to SolveWithdrawn by UserNo User responseOnly a few roles have the right to declare a ticket Abandoned.Default: BP 2nd Line SRF Analyst can make Assigned, Fulfilled or Customer Not SatisfiedAbandonCustomer receives an email when a ticket is marked Abandoned. Three more days of no response and the ticket is auto-closed.Except where:Your site has decided on a different scheduleYour site has decided to auto-close from other statesThe ticket has Exclude AutoClose ticked.

Auto-close

You can add attachments (e.g. a screenshot, a form)Hit the Add File button in the Attachments section.You can save a lot of typing by creating templates for common queriesTheres a free text search tabYou can save a search as a view and it appears under Favorites and Dashboards

Other stuff you probably dont want to stay awake forThis document was developed and placed in the Creative Commons by Greg Baker from the Institute for Open Systems Technologies Pty Ltd.There are more in this series, covering Incident Management, Change and other topics at http://www.ifost.org.au/Training/ServiceManager/ Many customers request these course materials be customised to suit their environment. Many also ask IFOST to deliver face-to-face or web-based training sessions based around these materials. Please contact Greg Baker (gregb@ifost.org.au) if you would like to discuss this.We are always interested to hear your feedback.What now?