TOPdesk Magazine 2009 Issue 3

7/31/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2009 Issue 3

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October 2009, Issue 3, Volume 11

Trends: Web form or phone call?/ Department in focus: Consultancy /

Running like clockwork: IT support in education / All about TOPdesk 4.2

Off to a good start ...


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Editorial

Dutch Designers CollectivePart of the TOPdesk group of companies

COLOPHON

TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication

tel: +31 15 270 09 00email: [email protected]

Chief Editor Niek Steenhuis

EditorsJoop Bindels, Carrie Brandt, Amanda Dirkse,

Claudia Funk, Brenda Heeringa, Henrieke Korten,

Nicola van de Velde

Contributors Kirsten Crown, Caroline Kleijer, Mike de

Ruiter, Lydje Snieders, Iris Fehse, Nienke de Wilde

Lay-outDutch Designers Collective, Cathy van den

Berg, Louise van der Laak, Jimmy Goedhart

PhotographyTed Erkkila, Ton van der Vorst,

GoogleMaps

Website David Blom, Erik Pols, Ted Erkkila

TOPdesk Magazine, a service management

platform, discusses subjects that are topical

in the world of professional service desks

in IT, facilities and other service providing

organizations. TOPdesk Magazine is intendedfor managers, service desk employees, facilities

organizations and electronic city councils

- anyone who is involved with supporting

customers on a daily basis. This concerns both

the processes and the technology behind these

services.

Want to comment? Go to

www.topdeskmagazine.com

...is still just thebeginning

When I was eight, every boy dreamt of having his very own

Nintendo. At the end of the 1980s, this 8-bit game console

brought smiles to the faces of young boys everywhere. One day, I

saw one at my neighbours house. So, whats it like?, I asked him.

Dont know; havent used it yet, he responded. This was beyond

my comprehension. There was a Nintendo, connected and ready

to go, and next to it lay a stack of games, just waiting to be used.

It seemed like such a waste.

Nevertheless, you encounter these kinds of situations at workeven today; only now, the programs are rather more expensive

than game consoles. All too often, an organization purchases

a random application, along with a stack of modules; they

implement and connect it all up and thats the end of the story.

After a brief trial period, the application is put to one side and

considered unsuitable, unmanageable or not compatible with

our procedures. After all, getting off to a good start is still just the

beginning.

In this edition of TOPdesk Magazine, we examine the period after

the implementation; which is just as important, if not more.

What do you do with the application and processes once the

service desk is up and running? How do you explain the new

procedures to your clients? How can Incident management and

the Reservations management module help you to save time?

We also take a look behind the scenes of TOPdesks Consultancy

department and share one clients story about their unique way

of using TOPdesk.

Enjoy reading!

Niek Steenhuis


3/24 3

4 News

6 Trends: Web form or phone call?

9 Column: Pretty useful, that Self Service Desk!

10 Department in the Spotlight: Consultancy

14 TOPdesk 4.2 Up close: Incident Management

16 TOPdesk 4.2 Up close: Reservations Management

18 Client in focus: Planning in TOPdesk, with

a difference

20 Running like clockwork: IT support in education

23 TOPdesk On-Site Application Management24 Tips + Tricks

Contents October 09

6

20


4/244 NEWS

News

And the winner is

Every visitor to the TOPdesk Symposium was given the

chance to win a client satisfaction survey conducted by

TOPdesk. To enter, each participant needed to submit a

Health Check to the Consultancy stand at the Info Market.

A great number of Health Checks were submitted, but there

could only be one winner: WE Europe!

The survey gives companies an insight into the expectations

of their clients and to what extent their service meets these.

The results and conclusions of the survey are illustrated in

a report, which also reveals where any bottlenecks lie. Formore information on this service, please visit our website at

www.topdesk.com.

TOPdesk Symposium - a great success!

On 18 June, 715 TOPdesk enthusiasts representing a range

of organizations from across the Netherlands and Belgium

attended the eighth edition of the TOPdesk Symposium in

Hilversum, the Netherlands. The event was a great success

with a new record of number of visitors up 67 percent

compared with the Symposium in 2006. Visitors were

invited to take part in a range of workshops and activities

and attend a variety of TOPdesk-related presentations.

One of the highlights of the day was the presentation of the

TOPdesk Service Management Awards. The lucky winnerwas GGD Amsterdam, due to its outstanding presentations

on the topics of Processes, Tools and People.

Soon after, TOPdesk conducted a survey to measure the

success of the Symposium. Seventy-four percent of visitors

considered the event to be between good and outstanding.

An even greater number of visitors conrmed that the

Symposium met their expectations, while many said that

the day had motivated them to work with TOPdesk more

extensively in the future, as well as apply all the tips and

tricks they had learnt that day to their own work.

The Symposium lobby


5/24NEWS 5

Calendar

OCTOBER

6 - 8 IT & BusinessNeue Messe, Stuttgart (DE)cms.messe-stuttgart.de

13 Minicongres GGDsGrand Hotel Karel V, Utrecht (NL)www.topdesk.nl

20 - 22 Discuss & DiscoverNew Munich Trade Fair Centre, Munich (DE)www.discuss-discover.com

26 - 27 ITSMF JaarcongresHart van Holland, Nijkerk (NL)www.itsmf.nl

NOVEMBER

4 - 5 Tooling EventJaarbeurs Utrecht (NL)www.toolingevent.nl

4 - 5 b2d: Business to DialogPhnix-Halle, Mainz (DE)http://www.dialogmesse.de/

9 - 10 itSMF ConferenceHilton Birmingham Metropole, Birmingham (UK)www.itsmf.co.uk

24 Minicongres UniversiteitenGrand Hotel Karel V, Utrecht (NL)www.topdesk.nl

23 - 26 Service Desk MesseRheingoldhalle, Mainz (DE)www.service-desk-forum.de

JANUARY13 - 16 BETT ShowOlympia, London (UK)www.bettshow.com

TOPdesk System Administratormakes TOP 5 in the Netherlands

TOPdesk system administrator, Jan-Willem Chen, has

made it into the top ve system administrators in the

Netherlands. Techworld, an online magazine for IT and

system management, organized the SysAdmin competition

in conjunction with the annual System Administrator Day

on 31 July. Out of 285 entries, Jan-Willem succeeded in

making it into the top 5. Needless to say, TOPdesk, Jan-

Willems employer, is enormously proud of its system

administrators achievement.

Visitors watch a presentation at the Symposium


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Trends

?6 TRENDS

TEXT: NIEK STEENHUIS

Every service desk reaches a point where it has to start considering: how do we

want our customers to contact us? Should they call us, visit us personally, or

contact us through a Self Service Desk? Two experts discuss the increased digital

communication and the effect it has on personal interaction: Now Im working

for a company which is mostly digitized, and its really quiet.

Web form or phone call?

Deciding whether customers

should visit you personally, call

you or email the service desk is

better known as the principle of

face-call-click or click-call-face.The rst type is based on personal

contact with the service desk; the

second is geared towards digital

communication. Facilities specialist

Jang Mee Bosman and TOPdesk

consultant Kevin Bruin have also

noticed that more and more

organizations are opting for digital

calls.

Face-call-click or click-call-face

why should a service desk make

the decision?Jang Mee explains. Customers

often dont mind how they log

calls, as long as their problems

get resolved. That is why service

organizations should decide for

themselves whether or not they

want to work digitally. The most

important aspect of helping

customers is the availability of

the service desk, anticipating their

needs and giving feedback on calls.

Reporting incidents digitally couldalso be the solution for your service

desk. Customers no longer have to

bear in mind the opening hours of

the service desk, because they can

log their own calls. Furthermore,

they can always refer to a specic

call and say, Listen, I made this call

two weeks ago, but there has still

been no progress.

Moving towards digital

communication is not only useful

for customers; it can also saveservice desk employees a lot of

time. They can deal with calls at

any given moment due to the

correct registration of calls, and the

overview of customer problems

enables them to work preventively:

Bulbs are replaced before they burn

out.

That sounds great. So digital

registration is the way to go?

Before you take the digital plunge,

there are a couple of things to

consider. Introducing an onlineplatform like the Self Service Desk

often means taking a completely

different approach. If you force

customers to log everything

digitally, you might alienate certain

people who will in turn see this as

bad service. The end doesnt always

justify the means, explains Kevin.

Trends


7/24TRENDS 7


8/248 TRENDS

Trends

An approach that might work is

to stimulate your customers to use

the Self Service Desk in a positive

way. Introduce them to the idea

by distributing yers, hanging

posters in the coffee corner, placing

footers in emails and so forth. It

is important that you stress the

advantages for the customersclearly. For example, being able to

make a call at any moment of the

day and the improved feedback are

key selling points.

Jang Mee agrees. Customers

are often prepared to make the

extra effort if they understand

the benets of digital calls and if

making a call is only three or four

clicks away. The process should

denitely not be too complex, orelse theyll give up.

Most people would rather call or

visit the ofce than ll out a form.

Forms can be really useful for

simple calls about cleaning or

broken bulbs, but often enough a

problem is too complex to handle

in such a way, explains Jang Mee.

Due to the complexity of IT calls,

going digital can often prove tricky.

You need enough informationto resolve the call, but often the

customers IT knowledge is too

limited to explain the nature of

the problem. The IT specialist then

has to call the customer to nd out

what the problem is, replies Kevin.

Requests, on the other hand, are

easily automated. The data in these

requests is often standard and

easy to put in a form which you

can publish on the internet. The

information is then applied to the

tool and a set duration is linked to

it. Not much can go wrong and it

is easier than copy-pasting from

Word documents, Kevin explains.

Wont digitization interfere with

personal interaction?

It most likely will, comments

Jang Mee. But it could also work

to your advantage as customers

wont come running to you as

soon as their rubbish bin needs to

be emptied. Although they prefer

picking up the phone or addressing

a facilities employee in the lift,customers will have to get used to

the change.

The service desk employees

themselves also have to make

a switch, especially facilities

employees. One of the reasons

they started working in facilities

in the rst place is the personal

side of the job; now they have to

turn down their colleagues and tell

them to log their requests digitally.

This might take quite a bit of

getting used to.

Is visiting the service desk a thing

of the past?Jang Mee: The introduction of

email and PDA has stimulated

the use of digital and telephone

contact. One of my clients

exclusively uses digital

communication and only has to

visit customers for keys. Its really

quiet there.

Kevin: Everyone seems to know

each other in smaller organizations,

thus incidents will be registeredpersonally. I also prefer to visit

system management if I have a

problem with my computer.

Jang Mee Bosman is the general

manager of Fmission and advises

other organizations in the area

of MIS and helps them to select,implement and optimize these

systems.

Kevin Bruin is a consultant at

TOPdesk and specializes in the

introduction of the Self Service

Desk and the communication that

surrounds it.

THE PROCESSSHOULDDEFINITELYNOT BE TOOCOMPLEX.

Jang Mee Bosman


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Column Pretty useful,that SelfService Desk!

The end of a long and intensive implementation is

in sight and the IT manager, service desk staff and

TOPdesk consultants are wiping the drops of sweat

from their brows. The processes have been mapped

out, all the necessary training has been completed and

responsibilities have been assigned; the only thing left to

do now is actually begin working with the application. In

many cases, this involves callers logging their own calls

in the Self Service Desk. Yet the telephone continues toring and colleagues keep dropping by with requests to

x this and that. This wasnt part of the original plan!

All too often, the perception that many callers

have when new software is introduced into their

organization is of complex, inconvenient, slow, time-

consuming and unclear procedures. However, at

TOPdesk it is of course easy for us to claim that logging

calls in the Self Service Desk is actually quick, easy

and worthwhile. Yet we are more than aware that

the implementation of an application will no doubt

bring with it numerous changes. Unfortunately,as a result, many are deterred from putting a Self

Service Desk into operation during the early stages.

An IT or Facilities departments good intentions are

annulled by the force of habit in the remainder of

the organization. This can be contested by promoting

the benets that the Self Service Desk brings.

As head of the Communication & Design department

at TOPdesk, I have regular contact with clients who

are in the process of implementing TOPdesk and,

subsequently, wish to encourage use of the Self

Service Desk. It is often difcult enough to generate

enthusiasm for purchasing an application in the rstplace, and thus one is relieved when the right support

nally becomes available. Project leaders in IT and

Facilities departments live for the moment of going live.

Yet there remains a great big gaping hole that needs to

be lled; that is, a communication portal for the callers.

Generating enthusiasm towards accepting a new

application and set of procedures is often considered

something that will develop of its own accord.

Yet, in practice, this is often

not the case. Simply informing

callers of a new application

and set of procedures is not

enough. Thats great; but what

has it got to do with me? is often

their response. Nevertheless, it is

important to convince them that

using the Self Service Desk is a realbenet and that by adapting to the

new procedures their lives will become

easier. From now on, callers can both

log and keep track of calls easily and

quickly, saving them time. They will also

begin to notice that their queries and

problems are being resolved in less time.

To encourage callers to use the new Self Service

Desk, the Dutch Designers Collective (formerly part

of the Communication and Design department) has

collaborated with TOPdesk to offer a unique service.The idea behind it is to draw up a communication

plan together with the client in order to promote

use of the Self Service Desk within the organization.

This can be done using promotional material in the

organizations corporate design, by producing technical

documentation to explain the ins and outs of the

Self Service Desk or even by organizing an ofcial

kick-off. Finally, frequent and clear communication

with your clients is key to closing the communication

gap and rounding off a TOPdesk implementation.

Promoting the introduction of the Self Service Desk

will reduce or even combat the practice of inundatingservice desk employees with requests during coffee

breaks. Support specialists now dare to leave their

workstations without fear of being chased after by

every Tom, Dick and Harry with requests to resolve

all their problems. They now have time to work in

peace and perhaps even receive a compliment here

and there about the improved service. It seems that a

Self Service Desk is actually pretty useful, after all.

TEXT: AMANDA DIRKSE


10/2410 DEPARTMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT

When TOPdesk rst opened its doors, the Consultancy department consisted of

four consultants. Back then, they managed to install TOPdesk version 2 in a half

day, followed by a brief training session. Now, 15 years later, the department

consists of more than 70 consultants and 9 planners with ofces in Belgium,

Canada, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The

consultants have performed over 5000 implementations in more than 35

countries. Clearly, the Consultancy department as well as the clients haveundergone some signicant changes over the years. Something that has not

changed, however, is their personal, pragmatic approach.

TEXT: HENRIEKE KORTEN

Department in the Spotlight:

Consultancy

The early daysTo get the inside story behind

the evolution of TOPdesk

Consultancy, we spoke to a handful

of consultants from each of our

ofces. Sander Jerphanion began

working at TOPdesk Netherlands in

2000 before the establishment

of the other TOPdesk ofces and

is now Head of Consultancy. In

describing the differences between

now and then he remarks, WhenI started working in Consultancy,

the department was having a

hard time nding new people. The

waiting time was getting longer

and longer, despite the economic

slump that arose after the internet

bubble burst. At the time, just 15

people worked in the department,

and a typical consultancy project

was shorter than it is now; back

then the focus was on explaining

how TOPdesk worked. Another big

difference was that our clientele

was not as diverse compared

to now; for example, we didnt

have any facilities clients and the

organizations we worked with were

smaller.

In 2002, shortly after Sander began

working at TOPdesk Netherlands,

TOPdesk UK started operations.

In those days, they were heavily

reliant on the Dutch ofce, as they

did not yet have an actual ofce

in the UK. Consultants from the

Dutch ofce ew to England forimplementations. A few years later,

when they ofcially opened an

ofce in London, Douglas Breeuwer

was there to greet customers as

the rst ofcial consultant for

TOPdesk UK. In the beginning, I

was on my own as a consultant. But

weve grown since then, and now

BACK THEN THEFOCUS WAS ONEXPLAININGHOW TOPDESKWORKED.

Sander Jerphanion


11/24DEPARTMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT 11

there are four of us consultantsin the London ofce. We travel all

over the UK and the rest of the

world to implement TOPdesk,

tells Douglas. TOPdesk Germany

shares a similar story. When the

German ofce opened in 2005,

customers were served by Dutch

consultants or by consultants from

partner companies in Germany.

They have since grown considerably

and now have ve full-time

consultants that provide training

and implementation services

throughout Germany, Austria andSwitzerland.

As the oldest and largest of the

TOPdesk ofces, it stands to reason

that TOPdesk Netherlands has the

most consultants and the most

extensive range of services. All

new consultants still participate

in a training programme in

the Netherlands, regardless of

their home ofce. On occasion,

consultants from the Dutch ofce

still visit other TOPdesk ofces to

assist with long, complicated ornovel services and implementations

this is particularly true for the

newest TOPdesk ofces in Hungary

and Canada. However, as the

growth of each ofce outside of

the Netherlands continues to rise,

so does their independence from

the Dutch ofce. The German

IN A WAY, WEHELP CLIENTSTO HELPTHEMSELVES.

Gkhan Tuna

The TOPdesk consultants


12/2412 DEPARTMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT

and British ofces, in particular,

are striving towards more

independence.

The TOPdeskimplementationRegardless of where they work,

all TOPdesk consultants share

the same vision and mission: to

assist customers in improving

their support services and to

help them get the most out of

TOPdesk. Consultants accomplish

these goals by employing a three-

tiered approach to their services,

which includes optimizing thepeople, process and application

in combination with each other.

The software and the process

must be harmonized and the

proposed goals need to be realistic.

Consultants, together with the

organization in question, make

an inventory of their goals and

familiarize themselves with the

company processes, tells Roeland

van Rijswijk, who coaches a team of

thirteen consultants. Gkhan Tuna,another consultant, explains the

process further. An organizations

objectives need to be applied

within TOPdesk. It begins with the

implementation, and is followed

by the employees learning to

work with the tool so that a larger

goal, such as the improvement of

support services, can gradually

be achieved. In a way, you could

say that we help clients to help

themselves.

According to Sander, No one

knows the tool and the best

practices better than the

consultant; likewise, no one knows

better what is important to the

client than the client. Together,

we look at how these two aspects

can be combined in the tool. The

goal of an implementation is that

the client can continue working

successfully after we are gone. For

this to happen, we need to make

these processes as concrete as

possible.

Douglas points out that,

Ultimately, consultancy is

about ensuring that a clients

processes are as efcient and

productive as possible. When we

begin an implementation, somepeople are put off by the price of

consultancy which is actually

quite reasonable when you

compare it to consultancy fees at

other organizations but they end

up being very enthusiastic about

consultancy when they realize just

how much time and money it saves

them in the long run. That is why

we are invited back so frequently.

Follow-up careEven though the implementation

is over does not necessarily mean

a consultants work is over. Sander

explains how, Occasionally,

people will enthusiastically

begin setting up, for example,

a CMDB without ensuring that

Conguration Management is in

order. A consultant can set the

conguration manager on the right

track by, for example, providing

tips on performing regular audits.

This is exactly the opposite of what

we used to do. In the past, we just

explained how a module such as

Conguration Management works,

whereas now we are much more

proactive and alert to possible

bottlenecks and problem areas.

Gkhan continues, Organizations

put a lot of effort into setting up

TOPdesk during an implementation,

but often do not take the time

to evaluate or improve it at alater stage. When we are done

completing the intake, determining

the goals, setting up TOPdesk

and training the employees, it

is up to the client to continue

improving their processes. If

they reach a standstill, we can

help out with the next step or

implement changes that are better

suited to the organization. Even if

everything is going well, a TOPdesk

Audit, for example, is a good wayto get a better picture of the

current procedures and TOPdesk

conguration, and to determine

whether the selected TOPdesk set-

up is still the best way to go about

achieving the clients goals.

Every process requires constant

supervision. I often see many

incidents being transferred back

and forth, which ends up being

reected in the clients reports.

However, simply identifying aproblem is not enough to resolve it.

The solution lies in the adjustment

of the tool or the process. For

example, perhaps the manner in

which people log incidents could

be improved or the operator groups

could be organized differently. After

5000 implementations, weve seen

CONSULTANCYIS ABOUTENSURING THATPROCESSES ARE

AS EFFICIENT ASPOSSIBLE.

Douglas Breeuwer


13/24DEPARTMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT 13

the most common bottlenecks and

solutions. Thats why we are so

alert to these sorts of things, and

also why we are able to get the

client back on the right track, adds

Roeland.

New goals andchallengesTOPdesks Consultancy department

continues to look to the future

in a search for new ways to be

of service, as Sander relates.

We have been noticing that the

collaboration between various

departments such as facilities,

HRM and IT is becoming more and

more important when, for example,

a new employee is hired. At the

same time, we acknowledge that

the support services that thesedepartments provide can vary

considerably. We are embracing

the challenge of combining their

strengths to create an improved

whole.

Despite having grown rapidly in

the 15 years since TOPdesk began,

TOPdesk has not lost sight of

what clients value most. Roeland

comments that, Many years ago,

one of our clients told us that he

thought we were very personal

and down to earth, but that

he expected these qualities todiminish as a result of growth and

professionalization. I recently ran

into him again and he told me that

he had been proven wrong we

are now quite big, but our personal

touch and accessibility have

remained intact. This is something

we will maintain in the future.


14/24

The latest technologyTo optimize the Incident management process and

to ensure that processing incidents is made even

more efcient, the TOPdesk framework, Mango, has

been implemented in TOPdesk, step by step. This new

technology was rst used to optimize the Supporting

les module; now, Mango has also been used to rewrite

Incident management. Consequently, a number of

things have changed with regard to the way you use this

module. For instance, you can now edit the Incident carddirectly, instead of having to click on the Edit icon rst.

Request and Action eldsThe Request and Action elds in version 4.2 have been

improved. Henceforth, you can now enter text in the

uppermost section. TOPdesk will then display this text

in the block underneath. In the bottom block you will be

able to click on hyperlinks such as web addresses and

links to other cards in TOPdesk, just like you are used

to. The date/time stamp will appear automatically in

the updated Request and Action elds. The objective of

this new arrangement of memo elds is to improve the

speed and efciency of dealing with new information,

enabling operators to resolve incidents easily and in

less time. This also gives you the option to email, for

instance, only the last action to your clients.

StatusYou now have the option to link the status to processing

actions in TOPdesk. This means that when you set the

status to Finished, TOPdesk will close the incident

automatically, while selecting the status Waiting for

client info will effectively put the incident on hold.

Ultimately, registering incidents in TOPdesk will be

made more efcient and detailed. What is more,

the consistency of any reports you run will improve

considerably.

Many TOPdesk clients consider Incident management to be the most vital process

for their organization all the more important to ensure that the conguration

of this module is as efcient as possible. TOPdesk 4.2 offers you countless new

features to help you to handle incidents quicker and more securely as well as run

reports that are even more consistent. Below is a rundown of the benets.

14 TOPDESK 4.2 UP CLOSE

TEXT: MIKE DE RUITER

Incident ManagementTOPdesk 4.2

Up close(Call Management)

The new Request and Action felds in TOPdesk 4.2


15/24

On hold

On some occasions, processingincidents within the time agreed

is simply out of your service desks

control. Perhaps one of your service

desk employees is waiting to

receive additional information from

a client, for instance. Naturally, you

would prefer these incidents not to

be included as breached in reports,

because the cause is external. To

x this, TOPdesk 4.2 now includes

an On hold functionality for those

clients who also use ContractManagement and the SLM module.

This feature offers you the option

to pause the duration of an

incident. As soon as you deactivate

the On hold function, the target

date will be recalculated. This

ensures that operators do not

lose any resolution time when

handling incidents, giving you a

more realistic image of your service

desks performance.

Priority and urgency

In the past, a number of TOPdeskclients have requested Priority

and Urgency elds to be included

on the Incident card. TOPdesk

Enterprise 4.2 now features

both these elds. Consequently,

because TOPdesk automatically

lls in the priority of incidents,

handling incidents becomes more

manageable. TOPdesk includes a

priority matrix, in which you can

set up the appropriate priority

based on the impact and urgency.The priority then determines the

duration of an incident, meaning

that your service desk employees

will no longer need to determine

the priority of incidents themselves.

But thats not all...In TOPdesk 4.2, a number of

functionalities have been updated to

improve the Incident management

process. To name just a few:

Renewed Caller block

Authorization for closing incidents(only available in TOPdesk

Enterprise)

Separate Operator group eld

(only available in TOPdesk

Enterprise)

Quicker registration of Time Taken

Improved method of working with

SLAs

For a complete list of all the new

improvements and added features

and functionalities in TOPdesk 4.2,please download the Release notes

from the TOPdesk Extranet.

TOPDESK 4.2 UP CLOSE 15

Automatic prioritizing of incidents

Mike de Ruiter is a Consultant

at TOPdesk. He collects

information, feedback, and tips

and tricks concerning the Incident

management for the Consultancy

department.

The latest version of TOPdesk, the 4.2, was recently released. This

version offers you a whole host of new and improved modules

and functionalities, including an updated version of the Long-

term Planning module, Visitor Registration for the Self ServiceDesk, the CTI link and an enhanced version of the Search system.

But thats not all. To give you an idea of all the options that this

latest version of TOPdesk has to offer, we have outlined below the

new functionalities of two particularly popular TOPdesk modules:

Incident Management and Reservations Management.

4.2


16/24

Reservations operator

The reservations operator is the backbone of thereservation process and is responsible for reserving

suitable locations and making sure that the reserved

services on the to-do list are assigned to the correct

service operator. TOPdesk Enterprise 4.2 allows you

to set up a block time for each service before or after

a reservation. Using block times can be useful when,

for example, the arrangement of materials within a

meeting room has to be changed before the meeting.

This means that when you set up a block time of 30

minutes in the Adjust arrangement service, no other

person is able to reserve the meeting room during this

time; the reservations operator then no longer has to

take this into account.

From now on, it is possible to set up a default service

operator for each service, which means that the

reservations operator no longer has to nd out who is

responsible for the service. When a service is linked to

an operator, the reserved service is automatically added

to the to-do list of the correct service operator. You can

set up the default service operator on the Service card.

You can also set up a default service for each facility

(location or object), which means the default service is

always suggested when reserving a facility. The service

is then automatically linked to the facility, and the

reservations operator no longer has to link the service

manually. The Service card allows you to indicate for

each linked location whether the service should be

offered by default.

Completed Service card with block times

16 TOPDESK 4.2 UP CLOSE

TEXT: IRIS FEHSE

Our experience in consultancy has taught us that reservations employees can

often improve their efciency in a few simple steps, which in turn boosts their

job satisfaction. Below we have summarized a number of tips to simplify the

reservations employees job. These tips have been split up according to the

roles in the reservations management process: the requester, the reservations

operator and the service operator.

ReservationsManagement

TOPdesk 4.2Up close


17/24TOPDESK 4.2 UP CLOSE 17

Service operatorService operators are responsible for carrying out

reserved services such as Lunch, Projector set-up or

Coffee and tea, which means that they are usually

not sitting behind a desk. For this reason, TOPdesk

has added an easy-to-print checklist that the service

operator can use. When setting up the module, we

advise you to congure the to-do overview so that all

relevant information such as time, amount and location

appears in the checklist. The completed tasks on the

checklist can then be closed in one go at the end of theday. The Checklist icon is located at the top right corner

of the reserved services to-do list.

RequesterThe requester is the person who begins the process by

making a reservation. For example, they can reserve alocation and order the service coffee and tea.

You can set up the reservations process in such a way

that you can save the requester and the reservations

operators a lot of time by letting them plan their own

reservation through the Self Service Desk. The requester

is authorized to view the planner, make a reservation

and now TOPdesk Enterprise 4.2 allows you to easily add

services. You can select one of the available services and

indicate the amount and date. Requesters of services

can also easily keep track of their own reservations in

the Self Service Desk. If you decide to give requesters

access to the Self Service Desk, it is important to informthe requester of the reservations procedure.

Training courses

User training can be a great way to get people involved in

using TOPdesk; the Reservations training course introduces

reservation employees to the Reservations module.

Self Service Desk

In the Self Service Desk you can add a link to the reservations

planner in the shortcuts list, which enables the requester to

plan a new reservation quickly and easily. You can set this up

in the operators section through Settings > System settings >

Menu settings Self Service Desk > Reservations. Add the new

link using the following URL: /tas/public/reservationpublic?

action=showpublicplanner. Please note: it is important that

you tick the option Include in shortcuts.

The Planner in the Reservations Management module

Iris Fehse is a TOPdesk Consultant. She mainly focuses

on Facility Management and is specialized in the

reservations process.

Planner shortcut

On the Navigation tab, you can easily add a shortcut to the

planner by clicking on the Set up TOPdesk Navigator icon.

Click on Add new shortcut on the Shortcut tab, select For

all users and tick the Open within TOPdesk box. Give the

shortcut a name and enter the following in the URL: /tas/

secure/orange/showsecureplanner.


18/2418 CLIENT IN FOCUS

Scheduling tours and registering objects, logging calls about lost umbrellas and

booking rooms for weddings are just a few of the unique ways in which the

North Brabant Museum uses TOPdesk. TOPdesk as a Service offers the museum a

system with which to manage internal calls, catering and reservations.

TEXT: CAROLINE KLEIJER

The museum is situated in a

monumental 18th century

building located in Den Bosch, in

the south of the Netherlands. Ithouses stories of the history, art

and culture of the North Brabant

province and the southern part of

the Netherlands. Visitors to the

museum can admire the works

of Jeroen Bosch, Pieter Brueghel,

Vincent van Gogh and other well-

known artists from the region,

while the museum also offers

individuals and companies the

opportunity to book historical

rooms for special occasions.

Central roleTOPdesks Reservations

management module plays an

important role in the museum.

Every day, employees can refer

to the modules planner to check

whether tours are scheduled,

whether companies or visitor

groups are expected and

whether weddings are to beheld. Consequently, much time

and effort has been spent on the

conguration of this module. Joost

Seweuster, Facilities Manager

at the museum and the person

responsible for the implementation

of TOPdesk, describes the benets

that TOPdesk has introduced.

Booking a group tour is different

than reserving a room, because

several tours can take placesimultaneously in the same room.

To simplify this we have created

objects in TOPdesk called tour

guides. We can then link a tour

in the form of a service to a tour

guide. In doing so we can ensure

that employees at the museum

have more of an insight into

reservations. This also gives us the

means to generate overviews of the

number and type of reservations

during a certain period at a later

date if need be.

Lost and FoundThe museum also uses Incident

management, or rather Call

management, to register objects

that have been found. Any

Client in focus:

Planning in TOPdesk, with a difference

A NEWCONFIGURATIONIS MADEFOR EVERYEXHIBITION.


19/24

employee at the museum can

check whether a call has been

made concerning a missing object

simply by clicking on a link in the

Self Service Desk. The module is

also used to register repairs and

other odd jobs, which are then

transferred to the relevant persons.

In addition to its permanent

collection, the museum houses a

new exhibition four times a year.

Currently on show is an exhibition

depicting self-portraits in Dutchmodern art in various forms, from

paintings to video installations.

For every exhibition, the museum

makes use of innovative methods.

Much of the equipment used

is the museums own and to

register it they use TOPdesks Asset

management module. A new

conguration is made for every

exhibition and labeled with the

name of the exhibition concerned.

As a result they are able to keep

track of exactly which equipment

is being used for which exhibition

and where. They can also see when

equipment needs to be repaired or

replaced.

Looking aheadThe museum is due to be

renovated in 2010 and is set to

expand considerably as a result.

We deliberately planned the

implementation of TOPdesk as a

Service prior to the renovation.

Weve already given the

employees the opportunity

to begin registering calls in

TOPdesk, because we want them

to be used to the system during

the renovations. This will be a

particularly busy period, duringwhich TOPdesk will help provide

structure and insight into our

work.

The North Brabant Museum


20/2420

A large majority of TOPdesks over 3000 clients

operates within the education sector. This

includes both the educational licenses set aside

for students who learn to use TOPdesk and the

IT departments that support the students and

employees at these institutions. The experiences

of four educational institutions have shown that

providing support for both these groups can be

rather challenging at times.

TEXT: NIENKE DE WILDE

IT service providers in education

support two rather different

client groups. On the one hand,

there are the students, a dynamic

group of young people who

embrace new technologies and

media with open arms. The other

group comprises the teachers and

supporting departments who prot

in particular from a so stable as

possible infrastructure, to ensure

that industry critical processes and

applications remain reliable. TheIT departments task is to provide

optimal support for both target

groups.

Running like clockworkThe professionalization of IT

service is becoming increasingly

important in the education sector.

At the commencement of 2007,

the Central IT Service at ROC West

Brabant, a vocational college in

the south of the Netherlands,

privatized. IT-workz, once a

spin-off of this organization, has

since grown into an organization

with 75 employees. Back ofce

manager at IT-workz, Cees Siemons,

explains how the Central IT Service

was already looking to join new

developments. ROC West Brabantwas, for instance, the rst ROC to

implement Microsoft SharePoint.

After the implementation, other

institutions contacted us with

questions about the approach

we had taken thats when we

came up with the idea to become

independent.

With 27,000 students, 2500

employees and 55 branches, ROC

West Brabant is one of the largest

ROCs in the Netherlands. In order

for such a large IT environment to

remain stable and manageable,

it is essential to streamline

processes, particularly with regard

to automating ofce procedures,

as Cees explains. ROC employees

expect continuity in their working

environment, as well as the

reliability of everything running likeclockwork.

In order to achieve a stable IT

environment, it is vital to register

all the equipment that is intended

for use. ROCs often work across

many different locations; therefore,

it can be difcult to build up a

Running like clockwork:

IT support in education


21/24 21

clear-cut CMDB. Christel Wurtz is

conguration manager at ROC da

Vinci in Dordrecht, the Netherlands,a college with 18 locations. In

order to ensure that this large

organizations conguration

management is kept manageable,

she decided to offer all IT orders

from one central location. The idea

behind this was to ensure that

registering and marking of new

objects was as efcient as possible.

Virtual reality in thecurriculumFor IT-workz, IT support in

education is not simply about

providing and maintaining a stable

IT environment; integrating the

possibilities of IT in education

is just as important. Nowadays,

students communicate in

numerous different ways: Facebook,

Twitter, MSN and texting are just a

few of these.

It is vital that institutions continueto follow these developments

in order to ensure that the

education they provide is geared

to the students experiences and

environment. The IT department

plays a central role in this. Smart

boards are being implemented

throughout schools, colleges and

universities and new educational

methods such as e-learning are

being experimented with on a large

scale. IT-workz takes this a step

further; for instance, by integrating

virtual reality into the curriculum

and working on the development

of educational games and e-tness.

Providing support for students

generates many opportunities

for IT departments, but its not

all fun and games. At the end of

March, Maurice Delbessine and Tim

Strouven from Stichting Voortgezet

Onderwijs Parkstad Limburg (SVO-PL) began setting up Conguration

management in TOPdesk. The

managers at the various schools

wanted to place labels on the

equipment; however, they had

learned from experience that

students tend to pick at stickers on

computers and monitors. Thus in

order to distinguish between each

piece of equipment, they needed a

more permanent way of marking

them. There are various solutionsfor this available on the market,

such as securing metal plates

containing the object data or by

chemically etching a template.

Professionalization withTOPdeskAt the Hogeschool IPABO, an

institution for the training of

primary school teachers, reserving

and lending cameras is one of the

most important forms of IT supportfor students. The IT department

uses Reservations management

in TOPdesk to manage this. A

great deal of the study time of

the 1400 students at IPABO is

spent doing work experience at

primary schools. As part of their

evaluation, the students have to

make videos during their work

experience period. They can reserve

cameras at the service desk, which

they can collect and return to the

multimedia centre.

Over the years, IT-workz has

changed the way it uses TOPdesk,

as Cees explains. We used to

use TOPdesk on a much more

operational basis; nowadays, many

more decisions are made based

on the actual data in TOPdesk.

Management reports are now

delivered to the management, we

can now keep track of the timetaken for each operator and clients

can gain insight into their calls in

the Self Service Desk. They are also

planning to undertake a number of

other matters with TOPdesk such

as conducting a client satisfaction

survey and implementing TOPdesk

for facilities support.

The attraction of

educationProviding support for bothemployees and students at

educational institutions creates

a number of challenges for an IT

department. Every user group has

different wishes and requirements

and the two extremes come

together in education. Yet everyone

we spoke to agrees on one thing:

these two extremes are what make

providing IT support in education

so enjoyable.

IT IS VITAL TOREGISTER ALLTHE EQUIPMENTTHAT IS INTENTEDFOR USE.


22/2422


23/24 23

Why On-Site ApplicationManagement?Your TOPdesk maintenance

contract entitles you to expert

support from our knowledgeablesupport desk. In addition to this,

TOPdesk can provide periodic

on-site support to handle all other

maintenance tasks. The On-Site

Application Management service

enables you to focus on your

principal tasks while our TOPdesk

specialists ensure that your

application is running optimally.

Advantages TOPdesk will ensure that your

system is functioning optimally

by performing periodic check-ups

on your system;

Your personnel will not need to

spend any time on the technical

maintenance of your application;

Your TOPdesk system will be

kept up to date with a minimum

amount of effort required;

TOPdesk users in your

organization will receive

professional on-site support.

What to expectShould you decide to take

advantage of the benets of this

service, you will be assigned a

dedicated TOPdesk Application

Manager who will familiarize

him or herself with the TOPdesk

installation in your organization.

The specialist will monitor your

system carefully and will advise you

on how you can best optimize the

use of your application. TOPdeskusers will receive professional

support from a TOPdesk specialist

who can assist with any queries

or change system congurations.

The specialist will adapt his or

her work to meet the needs of

your organization, which can

include activities such as handling

TOPdesk authorizations, setting up

complex reports, installing updates,

supporting users and conguring

TOPdesk settings.

Depending on your preferences, the

dedicated Application Manager will

visit your organization on either

a monthly or a bi-monthly basis.

He or she will be available from

10 AM to 5 PM for any TOPdesk-

related work. The specialist will

work together with your technical

infrastructure specialists to

optimize TOPdesk within your

organization.

We have received a lot of positivefeedback from our clients about

this service, which we offer at a

discounted rate. It helps clients to

get the most out of their tool with

the least amount of effort. If you

are interested in this service, please

contact the TOPdesk ofce nearest

you.

TOPdesk Consultancy is always looking for ways to support clients better. That is

why we would like to bring one of our more popular services to your attention.

Our On-Site Application Management service is ideal for clients who would like

to optimize their use of TOPdesk without having to devote time and money

to maintain it themselves. With the On-Site Application Management service,

our TOPdesk specialists will oversee your TOPdesk environment, take care of

maintenance and provide valuable time-saving tips to users.

TOPdesk On-Site

Application Management

TEXT: CARRIE BRANDT


24/24

tips + tricks

TOPdesk UK limitedt +44 (0)20 7803 4200e [email protected] www.topdesk.co.uk

TOPdesk Netherlandst +31 (0)15 270 09 00e [email protected] www.topdesk.nl

TOPdesk Germany GmbHt +49 (0)631 624 00 0e [email protected] www.topdesk.de

TOPdesk Belgiumt +32 (0)3 292 32 90e [email protected] www.topdesk.be

TOPdesk Canada Corporationt +1 416 800 2118e [email protected] www.topdesk.ca

TOPdesk Hungaryt +36 1 301 0190e [email protected] www.topdesk.hu

TOPdesk Francet +33 1 4222 2314e info.topdesk.frw www.topdesk.fr

Layout of elds in (email) actions -TOPdesk 4

You might already know that you can copy elds from

TOPdesk into emails, HTTP requests and the log. But were

you aware that you have the option to dene the layout

of many of these elds yourself?

In date elds you have many options to choose

from with regard to the layout. For instance, you

can choose to show only the month, to display the

written date in its entirety or to show only the day of

the week. Respectively, this will look as follows: July,Tuesday 14 July 2009 at 11:30 or Tuesday.

For all memo elds (such as Request and Action)

from TOPdesk version 4.2 onwards, you can decide

whether you wish to display the date/name stamp.

Log actions as pop-ups

TOPdesk offers you the option to use log actions as

pop-up windows. This can be useful when, for instance,

an individual is authorized to close a call for an external

operator only once an invoice has been received and

signed. Something like this can be easy to forget. To

prevent this, you can set up a pop-up window to appear

as soon as someone closes a call for an external operator.

You are free to decide what to include in the pop-up; we

suggest something like: You may only close this call once

the invoice has been signed and archived. Has this invoice

already been processed?

To do this you need to enable the option Show log in the

system settings. You can nd this by going to Settings

in the menu, then clicking System settings > Functional

settings > General tab > Display log in Notes tab. Once

you have activated the log, you can dene the trigger in

the Events explorer, after which your pop-up will appear.

You can then use the Action explorer to formulate the

content of the pop-up window.

To do this, create a new action and select the option

Log. Give it the same name as the pop-up window.Under Message you can enter the message that you

want to appear in the pop-up. By clicking with the right

mouse button, you can insert elds from TOPdesk, such

as the name of the operator or the logged in user. Tick

the option Conrm before sending. Finally, activate the

pop-up and link it to the event that you made earlier. The

pop-up will now appear for those TOPdesk users when

the trigger that you dened occurs.

TOPdesk Magazine 2009 Issue 3

Documents

Transcript of TOPdesk Magazine 2009 Issue 3