Help Desk

Information about Help Desk

For the help desk of Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Help desk

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A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers and similar products. Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a toll-free number, website and/or e-mail. There are also in-house help desks geared toward providing the same kind of help for employees only. Some schools offer classes in which they perform similar tasks as a help desk.

In the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, within companies adhering to ISO/IEC 20000 or seeking to implement IT Service Management best practice, a Help Desk may offer a wider range of user centric services and be part of a larger Service Desk.

Functions

A typical help desk has several functions. It provides the users a central point to receive help on various computer issues. The help desk typically manages its requests via help desk software, such as an incident tracking system, that allows them to track user requests with a unique ticket number. This can also be called a "Local Bug Tracker" or LBT. The help desk software can often be an extremely beneficial tool when used to find, analyze, and eliminate common problems in an organization's computing environment.

The user notifies the help desk of his or her issue, and the help desk issues a ticket that has details of the problem. If the first level is able to solve the issue, the ticket is closed and updated with documentation of the solution to allow other help desk technicians to reference. If the issue needs to be escalated, it will be dispatched to a second level.

There are many software applications available to support the help desk function. Some are targeting enterprise level help desk (rather large) some are targeting departmental needs. See Comparison of issue tracking systems.

From the mid 1990s research by Middleton ^[1] at The Robert Gordon University found that many organizations had begun to recognize that the real value of their help desk(s) derives not solely from their reactive response to users' issues but from the help desk's unique position where it communicates daily with numerous customers or employees. This gives the help desk the ability to monitor the user environment for issues from technical problems to user preferences and satisfaction. Such information gathered at the help desk can be valuable in planning and preparation to other units in IT as well as non-IT departments such as sales and product development.

Organization

Large help desks have different levels to handle different types of questions. The first-level help desk is prepared to answer the most commonly asked questions, or provide resolutions that often belong in an FAQ or knowledge base. Typically, an incident tracking system has been implemented that allows a logging process to take place at the onset of a call. If the issue isn't resolved at the first-level, the ticket is escalated to a second, higher, level that has the necessary resources to handle more difficult calls.

Larger help desks have a person or team responsible for managing the tickets and are commonly called queue managers or queue supervisors. The queue manager is responsible for the ticket queues, which can be setup in various ways depending on the help desk size or structure. Typically, larger help desks have several teams that are experienced in working on different issues. The queue manager will assign a ticket to one of the specialized teams based on the type of issue. Some help desks may have phone systems with ACD splits that ensure that calls about specific topics are put through to analysts with experience or knowledge on that topic.

Many help desks are also strictly rostered. Time is set aside for analysts to perform tasks such as following up problems, returning phone calls, and answering questions via e-mail. The roster system ensures that all analysts get time to follow up on calls, and also ensures that analysts are always available to take incoming phone calls. As the incoming phone calls are random in nature, help desk agent schedules are often maintained using an Erlang C calculation.

Deskside team

The deskside team (sometimes known as "desktop support") is responsible for the desktops, laptops and peripherals such as PDAs. The help desk will assign the desktop team the second level deskside issues that the first level was not able to solve. They set up and configure computers for new users and are typically responsible for any physical work relating to the computers such as repairing software or hardware issues and moving workstations to another location.

Network team

The network team is responsible for the network software, hardware and infrastructure such as servers, switches, backup systems and firewalls. They are responsible for the network services such as email, file, and security. The help desk will assign the network team issues that are in their field of responsibility.

Other teams

Some companies have a telecom team that is responsible for the phone infrastructure such as PBX, voicemail, VOIP, telephone sets, modems and fax machines. They are responsible for configuring and moving telephone numbers, voicemail setup and configuration and are assigned these types of issues from the help desk.

Companies with custom application software may also have an applications team, who are responsible for development of any in-house software. The Applications team may be assigned problems such as software bugs from the Help Desk. Requests for new features or capabilities to in-house software that come through the Help Desk are also assigned to Applications groups.

Not all of the help desk staff and supporting IT staff are in the same location. With remote access applications, technicians are able to solve many help desk issues from another location or their home office. There is a need for on-site support to physically work on some help desk issues; however, help desks are able to be more flexible with their remote support. They can also audit workstations.

Help desk is a broadly applied term referring to a staffed resource—often, an actual desk, or a telephone service—that can help persons answer questions or to use resources such as audio-visual or computer resources.

References

1. ^ Middleton, I "Key Factors in Help Desk Success (An analysis of areas critical to help desk development and functionality.)" British Library R&D Report 6247, The British Library 1996

External links

Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving. It is the systematic search for the source of a problem so that it can be solved. Troubleshooting is often a process of elimination - eliminating potential causes of a problem.
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computer is a machine which manipulates data according to a list of instructions.

Computers take numerous physical forms. The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century (around 1940 - 1941), although the computer concept and various machines
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Business law
Business organizations
Basic forms:
Sole proprietorship
Corporation
Partnership
(General Â· Limited Â· LLP)
Cooperative
USA:
Business trust Â· LLC Â· LLLP
Delaware corporation
Nevada corporation
UK/Commonwealth:
Limited company
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A toll-free, Freecall, Freephone, or 800 number is a special telephone number, in that the called party is charged the cost of the calls by the telephone carrier, instead of the calling party.
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A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
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E-mail (short for electronic mail; often also abbreviated as e-mail, email or simply mail) is a store and forward method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems.
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of concepts and techniques for managing information technology (IT) infrastructure, development, and operations.

ITIL is published in a series of books, each of which cover an IT-management topic.
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ISO/IEC 20000 is the first international standard for IT Service Management. It is based on and is intended to supersede the earlier British Standard, BS 15000.

Formally: ISO 20000-1 ('part 1') "promotes the adoption of an integrated process approach to effectively deliver
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IT Service Management (ITSM) is a discipline for managing information technology (IT) systems, philosophically centered on the customer's perspective of IT's contribution to the business.
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A Service Desk is a primary IT capability called for in IT Service Management (ITSM) as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact ("SPOC") to meet the communications needs of both Users and IT and to
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Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. ^[1]
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An issue tracking system (also called trouble ticket system or incident ticket system) is a computer software package that manage and maintain lists of issues, as needed by an organization.
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User in a computing context refers to one who uses a computer system. Users may need to identify themselves for the purposes of accounting, security, logging and resource management.
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A ticket (also known as an incident ticket or trouble ticket) is a file, usually contained within a issue tracking system which contains information about support interventions made by technical support staff or third parties on behalf of an end user who has reported
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This page contains both issue and bug tracking systems. The distinction is uncertain in some cases, so have a look at the other category as well when missing an entry.

Issue tracking systems

System Creator License Implementation
language User
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FAQ is an initialism for "Frequently Asked Question(s)". The term refers to listed questions and answers, all supposed to be frequently asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic.
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A knowledge base (or knowledgebase; abbreviated KB, kb or Δ) is a special kind of database for knowledge management. It provides the means for the computerized collection, organization, and retrieval of knowledge.
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Queue areas are places in which people in line (first-come, first-served) wait for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or
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In telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration (CTI) system.
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desktop computer is a computer made for use on a desk in an office or home and is distinguished from portable computers such as laptops or PDAs. Desktop computers are also known as microcomputers.
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laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2-18 pounds (1-6 kilograms), depending on size, materials, and other factors.

A laptop computer is much smaller than a desktop.
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peripheral is a piece of computer hardware that is added to a host computer ,i.e any hardware except the computer, in order to expand its abilities. More specifically, the term is used to describe those devices that are optional in nature, as opposed to hardware that is either
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Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are handheld computers, but have become much more versatile over the years. PDAs are also known as pocket computers or palmtop computers.
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In communications or computer systems, a configuration is an arrangement of functional units according to their nature, number, and chief characteristics. Often, configuration pertains to the choice of hardware, software, firmware, and documentation.
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Hardware is a general term that refers to the physical artifacts of a technology.It may also mean the physical components of a computer system.

Hardware historically meant the metal parts and fittings that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer
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workstation, such as a Unix workstation, RISC workstation or engineering workstation, is a high-end desktop or deskside microcomputer designed for technical applications.
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as a college campus, industrial complex, or a military base. A CAN, may be considered a type of MAN (metropolitan area network), but is generally limited to an area that is smaller than a typical MAN.
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