Work experience. ICT Service Desk

Transcription

1 Work experience ICT Service Desk

2 Kent County Council (KCC) is one of the largest councils in the country and provides more than 300 services for around 1.6 million residents, visitors and people working in Kent. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department is responsible for managing all the technology used by the council to support and deliver services which includes computer hardware, software and all the bits and pieces behind the scenes! During a work experience placement with KCC s ICT Service Desk you ll get to spend time working with a busy, friendly team which provides support to over 12,000 members of staff who need to use computers and software systems to do their jobs. About us The ICT Service Desk is situated in Cantium House, Maidstone. This building is part of County Hall, which includes the main KCC headquarters buildings. We provide a single point of contact for all ICT related issues our customers, KCC staff, contact the Service Desk in order to request our support or our services. There are currently 87 members of staff in the Service Desk team, working in 7 different teams. First Line Support are the first point of contact for our customers. The team of 14 Support Analysts answer the telephone calls, provide advice, fix straightforward issues and log calls that need further investigation into our call management system, Supportworks. Second Line Support investigate calls logged that can t be fixed at first point of contact. They also install and provide training for our remote working tool, A2K, which enables staff to access all their documents, files and software systems away from the office. Second Line Area Support team members are based at 7 of KCC s main buildings, supporting our customers across the county with fault fixing, installation of hardware and software, moving and disposing of equipment. Access Management handle the setting up, modification and deletion of all staff IT accounts. Every member of staff has an IT account which allows them to log on to a KCC computer and access the software systems they need to do their jobs. 2 P age

3 Release Management team members prepare all the software used on KCC computers and can send it across the network instead of having to manually install it on individual computers. They also send out regular security updates to computers to make sure they re protected against viruses, as well as changes to software applications to keep them up todate. They can also test and make changes to software applications. Service Requests process all customer orders that are placed via the online IT Shop, as well as providing advice on purchasing computer hardware and software. They also manage the process of replacing staff computers (otherwise known as the Technology Refresh Programme or TRP) all KCC computers are replaced every 3 years, and also provide BlackBerry and mobile phone support. Service Management monitor and investigate any major issues affecting ICT services and also analyse and report on performance to provide regular information for our management team. They also produce information for our customers via the KCC intranet and weekly updates, monitor customer feedback and look at ways to maintain our customer satisfaction levels. and the way we work We ve got a broad range of ages, personalities and experience in our Service Desk teams, but we all share the same commitment to excellent customer service. Some years ago we introduced the Raving Fans initiative within ICT in an attempt to improve our not so good reputation and turn our unhappy customers into raving fans. We ve come a long way since then! We re now very proud to be one of a small number of organisations to have achieved four star certification with the Service Desk Institute (SDi). We ve recently retained our four stars for the third year running, as well as being fully compliant with the Customer Service Excellence standard. Everything we ve learnt over the last 5 or 6 years is now embedded in our everyday culture and our approach to delivering the best service we can. Our customers are encouraged to rate the service they receive via ICT Self Service, which they can use to log requests for ICT services. Receiving positive feedback from our customers is a great motivator for our team members and we regularly publish some of the comments for everyone to read. We also make sure any negative comments we receive are dealt with as a priority! 3 P age

4 We hope you enjoy the time you spend with us, and that it will help you to find out what you re good at and maybe give you an idea of what you might like to do in the future. During your time with us we ll give you a good insight of working in a large, busy team and what it s like to work for a major employer like Kent County Council. We ll treat you like an adult, you ll work alongside a variety of IT professionals and you can take away some useful new skills to show off to future employers! We can also give you some useful tips on what future employers might expect from you as well some practical help on interview techniques and writing applications. What will your work experience involve? You ll have a dedicated mentor for the two weeks you are here. At the end of each day you ll have some time with them to review what you ve been doing, and discuss this and anything else you may want to talk about. Week one In the first week, you ll be spending time with each of our teams, finding out what their working day involves whether you re listening in to customer calls with First Line, or observing how a BlackBerry problem is resolved. There will also be the opportunity for hands on experience with some of the teams, and you may be given responsibility for completing your own tasks. You ll find a typical schedule for the first week on Page 5. Week two By the end of the first week you should have a good idea of what each of the teams do, and also which one you want to spend more time with during the second week. You ll then be able to collect evidence by completing tasks and learning more specifics about the team. You could also go out with our engineers to other offices and also visit the Library and Archive Centre in Maidstone to see how we support their computer network. 4 P age

5 Keeping a record of what you do At the back of this document you ll find a section to record your experiences whilst you re working with us in the ICT Service Desk team. You can use this to write down what you ve enjoyed doing each day, what you ve learned and whether it s been useful. It ll also help you to decide which team you want to spend your second week with. Evidence and skills for the future Some of our team leaders have lots of experience in recruiting staff. Whilst you are with us, we ll be able to give you some valuable tips on preparing yourself for future employment and what we as an employer look for in an applicant. For example: Effective personal communication you can experience professional telephone call handling, taking effective messages, writing informative call notes and how important communication is when interacting with colleagues at work and with people you come across in your daily life. Job application, CV and interview tips we can give you some great advice on what employers look for in a good application, what they want to see from a CV and what makes a good interview, to help you sell yourself and your skills. Basic computer skills learn more about the type of computer skills you ll need to work in an office environment. We can show you useful skills for word processing, working with spreadsheets and using . Make your work experience a success! Attend every day and always arrive in plenty of time Treat everyone with consideration and be polite at all times Be enthusiastic and show a positive attitude to your work Wear appropriate clothing for the placement Listen carefully to instructions and ask if you do not understand Think before you act and work safely If you have a problem with work talk to your supervisor If you can t sort out a problem at work tell your teacher Keep a record of everything you do and fill in diary pages provided 5 P age

6 Week one suggested timetable to Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Introductions and tour of workplace 2 nd Line shadowing Access Mgmt shadowing Mobile Comms & IT shop shadowing Pre Build (preparation of computers before being installed for customers) Morning sessions include a 15 minute break Lunch break 12 to 1 / 1 to 2 Duty Manager 1.00 to st Line shadowing Incident Manager Apps Release Area Support shadowing Technology Refresh Programme (TRP) shadowing Supportworks training Service Management End Feedback and evaluation with mentor 6 P age

7 Example Work Experience Daily Activity Log Day 1 Date:... Use this page to record activities for the day, including: Which teams you have spent time with What did you find most interesting and/or useful? What did you learn? Was there anything you didn t like? Answer some questions about the teams you have observed 7 P age

8 Appendices Useful information KCC Directorates and Departments ICT Teams ICT Mission Statement ICT Team Charter 8 P age

9 KCC Directorates and Departments KCC has four business directorates and one support directorate, Business Strategy & Support. ICT is a department of Business Strategy & Support. More information about Kent County Council, how it works and the services it provides, can be found on 9 P age

10 WorkexperiencewithKentCountyCouncil s ICTServiceDesk ICTteams ThepicturebelowshowshowtheICTServiceDeskinteractswiththerestofICTintermsof providingsupporttoourcustomersandhowtheirincidentsandservicerequestsaredealt with.italsoshowsalltheotherictteamsandfunctions. 10 P a g e

11 ICT Mission Statement A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organisation or person, its reason for existing. Our mission statement guides our actions, spells out our overall goals, and guides decisionmaking. 11 P age

12 ICT Team Charter Behaviours that help us work together Be respectful of others don t make personal derogatory statements about others de personalise statements keep to the facts challenge inappropriate comments lead by example stop negative team thinking don t generalise always ask is it convenient to talk? Feedback face to face Be approachable give attention to others give quality time to each other acknowledge the needs of others use open body language make eye contact SMILE! keep it honest, factual and non emotional don t consider it to be personal deal with it early, don t let issues build up feedback to peers before escalating Dealing with issues don t let them fester, deal with them! choose an appropriate time calm down before giving feedback try to resolve issues with peers before escalating Listen and consider ideas of others encourage others to share their ideas all ideas should be considered give feedback don t make assumptions Share problems be unbiased look to find the solution, not the blame focus on the solution first work together to find solutions focus on the end result rather than your individual part in the process take ownership and responsibility 12 P age