Rapid Service Desk Training Through Knowledge Sue Cummings Associate Directorate for Business Innovation: Service Innovation Division May 4, 2016
Abstract An efficient and effective IT Service Desk (SD) sets the stage for support cost savings by returning customers to full productivity through first contact resolution and through work ticket triage that assists downstream support. Training is required to operate a capable SD and training requires accurate, searchable, specific, and relevant knowledge references. This presentation discusses how knowledge articles are developed into a SD specific knowledgebase that is then used to rapidly train SD Analysts to become contributing members of the support team. Slide 2
Analyst to Employee Support Ratio We currently have 12 Service Desk Analysts 1 Service Desk Supervisor 2 rotating Queue Managers who process and triage email and direct ticket input 1 deployed to external support kiosk All analysts also work on service management projects 8 Analysts answer phones daily for all 10,200 LANL employees Each Analyst support 1,275 LANL employees each well above industry standards Slide 3
Then and Now Prior to 2012 Most tickets were routed to field support with little first call resolution Supported desktop support services only Did not support: business services, network, mobility, access authorization, encryption, applications, and most software Basic, non-standard ticketing system Knowledgebase included co-workers, binders with information, Google search through scattered web pages, notes, wikis, SharePoint sites No consolidation of knowledge Slide 4
Then and Now 2012 to Present In 2012 Service Desk was remodeled Consolidated first-level support with 16 Analysts Moved to new location with a large consolidated office Added at least 50 additional IT services between 2012 and now Began supporting business services Switched to standardized ticketing system Consolidated most knowledge that was scattered in multiple places in a knowledgebase which eventually moved into a Service Catalog accessible by Service Desk and Field Support Slide 5
Then and Now 2012 to Present Hired permanent Service Desk Analysts along with contractors Moved to another location with better lighting for friendlier/happier atmosphere Supported and triaged all LANL IT services (except HPC scientific computing) Onboarding additional business services Continually developing an extensive training program Goal of becoming a 311 for LANL Slide 6
History of Training Program Prior to 2012, training was inconsistent and very informal Training was being developed in 2012 with the overhaul of the Service Desk to the ITIL model Training from 2012 vs. now is in constant process improvement Training model formalized in January Slide 7
Service Desk Agent Experience -2016 Slide 8
What Analysts Must Learn How to support ~80 customer facing IT services Includes newly developed services and new service features How to support ~20 business services Customer service skills Troubleshooting to resolution skills How to triage and gather information for tickets that come in by phone, email, or through the Remedy web portal How to follow LANL policy and where to find official documentation How to follow Service Desk procedures How to use a variety of tools to fulfill requests and resolve or troubleshoot incidents Analysts use an average of 8 primary tools daily to handle incoming phone calls and work tickets Slide 9
Analyst Training Duration Depends on whether hire is internal to LANL or external Supporting additional services requires more extensive and longer training program than when Service Desk training first took place Training levels: Basic LANL policy training Ticket queue management to learn the language of the incoming issues Basic phone option with a trainer for one or two weeks Advanced phone option with trainer for one or two weeks Re-evaluation for quality assurance additional training Re-evaluation on month 1, 2, and 3 for quality and customer service skills Slide 10
Knowledge as a Training Tool Hosting Knowledge was originally developed and hosted in the Remedy Knowledge Management (RKM) system RKM was difficult to search and often caused tickets to freeze if an Analyst was searching for knowledge and entering an incident at the same time In, Service Desk team decided to move knowledge to a more easily searchable web format By, all knowledge was migrated to the Content Management System and set up with its own Googlebased search engine Slide 11
Knowledge as Part of Service Onboarding, -2016 Knowledge has become more of a necessity as the SD onboards both IT and business services The diagram represents a selection of services onboarded since it is not comprehensive AccessIT Q1 Q2 Q3 Windows Tablets (pilot) UTrain Annual Security Refresher Game Classroom Reservations LendIT PIV Cards Documentum (EDMS) iexpense ApplyHelp Good Catch Q4 Q1 2016 TBD Records Management Service Requests Document Control Service Requests High Volume Printer Purchasing EasyIT ASM Materials and Property Management Slide 12
Available Knowledge Knowledge available in Remedy Knowledge was populated in Remedy Knowledge Management (RKM) throughout 2013 Knowledge was developed by 50 SMEs from all IT divisions Knowledge was not reviewed for accuracy, relevance, or general readability before publishing By, new knowledge was not generally being populated anymore Decision was made in to migrate knowledge to IT Service Catalog for ease of use and improved searchability Migration included discarding outdated, duplicated, or unnecessary knowledge from RKM and reorganizing the knowledge that remained 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 197 Q3 2012 318 300 Q4 2012 510 Q1 2013 417 579 Q2 2013 632 658 667 676 679 Q3 2013 457 Q4 2013 Q1 Q2 Knowledge available in the Service Catalog 497 510 Q3 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 2016 Slide 13
Knowledge Use Knowledge migration began in late with more dedicated effort in early On average, about 35-40% of the knowledgebase is accessed each month Knowledge continues to grow as Service Desk onboards new services and new features are added to existing services 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 143 May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan 2016 Feb 2016 510 Mar 2016 # of files accessed # of files available Slide 14
Triaged and Resolved Tickets, 2013-2016 How many incoming tickets are triaged How many tickets are resolved by Level 1 Level 1 Resolution Rate Slide 15
Service Desk Cost Savings Developed model to determine cost of Service Desk resolving a ticket vs. cost of field teams resolving a ticket Calculation is based on average number of work tickets, the percentage of tickets that are triaged vs. resolved, and average cost of an Analyst s salary Determined that SD tickets cost about $16 per resolution while escalated tickets cost about $231 per resolution In order to ensure consistent cost savings, SD must be trained well enough to ensure consistent Level 1 resolution Training must be based on available, accurate, searchable, and relevant knowledge to provide highest level of customer support Slide 16
Continual Service Improvement Constant quality assurance taking place Analysts use knowledge to triage and resolve tickets Analysts provide feedback when knowledge is inaccurate, missing, out of date, etc. Knowledge Manager works with Service Owners to update knowledge accordingly Knowledge Manager alerts Service Desk to updated knowledge Analysts use updated knowledge to triage and resolve tickets Continual Service Improvement and quality assurance cycle results in high quality knowledge available as a resource to train new Analysts Slide 17
Questions and Contact Information Sue Cummings Service Desk Manager (505) 695-6129 scooby@lanl.gov Slide 18