Build a Right-Sized Service Desk for Small Enterprise

Keep sustainability front of mind to develop a service desk that suits your needs.

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Building a service desk without a plan can result in:

  • The need to recalibrate workflows.
  • Misaligned service desk structure.
  • Poor end-user adoption of new processes.

Planning the service desk framework before implementation leads to:

  • Workflows that meet business needs and don’t waste resources.
  • A structure that is capable of prioritizing and routing tickets in a timely and efficient manner.
  • Organizational trust in the service desk, and a positive perception of IT from the business.

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Onsite Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn’t enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our Project Workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a road map in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Lay Service Desk Foundations

The Purpose

  • Conduct a current state assessment of the existing service desk.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Assess the process maturity, structure, staffing, and key metrics of the existing service desk, and determine your target state.

Activities: Outputs:
1.1 Outline service desk challenges.
  • Service desk challenges
1.2 Review diagnostics results.
  • Diagnostics results
1.3 Review current state assessment.
  • Current state assessment
1.4 Review service desk structure and staffing
  • Service desk structure and staffing
1.5 Create a RACI chart to review accountabilities.
  • RACI chart and skills gap analysis
1.6 List IT service support roles.
  • Service desk roles
1.7 Review current task allocations.
  • Service desk responsibilities
1.8 Create a list of required reports and metrics.
  • Service desk metrics and reports, and balanced scorecard

Module 2: Design Incident Management

The Purpose

  • Conduct a health check on incident management processes, improve the key elements, and align them to best practices.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Develop workflows for incident and critical incident management processes, and develop guidelines for ticket handling, categorization, prioritization, and escalation.

Activities: Outputs:
2.1 Review incident management challenges.
  • Incident management challenges
2.2 Define incident management workflows.
  • Incident management workflow
2.3 Define critical incident management workflow.
  • Critical incident management workflow
2.4 Design critical incident communication plan.
  • Critical incident management communication plan
2.5 Identify opportunities to automate ticket creation.
  • List of ticket templates
2.6 Identify opportunities to reduce recurring tickets.
  • List of recurring tickets
2.7 Assess ticket categorization.
  • Enhanced ticket categorization scheme
2.8 Enhance ticket classifications with resolution codes.
  • Ticket resolution and status codes
2.9 Build a small number of rules to facilitate prioritization.
  • Enhanced ticket prioritization scheme
2.10 Define escalation rules.
  • Escalation guidelines
2.11 Define automated escalations.
  • List of automatic escalations

Module 3: Design Request Fulfillment

The Purpose

  • Conduct a health check on service request fulfillment, improve its key elements, and align them to best practices.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Develop workflows for service request fulfillment, prepare for a service catalog project, and put in place a process to build and maintain a knowledgebase targeted on your most important tickets.

Activities: Outputs:
3.1 Define service requests with SLAs.
  • List of service requests
3.2 Build and critique request workflows.
  • Service request workflows and estimated SLAs
3.3 Distinguish between requests and small projects.
  • Criteria to distinguish between requests and projects
3.4 Review service definition checklist for standardized request models.
  • Service request models for the service catalog
3.5 Develop self-help tools for end users.
  • List of self-help tools for end users
3.6 Design knowledge management processes.
  • Knowledge management policy and process
3.7 Create actionable knowledgebase articles.
  • Article template; knowledgebase writing strategies and exercises

Module 4: Plan the Implementation of the Service Desk

The Purpose

  • Prepare to implement the service desk processes built in previous modules.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Compile requirements for service desk software, build a communication plan, and develop an implementation roadmap.

Activities: Outputs:
4.1 Create a requirements list for the service desk tool.
  • ITSM tool requirements
4.2 Investigate which tool best meets your needs.
  • Vendor shortlist and vendor briefing script
4.3 Create the communication plan.
  • Communication plan, executive presentation, and service desk SOP
4.4 Build an implementation roadmap.
  • Service desk implementation roadmap
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