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FY 07-08 Methodology
The Valdosta State University Information Technology Helpdesk has been able to achieve its level of continuous improvement and client service satisfaction through a combination of three methods.
Fig. 2-1: Effectiveness Training
Almost all successful organizations through both business and education employ a program of formal training. Whereas many organizations often ask the question "How can we make our training more effective?", fewer ask the question "How can our training make us more effective?". Fewer still take the time to analyze the statistics of how much their training has influenced their success.
Since the VSU IT Helpdesk employs mostly student workers, it is a necessity to ensure a uniformly high level of quality training to ensure equivilent increases our effectiveness. Thus, we have implemented a system of hybridized training, including:
- WebCT tutorials
- Online simulations
- Hands-on practice with a more experienced employee
Throughout training, employees have the opportunity to learn, practice and prove their skill at handling each type of troubleshooting issue before they work with a live client. If the employee cannot perform the task effectively, we consider this a chance to improve our training processes and materials, rather than as a failing on the part of the employee. In this way, our training materials continue to evolve to meet the needs of our clients.
Additional details concerning our training program are available on our IT Effectiveness Training website.
Fig. 2-2: Redefining Ownership
The VSU IT Helpdesk has become well-known for its development of an internal culture of ownership. For each client contact, the representative takes ownership and personal responsiblity for both the resolution of the original issue as well as the client's satisfaction, even if the issue falls outside of Information Technology's services. In addition, each representative takes ownership of his or her own performance. In fact, during annual performance reviews, each representative performs a self-evaluation study before a supervisor conducts a formal review. This allows the representative to become more familiar with the criteria they are evaluated based on, so they can perform daily personal evaluations of the level of service they provide.
The most important part of ownership, though is ownership of the Helpdesk itself. While there is one staff member responsible for both the daily interactions with clients and the development of the Helpdesk, it is the student employees that truly account for its success. Whether it is in the form of handling clients directly or developing the software and training materials for the Helpdesk, student employees are not only involved, but also interested in ensuring that the Helpdesk stays staffed, continues to expand its services, and is otherwise capable to meeting its clients' needs.
Fig. 2-3: Mitigation Through Information
As reflected by our statistics, we have been able to handle a high and ever increasing volume of clients. The most important tool in doing so effectively is not only keeping our employees but also our clients informed. Much of the material we use to train our own employees is available to the public in the Step-by-Step Tutorials section of the Helpdesk website. In addition, every time a client contacts the VSU IT Helpdesk, the employee that assists the client creates a digital record of the call. The Helpdesk Coordinator is able to analyze statistics based on these records to determine how often the Helpdesk deals with any one particular issue. Based on these statistics, the Helpdesk generates additional guides for the public website.
To keeps clients further informed, the Helpdesk maintains a list of all day-to-day changes to the university's services and networks on our Systems and Network Status page. This way, if an outage in service is experienced, clients will remain aware of:
- The cause of the issue
- The steps being taken to correct the issue
- An approximation of the time it will take to correct the issue
During FY 07-08 alone, the Helpdesk developed 167 new training modules. Only 23 of these modules were only available to Helpdesk employees. The other 144 modules were available to the public. In addition, the Helpdesk hosted 27 training workshops to provide live training to re-inforce concepts found in these guides. Finally, one of Information Techology's major initiatives for this fiscal year was the deployment of the Campus Lab Print Solution. During the deployment phase, the Helpdesk took an active role in providing on-site support for library printers, with 276 cases of on-site training an assistance.
Additional details concerning this initiative are available on our Campus Lab Print Solution website.