Organization of the user support service: creation of documentation and structure of the service. Description of the subject area Proactive suggestions for project improvement

Technical support employees probably have the highest turnover rate in the entire IT industry. Find a good specialist technical support is difficult, and a newbie, after working for several months, tends to move to less hectic positions. Technical support often takes on the negative emotions of users. Enduring a flood of negativity day after day is hard, but not necessary. Much in communication with users depends on the behavior of the employee himself. What should a technical support employee do so that his work is not so hard?

Give the user hope that you will help them.

For you, a user's call is a new appeal. The user has already spent enough time on his problem - trying to figure it out on his own, waiting on the telephone line, and perhaps he has already been kicked off a couple of times with phone calls to various IT services. Should we be surprised at the initially negative attitude? Finally, listen to what his problem is, and only then proceed to the formal filling out of the application - finding out the identity of the user, department / company / contract number, etc. Notably, support scripts often offer the opposite.

Before you tackle a problem, make sure you're tackling the right problem.

You can spend half an hour trying to figure out a problem that doesn't exist. The first thing to do is to make sure that the situation that the user sees is not part of a larger incident that he has not yet noticed.

For example, the user calls with an appeal "My mouse is stuck."

One scenario is to find out: optical or mechanical, wired or wireless, whether the diode glows and whether it glowed before, etc. Talk for 20 minutes, and you may never get to the problem.

Let's try to go from the other end: “So, your mouse is not working, but everything else on the computer is working fine? For example, try switching to another program using the "alt» + « Tab” or start the program from the start menu with “ctrl»+« Esc"and shooter".

If everything works, then you can try to find out what happened to the mouse. If not, then the mouse has nothing to do with it and you need to deal with the computer already.

It is not necessary to find out what the user has already done.

A typical stereotype that technical support employees are subject to is that 80% of user problems are corrected by the phrase “Have you tried turning it off and on?”. Well, yes, it often works. At the same time, most users are familiar enough with the computer to take these steps on their own.

They answer “Yes” without even thinking about your every “Have you already tried…”

Have you tried turning it off and on?
- Yes

Did you hold down and when you pressed ?”
- Yes

Did you hold the computer over your head while performing the ritual dance?
- Yes

Instead of asking what the user has already done, it is much more efficient to give the user a task that he needs to do right now and talk to him about what he saw. An effective method is to step through the steps of the user all the way to his mistakes, for example, by running the same programs at home. If the error appears on your computer, then this is a good reason to escalate the incident to other specialists.

Technical support should use the same working environment as most users.

You can't land tech support on Linux if the users are on Windows. You shouldn't migrate your IT department to Windows 8 if your company is still actively using Windows XP. It is very important for a technical support employee to have an environment close to the one that the user has on the computer. So he can predict the normal behavior of the computer and tell the user the right steps. The working environment of a computer is the best clue in any situation, if you at least roughly know what to do.

Don't pretend you know more than you really do

Many users believe that technical support should know absolutely everything about computers and software. You and I know that there are no such people among those who work on the first line, but many are trying to pretend to be them. Often tech support tries to guess the right decision. As a result, a couple of unsuccessful guesses and you completely lose the trust of users. What to do? Parity is the best policy. If you don't know the solution and can't hand the user over to someone who does, then try to figure out the situation with the user. Search the Internet, ask if the user found a solution there, try to go through this solution together with the user. Many feel stupid and insecure when dealing with tech support. Engaging the user in finding a solution can give them confidence and increase their satisfaction with technical support.

Empathy

Empathy is a very intangible concept. However, for example, the advice to smile when answering a phone does work. Users feel your attitude. Unfortunately, empathy for user problems is not a quality that distinguishes most services. technical support. Indeed, what kind of sympathy can a person who cannot even turn on a computer without outside help arouse. On the other hand, for most users, it is enough to explain once clearly correct order actions to avoid them in the future. Technical support employees should more often remember that they also do not know much and do not know how, which is generally a completely normal situation.

Your goal is to make the user happy.

IT professionals in most cases do not consider themselves educators kindergarten for users. Even jokes when communicating with users are most often specific and little understood by “mere mortals”. There is such a good, but gradually out of circulation word Help Desk - help desk, however, the option with the support service is also not bad. The task of technical support is to help and support users. If users end the conversation happy, then you will most likely feel satisfied with good work, which means that it will be much easier to work.

I write the text in real time, i.e. behind this word, I don’t even know what the next one will be. :)

In this case, you need to start with the foundation and with an understanding of the problem ... and also identify target audience: these are internal IT services and organizations providing professional IT services ... giants like Megafon or Yota most likely need full-fledged contact center solutions, which goes beyond the boundaries of my picture of the world and therefore is not included in this article ...

C1.1. Problems and deviations in typical situations

1. There is no understanding between the IT service and the management of the organization. Which leads to conflicts, which are then expressed in the form of anecdotes ala "I am a dartagnan, and the leadership is ...". Although in most situations the reality is the opposite.
2. Users in shock
   1. forced to spend their time to ensure that everything works for them
   2. often get rudeness instead of help
   3. there is no trust in the IT service, because the same, elementary questions need to be repeated, reminded, because they are forgotten or clogged;
   4. you can generally forget about wishes for development ... only what IT specialists want is done, and not what users or organizations need;
3. The service is a mess
   1. Few or practically none of the specialists understand what is the result of their work;
   2. The concept of leading specialists and managers is confused, more precisely, leading specialists are appointed leaders
   3. The loading of specialists is a big question, and its fairness is even more so.
   4. The energy of people is scattered in different directions, as a result, there is fatigue, but there are no noticeable results.
4. High organization costs
   1. The same failures in processes are repeated many times, but few people care
   2. Downtime in processes also takes place, but it is also quickly forgotten and repeated with enviable regularity.
5. And last but most important... without process control, specialists think that IT is somehow tied to computers, and instead of developing IT, they are engaged in computer technology.

C1.2. Desired Situation

1. The client is always right. The organization, the management of the organization and its employees are the clients of the IT service.
   1. The key to the client's heart is facts and figures that show dynamics and allow forecasts to be made in order to make decisions.
   2. All people, white and black, make decisions in the same way (with the exception of clinical deviations in the development of the mind and closing in a madhouse). The difference is only in the original information. The ability to find the right information is the basis of success and understanding.
   3. Gathering the right information is one of the results proper organization support.
2. Need to gain user trust
   1. They must be sure that once they communicate their thought, it will be written down, considered, there will be an answer or a decision. And not ignoring or "but I forgot."
   2. The first phrase of a person who has reached the state of Buddha: I am you. If you see a stupid person in front of you... think about it. It's not a joke.
   3. It all starts with a record of calls, but then the lists (databases, registers, directories) expand with the development of the entire system.
3. Order is a delicate matter
   1. The result of the IT service is the availability of the necessary information for employees and the absence of downtime in their activities. But these are just words. Understanding this is difficult and understanding of this comes only after some time using the IT management system.
   2. Justice is a tricky thing. For her understanding, there is a separate article and she
   3. Who is in charge of IT? Manager or specialist? There is a very simple test: do you register user requests? If - yes, then either a leader or a promising person is at the helm, if - no, you need to drive this leader in the neck, or demote to a specialist, even a leader.
   4. Any action should have a priority... and those actions that have the greatest impact in terms of the goals of the organization should be carried out first. It is not easy to achieve this, but it is real.
4. We cut costs
   1. We minimize downtime at any cost, blood from the nose, because any downtime is not just "we'll fix it now", these are consequences that can not always be tracked, a decrease in reputation, loss of customers, etc.
   2. Failures need to be recorded, rooted out, causes fixed - repeated failure is a disgrace to the jungle.
5. Well, after completing these 4 points, the understanding comes that IT is IT, and they are hundreds of thousands of years old ... and computers are computers they are only about 50 years old and now they are used more often than cave walls just because a little - a little more efficient and not more than that :)

C2. Peculiarities

1. The key success factor is the registration of all user requests. Key word in this sentence: all. You start hacking and skipping appeals - get out, you are not a leader.
2. When you achieve the registration of all requests, the system will begin to develop ... bottlenecks immediately become noticeable:
   1. no process instructions or instructions curves - many questions
   2. no employee training - many questions
   3. hardware or programs are poorly configured or poorly matched - many failures
   4. specialists do anything, but not what is needed for the organization, and therefore for management.
   5. if you do a project poorly, then the circulation dynamics jumps up ... you need to plan projects better ...
   6. well, in general, the picture becomes clear and a lot of ideas immediately appear in my head on how to improve the situation...
3. A very important element of the system is CMDB or CBD - configuration database or service objects:
   1. All objects that fall under the sphere of influence of IT are indicated here in order to track the actions that are performed on them.
   2. The frequency of failures by program ... what causes failures more often 1C BP 8 or 1C BP 7.7? As a result, which of them causes more costs?
   3. What changes and who carried out in the programs? In which? It's time to switch to new version? Which changes are worth repeating and which are not? How much is it in finance? Here the answers are in years.
   4. Someone is trying to shove mice and network cards here ... this is a personal matter for everyone and everyone goes crazy in their own way ... but my experience shows that such detailing is costly and of little use, and in fact it is a monkey's work.
   5. Basically, if you are responsible for IT, it is enough to keep records in the context of programs, databases, system modules, and computers can finally be written as Computers, even without detailing by cabinets, not to mention detailing by components)
   6. And if you are also responsible for quality (this is already ISO 9000), then here you can also enter a list of all instructions and regulations governing and standardizing the procedures for employees. In this case, the leadership will already begin to pray for you, put candles in churches for your health. This is not counting other bonuses and social packages))

C3. Solution options

1. Consider first the characteristics that ensure the quality of IT
   1. Basic, obligatory, which must be completed first
      1. Recording calls, acceptance dates, completion dates, you can still record the result
      2. Regular (daily, weekly, monthly) monitoring of indicators, load, performance, dynamics...
   2. Additional, convenient, improving, can be performed secondarily
      1. Record changes, projects, service objects for additional analysis sections
      2. Maintaining a history of communication on requests, automatic mailing of notifications to e-mail to those who applied.
2. Tools
   1. 1C ITILION
      1. pros
         1. The basic requirements are met here.
         2. You can change the software
         3. You can find a pirate
         4. There is a setting for automatic notifications about the creation
         5. Strong reporting
      2. Minuses
         1. Chat history is difficult to keep, there are no notifications about comments by e-mail or the ability to reply with a letter
         2. Web muzzle heavy
      3. Recommendations
         1. For moneyless pirates
         2. For those whose policy is tied to 1C
         3. For those who like to pick programs and love 1C
      4. The price is something around 50 tr. for software, services are added to taste.
      5. Notes
         1. I like it because it was my first system on which I built IT management
   2. eStreamDesk is one of the most efficient solutions
      1. pros
         1. web-based and SaS model, i.e. access from anywhere and no need to hover your head with correct installation and technical support
         2. integrated with Google Apps
         3. there is Russian
         4. there is an auto-message constructor both when adding and closing cases, and about correspondence in the course of decisions;
         5. really use even the free option
      2. Minuses
         1. crooked code, glitches and plush interface
         2. missing CMDB
         3. poor reporting
      3. Recommendations
         1. for small projects where there are financial problems
         2. and if there is no legal relationship, because applicants cannot specify the organization
      4. Price from 0 to see website. Services here, if needed, are at a minimum. basic functionality.
      5. Notes
         1. they would bring the code to mind, reporting is more flexible and the ability to maintain a user base for organizations - it would be cool.
   3. Mojo HD
      1. pros
         1. the same as in paragraph 2, but a more pleasant, streamlined interface and Russification is a little more complicated
         2. reporting is good
         3. flexible constructor of notifications about changes, comments...
         4. the ability to respond to e-mail
         5. maintaining user base by organizations
      2. Minuses
         1. there is no Russian language, but the entire interface can be rewritten even for a rough mat
         2. the prices are relatively biting, the free option is not realistic to use
      3. Recommendations
         1. for sustainable projects, with stable finances
         2. those who need to maintain clientele by organization
      4. Notes
         1. prices are a little quieter and can be considered an ideal system for internal services and professional businesses
   4. DIRECTUM
      1. pros
         1. There is a dedicated IT.Now module but with sharpening under the arms. Violation of principle C1.1. item 5. Something like 1C ITILION, but less flexible and worse.
      2. Minuses
         1. Same as 1C ITILUM
         2. There is no dedicated and thoughtful module in terms of ISO 20000. 1C ITILIUM covers the possibilities in years.
      3. Recommendations
         1. You can write your own module ... which is justified in difficult situations ... for example, in public administration and public services, where practice has not yet been developed, but integration with large paper workflow is needed.
      4. Notes
         1. DIRECTUM good system EDI, and the construction of ITSM on its basis is justified only if everything else is built on this system. as already mentioned, for example, in the state administration.
   5. 1С ITIL something from Rarus
      1. pros
         1. this is 1C
      2. Minuses
         1. the program itself is written by those who are completely subject to the stereotype from C1.1. item 5. focused on accounting for mice and microcircuits, instead of controlling characteristics by processes.
      3. Recommendations
         1. For those who do not have the strength to break their stereotypes and instead of IT, they want to continue to deal with computers and programs.
      4. Notes
         1. Rarus needs to fix the technical support by himself. then offer solutions to others.
         2. subjectively, I almost threw up while studying this program.
   6. HP, IBM and others like them
      1. large and complex, most likely focused on large volumes of calls.
      2. may be of interest to such monsters as Megafon or Beeline, where there are crowds of users.
      3. I heard that Gazpromovtsy buy such solutions. Probably there kickbacks are delicious.
   7. Naumen ServiceDesk box
      1. I haven't seen it, but I think it's interesting.
   8. Naumen ServiceDesk SaS
      1. They promise to release soon.
      2. Given the experience of Naumen, the solution should turn out to be interesting.
      3. If they choose a pricing policy like that of Megaplan, then I will probably even try to love them.
      4. I really hope that this will turn out to be an analogue of Mozho XD (p. 3), but with pricing policy like Megaplan.

C4. Summary

1. Who owns the information owns the world. It's not a joke. Netocracy is already here.
2. But to own information, you need to manage IT. And not just twist computers with a screwdriver and program solitaire games in 1C.
3. You can ask questions in the comments... I'll try to answer them.
4. Everything that is written here is an empirical reflection of subjective thoughts ... who will benefit from it - please, whoever thinks otherwise is your right.

C5. Request

1. Who knows what other IT management tools? Particularly interested in the SaS category and the ability to automatically send notifications to users by e-mail...
2. Well, in general, I will be grateful for additions, comments, criticism ... maybe I'm wrong somewhere or my information is already outdated?

C6. Copyrights

1. Our groups on InfoStart (although they are abandoned, because I have now slightly moved away from 1C, I am engaged in a little other projects)
   1. Instructions and regulations for 1C Enterprise
   2. Implementation technology 1C Enterprise
2. The Promised Link to Project Management

One of the key points of any business is communication with customers, in the Internet this is expressed in the form of technical, informational and other support. Many hosting, registrars, online stores, affiliate programs and other services that provide services have a person or a group of people on their staff who communicate with customers, answer questions, etc. For a small site, this can be organized using regular mail, but if we talk about small, medium and big business, the situation is much more complicated. Here, one simply cannot do without a special software. Generally in recent times I often see how Internet companies change self-written scripts for ready-made products. Today we will talk about one of these solutions - Support Desk service is a new and one of the few projects in RuNet for the creation and organization of a professional support service.

In general, support can be organized both for the classic case (hosting), and for example, when communicating with clients (customers) in any other business. All requests from them will be sent to you not by e-mail, but in the admin panel of the service, while, of course, you can split requests into categories and even appoint a responsible employee for each of them. Instead of being scattered in different directions (mail, tickets, icq), it would be logical to start all these flows in the Support-Desk and sort them there depending on the topic of the appeal. For example, all commercial offers, you read cooperation issues yourself, payment invoices automatically go to the accounting department, and user questions go to technical support.

All this is quite convenient both in use and in configuration. You can create your own support service from scratch using Support-Desk and figure it out in 10 minutes. Of course, you will have to spend time filling in typical answers to questions, adding employees, etc., but the actual installation is very simple, you don’t need any special knowledge. Availability is one of the most important advantages of the service., everything is clear, there are tips, documentation and even video tutorials.

There are no questions about the functionality of Support-Desk either, it provides the entire basic necessary set of functions for such projects:

• Convenient correspondence with advanced features (statuses, redirection, personal comments for administrators).
• Departments and sub-departments for processing letters with different topics (support, complaints, payments) + setting user access rights to them.
• Database of answers to typical questions with categories, comments, ratings of answers, as well as selections of favorites and popular entries. It is also possible to search the database.
• Employee management- adding, access rights, activity statistics, etc.
• Gmail integration- will allow you to completely transfer all mail related to technical support or site operation to the Support-Desk admin panel.
• Help Center Enhancements- internal mail, request archive, response templates with macro support.

The following presentation will help you visually evaluate the capabilities of the service that I just mentioned.

As you can see, everything is very simple and fast. To get started, you need to register on the Support-Desk.ru website. After that, the choice will be 2 tariff plan- Standard and Pro. In the first case, you can only have 2 employees who process up to 10 tickets per day + decide on your own which options you need (integration with Gmail, statistics, internal mail), etc. All the basic features of the ticket board and the database of questions are included. The cost of the Standard tariff is 5r/day, Pro will cost you 10r/day, contains more employees, tickets and all additional advanced features of the service without restrictions.

A nice feature of Support-Desk is the ability service testing before purchase. Immediately after registration 200 rubles are credited to the account and you can use them to get acquainted with the service from the inside. In fact, I took advantage of this offer. From the very beginning, you will need to set all the basic parameters for working with the system:

There are both simple options like a name, a form template, and more advanced options for working with users, departments, etc. Then you go directly to control Panel. Here, in the admin panel, there is an opportunity to examine and configure everything in more detail. The main items on the menu are:

• Tickets - a list of recent and deleted tickets.
• Account - profile settings and editing, integration with the site.
• Service management - at any time you can expand your standard tariff with the necessary functions, if necessary.
• Departments (categories of tickets) - here you can create and edit them.
• Employee management - adding, setting access rights, etc.
• Answer database management - to create a set of standard questions and answers, work with question categories and comment moderation in the same place.

• The event log is a useful option for the administrator, which allows you to see a list of all the actions of employees.
• Internal mail for quick communication between employees.
• Users - when creating an application, users are automatically registered on the site.
• The account is the history of your payments.
• Integration with mail - we use to connect Gmail.
• Settings - both for the ticket board itself, and options for managing files, stop lists, letter templates.

Actually, it is not difficult to understand this for a user who, for example, works with the same Gmail mail or simply understands the Internet. It took less than 10 minutes for the basic introduction of all parameters, viewing the Support-Desk admin panel, after which I could already see the result of my work:

If, nevertheless, problems arise, then on the Support-Desk website there is a special Help section. There are detailed video tutorials, instructions, a database of answers + the opportunity to ask your question. There is plenty of information, although again I didn’t have any particular problems with the admin panel.

Diploma project "AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRONIC CORRESPONDENCE"

DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBJECT AREA

1.1 TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Technical support service or technical support (Technical support, Helpdesk, Service Desk) - a service structure that resolves user problems with computers, hardware and software. An important functional component of ITIL (Infrastructure Library information technologies), which allows you to identify problem areas of the IT infrastructure, evaluate the effectiveness of the IT department.

Methodology for organizing a technical support service

The technical support service at each enterprise can be built in a variety of ways (meaning the implementation of support processes). There are several support service models, for example: centralized, local, virtual - with a single call center, etc. The technical support service can be organized both for the purpose of servicing external clients (outsourcing, computer maintenance, etc.) and internal ones (a division of the IT department in large enterprises).

In describing the concept of ITIL, built on process approach, Service Desk is the only functional unit described. This exception is made due to the great importance of the technical support department in the implementation of the practical use of modern IT approaches and techniques.
Properly organized technical support (Service Desk) always begins with the registration of all calls from end users, serves as a single point for user calls with the IT service. The most popular solutions for the practical organization of technical support are often built on the basis of "Call-center" (sometimes even users identify them). It is the starting point of contact between end users and technical support and serves as a source of information about their actual satisfaction with the level of service, which complements information about the technical parameters of the client company's quality of service (external or internal). In large enterprises or large outsourcing companies, the technical support service is often organized according to the following multi-level principle:

User- Addresses a question to the support service by phone or using an electronic application;

Operator(1st line of support, "Call-center") - registers an appeal, if possible, helps the user on his own, or escalates (transfers and controls the implementation) an application to the second line of support;

Second line of support– receives applications from the first line, works on them, if necessary, involving specialists from related departments to solve the problem (system administrators, support of POS terminals, support of special software, support of special equipment, etc.).

Fundamental principles of service organization

In accordance with life cycle information systems, including periods of design, implementation, operation and development, the only period when the system brings real benefit to the organization is the period of its production operation. With very few exceptions, exploitation information system involves the use of it by employees of the organization who are not part of the IT service (support service) - the end users of the information system. At the same time, in most cases, it is by improving the efficiency and quality of the work of these end users that they judge the efficiency and quality of the information system and the quality of the information service. In essence, end users are customers and consumers of information technology services (IT services).

B proposes to consider the relationship between end users and the IT service as traditional market relations. That is, there is a certain service, there is a provider of the corresponding service, and there is a buyer of the corresponding service. The supplier and the buyer enter into an agreement that defines the conditions for the provision of the service, its quality, etc. Of course, this approach is not so obvious for the traditional situation, when the IT service is part of the "buyer" organization. But world practice shows that only when organizing interaction on the basis of such principles, it is possible to achieve full control over the IT infrastructure and significantly reduce the cost of its maintenance.

The subject of the agreement in the proposed model is a certain service provided to employees of the company by the department of information technology ("IT service"). The term "IT service" is commonly used in several different senses. On the one hand, it is a service that the IT service provides to the end user. For example, Internet access. Or the use of an automated warehouse management system to perform accounting operations. On the other hand, the provision of a service is associated with the use of a number of technologies and solutions, and possibly other services. In this sense, any IT service is a structured set of hardware, software, technologies, and other services (sometimes at a lower level, but not necessarily). For example, providing access to the Internet requires access to an external provider, communication channels, a corporate data network, an access server to a corporate network, a personal computer with system software and a browser installed on it. This side of the IT service is not and should not be of great interest to the end user. But it is very important for the organization of the activities of the operation service.

Within the framework of the “service provider – service consumer” relationship model, success depends significantly on the actions of both parties. This is due to the high complexity of modern information systems, including client hardware and software (that part of the IT service component that is hosted directly by the end user). One of the acute problems is training users to work with the information system. And since the system is constantly evolving, learning must occur regularly. This will allow better training of employees. But training will in no way reduce the actual complexity of the system. And in the process of working with the system, the user will still have various questions and problems related to IT services. That is, situations will arise when he will need help.

In this case, the user can choose different behaviors:

engage in "self-healing" - that is, try to solve the problem yourself;

seek help from colleagues;

contact the service provider.

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Independent problem solving- most fast way, since there is no need to look for someone to wait, explain, etc. But unfortunately, not all users have the necessary qualifications. And not all problems can be solved on their own: for example, no user can fix a server failure. In general, this option can be recommended only for the simplest situations and only with an acute shortage of time.

Help from colleagues resort, as a rule, when nothing works on their own. Plus - it is possible to apply quickly and directly. Cons - the same as in the previous case, an additional waste of time to explain the problem, not a guarantee of obtaining qualified assistance. It is difficult to recommend such a behavior at all.

The most correct is contacting an IT service provider for help. The main problem with such treatment is usually the lack of a quality mechanism for these purposes. In other words, it is extremely inconvenient for the user to seek help from the provider. In the rest - only pluses: there are qualified specialists; the problem will be analyzed from all sides and solved in an optimal way; there are all the rights necessary to solve the problem; Finally, there is a knowledge base that can help solve problems. And one more indisputable advantage over other methods: the fact is that by entering into an agreement with the service provider, the user thereby has the right to demand the normal operation of the service from the provider, while it is impossible to demand this from oneself or colleagues.

Conclusion A: For all questions related to the use of IT services, end users should contact only the IT service.
With the development of the company, an increase in the number of users and services, seeking help from the IT department becomes the norm, since the user can receive a high-quality and guaranteed level of service only in the IT department.

The decision to ask for help raises new questions.

Having decided to contact IT for support, the user usually finds himself in a somewhat uncertain situation:

who can be contacted.

Here, too, different situations are possible:

Reach out to a friend. The easiest way is to contact someone you know. And he will certainly help, if of course it is in his power. This option is not always suitable for solving the problem. A friend may not be there, he will be busy, or perhaps he himself will not know where to turn.

Ask any IT staff member. He, most likely, will advise who exactly should be contacted on this issue. Next - ask the recommended. It is possible to continue the chain further. It is inconvenient for the user to act in this way. This organization of work is not convenient for users and the employees of the IT department.

A very important problem arises: the absence of employees responsible for working with users leads to confusion in the activities of the IT service. When a request is received, it is impossible to track who completed it and when. Often, when executing applications in 1-2 months, it is impossible to establish who gave the application and who fulfilled it.

Therefore, the only option where any user knows exactly who to contact with questions, and at the same time the appropriate representative of the IT service is always ready to listen to the user's request and take the necessary steps to resolve the issue, is the creation of a user support service within the information technology department.

Conclusion: within the IT service, there should be a dedicated group of employees who will respond to user requests.
But we cannot limit ourselves to the creation of such a group. In order for the user's request not to be "hanging in the air", but to get to the right specialist and be considered within an acceptable time frame, both the created group and end users must work in accordance with certain rules. The fact is that from the moment the user contacts the information service for help, he generally relieves himself of responsibility and can do absolutely nothing, because when analyzing the situation, the IT service will still be to blame. Thus, the service itself becomes interested in formalizing user support, delimiting powers and streamlining the activities of employees in assisting users. The sequencing of user requests should help focus the IT staff on the most important and critical events occurring in the IT infrastructure, but at the same time not leave all other user requests without due attention.

There is a kind of division of labor. Users also participate in this division of labor, since they only turn to dispatchers for help and do not distract other employees of the information technology department with their questions, giving them the opportunity to work more productively.

Conclusion: the procedure for providing support to end users should be clearly formalized for all participants in the process: users, dispatchers, information service specialists and external service providers.

From a formal organizational point of view, all the listed features and ways of improvement make it possible to build a system of end-user support that is really useful for the organization. They contain recommendations for changing the fundamental assessment of the role of the information technology department in the activities of the organization and, accordingly, in increasing its responsibility to the organization and end users as the main consumers of IT services.

For further understanding, it will be useful to define more precisely the scope of the support service, to determine what type of assistance end users may need.

Without this definition, large company, in which a large number of users work, building a technical support service is simply not possible. Separation into separate services is already mandatory.

User requests
B proposes the following classification of user calls to the support service:

Service request. A request related to the need for maintenance of equipment or other component of the IT service by the IT service. For example, this could be replacing a cartridge in a laser printer or reconfiguring software on a user's personal computer.

Information request(consultations). The user needs Additional Information IT service, work order, etc.

Incident. The user cannot work normally: the IT service is not available or the quality of the service does not satisfy the user.

Documentation request. The user needs documentation on the equipment and software used.

Change request. The user would like to change the IT service settings or change the list of services received. Often such requests are associated with a low (not satisfying the user) quality of service due to the fault of the hardware or software.

This classification allows you to build further processing of calls more efficiently. Depending on the type of appeal, the operator of the dispatch service decides who will be the executor of this appeal. The most business-critical type of appeal, for obvious reasons, is an incident.

Incident Handling- the main process performed by the customer support service. It includes the implementation of measures to restore the health of the IT service in as soon as possible. In some organizations, the priority of this task is so high above the rest that the service desk activity is almost completely reduced to resolving incidents.

Formation of interaction rules

Based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:

Conclusion one: the need to provide support to users clearly follows from the complexity and complexity of modern information systems.

Second conclusion: end users are interested in IT services - services provided by the IT department using various hardware and software.

Conclusion three: support is the responsibility of the IT department; users have the right to apply for support only to her.

Fourth conclusion: IT staff responsible for providing support should be clearly identified.

Fifth conclusion: support should be provided in accordance with clearly defined rules for all participants in the process.

These fundamental conclusions underlie the successful operation of the information service and are the basis for building a support service. Indeed, the creation of a user support service is, first of all, a clear definition: the rules for the interaction of end users with the IT service, the rules for the work of user support employees and the rules for the interaction of IT service employees with each other.
These rules should contain answers to the following questions.

Issues of interaction between end users and IT service:
How the end user can apply for support;
Which user requests should be processed by the IT service;
How can the end user check the current status of their request;
How the user confirms the closure of his request;
Questions related to the Jobs of Customer Support Staff:
How is the registration of user requests carried out;
How are the priorities for processing user requests determined?
How are the performers responsible for processing user requests determined;
How does the specialist responsible for processing the user's request carry out this processing;
How support staff take into account the actions performed and report on the work done
Questions related to the interaction of IT employees with each other:
How the specialist is appointed responsible for processing the user's request;
How is the processing process controlled?
How can the person responsible for processing the user's request be changed.

Of course, the list of questions can be continued. But well-designed answers even only to the listed questions will already allow you to organize a well-functioning support service.

You can answer each of the questions posed separately, but it would be more correct to do this by grouping the answers into some sequence of actions - in procedures and processes.

In fact, these rules are formal procedures that implement individual business processes of the information technology department. To describe them, any methods used to describe any business processes and procedures can be used: textual presentation, representation in the form of diagrams in standardized notations, other graphical representation.

Since the processes, as a rule, are quite complex, it is recommended to use decomposition into modules and their sequential detailing when describing. The main criterion when choosing a presentation option is the convenience of perception of the rules by their performers. From these positions, a graphical representation has a significant advantage over a simple textual presentation. The choice of a strict standardized notation will allow you to effectively analyze processes in the future, and, if necessary, reorganize them.

But at the same time, standard notations still require some preliminary preparation of both the “writer” and the “readers”. Therefore, most organizations settle on some simplified and intuitive display method, adding the necessary text explanations to the graphic data.

Roles in Help Desk.

The next important element in building a help desk is people. As a rule, it is necessary to change a few organizational structure information service. This is due to the need to allocate a group of employees who will act as dispatchers - that is, those who will be directly contacted by users with their requests. When small organization this may result in the assignment of such responsibilities to one or more IT staff in addition to existing responsibilities.

In large organizations, as well as in organizations where technical support is very important, a special unit should be created - a dispatch service for user support.

In the general case, the necessary changes in the organization of the IT service are associated with the emergence of new roles as a result of a formal description of the interaction processes.

Role is a set of duties, rights and responsibilities. This concept is close to the concept of "position", differs from the latter in that it does not imply regular consolidation: the performer of the role can change in accordance with the schedule or according to other rules. In some cases, a special staff unit may be created to fulfill the role. But basically, the roles are distributed among the existing employees of the IT service.

During the organization of user support, various types of roles may arise.

Dispatchers.

Dispatchers organize the "first line of support". Dispatchers are the "face" of the support service and are responsible for organizing interaction with users, informing users in a timely manner about the progress in considering their requests, and closing requests. In addition, dispatchers initiate consideration of the user's request by registering it and appointing a person responsible for its processing, and also control the processing process. They may also have other responsibilities. A dispatcher with the necessary experience solves more than half of incoming requests at the first call to him.

User Support Manager.

The main task of this role is: organization of user support; coordination of actions of employees in the course of their processing; monitoring the effectiveness of the support service; organizing training for IT service personnel involved in user support; end user training and others. To perform this role, it is also recommended to allocate a separate staff unit.

Specialists in various areas of IT service open a "second line of support".

Second-line specialists are the main executors of user requests. To increase the level of interaction, they can be combined into working groups (for example, an integrated group for supporting a specific IT service, which includes specialists in all technologies that make up this service). As a rule, these are employees who specialize in certain individual services (account maintenance, programming, mail, administration, database maintenance). If a situation arises where the existing staff is not sufficient to rapidly address this challenge, consideration should be given to expanding the staff of the service. On the other hand, a clear division of responsibilities tends to drastically reduce the unproductive activities of the IT staff, so that in fact it is very rarely necessary to increase the size of the service, more often it is a reduction.

It is possible to build a support service with a large number of levels. At the same time, it is assumed that the roles of subsequent levels are performed by more qualified and experienced employees than the previous ones. Calls to them are rare and occur only in cases that are really important, critical for the organization.

Another group of roles - external service providers in.

The order of interaction with them is determined in accordance with service contracts.

The last role is IT service end user.

This role can not be specifically singled out, since this role is initially implied. However, it is better to emphasize again that the end user is actually an active participant in the support process and has not only certain rights, but also responsibilities.

1.2 PRINCIPLES OF CLIENT-SERVER ARCHITECTURE

Since the entire structure of the block is built on client-server communications, and the creation of a backup system implies its constant connection with the main block through such communication, it would be reasonable to consider some aspects of organizing such relationships.

client-server is a computing model in which the request processing load is shared between a client computer and a server computer that shares information over a network.

The "client-server" architecture is relevant today, primarily because it provides a simple and relatively cheap connection of personal computers (PCs) to servers, thereby providing an optimal price-performance ratio. The essence of the "client-server" idea is to increase the power of a distributed information system (RIS) by summing up the computing resources of many computers, and not by increasing the performance of a single computer. Real distribution architecture "client-server" was due to the introduction into practice of the concept of open systems. This concept is based on the idea of ​​simplifying the integration of computing systems in local networks through international and national standardization of hardware and software interfaces.

The most important properties of open systems are the properties of mobility and interoperability.

Mobility– the possibility of a relatively simple and quick transfer of a software system from one platform to another.

Interoperability– the possibility of simplifying the integration of systems based on the use of ready-made components with standard interfaces.

Users can gradually replace system components with more advanced ones without losing its performance. An interoperable form of client-server architecture is the division of the computational load between two separate processes:
client and server.

The system is divided into two parts, which can be executed in different network nodes, client and server parts. The application program or the end user interacts with the client part of the system, which in the simplest case provides a simple over-network interface. The client part of the system, if necessary, accesses the server part over the network.

1.3 OVERVIEW OF ANALOGUES

In is given short review systems for automating the work of support services, as well as some questions that should be filtered out before choosing a system from ready-made commercial solutions. A large list of Help Desk type systems is given in.
In any case, the most convenient system for an already existing company will be a system created within the company that meets its needs and most fully corresponds to the structure of the company. This will be one of the advantages of the developed system.

Consider the possibilities of some commercial systems.

ANDesk Service Desk (formerly Touchpaper IT Business Management Suite) is a commercial closed-source software package designed to automate the work of a technical support service in accordance with ITIL / ITSM recommendations.
LANDesk Service Desk is based on Microsoft .NET technology

Framework and built on a client/server architecture. Server modules operate under the control operating system Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2003 Server, or Windows 2000 Server. Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle is supported as a DBMS. LANDesk Service Desk supports four types of user consoles. The full-featured console runs under Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems. This console is designed to perform all system configuration and administration operations and for the work of technical support staff. The web console runs under Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Navigator and Safari. This type of console is intended both for the work of technical support staff and for the work of end users over slow communication channels. The mobile Web-console operates on personal pocket computers running browsers that support HTML 4. The WebDesk console is intended for the work of technical support staff and is implemented on the basis of Ruby.

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People exchange sharp words
- said Loki, - but these words do not weigh anything.
A person has a lot of them in his mouth.
"Empire V", V. Pelevin.

The first line of defense on the business battlefields is technical support service. Support is the first to meet adverts, the first to take on the flow of indignation in the event of failures, weed out people who are left for business and, solving 90% of the problems of partners and clients, bring to the management only a concentrate of the most important, requiring his direct participation.

Who works in support services? What should be the support? How to be a good supporter? You will learn about this in this article.

The first half of the article is intended for those who want to organize a help desk for their Internet business. The second one is for those who wish to find a job in support.

This article will not build your helpdesk for you. And will not provide work in support. But there is more than enough information to think about.

So get comfortable and let's get started.

How to recruit tech support staff

It doesn't matter what project you manage, be it a design studio or - your users (advertising, clients) will most often communicate with the support service and, most likely, only with it. It depends on the support what first impression your project will make and how it will be treated in the future. Therefore, this link in your business should be no weaker than all the others.

Many project managers don't bother building a help desk and are unwilling to hire individual person for this job. Perhaps they are right. If the project does not involve a large number of participants and is well automated, then it probably does not need a separate support service.

But this happens extremely rarely and, most often, the owner has to perform the support functions himself. Do you have enough time and patience to do this job? Will this approach pay off in the long run?

Most likely, an attentive attitude to partners, promptness in solving their problems, competent communication with experienced advertisers, advice to beginners and saving the time of the project manager will more than pay for the supporter's modest rate. Don't underestimate the face of your project, even if it's just words in the ICQ client window.

• Do not hire so-called "students" for technical support(young men and women with unformed psyches, communication skills and a sense of responsibility. There are still. It’s better not to deal with these at all.).
  Underpaid "schoolboys" in the support service is the most common mistake. The person of the team must have sufficient qualifications, because nothing spoils the impression of the company as much as illiterate technical support. Or inadequate. Support has access to confidential information, constantly communicates with your partners and clients, on which the fate of the project depends. Therefore, saving on professionalism, you risk not only your reputation, but also the fate of the entire project.


• An adequate person.
  Pleasant in communication, sympathetic, with a competent language, clearly explaining his thoughts - these are the necessary characteristics for good worker user support services.


• The support person must be an experienced professional.
  Being able to speak politely, smile and check the boxes in the admin panel is far from all that is needed from a support employee. He must be a professional who is familiar with the entire business of the company and is familiar with at least the basics of all the nuances of the industry. If you have an affiliate program, then the support employee must be an experienced webmaster. If you are selling software- the support service must be technically competent.


• Do not take unknown people to technical support.
  The support team has access to confidential information, sometimes even to accounts in . Therefore, check how well-known in the community your candidate for the position of "supporter" is. Does he communicate and what feedback does he have? Recommendations from famous people will also not be superfluous.


• A bad reputation of a technical support employee is the key to the failure of the entire company.
  If you have found an excellent professional in technical support, but he has tarnished his reputation in the past, then it is better not to cooperate with him. Such a support service can discredit the entire project, even if its owners are well-known and respected people.


• A customer service agent must be available.
  If there is only one person working in the support desk, he should be able to be at least 12 hours a day. And preferably 14-18 hours (with a not too tight load). If the workload is heavy, it is necessary to organize shift shifts. But the main thing is that the support service should be available most of the day. Users should not "catch" it. Well, for example, 24/7 technical support (24 hours 7 days a week) has long been a generally accepted standard.


• Some work for yourself is not a hindrance.
  Do not prohibit a technical support employee from working for himself a little. If he in free time develops a couple or writes, then this will not interfere with the work in the support service. But he will support him in good professional shape and help financially.


• Don't anonymize support staff.
  As surveys have shown, it is more convenient to communicate with a support employee if he has a normal name (nickname). That is, the nickname in ICQ “John Smith” is much better than Support Unit 1.”


• An interview never hurts.
  Speak carefully with the candidate for the technical support position. Give a test task. For example, if he must support advertisers, you can show him any sales page and ask him for some recommendations to improve productivity and increase sales. By his reaction and the result, you will immediately understand the level of his knowledge.

Now about what qualities are needed in order to get a job as a user support employee.

What do you need to work in technical support

With a stable salary, work in a strong team with famous people- here are the bonuses of working in the support service. True, a lot will also be required of you: attentiveness, pedantry, good knowledge professional field, patience and more. I summarize the main points below:

• Professionalism.
  The idea that any newcomer can handle the duties of a support worker is a deep delusion. You must be sure that you are able to answer almost anyone in the right area. And if not, why are you here? It is impossible to know everything, but you are obliged to freely navigate the issues of our industry and have practical skills. Technical support is needed to help in word and deed in the problems that people working with your project have. And this requires knowledge and experience.


• 12 hours a day - minimum.
  The support team should be available most of the day. She is really valuable when you can turn to her for help at any convenient moment. Therefore, you should be able to be online for at least 12 hours. And 16 is even better. Of course, sitting around all this time on the spot is unrealistic, so find a way to do other things and be online at the same time. You can carry your smartphone with you. You can just turn up the volume when doing household chores, and resort to the workplace when you hear the familiar “knock-knock”. Be prepared to get up in the middle of the night. And who is easy now?


• 90% of problems are up to you.
  Technical support should and can solve 90% of adverts' problems. This is so, because 90% of calls to the support service are connected precisely with simple problems that are solved immediately on the spot. Be prepared for the fact that you will not only chat in ICQ, but also really help people in various situations, difficult and not so. Transfer the unresolved issue to other authorities (administrator, management) only when you are sure that there is no way to solve this problem on your own.


• Never be rude.
  You will be rude, rude and even insulted. A wide variety of people live in it, and not all of them are distinguished by intelligence. No matter in what tone and what content you were asked a question, you should always remain extremely polite. You were sent - answer: "Thank you for paying attention to me."


• Never ignore.
  Never, ever ignore messages! The support worker is obliged to respond to all requests, whether it be ICQ, e-mail, tickets or telephone. It doesn't matter if you think the problem in this message is important or not, because for the advert any problem is extremely important. It must be resolved and, if possible, quickly. Moreover, more often than not, the lower the issue price, the greater the likelihood of a scandal. So, for example, when payments are delayed, partners who have barely earned the minimum wage worry many times more than large advertisers. For beginners, their first $50 makes a huge difference. Don't let them start a buzz somewhere on the forum.


• Be attentive and flexible.
  Technical support is the face of the company. Therefore, communication with her should leave a pleasant impression. Be polite, considerate and always try to adapt to the person who has contacted you. If they turn to “You”, say “You”, if they “poke”, conduct a conversation in a friendly way.


• Take the initiative.
  It's good when people feel your presence. Resolved the issue - knock and report it. If the problem cannot be fixed yet, say that there is a delay, but they are working hard on a solution. But do not overdo it, do not knock on everyone and tell “about the weather”. Nobody likes bores.


• Support worker shown public life
  Chat on the forums. An additional signature will have a positive effect on the development of the project and the mood of the employer in the same way as your virtual presence next to the people you work with.


• Continuous learning.
  The support team should always be aware of all the changes in the industry. Otherwise, very soon your knowledge will lose relevance and you will not be able to do your job efficiently. Is there a new script? Read about him, take a look at his work, etc. Has a new competitor emerged? Browse his sites, analyze his advantages, identify disadvantages, etc.


• Keep your mouth shut.
  Technical support is trusted with confidential information. So don't talk too much! Even in secret to friends. Turnover, the number of adverts, hidden statistics parameters - anything can play into the hands of competitors, and spoil you business reputation forever and ever. Professionalism is also the correctness of behavior.


• Avoid negativity on the forums.
  The lack of negative feedback on the forums is a good job of technical support. Never bring it to public hearings, even if you are 200% right in the dispute. As one of the classics of marketing said, “no one has yet won in a dispute with a client.” I would add that in a dispute with an advert, too.


• Instruction is not everything.
  There are no perfect tips and instructions. And these are no exception. Always be adequate and soberly assess the situation. Remember that the technical support service works with real people. Try to understand them and enter into their position.


• You are a team member.
  Never forget that you work in a team and must protect its interests. No need to publicly complain about your management and admire competitors, even if they are objectively better. The opinion of a technical support employee is always in sight. And they listen to him.


• Work on two fronts.
  The two fronts are the project participants (advertists, clients) and its organizers (owners). The support service should not only help advertisers resolve their issues, but also, among other things, protect them before the project management: for example, reduce the minimum payout if they ask, raise the percentage, seek additional promotional packages, and. Remember, your task is to make the work of partners as convenient as possible.
  At the same time, the support person is that important member of the team who works to indirectly increase the overall profitability of the project. And this means that it is necessary to ensure an increase in turnover and try to reduce costs. Learn to keep a balance - do not indulge too greedy and capricious adverts, so that the project does not go into the red because of this. But do not forget to provide comfortable working conditions for sane partners.

Contrary to the opinion of many, work in the support service is not empty chatter in ICQ for those who can't do anything else. The opinion of the community about the project depends on the quality of the work of this service, which ultimately affects whether adverts will remain and continue to work with it. The number of customers and much more depends on technical support as well. A good customer support service will not solve all the problems that arise on a thorny business path. But it can reduce their number many times over!

Qualitative technical support service is high-class specialists, who are subject to serious requirements. Their work is responsible and not at all easy. The demand for this specialty is not falling, and salaries are only growing. Become good professionals in your field, and many famous teams will be glad to see you in their ranks.