1st line/service desk support role

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by ukspeedster, Nov 1, 2006.

  1. ukspeedster

    ukspeedster Nibble Poster

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    Hi everyone,

    Ive been applying for some 1st line support/service desk positions to get into IT. Ive had some experience on a service desk/helpdesk kind of role.

    Can anyone give me some examples of 1st line support problems that could be encountered within IT, or that they have had to deal with?

    Also some Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators that need to be met in this role, or similar support/service desk role. Or any SLA's/KPI's that people here have worked to?


    Thanks 8)
     
    Certifications: BSc(Hons), ITIL, MCP
    WIP: MCSA 2003, CCNA
  2. drum_dude

    drum_dude Gigabyte Poster

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    Problems depend on the kind of service desk you work on - some are log and flog, but others are more 1st Line/Remote 2nd Line.

    Stuff I used to do included:

    Password resets,
    Office Application advice,
    Account creation,
    Remote Controlling of user desktops to sort various problems
    logging calls and passing them to 2nd line,
    Advising users of SLAs ,
    Troubleshoot in-house software probs...

    SLAs I can remember are:

    Password Reset - 2 Hours,
    Software Installation requests -10 Days
    Hardware installations - 10 Days
    Software, Hardware issues - 8 hours
    New Accounts - 5 Days

    Of course these SLAs are the agreed maximum response times, everything was normally done within 10-20% of those times!

    KPIs would include - Calls Logged per analyst, Average time spent on calls per analyst, Calls Closed per analyst, Calls Updated per analyst, Customer Feedback from 1 in 5 of calls logged asking what they thought of the analyst - for every 5th call logged by an analyst an auto generated email would go out to the user. Also SLA performance would be a KPI as well!!

    Good luck
     
    Certifications: MCP, MCSA 2000 , N+, A+ ,ITIL V2, MCTS, MCITP Lync 2010 & MCSA 2008, Sonus SATP SBC 1k/2k
    WIP: Hopefully Skype for Business and some Exchange stuff...
  3. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    drum dude seems to have covered it all, but remember SLA will variey between companies.
     
  4. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    KPI? :rolleyes:
     
  5. drum_dude

    drum_dude Gigabyte Poster

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    Key Performance Indicators
     
    Certifications: MCP, MCSA 2000 , N+, A+ ,ITIL V2, MCTS, MCITP Lync 2010 & MCSA 2008, Sonus SATP SBC 1k/2k
    WIP: Hopefully Skype for Business and some Exchange stuff...
  6. Stoney

    Stoney Megabyte Poster

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    Key Performance Indicators
     
    Certifications: 25 + 50 metre front crawl
    WIP: MCSA - Exam 70-270
  7. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    Simon - im shocked! :twisted: here
     
  8. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    Thank You! :thumbleft
     
  9. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    KPIs, SLAs...

    That's one thing I'm glad we don't have where I work is management speak bull$hit. I've worked in too many places (non-IT) where so much emphasis was placed on dealing with things within a certain time frame that things were never done properly. Where I work, we basically say it'll get done in a reasonable amount of time, and if the requester doesn't like how long they've already waited they chase us up and we'll explain why they have to wait longer (usually because we've fukced up and are covering our arses :D ). And you know what? No one hardly ever complains that things are taking too long because people are allowed to just get on with their jobs.
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+
    WIP: 70-270
  10. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    I take it you are the in-house IT guy then Baba?

    If you are subcontracted IT support then SLAs are a *big* deal. Without them I could take weeks to create a user account if I couldn’t be arsed! :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  11. ukspeedster

    ukspeedster Nibble Poster

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    Thanks for all the comments guys.
    Anyone else want to share any 1st line support example problems they've dealt with, and any SLA's, KPI's they've worked with?

    Thanks
     
    Certifications: BSc(Hons), ITIL, MCP
    WIP: MCSA 2003, CCNA
  12. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    Well it's a funny answer really. Say nominally I work for a company called Baba-corp. The parent company is Baba-corp Investor Services and the IT department is, for some reason (presumably for tax purposes), a different company called Baba-corp Technology Services. Although we are administered as a separate company, we are, for all intents and purposes, in-house. Our printing deptartment is also a separate company called Baba-corp Document Services but I believe they take on outside work so that would make more sense. There may be one or two other separate companies I haven't come across yet as well.

    Of course, as we are a separate company, we are also in the strange position of actually charging the business arm for all the work we do, so in that respect I suppose it means we are contractors as well!

    Strange huh?
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+
    WIP: 70-270
  13. G1BB0

    G1BB0 Nibble Poster

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    The service desk I work on does.... log and flog for a lot of software issues as 90% are 3rd party owned and supported. Remote access to users pc's for basic common issues such as outlook or drive mappings. passwords reset, mailbox increase/decrease. Access to Mail Marshall for spam clearing, email release. Server backup monitoring via Arcserve or brighstor, checking jobs are running if failed why? restart jobs, format tapes and so on then log onto spreadsheet for ES guys in morning (I work nights)

    theres a lot more besides and tbh as a 1st job in IT support it does cover a hell of a lot compared to others.

    KPI's are pretty much as set out above

    we are also monitored on the amount of calls on each stack, rejected calls and so on

    SLA
    sev1 - 2hrs (server or network outage affecting multiple users, or revenue based issues, its an airline service desk so anything that potentially costs money = sev1)

    sev2 - 4hrs (anything customer facing i.e check in desks and printers or something that affects multiple users but doesnt prevent them working)

    sev3 - 8 hrs

    sev4 - 72hrs

    sev5 - as long as it takes but agreed with user, also MSC requests for software installs and such

    hope that helps, it does help that I am 34 and been a manager, sales rep, IT hardware tester and a chef in previous roles so I take things on pretty quickly and always try and learn as much as possibleabove and beyond what is required. I find this sets me out from the others as there are a few numpty's on the desk who just turn up and dont give a toss :(
     
    WIP: N+ & CCNA

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