Copyright 1998 CAUSE. From CAUSE/EFFECT Volume 21, Number 1, 1998, pp. 45-47. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For further information, contact Jim Roche at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; e-mail: [email protected]

Home-Grown Web Help Desk Software

by Fredrick Miller

In the fall of 1996, Illinois Wesleyan University's Office of Information Technology developed a simple intranet Web application for tracking user support calls. This paper looks at how the use of this application evolved and how it helps improve customer service at this liberal arts university. Lessons learned from this project can help improve services at other institutions with limited information technology resources.

Background

Located in the heart of central Illinois, Illinois Wesleyan University has more than 1,900 undergraduates, 500 faculty and staff, and more than 900 institutional computers. The university has a campus network linking classrooms, the library, offices, and dormitories with the Internet.

In the fall of 1996, our newly formed Office of Information Technology (IT) had a staff of nine. Assisted by a few student workers, these information technology professionals provided support for the campus network, academic and administrative computing, telecommunications, and the campus cable TV network. There was no physical information technology help desk, and offices were spread over multiple locations on campus. At this time, the single loudest complaint about information technology was not knowing whom to call.

Our solution evolves

Our first attempt at answering this complaint was to create a single telephone number for faculty, staff, and students to call for any technology problem or request. We soon noticed that many of the calls to this new support number were follow-ups to determine the status of an earlier call. To help track calls and cut down on repeat calls, we created a call-tracking database.

It took several attempts to get the tracking database to the point where it was a useful tool. Our first strategy was to use our main administrative server (an IBM AS/400) with a traditional terminal-based approach for information technology staffers only. We quickly found that only a few of our staff members were comfortable using a terminal application. We had just begun experimenting with Web access to our administrative data, so we decided to build a simple Web interface to the call-tracking database. Our information technology staff members considered this step a big improvement, but we found our AS/400 to be a slow Web server. We decided to keep the Web interface idea and moved the database to a Macintosh computer.

With the Web-based tracking system on the Macintosh, we found the right combination of interface and performance. Assembling the initial system took less than a day. We used EveryWare's Tango software as a front-end to a Claris FileMaker database. All of our information technology staffers began using the tracking system consistently, and in January 1997 we opened the database to our campus users.

The Web-based solution

Our Web-based call-tracking system has a few key features. Users can enter calls into the database using a Web server that is only accessible from within the campus firewall (our intranet). Users can also look up their calls, including the status of calls, by searching on a name. Information technology personnel can enter and update calls, as well as look up calls by a number of criteria including staff member assigned, caller name, and department. We can provide additional management reports using the database's native report capabilities.

We've tried to keep our Web-based call-tracking system fast and easy to use. Our early efforts showed that these were the two most important concerns for both our information technology staff and our users. To keep our system simple and response time fast, we've deliberately kept security barriers to a minimum. We only allow access to the Web server from computers behind our firewall. Information technology staff members gain access to update calls using a single ID and password. Any member of the campus community can look up any open or closed call by entering a caller's name. Our campus community finds this level of openness acceptable.

During the first year we used our Web-based tracking system, we logged more than 4,000 calls. We have documented how calls to Information Technology fluctuate with the academic year. Although we routinely get fifteen to twenty calls per day, during the second week of fall classes in 1997, we logged 219 calls. For the past year we closed about 50 percent of calls in less than a day, while about 20 percent of calls are of a project nature that require more than a week to close. We are seeing these statistics improve. In March 1998, we closed 68 percent of calls in less than a day. We look to continue to improve these customer service measurements.

Continuing improvements

We continue to update the system as we think of improvements. Most of our improvements have come from suggestions from IT staffers. We have standardized our department naming for better call analysis. Our information technology staff now has a choice of formats for viewing calls. We encourage detailed descriptions of problems and how they were resolved. This documentation has proven especially helpful when we are dealing with repeat problems and when we've had staffing changes within IT.

One of our earliest improvements was the "emergency call" designation. Shortly after we made the Web-based tracking system available to users, we started to get requests for an emergency code in the database. Users wanted assurance that if they had an emergency, IT staff would respond as quickly as possible. Information technology staffers feared that if users could designate a call as an emergency, the majority of calls would be tagged as emergencies. We satisfied both our staff and our users by adding an emergency code to the database, but only allowing an Information Technology staff member to designate a call as an emergency. Emergency calls now appear on IT call-tracking Web pages in red. When an IT staffer sees an emergency call, we respond as quickly as possible. Emergencies now account for fewer than 3 percent of all calls.

After the first semester in which the Web-based tracking system was available to users, we heard some complaints from the IT staff. These complaints included a perception that because we had staff specialists, calls were not evenly assigned. Some staff members also complained about a lack of cooperation in resolving calls. We decided to take steps to eliminate the prevailing attitude that "if the call's not assigned to me, it's somebody else's problem."

In fall 1997 we used our call-tracking database as a foundation for providing a different approach to customer service. We assigned each IT staff member "department liaison" responsibilities. As a department liaison, an Information Technology staff member is responsible for watching the service calls from specific departments. While various information technology specialists may be assigned individual calls from a department, the IT liaison watches for call trends and helps provide solutions for the department's technology problems. We use the liaison program to help build teamwork within our organization and to emphasize that all service calls to IT are "our calls." Everyone in the organization now regularly accesses the call tracking database and monitors questions and responses.

Lessons learned

Having used our Web call-tracking system for more than a year, we've learned a number of lessons about our campus community and information technology.

We've learned our users like the Web-based system. They like being able to see not only the status of outstanding requests, but also the history of their calls. Putting a graph of our call statistics on our intranet Web site also gives our users an idea of the information technology workload.

We've learned that the Web-based system helps our IT staffers work better together. With a relatively small professional staff, all of our information technology staff members have specialties, but everyone also responds to user calls. With our Web-based system, our technologists can easily refer calls to a specialist with detailed history. Our techs can also look up how similar problems were solved in the past. If one staff member is out, another can easily do a Web search to cover that person's outstanding calls. The Web tracking system also helps the IT staff respond to phone inquiries about previous calls.

The call tracking system has helped our campus administration better understand the work of Information Technology staff members. We have used statistics from the call database to justify additional positions. Since we began using our Web-based call-tracking system, we've used it to help justify three additional professional positions for the department: a Webmaster/system administrator, a technology training coordinator, and a database administrator. Call-tracking data was not the sole justification, but the system helped provide statistics showing how these positions would help our campus community. The call-tracking system has also helped explain when we should use outsourced repair technicians to meet demand during peak periods.

Statistics from the call-tracking system also help us think about how we use our Information Technology staff members. Since the start of the fall 1997 semester, half of the 3,900 calls have come from academic departments. We're considering adjusting some IT staff positions to provide more direct support to faculty. In addition, we'll soon be locating the majority of IT offices to a new location where we'll also provide a physical help desk. We will use the expertise we've gained from our Web-based call-tracking system as a foundation for providing support from that desk.

We've learned that by using a simple, internally developed system, we can tinker with our Web interface and database so it better meets our needs. Future improvements include identifying long-term projects more clearly and eventually tying into a Web-based computer inventory. We also intend to investigate producing regular reports to support our IT liaison program.

Conclusion

A Web-based front end to a trouble-ticket system improves communications and improves information technology services at Illinois Wesleyan University. Our intranet system has benefits for our users, our Information Technology staffers, and our campus administration. It is a useful tool for resolving technology support problems and it provides important information for assessing IT performance. For a small investment in time, we developed an important management and customer service tool.

Fred Miller ([email protected]) is director of Information Technology at Illinois Wesleyan University.

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