Checks and Balances

There is a tendency when first starting service level management to focus in on the response performance. It is easy to make the numbers look good. All you have to do is close a case within the time specified without doing anything. While this makes the numbers look good, in the end you will have customers upset. Customers do not really care about the numbers. They only want their issues taken care of to their satisfaction.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys are one way to provide checks and balances to the empirical numbers of SLA compliance reports. Another way to make sure customers are taken care of is to have a policy for re-opening a case if the customer calls in to say they are dissatisfied. You should then have a report that shows re-opened cases. Management should use this for continued training.

Here is an example of a good Customer Satisfaction Survey Report:

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

This report shows SLA compliance over a period of time. Managing trends toward a higher goal can dramatically increase customer satisfaction. This SLA Compliance Trends Report should be part of your standard reports that you study every week.

Example SLA Compliance Trends Report

Need help in implementing your Service Level Agreements?

1) Pre-SLA. Before you announce the SLA, practice as if you have an SLA. This includes the following:

a. training the Support Center staff,

b. monitoring response time to ensure SLA compliance,

c. resolving cases in accordance with the SLA,

d. setting customer expectations,

e. managing the work flow within the Support Center and between the second level.

2) Training the rest of the department.

a) Weekly meetings. For the first month it is beneficial to meet regularly to find ways to improve communications and workflow, review Cycle Time Reports and exception reports.

b) Service Group Feedback. Ask other service groups to review their cases for the proper Severity Levels. If they find discrepancies, ask them to provide a list of case types and the appropriate Severity Levels. This will be the basis for Support Center training and documentation.

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

Every day each one of us experiences the setting of expectations. The following are all examples of setting expectations: setting an appointment time, asking for a delivery time and asking for the wait time at a restaurant or car repair shop. Why should your customer service/call center or help desk organization be any different?

The benefits of an SLA are many for the Internal IT help desk or service desk:

· Improves customer service. You will find that cycle times (time to resolve cases) dramatically decrease.

· Facilitates communication. The Support Center staff will be able to set customer expectations in two ways. First, they can refer to the SLA document for definitions on how priorities are set and the maximum time the support organization has to resolve the case. Secondly, they can refer to periodic performance reports to inform customers how the support organization is actually performing. Average time to resolve is usually much less than the maximum time goal.

· Negotiated and mutually accepted. Since internal customers and the support center jointly created the SLA all customers will more easily accept the SLA.

· Documents agreements. With the SLA posted to your Intranet or in customer handouts, it becomes an “official” agreement.

· Defines procedures. Procedures should be defined and followed by both the service groups and customers. When there is a question or disagreement, the SLA can be used as a written reference.

· Sets standards for customer service. This is a powerful tool. It says “Mr./Ms. Customer, this is how I am going to provide support to you and this is what you must do in order to receive my support. I am ready to be measured on how I do and I will provide everyone with a report on my performance.”

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/ 

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

1) Escalation procedures. State the escalation path and time for each severity level.

2) Telephone, Web and Email response times. For example: Phone requests will be answered in less than 20 seconds, Web requests within 30 seconds and email within four hours.

3) First contact resolution by the Support Center. For example: The Support Center will resolve at least 70% of all cases it receives.

4) Reporting methods.

a) Weekly management reports on the Web

b) Monthly performance metrics on the Web

c) Quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys results on the Web

5) SLA contract period.

a) When the current draft is effective

b) When it will be reviewed?

c) How to request changes

6) Examples of cases by severity level and case type.

7) Sample of the customer satisfaction survey questions.

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

Here is more on getting your SLA written.

1) Definition of terms. Do not assume that everyone will know what you are talking about. You need to define terms to the lowest common level. Be as specific as possible.

2) Service delivery elements

a) Service coverage times. State clearly what business hours are supported and what is supported after hours. Failure to do this will mean you can be called at any time of the night for the most minor of problems or requests. Be sure to consider the various time zones you cover. Keep consistent and list the time zone you are in (e.g., 7AM – 7PM EST).

b) Environment(s) included. What do you cover? If you only support standard hardware and software, be sure to state it here.

c) Environments excluded. If the Support Center will take cases for non-standard hardware and will charge back costs to the customer, then list that here.

d) Specific applications and network services coverage. List specific applications by name, the times they are supported and the times they are not supported. If there are maintenance windows for databases and servers when they will not be available, then make sure to list these windows.

e) Methods for requesting service. For example, for all level 1 and 2 cases the request for service may be via the phone. For example, for level 3 and 4 cases the request for service shall only be via the Web.

f) Customer responsibilities. Some examples are: How to submit a request, what standards are supported, and when customers should be available for the technician.

g) Service tracking and reporting procedures. Some examples are: IT will log 100% of all requests, phone calls will be randomly recorded for quality and performance metrics will be posted on the web.

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

Creating a rough draft

There are several components to an SLA. It is important that the language is familiar to your environment. Use a straw man to introduce the concept to your organization. This will help the rest of the project team understand the complexity and importance. The following is an example of the categories that should be included in your SLA. However, remember that it must be clear, well written, and easy to read and not very long.

1) Introduction

a) Purpose of the SLA

b) Mission of IT (This is not just between the Support Center and customers)

c) Customers covered under the SLA

d) Locations

e) Owner of the SLA document and communications path

f) Services covered. This is only a high level statement.

2) Service Goal.

a) Overall goal. Example: Resolve 100% of all severity level 1 and 2 cases in the timeframe specified. This is the first place that you are making a statement about what is important. You cannot be a success treating all cases equally. Level 1 and 2 are high severity level cases that directly impact the productivity of a number of customers/locations of the company. You must make sure these get done on time. Getting the others done on time is a bonus.

b) Specific goals. List the severity levels and the time the case should be responded to and the time it should be resolved.

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

Service Level Management is a formal way for setting customer expectations BEFORE the customer has the need to request service. It is a methodology for introducing and implementing reasonable expectations between you and the customers you support. These are most often contained in a document called a Service Level Agreement (SLA). The SLA establishes a two-way accountability for service, which is negotiated and mutually agreed upon. It is really a contract that documents operational and interpersonal relationships, establishes mutual expectations, and provides a standard to measure performance.

Without SLAs in place, you are effectively telling your customers that you will provide support to them, at any time, under any conditions, without any limitations to the systems and services they have. However, this is not the worst part. The worst part is that you cannot possibly ever meet your customers’ service expectations because every customer will have a different expectation and that expectation will change every time they call.

Here is a great White Paper on Implementing Service Level Agreements. See https://www.givainc.com/resources/wp/it-help-desk-software-cloud-whitepapers/ 

Select Implementing Service Level Agreements: "The Critical Element in Service Delivery"

The other day I talked about the TCO of Call Center/Customer Service & Help Desk Software-Acquisition Costs. The following is a listing of the important lifetime costs that you want to make sure you carefully quantify. Ask the vendors that you are considering to put together an analysis to show you what the TCO will be of their solution over 3 years. That is a reasonable time horizon. Most traditional software vendors will actually make you repurchase the entire application every 3 years or so. It is important that you understand this. Carefully read the software license agreements for this important detail. Annual Software Maintenance Agreements will only buy you incremental upgrades with moderate feature enhancements and bug fixes. They never include new User Interfaces and rewrites which are major product releases. How else do you think the traditional software industry has created so many billionaires and multimillionaires. Customers enjoying the economics of the SaaS model are saying the party is over. Are you taking advantage of this sea change or would you rather help your company pay for another software billionaire's yacht?

Here are the Lifetime Costs to consider:

Support Costs:

Cost for Support:

Call Tracking System and add-ons?

Database Support?

Day-to-Day Administration:

Average time to set up a security group?

Average time to add, change or delete users from their system accounts?

Average time to make changes to pull-down lists?

Can I make changes to the system during business hours?

Future Customization:

How much is involved and how long does it take to do a detailed design for changes?

Does any of the following require consulting services and average time to:

Add labeling to a view?

Resize a field?

Move a field?

Add a form?

Add a button?

Add a Menu?

Add a field to the database table?

Add a view?

Average time to modify views for display on different type platforms and monitor resolutions?

Workflow changes:

Average time to modify the way certain calls notify the service technician?

Does this require consulting programming costs or can it be done in house?

Average time to change the way certain calls are routed?

Average time to develop a feature that automatically creates multiple tickets (parent/child and predecessor/successor) based on workflow logic that is maintained by the service groups affected?

Average time to design, write, and debug triggers and stored procedures?

Average time to design, write and debug an application program integration (API) utility?

Average time to document changes made to the system and where are these stored?

Average time required for testing changes?

Are there utilities to help with the testing?

Once changes are made, average time for end users to review and gain acceptance?

Average time to move the changed functions from the development server to the production server?

Upgrades:

Are upgrades backward compatible?

Average time to test, and implement upgrades?

Do upgrades require consulting time? If so, what is the average cost?

People Costs:

Is the system reliable? How much downtime is anticipated a year?

Average time for a user to become proficient?

Ease of client installation?

Creating New Applications:

Do you have templates or down-loadable applications outside the help desk area?

If so, how much do they cost?

If not, how long does it take to create a simple application?

Network Costs:

Average time to log on and load the client program when close to server and from a distance?

What is the average length of time for a query to return 1000 calls when close to server and from a distance?

Average time to submit a call when close to server and from a distance?

If we go to multiple servers, what is the average cost for each server (Application, hardware, software, etc.)?

Will this take consulting to implement?

Do you integrate with network monitoring applications such as LanDESK or SMS?

What is the cost to integrate with a network monitoring application?

Future Application Integrations:

Do you have an Asset Management (AM) application? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with remote control/access applications? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with Autodiscovery applications to inventory software on the desktops? Cost to integrate?

Do you have a Change Management (CM) application? Cost to integrate?

Do you have a knowledge management application? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with enterprise financials such as SAP? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with Report Writing packages? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with two-way paging applications? Cost to integrate?

Do you integrate with palm computers such as Palm Pilot? Cost to integrate?