Help Desk Triage Process

Incoming telephone call, e mail, personal approach APPRENTICES

Initial Assessment by APPRENTICES (if not telephone call

contact client by phone for the following information)

Information Gathering (section (a) is automatically

updated from Salesforce records. Section (b) should go in
the Case Description section of Salesforce)

If new contact information

for section (a) will need to be
created

(a)
Name
Company
Contact Telephone Number
E mail address

Is it a Third Party Product and

does it need to be resolved
by the Third Party Supplier

(b)
Current Location: (office, home or remote)
If Office which office, location (some clients like
Childhood First have multiple locations)
Issue
Is it a Third Party Product?
Error Message/s
Is it affecting everyone or just the caller?
Check to see if the PC/laptop belongs to the business or is
a personal laptop/PC

Types of Users
VIP/Executives
Primary Contact
Routine User
Technically Advanced Users

APPRENTICES log call: call status - NEW

Which technical level does the call belong to?

Level 1 Apprentices
Logging calls, elementary
problems. Basic how to
questions, desktop, hardware
diagnostics, password resets,
account creation, etc.

Level 1 Apprentices call

status IN PROGRESS

Help Desk Manager checks

call status and technicians
work load every 2 hours

Level 2 Intermediate
Technicians (i.e. network
services technician, a LAN
manager)
Support requests involve
intermediate levels of
support that require
specialized technical or
application expertise and
possibly outside vendor
assistance

Level 3 Senior Technicians

(i.e. application developer or
head of technology)
Support requests involve
advanced levels of support
that require specialized
technical or application
expertise and possibly
outside vendor assistance

Level 2 & 3 Technicians pick up appropriate calls

Call Status IN PROGRESS

Progress checks Does the call need to be reassigned from Level 1 to A Level 2 or
Level 3 Technician?
Yes reassign or Level 2 or Level 3 Technician reallocates call
themselves
Client has been called by
phone and contacted by
email a combined total of 5
times
E mail client to say that a response has not been made so the call
will be closed and re-opened once contact has been resumed
CLOSE CALL

Calls prioritised by Apprentices and Technicians

Priority 1
VIP/Exec is experiencing an
impact to productivity or
requires special attention
Individual is experiencing
significant reduction in
productivity
Existing/new employee is
completely inoperable

Priority 2
Individual is requesting faster
than average response based
on actual business need
Individual is requesting
scheduled service that has a
hard deadline for resolution
or fulfilment

Priority 3
Individual is experiencing
average operational impact
from problem or request and
does not have above average
or extenuating circumstances

Priority 4
Individual has made a service
request in advance of need
that is easily handled with
SLA
Usually a severity 4 request
Customers agrees that this is
a priority 4 item

Severity Levels
Emergency Level 1
A major production outage,
performance degradation, or
instability causing significant
impact.

Emergency Level 2
Large numbers of staff are
impacted . Entire office, dept.
or school is experiencing a
similar problem. Small
numbers are unable to use a
mission critical application

- many or most are unable to

function
- mission critical system,
application and/or
server/network down

- multiple members of staff

unable to function
- major performance issues
- multiple members of staff
using workarounds

Examples:
Servers, exchange, e mail,
firewall, internet

Examples:
Systemic operating systems

Emergency Level 3
Member of staff having
difficulty but able to function
or unable to carry out basic
task/s

Emergency Level 4
Request from an individual
that does not impact on
business

Prioritising Indices
A Call comes in which is Priority 1 and Emergency Level 1 this gives the call an index
of 1 x 1 = 1
Another call comes in which is Priority 3 and Emergency level 4 this gives it an index
of 3 x 4 = 12
The higher the score the lower the overall priority
You would never get Priority 3 or Priority 4 combined with Emergency Level 1 or
Emergency Level 2
You could get Priority Level 1 or Priority Level 2 combined with Emergency level 3 or
Emergency Level 4
Taking these into factors into account the Severity Level Response assigned to a call is
determined using these indices
Score 1-4
Score 5-8
Score 9-12
Score 13-16

=
=
=
=

Severity Level 1 (Very High)

Severity Level 2 (High)
Severity Level 3 (Medium)
Severity Level 4 (Low)

Severity Level Response

Severity Level 1

Severity Level 2

Severity Level 3

Severity Level 4

Acknowledge/accept call
15 minutes

Acknowledge/accept call
1 hr

Acknowledge/accept call
2 hrs

Acknowledge/accept call
2 hrs

Respond to call
1 hour

Respond to call
2 hours

Respond to call
2 hrs

Respond to call
2 hrs

Status Notification to client

Every 1 hr

Status notification to client

Every 2 hrs

Status notification to client

Every 2 hrs

Status notification to client

Every 2 hrs

Maximum resolution time

2 hrs - 24 hours

Maximum resolution time

4 hrs - 24 hours
After 24 hrs 24 hrs

Maximum resolution time

24 hours

Maximum resolution time

24 hours

Service Level Response Definitions

Acknowledge/accept call

An Apprentice assigns a call to the call queue

Whoever picks up the call needs to contact the client within this timeframe to verify assignment of call and
verify acceptance. For severity 1 & 2 calls the Help Desk Technican responsible for the call should work with
the main contact to deliver a general response or outage notification to all affected users

Initial Response
The current owner of the call must provide updated information on the call resolution

Severity levels 1 and 2 require that an initial response be developed that outlines (develop a template?):
Understanding of the issue
Plan of action
Estimated resolution time
Who is accountable for resolution
Who is affected
It is the responsibility of the Help Desk manager to assess the initial situation response
The purpose of the Initial Situation Response is to provide immediate notification of a major outage or
problem so that all parties are aware of the problem and may immediately assist with the resolution

Notifications

The current owner of the call must provide updated information which should also be included as a note in
Salesforce
Updated status
Last update time/date
This will allow the Help Desk to provide updated status information to customers who call to check the
status of a call and will allow all service providers to understand the current status of a call
Escalations (for unresolved calls)

When the resolution time limit threshold is passed the Priority Level moves to the next highest level.
If the priority level needs top be escalated the Help Desk Technician has discretion over the escalation
procedure in consultation with the Help Desk Manager

Maximum Resolution Time

Maximum allowable time to resolve a call. This is a target and service goal. This may vary depending on the
complexity of the problem or request.

Update Case Notes

Close Case

Notes:
Level 1 - Apprentice Tasks

Basic network connectivity issues (is Wi-Fi on? Is everyone experiencing this issue? Is the network cable plugged in? If internet is down for everyone
can the router/Wireless access point be restarted?)
Basic input device issues (mouse/keyboard/monitor)
Configuring remote (RDP) access
Possible infections (running Hitman Pro/Malwarebytes/AVG/Sophos/Symantec)
Informing users to make written requests for access mailbox changes etc.
Installation of common softwares (MS Office/Adobe/Java etc.)
Configuring new machines
Configuring new equipment (however they may need info/assistance from tier 2 to do this)
Patching (configuration to be done by tier 2)
Backup checks ( amendments/troubleshooting of failed backup jobs to be done by tier 2)

Level 2 Intermediate Technician Tasks

Configuring new equipment (assistance to Level 1 Apprentices)

Patching (configuration)
Backup checks ( amendments/troubleshooting of failed backup jobs)
Liaison with Third Party vendors

Level 3 Senior Technician Tasks

Liaison with Third Party vendor

Back Up checks: These are important and need to be done daily and have been assigned to the Apprentices. The process for alerting when a Back Up fails is
as follows:
Fail 1 contact the technician-engineer responsible
Fail 3 raise with Helpdesk Manager, speak to client main contact
Fail 5 Helpdesk Manager/Head of Technology speak to client