INCIDENT
MANAGEMENT
PROCESS/SERVIC
E DESK
FUNCTION
INTRODUCTION
An ‘incident’ is defined as an unplanned interruption of an IT service or
reduction in quality of an IT service.
Failure of a CI that has not impacted a service yet is also an incident.
SPEED is at the heart of incident management
…. to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize
the adverse impact on business operations….
… maintain levels of service quality and availability to the best possible
level.
OBJECTIVE OF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
To restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize the
adverse impact on business operations.
… maintain levels of service quality and availability to the agreed target
levels.
THE SCOPE OF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
Covers anything that does or could negatively impact a service…
Typically captured at the Service Desk
Can also be logged by Technical Staff
System generated
Warning Events
Exception Events
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
Why bother with Incident Management?
HIGHLY VISIBLE!
Lower downtime for the business
Align IT support to business need
Ability to identify improvements
Insight into new requirements and training needs
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROCESS ACTIVITIES
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROCESS ACTIVITIES
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: INCIDENT INTERFACES
Service Asset &
Change
Configuration
Management
Management
Service Level Problem
Management Management
Incident Management
Information Security Access
Management Management
Capacity Access
Management Management
Availability
Management
INPUTS
Information about CIs and their status
Information about known errors and their workarounds
Communication and feedback about incidents and their symptoms
Communication and feedback about RFCs and releases that have been
implemented or planned for implementation
Communication of events that were triggered from event management
Operational and service level objectives
Agreed criteria for prioritizing and escalating incidents.
OUTPUTS
Resolved incidents and actions Feedback on incidents related to
taken to achieve their resolution changes and releases
Updated incident management Identification of CIs associated
records with accurate incident with or impacted by incidents
detail and history Feedback on level and quality of
Raising of problem records for monitoring technologies and event
incidents where an underlying management activities
cause has not been identified
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
CSFs KPIs
Resolve incidents as quickly as • Mean elapsed time to achieve incident resolution or
possible minimizing impacts to the circumvention, broken down by impact code
business • Breakdown of incidents at each stage (e.g. logged, work in
progress, closed etc.)
• Percentage of incidents closed by the service desk without
reference to other levels of support (often referred to as ‘first
point of contact’)
• Number and percentage of incidents resolved remotely,
without the need for a visit
• Number of incidents resolved without impact to the business
(e.g. incident was raised by event management and resolved
before it could impact the business)
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
CSFs KPIs
Maintain Quality of IT Services • Total numbers of incidents (as a control measure)
• KPI Size of current incident backlog for each IT service
• KPI Number and percentage of major incidents for each IT
service
Maintain user satisfaction with IT • Average user/customer survey score (total and by question
services category)
• Percentage of satisfaction surveys answered versus total
number of satisfaction surveys sent
Increase visibility and • Average number of service desk calls or other contacts from
communication of business users for incidents already reported
incidents to business and IT support • Number of business user complaints or issues about the
staff content and quality of incident communications
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
CSFs KPIs
Ensure that standardized methods • Number and percentage of incidents incorrectly assigned
and procedures are used for • Number and percentage of incidents incorrectly categorized
efficient and prompt response, • Number and percentage of incidents processed per service
analysis, documentation, ongoing desk agent
management and reporting of • Number and percentage of related to changes and releases.
incidents to maintain business
confidence in IT capabilities
KPI’s
CHALLENGES
The ability to detect incidents as early as possible. This will require
the configuration of event management tools, the education of the
users reporting incidents, and the use of specialized service desk
groups
Convincing all staff (technical teams as well as users) that all
incidents must be logged, and encouraging the use of self-help web-
based capabilities (which can speed up assistance and reduce
resource requirements).
Integration into the CMS to determine relationships between CIs and
to refer to the history of CIs when performing first-line support.
Integration into the SLM process. This will help incident
management to correctly assess the impact and priority of incidents
and assists in defining and executing escalation procedures.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Incident Manager: Second Line:
Efficiency and effectiveness of Generally more technical skills
the process Ideally close to first line
Produce management
support
information Could be outsourced
Manage first and second line
staff
Deploy and manage tools Third Line:
Specialist technical skills
Internal or external
First Line:
Service Desk staff
SERVICE DESK FUNCTION
The service desk is the single point of contact for users when there
is a service disruption and for service requests . It provides a point
of communication to the users and a point of coordination for
several IT groups and processes.
The value of an effective service desk should not be
underestimated – a good service desk can often compensate for
deficiencies elsewhere in the IT organization, but a poor service
desk (or the lack of a service desk) can give a poor impression of
an otherwise very effective IT organization!
BENEFITS OF A SERVICE DESK
Improved customer service, perception and satisfaction
Increased accessibility through a single point of contact,
communication and information
Better quality and faster turnaround of customer or user requests
Enhanced focus and a proactive approach to service provision
A reduced negative business impact
Better managed infrastructure and control
More meaningful management information for decision support
SERVICE DESK ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
Organizational Structure: Local Service Desk
Close physical proximity
Avoids language and cultural issues
Provides visibility
SERVICE DESK ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
Organizational Structure: Centralized Service Desk
Leads to efficiencies and cost savings
Develops skills of staff through greater exposure
SERVICE DESK ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
Organizational Structure: Virtual Service Desk
Gives an impression of centralized service
Provides options for off shoring, home working or outsourcing
SERVICE DESK STAFFING CHALLENGES
Staffing challenges:
Staffing Levels:
Ensure correct number of staff to match demand levels
Skill Levels:
Ensure correct level and range of skills
Staff Training:
Knowledge must be current
Staff Retention:
Significant loss can be disruptive
Super Users:
To act as liaison between IT in general and the Service Desk
SERVICE DESK STAFFING LEVELS
Customer service expectations
Business requirements, such as budget, call response times etc.
Size, relative age, design and complexity of the IT infrastructure and service
catalogue – for example, the number and type of incidents, the extent of
customized versus standard off-the shelf software deployed etc.
The number of customers and users to support, and associated factors
SERVICE DESK METRICS
Metrics:
Evaluate performance on regular intervals
Detailed metrics such as:
First-line resolution rate
Average time to resolve an incident
Average time to escalate an incident
Average time to review and close a resolved call
The number of calls received by time of day and day of week
Percentage of customer or user updates conducted within target times
Customer Satisfaction Survey
THANK-YOU
