24/7 support—Service desk services that are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
asset management—Th e process responsible for tracking and report- ing on the value and ownership of assets throughout their lifecycle.
automatic call distributor (ACD)—A telephone technology that answers a call and routes, or distributes, it to the next available ana- lyst. If all analysts are busy, the ACD places the call in a queue and plays a recorded message, such as “We’re sorry, all of our service rep- resentatives are currently assisting other customers; your call will be answered in the order it has been received.”
avatar—A computer user’s representation of himself or herself.
best practice—A proven way of completing a task to produce a near optimum result.
business skills—Th e skills people need to work successfully in the business world, such as the ability to understand and speak the lan- guage of business; the skills that are unique to the industry or profes- sion the service desk supports, such as accounting skills or banking skills (industry knowledge); and the skills that are specifi c to the customer service and support industry, such as understanding the importance of meeting customers’ needs and knowing how to man- age their expectations (service industry knowledge).
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call center—A place where telephone calls are made or received in high volume.
can do attitude—Telling a customer what you can do rather than what you cannot do.
caring attitude—A service desk’s ability to communicate that it wants to satisfy its customers’ needs.
change management—Th e process responsible for controlling changes to the production environment while minimizing service disruptions.
channel—A route of communication to and from the service desk, such as the telephone, voice mail, e-mail, and the Web.
configuration management—Th e process that focuses on capturing nonfi nancial information about IT assets along with how the assets are related or confi gured.
configuration management system (CMS)—A set of tools and data- bases for managing IT asset information and linking that information to related incidents, problems, known errors, changes, and releases.
contact—A customer transaction such as an incident or service request.
contact center—A call center that uses technologies such as e-mail and the Web in addition to the telephone.
cookie—A very small text fi le created by a Web server that is stored on a user’s computer either temporarily for that session only or per- manently on the hard disk.
cost center—A service desk in which the budget items required to run the service desk are considered a cost (expense) to the company.
customer—A person who buys products or services.
customer satisfaction—Th e diff erence between how a customer perceives he or she was treated and how the customer expects to be treated.
customer satisfaction survey—A series of questions that ask custom- ers to provide their perception of the support services being off ered.
customer service value chain—A linked set of activities during which value is added when serving customers.
customer support—Services that help a customer understand and benefi t from a product’s capabilities by answering questions, solving problems, and providing training.
dispatch—To send.
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e-mail response management system—A system that enables service desks to manage high-volume chat, e-mail, and Web form messages.
expectation—A result that a customer considers reasonable or due to them.
external customer—A person or company that buys another company’s products or services.
external service desk—A service desk that supports customers who buy its company’s products or services.
fee-based support—Support services that customers pay for on a per-use basis.
front-line service provider—A service desk staff member who interacts directly with customers.
global support—Support for customers anywhere in the world.
help desk—A single point of contact within a company for technolo- gy-related questions and incidents.
incident—An unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of an IT service.
incident management system—Th e technology used to log and track customer incidents and service requests.
information—Data that are organized in a meaningful way.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)—A set of best practices for IT service management.
internal customer—A person who works at a company and at times relies on other employees at that company to perform his or her job.
internal service desk—A service desk that responds to questions, distributes information, and handles incidents and service requests for its company’s employees.
ISO/IEC 20000—An international standard for IT service management.
IT service—A service that is based on the use of information technol- ogy and supports business processes.
IT service management (ITSM)—A discipline for managing IT ser- vices that focuses on the quality of those services and the relationship that the IT organization has with its customers.
keyboarding—Typing.
knowledge base—A logical database that contains data used by a knowledge management system.
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knowledge base administrator (KBA)—Another name for knowledge engineer.
knowledge engineer—A person who develops and oversees the knowledge management process and ensures that the information contained in the service desk’s knowledge management system is accurate, complete, and current; also called a knowledge base admin- istrator (KBA).
knowledge management system (KMS)—A set of tools and data- bases that are used to store, manage, and present information sources such as customer information, documents, policies and procedures, incident resolutions, and known errors.
known error—A problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround.
known error database (KEDB)—A database that contains known error records.
major incident—An incident that is causing signifi cant business impact.
metric—A performance measure.
Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)—A collection of best prac- tices, principles, and models that off ers guidance to IT organizations for managing their IT services.
monitoring—When a supervisor or team leader monitors an analyst’s interactions with customers or watches an analyst interact with a cus- tomer in order to measure the quality of that analyst’s performance.
multi-level support model—A common structure of service desks, where the service desk refers incidents it cannot resolve to the appro- priate internal group, external vendor, or subject matter expert.
network and system administration—Activities that include day-to- day tasks such as setting up and maintaining user accounts, ensuring the data that the company collects is secure, and performing e-mail and database management.
network monitoring—Activities that use tools to observe network performance in an eff ort to minimize the impact of incidents.
network monitoring system—A tool used to observe network performance.
offshore outsourcing—When a company has services, such as service desk services, provided by an outside supplier that is located or based in a foreign country.
operational level agreement (OLA)—An agreement between internal support groups that underpin the Service Level Agreement.
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outsourcing—When a company has services, such as service desk services, provided by an outside supplier instead of providing them in-house.
ownership—Tracking an incident to ensure that the customer is kept informed about the status of the incident, that the incident is resolved within the expected time frame, and that the customer is satisfi ed with the fi nal resolution.
peer-to-peer support—A practice in which users bypass the formal support structure and seek assistance from coworkers or someone in another department.
people—Th e service desk component that consists of the staff and structure put in place within a company or department to support its customers by performing processes.
personal digital assistant (PDA)—A small mobile handheld device that provides computing and information storage and retrieval capabilities for personal or business use.
problem—Th e cause of one or more incidents.
process—A collection of interrelated work activities that take a set of specifi c inputs and produce a set of specifi c outputs that are of value to a customer.
profile—A collection of personal data associated with a specifi c user; also called a user profi le.
profit center—A service desk that must cover its expenses and perhaps make a profi t by charging a fee for support services.
remote control and diagnostic system—A tool that allows a service desk analyst to remotely control a user’s keyboard, screen, or mouse to diagnose incidents, transfer fi les, and provide informal training.
responsiveness—Th e service desk’s ability to be available when cus- tomers need help and to make it easy for customers to obtain help.
return on investment (ROI)—A business calculation that measures the total fi nancial benefi t derived from an investment—such as ser- vice desk improvements or a new technology project—and then com- pares it with the total cost of the project.
self-management skills—Th e skills, such as stress and time manage- ment, that people need to complete their work eff ectively, feel job satis- faction, and avoid frustration or burnout; also include the ability to get and stay organized and to continuously and quickly learn new skills.
service desk—A single point of contact within a company for managing customer incidents and service requests.
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Service Level Agreement (SLA)—A written document that spells out the services the service desk will provide the customer, the customer’s responsibilities, and how service performance is measured.
service request—A request from a user for information, advice, or a standard change.
skill—Th e service desk’s ability to quickly and correctly resolve customer incidents and service requests.
soft skills—Th e qualities that people need to deliver great service, such as active listening skills, verbal communication skills, customer service skills, problem-solving skills, temperament, teamwork skills, and writing skills.
subject matter expert (SME)—A person who has a high level of experience or knowledge about a particular subject.
technical skills—Th e skills people need to use and support the specifi c products and technologies the service desk supports; also includes basic computer and software literacy.
technical support—A wide range of services that enable people and companies to eff ectively use the computing technology they acquired or developed.
technology—Th e tools and systems people use to do their work.
value—Th e perceived worth, usefulness, or importance of a product or service to a customer.
value network—A complex, non-linear set of relationships between organizations working together to deliver services of value to customers.
Web 2.0—A term that describes changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aim to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration, and functionality on the Web.
world class—Refers to a company that has achieved and sustains high levels of customer satisfaction.