IT Call Logging

[Andybtsn]

Guys, I manage a Service Desk ranging from 1st - 3rd line, we have bespoke software for logging calls, we're looking at overhauling this.

How do you guys log calls from customers? Excluding the severity of a case what drop down boxes do you have? At the moment our drop down lists are what is the nature of the issue, network, server, PC etc then just a message box to record fault details.

I'm wanting more drop downs tbh, just so more data is recorded for when its assigned to an engineer.

What do you have/think?

Cheers

 

[Throrik]

Most end users don't have a clue unfortunately - we have tried this and users log it all as P1 the entire network is down.

We have to limit them to very specific requirements.

 

[Casdawer]

We have 3 'types' of Incidents.

Type:
Incident (something is broken)
Service Request (I need something)
Enquiry (How do I?)

We then have Category (though this changes on the Type of Incident but we'll go with Incident for now:
Software
Hardware
Network

Subcategory:
This would be a large list but in a nutshell you'd break down software to say OS or application affected and hardware to printer, pc, monitor etc...

Service:
Is the software/hardware responsible for a service, if so what service? i.e. if an Exchange server is down, you would put the Service as Email/Outlook/Exchange.

CI:
The name of the machine with the issue.

Title:
Quick Summary of the issue

Description:
More in-depth description.

Error Message:
If error message present, put it in here.

Something along these lines should help you capture the necessary information you require.

 

[Andybtsn]

Thanks Casdawer, its not far off what we do now to be honest, I didn't know if we could make things more efficient, not sure how tbh!

Most end users don't have a clue unfortunately - we have tried this and users log it all as P1 the entire network is down.

We have to limit them to very specific requirements.

Sorry I didn't mean from a customer point of view, the actual Service Desk taking calls and logging cases.

 

[chroniclard]

Main ones for our tech support department are (tech support/software development company) are

Account
Contact
Source
Title
Desc
Status
Priority
Ticket Type (service request, incident, problem, alert)
Issue Type (fix, maintenance, monitoring, new install, pro active monitoring, upgrade)
Sub Issue Type (loads in here)
SLA
Queue
Primary resource
Role
Work Type(billable/not)

Also suppports attachments(screen shots/documents/etc)

 

[edscdk]

our system is a model of how not to do a call logging system,

it cost millions and rubbish looks works and feels like beta version level freeware

It's a model on how NOT to implement and design call logging software

everything about it is rubbish, even down to it not showing you the users name or phone number on the incident screen!! SERIOUSLY WHAT!!!!

HP service manager SM9

 

[AHarvey]

We have our own helpdesk software but tbh, it's not 100%. it's more about tracking events, incoming and outgoing messages. It's not a technical helpdesk system in my opinion, it's the same as they use for tracking our customers legal orders. It's not really used either by our employee's, most just email me and I track everything on a spreadsheet. It's just me and allows me to track times myself.

The best thing you can do is have meetings with each line. Ask them what information they need from the level below.

Add to this what you as a company want reports on. How detailed you want those reports.

Do you want to create reports based on time spent on issues, who is doing what, what type of issue are you getting the most.

A big thing for me, if I was designing a system, would be for the system to read the information put in and auto generate a list of suggested fixes/solutions to the problems.

I'd also want some sort of diary/planner built in.

Think I may have to create a new one for here with that info in