The service desk is the single point of contact for users who need IT support. Unlike a help desk, which deals only with incident recording and resolution, the service desk faces outward and deals with processes, like service-level management or problem management.
Because the service desk is often the only contact that users have with the IT department, making sure each user has a positive experience is essential. To help maintain service quality, service desk managers should use metrics and key performance indicators, called KPIs.
When defining metrics, Windows IT managers can follow the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, result-oriented or relevant, and time-bound) approach. SMART was developed by management consultant Peter Drucker and is one of the tools in his Management by Objectives process, which helps organizations set performance objectives. The SMART approach also has a variation: SMARTER, which incorporates E for extendable and R for recorded.
When determining a service's performance level, metrics should be specific to that service. There are many industry-recommended service desk metrics, including:
- total incoming calls
- average wait time before call abandonment
- abandoned calls
- average speed to answer
- average calls per agent in an eight-hour shift
But metrics by themselves are only data points at a single period in time. And while they are important, business-focused performance objectives, such as increased sales, have the greatest value in an organization. To establish business-focused performance objectives, a Windows enterpris...
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e must link metrics to organizational critical success factors. Metrics that are linked to critical success factors are then called key performance indicators.
When developing key performance indicators it is important to keep it simple, focus on five to seven primary indicators and on their connection with service-level agreements (SLAs). Because these types of agreements contain service performance metrics with corresponding service-level objectives -- like closing incidents within an agreed time period -- it is ultimately the KPIs in your SLA that enable the service desk to define and deliver IT services that align with business objectives.
For example, Microsoft offers several key performance indicators for Windows service desk managers to consider:
Reduce costs by enabling more efficient use of resources and technologies
Support optimization of IT investments through effective support of business services.
Ensure long-term customer retention and satisfaction
Managing the service desk and incident management using metrics is necessary to determine and maintain high-quality service and ensure a positive user experience. Clearly defined metrics and key performance indicators are what separate highly successful Windows service desks from the rest.
Stuart D. Galup is an associate professor of computer information systems at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Certified Computing Professional and ITIL Service Manager. He has held a number of senior information technology positions and holds a U.S. patent. Galup has written more than 45 academic publications and two books.
