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DII Customer Support Service Level Agreement

DII LogoHours of Operation

The DII Help Desk will be staffed M-F 7:45 to 4:30.

During non-business hour’s calls:

  1. 828-3544 calls are forwarded to the Computer Operations group and be escalated depending on the circumstances.
  2. 828-2200 calls are sent to a voicemail box which is monitored by the stand by WAN Engineering team member (GovNET).
  3. 828-3400 calls by pressing zero at voicemail attendant are sent to the Computer Operations group and escalated depending on the circumstances.

Holiday Schedule

If the State is on Holiday the DII Help Desk will be closed. It will need to be minimally (no less than two agents) manned on any historically slow support intervals such as the week between Christmas and New Years

Duties and Responsibilities Overview

The DII Help Desk performs a valuable function in that it is the first line of defense when a user has a computer, mainframe, WAN or telecommunications malfunction.The Help Desk receives calls from state government employees all over Vermont as well as from other entities who conduct business with the state. When the Help Desk is unable to provide a solution to the caller a ticket is assigned to the appropriate escalation group or Tier II Support Group within the department.

It is the goal of DII Help Desk to provide high quality service to all our customers.  To do this we need to give our customers a comfort level that we have taken ownership of their issue; that we will work on a solution; and we will resolve issues it in a timely manner.  To that end we need to evaluate what we are doing now and how we can improve our service to the customer by working with them to gather feedback.   This will be accomplished by external and internal customer surveys as well as team discussions and review.

A. The DII Help Desk will be responsible for, but will not be limited to, the following areas:

Ensure proper telephone and computer operations for state employees so that they can focus on accomplishing business which supports goals of the State of Vermont.  This includes receiving, prioritizing, documenting, assigning, actively resolving requests where possible and escalating to additional support tiers when not.

B. Tier 2/3 (Voice/Desktop/WAN/Server) Support will perform the following duties:

The DII Tier II roles are to provide technical support for implementation and resolution of complex issues involving hardware, network and software applications supporting business processes which are used by the State of Vermont employees to conduct business.

C. Customer Expectations be responsible for, but will not be limited to, the following areas:

DII Customer Support Services expects their customers to partner with us to find an agreeable resolution to any situation. We understand that trust is an imperative, builds slowly over time and is quickly eroded with a single broken promise. Maintaining a positive connection by sharing information, demonstrating the ability the listen and remaining accountable are critical aspects for both the DII staff and our customers. We ask the following expectations from our customers:

  1. A single point of contact and backup contact for technology issues will be assigned.
  2. The Technology Contact (TC) will report technology issues in a timely fashion.
  3. The TC will provide as much detail into the symptoms of the technology issue as possible.
  4. Request and schedule special services well in advance. For example installation of new equipment.
  5. The TC will negotiate any building access, end user scheduling, define training needs and act as the information conduit to the customer organization.
  6. The TC will begin the escalation to the Help Desk Manager if warranted.
  7. Not install unsupported software on user desktops.
  8. Pay all charges for equipment or services rendered.
  9. Problem Determination. Customers can use a number of tools to help them solve problems. Below is a list of them:
    1. Previous tickets where the solution was given. – When people have been good at updating the resolution to in house issues, this can become a resource.
    2. Google – can be used when you have an error message. Type the error message in word for word and you will usually find a solution. You can also use Google to research some issues that you might be having. Be careful that you are looking at reputable sites. Be very careful of the blogs and user supplied sites. These can have you do things that have not been properly tested. May indicate a requirement to escalate to Tier 2/3.
    3. Microsoft Knowledgebase articles – a very good site and has good information about how to solve MS issues.
    4. Footprints Knowledgebase – currently under development
    5. Security Web Sites, i.e. SANS.org, SourceForce.com, CERT-CC, etc. These sites can give you information into different kinds of security issues. When you have some time, these are good sites to look at and see what the latest threats are; some cool tools; and how to do some net admin utilities and How To’s that will make your life easier.
    6. Right Answers – a module purchased for the Footprints platform which acts as a traditional knowledgebase.
D. Monitoring Ticket Activity.
1.      DII Customer Support Staff: As you are the first line support for any issue, as tickets come in you will review them to see what they are. If there are tickets for a number of different things then you can just leave them on the queue, taking what might pertain to you and leaving the rest to be picked up. If you start to see a pattern, i.e. Exchange, Networking, slowness of the network, unable to print, etc., then you will need to escalate the issue. If you do not receive acknowledgement from the appropriate support group, escalate the ticket to the supervisor’s.
 
2.      Tier 2:  Each of the Centers of Excellence is expected to monitor the incoming queue throughout the day as well as define the process by how this is accomplished. For example a group may decide as tickets come in that are part of a project that you are working on or are non-desktop support issues, then you are expected to “Take” them from the queue.   
 
3.      Enterprise wide issues: If we have any network wide issues and the DII Help Desk is overwhelmed notification must be posted in the Footprints module (Global Ticket) and an email identifying any pertinent information must be sent to the VSMS Manger and Technician distribution lists. The Help Desk can also change the Call Processor script to reflect the issue. Tier 2 or Management must advise what the alert wording should be.
 
E. Basic Procedures.
  1. Internal Escalation. As Level II begins to provide more rigorous communications with customers this requirement may lesson. Customers may still call us from time to time to understand where a request stands.  If tickets are sitting in the queues without update for 2 business days then Help Desk personnel are to escalate that to the discipline supervisor(s).
  1. Reporting Outages of Any Kind. If there is an outage, there are a number of ways to get that information out. The first way is to change the message on the DII Help Desk phone so it says that you know there is an outage and it is being looked at.  If the system is still available you can warn people through email or by creating a global ticket.
  1. Creating Tickets. The DII Help Desk personnel will be expected to create tickets that come in over the phone. Customers with access to the Footprints application via user name and password will also be expected to create tickets.  Once the ticket is created it will be auto assigned based on pre-defined criteria or you can assign it to the appropriate group.
  1. Assigning / Triage Tickets. DII Help Desk Staff will assign tickets to the appropriate groups.   If the Help Desk staff is not sure who to assign the ticket to then they can ask someone from the teams or a supervisor.
    Priority
    Response Time
    Acknowledgement Time
    Description
    Critical
    30 minutes
    15 minutes
    Any request from the Governor’s Office and Commissioners
    Urgent
    1 hour
    15 minutes
    Multiple people are affected by problem
     (i.e. – server down)
    High
    2 hours
    30 minutes
    Single person affected by problem
    (i.e. – pc won’t boot up)
    Medium
    4 hours
    1 hour
    Standard
    Low
    8 hours
    2 hours
    Customer indicated or requested
    Times listed above are in business hours; Time to resolve the issue will be dependant on the issue itself and is not the same as Response time.

    Acknowledgement time is defined as the time allotted for a Tier 1 or 2 support member to acknowledge receipt of the reported incident. Response time is defined as the base time allotted to begin the troubleshooting or implementation effort. If the customer requires a specific date or time for the effort to commence, it must be defined within the ticket information.

  1. Changing/Updating a Ticket. Once a ticket has an owner, the owner of the ticket shall:
    1. Advise customer of ownership.
    2. Begin to investigate the problem.
    3. Advise and organize a site visit if required.
    4. Enter information into the ticket as it is gathered and methods used to solve the problem so that others can see what has been done.
    5. Advise caller of resolution and close the ticket.
  1. Closing A Ticket.  Provide the resolution once it is found, within the ticket. This will help others in the future who run into the same problem. This can also be used to do some cross training. Be sure that you explain your solution.  Do not use abbreviations like NTF (No Trouble Found), spell it out!
  1. Debriefing of Escalation. If an issue must be escalated to DP level, the Help Desk Manager will schedule a debriefing of the event, provide written details of actions taken, time line and final resolution. If the solution is a temporary work around or less than complete resolution, then future plans or activities should be noted to correct the problem (if known).
a.       Regular briefing sessions will be held for all individuals who are researching or working on the problem. (These may be at various intervals, but must be at least once a week).
b.      On Call role: During defined timeframes, the On Call technician should be assigning escalated tickets to team members, identifying communications that should be issued, the target audiences and type and nature of communication. The On Call should work closely with the help desk to be sure up-to-date and accurate information is available to those members of the technical team that are talking to users who may be impacted by the problem.
c.       Help Desk Manager role: Responsible for helping to identify resource requirements, both human and financial. The Manager assists where needed to make sure these resources are dedicated to resolving the problem; for example, escalating problems with DII where GOVnet staff may be needed. The Manager would chair briefing sessions and make sure sufficient information is available to present options, costs and risks to other members of the team and CIO.
d.      Level II role: Although individuals may identify various solutions; all possible solutions will be coordinated through the assigned Level II who owns the issue. This individual will be responsible for documenting actions taken and results obtained whether positive or negative and may have other technical people directly assisting them in configuration of servers, networks or in the conduct of tests that help establish the results of actions.
e.       Deputy Commissioner (DC) role: The DC will work to provide necessary resources, issue communications, where appropriate, make decisions related to options as appropriate. DC will brief CIO and identify risks and consequences of the event; summary of the process, options and results as well as actions that can be taken to prevent reoccurrence (if feasible).

 

For more information, please contact the DII Helpdesk at (802) 828-3544

Log into FootPrints at https://ent-footprints.state.vt.us