paper -
64 Knowledgebase Integration with a 24-hour Help Desk
Brian
Hart, University of Pittsburgh
Jay Graham, University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh's Computing Services and
Systems Development organization is focused on the needs of the faculty and
student population, totaling nearly 40,000 users. Computing Services and Systems Development has operated the Help
Desk call center 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for nearly two years. Concurrent with the establishment of the
24-hour Help Desk was an effort to create an online information resource that
would serve as a repository of institutional-specific knowledge.
During the past two years, IT resources have been
centralized and expanded to provide customers with a single Web site from which
they will obtain all IT information and software support tools. These include an enhanced version of the
KnowledgeBase currently offered to the University community, integrated Help
Desk support tools allowing customers to create and view the status of support
requests, and the provision of automated system tools.
KnowledgeBase support resources are regularly updated
and maintained. Such resources, while
designed for customer use, will also be used by IT support staff, including the
Help Desk Analysts. The conversion to
online technical support resources through the KnowledgeBase will improve
customer service and eventually result in the resolution of basic support
requests without the involvement of the Help Desk staff.
The presentation will detail the experiences and
processes that the Computing Services and Systems Development organization
encountered during the planning, justification, integration, implementation,
and growth of the University of Pittsburgh's KnowledgeBase. Topics such as the work flow, conversion of
existing documentation, and training will be included. Detailed statistics and graphs will be used
throughout the presentation.
The presenters will report on the successes and failures of the project from its inception in early 1998, through recent changes during 2000. Future plans for the Computing Services and Systems Development KnowledgeBase will complete the presentation.
Keywords: Knowledgebase, call center, 24 hour Help Desk, ServiceWare.