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Matthew Maderos Matthew Conlon Information Technology Massachusetts College of Art & Design

Explore the journey of implementing a helpdesk ticketing system at Massachusetts College of Art & Design, from product selection to future enhancements and lessons learned. Gain insights on system features, benefits, challenges, and best practices for successful implementation.

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Matthew Maderos Matthew Conlon Information Technology Massachusetts College of Art & Design

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  1. All You Ever Wanted To Know About Implementing A Helpdesk Ticketing System But Were Afraid To Ask! Matthew Maderos Matthew ConlonInformation TechnologyMassachusetts College of Art & Design Matthew.maderos@massart.edu Matthew.conlon@massart.edu NERCOMP 2008

  2. MassArt • 1,300 undergraduates • 300 graduate students • 600 faculty and staff Information Technology • 12 full time staff • 3 co-op students • 5 work-study students The Product Chosen • Unipress/Numara Footprints • Purchased Version 7.0 • Currently running 8.0

  3. Background • Current home grown access system lacked numerous features that were essential for a functional helpdesk • Out grew old system time for a more powerful system

  4. What we were looking for… • An easy to use web based ticketing system • Integrated with our LDAP and AD systems • Custom reporting • Able to fit our allocated budget • Expandable to other departments • Mechanism to automatically provide status updates • Future expandability • Asset Tracking • Application deployment, • Knowledgebase

  5. Project Time Line • With backing of CIO and area VP money allocated July 2005 • Established budget of +/- $15,000 • Goal to have system in place for September 2006 • February 2006 demo various products • March 2006 bid went out to vendors • April 2006 contract awarded to Footprints • May 2006 general testing with users • Installation and rollout August 2006 • Footprints administrator Matthew Conlon attended training: November 2006

  6. Implementation & Features • Installed • Running on Windows Server 2003 • Dell server w/ dual Xeon processors, 8Gb Ram • Linked to AD via LDAP • Linked to existing SQL server • Incoming & outgoing email notification • Editable interface • Stepped through Project Wizard • Configured • LDAP issues • Address book issues • Re-configured • Footprints 2.0 • Footprints 2.5

  7. What didn’t work… • What’s your “Title”? • What kind of problem is this? • Master ticket: to use or not to use? • Email overload/out of office? • What is critical?!?! • Email submissions/spam • Marketing/user training

  8. Benefits • Priority and notification features • Allows for better issue tracking • A new helpdesk, a presence • People are coming back! • Customizable agent and customer roles • Incoming email ticket generation: helpdesk@massart.edu • Customer interface displays ticket history • Tickets can be added to knowledgebase after being resolved • Led to drop down dependencies… • 3,800 tickets in 18 months

  9. August 2006 – March 2008 (note in first nine months only 2 months with over 200 closed tickets, in the next nine months there were 6)

  10. What we learned, so you won’t have to… It’s more about process than product… • No system will fix a bad work flow process • Keep perspective on the way issues are handled by the human before we can determine how the software will process them Look into vendor training on your product… • At first glance the administrator training for your product might look long, boring, and pricey, but look again • Allows you to fully customize and maintain your system in-house without spending time calling vendor tech support.

  11. What we learned, so you won’t have to… Not all systems are created equal… • All have strengths and weaknesses • Web-based vs. Client-based, small or • large scale, fully featured or bare bones • Ask around, do a site visit Customization is key… • The more you use the software the more you will want to tweak, trust us • Expect that you will redesign the system at least once for customizations • Make sure that your product can be customized to your needs

  12. Scale the product accordingly… • Make decisions about which entities will be using your solution early and make them clear • Split cost with involved departments if possible • Be aware of agent license costs • Communicate the benefits of new system to users for buy in

  13. The Future • Survey system • Expand knowledgebase • Automate reporting • More ticket templates • Inventory/asset management • Application deployment tool

  14. Questions? Matthew Maderos Matthew ConlonInformation TechnologyMassachusetts College of Art & Design 617-879-7888 Matthew.maderos@massart.edu Matthew.conlon@massart.edu

  15. THE TOUR http://footprints.massart.edu http://helpdesk.massart.edu

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