Help Desk Procedures in Project Management

Purpose

Help desk procedures are designed to provide help desk personnel with a step-bystep review of virtually every possible permutation of problems they may encounter with end users while serving on a help desk. such procedures may not seem project oriented, but they do provide a great deal of insight into how to establish any stepby-step, decision-by-decision protocol a project or its output might require.

Application

Help desk procedures are used in environments where individuals providing customer service or support may have limited knowledge of or experience with the systems for which they are providing support. But help desk procedures presuppose that those providing the service do have a great deal of general knowledge and the ability to draw analogies from that general knowledge into the specifics of the help desk environment. The procedures provide them with the specifics required to address the narrow focus of individualized problems.

Content

Because the help desk procedures must cover a host of eventualities, they tend to be rather voluminous, spanning dozens of pages, even for the most rudimentary systems. They will have some common elements, including these:
Communications Tools in the Planning Processes Procedures for Documenting the Help Request (Request Initiation)

• Name of requester (including contact information);

• System/project for which help is requested (including platforms/ environment);

• Nature of the help request (type of request and specifics);

• Most recent dispensation/status/prioritization.

• Procedures for Troubleshooting the Request

• Most common concerns;

• Troubleshooting questions and answers;

• Secondary concerns;

• Standard solutions;

• Secondary solutions;

• Alternative information sources;

• Escalation procedures.

• Administrative Follow-Up

• Time spent

• Resolution (standard/new);

• Rationale;

• Lessons learned (documentation of new solutions);

• Status;

• Follow-up required.

Approaches

Some organizations use procedures as a means to “dummy-proof” their systems, by providing such extensive support and detail that every possible eventuality (theoretically) has been considered. Such efforts are challenging to support, in that system changes and environmental changes may generate new conditions that had not previously been considered. The antithesis of that approach is to provide only general and administrative guidance, assuming that the help desk support personnel will have the technical expertise to resolve individual problems and issues. The latter approach has the advantage that it requires less extensive documentation. The former approach has the advantage that it supports less experienced personnel.

Considerations

Because no environment is perfect, procedures to address what may go wrong are invaluable. The challenge comes in predicting what may go wrong. The most effective help desk procedures are those that are evolutionary, building on past experience and on the most recent support experiences of others.