Knowledge integration with a 24-hour help desk
Jay Graham, Brian K. Hart · 2000
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 knowledge base 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. Knowledge base 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 knowledge base 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 knowledge base. 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 knowledge base will complete the presentation.