FBLA Help Desk TERMS

dashboard

A bright display that sends out visual and, in some cases, audible messages to service desk staff and to customer sites that have dashboards installed; also known as electronic reader board.

cost benefit analysis

A business calculation that compares the costs and benefits of two or more potential solutions in order to determine an optimum solution.

blended call center

A call center that receives incoming calls and makes outgoing calls.

contact center

A call center that uses technologies such as e-mail and the Web in addition to the telephone.

abandoned call

A call where the caller hangs up before an analyst answers.

CompTIA A+

A certification that measures a technician's knowledge of hardware and operating system technologies and concepts, along with topics such as security, safety and environmental issues, and communication and professionalism.

emergency change

A change that must be introduced as soon as possible to repair an error in an IT service that has a high impact on the business.

carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)

A common repetitive stress injury that affects the hands and wrists and is linked to repetitious hand movements, such as typing on a computer keyboard, pinching a mouse, or repeatedly clicking a mouse.

best-in-class

A company that is the finest in its relative industry peer group.

application of training investments

A comparison of an analyst's resolution percent before and after attending training.

avatar

A computer user's representation of himself or herself.

event-driven survey

A customer satisfaction survey that asks customers for feedback on a single, recent service event.

configuration management database (CMDB)

A database that is used to store configuration records throughout their lifecycle.

flowchart

A diagram that shows the sequence of tasks that occur in a process

certification

A document awarded to a person who has demonstrated that he or she has certain skills and knowledge about a particular topic or area.

employee performance plan

A document that clearly describes an analyst's performance requirements and individual improvement objectives.

beginning of day (BOD)

A list of tasks an analyst performs at the start of each workday.

critical success factor (CSF)

A measurable characteristic that must exist for something - such as a process, project or team - to be viewed as successful.

effectiveness

A measure of how completely and accurately services are delivered.

efficiency

A measure of the time and effort required to deliver services in relation to their cost.

exit poll

A measurement technique that, on the Internet, combines questions such as "Was this information helpful to you?" with Yes and No buttons that customers can use to provide feedback.

baseline

A metric used to show a starting point.

cost per contact

Historically called cost per call; the total cost of operating a service desk for a given period (including salaries, benefits, facilities, and equipment) divided by the total number of contacts (calls, e-mails, faxes, Web requests, and so on) received during that period.

accessibility

How easily the service desk can be reached by service desk staff, other employees of the company, and customers.

decentralized service desks

Multiple service desks, each of which supports specific products or customer communities.

customer service

Services that ensure customers receive maximum value for the products or services they purchase.

customer support

Services that help a customer understand and benefit from a product's capabilities by answering questions, solving problems, and providing training.

automatic call distributor (ACD)

Technology that answers a call and routes, or distributes, it to the next available analyst. If all analysts are busy, the ACD places the call in a queue and plays a recorded message.

announcement system

Technology that greets callers when all service desk analysts are busy and can provide valuable information as customers wait on hold.

average call duration

The average length of time required to handle a call

average wait time

The average number of minutes a caller waits for an analyst after being placed in the queue by an ACD; also known as average queue time.

average speed of answer (ASA)

The average time it takes an analyst to pick up an incoming call

development

The construction of new systems.

customer entitlement

The determination of whether the customer is authorized to receive support and, if so, the level of support the customer should receive.

customer satisfaction

The difference between how a customer perceives he or she was treated and how the customer expects to be treated.

configuration items (CIs)

The individual records that are stored in an organization's configuration management system, such as IT assets, buildings, and documents such as SLAs, processes, and procedures.

data

Raw facts that are not organized in a meaningful way.

categorization

Recording the type of incident being reported.

channels

Routes of communication to and from the help desk, such as the telephone, voice mail, e-mail, and the Web.

24 X 7 support

Service desk services that are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

front-line service provider

Service desk staff who interacts directly with customers.

dispatcher

person who initially handles customer problems, requests, or inquiries; also called a service desk agent, customer care agent, customer service representative, or call screener.

call center

place where telephone calls are made or received in high volume for one or more customers.

cost center

service desk in which the budget items required to run the service desk are considered a cost (expense) to the company.

decision tree

A branching structure of questions and possible answers designed to lead an analyst to a solution.

external customer

A person or company that buys another company's products and services

form

A predefined document that contains text or graphics users cannot change and areas in which users enter information.

customer relationship management (CRM)

A program that involves using customer contact and relationship information to generate additional sales and increase levels of customer service and retention.

best practice

A proven way of completing a task to produce a near optimum result.

fuzzy logic

A searching technique that presents all possible solutions that are similar to the search criteria, even when conflicting information exists or no exact match is present.

case-based reasoning (CBR)

A searching technique that uses everyday language to ask users questions and interpret their answers.

change advisory board (CAB)

A separate group or a committee that is responsible for assessing the readiness of nonstandard changes to the production environment.

customer satisfaction survey

A series of questions that ask customers to provide their perception of the support services being offered.

follow the sun

A service desk approach that enables an organization to provide 24-hour coverage by having regional service desks working only during the usual business hours for their location.

external service desk

A service desk that supports customers who buy its company's products and services (external customers).

caller identification (caller ID)

A service provided by a local telephone company that delivers the telephone number of the person calling and when available the name associated with the calling telephone number.

automatic number identification (ANI)

A service provided by a long distance service provider that delivers the telephone number of the person calling.

dialed number identification service (DNIS)

A service that provides the number the person called when they call using a toll-free number or a 1-900 service.

configuration management system (CMS)

A set of tools and databases for managing IT asset information and linking that information to related incidents, problems, known errors, changes, and releases.

centralized service desk

A single service desk that supports all of the technologies used by its customers.

computer virus

A software program that can "infect" a computer by storing itself in the computer's memory or attaching itself to program or data files.

framework

A structure designed to enclose something

case-based system

A system made up of (1) cases and (2) a set of question and answer pairs that can be used to confirm the solution to the incident.

e-mail response management system

A system that enables service desks to manage high volume chat, e-mail, and Web form messages.

customer surveying system

A system that is used to create and distribute questionnaires to customers and to collect and tabulate the results of their feedback.

ACD supervisor console

A system that works with ACD systems and enables supervisors to monitor call volumes and the performance of individual service desk analysts or groups of analysts.

business process management (BPM)

A systematic approach to improving an organization's business processes.

brainstorming

A technique performed by a group of people and designed to generate a large number of ideas for solving a problem.

five whys

A technique that involves repeatedly asking the question "Why?" until the root cause of a problem is determined.

cause and effect analysis

A technique used to generate the possible problem causes and their effect

case

A unit of information, such as an online document, a database record, or the solution to a common incident, which is indexed so an analyst can easily locate it when needed.

computer vision syndrome

A variety of ailments such as headaches and eyestrain that occur as a result of staring at a computer monitor for a prolonged period of time.

customer record

All of the fields that describe a single customer.

automated attendant

An ACD feature that routes calls based on input provided by the caller through a touch-tone telephone.

available state

An ACD state that occurs when an analyst is ready to take calls.

fax

An electronic device that sends or receives printed matter or computer images

asset

Anything that contributes to the delivery of an IT service such as financial capital, people, hardware, software, network and communication components, and information.

computer-based training (CBT)

Computer software packages used to train and test people on a wide range of subjects.

ethical behavior

Conduct that conforms to generally accepted or stated principles of right and wrong

functional escalation

Escalation that transfers and incident from one line of support to the next; occurs when greater knowledge or authority is required to resolve an incident or a target timescale has been exceeded.

customer data

Identifying details about a customer, including the customer's name, telephone number, email address, department or company name, physical address or location, customer number, and employee number or user ID.

biometrics

Measurements of a person's physical characteristics such as a finger or palm print, facial features, or features of a person's eye such as the retina or iris.

availability

The length of time an analyst was signed on to the ACD compared to the length of time the analyst was scheduled to be signed on.

computer telephony integration (CTI)

The linking of computing technology with telephone technology to exchange information and increase productivity.

abandon rate percent

The percentage of abandoned calls compared to the total number of calls received.

change manager

The person who coordinates all change management activities and ensures approved changes represent an acceptable level of possible and probable risk and impact.

benchmarking

The process of comparing the service desk's services, standardized metrics, and practices to those of a rival or world class company in an effort to identify ways it can improve

change management

The process responsible for controlling changes to the production environment while minimizing service disruptions.

access management

The process responsible for granting authorized users the right to use a service in accordance with the company's security policies, while preventing access to non-authorized users.

business relationship management

The process responsible for maintaining a good relationship between a service provider and its customers.

asset management

The process responsible for tracking and reporting on the value and ownership of assets throughout their life cycle.

ethics

The rules and standards that govern the conduct of a person or group of people.

ergonomics

The science of people-machine relationships that intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort.

business skills

The skills people need to work successfully in the business world,

feature and functionality requirements

The specifics of how the selected tool must perform in order to support its associated business processes.

acoustic shock

The term used to describe the symptoms such as discomfort and pain that a person may experience after hearing a loud, unexpected sound via a telephone or headset

cost per unit

The total cost of operating a service desk for a given period (including salaries, benefits, facilities, and equipment) divided by the total number of units (such as devices and systems) supported during that period.

escalation (or escalate)

To raise an incident from one level to another, such as from level one to level two, to dedicate new or additional resources to the incident.

dispatch

To send or route.

active listening

When the listener participates in a conversation and gives the speaker a sense of confidence that he or she is being heard.