Region & Higher - Norma Vazquez

1. Develop strategies for funding. Describe proposed procedures.

Goal: Lab and Classroom (L/C) services will present a white paper on ways to bring in additional funding by the end of April 2012 using research from other universities.

One of the strategies that can be used to bring in additional funding would be gather enough research to develop a white paper on what methods can be implemented in our area to bring in additional funding. The white paper will then be presented to upper management in an attempt to convince them to consider other means of bringing in additional funding other than just HEAF funds and Computer Service Fees which account for 97% of our revenue. (D. McKerral, Personal Communications, February 6, 2012).

• Online research will be conducted from at least three other universities in the Texas State University System.
• Each of the options will be documented in a spreadsheet and should include the following information:
o Projected increase in funding for each.
o Total costs, if any, to implement each option
o How easily does it integrate with our current systems or network?
o Time required to implement option
• Compose proposal document for upper management and if necessary a presentation.

2. Develop strategies for management plans. Describe proposed procedures.

Goal: The Service Desk will be able to present a training curriculum plan created in Microsoft Word for their service desk technicians by the end of April 2012.

The first step would be to discuss with upper management the need for a training curriculum for both full time and student workers. We would present the benefits of having a plan that would include training for all employees to ensure that they all get trained on the same information in addition to being able to go back and track their learning. We would also have to request the approval to spend the time and resources to develop the plan and training material. Finally, once we receive approval we would start developing the training curriculum and putting it into effect.

• Setup a meeting with upper management to express a need for a training curriculum plan.
• In preparation for the meeting, we would document the benefits of having a plan and how we plan on implementing it.
• We could also survey the students to gather their opinions on their experience from the training they received.
• In our meeting, we would also discuss the time that it would take us to create the plan and the resources needed. If overtime is needed to complete the training, then a request for approval will also be submitted. Additionally, we would need time approved to put each student through the training session again.
• Once approved, we would gather the resources to complete the training.
• Feedback will be gathered from students along with results from the assessments and client surveys.

Goal: The service desk technicians will have a thorough online knowledge base accessible 24/7 in order to improve first call resolution rates thus consistently maintaining a customer satisfaction rating above a 4.8 on a scale of 1 to 5. The knowledge base will also provide an opportunity for student workers to contribute and collaborate with co-workers.

The Service Desk would need to conduct research on several knowledge base applications available on the market and gather all the pros and cons including costs. Additionally, we would need to get with the other departments in our division to see what their needs are in a knowledge base. We would then present to upper management the different options for each application and our recommendations.

• Online research will be conducted for at least three other knowledge base applications.
• Pros and cons for each application will be documented in a spreadsheet and will include:
o Cost?
o How easily does it integrate with our current systems?
o Does it allow for user submissions?
o Does it allow the review of submissions for approval prior to posting?
o Is it searchable?
o Does it have a forum or chat feature for external and internal user collaboration?
o Can you customize it?
o Does it provide usage reports?
o Ability to control user access?
o Can you upload documents?
o Does it allow to document work flow?
o Ability for client to provide feedback or rate articles?
o Does it allow for an FAQ section? (Moody, 2011)
• Gather the needs of the Service Desk and then share with other areas of the division to gather their needs in addition to the Service Desk needs. Document requests in a spreadsheet.
• Compose proposal document for upper management and if necessary a presentation comparing all applications.

References:

Moody, M. (2011). Features of a Knowledge Base Software. Retrieved on March 19, 2012 from the EZINE Articles website at http://ezinearticles.com/?Features-of-Knowledge-Base-Software&id=6482599