The service desk must keep its customers happy and be able to respond to their needs in a timely manner. This means knowing who they are and what business role they have. Customers could be internal, external, or a mixture of both.
A good place to look for internal customers is your organizations directory service, such as eDirectory or Active Directory. Depending on how the directory service has been configured, it will also tell you which department they are in and their job role. If none of this information is available in an electronic format, then HR will be your first point of contact.
Getting details about external customers has its challenges. You need to work closely with your organization to find out who has this information. If these are paying customers, then accountants are good source of information because they always know who to invoice.
When you are meeting customers or departmental representatives you need to understand their business role. This helps to prioritize support levels.
Micro Focus Service Desk can store a lot of information about each customer as shown in the following table:
|
Information |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Title |
If enabled, select the appropriate title from the drop-down options |
|
First Name |
Customer's first name |
|
Last Name |
Customer's last name |
|
User Name |
The login user name credentials for the user. If this is imported via LDAP or Active Directory, it can not be edited. Otherwise, enter a user name. Note that the value must be unique. |
|
Password |
If you are using a directory service, then this is the customers normal login password. If not, then the Default Password is set to the Customer's email address or a random string can be enabled by the Administrator |
|
Web Access |
Web Access allows Customers to view their account information and Incidents via the Customer Portal |
|
|
The Customer's email address. Messages are sent to this addresses. |
|
Organizational Units |
The Organizational Unit the Customer belongs to, most likely their department |
|
Address 1 |
First line of Customer's address |
|
Address 2 |
Second line of Customer's address |
|
City |
Customer's city details |
|
State |
Customer's State details. Options will be displayed for the State, once the Country is selected, if Regions are configured for the Country in the system |
|
Zip/Postcode |
Customer's area code |
|
Country |
Customer's country. The country selected will determine the time zone and state options for the Customer |
|
Phone |
Enter phone details |
|
Fax |
Enter the customer's fax number, if relevant |
|
Pager |
Enter the customer's pager details, if relevant |
|
Mobile |
A mobile number can be entered as a contact number or for use with SMS (Short Mail Service message) |
|
Timezone |
The customer automatically adopts the default time zone set for the system. However, the time zone can be manually adjusted here for the specific customer |
|
Notes |
Any customer relevant information |
|
Last Login |
Auto-populated with the date the Customer last logged into the system |
The minimum amount of information that you need for each customer is a subset of what is in the table:
First name
Last name
User name
The more information that it is practical to collect, the better the customer profile will be. This is very useful customers contact service desk.