The Task

Design and develop a better way for users submit technical support trouble tickets.

The Problem

There were a few big problems with the current solution:

1. The helpdesk team spent too much time doing administrative tasks such as responding to trouble tickets manually
2. Users were not sure if their trouble ticket was really received
3. Helpdesk team members would forget to email users about status updates related to their tickets

The Method

1. Review Current Solution
2. Conduct Stakeholder Interviews (Helpdesk Team Members)
3. Conduct User Interviews
4. Design a Prototype of the New Form
5. Implement on the Test Server
6. Implement Solution and Test
7. Release Solution and Collect Results

Review Current Solution

The current solution was to have users create their own trouble tickets. The helpdesk team would then manually email the user that their trouble ticket was received. The ticket would then be assigned to a helpdesk technician and then the technician would manually notify the customer letting them know their ticket is in progress. Once the ticket was completed, the user would again be manually emailed and notified of the completion of the ticket. Once the customer confirmed completion the helpdesk technician would close the ticket.

Conduct Stakeholder Interviews (Helpdesk Team Members)

I took some time to gain empathy for the helpdesk team members. I wanted to know where they were frustrated the most. I knew it was going to be about a lack of productivity due to a lot of manual emailing. This hypothesis was confirmed during the interview. Additionally, I discovered that the helpdesk team members also sometimes forgot to close the ticket, and that users sometimes never responded after their issue was resolved. This interview process allowed for me to gather requirements for the solution.

Conduct User Interviews

I also interviewed users of the trouble ticket system to understand where their frustrations with the experience was. I discovered that the users sometimes felt out of sync with the progress of their ticket and didn't know how to easily check the status of their trouble ticket. This interview process allowed for me to gather specific goals of the users.

Design a Prototype of the New Form

At this stage I laid out which fields would be required for the form and what information they would contain. I also visualized a workflow for helpdesk team members to review and leave feedback on.

Implement on the Test Server

I implemented the new form on our test server to check if there were any unexpected bugs. I was able to quickly remove bugs from the solution before they were discovered by the users

Receive Feedback and Approval on the Test

I began testing the solution with previous and potential users. After receiving some actionable feedback I made some improvements where they were needed. I then showcased the solution to the helpdesk team members and received approval for production release.

Migrate Solution to the Production Server & Release

At this point I migrated the code to the production server and launched the new solution.

Collect Results and Feedback

I collected feedback from users and the helpdesk team a few weeks after the solution was release. The users gave positive feedback stating that they felt they were being responded to in a more timely matter. The automatic emails were so effective that users actually responded to them as if they were replying directly to the helpdesk team members.

The helpdesk team members were also very pleased with the solution. They stated that they felt like they could spend more time focusing resolving trouble tickets, rather than maintaining trouble tickets.