Bundle and structure support - completely sorted and tidy
The IT department of the Hessian district town of Friedberg wanted to purchase a new ticket system in order to be able to process support requests in a structured manner. With the "acmp Suite", it installed a solution that also allows the creation of a comprehensive support knowledge database. The municipality can also use the integrated client management to distribute software updates automatically and centrally - a significant relief for the IT department.
The system house ProLan Computer GmbH (one of the IT partners of the Friedberg municipal administration) knows how important a ticket system for processing support cases is for a municipal administration. Jens Elsdörfer from ProLan: "We looked around the market and found that aagon offered the best price-performance ratio for client management solutions."
As part of the inter-municipal cooperation (IKZ) of some municipalities in the Wetterau district, which also includes the Friedberg municipal administration, the ticket system was even the trigger for the purchase of a client management system with integrated helpdesk functionality. As a result, the Friedberg municipal administration introduced the "acmp Suite" in January 2016. The implementation and training phase went smoothly, and the system was well and immediately accepted by the clerks in the individual offices.
Structuring support requests
The adjustments in the program were even greater than expected in terms of their possibilities and allowed for good system preparation. The helpdesk module with its diverse presettings therefore required a good week of preparatory work. The test phase then lasted another week. Around 170 users in 16 branch offices of the Friedberg city administration submit inquiries to their IT department every day about a wide variety of problems - previously in parallel by telephone and e-mail, with the e-mail inquiries in Outlook being randomly added to the support team's other incoming mail. There was no bundling and structuring of support requests. This made it difficult to quickly classify error cases, prioritize them and process them quickly.
Friedberg is therefore right in the middle of the client management process. Parallel to using the helpdesk, Thomas Rose and his colleague H. Cacalano have already integrated the first applications via client commands together with ProLan. "Software distribution with the client management system is far more than just a goodie," says the IT manager.
Thomas Rose, IT Manager in Friedberg
The ticket system now provides a clear overview of all support cases, within which users can search. Via an operating module of the client management system, the user calls up a form field that ProLan designed in collaboration with the municipality and kept simple. As soon as the user has sent the request or form, it immediately appears as a new task in the interface of the helpdesk application in the IT department.
Almost no more calls are received
Thomas Rose, Head of IT in Friedberg: "Almost no more calls are received, no more casual approaches, no more emails regarding support requests." IT works with a completely tidy ticket system, which received 190 tickets three months after its introduction.
Faults can be sorted in the system according to the type of problem (hardware, software, etc.), user and client, including Active Directory integration. There are options for setting up follow-ups and commenting on requests - Thomas Rose thinks this is brilliant for IT administrators. This is because it can also create evaluations: Which problems occur most frequently in which period and on which clients? This in turn allows dedicated conclusions to be drawn about which components, systems or, for example, a printer will need to be replaced in the near future.
The IT department in Friedberg is also planning to create a knowledge database with FAQs from the previous support cases. With just two people, the team can now provide better structured support with optimized work performance.
Visualize personal support cases
One minute after submitting a support request, the administrative employee receives confirmation that it has been received and is being processed. They can then track the status of troubleshooting via a self-service portal. The IT department is also able to distribute new software via a ticket.
Update Citrix, Java and Adobe Flash
The municipality takes a hybrid approach to its software landscape. It obtains some of the standard municipal applications, such as the "newsystem kommunal" financial procedure, from its data center service provider. Others - including, for example, the enforcement and cemetery management systems - are installed on its own servers.
Even before the client management system was introduced, the IT department was already using a similar program for Java and Flash distribution. However, this was complex and expensive and could not be used globally for all applications. "You always had the feeling that you had to check whether the distribution was really working," says Thomas Rose.
The aagon suite is completely different: from the IT manager's point of view, it is easy to access and understand and reliable in its distribution. We started with automatic updates for Java and Flash, followed by the installation of the latest Internet Explorer version 11, and the next planned updates are for the payroll software in the HR department.
The IT department does not update the applications obtained from the data center with the solution - this is naturally done by the data center operator. However, the clerks access the programs via Citrix clients.
When the order came recently to switch to the latest Citrix version 4-4 within a few weeks in order to continue to have access, the software distribution via aagon acmp was worth its weight in gold. "In the past, we would have had to run around personally and install the new version on our 50 Citrix clients; now we can do this automatically and from a central location," says Thomas Rose. System partner ProLan created a corresponding client command for this special client in collaboration. Fortunately, the effort involved is limited, so that the corresponding follow-up costs are also minimal.
Conclusion
In the future, the IT manager also wants to include other applications hosted in-house in client management.
We would also like to be able to send an image directly when creating a ticket via the client command. Such a new function is already being discussed with ProLan and the software developer.
Summary
The processing of technical support requests should lead the IT department of the city of Friedberg away from traditional e-mail and telephone traffic towards a more professional environment. To this end, the local authority installed a client management system with an integrated helpdesk.
The IT administrators work in a more structured way with the ticket system, as it simplifies the support structures enormously. The system also helps to increase the quality of service and support and to save costs. And all this with greater transparency and significantly improved time management.
Workstations to be connected:
170
Products used:
acmp Core, acmp Desktop Automation, acmp Helpdesk
Benefits:
Clear structures and simplification in daily IT work. Various possibilities to search for requests, statistically narrow down problem cases, set up a knowledge database, overview of work performed.
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