Service Desk Institute

30 Best Practice Service Desk Performance Measures

These performance measures are industry recognised best practice measures and should form the core of every service desks regular reporting metrics.

Published August 2013

Enjoyed this free guide? Get instant access to hundreds more like it with SDI membership. Why members join us - and stick with us
The Service Desk Institutes entire research library is available to all our members giving them instant access to one of the most extensive research libraries in the Service Desk community. In such a fast paced industry staying up-to-date with current trends, thought leadership and best practices can be difficult but with our research and insights you can have it all delivered straight to your inbox without the need to search. Comprehensive, informative and useful, our easy to read guides and research papers offer Service Desk professionals practical advice and insights on all aspects of Service Desk management from metrics to customer satisfaction and best practice processes.

A membership package that fulls all your Service Desk needs

Insights & Reports Tailored exclusively to the Service Desk community and delivered straight to your inbox every month to ensure youre kept up-to date. Events A range of tailored one-day events will help to keep your service skills sharp, your knowledge up-to-date and your network well connected.

Just some of our insightful reports...

Raising The Morale Of Your Service Desk Team Marketing Your Service Desk In A Positive Light Whats Your Value? The Power Of Complaints Guide To Social Media The Essential Service Desk Processes Gamication Guide To Service Catalogues

Find out more information about membership and get instant access today
Contact the SDI team on 01689 889100, email hello@sdi-e.com or alternatively visit our website for more details here www.servicedeskinstitute.com/membership/

@sdi_institute

Declaration
We believe the information in this document to be accurate, relevant and truthful based on our experience and the information provided to us to date. All information is provided in good faith, in condence and in the best interests of SDI and our clients. Please contact Daniel Wood on + 44 (0)1689 889100 to discuss any questions or further requirements or email research@sdi-europe.com Prepared by Daniel Wood Head of Research, SDI

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

Introduction
Established for 12 years, the SDI best practice service desk standard has helped organisations across the world achieve a globally recognised Service Desk Certication (SDC). As anyone who has been through the certication process will attest, it is an incredibly challenging but rewarding one that can set you on the right path to achieve the improvements that you want and offers the support and guidance to make sure that you can achieve your goals. Of the nine concepts that comprise the SDC standard, eight are non-prescriptive which means that every organisation will approach the requirements of the standard in different ways. The one concept that is different to this, is the performance measures concept, in that the more of the metrics that you measure, the higher your maturity rating for that concept will be. These performance measures are industry recognised best practice and should form the core of every service desks metrics, not just those that are considering or are currently pursuing service desk certication.

@sdi_institute

Performance Measure Maturity Levels

Each of the nine concepts of SDC has different measures that need to be followed in order to achieve certication. Each of these measures is broken down into four maturity ratings which correspond to the star rating. For the performance measures concept, the four maturity levels are as below, and are the same for each performance measure. Maturity levels 1. Reactive service desk routinely collects data on the performance measure 2. Proactive service desk routinely collects data and compares results to its goals 3. Customer-led service desk collects data, compares results to its goals, and data has been collected, compared, and reported for the last 6 months 4. Business-led service desk has met its goals for several reporting periods and trends indicate consistent results for at least one year

Setting targets All of the 30 performance measures should have a Specic Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely (SMART) target. All should also be trended over periods of 3,6 and 12 months. All targets should be reviewed at least annually to ensure that with the passage of time and change they continue to stretch the organisation. Sample Graph To conform to the SDC standard, the graph for each metric be presented in a similar way to the one below. It should contain data for a 12 month period; have a goal or target line; show the trend of the data; and be presented in a clear, concise and consistent standard format.

Other options to display data include dashboards and RAG reporting.

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

What The Maturity Levels Mean

REACTIVE Initial development Minimal statistics Fire-ghting and chaotic Unable to change or inuence operations Tools not helping staff Lack of process Staff attrition PROACTIVE Structured processes and procedures Developing reporting and analysis Better tools and implementation Establishing consistent report Training and staff development Developing communications with IT and the business Stable staffing levels

CUSTOMER LED SLAs and OLAs implemented Account management and reviews Customer surveys and reviews KPIs linked to SLAs and OLAs Staff reward and recognition Industry recognised measures Wider ITSM implementation Mature internal marketing BUSINESS LED Service costs and business value reviewed High degree of accountability Performance and reward related to business value Demonstrable management of business risk Key part of development and implementation process Focal point of ITSM processes

5
WORLD CLASS Continual and repeatable business-led delivery Constantly reviewed and optimised services and operations Further commitments to quality and business improvements Continual service improvement embedded into the organisation

@sdi_institute

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

30 Metrics Every Service Desk Should Be Measured On

1. Reporting activities Accurate information is consistently produced and distributed to relevant stakeholders in order to support business objectives. Why its important? Reporting is used to underpin management decision making based on empirical data, rather than just gut-feel and experience. 2. Business related metrics Business success is clearly incorporated into the service desks metrics monitoring and reporting. Why its important? Provides important information on how the support operation is performing in terms of business success. 3. Number of incidents and service requests The number of incidents and service requests reported to the service desk by channel (phone, e-mail, user logging, live chat, SMS, social media, etc.) is monitored, managed and measured routinely and consistently. Why its important? This measure is quite straightforward in that it simply measures how many incidents or service requests the service desk receives. This can also be broken down by channel, i.e. phone, email, live chat, in-person etc. Typically, the volume of incidents and service requests will be recorded by your ITSSM tool. For this measure, you need to have a goal for incidents and service requests; make sure that every incident and service request is logged; trend data over a 3, 6, and 12 month period; and make sure the data is trending towards the goal. Measuring the volume of calls enables you to create an effective and robust staffing model; allow you to see when your busy periods are by highlighting peaks and troughs;

@sdi_institute

ensure that you have enough resources; and understand through what channels your calls are coming in from. 4. Average time to respond The service desk routinely and consistently collects and analyses the average time it takes to respond to an incident or service request by channel or method (i.e. phone, e-mail, self-logging, live chat, SMS, social media). Why its important? For this measure, you need to record how long it has taken to respond to an incident or service request. This will typically be recorded by your ITSSM tool. Knowing how long it takes to respond is a key measure because it is a key indicator of how your service desk is performing. If a customer has to wait a long time for their call to be acknowledged, this will likely lead to dissatisfaction. Working with this metric and breaking down time to respond by analyst or channel enables you to make improvements and identify training needs. 5. Abandon Rate The service desk routinely and consistently collects and analyses data about the percentage of user telephone calls that are terminated prior to establishing contact with a support analyst. Why its important? The abandon rate is one of the most important metrics you can measure because this informs you as to the availability of your service desk to respond to customers. Understanding the abandon rate will inform staffing and resource management and will allow you to better plan for peaks and troughs. If high abandon rates coincide with a major incident, it would be worth considering leaving an automated message to ensure customers know you are aware of the issue and that you are taking remedial action. 6. Average time taken to resolve incidents or full service requests The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the average time taken to resolve incidents and full service requests and compares it to the goals/ objectives detailed in the service level agreement (SLA). Why its important? This metric looks at how quickly you resolve incidents and compares these resolution gures to the goals in the SLA. Many service desks will categorise their priorities in order of severity or severity (P1, P2, P3 for example), where P1s will have the lowest time to resolve (say 4 hours) and working back from there. This is an area where aggregate

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

scoring would be of benet in understanding whether SLAs overall were being met in principle. It offers a clear indication of how your service desk is performing against the obligations and agreements you have with your customers. 7. First contact incident resolution and request fullment rate The service desk routinely and consistently collects and analyses data about the percentage of resolved incidents and fullled service requests that are completed to enduser satisfaction during the initial call or electronic exchange between end-users and the service desk, excluding the entitlement procedure. Why its important? First contact resolution (sometimes referred to as rst time x) is a resolution that is enacted during the initial contact with the customer without the call being passed on to someone else. It is therefore fundamentally different to rst level (or line) x rate, which concerns incidents that are resolved at rst level (service desk) without being escalated to a resolver team (2nd and 3rd line). Customers who contact the service desk expect a swift and speedy resolution, and rst contact resolution offers exactly that. Knowing the rst contact resolution rate is important as it gives you an understanding of the competency level of your Analysts and the type and difficulty of the incidents that your Analysts are attempting to grapple with. FCR also allows you to understand the complexity of the incidents your service desk handles. 8. First level incident resolution and request fullment rate The service desk routinely and consistently collects and analyses the percentage of resolved incidents and fullled service requests that are completed to the end- users satisfaction at the service desk without escalating to other support groups. Why its important? Determines, in conjunction with FCR, the overall skill, expertise and effectiveness of your service desk. 9. Re-opened incident rate The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of closed incidents and service requests subsequently re-opened for additional follow-up. Why its important? This metric looks at incidents that have been closed in a way that is unsatisfactory to the customer or incidents that have been incorrectly closed.

@sdi_institute

Understanding why incidents have been re-opened is important because it identies possible training needs (or a particular customer group whose needs are not fully understood) for staff to close incidents in a satisfactory way. Some desks will have a xed time period in which an incident can be re-opened (say 3 days) by the customer informing the service desk that the incident was not xed to their satisfaction. If the service desk has not heard back from the customer within 3 days, the incident is automatically closed. Looking at the re-open incident process allows the desk to understand if the current incident closure process is effective. 10. Backlog Management The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the total number of open incidents or service requests compared to their age across all support groups and uses it to effect swift resolutions. Why its important? This metric looks at the number of open incidents. This can either be recorded by the ITSSM tool or is a manual process. Its also worth considering assigning someone to monitor the backlog data to see why the calls are still outstanding and how they will be resolved. This is called the TRIAGE process. Understanding what calls are still open and why is an incredibly useful process. It allows you to identify if calls are being closed correctly; if calls are being escalated in the proper way; what action needs to be taken to resolve the open incidents; and why these incidents have not been resolved thus far. Is it a case that more information is required or that more expertise is needed? Backlog data can also identify if there is a lack of resource on the service desk, hence why so many incidents are still unresolved. 11. Percentage of hierarchic escalations (management notication) The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of incidents or service requests escalated to management in order to avoid a developing SLA breach. Why its important? This metric measures the number of incidents escalated up to management so their expertise can deliver a x. An incident might also be escalated because of a customer complaint or because the customer wants to speak to a team leader or manager. Its important to measure how many incidents are escalated to management as this will help to identify if there are any training and/or empowerment issues. Are incidents being escalated in this way because the analysts lack the knowledge required to solve to incident themselves? Do they lack the authority to decide which actions may be acceptable to the customer and the support organisation? If so, perhaps knowledge can be cascaded down from management to analysts to enable more xes without the need

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

10

to escalate. It will also allow you to see how much resource is taken by management xing incidents, handling customer complaints and feedback. Finally, by checking a selection of incidents hierarchically escalated, you can see if the escalation process is working and whether the correct type of incidents are being escalated. 12. Percentage of functional escalations (re-assignment) The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of incidents, and service or change requests that are transferred to a technical team with a higher level of expertise in order to avoid an SLA breach developing and to monitor the ticket transfer rate between support groups. Why its important? Functional escalations are distinctly different from hierarchic escalations in that this type of escalation is to another team and not management. One way of thinking of it is that hierarchic is up and functional escalation is sideways. Functional escalations are incidents passed to resolver teams (2nd and 3rd line). Much like hierarchic escalation, functional escalation enables you to understand the number of incidents being passed to the resolver teams and trends during a period of time. It enables you to see if training courses have been effective and can be useful in identifying future training needs. By manually looking through some of the incidents escalated, you will begin to understand what incidents most commonly require external assistance and whether training for the 1st line team will have benets in terms of driving down the number of escalations and increasing the rst level x rate. Understanding escalations provides a key way to plug any knowledge gaps within your team, to make sure you have the necessary resources to deliver the service you want, and to handle the number of incidents being escalated to your resolver teams. 13. Average resolution time by priority The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the average length of time taken to resolve incidents analysed by their priority. Why its important? Much like the percentage of incidents resolved within SLA, this metric measures how you are performing against your different priority levels. It enables you to see if the priority categorisations are correct and if you are meeting your targets on a regular basis. It is important to look carefully at the exceptions (i.e. the ones that have breached) to understand why they have breached and what can to done in the

11
future to prevent them from breaching again.

@sdi_institute

14. Average resolution time by incident category and service request type The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the average time required to process/resolve a user incident or service request based on incident category or service request type. Why its important? This metric looks specically at incidents resolved within the set categories the service desk has decided. These might typically include: categories for password resets, security, hardware errors, etc. This metric is distinctly different from resolution by priority type. Measuring the resolution time by incident category allows you to see the most common incidents and how quickly they are resolved. Like the resolution time by priority, its important to look at the exceptions to see what incidents have exceeded their goal or target time for resolution. The ones that are exceptions present an opportunity to provide Analysts with additional training as part of the service improvement process. Recording incidents by category also allows you to build a list of the most common incidents your service desk attends to, and again, you can track this over time to see any changes. Youll also be able to see what categories of incidents take the most time to resolve and which ones are quick xes. 15. Comparison of overall service level goals to actual results The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about its service level commitments and compares it to its actual performance results. Why its important? This measure allows you to understand how you are performing against the agreements you have with your customers. Service levels are often classed by priority (P1, P2, P3 etc.) with P1 being the highest priority with the lowest agreed time to x. Measuring this metric allows you to ascertain whether the priority levels are correct or if theyre unobtainable. For example, if you are consistently breaching priority levels, it could be the case that the agreed resolution times need to be changed or that you require more resources to make them achievable. This is an area where aggregate scoring would be of benet in understanding whether priority levels overall were being met in principle. 16.Remote control monitoring measured against goals The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the frequency that remote control tools are used and compares the results to its goals.

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

12

Why its important? Measuring remote control usage is vital as it provides real insight into the abilities of your Analysts. Some points you can deduce from remote support monitoring are: who is using remote support? What incidents is it most successful at xing? What customers can remote support be used for are there some that refuse to allow analysts to connect to their machine in this way? Measuring remote support usage will enable you to determine whether the investment in these tools is justied. Measuring who uses remote support is a great way to identify any nascent training needs if its not being used, why isnt it? Are analysts unsure of how to use it or perhaps they are uncomfortable offering support in this way? These are revealing ndings that will help to train and educate your service desk. 17. Self-logging monitoring measured against goals The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of incidents and service requests reported using self-logging channels and compares the result to its goals. Why its important? This technology, also known as always on technology, allows your end users to access, log and progress their incidents and service requests even when the service desk is closed. The same goals and targets will be enforced. 18. Self-help monitoring measured against goals The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of resolved incidents and fullled service requests that are assisted by self-help tools and compares the result to its goals. Why its important? This facility enables end users to refer to online tutorials, FAQs, and other support information in order to resolve basic incidents and service requests without service desk intervention. 19. Knowledge Usage The service desk collects and analyses data about the number of times knowledge is used and compares the results to its goals.

13
Why its important?

@sdi_institute

Knowledge is an important and valuable commodity, and thus you must be able to determine who is using it and how often. 20. Quality of knowledge and its effectiveness The service desk collects and analyses data about the quality and effectiveness of knowledge and compares the results to its goals. Why its important? Knowledge needs to be maintained, refreshed and retired as appropriate to ensure that it reects the current infrastructure and supported software. The Analyst is required to rate knowledge articles based on their effectiveness in resolving the incident/service request that the article refers to. 21. Monitoring incidents caused by failed changes measured against goals The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the percentage of incidents caused by failed changes and compares the result to its goals. Why its important? The one thing guaranteed within support is that change is constant and therefore changes which fail need to be measured to understand the successfulness of the change management process. 22. Total cost of service delivery The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the total cost of running its operation and can identify the cost of delivering service per customer group. Why its important? It is important to understand the cost of delivering service to each customer group. 23. Average cost per incident and service request (cost per contact) The service desk consistently collects data about the average cost and service request per incident and service request of the service desks operation (including people, support infrastructure, overheads). Why its important? Service desk management needs to understand the cost per incident and service request

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

14

on a regular basis to determine whether these costs are uctuating over time. 24. Average cost per incident and service request by channel The service desk routinely and consistently collects data about the relative cost of incidents and service requests by channel i.e. telephone, email, live chat, SMS, selfservice, social media, walk in. Why its important? Due to the need to provide end users with multiple channels by which to log their incidents and service requests, the Service Desk Manager needs to understand which channels are the most cost effective and target their use appropriate. 25. People satisfaction feedback There is a feedback procedure to measure overall staff satisfaction through data collection and analysis, and it solicits suggestions to improve the work environment. Data collected is used to develop action plans. Why its important? Service desks is only as good as the people who work there, so its vital to determine whether staff are satised and fullled. This information should be used to drive improvements to the working environment. 26. Staff turnover The service desk maintains adequate staff continuity to ensure that service levels are consistently met. Why its important? To maintain consistent levels of service delivery its important to understand to understand the rate of staff turnover. These measurements inform the planning process to ensure that adequate levels of staffing are maintained. 27. Unplanned absence days Unplanned absence days are tracked separately from time lost due to planned absence, short-term disability or long-term disability. Why its important? Monitoring unplanned absence enables management to proactively plan a provision of

15
adequate resources to maintain the service delivery cycle. 28. Periodic customer satisfaction measurement

@sdi_institute

Periodic customer satisfaction measurement methods are in place to regularly assess the level of overall satisfaction in relation to the key metrics of the service desk (e.g. quality of support, accessibility, time to resolution, etc.). Why its important? To understand end user overall satisfaction levels with the service delivered. In this way, end user dissatisfaction may be addressed through the continual service improvement process. 29. Event-based customer satisfaction measurement An event-based customer satisfaction measurement procedure is in place to regularly assess satisfaction associated with individual incidents and service requests. Why its important? To understand end user satisfaction levels with the service delivered on a specic incident or service request. In this way, end user dissatisfaction may be addressed through the continual service improvement process. 30. Complaints, suggestions and compliments All complaints, suggestions, and compliments are routinely collected from all possible sources and through all possible methods and they are measured in accordance with clear process and performance targets. Why its important? This metric looks for specic measurements regarding positive and negative feedback received from customers and end users including complaints and compliments. This provides management with an understanding of customers levels of perception and satisfaction and enables trends to be identied and collected.

www.servicedeskinstitute.com

16

The Metrics Checklist

How does your Service Desk measure up against the best practice standard for performance metrics? Use the checklist below to give yourself an overview of the measures you have in place and identify the ones you need to action. Reporting activities Business related metrics Number of incidents and service requests Average time to respond Abandon Rate Average time taken to resolve incidents or full service requests First Contact Resolution Rate (FCR) First Level Resolution Rate Re-opened incident rate Backlog Management People satisfaction feedback Hierarchic escalations (management) Functional escalations (re-assignment) Average resolution time by priority Average resolution time by incident category and service request type Comparison of overall service level goals to actual results Remote control monitoring measured against goals Download the full SDC Standard here www.bit.ly/sdcpocketguide Staff turnover Unplanned absence days Periodic customer satisfaction measurement Event-based customer satisfaction measurement Complaints, suggestions and compliments Quality of knowledge and its effectiveness Monitoring incidents caused by failed changes measured against goals Total cost of service delivery Average cost per incident and service request (cost per contact) Average cost per incident and service request by channel Self-help monitoring measured against goals Knowledge Usage Self-logging monitoring measured against goals

17

@sdi_institute

About SDI
About The Service Desk Institute (SDI) Founded in 1988, the Service Desk Institute (SDI) is the leading authority on service desk and IT support related issues, providing specialist information and research about the technologies, tools and trends of the industry. It is Europes only support network for IT service desk professionals, and its 800 organisation members span numerous industries. Acting as an independent adviser, SDI captures and disseminates creative and innovative ideas for tomorrows service desk and support operation. SDI sets the best practice standards for the IT support industry and is the conduit for delivering knowledge and career enhancing skills to the professional community, through membership, training, conferences, events and its publication SupportWorld magazine. It also offers the opportunity for international recognition of the support centre operation through its globally recognised Service Desk Certication audit programme.

Contact SDI
Service Desk Institute 21 High Street Green Street Green Orpington Kent BR6 6BG 01689 889100 hello@sdi-e.com @sdi_institute www.servicedeskinstitute.com