Common Issues with ITSM Ticketing / Workflow Systems Every IT Manager Might Face
The most common problem with any ITSM ticketing system such ServiceNow, Remedy, Freshdesk etc, is incorrect queue assignment by the 1st line support team also referred to as the IT helpdesk or service centre. Assigning an incident to the wrong support queue causes unnecessary delays in resolving the incident which ultimately has a negative impact on the Service Level agreement (SLA). The problem is further compounded when you outsource your IT department to a third party supplier who does not fully understand your infrastructure and the various teams that support it which then increases the chances of the incident being assigned to the wrong team in the first instance.
Pitfalls of raising an incident by telephone
The IT Helpdesk (Level 1) analyst has failed to properly diagnose the issue from the conversation with the end-user. They have then has created a new “incident record/ticket” in the ITSM software system and assigned it to the wrong support teams queue hoping it gets resolved.
In the above example, the issue is network related (Level 3), but the incident was incorrectly assigned to the (level 2) technical support team’s queue, which also reset’s the SLA timer, because different teams have different SLA’s response times independent of each other.
The level 2 support team respond to the new incident in their queue, their response is to assign it back to the IT helpdesk (Level1) queue, with notes that say:
“Incident not for our team, please perform some “triage” and assign to the correct team”
A different IT Helpdesk Analyst now picks up the incident but they are just as confused as the first Level 1 analyst, so they also assign the incident to the wrong queue, this time to the Database team (Level 3).
Finally, the Database team triage the incident and realise that is not a database issue but a network one. The database team now finally assigns it to the network team or sometimes even back to the IT helpdesk. (It has taken three unnecessary hops to get to the right queue, and it will take more time for the network team to diagnose and resolve the issue) The consequences of these actions causes a delay in resolving the end-user’s problem and potentially breaches the SLA.
Pitfalls of raising an incident by email
Almost identical to creating an incident by telephone, except this time the system automatically generates the incident/ticket into the ITSM system for you, and then assigns it to the Helpdesk queue by default.
The Level 1 analyst reads the email that is attached to the incident sent by the user, performs no basic troubleshooting / triage and just assigns the call to, this time let’s say the correct support queue which is for the Level 2 Technical Analyst team.
Depending then on which engineer picks up the ticket, two scenarios normally happen:
1. Level 2 rejects the incident back to the helpdesk saying there’s not enough information in the incident, “Please clarify the requirements from the end user” meaning the level 1 engineer now has to call the user and get more information which was not stated in the email. (The email only said “My Laptop broken please fix it)
2. Level 2 engineer says there’s not enough information in the incident/email and then decides to call the end-user themselves. (Very rare for a level 2 to do this unless its bonus season, or they are looking for a promotion)
Both the above scenarios equate to a “delay” in the response time/fix for the end-user which equates to a sub-standard service.
The only solution to the problem is KompiTech BLiTS Blockchain ITSM system:
BLiTS automatically assigns new incidents to the correct IT support teams (queue) using Machine Learning combined with blockchain technology.
Kompitech is so far the only ITSM Company that has been successfully able to converge the two technologies into one system, creating a new paradigm called BLITS which runs on KompiTech Blockchain Platform.
One of the Machine Learning (ML) ability is to accelerate the time it takes for blockchain to analyse data, and as the software is self-adaptive, it’s not always necessary to add new rules manually.
Automation (ticket assigning) technology explained
(N.B: This feature will only be available if you are using an existing ITSM System such as ServiceNow)
- BLiTS will first import all the resolved incidents from your existing ITSM System into the BLiTS blockchain;
- It will use these this data on resolved incidents to help it decide where to assign new incidents raised by self-service or by sending an email to the BLiTS. The BLiTS also helps Level 1 engineers that receive calls via telephone as they have access to the “Smart” dashboard;
- Resolved incidents in an ITSM system provide allot of information if you know what to look for. It provides an audit log of how the incident/ticket has travelled through the system and which team eventually resolved it and what actions were taken (The BLiTS platform is dependent on good data);
- The BLiTS system will scan the email it receives for “known” keywords. For example, “Outlook”, “Excel”, “My mouse”, “Printer has stopped working”, “I need access” or “Error message”.
It will then cross-reference these key words against the database of resolved incidents stored in the blockchain for similarities. When it finds a match, it will assign the new incident to the same support team queue that resolved the matched record. If for some reason this does not happen, i.e BLiTS has incorrectly assigned the incident to the wrong queue, it will continue to monitor the incident until it’s resolved (incident tracking) , and then will learn from it (Machine Learning) never to repeat the same mistake twice. It will also be flagged on the dashboard.
Monitoring / Alerting (detects problems proactively) technology explained
The BLiTS continuously monitors all events/incidents that are generated within it. It looks for patterns and irregularities. For example:
If the Blits identifies that in the last 5 mins, 10 new incidents have been raised that all contain the same keyword “Outlook not working”, it will interpret this as a major incident (Smart Contract) and will respond by sending an email to the major incident manager notifying them of this irregularity. Second, it will notify the technical team responsible for the “Email Infrastructure” to alert them also.
(More than 10 calls saying outlook does not work within 5 mins is a clear signs of a major outage, “infrastructure problem” as opposed to isolated incident on a single laptop/PC. The BLiTS knows this.)
- Self Service / AI “Level 0” Analyst
Users have the ability to raise incidents themselves by using the BLiTS “Self-Service” web portal.
- They can make request for new software, which when authorised will be automatically installed on their PC (Automation)
- Report issues by raising new incidents.
- Request access to shared mailbox’s (Automatically grant access once approved)
- Request access to shared folders (Automatically grant access once approved)
- Request access for new hardware (New laptop, Keyboard ETC)
The form for raising new incidents on BLiTS is more intuitive, its asks you questions so it can help resolve the issue automatically (AI Level 0 agent).
For instance:
It will ask the customer questions, and then use a logical flow chart “workflow” to either resolve the incident by showing/instructing the user on how to fix it. Or it will auto assign the incident to the right support team queue with 98.7% accuracy (accuracy relies on good data being inputted by the end-user).
For example, it will ask:
Is this the first time you have had this problem? (Yes/No) If No, Please tell us the name of the person who resolved it the last time (This will help identify the correct team to assign the incident too)
Has something changes recently on your PC/Laptop (new software installed, upgrade to Windows 10 (yes/No) If yes, please specify the change)
Have you rebooted your PC in the last 24 hours (yes/No) If no, Then please restart now and let the BLiTS know if this has resolved the problem.
Raising a new incident in the BLiTS system is like none other, the BLiTS “input form” for creating new tickets/incidents is very intuitive and “smart”.
For example, when you enter the host-name of your PC/Laptop in the “CI field” (Configuration item) the system will then automatically start retrieving all the previous “resolved” incidents/records that are contained in the blockchain for this CI. It will then present this vital information to the “level 1 engineer” via the BLiTS dashboard, giving the engineer a holistic view of information to help them diagnose and resolve incidents within SLA.
Having access to historical “resolved” incidents relating to the “same user” and “same hardware” helps technicians resolve the incident more efficiently and within SLA , furthermore it helps you to assign the incident to the right queue first time, which is based on who resolved it the last time.
When an incident is resolved in the BLiTS platform, the customer (end user) will receive a system generated email which shows the closure notes written by the engineer.
The customer will also have a link in the email that allows them to re-open the incident if they are not satisfied with the resolution (the customer feels the issue is not resolved) . When the link is clicked, it will redirect the user to the BLiTS web portal (custom dedicated form for re-open).
The user can then update the incident saying why it should be re-opened, then submit the form. The incident will automatically be re-opened and assigned to the person/or team who resolved the original incident (giving the end user the ability to reopen the incident with “one click” when they feel it is not resolved is more efficient than having the user call the helpdesk again to say the problem is not resolved).
The BLiTS Dashboard has charts (number of new incidents raised in the past 1h vs Number of incidents resolved in the last 1h):
KompiTech can design custom widgets and a personalised dashboard specific to client requirements. No two company use the same BLiTS dashboard.
Don’t delay and subscribe to BLiTS today. No other ITSM tool offers the same capabilities that BLiTS does. Please contact blits@kompitech.com for a free trial.
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