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Title: AskIT Service Desk Support Value Model

Abstract

The value model discussed herein provides an accurate and simple calculation of the funding required to adequately staff the AskIT Service Desk (SD).  The model is incremental – only technical labor cost is considered.  All other costs, such as management, equipment, buildings, HVAC, and training are considered common elements of providing any labor related IT Service. Depending on the amount of productivity loss and the number of hours the defect was unresolved, the value of resolving work from the SD is unquestionably an economic winner; the average cost of $16 per SD resolution can commonly translate to cost avoidance exceeding well over $100. Attempting to extract too much from the SD will likely create a significant downside. The analysis used to develop the value model indicates that the utilization of the SD is very high (approximately 90%).  As a benchmark, consider a comment from a manager at Vitalyst (a commercial IT service desk) that their utilization target is approximately 60%.  While high SD utilization is impressive, over the long term it is likely to cause unwanted consequences to staff such as higher turnover, illness, or burnout.  A better solution is to staff the SD so that analysts have time to improve skills through training, developmore » knowledge, improve processes, collaborate with peers, and improve customer relationship skills.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1209464
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-26291
DOE Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
General & Miscellaneous(99)

Citation Formats

Ashcraft, Phillip Lynn, Cummings, Susan M., Fogle, Blythe G., and Valdez, Christopher D. AskIT Service Desk Support Value Model. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.2172/1209464.
Ashcraft, Phillip Lynn, Cummings, Susan M., Fogle, Blythe G., & Valdez, Christopher D. AskIT Service Desk Support Value Model. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1209464
Ashcraft, Phillip Lynn, Cummings, Susan M., Fogle, Blythe G., and Valdez, Christopher D. 2015. "AskIT Service Desk Support Value Model". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1209464. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1209464.
@article{osti_1209464,
title = {AskIT Service Desk Support Value Model},
author = {Ashcraft, Phillip Lynn and Cummings, Susan M. and Fogle, Blythe G. and Valdez, Christopher D.},
abstractNote = {The value model discussed herein provides an accurate and simple calculation of the funding required to adequately staff the AskIT Service Desk (SD).  The model is incremental – only technical labor cost is considered.  All other costs, such as management, equipment, buildings, HVAC, and training are considered common elements of providing any labor related IT Service. Depending on the amount of productivity loss and the number of hours the defect was unresolved, the value of resolving work from the SD is unquestionably an economic winner; the average cost of $16 per SD resolution can commonly translate to cost avoidance exceeding well over $100. Attempting to extract too much from the SD will likely create a significant downside. The analysis used to develop the value model indicates that the utilization of the SD is very high (approximately 90%).  As a benchmark, consider a comment from a manager at Vitalyst (a commercial IT service desk) that their utilization target is approximately 60%.  While high SD utilization is impressive, over the long term it is likely to cause unwanted consequences to staff such as higher turnover, illness, or burnout.  A better solution is to staff the SD so that analysts have time to improve skills through training, develop knowledge, improve processes, collaborate with peers, and improve customer relationship skills.},
doi = {10.2172/1209464},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1209464}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}