Requirements of GovComm Inc.’s

Whenever an organization decides to buy, the decision is always an aftermath of a series of processes. The decision may be instantaneous or take a long time though buying is a process and not an event (Woodruff, 2005). No matter the length of the process the origin is when a company becomes aware of the need (Woodruff, 2005). The need is then identified and the organizations searches for avenues through which the needs can be met. In the process of information or data gathering, the criteria that will be used in buying affects the buying process and should therefore be evaluated and refined.

It is advisable for organizations to choose a few alternatives that are considered to be the best from the lot. Once a decision in reached and a choice made the purchase is made which is another process that can be quite time consuming (Woodruff, 2005). In summary, the decision to buy can be broken into five stages in which the first three are also constituted in a decision to build: ? Identification ? Searching ? Evaluation ? Decision ? Purchase ? Reevaluation i. Identification This is the phase in which the organization realizes that it has a need that can be met by an Automated office systems support.

The identification could be as a result of the failure of the system that they are using, increased competition from their rivals who have automated or as a strategy to gain some competitive leverage on players in the industry who are still implementing the manual system or are using a poor automated system. ii. Searching GovComm Inc. ’s Engineering is an engineering consultant is an organization that offers support services to individual or companies that may be in need of help as far engineering considerations are concerned terephthalatepolyethylene waste pet plastic china.

One of the most important aspect of their operation is that they are into service delivery and therefore meeting the needs of the customers requires quick response as it contributes a great deal to customer satisfaction. Moreover, the organization is in a period of active development and is therefore more focussed on strategic directions that are aimed at establishing it in the industry. The organization's operational environment is characterized by the following.?

The data stored by the organization is quite volatile and is likely to change at any time as the number of people requiring their services and the type of their requirements vary greatly. ? This being a service provision sector the services of GovComm Inc. ’s Engineering are in demand all day, everyday. And therefore the organizations help desk is always busy with activities though the other areas are quite under utilized. ? As service provision sector quality of service and response time greatly affect the perception of the customers and the marketability of the services.

GovComm Inc. ’s Engineering developmental strategy is therefore aimed at the ensuring customer satisfaction as a means to economic growth. ? Research into the needs of the customer is the basis on which developmental agendas are built. The organization is characterized by a large volume of data from research carried out within and without the organization. Moreover, the data is of very varied format and trends show that the formats depend largely on the prevailing technology. ? The organization has a considerable resource base and access to a number of financial lenders.

The workers in the organization have a well developed culture and the main implementation mechanism is through team work. ? GovComm Inc. ’s Engineering implements an all inclusive system of government where the opinions of all the stakeholders is largely influential on the policies that the organization adopts. ? The organization is often faced with legal challenges especially in customer service and therefore the integrity, availability and security of data is important to the organization.

The organizational strategies are aimed at transparency and marketing is done through all the common media including the internet. Furthermore, the organization is highly reliant on the customer feedback in evaluating progress and ensuring operations. In general, the organization rationale in the implementation of an automated office Helpdesk system is aimed at meeting its data requirements so as to ensure efficient asset tracking, failure notification and collection of metrics. Requirements of Helpdesk Automation i.

Deployments and configuration The software deployed should give optimum combination of solutions to management problem, the capabilities of the system should be optimum and display high degree of flexibility in meeting the data and information needs of GovComm Inc. ’s Engineering. The software deployed should give room for the customer to choose the elements that are of importance to his or her needs. In GovComm, Inc. ’s Engineering several departments have varied needs and the nature of their needs vary significantly.

Deploying a software from which each of the department members can choose what functionality they really require from is important in ensuring that the software meets the needs of the organization as a whole. Moreover, it is advisable to choose a non-prescriptive Helpdesk support that can easily be configured to meet businesses processes that are not defined within its requirements, thus ensuring flexibility. The software should be easy to configure and application templates that come with some software may help in this and ensure that the aid of a support programmer is not necessary.

To ensure this a number of wizards and an easy to implement and work on design interface should characterize the automated system so as to aid the modification of the system by IT professionals without necessarily seeking specialist help. ii. Incident Management A good system should provide the customer with instant or quick access to service desk, irrespective of the media that the customer has used. Therefore, the system should be portable to telephones, mails and web to ensure that the support to customer is thee when he/she needs it.

The inclusion of a interface that is rich in window and web based client features may go a long way in ensuring that the support staff are accessible regardless of heir physical location. The look of the key interface that aids the interaction between the user and the system should promote familiarity and the system should be knowledgeable enough to provide relevant assistance to the user within a single interface. iii. Asset Management The asset management mechanism implemented by the system should be very powerful.

This will ensure the efficient and effective tracking of IT related assets and thus their management. The features implemented by the automated Helpdesk support should ensure that the tracking, history, ownership, assignment, configuration and location of a data item is done in an easy manner, and thus puts the organization in control over its data requirements. The system should also allow for the integration with tools that will ensure that the information kept by the system is as per the existing infrastructure changes and thus accurate.

This is ensured by the implementation of a database system that is automatically updated and visible to all users and thus the data kept is relevant, current and secure. In addition, the integration with tolls that asses the system remotely is desirable as it provides unlimited single interface for controlling procedures remotely and thus providing a great opportunity for the delivery of first-time fix. iv. Knowledge Base The automated system should have capabilities that make it knowledgeable and intelligent.

Intelligent systems are quite interactive and are easy to use as they aid the user not only in using them but also in ensuring that the user does his/her work accurately. The system should be able to work with a variety of data formats, this may be implemented by implementing a platform independent interface. Moreover the system should be able to work with structured knowledge documents, create them and should be able to automatically adjust itself to handle shifting workloads and thus perform optimally. The inclusion of mechanisms and procedures that aids error detection and automatic error correction mechanism is also desirable.

Moreover, the system should be able to automatically shut down so as to prevent further damage in cases where the system is faced with fatal errors. Furthermore, the implementation of a profiling mechanism by the system in handling problems helps in the definition of solutions to some of the common problems and issues. Moreover, a predefined script that guide inexperienced users through a series of well structured questions will help the user in adapting and answering problems that may present challenge in the operational environment.

In fact a good system as per this consideration is one that provides this additional capabilities with no extra modules or charges. v. Scheduling One of the most important functions of an office is scheduling. An automated Helpdesk support system should be able to implement the scheduling and calendar functionality with much ease. A mechanism that ensures that the implementation of the calendars takes on either personal or shared aspects is also necessary. Moreover, resource sharing and multi-time zone support and scheduling of resources is needed by any serious organization.

These facilities and functionalities enable efficient time management of people and resources, customers and call assignments. vi. Service Level Management Management of every software plays a very important part in the determination of its efficiency in meeting the needs and data requirements of an organization. It is quite desirable that a system implemented by an organization implement a decentralized approach to management. The system implemented should provide each user with system utility programs that enable them to use the system effectively.

The utilities should define options with regards to escalation and notifications which may include pop-up messengers, e-mails and even texts to phones. Such mechanisms will ensure that no calls are unattended before their deadlines and warning o support staff. The system should also be configured in such a manner that the services of a third party provider can easily be monitored. vii. Reporting The system implemented should provide a range of tools and features that provide the capability for management reporting ability with a number of predefined reports (Endrijjonas, 2005).

The system should present tools that aid the design of simple ad-hoc reports through textual and graphical formats; and a capability for periodic execution, with automated management via mail. Moreover the system should have the capabilities if distributed management of customers via such protocols as FTP, mail or use of the internet or Intranet. viii. Self service One of the most recent application of Internet is aimed at giving more power to the consumer (Endrijjonas, 2005).

Automation is generally aimed at making work easier and thus delegation of duties to the customer is seen to go in line with this objective. Implementation of a web based platform through which the customer can interact with the company is seen to go in line with self service. A good system should implement interface that allow the customers to manage, log on to the business website, provide access to knowledgebase, give recommendations and in general provide self service for the customers.