MnSCU Desire2Learn Helpdesk Providing D2L Support to all Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

Background MnSCU ITS requested a bid on the system wide D2L helpdesk – Spring 2004 MSU Mankato ITS won the bid for this service – Summer 2004 Service Began in August 2004

What is D2L Support Services? Online Knowledgebase oPowered by RightNow Technologies D2L Help Desk o7 days/week, 7:30a-11:30p o4 full time staff including a staff RightNow Administrator o5 student employees (specific to D2L Help Desk, nights and weekends) o10 student employees (Mankato Help Desk—priority shifts for D2L Help Desk)

How Does It Work? Campus provides link to knowledgebase oDesire2Learn LoginDesire2Learn Login End-User can… oSearch/browse faq’s, “Google-like” search oSubmit questions to the Help Desk (toll free number) oSupply feedback on faq’s oView previous or in process incidents

Statistics (August 19th - March 7th) hits o96094 pages viewed o13203 searches o2598 questions submitted Total incidents: 2705 oFrom: 37 different institutions 1,946 individuals

Review of RightNow Stats Show reports

Survey Results Survey recently completed – sent out and summary prepared by Office of the Chancellor staff – see handhout oIssues resolved oQuality of response oResponse time oHelpfulness oFinding answers oEase of using oWillingness to recommend What follows are the 6 recommendations and our action steps

1. Focus on faculty support and improve their satisfaction. a. The Help Desk was initially designed to primarily assist students and faculty with Level I incidents. Many/most campuses provided some/most/all faculty training and support locally. b. As the number of incidents, FAQs, and responses increased, we have expanded the service to include more faculty specific support. c. The knowledge base is the primary vehicle for researching questions. We encourage the faculty to continue using the system, expanding the FAQs in the process.

2. Assess customer service skills of all help desk staff. Improve interpersonal communication … a. Additional training for D2L Help Desk student support personnel has begun with an emphasis on customer service and professionalism. b. D2L Help Desk students are now given instruction in customer service skills alongside our MSU Help Desk students who provide Level I support. c. We have an ongoing program that provides for review of written responses to incidents and follow-up with the student that made the entry. d. The system has a process for providing feedback to FAQs which is used to update the FAQ and provide input to the administrator. e. An incident closure message has been implemented which provides the phone numbers of staff members and an address to send in comments about the service.

3. Budget permitting, consider adding live phone support and/or live online support. a. This service exists now. b. All campuses have been made aware of the toll free number. Most do not provide it to users since the primary vehicle for the Help Desk is the Right Now knowledge base. c. The phone number is sent to all clients when they submit an incident through Right Now.

4. Measure response times for all three user groups to achieve desired turn-around goals a. Added Metrics module – immediate feedback and follow-up b. Looking to separate data by campus for personalized support

5. Add better keywords to FAQ’s for more meaningful, effective searches. a. This is improving and will continue to improve as the FAQs expand. b. Keywords are being added when searches fail. c. Right Now is working to improve the search capabilities using a Google-like search algorithm.

6. Determine a means for faculty to zero in on faculty- specific FAQ’s … a. This feature exists in the current system if “faculty” is picked for status and a campus is entered. Use of keyword search is improved with the latest releases. b. We are looking to improve documentation for distribution to the community by making use of documentation provided at individual campuses that can be applied system wide. Some campuses have excellent documentation, others are limited. c. As customers become more familiar with the system, they often find its usefulness improves without having any training provided.

Additional Items Added escalation note in each trouble ticket – Mgr number Training for entire MSU team with D2L in January Participated in MnSCU Site Admin forums in Alex and Mankato All MSU help desk staff trained and supporting D2L helpdesk