24
TOPdesk 5 Achieve more with fewer clicks July 2012, Issue 2, Volume 15 More in this issue: Stay in control / A user-friendly SSD/ Bring Your Own Device / TOPdesk presents
TOPdesk 5Achieve more with fewer clicks
July 2012, Issue 2, Volume 15
More in this issue:Stay in control / A user-friendly SSD/
Bring Your Own Device /TOPdesk presents
The Five
‘The Five’. These two words have been echoing around the TOPdesk
offices for the past two years. The Five is the new TOPdesk version
that has kept every department so hard at work. Hundreds of
colleagues in our offices in Delft, London, Kaiserslautern, Budapest,
Antwerp and Ballerup have been busy developing, building,
testing, discussing and planning in order to ensure a successful
release of ‘The Five’.
However, every time someone mentioned ‘The Five’, I couldn’t
help but think of the aptly titled children’s books by Enid Blyton.
Every holiday I would read her stories about the somewhat
twee adventures of four children and a dog. They could be quite
thrilling, but the adventures always ended well. And as I finished
each book, I was always eager to start reading the next one.
At TOPdesk we have been on our own Five adventure. That
adventure began almost 20 years ago with two students in
a basement in Delft. The adventure continues to this day,
encompassing over 400 people working in grown-up offices. As the
Five release date came closer with bugs still to fix, it was just as
thrilling. Luckily it also ended well, with a stunning premiere.
Enid Blyton wrote 21 books about The Famous Five. TOPdesk’s
adventure also does not end here, but will continue to develop
in the future. TOPdesk Five is not the last chapter, but rather the
continuation of a series of new adventures.
Enjoy the read,
Nienke Deuss
26
EDITORIAL
TOPdesk 5Continue reading on page 6
CONTENTS July ’12
Continue reading on page 14
4 NEWS
6 TOPDESK 5: Achieve more with fewer clicks
12 PROCESS AND PRACTICE Stay in control
15 IN THE SPOTLIGHT TOPdesk presents
18 TRENDS Bring Your Own Device
21 WORK SMARTER A user-friendly Self Service Desk with SSD icons
23 COLUMN: The new world of skiing
24 TIPS + TRICKS
◄ ON THE COVER:One of TOPdesk 5’s new features is the
Plan Board for operators. Read all about
TOPdesk’s latest version in the arcticle
‘TOPdesk 5: achieve more with fewer
clicks’ on page 6.
THE EXTERNAL HELPDESK COULD NOT GAUGE THE IMPACT A MALFUNCTION WOULD HAVE
Daniël Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy
of managers
indicate that employees
use their own devices
88%
14
4
TOPdesk Symposium a great success!
On 15 May, over 1100 Dutch and Belgian
customers attended the TOPdesk Symposium
to witness the premiere of TOPdesk’s latest
version: TOPdesk 5! The morning programme
consisted of CEO Wolter Smit’s keynote
speech, in which he showcased TOPdesk 5’s
brand new features and improvements. In the
afternoon, customers could try out TOPdesk 5
for themselves and visit over 30 presentations
and workshops. Drinks and a workshop on
‘How do I become a genius in 30 minutes?’
were the perfect ending to a successful day.
This edition of the Symposium also
featured the Service Management awards.
TOPdesk hands out these awards to honour
organizations with truly exceptional IT, FM
and/or HR services. This year, the award went
to Stad Kortrijk. Our congratulations go out
to them.
Want to stay up to date?
To stay on top of the latest TOPdesk news
and service management developments,
follow us on Twitter via @TOPdesk and @
TOPdesk_UK.
@TOPdeskA selection of recent tweets :
@paultjesmeets @ABeldsnijder
TOPdesk 5 has a plan board! Forget
schedule.xls.
@jacobhakvoort @TOPdesk dealt
with my call really quickly: 3
incidents closed in 2 hours. Our
own helpdesk should be ashamed.
@doorBakker killing two birds
with one stone: e-learning for IT
service desk tool Topdesk, learning
all relevant (ITIL) processes at the
same time.
@TOPdesk Check out our new
website with photographs
made by our own photographer
(TOPmodel colleagues) and more
information about TOPdesk 5!
@bertvanlaren #TOPdesk 5 demo
version is a bad idea. You won’t
want to use anything else :)
NEWS
CALENDARUK
July19 & 20 Demo days | TOPdesk office, London
NETHERLANDS
July27System Administrator Day
TOPdesk visits the EFMC in Copenhagen
On 23 May, TOPdesk Denmark visited its
first conference: the European Facility
Management Conference (EFMC) in
Copenhagen. Our stand attracted many
corporate and scientific professionals,
who were given an exclusive demonstration
of TOPdesk 5.
The European Facility Management
Conference is the most important networking
event for European Facilities Management
professionals. This year’s theme ‘Global
Responsibility – Local Acting’ covered many
topics, including sustainability and corporate
social responsibility.
The conference is organized by Euro FM
(European Facility Management Network)
and IFMA (International Facility Management
Organization).
For more information about the European
Facility Management Conference,
visit www.efmc-conference.com
TOPdesk on Tour 2012 at the Tower of London
The second edition of TOPdesk on Tour
was a great success. On 13 June, TOPdesk’s
British customers were invited to the Tower
of London for the launch of TOPdesk 5.
Customers were able to attend CEO Wolter
Smit’s keynote speech and get their first
hands-on experience with the latest version of
our software. They could attend presentations,
workshops and user groups covering the
latest topics in IT, FM and HR. Finally, everyone
was treated to a guided tour of the Tower of
London and drinks at the end of the day. We
look forward to seeing you all again at the
next edition!
6 TOPDESK 5
The first version of TOPdesk was released almost twenty years ago, and has improved with each new version. The result? TOPdesk 4, our most successful version ever. However, we believe we can do better. We proudly present: TOPdesk 5!
Text: Nienke Deuss
T wenty years ago we were glad that we could create
an inventory and track calls without Excel sheets
or Post-its,” says Wolter Smit, TOPdesk CEO. “But
organizations have become much more complex since then.
Many IT departments work according to ITIL, which currently
comprises 26 processes. Moreover, it is more and more
common for Shared Service Centres to combine IT, Facilities
and HR processes. Our customers have to deal with complex
situations. We developed TOPdesk 5 with this in mind. This
version is intended to make your work easier and ensure that
you achieve more with fewer clicks.”
Achieve more with fewer clicksBut what does ‘achieve more with fewer clicks’ really mean?
“TOPdesk 5 is designed to let users access the information
most important to them without the extra clicks,” explains
Smit. “We achieved this by creating more space on the screen:
we moved or reduced the size of the elements that took up
a lot of space but were not frequently used. This lets users
utilize the space when they need it, and more space means a
better overview.”
This version also ensures that you have immediate access to
TOPdesk’s most important functionalities, as Smit explains.
“Links provide quick access to common actions, such as
creating a new card. TOPdesk 5 introduces the Quick Launch
Bar, which you can equip with buttons for the functions
you use most. For instance, you can create a new call or
reservation in a single click. We don’t know which functions
you use every day, so the Quick Launch Bar is customizable:
you can add buttons to create new cards, or to directly open
a report a selection.”
The ability to customize your work environment, such as with
the Quick Launch Bar, is one of TOPdesk 5’s characteristic
features. There are many ways to personalize your TOPdesk,
ensuring that you will always see the information you need.
“You can also see this with the new bookmark feature,” says
Smit. “As an operator, you may want to track a number of calls
or changes without having to create a new selection. This is
why you can create bookmarks for virtually any card. These
cards are included in an overview, which you can open directly
from your Quick Launch Bar. This overview can include cards
from several processes.”
TOPDESK 5: ACHIEVE MORE WITH FEWER CLICKS
7 TOPDESK 5
The start pageAs mentioned previously, you can use the Quick Launch Bar to click
through to important functionalities. However, you can also access
handy overviews via blocks and buttons on your start page. With
a single click you can open your Task Board, the Dashboard and
TOPdesk’s most important new feature: the Plan Board for operators.
All your tasks on one Task BoardYour start page displays all your tasks, and lets you click through to
task overviews for each module. It is also possible to click through
to the Task Board. The large button at the top of your start page lets
you open an overview of all tasks assigned to you, from all processes.
This gives you a complete overview of everything you need to do.
◄ On the start page, you can
directly click through to all
the information you need.
◄ The progress trail displays all
the customer communication,
including emails and
documents.
Photography: Robin Kuijs
8 TOPDESK 5
9 TOPDESK 5
When you open a call, you will immediately see another important
improvement introduced in TOPdesk 5. The call or incident card is
one of the most commonly used cards among operators. This card
has always contained a lot of information, right from the first version
of TOPdesk: a caller block, additional information, processing and
planning data and of course the request and action field. The layout
has been changed in TOPdesk 5: all fixed administrative data is
contained in (collapsible) sections on the left, leaving room on the
right side of the card for customer communication – the so-called
progress trail. “You can follow the entire process without a single extra
click. You can see the request, the action undertaken and the reactions,
presented chronologically,” says Smit. “What’s more, all sent emails
are included in the progress trail as links, and you are able to see all
internal notes and uploaded files. The progress trail is available in both
Incident Management and Change Management.”
All reports and KPIs on one DashboardManagers monitor their department’s progress and mostly use
TOPdesk to make sure that everything is on track. We have also created
better overviews for these users. You can open the Dashboard directly
from the start page. “We developed the Dashboard for monitoring
processes,” explains Smit. “It allows you to gain immediate insight into
the status of your processes. You can view KPIs and reports displayed
in graphs. If something catches your eye, then you can access the
underlying details in a single click, right down to individual cards. You
can also determine what is displayed on the dashboards. You can add
overviews of current situations, reports, KPIs or selections, to name but
a few. Moreover, you also have access to an Overview Dashboard that
lets you display reports and KPIs from several process on a single page.
Plan Board for operatorsA coordinator is responsible for monitoring his team’s schedule. What
do you do when someone goes on holiday, or if someone calls in sick?
Do you still have the capacity to handle all incoming calls? “Many of
our customers use Excel sheets to keep track of their planning, with a
list of employees on one axis and the service desk’s opening times on
the other,” explains Smit. “The cells are then colour-coded to indicate
who is in the office, who has the day off, the shift someone is working,
◄ Above: View, create and group reports
and KPIs on a single Dashboard
Below: The Plan Board for operators
lets you easily (re)schedule tasks
YOU CAN EASILY SCHEDULE YOUR DEPARTMENT’S STAFF AND EVEN SET UP RECURRENCE PATTERNS
Wolter Smit about the Plan Board
YOU DETERMINE WHICH KPIS AND REPORTS ARE DISPLAYED IN GRAPHS ON THE DASHBOARD
Wolter Smit about the Dashboard
10 TOPDESK 5
and so on. It’s no wonder people use Excel
for this: it is quick, accessible and easy. But
we wondered if we couldn’t offer something
better, something in one application.”
TOPdesk 5 introduces the Plan Board for
operators, which combines the simplicity
of Excel with the power of TOPdesk, as Smit
explains. “With a single click you can access
a list of all operators, ordered by operator
group. You can register and adjust your
department’s staff, take morning and night
shifts into account when doing so and even
set up recurrence patterns.
“However, the Plan Board’s main advantage
is that you also have access to other
information registered in TOPdesk,” says Smit.
“You can see who is present, but you also
know how busy they are and what they are
doing. The Plan Board displays the number of
tasks your employees need to complete, and
how many tasks are assigned to them before
or after this week: you have optimal insight
into your employees’ workflow. You can use
this information to reassign tasks, ensuring
that your schedule will not be disrupted
when someone goes on holiday or calls in sick.”
Manage your processesTOPdesk application managers or process
managers spend a lot of time setting up
processes. They maintain the Change
Management templates or process surveys,
to name but a few tasks. “We have introduced
the module pages with these users in mind,”
explains Smit. “The module page displays
everything you need to manage a module. At
the top of the screen is the module diagram,
which shows how the module is set up for
your organization: the parts you do not use
are marked as light grey. Moreover, you can
click straight through to expand the module’s
settings with new selections, templates or
surveys, for example.”
▲ The module page uses diagrams to show how
your processes are set up.
Interested in a demonstration?Are you interested in TOPdesk 5’s new features and functionalities?
Get in contact with a TOPdesk office near you and request a free demo today.
DID YOU KNOW...
• The Dashboards, Plan Board and module pages are standard parts of the framework?
• TOPdesk 5 was developed by three development teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary?
• Many TOPdesk 5 elements were developed based on users’ feature requests?
• The first demonstration of TOPdesk 5 for beta customers took place on 2 April?
• The next page features pictures of part of the team responsible for TOPdesk 5?
• You can view the names of all TOPdesk employees who contributed to the 5 under TOPdesk menu > Help > About TOPdesk?
Mark van MeursDevelopment (Delft)
11 TOPDESK 5
Robert AmeszDevelopment (Delft)
Niels van KlaverenSupport
Ivette van PuttenSupport
Jalitha WillsDevelopment (Delft)
Laurent van BerkelTesting
Olga ReutelingspergerFunctional design
Cees de QuaastenietTesting
Bart van der HelSupport
Balázs NádasdiDevelopment (Budapest)
Willem BottemaFunctional design
Dirk AmmerlaanFunctional design
Bart EnkelaarDevelopment (Delft)
12 PROCESS AND PRACTICE Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn
DANIËL HUIJBENS (right)...has worked at TOPdesk for 10 years as a consultant,
team leader and project manager, and has helped over
100 organizations improve their services.
13 PROCESS AND PRACTICEText: Niek Steenhuis
There is a lot to say for outsourcing
services during times of crisis: you
lower your monthly costs and have
greater freedom in only employing staff when
you need them. Facilities organizations have
a long history of outsourcing services, such as
cleaning and catering, but outsourcing is also
becoming more popular within the IT field.
Unfortunately, this does not always improve
efficiency, and can have a negative effect on
services. I will use two typical case studies
to explain my perspective on how IT and
facilities organizations handle outsourcing,
and what this can mean for these fields.
IT organization ProduciaA few years ago, I visited Producia, a
successful Dutch multinational. They
had always taken care of their own IT
services, from the helpdesk and workspace
management to system and network
management. When the crisis hit, the
company decided to outsource its entire
IT department to Capatos, a large IT service
provider. It was essential that the costs be as
low as possible.
I noticed that outsourcing had a negative
effect on their services. Capatos had moved
the helpdesk to Suriname, for instance.
It was a lot cheaper, but customers soon
discovered that the quality of the service
had deteriorated. The helpdesk staff was not
familiar with the hardware and software
used by Producia, so they could not gauge the
impact a malfunction would have. In addition,
Producia had not standardized its hardware
or software, making it difficult for Capatos to
manage its systems.
The IT service supply and demand is the root
of this problem. The IT department wants
an affordable solution, but they should be
More and more organizations are outsourcing their services. This is routine for facilities organizations, but may take some getting used to for IT organizations. However, they have a lot to gain, as TOPdesk consultant Daniël Huijbens has discovered.
STAY IN CONTROL
14 PROCESS AND PRACTICE
focusing on the quality of service. If that was
their main focus, they would not outsource
the helpdesk to Suriname – a questionable
decision at any rate. This is why the IT
department should clearly formulate their
goals and communicate them to the service
provider. It is even more important that the
business and the IT supplier continue to
discuss and monitor the solution. This key
element was missing in this case.
Endemol’s facilities departmentEndemol has a lot of experience in
outsourcing services. Their facilities
department runs its own service counter,
while everything else is taken care of by
external parties. The facilities department’s
main task is managing the suppliers.
The organizational structure worked, but the
services still had room for improvement. They
had trouble with the high staff turnover and
did not like having to see new faces so often.
These frequent changes affected the contact
with the service desk. Moreover, Endemol and
the suppliers’ expectations did not match,
leading to dissatisfaction.
When Endemol decided to relocate a number
of years ago, they took the opportunity to
make new agreements with its suppliers.
To improve communication, external
employees took up dedicated positions
at Endemol, working under a permanent
manager. The service desk also received a
more central position in the new building
– literally. In addition, the IT, Facilities and
HR coordinators take part in a monthly
production meeting to ensure that the
supporting departments stay up to date
on the customer’s expectations. Finally,
they conduct a survey every year to gauge
employee satisfaction.
IT can learn from FacilitiesI could see that these changes were a
success when I last visited Endemol. The
employees were satisfied with the services,
and the Facilities department could see an
improvement in the collaboration between
the suppliers and the rest of the organization.
I think that the approach taken by Endemol’s
Facilities department is a great example
of how outsourcing should be tackled. The
Facilities department is responsible for the
quality of services provided by the supplier,
and sets clear supplier requirements. The
supplier is closely involved with the entire
organization and there is an ongoing dialogue
between the department and the customer.
Supply and demand is a natural part of
operations for Endemol and many other
Facilities organizations: it is simply a part of a
Facilities employee’s daily tasks. The IT world
is only just discovering outsourcing, and still
eyes suppliers suspiciously. This is why I advise
IT organizations to learn from their colleagues
in Facilities Management. Outsourcing
services may be new to IT organizations,
so why not take advantage of the years of
experience Facilities organizations have?
THEY RUN THEIR OWN SERVICE COUNTER, EVERYTHING ELSE IS TAKEN CARE OF BY EXTERNAL PARTIES
Daniël Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy
THE EXTERNAL HELPDESK COULD NOT GAUGE THE IMPACT A MALFUNCTION WOULD HAVE
Daniël Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy
15 IN THE SPOTLIGHT
TOPDESK PRESENTSIn this article, Sietse Eling (technical product consultant), Harmen den Boer (functional designer) and William Notenboom (technical product consultant) share their TOPdesk expertise: learn more about updating safely, using the Dashboard for your reports and KPIs and the new Kerberos authentication system.
Five tips for updating to a new version of TOPdeskSietse Eling
Here at TOPdesk, we are constantly improving our software with the
help of your logged incidents and feature requests. This means that we
frequently release new versions of our product. What better way to take
advantage of these improvements than to perform regular updates?
Here are five tips to ensure that this meticulous task is a success.
Tip 1 | Use the documentationOur Help & Support site features important technical documentation
for every TOPdesk version. This includes manuals, but also release
notes, update instructions and lists of known errors (available on the
Extranet) for Application Managers, outlining the most salient points
to take into account when updating.
Tip 2 | Update to each intermediate versionUpdating to a new Service Pack is the same as updating to a
new version of TOPdesk. We always support updates with one
‘intermediate’ version. For instance, if you want to update from
TOPdesk 4.2 to 4.4, you will have to update to the ‘intermediate’
version’s last service pack – which in this case would be 4.3 SP2.
You can then update to the intended version. If you still have
questions about performing updates, please contact TOPdesk Support.
Tip 3 | Test your bespoke workIf you use bespoke work, you can test it in the latest version. A new
bespoke work version, including add-ons and XFG cores, is always
available from the latest version’s service pack. If your bespoke
work is not working properly, please let us know via the Extranet.
Tip 4 | Create a backup of your TOPdesk database and installation folderIt is important to create a backup of your entire TOPdesk database and
installation folder before performing an update. This will let you go
‘back’ if something goes wrong. If you run into problems during the
upgrade, you can always contact TOPdesk Support. Make sure that
you have a recent set of logfiles and even a backup of your database.
This will enable us to help you as quickly as possible.
Tip 5 | Perform an acceptance test before updatingMake sure to perform a thorough acceptance test before updating
your production environment. This will prevent you from running
into surprises when using new features or functionalities that have
been changed.
Text: Sietse Eling Photography: Robin Kuijs
16 IN THE SPOTLIGHT Text: Harmen den Boer
TOPdesk Dashboard: all reports and KPIs in one placeHarmen den Boer
We developed the TOPdesk 5 Dashboards with managers in mind.
This page displays a variety of reports and KPIs for any module
you wish, letting you gauge the status of your services at a glance.
You can determine what the dashboards display: to-do overviews,
reports, KPIs or selections.
A place for all reports and KPIsThe Dashboard provides a single location for all the reports and
KPIs you need. It includes handy overviews that display your
commonly used reports. You can also generate new reports or
KPIs in a matter of clicks.
Completely customizableThe Dashboard is ideal for managers: you can adjust it to ensure
that it only displays the reports that you need. Being able to view
reports side by side will grant extra insight into your processes.
For instance, you can compare reports on calls for this month and
last month, or view KPIs next to a report, gaining insight into how
the current state of affairs relates to past results.
Map out correlationsThe Dashboard displays reports from several modules at once,
making it perfect for mapping different processes. You can
easily determine the connection between a decrease in open
second line incidents and an increase in requests for change,
for instance.
▲ View, create and group reports and KPIs at one location.
▲ The Dashboard grants extra insight by letting you view reports
on different topics next to each other, such as the IT and HR call
overviews in the screenshot above.
▲ The Dashboard lets you combine several modules. This makes it easier
than ever to spot the correlations between calls and changes, for instance.
17 IN THE SPOTLIGHTText: William Notenboom
Logging in automatically with Kerberos: secure and flexibleWilliam Notenboom
Microsoft’s Windows is just one of the many operating systems
that have Kerberos as preferred secure login method. Hosting
providers also recognize Kerberos as a safe system, making it
possible for organizations that outsource their IT to log in to
TOPdesk automatically.
Easy access for users and other applicationsThanks to Kerberos, user authentication is easier and faster than
in TOPdesk 4. Each user logged in to the operating system can be
authenticated in TOPdesk – from several other domains. What’s
more, your users will experience marked improvements in speed.
TOPdesk 5 also offers improved integration with other systems.
Kerberos makes it easier to grant access to other applications.
The new authentication method lets you integrate the Self
Service Desk with other environments within your network.
Your (SSD) users can use links in emails to get to work in
TOPdesk without having to log in, making it much easier for
your employees to respond to calls.
Sharing TOPdesk data in other applications is also extremely
straightforward. For instance, you could publish the TOPdesk
news item overview on your intranet.
Kerberos makes management easierKerberos also offers simplified management. You only need to set
up the authentication once during the installation process; no
further adjustments are required.
▲ Kerberos requires only minimal management in TOPdesk.
▲ Your SSD users can use links in emails to click straight through to
incidents in TOPdesk; they will no longer need to log in first.
18 TRENDS Photography: Jonas Mertens
ALEXANDER JANSSENS...is a consultant at TOPdesk Belgium bvba. In this article, he explains the
BYOD phenomenon and how it can be used in practice.
19 TRENDS
BYOD (bring your own device) is no longer a trend: it has become a reality. More and more employees are taking their own devices to the office for professional use. The question is no longer whether you should use BYOD, but how you should use it.
What is BYOD?A growing number of employees has access to the latest smart
phones, laptops and tablets. In fact, office equipment often cannot
compete with employees’ own devices. This is one of the reasons
that employees use their own devices for professional purposes.
Personal devices are mostly used to check emails and calendars or
handle calls, but also to access important company applications.
Impact on the IT infrastructureMost IT managers are not enthusiastic about BYOD. Is it possible to safeguard
company data if employees use their own devices? It is clear that the IT
infrastructure will have to be adjusted if you decide to introduce BYOD. “It
is important to ensure that confidential data remains confidential,” says
Alexander Janssens. “Organizations do not want to make their entire internal
network available to everyone. Using more mobile devices can also affect
the mobile infrastructure. The data centre needs to be prepared for this.”
Desktop virtualization can provide a solution, explains Janssens.
“Desktop virtualization lets organizations centralize desktops and
applications, and support and protect devices from one location. This
will resolve any safety issues. Either way, it is clear that changes to
the infrastructure are necessary and will require maintenance.”
Supporting your colleaguesBYOD will also affect your organization’s service management. To what extent
will you support your employees? Which devices will you support? Your
organization can decide to only support basic services, such as email. However,
it may also be worthwhile to support important services such as applications
that generate turnover: a CRM system or service management applications.
Additionally, you could grant your employees access to extra services, such
as the intranet or even the entire network. “Theoretically, you could tell
your employees that they cannot use their own devices and that they are
Text: Milou Snaterse
BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE
20
therefore not supported,” says Janssens.
“However, it turns out that people use their
own equipment for professional services,
regardless of whether or not it is permitted
within their organization.
Granting your employees access to basic
services and a number of crucial extra services
provides excellent support, and prevents
you from having to tackle tricky issues.
Your organization will have better control
over the course of BYOD issues by providing
support for at least a selection of devices.”
A clear BYOD policyMany organizations’ IT policies are not yet
attuned to BYOD. This means that companies
will have to spend time considering the
phenomenon: after all, you will need to take
precautions against privacy and security
risks. That is why it is important to formulate
a clear and effective policy as quickly as
possible. Janssens explains the criteria for
a BYOD policy. “Register who can use which
devices, and to what extent. Indicate who is
responsible if a device is damaged or lost, or if
confidential data is lost. You will also need to
determine who will have to pay licence costs,
and the levels of support the user can expect.”
However, a good policy is not enough: you
will also need to train your employees. “You
will have to ensure that your employees know
how to handle the policy, new processes
and software. It is especially important to
train the IT department, so that they can
provide support for the various devices.”
BYOD and TOPdeskTOPdesk can provide support if your IT
organization decides to take BYOD into
account. But how can your organization
use personal devices in combination with
TOPdesk? We have compiled a number of tips:
Tip 1 | Attention for BYOD users
Create an attention on the person card
of BYOD users. This lets the service desk
know straight away whether an incoming
incident has been logged by a caller who
uses a personal device. It also enables you to
analyse incidents relating to BYOD users.
Tip 2 | BYOD-specific information
in the Knowledge Base
Expand the Knowledge Base with BYOD-
specific information. This will let your
users search for information relating
to guidelines, operating systems and
suggestions for buying materials, etc.
Tip 3 | Include personal devices in the CMDB
Expand your CMDB with a number of
generic objects such as a BYOD tablet
and a BYOD smart phone. This will help
you gain insight into the number of
BYOD incidents per product group.
of companies have adjusted their IT infrastructure to accommodate employees using their own devices.
TRENDS
IS IT STILL POSSIBLE TO SAFEGUARD COMPANY DATA?
Alexander Janssens - TOPdesk Belgium bvba
88% 60% 73% Did you know?
of managers indicate that their employees use their own devices.
of CIOs make employees using their own devices a priority within their organization.
Source: research by Wakefield Research, commissioned by Avanada, January 2012
21
Y ou can already adjust the Self Service Desk via the default ‘Self
Service Desk menu settings’ feature. This enables you to adjust
the horizontal menu bar and the underlying menus in TOPdesk.
However, this add-on also lets you set up these buttons to redirect to
TOPdesk functionalities that are often used within your organization.
For instance, you can set up buttons to:
• redirect to specific parts of the Knowledge Base
• open links to intranet pages or external websites
• use HTTP requests to create incidents with automatically
completed fields
• redirect to bespoke work forms to get the information you really
need from end users
Cosmetic adjustmentsIf you wish to adjust your SSD icons, open the add-on’s System
Settings. You can use the add-on to adjust button order and
appearance. Upload the new icon (75x75 BMP, JPG, GIF or PNG) under
‘Use custom icon’ and you can adjust the language on the button (in
all available languages) by clicking ‘Use custom label’ and entering
new text. You can also determine whether the button’s link opens
in a new tab or window by (un)ticking ‘Open in new tab’.
WORK SMARTER
The SSD icons add-on lets you customize the Self Service Desk’s large icons. You can take advantage of this and help your customers find what they need in no time.
…is a consultant and team leader at TOPdesk. He specializes in technical issues and optimizing processes.
PATRICK MACKAAIJ
A USER-FRIENDLY SELF SERVICE DESK WITH SSD ICONS
Text: Patrick Mackaaij Photography: Robin Kuiijs
Tip: Link to a Knowledge Item In the SSD, you can create a button that directly links to a
Knowledge Item. This can be useful if your end users are
inconvenienced by a malfunction, for instance. You can also
add a link to this item that lets you create an incident linked
to the incident about the malfunction. In TOPdesk Enterprise,
you can also link the incident to a major incident. This link
performs the following http request, for example:
http://[TOPdesk server]/tas/public/incidentpublic?action=new&s
tatus=1&replacefield0=majorincidentid&searchfield0=naam&se
archvalue0=I0603 046
22
Buttons for groupsYou can determine button visibility for user
groups with ‘Use visibility rules’. For instance,
you could make a button for (request) forms
or reports visible only for managers. You can
compile these groups by selecting one or
more persons, person groups, departments,
branches, locations or countries. You can also
use person selections, if the selection is set
up to be used by operators in the ‘SSD Icon
Management’ role.
Tip: With the default ‘Self Service Desk menu
settings’, you can limit the SSD interface to
news, requesting the caller’s own person and
branch card and logging out. If you disable
all underlying links for a menu option, the
menu option will no longer appear in the
menu bar. The vertical menu of links on the
left of the screen will also change, as will the
default large buttons featuring icons.
About TOPdesk add-onsTOPdesk offers add-ons to Enterprise
customers to help them better meet their
customers’ needs. TOPdesk consultants
usually oversee add-on installation, provide
bespoke work information and take care of
the initial set-up. The SSD icons add-on can
be requested via the TOPdesk Extranet.
WORK SMARTER
▲ You can adjust the image, link and text for each button.
▲ You can determine which buttons are visible for each group.
Colophon
Want to comment? Go to
www.topdeskmagazine.com
The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects
that are topical in the world of
professional service desks in IT, facilities
and other service providing organizations.
TOPdesk Magazine is intended for
managers, service desk employees,
facilities organizations and electronic
city councils – anyone who is involved
with supporting clients on a daily basis.
This concerns both the processes and the
technology behind these services.
TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk
publication
Tel: + +44 (0) 207 8034200
Email: [email protected]
Editor-in-Chief: Nienke Deuss
Editors: Nienke Deuss,
Timme Hos, Milou Snaterse, Niek
Steenhuis, Nicola van de Velde
Translators: Leah Clarke, Nicola van de
Velde, Hazel Hollis
Contributors: Harmen den Boer,
Sietse Eling, Patrick Mackaaij, William
Notenboom
Layout: Elise Kerner Ontwerpbureau DDC
Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn,
Robin Kuijs, Jonas Mertens
Copy editor: Nicola van de Velde
A print run of 5,000
Quarterly magazine
Languages: Dutch, English
The way I ski is hopelessly old-fashioned,
but that has never stopped me
enjoying every minute of it.
Why would I want to do it differently?
After years of sticking to what I know, I
had a change of heart and decided to give
carving a go. I bought new skis, watched an
instructional video on YouTube and gave it
a go on a beautiful slope in France. It was
fantastic! Carving is faster, more challenging
and gives you much more freedom. I enjoyed
it so much that I’m now taking lessons to
master the technique.
But the question remains, why try something
new? And I’m not just talking about sports.
We are confronted with change and have
to work out how to deal with it every day.
New technologies and insights lead to a
steady stream of new products entering
the market, making work more efficient,
effective and enjoyable. For instance, we can
reduce mistakes and lower costs through
automation. However, not all new products
lead to improvements, so it’s important to
maintain a critical attitude. The benefits also
need to outweigh the costs. I’m not going
to buy new ski boots every year because the
buckles have been slightly improved.
I imagine that many people will feel the same
way about the newest version of TOPdesk.
“Why should I use a new version when the
current one is just fine?” There’s nothing
wrong with that line of thought. After all,
TOPdesk 4 is a great product. But I speak
from personal experience when I say that
once you try the new version, you won’t ever
want to go back. Better still, you will probably
want to try out more things and become
more familiar with the new version. TOPdesk
5 offers exciting new features such as the
Plan Board, which lets you manage and plan
your operators’ workload and availability.
However, TOPdesk 5 also offers improved
user-friendliness. It was developed with the
end users in mind. This makes it even easier
for operators to perform their tasks: reason
enough to give it a try!
Some of you will approach TOPdesk 5 the
same way I approached carving. You won’t
make the switch straight away, simply
because the current situation is fine. But
those who do adopt the latest version will
really notice the benefits. I for one will
embrace newer products a little more quickly
in future. In the meantime, I’m really looking
forward to my next trip to the slopes!
Ten years ago, you probably would have admired my skiing. But these days it’s not exactly cutting edge. While other skiers were busy ‘carving’, I stuck to the method that I learned when I was younger: heading swiftly down the slope with my skis in a parallel position.
THE NEW WORLD OF SKIING
…is a product manager at TOPdesk and chairwoman of the FMN (Facility Management Netherlands) Young Professionals network.
RENSKE VAN DER HEIDE
Text: Renske van der Heide Photography: Robin Kuijs COLUMN
tips + tricksThe correct email signature
When several departments work together in one TOPdesk,
it is often difficult to include the correct signature in an
automatic email. If the only difference between emails from
various departments is their signature, an optional memo
field on the Operator or Operator Group Card can help. Here
you can specify which signature should apply to emails sent
in TOPdesk. You can set up the email signature as follow:
1. In Settings Management, create an optional memo
field (signature) on the Operator (Group) Card.
2. Enter the signature for each Operator
(Group) in the optional memo field.
3. In Settings Management, add the signature field to the
email by right-clicking and selecting ‘Insert Field’.
Please note: a date stamp will be added automatically.
You can remove this by clicking on the field in the
email settings and selecting ‘hide date stamp’.
Quick calls
Quick calls are used to process calls that take longer
to log than to solve, such as resetting a password.
This solution provides you with a completed card that
you can register at once. You only need to fill in the
caller’s details. You can set up quick calls as follows:
1. Fill in all the required fields for the quick call in a standard
solution, including the status linked to completing the call.
2. Create a selection of all standard solutions
with this status and name it ‘Quick Calls’.
3. Place this selection in the navigator. In TOPdesk 5
you can simply add these to the Quick Launch Bar.
When you receive a call that you would like to register
as a quick call:
1. Use the ‘Quick Calls’ selection.
2. Select the desired standard solution,
for example ‘reset password’.
3. Create a call from the total overview
using standard solutions.
4. Enter the caller details
5. Save the incident
Online help and support
We are always updating our Help & Support site with new
manuals and tips on how to get the most out of your TOPdesk.
You can access the Help & Support site by clicking on
the question mark above an overview in TOPdesk, or
from the menu option Help > Help and Support.
TOPdesk UK limited t +44 (0)20 7803 4200 e [email protected] w www.topdesk.co.uk
TOPdesk Netherlands t +31 (0)15 270 09 00 e [email protected] w www.topdesk.nl
TOPdesk Germany GmbH t +49 (0)631 624 00 0 e [email protected] w www.topdesk.de
TOPdesk Belgium t +32 (0)3 292 32 90 e [email protected] w www.topdesk.be
TOPdesk Hungary t +36 1 301 0190 e [email protected] w www.topdesk.hu
TOPdesk France t + 33 (0) 811 11 59 84 e info.topdesk.fr w www.topdesk.fr
Copyright © 2012 TOPdesk UK limited. Although this magazine has been produced with the utmost care and attention, the writers cannot be held responsible in any way for any damages that may occur due to errors and / or deficiencies in this publication.
