Three reports every IT manager should look at before updating the service catalog
Much more than just a menu card with a bevy of services and product offerings delivered by the IT team, a service catalog facilitates two-way communication between end users and technicians. For the end user, a service catalog provides information about services offered, expected delivery dates, and the quality of service that can be expected. For the technician, the service catalog provides a framework for each service request that includes the request deadline, service cost, and the process to follow.
By providing these guidelines, the service catalog ensures IT operations are well-organized and operating smoothly. This is why it's vital for IT managers to review and update the service catalog periodically.
The following factors should be considered during each review:
- Customer requirements
- Service level agreements
- Costs and IT budget
Customer requirements
The service list must closely match your customer needs as well as current trends. For example, a decrease in the number of password reset requests may indicate it's a good time to remove that item from your service catalog.
A simple report, like the example below, illustrates the least used service requests and helps you understand the latest usage patterns.
In such cases, it's advisable to figure out the reasons behind the decreased usage. A decrease in password reset requests could indicate the implementation of an automated password reset system, or a multi-factor authentication system that allows users to reset passwords themselves.
Service level agreements
There are certain scenarios that require you to reconsider service level agreements (SLAs). These include changes in IT infrastructure, technician workload, or significant business changes, such as expansions, mergers, or acquisitions.
To find out if your SLAs need reworking, examine request categories that frequently violate SLAs, and look for trends. Specific request categories that repeatedly breach SLAs might warrant further investigation.
The Service requests that violated SLAs trend report, shown below, helps you identify problematic request categories.
Costs and IT budget
Service costs make up a huge amount of the IT budget. This includes technician cost, infrastructure cost, and the cost of the technological tools used to run the help desk. Service costs are usually measured per ticket. Cost per ticket is the total monthly service cost of the service desk divided by the monthly ticket volume.
Due to increasing labor costs and changing technological demands, the cost per ticket tends to increase over time. To provide superior customer service and ensure uninterrupted business services, the help desk must increase its IT budget to accommodate these increasing costs.
The report below shows the trend of a help desk's average cost per ticket over the past seven months.
As you can see, the average cost per ticket has been steadily increasing over time. This is a good indicator that the organization needs to increase its IT budget. This report alone may not provide conclusive evidence to increase the IT budget, but it can serve as a good starting point to justify the request.
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