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Developing A Staffing Model for the Help Desk

By VirtuousDM ·
I am interested in obtaining suggestions on how to develop a staffing model for a customer support center supporting approximately 28,000 end users.

Here's some background information:

There are a total of 15 Analysts. There are only 3 Analysts available for each shift.

There are 3 shifts per day of the work week (Monday through Friday).

Support will only be provided via telephone. Voicemail will be available.

It is not clear exactly how many telephone lines will be provided.

Here's what I am looking for in particular:

What is the total number of calls an Analyst can answer/handle per 8 hour work day.
(Inclusive of password resets, How do I accomplish xyz task...)

Given the amount of analyst available per shift, what will the customer satisfaction rate be?...What would it be if the number of analysts per shift increased?

How many staff will be required for each shift (realistically)?

How much time should be allotted for each incoming call?

How should missed calls which went to voicemail be handled?


Lastly, do you know where I might find Trend Analysis Data related to this?

Thanks so much in advance for your assistance.

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by Mike_Stein_IDC In reply to Developing A Staffing Mod ...

Gartner Research (www.gartner.com) has developed some interesting staffing models for Help Desks based on the number of end-users being supported at any given time and the complexity of the technology environment. If I recall correctly, their model provides recommended staffing ranges for different functions within the Help Desk (Level 1 vs. Level 2 vs. Level 3) - although the staffing level are not attached to performance levels (calls per shift) or wait time per call resolution, but it would give you an initial "top down" cut at staffing for a large enterprise.

Gartner measurement may also have models as well as trend data for this area as well.

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by amtorti In reply to Developing A Staffing Mod ...

What you are asking is a typical Queueing Theory question. The other parameter you need is the average duration of a call. For Level 1 Help Desk, it is about 9 minutes.

Here's a model I calculated for you.

Arrivals: 10 per hr
Service Time: 9 minutes per call
Number of Agents: 3
Average Waiting Time: 85.26 seconds
Service Level: 76.32% wait zero seconds

Some Help Desk Systems have the facility to execute automated password resets.

Also you can develope some self-service scripts via a Web Site or ACD Menu.

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by mhartmann In reply to Developing A Staffing Mod ...

Well we changed from Helpdesk to Service-desk.

From there and refering to your question:

a) What kinda problems should be dealt with?
(Only Windows, or also Office, SAP, etc.)

b) Is that only 1st Level or also Back-Office (2nd/3rd Level) ?

c) Do you have access to Remote-Admin all Computers?

d) 1 phone line for each agent, incl. a 4th for voicemail.

e) SLA must be set, depending on working hours, priority (regular or VIP).

f) each call: about 10 minutes at 1st Level.

g) do you have to deal with admin-work? (else than reset passwords) i.e. creating users, give user-rights on ads, etc.

h) during day-time your amount of analyst should be atleast +2 to the amount during night-time.

i) get back to me for further infos

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by james.chau In reply to Developing A Staffing Mod ...

How many staff are needed for help desk is a function of the SLA between the help desk function and its clients. The most important SLA element being the agreed upon list of support items (the problem tree). Until this list of support items is well established and agreed upon, you have no realistic basis for implementing a help desk function without jeopardizing your position.

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