Objectives and Challenges
There is an existing service management tool with a customer-facing portal for managing ICT requests.
Given the familiarity that staff have with the portal and the similarities of the types of requests facilities receive to those of ICT, it was proposed that facilities requests be incorporated within the same portal.
The aim was to meet the following business needs:
-Creation of consistent contact methods - Facilities staff were given requests over the phone, email and face-to-face.
-Ability to track work and requests - Facilities staff used a variety of methods, such as email, to manage maintenance requests, meaning it was difficult to gauge workload of the facilities coordinators.
-Gathering of correct information - A full explanation or requirements of a maintenance issue were not always supplied with an email request, which means safety hazards were not always prioritised.
The new approach required internal organisational change management within the Facilities team to use new technology. This needed to address resistance to changes – both for facilities staff and people who use their services.
The approach adopted was multi-faceted:
-Buy-in from management and the Executive Director was vital.
-Facilities staff were included throughout the development of the proposed solution and the expected benefits to them and their customers was explained.
-IT staff engaged with Facilities staff in a collaborative approach during the development. IT staff presented the idea early at the Facilities team meeting, and Facilities staff were part of user acceptance testing.
-Facilities staff were reassured by the change management program.
-An ongoing approach of the analytics in the IT Service Management system being used as an input to team planning ensured Facilities staff saw the practical outcome of the new approach.
Processes and Procedures
The implementation of new facilities request offerings within the IT Service Management customer portal was undertaken using the ITIL methodologies described below:
Service Strategy:
The implementation of facilities service offerings into the IT Service Management customer portal aligned with the TAFE SA Strategic Plan by taking advantage of the opportunities offered for the use of technology and having a focus on cost efficiency through more efficient work practices. The activity also aligned to the ICT Strategic Plan’s principles of being customer and outcomes focussed.
Service Design:
ICT and Facilities took advantage of the IT Service Management development environment to perform user acceptance testing prior to the service offerings being promoted to the production environment. Thorough acceptance testing was performed by stakeholders across the organisation and ensured that the chance of error in the live environment was minimal.
This also contributed to the development of the organisational change program by providing insight to what staff really wanted to know about the change.
Service Transition:
All changes were governed by the TAFE SA Change Advisory Board and performed in accordance with TAFE SA Change Management Policy and Procedures.
Service Reporting:
Similar high-level workload type reports were provided from this activity.
Achievements
Incorporating facilities requests into the IT service management system has provided staff a
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