<<<back to Recording a Call in First Line
Once logged in you will be presented with the UniDesk start page
There is a tall bar with a collection of icons on the left of the UniDesk screen, which is called the Quick Launch Bar. These icons are quick links to features you’re likely to use most within UniDesk. The top button on this bar is the menu button.
To create a new call, click the menu button and then go to New > Call Management > First Line Call
Please Note
Although some of the quick launch buttons, such as the menu button, will appear for every user, it is possible to customise this menu to contain the features you use most. There may be an icon to create new first line calls on this bar – if not, you can add one. If it is available, a quick way to create a new first line call, is to press “New First Line Call on the quick launch bar.
A new call card will appear on the screen.
You’ll notice that some of the fields are red. These are mandatory fields – you won’t be able to save the call without completing these. The other fields are not mandatory – you can save the call without completing them, but there may be situations where you’d like to use them.
Here is how to complete each section.
Caller
The caller section contains information about the user. The mandatory fields in this section are “Name” and “College/Support Group”.
If you know the user’s UUN (University Username) you can type this into the “Network login name” field. If the user is recognised, UniDesk will automatically fill in some of the user’s other details, including the mandatory fields.
If you don’t have the user’s UUN, start typing the user’s name in the “Name” field. UniDesk will automatically suggest names and will automatically fill in other parts of the caller information. If it suggests a correct name, check that the other details match that user’s information (such as type of user, school/division). There might be more than one person with the same name – you can use the up and down cursor keys on your keyboard to view other instances of that name.
If it suggests an incorrect name, keep typing until you’ve finished typing the user’s name. If it’s not the correct person, check you’re using the correct spelling for the name.
If you still can’t find the person you’re looking for, it’s possible they don’t have a presence on UniDesk. To remedy this, you can create a new person card.
Although the caller’s email address and phone number are automatically imported from their person record, you can change these within the call. For example, if a user’s University email account isn’t working, you can enter an external email address. This will not change the information on the person record, just the information for the current call.
Details
The mandatory fields in the details section are Brief Description, Call Type, Category, and Subcategory. These must be filled in because they provide important tracking information, which helps us continually improve our services.
The brief desciption should be like the subject of an email, i.e. a brief description of the problem. Examples are “EASE login problem” or “Fees query”.
The call type tells us what type of assistance is needed.
- Incident
- Service Request
- System Event
- Request for Change
It may be easier to consider this as a series of questions.
System Events may be easily identified as such, for example, automatic notification emails from servers, and this call type should be automatically set by UniDesk.
Is something broken with a service? Yes, then it is an incident. If not, then it can’t be an incident (password resets, for example).
Is the user enquiring about something that can be anticipated? Yes, so it is a service request – this includes expected changes (like password changes, amending personal details, routine changes) and user training/education.
If a change is required that isn’t routine, or wasn’t anticipated, the issue is a request for change.
Object
The Object block is part of Asset Management, and permits the recording of the objects (“configuration items” in service management terminology) associated with, or implicated in, the call. Such objects may be services, hardware, or software that have already been added to UniDesk by those responsible for the service or system.
The drop down list will show the objects associated with the specified caller, and will likely be empty. Instead use the Object ID context menu “>” to find the object to be associated.
Once specified, the Supports and Depends On tabs will provide information on what the specified object supports and what it depends on.
Planning
Although there are mandatory fields in the planning section, they are automatically filled in to the most common values. Operators should change the impact (how many people it affects) and urgency (how soon the call needs to be resolved) wherever this is applicable.
The priority is and target date (when the call is scheduled to be completed by) are set automatically based on the values given for impact and urgency, so the values Operators choose for impact and urgency will affect the target time by which we expect to complete the call.
This section also contains a tick box which will also tell you whether the call is on hold (meaning that it is not your responsibility to be working on it at the moment), but this tick box is driven by the status field in the processing block. Only certain statuses are considered to be ‘on hold’, such as ‘Waiting on user’.
SLAs
The Link SLA button may be lit, specifying the number of matching Service Level Agreements.
This may change or disappear depending on the specified Caller, Categorisation and Object. Once these other fields have been filled in, click on the Link SLA button to select the appropriate SLA.
Processing
The processing group tells UniDesk what to do with the call. The mandatory field in the processing group is the operator group field. The information in this field tells the system which operator group is responsible for working on the call. There is also an operator field, where you can select an individual operator to whom the call should be assigned. It is generally a good idea not to assign a call to an individual operator unless they are expecting receive it, in case they are unavailable. The operator field will usually automatically complete to be the same as the operator group field.
The status field tells UniDesk about the current situation of the call. When the call is being processed this should normally be Open, unless when Waiting on user for further information.
Request
The request field is used for three types of information:
1) The user’s initial request
2) Translation of the user’s request into more technical, service-specific language
3) Routing information on where the call may need to be passed.
When completing fields in a first line call, you will most likely be including type 1: The user’s initial request. Please be as clear as possible, and include any relevant information. There is some information that certain operator groups will require to be able to process the call. For example, the IS Helpline usually require the machine name of the computer, and the location of the user.
Action
The action field is where any work that has been done on the call is recorded. This is less relevant when creating a new call, but is very relevant when processing an existing call.
Once you have completed the mandatory fields and any other relevant fields, you need to save the call.
Saving
Saving a call is how you tell UniDesk to process the information you’ve entered.
You will not be able to save a call unless you have completed the mandatory fields. Before you save the call, nothing you have entered will be recorded. It is a good idea to save often, to avoid losing changes.
After you save the call, it will be assigned to the operator group you have specified. As such, it is important to make sure you’ve included all relevant information before saving. If you want to save the call to make sure you don’t lose anything, or to come back to later, you can choose your own operator group and operator, meaning that the call will be assigned to you for the time being. You can then go back and input further information at a later time, and then change the operator group as necessary. Unless otherwise specified, please do not change the operator group until the call has been saved for the first time.
To save a call, press the “Save” button in the top left corner of the window. Once you have saved the call, you can then close it by pressing the “x” at the right of the call tab.
