Examine the process of problem reporting

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Organizations benefit from having a process that all end users understand, with respect to the proper way to report support problems. A problem reporting process should include problem detection, self-help options that the user performs, how to contact their help desk, problem classification and initial support, and then problem escalation, resolution, and closure. The following sections describe these stages in more detail.

Detect problems

The process of reporting a problem starts when an end user detects a problem with their computer hardware, operating system, or application. If the problem is intermittent, the end user might take no immediate action. If the problem occurs again, the end user might take further action. End users might attempt to resolve the problem themselves or contact the help desk for assistance.

Encourage self-help attempts by end users

Whenever possible, encourage end users to help themselves. You can help end users resolve some problems quickly if the end user stops and thinks about the event or problem that occurred. If you provide adequate training for your end users, they'll have optimal performance from their applications and hardware, encounter fewer problems, and be more likely to resolve many problems themselves.

Contact the help desk

No matter how much training or encouragement end users receive, there always are problems that they can’t resolve. It's important to provide a proper procedure for contacting your help desk, and it's even more important to ensure that your end users understand this procedure. During this phase, help desk personnel should record the problem’s details in an incident record. If you don't already, consider using a database in which to record details of reported problems. You then can update the incident record in the help desk ticketing system as you work toward a resolution.

If you can’t resolve the reported problem, assign the problem to other individuals in your organization. For complex problems, you might assemble a specialist team to resolve the problem. Update the incident record in the ticketing database to track information about activity that you or others perform in relation to the reported problem.

Detail classification and initial support

After an end user contacts the help desk, help desk staff should attempt to classify the problem, and then determine the problem’s scope and urgency. You and your fellow help desk staff can do this by asking end users specific questions about their problems, such as:

• Who else has the same problem? If the problem is widespread, this points to a more general problem, and the problem is less likely to be only with the end user’s particular device. Additionally, problems affecting many end users are more urgent than those that affect only one end user.
• When did you first notice the problem? For example, it might be that a device never worked properly. It's useful to know if the device has never worked properly, because this might indicate a problem with deployment rather than usage
• What changed around the same time that you noticed the problem? If the end user recently installed new applications or updated drivers, and the problem arose after these changes, these changes possibly contributed to the problem that the end user is reporting.

During this phase, you might determine a probable cause of the reported problem, but be careful not to jump to any conclusions. This could waste significant time and resources. Your goal during this phase is to define the problem accurately.

Escalate a problem

When a problem requires escalation between support tiers or to external vendors, ensure that you record an appropriate level of detail that you can pass to the next support level. You should have a clearly defined escalation procedure to ensure that you do this efficiently. Before you escalate the problem, you might want to include the following information in the incident report:

• A precise description of the reported problem.
• A record of any error messages associated with the problem.
• A record of the resolution attempts that support staff made, and the results of each attempted fix.
• A record relating to any diagnostics tools that support staff use.

The length of time that can elapse before you must escalate the problem. You might consider escalation to external vendors when:

• You can’t resolve the problem.
• You have insufficient internal resources to resolve the problem.
• Your organization doesn't have the required skills to resolve the problem.

You've identified the problem’s probable cause, and it lies with a specific non-Microsoft component. Whenever you escalate a problem, always retain ownership of the problem, and use the database record to track progress toward a resolution. Additionally, ensure that you provide any necessary assistance to other support tiers and external vendors.

Resolve a problem

After you determine a probable cause and develop an action plan, you should perform an assessment of the plan, which should include:

• Details regarding any liaisons with any specialist support staff that helped implement the plan.
• Completion of any required requests according to change management procedures.
• Analysis of the possible impact of proposed changes on the IT infrastructure.
• Testing details for the proposed plan.
• Details of plans to roll back changes if they don't achieve the desired result.

After you assess the proposed action plan, you can execute it. If the action plan doesn't resolve the problem, consider whether to roll back the changes that you have made according to the action-plan assessment. You also must revisit the classification phase, because it's possible that the initial diagnosis and classification were incorrect.

Close a problem

After you resolve a problem successfully, you must close it. To close a problem, update any database records that relate to it, and indicate that you implemented a permanent resolution for the problem. You then can close the database record.