July 2012, Issue 2, Volume 15

TOPdesk 5

Achieve more with fewer clicks

More in this issue:

Stay in control / A user-friendly SSD/

Bring Your Own Device / TOPdesk presents

EDITORIAL

The Five
The Five. These two words have been echoing around the TOPdesk offices for the past two years. The Five is the new TOPdesk version that has kept every department so hard at work. Hundreds of colleagues in our offices in Delft, London, Kaiserslautern, Budapest, Antwerp and Ballerup have been busy developing, building, testing, discussing and planning in order to ensure a successful release of The Five.

Continue reading on page 6

However, every time someone mentioned The Five, I couldnt help but think of the aptly titled childrens books by Enid Blyton. Every holiday I would read her stories about the somewhat twee adventures of four children and a dog. They could be quite thrilling, but the adventures always ended well. And as I finished each book, I was always eager to start reading the next one. At TOPdesk we have been on our own Five adventure. That adventure began almost 20 years ago with two students in a basement in Delft. The adventure continues to this day, encompassing over 400 people working in grown-up offices. As the Five release date came closer with bugs still to fix, it was just as thrilling. Luckily it also ended well, with a stunning premiere. Enid Blyton wrote 21 books about The Famous Five. TOPdesks adventure also does not end here, but will continue to develop in the future. TOPdesk Five is not the last chapter, but rather the continuation of a series of new adventures. Enjoy the read, Nienke Deuss

TOPdesk 5

26

CONTENTS July 12
THE EXTERNAL HELPDESK COULD NOT GAUGE THE IMPACT A MALFUNCTION WOULD HAVE
Danil Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy Continue reading on page 14

NEWS TOPDESK 5:
Achieve more with fewer clicks

12

PROCESS AND PRACTICE

Stay in control

15

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
TOPdesk presents

18

TRENDS
Bring Your Own Device

14
88% of managers
indicate that employees use their own devices

21

WORK SMARTER
A user-friendly Self Service Desk with SSD icons

23

COLUMN:
The new world of skiing

24

TIPS + TRICKS

ON THE COVER:
One of TOPdesk 5s new features is the Plan Board for operators. Read all about TOPdesks latest version in the arcticle TOPdesk 5: achieve more with fewer clicks on page 6.

Want to stay up to date?

To stay on top of the latest TOPdesk news and service management developments, follow us on Twitter via @TOPdesk and @ TOPdesk_UK.

TOPdesk Symposium a great success!

On 15 May, over 1100 Dutch and Belgian customers attended the TOPdesk Symposium to witness the premiere of TOPdesks latest version: TOPdesk 5! The morning programme consisted of CEO Wolter Smits keynote speech, in which he showcased TOPdesk 5s brand new features and improvements. In the afternoon, customers could try out TOPdesk 5 for themselves and visit over 30 presentations and workshops. Drinks and a workshop on How do I become a genius in 30 minutes? were the perfect ending to a successful day.

@TOPdesk
A selection of recent tweets : @paultjesmeets @ABeldsnijder TOPdesk 5 has a plan board! Forget schedule.xls.

This edition of the Symposium also featured the Service Management awards. TOPdesk hands out these awards to honour organizations with truly exceptional IT, FM and/or HR services. This year, the award went to Stad Kortrijk. Our congratulations go out to them.

@jacobhakvoort @TOPdesk dealt with my call really quickly: 3 incidents closed in 2 hours. Our own helpdesk should be ashamed.

@doorBakker killing two birds with one stone: e-learning for IT service desk tool Topdesk, learning all relevant (ITIL) processes at the same time.

@TOPdesk Check out our new website with photographs made by our own photographer (TOPmodel colleagues) and more information about TOPdesk 5!

@bertvanlaren #TOPdesk 5 demo version is a bad idea. You wont want to use anything else :)

CALENDAR
UK
July
19 & 20 Demo days | TOPdesk office, London

NEWS

TOPdesk visits the EFMC in Copenhagen

On 23 May, TOPdesk Denmark visited its first conference: the European Facility Management Conference (EFMC) in Copenhagen. Our stand attracted many

NETHERLANDS
July
27 System Administrator Day

corporate and scientific professionals, who were given an exclusive demonstration of TOPdesk 5. The European Facility Management Conference is the most important networking event for European Facilities Management professionals. This years theme Global Responsibility Local Acting covered many topics, including sustainability and corporate social responsibility. For more information about the European The conference is organized by Euro FM Facility Management Conference, visit www.efmc-conference.com (European Facility Management Network) and IFMA (International Facility Management Organization).

TOPdesk on Tour 2012 at the Tower of London

The second edition of TOPdesk on Tour was a great success. On 13 June, TOPdesks British customers were invited to the Tower of London for the launch of TOPdesk 5. Customers were able to attend CEO Wolter Smits keynote speech and get their first hands-on experience with the latest version of our software. They could attend presentations, workshops and user groups covering the latest topics in IT, FM and HR. Finally, everyone was treated to a guided tour of the Tower of London and drinks at the end of the day. We look forward to seeing you all again at the next edition!

6 TOPDESK 5

Text: Nienke Deuss

TOPDESK 5: ACHIEVE MORE WITH FEWER CLICKS

The first version of TOPdesk was released almost twenty years ago, and has improved with each new version. The result? TOPdesk 4, our most successful version ever. However, we believe we can do better. We proudly present: TOPdesk 5!

wenty years ago we were glad that we could create an inventory and track calls without Excel sheets or Post-its, says Wolter Smit, TOPdesk CEO. But

This version also ensures that you have immediate access to TOPdesks most important functionalities, as Smit explains. Links provide quick access to common actions, such as creating a new card. TOPdesk 5 introduces the Quick Launch Bar, which you can equip with buttons for the functions you use most. For instance, you can create a new call or reservation in a single click. We dont know which functions you use every day, so the Quick Launch Bar is customizable: you can add buttons to create new cards, or to directly open a report a selection. The ability to customize your work environment, such as with the Quick Launch Bar, is one of TOPdesk 5s characteristic

organizations have become much more complex since then. Many IT departments work according to ITIL, which currently comprises 26 processes. Moreover, it is more and more common for Shared Service Centres to combine IT, Facilities and HR processes. Our customers have to deal with complex situations. We developed TOPdesk 5 with this in mind. This version is intended to make your work easier and ensure that you achieve more with fewer clicks.

Achieve more with fewer clicks

But what does achieve more with fewer clicks really mean? TOPdesk 5 is designed to let users access the information most important to them without the extra clicks, explains Smit. We achieved this by creating more space on the screen: we moved or reduced the size of the elements that took up a lot of space but were not frequently used. This lets users utilize the space when they need it, and more space means a better overview.

features. There are many ways to personalize your TOPdesk, ensuring that you will always see the information you need. You can also see this with the new bookmark feature, says Smit. As an operator, you may want to track a number of calls or changes without having to create a new selection. This is why you can create bookmarks for virtually any card. These cards are included in an overview, which you can open directly from your Quick Launch Bar. This overview can include cards from several processes.

Photography: Robin Kuijs

TOPDESK 5 7

On the start page, you can directly click through to all the information you need.

The progress trail displays all the customer communication, including emails and documents.

The start page

As mentioned previously, you can use the Quick Launch Bar to click through to important functionalities. However, you can also access handy overviews via blocks and buttons on your start page. With a single click you can open your Task Board, the Dashboard and TOPdesks most important new feature: the Plan Board for operators.

All your tasks on one Task Board

Your start page displays all your tasks, and lets you click through to task overviews for each module. It is also possible to click through to the Task Board. The large button at the top of your start page lets you open an overview of all tasks assigned to you, from all processes. This gives you a complete overview of everything you need to do.

8 TOPDESK 5

TOPDESK 5 9

Above: View, create and group reports and KPIs on a single Dashboard Below: The Plan Board for operators lets you easily (re)schedule tasks

YOU DETERMINE WHICH KPIS AND REPORTS ARE DISPLAYED IN GRAPHS ON THE DASHBOARD
Wolter Smit about the Dashboard

YOU CAN EASILY SCHEDULE YOUR DEPARTMENTS STAFF AND EVEN SET UP RECURRENCE PATTERNS
Wolter Smit about the Plan Board

When you open a call, you will immediately see another important improvement introduced in TOPdesk 5. The call or incident card is one of the most commonly used cards among operators. This card has always contained a lot of information, right from the first version of TOPdesk: a caller block, additional information, processing and planning data and of course the request and action field. The layout has been changed in TOPdesk 5: all fixed administrative data is contained in (collapsible) sections on the left, leaving room on the right side of the card for customer communication the so-called progress trail. You can follow the entire process without a single extra click. You can see the request, the action undertaken and the reactions, presented chronologically, says Smit. Whats more, all sent emails are included in the progress trail as links, and you are able to see all internal notes and uploaded files. The progress trail is available in both Incident Management and Change Management.

better overviews for these users. You can open the Dashboard directly from the start page. We developed the Dashboard for monitoring processes, explains Smit. It allows you to gain immediate insight into the status of your processes. You can view KPIs and reports displayed in graphs. If something catches your eye, then you can access the underlying details in a single click, right down to individual cards. You can also determine what is displayed on the dashboards. You can add overviews of current situations, reports, KPIs or selections, to name but a few. Moreover, you also have access to an Overview Dashboard that lets you display reports and KPIs from several process on a single page.

Plan Board for operators

A coordinator is responsible for monitoring his teams schedule. What do you do when someone goes on holiday, or if someone calls in sick? Do you still have the capacity to handle all incoming calls? Many of our customers use Excel sheets to keep track of their planning, with a

All reports and KPIs on one Dashboard

Managers monitor their departments progress and mostly use TOPdesk to make sure that everything is on track. We have also created

list of employees on one axis and the service desks opening times on the other, explains Smit. The cells are then colour-coded to indicate who is in the office, who has the day off, the shift someone is working,

10 TOPDESK 5

DID YOU KNOW...

The Dashboards, Plan Board and module pages are standard parts of the framework? TOPdesk 5 was developed by three development teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary? Many TOPdesk 5 elements were developed based on users feature requests? The first demonstration of TOPdesk 5 for beta customers took place on 2 April? The next page features pictures of part of the team responsible for TOPdesk 5? You can view the names of all TOPdesk employees who contributed to the 5 under TOPdesk menu > Help > About TOPdesk?

The module page uses diagrams to show how your processes are set up.

and so on. Its no wonder people use Excel for this: it is quick, accessible and easy. But we wondered if we couldnt offer something better, something in one application. TOPdesk 5 introduces the Plan Board for operators, which combines the simplicity of Excel with the power of TOPdesk, as Smit explains. With a single click you can access a list of all operators, ordered by operator group. You can register and adjust your departments staff, take morning and night shifts into account when doing so and even set up recurrence patterns. However, the Plan Boards main advantage is that you also have access to other information registered in TOPdesk, says Smit. You can see who is present, but you also know how busy they are and what they are doing. The Plan Board displays the number of tasks your employees need to complete, and how many tasks are assigned to them before or after this week: you have optimal insight

into your employees workflow. You can use this information to reassign tasks, ensuring that your schedule will not be disrupted when someone goes on holiday or calls in sick.

Manage your processes

TOPdesk application managers or process managers spend a lot of time setting up processes. They maintain the Change Management templates or process surveys, to name but a few tasks. We have introduced the module pages with these users in mind, explains Smit. The module page displays everything you need to manage a module. At the top of the screen is the module diagram, which shows how the module is set up for your organization: the parts you do not use are marked as light grey. Moreover, you can click straight through to expand the modules settings with new selections, templates or surveys, for example.

Interested in a demonstration?
Are you interested in TOPdesk 5s new features and functionalities? Get in contact with a TOPdesk office near you and request a free demo today.
Mark van Meurs Development (Delft)

TOPDESK 5 11

Niels van Klaveren Support

Robert Amesz Development (Delft)

Ivette van Putten Support

Bart van der Hel Support

Jalitha Wills Development (Delft)

Laurent van Berkel Testing

Balzs Ndasdi Development (Budapest)

Olga Reutelingsperger Functional design

Dirk Ammerlaan Functional design

Willem Bottema Functional design

Cees de Quaasteniet Testing

Bart Enkelaar Development (Delft)

12 PROCESS AND PRACTICE

Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

DANIL HUIJBENS (right)

...has worked at TOPdesk for 10 years as a consultant, team leader and project manager, and has helped over 100 organizations improve their services.

Text: Niek Steenhuis

PROCESS AND PRACTICE 13

STAY IN CONTROL
More and more organizations are outsourcing their services. This is routine for facilities organizations, but may take some getting used to for IT organizations. However, they have a lot to gain, as TOPdesk consultant Danil Huijbens has discovered.

here is a lot to say for outsourcing services during times of crisis: you lower your monthly costs and have

management. When the crisis hit, the company decided to outsource its entire IT department to Capatos, a large IT service provider. It was essential that the costs be as low as possible. I noticed that outsourcing had a negative effect on their services. Capatos had moved the helpdesk to Suriname, for instance. It was a lot cheaper, but customers soon discovered that the quality of the service had deteriorated. The helpdesk staff was not familiar with the hardware and software used by Producia, so they could not gauge the impact a malfunction would have. In addition, Producia had not standardized its hardware

greater freedom in only employing staff when you need them. Facilities organizations have a long history of outsourcing services, such as cleaning and catering, but outsourcing is also becoming more popular within the IT field. Unfortunately, this does not always improve efficiency, and can have a negative effect on services. I will use two typical case studies to explain my perspective on how IT and facilities organizations handle outsourcing, and what this can mean for these fields.

IT organization Producia
A few years ago, I visited Producia, a successful Dutch multinational. They had always taken care of their own IT services, from the helpdesk and workspace management to system and network

or software, making it difficult for Capatos to manage its systems. The IT service supply and demand is the root of this problem. The IT department wants an affordable solution, but they should be

14 PROCESS AND PRACTICE

THE EXTERNAL HELPDESK COULD NOT GAUGE THE IMPACT A MALFUNCTION WOULD HAVE
Danil Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy

focusing on the quality of service. If that was their main focus, they would not outsource the helpdesk to Suriname a questionable decision at any rate. This is why the IT department should clearly formulate their goals and communicate them to the service provider. It is even more important that the business and the IT supplier continue to discuss and monitor the solution. This key element was missing in this case.

make new agreements with its suppliers. To improve communication, external employees took up dedicated positions at Endemol, working under a permanent manager. The service desk also received a more central position in the new building literally. In addition, the IT, Facilities and HR coordinators take part in a monthly production meeting to ensure that the supporting departments stay up to date on the customers expectations. Finally, they conduct a survey every year to gauge

and the Facilities department could see an improvement in the collaboration between the suppliers and the rest of the organization. I think that the approach taken by Endemols Facilities department is a great example of how outsourcing should be tackled. The Facilities department is responsible for the quality of services provided by the supplier, and sets clear supplier requirements. The supplier is closely involved with the entire organization and there is an ongoing dialogue between the department and the customer. Supply and demand is a natural part of operations for Endemol and many other

Endemols facilities department

Endemol has a lot of experience in outsourcing services. Their facilities department runs its own service counter, while everything else is taken care of by external parties. The facilities departments main task is managing the suppliers. The organizational structure worked, but the services still had room for improvement. They had trouble with the high staff turnover and did not like having to see new faces so often. These frequent changes affected the contact with the service desk. Moreover, Endemol and the suppliers expectations did not match, leading to dissatisfaction. When Endemol decided to relocate a number of years ago, they took the opportunity to

employee satisfaction.

THEY RUN THEIR OWN SERVICE COUNTER, EVERYTHING ELSE IS TAKEN CARE OF BY EXTERNAL PARTIES
Danil Huijbens - TOPdesk consultancy

Facilities organizations: it is simply a part of a Facilities employees daily tasks. The IT world is only just discovering outsourcing, and still eyes suppliers suspiciously. This is why I advise IT organizations to learn from their colleagues in Facilities Management. Outsourcing services may be new to IT organizations, so why not take advantage of the years of experience Facilities organizations have?

IT can learn from Facilities

I could see that these changes were a success when I last visited Endemol. The employees were satisfied with the services,

Text: Sietse Eling

Photography: Robin Kuijs

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 15

TOPDESK PRESENTS
In this article, Sietse Eling (technical product consultant), Harmen den Boer (functional designer) and William Notenboom (technical product consultant) share their TOPdesk expertise: learn more about updating safely, using the Dashboard for your reports and KPIs and the new Kerberos authentication system.

Five tips for updating to a new version of TOPdesk

Sietse Eling

TOPdesk 4.2 to 4.4, you will have to update to the intermediate versions last service pack which in this case would be 4.3 SP2. You can then update to the intended version. If you still have questions about performing updates, please contact TOPdesk Support.

Tip 3 | Test your bespoke work

If you use bespoke work, you can test it in the latest version. A new bespoke work version, including add-ons and XFG cores, is always available from the latest versions service pack. If your bespoke work is not working properly, please let us know via the Extranet. Here at TOPdesk, we are constantly improving our software with the help of your logged incidents and feature requests. This means that we frequently release new versions of our product. What better way to take advantage of these improvements than to perform regular updates? Here are five tips to ensure that this meticulous task is a success.

Tip 4 | Create a backup of your TOPdesk database and installation folder

It is important to create a backup of your entire TOPdesk database and installation folder before performing an update. This will let you go back if something goes wrong. If you run into problems during the upgrade, you can always contact TOPdesk Support. Make sure that

Tip 1 | Use the documentation

Our Help & Support site features important technical documentation for every TOPdesk version. This includes manuals, but also release notes, update instructions and lists of known errors (available on the Extranet) for Application Managers, outlining the most salient points to take into account when updating.

you have a recent set of logfiles and even a backup of your database. This will enable us to help you as quickly as possible.

Tip 5 | Perform an acceptance test before updating

Make sure to perform a thorough acceptance test before updating your production environment. This will prevent you from running into surprises when using new features or functionalities that have been changed.

Tip 2 | Update to each intermediate version

Updating to a new Service Pack is the same as updating to a new version of TOPdesk. We always support updates with one intermediate version. For instance, if you want to update from

16 IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Text: Harmen den Boer

TOPdesk Dashboard: all reports and KPIs in one place

Harmen den Boer

We developed the TOPdesk 5 Dashboards with managers in mind. This page displays a variety of reports and KPIs for any module you wish, letting you gauge the status of your services at a glance. You can determine what the dashboards display: to-do overviews, reports, KPIs or selections.
View, create and group reports and KPIs at one location.

A place for all reports and KPIs

The Dashboard provides a single location for all the reports and KPIs you need. It includes handy overviews that display your commonly used reports. You can also generate new reports or KPIs in a matter of clicks.

Completely customizable
The Dashboard is ideal for managers: you can adjust it to ensure that it only displays the reports that you need. Being able to view reports side by side will grant extra insight into your processes. For instance, you can compare reports on calls for this month and last month, or view KPIs next to a report, gaining insight into how the current state of affairs relates to past results.
The Dashboard grants extra insight by letting you view reports on different topics next to each other, such as the IT and HR call overviews in the screenshot above.

Map out correlations

The Dashboard displays reports from several modules at once, making it perfect for mapping different processes. You can easily determine the connection between a decrease in open second line incidents and an increase in requests for change, for instance.

The Dashboard lets you combine several modules. This makes it easier than ever to spot the correlations between calls and changes, for instance.

Text: William Notenboom

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 17

Logging in automatically with Kerberos: secure and exible

William Notenboom

Microsofts Windows is just one of the many operating systems that have Kerberos as preferred secure login method. Hosting providers also recognize Kerberos as a safe system, making it possible for organizations that outsource their IT to log in to TOPdesk automatically.

Easy access for users and other applications

Thanks to Kerberos, user authentication is easier and faster than in TOPdesk 4. Each user logged in to the operating system can be authenticated in TOPdesk from several other domains. Whats more, your users will experience marked improvements in speed. TOPdesk 5 also offers improved integration with other systems. Kerberos makes it easier to grant access to other applications. The new authentication method lets you integrate the Self Service Desk with other environments within your network. Your (SSD) users can use links in emails to get to work in TOPdesk without having to log in, making it much easier for your employees to respond to calls. Sharing TOPdesk data in other applications is also extremely straightforward. For instance, you could publish the TOPdesk news item overview on your intranet.
Kerberos requires only minimal management in TOPdesk.

Kerberos makes management easier

Kerberos also offers simplified management. You only need to set up the authentication once during the installation process; no further adjustments are required.

Your SSD users can use links in emails to click straight through to incidents in TOPdesk; they will no longer need to log in first.

18 TRENDS

Photography: Jonas Mertens

ALEXANDER JANSSENS
...is a consultant at TOPdesk Belgium bvba. In this article, he explains the BYOD phenomenon and how it can be used in practice.

Text: Milou Snaterse

TRENDS 19

BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE

BYOD (bring your own device) is no longer a trend: it has become a reality. More and more employees are taking their own devices to the ofce for professional use. The question is no longer whether you should use BYOD, but how you should use it.
What is BYOD?
A growing number of employees has access to the latest smart phones, laptops and tablets. In fact, office equipment often cannot compete with employees own devices. This is one of the reasons that employees use their own devices for professional purposes. Personal devices are mostly used to check emails and calendars or handle calls, but also to access important company applications.

Impact on the IT infrastructure

Most IT managers are not enthusiastic about BYOD. Is it possible to safeguard company data if employees use their own devices? It is clear that the IT infrastructure will have to be adjusted if you decide to introduce BYOD. It is important to ensure that confidential data remains confidential, says Alexander Janssens. Organizations do not want to make their entire internal network available to everyone. Using more mobile devices can also affect the mobile infrastructure. The data centre needs to be prepared for this. Desktop virtualization can provide a solution, explains Janssens. Desktop virtualization lets organizations centralize desktops and applications, and support and protect devices from one location. This will resolve any safety issues. Either way, it is clear that changes to the infrastructure are necessary and will require maintenance.

Supporting your colleagues

BYOD will also affect your organizations service management. To what extent will you support your employees? Which devices will you support? Your organization can decide to only support basic services, such as email. However, it may also be worthwhile to support important services such as applications that generate turnover: a CRM system or service management applications. Additionally, you could grant your employees access to extra services, such as the intranet or even the entire network. Theoretically, you could tell your employees that they cannot use their own devices and that they are

20 TRENDS

IS IT STILL POSSIBLE TO SAFEGUARD COMPANY DATA?

Alexander Janssens - TOPdesk Belgium bvba

therefore not supported, says Janssens. However, it turns out that people use their own equipment for professional services, regardless of whether or not it is permitted within their organization. Granting your employees access to basic services and a number of crucial extra services provides excellent support, and prevents you from having to tackle tricky issues. Your organization will have better control over the course of BYOD issues by providing support for at least a selection of devices.

a BYOD policy. Register who can use which devices, and to what extent. Indicate who is responsible if a device is damaged or lost, or if confidential data is lost. You will also need to determine who will have to pay licence costs, and the levels of support the user can expect. However, a good policy is not enough: you will also need to train your employees. You will have to ensure that your employees know how to handle the policy, new processes and software. It is especially important to train the IT department, so that they can provide support for the various devices.

Tip 1 | Attention for BYOD users Create an attention on the person card of BYOD users. This lets the service desk know straight away whether an incoming incident has been logged by a caller who uses a personal device. It also enables you to analyse incidents relating to BYOD users. Tip 2 | BYOD-specific information in the Knowledge Base Expand the Knowledge Base with BYODspecific information. This will let your users search for information relating to guidelines, operating systems and suggestions for buying materials, etc.

A clear BYOD policy

Many organizations IT policies are not yet attuned to BYOD. This means that companies will have to spend time considering the phenomenon: after all, you will need to take precautions against privacy and security risks. That is why it is important to formulate a clear and effective policy as quickly as possible. Janssens explains the criteria for

BYOD and TOPdesk

TOPdesk can provide support if your IT organization decides to take BYOD into account. But how can your organization use personal devices in combination with TOPdesk? We have compiled a number of tips:

Tip 3 | Include personal devices in the CMDB Expand your CMDB with a number of generic objects such as a BYOD tablet and a BYOD smart phone. This will help you gain insight into the number of BYOD incidents per product group.

Did you know?

88%

of managers indicate that their employees use their own devices.

73%

of CIOs make employees using their own devices a priority within their organization.

60%

of companies have adjusted their IT infrastructure to accommodate employees using their own devices.

Source: research by Wakeeld Research, commissioned by Avanada, January 2012

Text: Patrick Mackaaij

Photography: Robin Kuiijs

WORK SMARTER 21

PATRICK MACKAAIJ
is a consultant and team leader at TOPdesk. He specializes in technical issues and optimizing processes.

A USER-FRIENDLY SELF SERVICE DESK WITH SSD ICONS

The SSD icons add-on lets you customize the Self Service Desks large icons. You can take advantage of this and help your customers nd what they need in no time.

ou can already adjust the Self Service Desk via the default Self Service Desk menu settings feature. This enables you to adjust the horizontal menu bar and the underlying menus in TOPdesk.

all available languages) by clicking Use custom label and entering new text. You can also determine whether the buttons link opens in a new tab or window by (un)ticking Open in new tab.

However, this add-on also lets you set up these buttons to redirect to TOPdesk functionalities that are often used within your organization. For instance, you can set up buttons to: redirect to specific parts of the Knowledge Base open links to intranet pages or external websites use HTTP requests to create incidents with automatically completed fields redirect to bespoke work forms to get the information you really need from end users

Tip: Link to a Knowledge Item

In the SSD, you can create a button that directly links to a Knowledge Item. This can be useful if your end users are inconvenienced by a malfunction, for instance. You can also add a link to this item that lets you create an incident linked to the incident about the malfunction. In TOPdesk Enterprise, you can also link the incident to a major incident. This link performs the following http request, for example:

Cosmetic adjustments
If you wish to adjust your SSD icons, open the add-ons System Settings. You can use the add-on to adjust button order and appearance. Upload the new icon (75x75 BMP, JPG, GIF or PNG) under Use custom icon and you can adjust the language on the button (in http://[TOPdesk server]/tas/public/incidentpublic?action=new&s tatus=1&replacefield0=majorincidentid&searchfield0=naam&se archvalue0=I0603 046

22 WORK SMARTER

Buttons for groups

You can determine button visibility for user groups with Use visibility rules. For instance, you could make a button for (request) forms or reports visible only for managers. You can compile these groups by selecting one or more persons, person groups, departments, branches, locations or countries. You can also use person selections, if the selection is set up to be used by operators in the SSD Icon Management role. Tip: With the default Self Service Desk menu settings, you can limit the SSD interface to news, requesting the callers own person and branch card and logging out. If you disable all underlying links for a menu option, the

menu option will no longer appear in the menu bar. The vertical menu of links on the left of the screen will also change, as will the default large buttons featuring icons.

Colophon
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The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects

About TOPdesk add-ons

TOPdesk offers add-ons to Enterprise customers to help them better meet their customers needs. TOPdesk consultants usually oversee add-on installation, provide bespoke work information and take care of the initial set-up. The SSD icons add-on can be requested via the TOPdesk Extranet.

that are topical in the world of professional service desks in IT, facilities and other service providing organizations. TOPdesk Magazine is intended for managers, service desk employees, facilities organizations and electronic city councils anyone who is involved with supporting clients on a daily basis. This concerns both the processes and the technology behind these services. TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication Tel: + +44 (0) 207 8034200 Email: editorial@topdesk.com Editor-in-Chief: Nienke Deuss Editors: Nienke Deuss, Timme Hos, Milou Snaterse, Niek Steenhuis, Nicola van de Velde Translators: Leah Clarke, Nicola van de Velde, Hazel Hollis Contributors: Harmen den Boer, Sietse Eling, Patrick Mackaaij, William Notenboom Layout: Elise Kerner Ontwerpbureau DDC Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn, Robin Kuijs, Jonas Mertens Copy editor: Nicola van de Velde A print run of 5,000 Quarterly magazine Languages: Dutch, English

You can adjust the image, link and text for each button.

You can determine which buttons are visible for each group.

Text: Renske van der Heide

Photography: Robin Kuijs

COLUMN

RENSKE VAN DER HEIDE

is a product manager at TOPdesk and chairwoman of the FMN (Facility Management Netherlands) Young Professionals network.

THE NEW WORLD OF SKIING

Ten years ago, you probably would have admired my skiing. But these days its not exactly cutting edge. While other skiers were busy carving, I stuck to the method that I learned when I was younger: heading swiftly down the slope with my skis in a parallel position.

he way I ski is hopelessly old-fashioned, but that has never stopped me enjoying every minute of it.

the market, making work more efficient, effective and enjoyable. For instance, we can reduce mistakes and lower costs through automation. However, not all new products lead to improvements, so its important to maintain a critical attitude. The benefits also need to outweigh the costs. Im not going to buy new ski boots every year because the buckles have been slightly improved. I imagine that many people will feel the same way about the newest version of TOPdesk. Why should I use a new version when the current one is just fine? Theres nothing wrong with that line of thought. After all, TOPdesk 4 is a great product. But I speak from personal experience when I say that once you try the new version, you wont ever want to go back. Better still, you will probably want to try out more things and become

more familiar with the new version. TOPdesk 5 offers exciting new features such as the Plan Board, which lets you manage and plan your operators workload and availability. However, TOPdesk 5 also offers improved user-friendliness. It was developed with the end users in mind. This makes it even easier for operators to perform their tasks: reason enough to give it a try! Some of you will approach TOPdesk 5 the same way I approached carving. You wont make the switch straight away, simply because the current situation is fine. But those who do adopt the latest version will really notice the benefits. I for one will embrace newer products a little more quickly in future. In the meantime, Im really looking forward to my next trip to the slopes!

Why would I want to do it differently? After years of sticking to what I know, I had a change of heart and decided to give carving a go. I bought new skis, watched an instructional video on YouTube and gave it a go on a beautiful slope in France. It was fantastic! Carving is faster, more challenging and gives you much more freedom. I enjoyed it so much that Im now taking lessons to master the technique. But the question remains, why try something new? And Im not just talking about sports. We are confronted with change and have to work out how to deal with it every day. New technologies and insights lead to a steady stream of new products entering

tips + tricks
Quick calls
Quick calls are used to process calls that take longer to log than to solve, such as resetting a password. This solution provides you with a completed card that you can register at once. You only need to fill in the callers details. You can set up quick calls as follows: 1. Fill in all the required fields for the quick call in a standard solution, including the status linked to completing the call. 2. Create a selection of all standard solutions with this status and name it Quick Calls. 3. Place this selection in the navigator. In TOPdesk 5 you can simply add these to the Quick Launch Bar. When you receive a call that you would like to register as a quick call: 1. Use the Quick Calls selection. 2. Select the desired standard solution, for example reset password. 3. Create a call from the total overview using standard solutions. 4. Enter the caller details 5. Save the incident We are always updating our Help & Support site with new manuals and tips on how to get the most out of your TOPdesk. You can access the Help & Support site by clicking on the question mark above an overview in TOPdesk, or from the menu option Help > Help and Support. Please note: a date stamp will be added automatically. You can remove this by clicking on the field in the email settings and selecting hide date stamp. 1. In Settings Management, create an optional memo field (signature) on the Operator (Group) Card. 2. Enter the signature for each Operator (Group) in the optional memo field. 3. In Settings Management, add the signature field to the email by right-clicking and selecting Insert Field.

The correct email signature

When several departments work together in one TOPdesk, it is often difficult to include the correct signature in an automatic email. If the only difference between emails from various departments is their signature, an optional memo field on the Operator or Operator Group Card can help. Here you can specify which signature should apply to emails sent in TOPdesk. You can set up the email signature as follow:

Online help and support

TOPdesk UK limited t +44 (0)20 7803 4200 e info@topdesk.co.uk w www.topdesk.co.uk TOPdesk Germany GmbH t +49 (0)631 624 00 0 e info@topdesk.de w www.topdesk.de

TOPdesk Belgium t +32 (0)3 292 32 90 e info@topdesk.be w www.topdesk.be TOPdesk Netherlands t +31 (0)15 270 09 00 e info@topdesk.nl w www.topdesk.nl

TOPdesk France t + 33 (0) 811 11 59 84 e info.topdesk.fr w www.topdesk.fr TOPdesk Hungary t +36 1 301 0190 e info@topdesk.hu w www.topdesk.hu

Copyright 2012 TOPdesk UK limited. Although this magazine has been produced with the utmost care and attention, the writers cannot be held responsible in any way for any damages that may occur due to errors and / or deficiencies in this publication.