IN SAFE HANDS

Text: Stefanie Klaassen

16 CUSTOMER IN FOCUS
With around 20,000 students, thousands of other course participants
and 2200 employees, Windesheim University of applied sciences is
certainly not a small educational establishment. This University works
with the latest hardware and technology. After the holiday period, all
laptops with solid state drive (SSD) are neatly updated and ready to
be issued to employees. In fact, the entire organization has noticed
that the IT department is extremely well organized. The example
to purchase TOPdesk was followed and the organization started
introducing the use of digital signatures.
The IT department has recently completely digitized the process
around issue forms. You have to sign for the receipt of each item,
such as a laptop, keyboard, mouse or telephone, which is now made
easy with the graphics tablet. This not only saves paper, but also
time. TOPdesk generates automatically lled out forms and these can
be signed quickly with a tablet; it only took a simple link to arrange
everything. The department uses an innovative method to resolve
unnecessary waiting time and red tape, which in turn leads to fewer
repetitive actions for the IT service desk. The form process has been
set up in a way that the department directly anticipates follow-up
questions.
Form ow
Ron Versteeg, TOPdesks functional and application manager, explains:
When I started working here, rows of students were lined up at the
desk to change their password. This is inconvenient for the student
and a hopeless task for us. That is why we went searching for ways
to automatize this process. Now, you can change your password with
one push of the button. The students enter their student number
and receive a message with a token. They copy this token, paste it in
an entry eld on the indicated web page and can then change their
password. Verication takes place through Studielink and DigiD. It is
very safe and the process is completed within thirty seconds.
When their password is changed, the student is shown a screen
with all the manuals he needs from that point on. This service was
developed through experience, explains Versteeg. I asked myself
the questions: if I would receive this answer to my question, would I
have another question after that? Imagine: you let someone sign for a
laptop. You know that the next step requires a manual for Windesheim
PC users and one on wireless networks. Why shouldnt you add these
right away?
Towards digital signatures
What about issuing hardware? We have a web shop where you can
request hardware, explains Versteeg. My colleague Paul Evertse
wanted to develop forms that simplied the distribution of hardware
at the desk. He created a PDF with special drop-down lists and a pre-
dened form that made the distribution a lot easier. We started using
this and he has incited me to create similar forms in TOPdesk. We
created a PDF in which the details in TOPdesk were copied to the form.
That was a lot of copy and paste work. When this was nished, the
form needed to be saved on a server and then linked to a Person card.
The entire process was far from ideal.
Windesheims IT department is extremely
well organized. The department responds
quickly to all their colleagues requests, and
recurring processes are supported digitally
in the blink of an eye. Read on to discover
how the department manages its complex
form ow.
Off to a quick start with the latest technology
Employees can easily sign for the receipt of hardware
Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn
CUSTOMER IN FOCUS 17
18 CUSTOMER IN FOCUS
Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn
When you issue a laptop, continues
Versteeg, you rst need to get it out of
storage, turn it on and let the user log on.
Starting up took a while when you rst
logged into the domain. During this waiting
time we could let someone ll out the form.
When the laptops were equipped with an
SSD, a direct login was available. We didnt
have time to ll out the form as this would
take extra time. We did distribute a lot of
laptops, so this process needed to go quicker.
We accidentally found out that TOPdesk, in
combination with a graphics tablet, allows
you to overcome the entire process with just
a few clicks. I discussed it with a consultant
and he asked me why I didnt use the RTF
creator to generate and sign forms.
In TOPdesk you can pull up an RTF through
a context menu for a change, for instance.
The RTF is then lled with the data from the
change and the operator can send it to the
printer, the tablet. He then signs the form
and locks it as a PDF. As long as you send it to
the correct printer, says Versteeg, this is a
safe and simple way to project a signature on
the bottom of a distribution form; the reason
why you needed to print the form. This
new way of working saves seven and a half
minutes on one side of the desk, but on the
other side you also have someone waiting.
The entire process now only takes a couple
of minutes, which is of course an enormous
result, says Versteeg.
Paperless processes
Versteeg: I have incorporated the creation
of forms in combination with the electronic
signature into our workow. You can
combine the signing with a number of
activities; for us this is possible in every
department. The organization wants to start
working with more of this equipment, even
if it is only to save on paper. It is incredibly
environmentally friendly: you dont use any
paper. This is what paperless processing is
supposed to be. And it is extra safe: you need
a personal certicate for each PC you log
in to. When you log in and want to use the
printer, you now need to create a certicate.
It wont work any other way. I barely have any
administrative work anymore and everything
is in the forms. Its a matter of a good set-up.
Its that easy
We have been using the digital signatures
for three months now, says Versteeg. We
are saving time, it is more efcient and safer.
The formula is so easy that is also applicable
elsewhere: every company is different, but
their ITIL processes are probably the same. It
is actually quite easy: you need to know how
to make an RTF form and you need to have
a tablet. Thats it. You just have to be smart
and I can surely recommend it. When you
have the form ready to go you can send it to
the tablet and sign it. Its that easy.
WE ARE SAVING
TIME, IT IS MORE
EFFICIENT AND
SAFER
Ron Versteeg
Functional and application manager
Ron Versteeg, functional and application manager