topdesk magazine 2011 issue 4

8/3/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2011 Issue 4

1/32

carbban Srv Manamnt /Trnds: cur-dd rjts /Rrts: on th shf r n us?

Reservationsfor theMuseum of

EthnologyMore in this issue:

Nvmbr 2011, Issue 4, Volume 13


2/32

Editorial

Cc success fcsI completed all my courses on schedule, got a good grade for

my thesis, and all of a sudden I had my First Real Job. Last

week, a friend asked whether this makes me a successful

businesswoman. Thats a tough question to answer, because

what constitutes success? Is it driving a company car? Being

appreciated at work? The high salary? Or being able to

list yourself as a manager (or editor-in-chief) on your

business card? Money, means and knowing that youre good

at what you do all contribute to a persons success, intangible

as that is.

Its not easy to dene what makes an organization or

project successful, either. This has led to people trying to

pinpoint critical success factors, such as having sufcient

manpower and capital. However, one success factor is by far

the most important: your people. It doesnt matter whether an

organization has access to cutting edge technology, sufcient

funds and carefully-designed processes; the project is doomedto fail if there is resistance among employees.

In this issue of TOPdesk Magazine, we put the spotlight

on people as a critical success factor. Read on to nd out how

Waternet made the Self Service Desk a success throughout

the organization, how to create reports tailored to your

target demographic and which cultural factors affect service

management success in the Caribbean.

To return to my friends question of whether Im successful,

well, that depends in part on how TOPdesk Magazine

is received. Thats why Im inviting you, my own critical

success factors, to share your opinion. Send your feedback to

[email protected].

Enjoy your read!

Nienke Deuss, editor-in-chief

P.S. Our graphic designers have given TOPdesk Magazine a new

look. Any comments or compliments on the new style can also

be sent to the email address above.

19

13


3/32

CoNtENtSNovember 1

Continue reading on page 19

4 NEWS

7 UniDesk: TOPdesk as a shared service

in Higher and Further Education

9 The benets of collaboration in TOPdesk

10 TRENDS:Colour-coded projects!

13 Caribbean Service Management

15 COLUMN: Learning to ride a bike

17 Waternet makes waves

19 CUSTOMER IN FOCUS:CIP is ready for the future

23 Reservations for the

Museum of Ethnology

25 Reports: On the shelf or in use?

28 WORK SMARTER:

Sending calendar invitations from TOPdesk

32 TIPS + TRICKS

Sending calendar invitations from TOPdesk.

Continue reading on page 28

17

YOU CAN TELL THAT TOPDESKIS WRITTEN FROM THE SERVICEDESK EMPLOYEES POINT OF VIEW

Serge Morabito, CIP

ON THE COVER:

Kim Borst, Reservations department,

Museum of Ethnology

28

7


4/32

4

Vc l becmes toPesk pne

TOPdesk has a new partner: Victa, the Dutch QlikView solution provider. Victa has

developed a management dashboard for TOPdesk that grants additional analysis

possibilities, as well as insight into operational tasks related to Incident Management.The dashboard functions as an incident monitor, displaying current durations, trends an

geographical distribution of incidents via Google Maps.

About twenty TOPdesk customers are currently using the improved dashboard. This has

resulted in a product that meets end users wishes and requirements.

Wt to t up to t?To stay on top of the latest TOPdesk

news and service management

developments, follow us on Twitter via

@Topdsk (Dutch) and @Topdsk_UK.

@TOP

A selection of our recent tweets:

@Topdsk @hrstaantt

Which version do you use? We

dont ofcially support Chrome,

but customers with v4.3/4.4

encounter hardly any problems

@hrstaantt @Topdsk

It is virtually problem-free after

updating to 4.4. I would start

ofcially supporting Chrome.

@Brtvanarn @Topdsk

Bravo to the helpdesk employee

who was still available at 19.00

and gave us the tip that helped

us complete our 4.3 installation.

@chartaatj

Finally going to start reading the

August @TOPdesk Magazine A

digital version for the iPad would

be nice!!

@Topdsk @haraatj

You can read the Magazine on

Scribd via the Mobile button.

Enjoy your read! http://cot.ag/

oIKPB6

toPesk cques new bnch n denmkTOPdesk has added a fth foreign branch to its ranks as a result of the recent merger

between Aventor and TOPdesk in June 2011. Danish Aventor will become the ofcial

TOPdesk Denmark branch and sell, implement and support TOPdesk software. This merg

grants TOPdesk, already a market leader, a considerable share of the Danish service

management market.

Aventor, the company behind AD HOC service management software, already has a solid

customer base in Denmark. This merger is a huge step forward for us, says Michael

Tandrup, director of Aventor. TOPdesk will not only help us further improve our market

position; with TOPdesk replacing the next version of AD HOC, we will also be able to

provide our existing customers with the next generation of service management softwa

We have already received very positive reactions, so we are condent that this merger w

be a great success.

The cooperation after the merger went smoothly, according to TOPdesk director Wolter

Smit: We are not looking at this as a takeover, but an extensive collaboration. Aventors

corporate culture is very similar to TOPdesks, and we can tell that our new Danish

colleagues feel very welcome.


5/32

NEW

CalendarBelgiUM

Dmbr1 & 13TOPdesk Demo Day for IT | TOPdeskofce, Antwerp, Belgium

UK

Dmbr15 & 16Demo Day | TOPdesk ofce,London, UK

Januar 201211 14BETT show | Olympia, London, UK

NeTHeRlANDS

Januar 201218, 19 and 20Facilities Trade Fair | Brabanthallen,Den Bosch, The Netherlands

toPesk gns newSwesh ses pneFrom September onwards, TOPdesk will

work together with its new sales partner

in Sweden, ITBM. This company is a major

player in the Swedish IT market, and

TOPdesk hopes to earn similar success

through this collaboration.

ITBM previously sold LANDesk Service

Desk software. However, they noticed a

growing demand among organizations

for standardized software that is fast and

easy to implement. ITBM sees TOPdesk as a

standard solution for both large and small

companies in the Swedish and Norwegian

markets. TOPdesk serves the IT, FM and HR

markets, with the SaaS solution offering

even more possibilities.

On Wednesday 24 August, 18 TOPdesk

employees ran in the Wheel of Energy, a

larger-than-life running wheel stationed

at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. TOPdesk

has been present at many running events

over the past few years, such as the Adidas

Ladies run, the British 10K and the City-

Pier-City run. Our participation in the

Wheel of Energy raised 1,036.46

for charity.

Many TOPdesk employees are committed

to raising money and awareness for

charities. TOPdesk believes in supporting its

employees in their charitable endeavours.

Hazel Hollis, a translator at TOPdesk,

suggested that TOPdesk participate in th

Wheel of Energy this year. Her idea was

met with much enthusiasm.

W of eThe Wheel of Energy365 project is

dedicated to improving the quality of life

for cancer patients and providing suppor

for their friends and family; however, the

cannot do this without donations. Whee

of Energy uses the proceeds to support

special centres for cancer patients in the

Netherlands, among other projects.

toPesk n he Whee f Enegy


6/32

Text: Na van d V6

University of Edinburghs campus


7/32

Photography: Unvrst f ednburh

The three universities of Edinburgh,

Abertay Dundee and St Andrews

share a great deal of Scottish

heritage, and are among the most

prestigious in the entire UK. The University

of Abertay Dundee is the newest and most

modern of the three, and its buildings are

considered some of the most innovative

and well-designed in Scotland. The

University of St Andrews, on the otherhand, is the oldest in the country; In fact,

they are currently celebrating their 600th

birthday. With three colleges comprising

27 schools, the University of Edinburgh

is one of the largest, offering its students

a wide range of degree programmes in

the elds of Humanities, Social Sciences,

Science & Engineering and Medicine &

Veterinary Medicine.

50,000 tff mm,tut toAt the heart of the University of

Edinburghs technical support lies

the Information Services department,

responsible for the library, computing and

e-learning services. With a total of 50,000

staff members, students and visitors to

support, its no wonder that Mark Wetton,

Head of Application Divisions Service

Management, and his team have their

hands full. Our users can contact the

Information Services (IS) helpline for a

wide range of IT-related services, ranging

from requests for user accounts, general

desktop queries, printer or network

problems, to e-learning and web services.

To be able to manage all these requests,the university previously used their own

CMS system which they developed ten

years ago. It was a simple web-based

system that only really offered Incident

Management, explains Mark. Although

they could log basic calls, the bespoke

work involved would have been too costly

for major engineering and the system

lacked extensive features such as a CMDB

and knowledge base. An external company

also came to assess their processes against

ITIL standards, and they were not up to par

at that time. Because we were already

working according to ITIL procedures

and found it important to share a unied

vocabulary, we started looking for a new

solution that tted the bill.

Having run their current CMS system as

a shared service with the University of St

Andrews , they decided it was only natu

to head in that same direction, with the

University of Abertay Dundee as the thi

party. Mark explains: Together with the

other universities, we compiled a list of

requirements for the new system. It not

only had to offer the same support as th

current system and be ITIL-compliant;

we also needed a supplier partner that

was able to work with Shibboleth, anOpen Source centralized authentication

mechanism, to ensure a shared service

for all our partners. In addition, it had to

comply with all the rigorous rules and

regulations of the public sector.

Ud: c wAided by TOPdesk consultants, the

University of Edinburgh managed to tail

TOPdesks Incident Management and

Problem Management processes to mee

the universitys requirements. Because

the implementation is a shared service

specically designed for universities, the

three partner universities decided to cal

it UniDesk. The application is hosted and

supported by the University of Edinburg

The Incident Management process is >>

Unidesk: TOPdesk as a

shared serviCe in higherand FUrTher edUCaTiOnThe University o Edinburgh started using TOPdesk in November 2010 and, together

with partners University o Abertay Dundee and University o St Andrews, developed

UniDesk: a TOPdesk-based service, extensively tailored to the needs o Higher and

Further Education institutions.


8/32

8

the rst to be shared across all the partner

institutions, but remains exible due to

regular Change Board meetings, during

which all partners are able to represent

their priorities and requirements. With

UniDesk, we not only share the cost

of the service, but we also share ideas

through workshops, reviews and training.

We believe we can collectively be more

effective, creative, and learn from each

other, in order to continually improve our

own services, Mark explains.

Lorraine Brown, Service Desk IT Manager at

St Andrews University, is very pleased with

the numerous advantages UniDesk has to

offer. What I like best about UniDesk, is

that Ive got a lot more control than I had

with the old system. As an administrator,

it has given me a great overview, allowing

me to assign roles and authorizations, for

instance. Our 149 operators also greatly

benet from being able to see the status

of each call. According to Lorraine, the

biggest benet of using UniDesk is the

fact that its a shared service. Aside from

the regular meetings, I can always phone

the other universities to ask for their

advice. When the university of Abertay

Dundee launched Problem Management,

for example, I went to see how they

implemented it. We will be able to use that

same process effectively for our university.

Normally an organization could spend

days designing an appropriate process for

their implementation. However, because

UniDesk is designed specically for

higher and further education institutions,

the partners are able to offer UniDesk

as a service to other universities. The

advantage for other institutions, is that

they can use our blueprints to make more

rapid progress in service deployment,

and they can benet from a community

approach, using a tried-and-tested tool

that has a robust track record. This

saves them both time and money, with

unlimited usage and very competitive

pricing, according to Mark.

iT, cmc copot uppotIt has been almost a year since the

University of Edinburgh implemented

UniDesk. They currently have 1,000

operators handling approximately 12,000

calls a month, logged by email, one of

the face-to-face service desks, or by local

computing ofcers at each college and

department. UniDesks main service

manager Matt Beilby has really noticed

the difference in the services they provide.

The old system didnt provide statistics, so

there was no way of knowing how much

time we were spending on each call; any

(success) stories were anecdotal. Now we

have the reports to back them up. We were

really surprised that some tasks, such as

password resets, took up a larger part of

our time than we expected. We can now

use this information to prioritize our calls.

For the users, communication has also

greatly improved, and they are informed

soon as their call is closed, Matt explain

The University doesnt just use UniDesk

for IT, however. We have also integrated

processes with our corporate units,

explains Mark, which include business

service desks for Finance, Registry and

Accommodation services, among others

We also support external queries from

research organizations and partners.

Recently, we even developed a mobile

camper service: an application for

smartphones which the students can us

to log calls.

a oztoOverall, the University of Edinburgh is ve

pleased with running UniDesk on TOPde

software, as Mark explains: It has becom

really easy to log calls, and the system h

provided all the universities with a clear

understanding of their processes and

target times. In the next three months, w

plan to release the Self Service Desk por

which will enable users to log their owncalls and use a shared knowledge base.

We are already implementing Change

Management, which is due to go live in

the new year, closely followed by a Servi

Level Management module to help our

customers manage the expectations and

integrated responsibilities that underpin

each service.

Using the feedback they receive in their

shared forum, the partner universities

are continually improving UniDesk to

better meet their requirements. One

of our collective projects is to create a

management information dashboard: a

high-level reporting tool which will give

even more information on our processes

and areas for improvement. With

UniDesk, we have really become a

learning organization.

WE BELIEVE WE CAN COLLECTIVELY BEMORE EFFECTIVE, CREATIVE AND LEARNFROM EACH OTHER

Mark Wetton - University of Edinburgh


9/32

Text: Rb Haarn Photography: Td erkka

Service departments and

organizations owe their existence

to their customers. It is therefore

important for them to know what

customers think of the services they

provide. Which services are good? Which

can be improved? TOPdesk developed the

Survey module to answer such questions.

The module was originally designed to

grant IT departments insight into how

their customers perceived the speed and

quality of their services.

eo qutoToday, several types of supporting

departments use TOPdesk, each needing

to know how their customers experience

their services. You can use TOPdesk to

dene questions and create your survey.

Once this is done, it is possible to create a

selection of colleagues, such as when you

only want to poll part-time employees.

TOPdesk then sends out the survey

invitations via email. You can reuse both

individual questions and entire surveys,

eliminating the need to enter the same

questions over and over. This makes it

easy for several departments to use this

module.

hr uSurveys are especially useful for HR

departments. After all, they must

frequently measure employee satisfaction.

Once you have created such a survey, you

can adjust the settings so that TOPdesk

sends it out on a xed date every year. You

can also use the Survey module to send

an exit survey to employees leaving you

organization, which enables you to gath

important information about your work

environment. You can even use TOPdesk

to create polls, allowing you to gauge

employees reactions to new company

policies, for instance.

it potSending out surveys is just the beginnin

TOPdesk can display survey results in

convenient pie charts, or even export

results to Excel for further processing. L

all service departments, at the end of th

day you want to use the results to furth

improve the services you provide for

your customers.

is an HR manager at TOPdesk and a TOPdesk application manager

RoB HAARiNg

More and more organizations are trying to improve process efciency across

several departments. In this edition o TOPdesk Magazine, we close our

triptych o case studies examining how HR departments can use TOPdesk

to acilitate interdepartmental collaboration. We will take a closer look at

creating and sending surveys in TOPdesk.

The beneFiTs OF

COllabOraTiOn in TOPdesk


10/32

10 Trends Text: Jrd Ras

... is a team leader at TOPdesk Consultancy and has years of experience in

implementing process flows within organizations.

Irecently found myself in the midst of it

again: a large process implementation

with impressive goals and even better

planning. We set to work with much

enthusiasm, led by an external party. Wethought out the various processes, involved

employees from different project teams,

provided ample opportunity for feedback

and processed every last comment.

But time ew by, and we did not meet

our deadline. We encountered a lot of

resistance and just couldnt nish the

procedures. We eventually completed the

project, but it was much more demanding

than we had anticipated. So why did

this happen?

not t cotoWhat is it that makes one project succeed

and another fail? People are used to

everything being controllable - that is to

say, projects and results being predictable.

This works as long as you are changing

things, for example when introducing

a new IT infrastructure or renovating

a location. When changing supporting

services, and by that I meanpeople, it

becomes a bit more tricky.

a mo mpott o fouppot cSupporting services such as IT, Facilities

and HR are becoming more and more

important for operational management

and are becoming more professional

as a result. This means not just more

employees, but also different employees

performing different tasks. Your employees

will also have to keep in closer contact

with customers and must therefore be

communicative and customer-friendly. In

practice, the way people actually approach

projects does not change much throughout

this process. People often make extensive

project plans that rely too much on

controlable factors and results.

Coou-co fo m cThe colour code (see below), created by

change experts De Caluwe and Vermaak

offers a solution for the problem describabove. According to the colour code,

people should ask themselves a number

of questions when planning a change. In

what type of organization will the chang

take place? What is the corporate culture

like? Which people will be involved in

or affected by the change? With such

questions in mind, we can discern ve

different methods of approaching the

situation. Each of these ve approaches

has been allocated a different colour

(see below). Depending on your persona

qualities and preferences, you can choos

the colour that best matches your projec

and organization.

Tt w t wt wo!At the start of this article I mentioned a

process implementation where I got cau

You have probably already experienced a project that did not go according to plan,

even though everything was organized to a T: a good team, thorough preparationand a dedicated management team. In this article, I will explain how colour-coding

can oer a solution when determining the best change strategies or your projects.

JoRDi RecASeNS

COlOUr-COded PrOjeCTs!


11/32

TrendsPhotography: Td erkka

up in an overly-extensive plan. When I look

at the colour code now, I realize what went

wrong. We assumed that we could use the

procedures to control the outcome and

create a blueprint of all possible situations.

It shouldnt have come as a surprise that

the procedures were neither set in place

nor approved. I now realize that we were

far too concerned with all the blue.

Wc coou TOP?

Inspired by the colour code, I thought itwould be interesting to examine TOPdesks

colour. So I took a look at my own

organization, the corporate culture and the

people who work here.

In 18 years, TOPdesk grew from a two-

man student club into a professional,

international organization with almost

400 employees. Despite this, the corporate

culture has not changed much. TOPdesk

employees are still young, eager to learn,

critical, open to new things, and really

enjoy their work. Colleagues often take the

initiative and start projects from personal

interest. They are given the freedom to

gradually achieve their goal. In

addition, the organizational hierarchy

remains relatively at with very little

power distance.

After studying the colour scheme I have

come to the conclusion that TOPdesk is

quite green. We take on internal projects

in steps and continue to learn while

remaining critical. You can observe this

in the way we arrange projects at our

customers [2], such as process or software

implementations:

Think big, start small

Dont try to lay out everything beforehand

Work together and be open to feedback

This green approach is one of the biggest

success factors in our projects, both

internally and at our customers. It is

not an articially thought-up approach,

but a logical result of our corporate culture.

Our approach has resulted in more than

5,000 successful software and process

implementations.

go !To speak in terms of the colour code, you

can often make a project a lot less blue. A

TOPdesk our approaches are already fair

green. This approach also works very we

during projects with our customers. Whe

starting a project, think critically about

which approach best ts your organizati

The colour code can help you with this. M

advice is to consider the green approach

rst sight it may seem to take longer, bu

the long run you get better results and th

project will run a lot more efciently.

[1] Learning to Change, A Guide for Organizati

Change Agents ; Leon de Caluwe and Hans

Vermaak.

[2] See the article Taking your organizations

maturity to the next level in TOPdesk Magazin

of May 2011

DEPENDING ON YOUR PERSONAL QUALITIESAND PREFERENCES, YOU CAN CHOOSE THECOLOUR THAT BEST MATCHES YOUR PROJECT

Jordi Recasens - TOPdesk

yw Concern and power are paramount. It is crucial that you adopt a stance and ensure

that all your employees are on the same wavelength. Negotiating is an important tool needed

achieve your objectives.

Bu Everything revolves around planning; making a blueprint of how to reach your goals. All

factors must be as quantiable as possible, so that you can adjust plans should you need to. Th

basic principle is think rst, act later.

Rd Its all about your people. Developing talent is important for you to attain your goals. You

do this by using rewards and penalties to stimulate your employees.

grn Your motto is learning through experience and taking it step by step. You motivate

people to try new things and give feedback. This is also characteristic of a learning organizatio

Wht White contains all colours. The pillars of this approach are allowing people to full the

ambitions by removing barriers, inspiring them and providing freedom. Taking the initiative is

encouraged and individual organization is important.


12/32

12 Text: Mu Snat

TOPdesk collaborates with a number o international sales partners, o which

Next Step Consulting on the island o Curacao was one o the frst. Apparently,

the service management branch in the Caribbean is considerably dierent

rom that in Europe.

Caribbean

serviCe ManageMenT


13/32

Photography: Nxt St cnsutn

Ronald Lieuw-Sjong is the man behind Next Step Consulting

(NSC), located on Curaao. NSC offers organizations in the

Caribbean a range of consultancy and training services in IT

service management (ITIL and MOF) and facilities management.

Lieuw-Sjong gives TOPdesk demonstrations on location, works as

a consultant and provides training courses in the areas of ITIL, FM

and process management.

iTil tooLieuw-Sjong had taken a number of ITIL courses, and wanted to

apply his acquired knowledge at his customers. You need a good

tool to support the ITIL processes, but the market was simply too

restrictive for these tools to be available. I then started looking for

a useful and practical tool, which led me to TOPdesk. This is when

Lieuw-Sjong contacted TOPdesk. He explains that the response

from TOPdesk was quick and friendly. In 2002, the partnership

started with installing TOPdesk 3 at three local companies and

one company in Suriname. For the last ten years now, Lieuw-Sjong

has been responsible for sales on Curaao, Bonaire and Aruba and

software implementations in the Caribbean region.

At the start of the collaboration between TOPdesk and NSC, Lieuw-

Sjong made frequent visits to the Netherlands for training courses

and demonstrations. Things have really changed since then. I can

now attend most courses from a distance, explains Lieuw-Sjong.

These days, we have access to numerous tools that enable us tocommunicate and exchange knowledge with people on the other

side of the world. You merely schedule an appointment, arrange

a time and go for it. Nevertheless, Dutch consultants still visit

Curaao to share knowledge; and in turn Lieuw-Sjong comes to

the Netherlands from time to time.

sc Mmt t CCompared with European sales, selling TOPdesk in the Caribbean

has proved to be quite a challenge, explains Lieuw-Sjong. On

Curaao, IT is considered a cost, meaning you rst have to convince

organizations of the tools added value. If you compare the use of

IT in the Netherlands to that on Curaao on a maturity scale of one

to ve, the Netherlands will score a four and Curaao a two. The

reason for this is that many IT specialists in the Caribbean consider

the technical aspects of the tool to be more important than the

organizational aspects. As a result, the technical side of IT often

runs smoothly, while the managerial side of IT is not up

to par.

Meanwhile, NSC is making up lost ground by organizing demo

days and discussing best practice frameworks such as ITIL.

Fortunately, weve noticed that young graduate IT workers are

being introduced to management activities during their studies

Doing business in the Caribbean also differs from the Netherlan

Lieuw-Sjong explains further. You need a more personal approa

towards the sales process. On Curaao, who you know is often

more important than what you know.

dfft cutu, fft pocuHierarchy still plays a vital role within organizations in the

Caribbean, according to Lieuw-Sjong. If, so to speak, the boss te

you to jump, the employees will ask how high? This work ethic

is unheard of in the Netherlands. Dutch consultants often ask

their customers for their opinion when dealing with a particular

approach: Tell me, what do you think? In the Caribbean, you w

often catch people saying: You decide, youre the expert.

You can also notice more subtle cultural differences in the Dutch

colleagues. I rst have to educate Dutch consultants when the

visit Curaao for the rst time, explains Lieuw-Sjong. I have to

tell them that over here, a yes does not always mean a custom

is committed buying, but that they expect an expert opinion

instead. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, saying yes can

have immediate consequences. Nowadays, I dont really notice

these differences anymore; after a while, you start speaking the

same language.

TOP u t CHaving years of experience, Lieuw-Sjong is able to spot which

organizations are potential TOPdesk users. Theres no point in

trying to sell TOPdesk to international companies in the >>

ON CURAAO, IT IS CONSIDEREDA COST, MEANING YOUFIRST HAVE TO CONVINCE

ORGANIZATIONS OF THE TOOLSADDED VALUE

Ronald Lieuw-Sjong - Next Step Consulting


14/32

14

Caribbean, as their parent company provides them with the tools

they need. Small organizations usually do not have the available

budget, but an appointment with the IT manager from a larger

local organization can be arranged without a problem.

Unlike the Netherlands, the Caribbean has seen a large number

of TOPdesk Professional implementations. Enterprise is often

too expensive for smaller companies in the Caribbean, and many

organizations consider our lite version to be too lite, explains

Lieuw-Sjong. Another remarkable difference is that SaaS is not

yet seen as a worthy alternative. Not many organizations on

Curaao outsource their IT tasks, explains Lieuw-Sjong. For now,

SaaS is out of the question on Curaao, as staying in control of the

software is vital. On the other hand, our customers do use Gmail to

communicate with one another!

iT fom M, FM fom vu

The IT and FM markets are extremelydifferent, says Lieuw-Sjong. IT is from

Mars and FM is from Venus. In the

Caribbean, 80 percent of all TOPdesk

implementations are for IT, while 20

percent are for FM. Although the FM

market is considerable, people are not yet

ready for a tool to support it. Although

implementing TOPdesk for HR purposes

in the Caribbean is not yet an option,

Im sure we can enter that market in the

future, as the demand is already there.

suppot fom 3.30 to 12.30?The average time difference of ve

hours between the Caribbean and the

Netherlands does not seem to pose

any problems. Once TOPdesk is up and

running, it just keeps on going, according

to Lieuw-Sjong. And if a customer has a

IT IS FROM MARS AND FM ISFROM VENUS

Ronald Lieuw-Sjong - Next Step Consulting

A TOPdesk demo day on Curaao

minor issue, I always visit them personally; otherwise, I just call

the service desk. It has all become a lot easier with the help of

modern technology.

Cutom o TOPTOPdesk currently has a secure market position in the Caribbean

Customers are especially overwhelmed by our demonstrations;

and the number of TOPdesk modules is so vast, that I usually onl

present a selection, explains Lieuw-Sjong. I begin the demo by

showing them the basic modules of Incident Management and

Conguration Management. Once the customers, currently 25 i

total number, start working with TOPdesk, Lieuw-Sjong is mostly

met with positive responses. When I see how customers can

generate gures and control processes with ease, their response

is usually wow!. Some minor cultural differences aside, the

Caribbean appears to be another successful location for TOPdesk

In addition to Next Step Consulting (Curaao), TOPdesk

partners in the Caribbean also include ITEE NV (Suriname) and

Gilette group (Trinidad and Tobago). TOPdesk currently has

24 customers in the Caribbean, including the government of

the Netherlands Antilles, Harbour Port Authority and State Oil

Company Suriname.


15/32

Text: Rnsk van dr Hd Photography: Rbn Kujs

Discussing columns with an old

friend while enjoying a glass of

wine is a pleasant way to shareknowledge. But how do you approach

sharing knowledge about more complex

issues with someone you dont know very

well? If, for example, someone from your

department is replaced, how do you ensure

that the replacement acquires all the

knowledge that they need?

It is fairly easy to record whatmust be

done in task descriptions, work instructions

or written procedures. These descriptions

may even be quite complex and extensive,

such as the many protocols describing the

tasks of a medical specialist or nurse. In

short, it is possible.

Howsomeone does something, however, is

much more difcult to record. It depends

on personal experience, competence and

personality. How experienced are you?

What are your strengths? How do you

handle particular situations? These things

determine the way you approach a task,and vary from person to person. Theres

really nothing wrong with that.

Trial and erroroften proves to be a good

way to discover which methods suit you

best. After all, you dont learn to ride a bike

by reading a book about it; you do it by

falling down and picking yourself up again.

At work you learn in all sorts of ways; by

observing how your colleagues get things

done, shadowing someone from your

own or another department, attending

meetings or visiting customers. Finally, yalso learn a lot by exchanging tips with

others, just as Annemarie and I did.

Come to think of it, its high time that

Annemarie and I had another glass of wi

together. I could still use a few tips, and I

only made the deadline for this column b

the skin of my teeth.

Our previous columnist, Annemarie, has let the company and I will be takingover her column. Annemarie had quite some experience with columns. I, on

the other hand, have a little less. It seemed like a good idea to have a chat

with Annemarie over a glass o wine. She had plenty o useul tips: take your

time when writing, dont wait until the last moment, pick a topic that is close

to your heart and so on.

learning TO ride a bike

is a product manager at TOPdesk and chairwoman of the FMN (Facility

Management Netherlands) Young Professionals network.

ReNSKe VAN DeR HeiDe

ColUMN

YOU DONT LEARN TO RIDE A BIKE BYREADING A BOOK ABOUT IT; INSTEAD YOUFALL OVER AND PICK YOURSELF UP AGAIN


16/32

16 Text: Nnk D

Rik Roelofsen, Waternet

INTRODUCINGA NEW WAY OFWORKING IS NOT ASEASY AS IT SEEMS

Rik Roelofsen - Waternet


17/32

Photography: Ks Muzaar

W

aternet, one of Europes

biggest water companies,

is based in Amsterdam

and is the only company to deal with

the Netherlands entire water chain.

Waternet puries waste water, produces

drinking water and keeps surface water

clean and at sufcient levels. The latter

is contracted out by the water board

Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht and

the Amsterdam city council. Waternet

supplies clean and safe potable water to

1.2 million people in the central and

west Netherlands. Waternet is alsoresponsible for rivers, ponds and lakes

in these regions.

iT FctWhen Waternet was founded some ve

years ago, TOPdesk emerged as the best

tool for IT management. Rik Roelofsen,

TOPdesk application manager, worked

closely with colleague Jody van Kerwijk

from the start. Jody was manager of the

facilities service management system

at the time. Roelofsen explains the

situation. There came a point where

Facilities wanted a system more attuned

to the departments developments.

Waternet wanted to reduce the number

of applications and improve support of

internal employees, so we formed a project

team to select a single central system

for our Assets sector, which spans

several departments.

T at poctTo ensure optimal results, project leaders

Cynthia Anas-Roose, Jody van Kerkwijk

and Rik Roelofsen involved as many

departments that deal with Assets

in the project as possible. Roelofsen

explains further. To be able to select a

system, the project team rst evaluated

the advantages and disadvantages of

the packages that were already in useat Waternet. Among other things, the

positive experience with the Support

department, the existing knowledge of

the system and the pricing model made

TOPdesk the obvious choice. Many of the

processes surrounding Asset management

have been included in TOPdesk, offering

great improvements. For example new,

relocating and exiting employee processes

are now dealt with entirely within

TOPdesk. Roelofsen explains.

CChoosing a tool was relatively easy,

but integrating it into the existing

methodology was something else entirely.

After introducing TOPdesk, Waternet

began using the Self Service Desk to

reserve meeting rooms and parking

spaces. But introducing a new way of

working isnt quite that easy, explains

Roelofsen, especially when new TOPdes

users react sceptically to the tool. The IT

department was already used to workin

with TOPdesk. Employees from the

Facilities, Documents and Records and

Human Resources departments on the

other hand nd human interaction more

important than IT employees do. Becaus

of this, some people viewed the tool as

hindering their service.

attto to commuctoIn order to turn his colleagues

reticence into enthusiasm, Roelofsen

took a structured approach to the

implementation. At the start of the

process we discussed our approach

and wrote a product description for

communication that would serve to

introduce the Self Service Desk, Roelofs

recalls. No matter how much you organ

or how often you post on the intranet,

the impact will never be big enough. Wi

such a big change, you have to be more

direct when communicating. Thats why

we discussed the role our communicatio

would play at such an early stage of the

project and why communication was an

important part of the projectplanning.Roelofsen also included the internal med

channels that would be used to >>

Ater implementing TOPdesk, Waternet asked itsel, How do we motivate

our employees to actually use the tool? The answer: a Sel Service Desk

promotion campaign.

WaTerneT Makes Waves


18/32

18

promote the Self Service Desk in the product description.

sf sc d pomotoTo help with the Self Service Desk promotion, Roelofsen hired

Design Agency DDC. I had always found TOPdesks magazine and

website rather attractive and I heard that Design Agency DDC also

offers Self Service Desk promotion. That led me to involve them

in our project . During the intake, they discussed which materials

would be used. With such a new way of working, you must be

able to present information in a very accessible way. We decided

to make four video tutorials, so that everyone would see straight

away how the Self Service Desk works, explains Roelofsen.

Not all employees in the target group have the same afnity with

IT. To get around this, Waternet also used a medium that does not

have to be viewed on a computer: the 3D desktop card. The 3D card

explains, in a few simple steps, exactly how an employee can make

a reservation or create an incident in the Self Service Desk. And

that can give you just the condence you need to go ahead and use

the Self Service Desk, Roelofsen says cheerfully. To complement

this information, the intranet, employee magazine and newsletter

were also used to promote the Self Service Desk.

Waternet Service desk employees

Po ppocIn addition to using promotional material, Roelofsen underlines

the importance of a personal approach. He regularly visits the

Facilities department to help them with TOPdesk. This means I

no longer just that guy from the eleventh oor who does things

with TOPDesk. Personal support is also a very important part of

implementation. People nd it that bit easier to come to you wit

questions or problems.

imp utBy timing the communication releases correctly and involving

employees in the projects objectives, TOPdesk was introduced

very successfully. At Waternet, the Self Service Desk in particular

now used much more. Roelofsen is very pleased with the results

The Self Service Desk promotion was very well received. Facilitie

have noticed that the number of phone calls has gone down and

already half of the reservations are made via the Self Service Des

even during the holiday season! Employees like the fact that the

are now more independent. They are no longer left waiting on th

telephone if they want to reserve a parking space, they just requ

it themselves via the Self Service Desk.

According to Roelofsen, the Self Service Desk offers another

important advantage. Now that supporting departments have

been brought together in the Self Service Desk, people work mor

closely with one another. In the past, departments were primarilconcerned with themselves, but now they are required to confer

more often. As a result, they soon nd that they learn a lot from

each others procedures! The Self Service Desk is a positive step

towards one central service desk.

aout d ac ddCDesign Agency DDC started out six years ago as TOPdesks

Communications and Design department. DDC now enjoys

working independently for a wide range of customers. DDC is a

one- stop shop for graphic design, web design, copywriting and

translation. If you are interested in the promotional material

used by Waternet, turn to the DDC advertorial on page 31.

For more information, call us on +31 (0) 15 270 09 60 or go to

www.designagencyddc.com


19/32

Serge Morabito, CIP

CUsTOMer in FOCUsText: Nnk Duss Photography: Jnas Mrtns

Our editors braved a congested Brussels by car to write this article. Ater a

challenging parking experience (and being warned about an exciting corner) the

editorial team made it to the ofces o CIP, the IT service desk or a complex and

particularly varied organization. >>

CiP is ready FOr The FUTUre


20/32

20 CUsTOMer in FOCUs

Although CIP receives the type of incidents you would

normally expect, about the network or IT infrastructure, it

is no average service desk. We provide support primarily

to UNIZO (Union for Independent Entrepreneurs in Flanders) and

Zenito, the social insurance fund for the self-employed, explains

Serge Morabito, TOPdesk application manager at CIP. Our team of

seven supports around 300 people.

d cutomSeveral of the more than 120 professional associations are

based at the headquarters, where they represent self-employed

entrepreneurs from particular sectors. Zenito has another half a

dozen regional relationship management ofces for which CIP

provides services. As you can imagine, in an organization like this

we deal with a large number of people from a variety of business

elds, Morabito continues, This can make our work quite

complicated. Each professional association or service has its own

requirements; and even the infrastructure can vary between the

different locations. Communication is of utmost importance. You

dont want to travel all the way to an ofce half way across the

country when the problem could have been solved from our

own ofce.

Fom too to TOPTen years ago, CIP decided to purchase a tool to replace the paper

forms that were being used. The tool we selected seemed to be a

great improvement at rst; it was fantastic to be able to see who

was doing what. But as we continued working with the tool, we

kept getting updates that took the tool in a completely different

direction, or even crashed the application at crucial moments. It

no longer supported the working methods we had in mind. When

we realized that, we took our time searching for an alternative

solution. After all, we had just started working with this tool and

we didnt want to give up on it straight away, Morabito recalls.

In 2006, CIP decided to further optimize the working procedures

by taking stock of and standardizing key processes. And, of cour

ITIL is never far away notes Morabito. We decided to look for

a tool that would better support our processes and needed less

customization. An acquaintance told us that TOPdesk looked

pretty good. We attended a demo and were quickly convinced.

You can tell that it is written from the point of view of a service

desk employee. It is not a product that dictates how you should

organize your service desk.

a u fo t p t cutomOnce they had decided on TOPdesk, everything went very quickly

A consultant implemented Incident Management, Conguration

Management and the Self Service Desk in twelve days. Its

not often that Im this pleased with a consultancy project,

says Morabito. The other help desk employees were also very

enthusiastic about TOPdesk, but what about the customers?

Morabito has no doubts. We organized several sessions to infor

our customers about our progress. Above all, customers expect

an excellent service, and a tool is a matter of detail. However, we

were able to convince them of the importance of a good tool for

effectively following up their calls, which, ultimately, means solv

their problems.

F t sf sc dEven though CIP introduced the Self Service Desk immediately

after implementation, Morabito has found that most customers

still choose to call the service desk. Because we have a relatively

small help desk team, the line is often busy. It can take up to half

an hour before you get through to someone. We continue to

promote registering incidents via email; however, customers stil

nd it important to be able to explain their problems to a person

instead of a machine. It is not always easy for our customers to

explain exactly what the problem is. In such cases, having someo

on the line who understands the situation and can listen is an

advantage. We are slowly trying to encourage people to nd the

answers themselves, in the Knowledge Base. Thats why we alwa

refer to the Self Service Desk on the phone. A customer can then

track the progress of their incident from registration through to

closure, which adds transparency to the process. Statistics show

us that more and more customers are nding their way to the Se

Service Desk, something we welcome wholeheartedly.

CUSTOMERS STILL FIND ITIMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TOEXPLAIN THEIR PROBLEMS TO APERSON INSTEAD OF A MACHINE

Serge Morabito, CIP


21/32

CUsTOMer in FOCUs

YOU CAN TELL THAT TOPDESKIS WRITTEN FROM THE SERVICE

DESK EMPLOYEES POINTOF VIEW

Serge Morabito, CIP

P fo 2012UNIZO and Zenito services share the same ofce as CIP employees.

As the organization has grown, more space is needed. The rooms

are currently being divided to create more work space. I wouldnt

lean against the walls here jokes Morabito. Fortunately we are

planning to relocate at the end of 2012.

Morabito is aware that relocating will present CIP with new

challenges. Change on such a large scale will include reviewing our

IT and will also bring the current procedures into question. We are

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

discussing outsourcing and cloud computing in the private cloud.

will be difcult to weigh up the cost of having our own data centre

against a that of a cloud model. The coming year will determine

how we handle the future, but if one things certain, its that we w

continue to use TOPdesk. We are even thinking about introducing

TOPdesk for facilities management.

Service Management Simplified

Join us at the Better Education Through Technology Show from

11 - 14 January 2012 at Olympia in London.

We are on stand SW7 and look forward to your visit!

TOP t t btt eucto Tou Tcoo sow


22/32

22 Text: Tmm

Kim Borst, Museum of Ethnology


23/32

Photography:Aad Hndrn

Trying to reach the Reservations department at the Museum o Ethnology (Museum

Volkenkunde) is quite an adventure. The grounds around the historical building

in Leiden (the Netherlands) are ull o huge wooden crates and there is still some

construction work going on. On Expedition, the museums newest exhibition, is

set to open the day ater we conduct this interview. All museum bookings, such as

corporate meetings, school trips and private tours, are processed in TOPdesk.

a reservaTiOns sysTeM FOr

The MUseUM OF eThnOlOgy

The Museum of Ethnology is

home to extensive collections of

information and objects related

to the history of cultures from all over

the world. The cultural history of various

regions is illustrated in exhibits spanning

several halls. The museum regularly hosts

temporary exhibits in addition to its

permanent collections, such as last years

Maori exhibit. It was a great success: Maoricame to the Netherlands to ofcially open

the exhibition and presented the museum

with a waka, a genuine Maori canoe. On

Expedition, which focuses on adventurers

in the 19th and 20th centuries, also

seems set to be a huge hit. The exhibition

features interactive elements such as an

expedition area in the museum gardens.

T rto ptmtWe met up with Kim Borst, who runs the

Reservations department together with

two colleagues. We lease out rooms

in the museum and pavilion, as well as

taking care of everything else to do with

reservations, explains Borst. One person

is in charge of leases, while my other

colleague and I are in charge of the school

groups and private tours.

The museum offers many options for

customers wanting to book an organized

visit. Whether you are looking for a day

out steeped in culture, want to hold a

meeting in an inspiring environment or

are organizing an educative school trip,

the Reservations department will be able

to provide you with a suitable room and

programme to meet your needs. We

check which rooms are free, the estimatedprice and whether there are any tour

guides available, says Borst. Our tour

guides work freelance. Many of them are

historians or students, but we also have

a number of former teachers. They have

been doing this for quite some time and

are very knowledgeable, which means that

they can handle many different types

of groups.

Fom mp cto TOPThe number of weekly reservations varie

from season to season. In the summer

months, reservations can dwindle to

as few as one a week. The schools are

closed, so most of the bookings come

from individuals or after-school care

organizations. When the schools start

again, the number of reservations goesup. We get roughly twenty reservations

a week. Some weeks we have ten, others

thirty, according to Borst .

With so many reservations to handle,

being able to process them quickly and

efciently is essential. The reservations

system that the museum used up until l

year was not up to scratch. It cost us a

of time to handle reservations, says Bor

The old system was a calendar in which

we noted our appointments and that >

WHEN THE SCHOOLS START AGAIN, THENUMBER OF RESERVATIONS GOES UP

Kim Borst - Museum of Ethnology


24/32

24

was it. All correspondence was handled via

email, telephone or additional documents.

It was so time-consuming that we often

didnt get around to our core tasks.

The museum started its search for a

more comprehensive system that would

save time, eventually choosing TOPdesk.

With the help of consultants, they set

up TOPdesk as a complete reservations

system. There are not many museums

that use TOPdesk for this purpose, says

Borst. But it really works well for us!

a compt to tmAll the museums reservations data was

entered into TOPdesk during the setup. We

included everything that we offer in the

museum, such as rooms and services. This

means that we can link everything with a

single click.

Borst explains how they put this into

practice. We receive a reservation via

email or telephone. We add the customer

details to TOPdesk, and link this to a

reservation. In other words, what will they

be doing? We then link this to a room

where will the visit take place? You can

also record prices and the agreed payment

method, so you will have the complete

reservation in a single system or, even

better, on a single card in TOPdesk. Once

Borst and her colleagues have found the

ideal tour guides, they send an email to the

customer from TOPdesk, informing them

that the reservation has been nalized. This

is a great improvement on the previous

situation. We dont have to send separate

emails or create individual documents

any more.

Other departments also have access

to the reservations system, such as the

Education department. They must put the

programmes they create into the system.

They also use TOPdesk to specify on which

day their programme can run, for example.

The Technical department also plays an

important role, as Borst explains. The

Technical department has to know what

needs to be done each day. Sometimes a

meeting requires a projector or laptop, and

sometimes a room needs to be rearranged

for a private group. This is all taken care of

by the Technical department.

a mut fo ot muumBorst emphasizes that there is more

to managing reservations than simply

answering the phone. You have to check

whether you have enough staff on duty

for that specic day, which rooms are

available and even whether you have

enough space for the group. Additionally

some companies want quite complicated

programmes, which can take a long time

to organize.

The Reservations department always

knows what is going on at the museum.

This makes us something of an

information desk, says Borst. We get al

types of questions. Is that room free? Wh

is that group doing here exactly? How

much does this cost? We also get feedba

from schools, allowing us to further

improve our services.

Interdepartmental collaboration within

the museum is very important, as Borst

explains. If the Education department

doesnt develop any programmes

and Public Relations doesnt release

any information, we wont get any

reservations. At the end of the day, were

all working together. TOPdesk is vital to

this cooperation: Because we all work in

the same system, we automatically make

more agreements with each other. We

collaborate more. Its denitely a must fo

other museums.

NOT MANY MUSEUMS USE TOPDESK FORTHIS PURPOSE, BUT FOR US IT WORKSREALLY WELL!

Kim Borst - Museum Volkenkunde

Each room in the Museum of

Ethnology tells a different story of

the cultural history of Indonesia,

China, Japan and Korea, Central and

South America, North America, the

Arctic, Asia and Africa.


25/32

Text: ldj Sndrs and Janda Harr-Smns Photography: Rbn Kujs

Reporting should not be a goal in

itself, but rather contribute to the

goals of the organization. The real

question, however, is what happens to

the report? We notice that, in practice,

reports are often not used optimally; for

example because the target audience was

not involved in compiling the report. As a

result, the report does not appeal to the

target audience, meaning the organization

will not use the nished report much or

even at all.

Creating a useful report appears to be

quite difcult. Thats why in this article

we describe four steps for making a good

report that is actually valuable to your

organization.

stp 1: tm outt (uc)Creating a good report begins with

determining your goal and target audience.

There are generally three possible

target audiences for reports: (external)

customers, the management and your

own department. Each target audience

uses reports in a different way and for

different ends. Reports for customers are

usually designed to give them a means of

control, or to inuence their perception.

Management can use reports as a

monitoring tool or to gain insight

into processes.

Reporting is usually employed within your

own department to support operations

management or motivate employees.

Whatever your goal, the objectives must

formulated in a SMART way; they must

Specic, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic

and Time-bound.

stp 2: cuo

cootoTo determine exactly what the objective

the target audience are and which meth

of reporting your organization should us

the person responsible for creating the

report must collaborate with the target

audience. This person usually knows how

the application works and how to interp

the results in the report. >>

work at TOPdesk. Jolanda is a consultant and Lydje works at the

Relationship Management department.

JolANDA HARpeR-SiMoNiS AND lyDJe SNieDeRS

Nobody will deny that reports can be incredibly useul. A report provides

you with insight into working procedures, and can help you optimize

processes; however, it is quite common or reports to disappear into the

cupboard along with other piles o paper, with no conclusions being drawn

or action being taken.

rePOrTs:

On The shelF Or in Use?


26/32

26

It is useful to apply this knowledge at an early stage and, together

with the target audience, determine what they want and why; or

in other words:

What would you like to achieve with the report?

What exactly would you like to see in the report?

How often would your target audience like to receive a report?

How would the target audience like the report to be delivered?

Asking these questions and brainstorming with the target

audience improves the quality of the report . Above all, you can use

this information to keep the report as short as possible. As a rule

of thumb, the longer the report, the less people will read of it.

Asking critical questions will enable you to ne-tune the

operational process. When creating a report, you must determine

which information needs to be recorded beforehand. Is this

information already being recorded, or do you need to adjust

working procedures in order for this to happen? By remaining

critical regarding how your organization will use the report and

why, you will prevent needless registration for the purpose of

the report. This saves not only time, but you will avoid wasting

unnecessary effort recording irrelevant activities.

stp 3: t t potThe report should be generated by someone who is familiar with

the applications setup, as well as the underlying processes and

procedures. The application will generate exactly the information

requested. The trick is knowing exactly what to ask to ensure that

the results provide an accurate depiction of the situation.

There are a number of tips for generating a report: keep the

reasons for the report in mind, think ahead, make choices and ke

it simple. When you tick all the options for a report in TOPdesk,

you will get an unreadable report that no one can use. In order t

maintain an overview, you must limit the number of elds. Inste

of bundling all information together in a single report, it can be

more useful to deliver several (short) reports. Give this careful

consideration and produce reports sparingly. Here too you shou

be careful not to overdo it.

stp 4: tpttoThe report is generated and all results have been neatly displaye

in numbers and charts, but the task of the person who created

the report is not over. This person knows how the report has

been compiled, and therefore how to read the results. Use this

knowledge to help the target audience interpret the report.

When interpreting the report, the results are examined with the

objective in mind. A report without any interpretation does not

say much at all. For example, a transportation company made

agreements about the maximum number of delays per year in

order to keep customers satised. A report demonstrated that

the company kept to its agreements; however, most delays

occurred during rush hour. As a result, a relatively large proporti

of customers experienced delays. The report did not represent

customer satisfaction, and therefore did not (entirely) fullits purpose.

It is also important to analyse not only the current results, but

past results alongside them. The transportation company from t

previous example may have met their SLA, but if it transpires th

90% of services were on time this month, while the gure was

95% last month, then things are still not running optimally. It is

important to compare results to determine whether your servic

are improving, and thus whether your hard work has had the

desired results.

bt pctcIf everything has gone according to plan, you will have made

agreements in step 2 on the format of the report and to what

extent the interpretation is expected from the person who creat

the report. You can include a number of topics in the report,

depending on the agreements and target audience. Below are a

number of examples that have proved useful in practice.

CREATING A GOOD REPORTBEGINS WITH DETERMININGYOUR GOAL ANDTARGET AUDIENCE


27/32

It can be useful to suggest possible causes alongside the

results. For example, if there is a spike in a report, try to

determine the cause. Was a piece of equipment broken? Had

the service desk just become more easily accessible? Had the

coffee run out?

It is nice when you can see the result of the report right away.

By giving a short and understandable summary of the report,

the chances that the reader understands the essentials of

the report will increase signicantly. Using symbols, such

as emoticons or a thumbs up or down can even provide an

effective overview.

Discuss the reports with the target audience at regular

intervals. If the target audience is your own department, plan

to discuss the report at the weekly or monthly team meeting.

If the target audience consists of external customers, make a

recurring appointment to discuss the reports. Alternatively,

join the management meetings regularly to discuss the report

that they requested.

rpot oo pocIt is important to report periodically in order to assess whether

adjustments have led to improvements. Do not assume that

you can keep using the same report. Organizations develop, and

reports should change accordingly. Run through every step each

time you create the report. It is important to always discuss the

report to evaluate whether requirements have changed. Is the

report still used? If so, for what? Does the report still meet the

requirements? In short, stay curious and take action!

go t xt mCreating reports is something which is done a lot; however, the

difference between a barely-read pile of paper on the shelf and

useful and useable document comes down to conferring with an

designing for the target audience. Above all, keep in mind how t

information from the report will actually be used.

n p ct t pot?TOPdesk consultants can help you get on top of the reporting

process within your organization and harmonize your

procedures with TOPdesk.

TOPdesk also offers a Reporting with TOPdesk course.

For more information, visit

http://www.topdesk.com/en/services/courses

REMAIN CRITICAL ABOUT HOWYOUR ORGANIZATION WILL USETHE REPORT

Do not tick all the options when creating a report


28/32

Text: patrk Mak28 WOrking sMarTer

The standard for calendar les is

iCalendar (.ics), the successor of

vCalendar (.vcs). Both formats are

simple at text les that can be read

in to most calendar software, including

Microsoft Outlook. TOPdesk can create

calendar les using the Events module. You

can then include a link to the calendar le

on the server in an email.

s Outoo ppotmtTo generate a calendar le, create an

appointment in your Outlook agenda and

save it as an iCalendar le. Enter all data

in the appointment that you would like to

include later via the corresponding card in

TOPdesk such as location, start and end time,

reminder and other information (gure 1).

You can use the le Example subject.ics

as a template for the text le that you can

generate using the Events module. It looks

like this:

Example 1 iCalendar text

BEGIN:VCALENDAR

PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook

11.0 MIMEDIR//EN

VERSION:2.0

METHOD:PUBLISH

BEGIN:VEVENT

DTSTART:20111003T070000Z

DTEND:20111003T083000Z

LOCATION:exam atn

TRANSP:OPAQUE

SEQUENCE:0

UID:040000008200e00074c5B7101A82

800000000609243833971cc010000000

00000001000000051c368D673084c43

Be9Fe4B56c1A0e

DTSTAMP:20110912T084832Z

In my last article, I explained how you could create your own card report using the

Events module. You can open this card report in Microsot Word to supplement

or print it. In this article, I will discuss how you can create a calendar fle inTOPdesk in more or less the same way. A recipient can use a calendar fle to copy

an appointment with detailed inormation to their calendar, such as a meeting

including the room that has been reserved.

is a consultant and team leader at TOPDesk. He specializes in technical issues an

optimizing processes.

pATRicK MAcKAAiJ

sending CalendarinviTaTiOns FrOM TOPdesk


29/32

WOrking sMarTerPhotography: Rbn Kujs

SUMMARY: exam subjt

PRIORITY:5

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1

CLASS:PUBLIC

BEGIN:VALARM

TRIGGER:-PT15M

ACTION:DISPLAY

DESCRIPTION:Reminder

END:VALARM

END:VEVENTEND:VCALENDAR

Please note: The implemented iCalendar

rfc5545-functionalities depend on the

software that you are using. Microsoft

Outlook 2003 for instance does not process

additional attendees.

stt up et acto TOPJust as in my previous article, Creating your

own card report, you copy the iCalendar

text in the File content eld from a File to

be executed Action in the Action explorer

(see gure 2). The TOPdesk server creates

the calendar le as a temporary text le

with the Action settings. The calendar le

will be placed in the temporary les folder

on the server. TOPdesk will then run the

le MoveFile.cmd, a batch script that will

move the temporary le (variable %1) to a

location from which the TOPdesk Operator

can access it through the TOPdesk server.

This location is congured in the batch

script. You can create the batch script in

the TOPdesk installation master folder,

using the following content:

mv %1 wb\n\Topdsk-s\%2.s

Before you do this, ensure that you have

created the folder TOPdesk-ics on the

TOPdesk server in the folder /web/open.

Replace the elds in bold in Example 1 with

elds to be inserted. For the appointment,

copy the unique ID from the card in

TOPdesk [-UNID-] to UID (unique ID). The

date format in TOPdesk is different from

that of the iCalendar default. To adjust this,

select the inserted date eld. Right-click on

the eld with your mouse and select XML

Date/Time (yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss).

Tip: You can also adjust the date format

manually by adding ;13 to it . For example,

for a reservation insert the start and

end date and the time that the card was

changed. The start date will appear

as follows:

[Planned_Start_Date;13]

Next, link the action that you have

created to the corresponding events. For

a reservation, this would be the moment

that the card is created or changed.

stt up mm tp o tTOP ppcto You can nd the generated calendar le

the TOPdesk server via a URL, for exampl

htt://[Topdsk-srvr]/[-UNiD-].s

The TOPdesk server will present the .ics

le as text by default. A pop-up containi

the iCalendar text from Example 1 will

then appear on the recipients screen.

Your TOPdesk application manager can

ensure that les with the .ics extention a

presented as mime type text/calendar, i

other words as a calendar le. To do this,

the application manager must adjust the

TOPdesk le etc/webdefault.xml

as follows: >>

Fig. 1 Saving the appointment as an iCalendar fle


30/32

30 WOrking sMarTer

EWant to comment? Go to

www.topdeskmagazine.com

The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects

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: +31 (0)15 270 09 00

Email: [email protected]

chf edtr: Nienke Deuss

edtrs: Nienke Deuss,

Timme Hos, Milou Snaterse, Niek

Steenhuis, Nicola van de Velde

Transatrs: Leah Clarke, Hazel Hollis,

Nicola van de Velde

cntrbutrs: Rob Haaring, Jolanda

Harper-Simonis, Renske van der Heide,

Patrick Mackaaij, Jordi Recasens,Lydje Snieders

laut: Cathy van den Berg, Elise Kerner,

Design Agency DDC

phtrah: Ted Erkkila, Aad

Hoogendoorn, Robin Kuijs, Jonas Mertens,

Kees Muizelaar

c dtr: Nicola van de Velde

A print run of 5,000

Quarterly magazine

Languages: Dutch, English

Fig. 2 Generating a calendar fle in the Action Explorer

1. Stop the TOPdesk server (service)

2. Open etc/webdefault.xml in notepad

3. Search for the command and insert the

following text directly below it:

icstext/calendar

4. Start the TOPdesk server (service)

Ask your TOPdesk application manager to check this setting each

time TOPdesk is updated. When an event (dened by you) occurs,

your agenda software will open an appointment that you can save

in your agenda. You can check this by opening the generated .ics

le in your browser.

If you wish to include the link to the .ics le in an email, you can

give it an even neater appearance by using HTML. If you also use a

le icon for an agenda item in the link, the recipient will probably

not even spot the difference between an attachment and a link.


31/32

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

WANT TO MAKE THE MOST

OF YOUR ORGANIZATIONSSELF SERVICE DESK?

A successful SSD starts with a successful promotion!

Please feel free to contact us to discuss the possibilities

of your Self Service Desk promotion.

The more your end users use the SSD, the more time andmoney you will save. After a successful promotion, the number

of calls logged in the SSD increases by 40% on average!

One of the animated manuals for Waternet

Desktop card with easy-to-follow steps for Waternet

t +31 (0)15 270 09 60

e [email protected]

w designagencyddc.nl

@ddcnl


32/32

ts + trksa Wt sf sc d

In little over a month the festive season will be

in full swing! To help you celebrate, TOPdesk

offers a wintry look and feel for your Self Service

Desk interface. As your customers and service

desk prepare for the holiday period, give your

Self Service Desk a new look by downloading the

bespoke work from the TOPdesk Extranet.

T mo

Some TOPdesk users have spotted it already: If you move

your mouse over the bar at the bottom of the screen in a

total overview in TOPdesk, a pi symbol appears.

Clicking on this symbol will open a card from an overview

directly in a new window. This enables you to quickly

identify the URL of a specic card. You may need toknow the URL of a servlet to create a new User card, for

example. By clicking on the pi symbol in the overview

of all User cards, you can easily copy the URL of the card

from the new window.

O hp & suppotThe Help and Support site is frequently updated

with new content, such as manuals or tips

on how to get more out of TOPdesk.

You can access the Help and Support site by clicking on the

question mark above an overview in TOPdesk, or from the

menu option Help > Help and Support. You can also look up

solutions via our Extranet twenty-four hours a day:

www.extranet.topdesk.com

Topdsk UK mtdt +44 (0)20 7803 4200e [email protected] www.topdesk.co.uk

Topdsk Nthrandst +31 (0)15 270 09 00e [email protected] www.topdesk.nl

Topdsk grman gmbHt +49 (0)631 624 00 0e [email protected] www.topdesk.de

Topdsk Bumt +32 (0)3 292 32 90e [email protected] www.topdesk.be

Topdsk Hunart +36 1 301 0190e [email protected] www.topdesk.hu

Topdsk Frant + 33 (0) 811 11 59 84e info.topdesk.frw www.topdesk.fr