Our original intent of using github was to track our big rocks. Things change, and we've been directed to use it now as a system to track both our service work and also our IT bigger rocks. The ideal state is to have these things separated. The github board should be "our" self defined work, and a ticketing system would document and identify service work. This is a very common practice in IT teams in mature organizations.
I realize we're a small group right now, but as we continue to grow and mature our IT operations, it will eventually make sense to be more organized and to separate these two. The sooner we do this, the less painful it will be.
Principles
First and foremost, easy for teachers to use
Doesn't require significant time to use/learn/understand- a beginner should be able to use without instructions, and be able to perform a few clicks and be done.
Is mobile friendly - because if it cannot be accessed via phones, it's fairly pointless in today's world
Objectives
The reason for having an IT helpdesk/ticketing system within a school environment includes:
Efficient Issue Tracking: A ticketing system helps track and manage IT-related issues efficiently. Students, teachers, and staff can submit their problems, requests, or questions, and these issues are logged as tickets. This allows the IT team to prioritize and address them in an organized manner.
Accountability: With a ticketing system, each issue is assigned a unique identifier, and it is easy to assign responsibility for resolving it. This ensures accountability and prevents issues from falling through the cracks.
Prioritization: IT help desk ticketing systems often allow for the categorization and prioritization of tickets. Critical issues, such as network outages or security breaches, can be addressed with higher priority, ensuring minimal disruption to the learning environment.
Resource Allocation: The system helps in allocating IT resources effectively. The IT team can assess the volume and nature of tickets and allocate resources accordingly. For example, if a specific type of issue is recurring, the IT department can take proactive measures to address the root cause.
Communication and Updates: The ticketing system provides a central platform for communication between users and the IT team. It enables users to receive updates on the progress of their requests, reducing frustration and uncertainty. Users can also provide additional information or clarification if needed.
Knowledge Base: Over time, a ticketing system can build a knowledge base of common issues and their solutions. This can be invaluable for both IT staff and users, as it allows for self-service troubleshooting and reduces the need for repetitive support requests.
Reporting and Analytics: The ticketing system generates reports and analytics on the types of issues and the performance of the IT help desk. This data can be used for continuous improvement, resource allocation, and strategic planning.
Compliance and Documentation: In an educational environment, there may be legal or compliance requirements that demand proper documentation of IT issues and resolutions. A ticketing system can provide this documentation, which may be necessary for audits or reporting.
Scalability: As schools grow or technology needs evolve, a ticketing system can easily scale to accommodate increasing support demands without significantly increasing administrative overhead.
User Satisfaction: A well-organized and responsive IT help desk, facilitated by a ticketing system, leads to higher user satisfaction. Users appreciate prompt and effective resolution of their IT-related problems, which positively impacts their overall experience with technology in the school.
Considerations
Beyond this, it would make sense to consider other aspects from the IT and business side:
Do we want this to be stand-alone at each campus or span all campuses?
Should we use a Software-as-a-Service and pay a monthly fee to avoid support, vendor lock-in and a large upfront investment of time, energy, resources, and longer term support, etc.
Do we want to "own" the solution and keep it in-house?
What does the district use and is there anything we can leverage there?
What would be the budget required to do something like this?
Proof of Concept (PoC)
We should run a proof of concept- meaning explore what options there are and choose a small experiment that invests minimal resources and time to evaluate as far as we can the best looking option.
Preparing
Do some basic research and chatting with peers and reading on what options are available. It would make sense to consider at least one option from the following spaces for reasons mentioned above.
Anything we can re-use or already have that could serve the purpose?
Software as a Service
Open Source
Self-Hosted
Output
The output for this effort should include the following:
Identify and document an option that we would believe meets our principles and objectives.
Run a small-scale test that confirms or rejects our preferred option. Rinse-and-repeat until we find a good one.
Make a recommendation for approval to move forward in implementation.
Background
Our original intent of using github was to track our big rocks. Things change, and we've been directed to use it now as a system to track both our service work and also our IT bigger rocks. The ideal state is to have these things separated. The github board should be "our" self defined work, and a ticketing system would document and identify service work. This is a very common practice in IT teams in mature organizations.
I realize we're a small group right now, but as we continue to grow and mature our IT operations, it will eventually make sense to be more organized and to separate these two. The sooner we do this, the less painful it will be.
Principles
Objectives
The reason for having an IT helpdesk/ticketing system within a school environment includes:
Efficient Issue Tracking: A ticketing system helps track and manage IT-related issues efficiently. Students, teachers, and staff can submit their problems, requests, or questions, and these issues are logged as tickets. This allows the IT team to prioritize and address them in an organized manner.
Accountability: With a ticketing system, each issue is assigned a unique identifier, and it is easy to assign responsibility for resolving it. This ensures accountability and prevents issues from falling through the cracks.
Prioritization: IT help desk ticketing systems often allow for the categorization and prioritization of tickets. Critical issues, such as network outages or security breaches, can be addressed with higher priority, ensuring minimal disruption to the learning environment.
Resource Allocation: The system helps in allocating IT resources effectively. The IT team can assess the volume and nature of tickets and allocate resources accordingly. For example, if a specific type of issue is recurring, the IT department can take proactive measures to address the root cause.
Communication and Updates: The ticketing system provides a central platform for communication between users and the IT team. It enables users to receive updates on the progress of their requests, reducing frustration and uncertainty. Users can also provide additional information or clarification if needed.
Knowledge Base: Over time, a ticketing system can build a knowledge base of common issues and their solutions. This can be invaluable for both IT staff and users, as it allows for self-service troubleshooting and reduces the need for repetitive support requests.
Reporting and Analytics: The ticketing system generates reports and analytics on the types of issues and the performance of the IT help desk. This data can be used for continuous improvement, resource allocation, and strategic planning.
Compliance and Documentation: In an educational environment, there may be legal or compliance requirements that demand proper documentation of IT issues and resolutions. A ticketing system can provide this documentation, which may be necessary for audits or reporting.
Scalability: As schools grow or technology needs evolve, a ticketing system can easily scale to accommodate increasing support demands without significantly increasing administrative overhead.
User Satisfaction: A well-organized and responsive IT help desk, facilitated by a ticketing system, leads to higher user satisfaction. Users appreciate prompt and effective resolution of their IT-related problems, which positively impacts their overall experience with technology in the school.
Considerations
Beyond this, it would make sense to consider other aspects from the IT and business side:
Proof of Concept (PoC)
We should run a proof of concept- meaning explore what options there are and choose a small experiment that invests minimal resources and time to evaluate as far as we can the best looking option.
Preparing
Do some basic research and chatting with peers and reading on what options are available. It would make sense to consider at least one option from the following spaces for reasons mentioned above.
Output
The output for this effort should include the following: