I am currently involved in discussions between the Help DEsk of an IT Supplier and the customer on re-benchmarking SLA targets for 1st Call Resolution. I am trying to get some idea of industry standars in the calculation of such a metric as it relates to a first level Help Desk. One point of contintion is what is the industry standard for exclduing certain types of calls to arrive at a fair % of calls fixed at the first level desk. 1 - Anyone have an idea on the industry standard for first call resolution of first level for a desktop environment (hardware, password rersets, config issues, printing problems, etc..) 2 - Anyone know what types of calls are normally excluded (dead air, status inquiry, internal transfer, etc...)? Tks

-- Randy Holbrook (randy.holbrook@sabre.com), June 08, 2001

Answers

I have found that so called "best practise" metrics are quite misleading. Also, a lot can depend on the maturity of the IT infrastructure that is being supported. The makeup of the calls received will determine much of what can be answered on first contact. As the infrastructure stability and management tools improve, the call mix will shift and wreak havoc on your performance targets. My suggestion is to analyse your call mix, figure out which calls should be dealt with on first call, and set a realistic target for your supplier to hit. And then once you have your target set, review it regularly with the same analysis process.

-- Grant Dittmer (grantdittmer@yahoo.com), June 08, 2001.

I appreciate the response. We have contractual numbers that we work towards but I am trying to make a case for rebenchmarking the numbers and my client wants to see some industry data on average expectations. So I was looking to see if anyone could direct me to such reference material on the web (or in print).

-- Randy Holbrook (randy.holbrook@sabre.com), June 11, 2001.