This document outlines the roles and responsibilities of building a world-class back office for a technology services organization. It discusses quality management, reporting and metrics, process and procedures, disaster recovery/business continuity planning, workforce management, training, new business integration, and knowledge management as key components. Metrics and tools used to measure performance are also presented, such as agent scorecards, ticket quality audits, customer satisfaction surveys, and various reports.

1. Building a ‘World-Class Back Office’
Bob Barnes
Global Head
Technology Services
Celgene

2. Agenda
Roles and Responsibilities
Ratio’s
Cost
Value Added
Business Case

3. Roles and Responsibilities
What makes up the back office?
Quality
Reporting/Metrics
Process & Procedures
DR/BCP
Work-Force Management
Training
New Business Integration
Knowledge Management (KCS)

4. Quality Management

5. Quality
Agent Scorecards
Ticket Quality Audits
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Agent Recognition Page
Complaints and Issues
Issue Tracking
Root Cause Analysis
Trending

6. Service Desk Agent Scorecard
Measurements
Agent Scorecard – Why Assess Individually
Agent Assessments are performed individually to ensure that
the qualities of a World Class Help Desk are maintained.
Scorecard Components:
• NICE Evaluations
• Schedule Adherence
• First Call Resolution
• Customer Satisfaction
• Operating Principles/Competencies
• Service Level

7. Scorecard Components
Your Agent Assessment reflects the same Service Desk Team qualities that
will ensure our success as a World Class Helpdesk.
Qualities of a World Class Help Desk Scorecard Component
Handling Customers in a Standardized Call Recording
manner - presenting one face.
Well documented Calls - Incidents in accordance Call Recording
with the Incident Management process.
Servicing the Customer & Resolving on the FCR
Call whenever possible.
24x7 department staffed to accept call Schedule Adherence & Service
volume in a timely manner. Level
Consistently provide exceptional Customer Customer Surveys
Service.

8. Agent Scorecard - Overview
Combined Goals account for 75% of the Scorecard:
Individual Goals:Team Goals:
NICE Evaluations Customer Satisfaction
First Call Resolution Schedule Adherence
SLA’s
Combined HR based Operating Principles/Competencies account for 25% of the Scorecard and
are weighted equally in scoring:
Create a Winning Culture Lead by Example
Treat Everyone with Respect & Dignity Make a Difference in the Customer Experience
Act with Integrity Communication
Contribute to Team Success Technical Acumen

9. Agent Scorecard – Goals – Call Recording Evaluations
The Call Recording score appearing on the Scorecard is calculated using all
evaluation scores performed in that month.
•Call Evaluation Summary - (sum of “YES” responses for all evaluations in the
scorecard month divided by all possible“YES” responses).
• The recording review component accounts for 37.5% of the Overall Scorecard
(50% of the Goals section of the scorecard).
This chart details the range of scores and their corresponding rating.

10. Agent Scorecard – Goals - Schedule Adherence
Schedule Adherence is defined as how well the Agent follows their official
schedule. The schedule includes stop and start times (logging on and off the phone),
lunch and breaks.
•The agent’s monthly score is applied to the scale below to determine the
rating.
• The Schedule Adherence component accounts for 11.25% of the Overall
Scorecard (15% of the Goals section of the scorecard)
This chart details the 5 different ranges of availability and their related score.

11. Agent Scorecard – Details – Sample
Agent Scorecard – Details – Sample Card
Card

12. Agent Scorecard – Reviews
On a Monthly basis:
• Scorecards are distributed to each Agent by his/her Supervisor. Distribution is by
calendar month, not based on exact hire date.
• Agents will become eligible to receive a scorecard once they have received NICE
evaluations for 3 consecutive months.
On a Semi-Annual Basis:
• 6 Scorecards are reviewed from the previous 2 quarters (1/2 year).
• The Semi-Annual review is meant to serve as a standard touch point for the Agent and
Supervisor to provide one-on-one feedback.
• Agents can use the YTD scores as an indicator of their cumulative performance, as the
annual review date approaches.
On an Annual Basis:
• Agents receive an Annual review based on their date of hire. Agents meet with their
Supervisor to review the 6 Scorecards from the remaining 2 quarters, as well as the
Performance Summary Sheet showing their 12 overall scores for the entire year.

13. Ticket Quality Audits
Utilizing NICE software, screen capture and audio recordings are
selected to evaluate the accuracy of Agents following established
policies and procedures.
Evaluations completed by QA team as well as Agent supervisors.
• Minimum of 3, maximum of 7 minute call duration as criteria for
threshold of calls evaluated.
These NICE evaluation scores are rolled up into the Monthly Agent
Scorecards.

14. Sample of NICE Eval Form

15. Customer Satisfaction Surveys
“Was your experience Positive or Negative?”
• If Positive – Customers can provide optional comments.
• If Negative – Mandatory field is presented for customers to
provide their comments as to why it was a negative experience
and how can we make their experience better when calling in
the future.

16. Survey Criteria
Surveys are randomly chosen from tickets logged by
the Help Desk.
Each client will only receive one survey per quarter.
Surveys are sent and received twice per day
(morning and evening).
Surveys are NOT distributed based on the agents
taking the call, rather they are distributed based on
the client calling into the Help Desk for assistance.

17. CSAT Web Portal Example

18. Employee Recognition Web Page
Recognize and share the excellent feedback agents receive-
• This provides positive peer & manager recognition for exemplary
performance.
• Comments can come from emails to supervisors or customer
satisfaction surveys
How are these Comments reviewed and posted?
• QA Analysts review comments to identify those relating positive
experiences.
• Comments are posted to an internal web site for our Help Desk team
to read.
• Comments are broken down by Site, Region, and Name of Agent.
• Email comments sent to Supervisors/Managers are submitted by the
agents supervisor to the review team.
Awards:
Weekly - Comments are compiled weekly and posted internally
Quarterly - Leader in each Site receives Quarterly Site Award
Annually - Overall Leader globally receives Annual Award

19. Recognition Page Examples

20. Complaints and Issues
The QA Portal is a web based tool used to log, assign and trend escalated
issues, from root cause to resolution.
Issues submitted by customers are reviewed and assigned for research by
the QA Team, via our QA Portal.
Research of these issues results in action plans for improvement by
responsible party.
Once root causes are found and the resolution owner is identified, the QA
Portal sends issues to all teams for the resolution. Quality issues are
assigned:
• To Agent Supervisors if issues are agent related to review directly with the agent.
• To back-office teams such as Knowledge, Process and Training.
• If outside of the Help Desk’ control, issues are sent to Resolvers for resolution.

21. QA Web Portal Examples
Make completion of the form
simple, auto populate if
possible where appropriate.
Request the customer to
give you as much
information as possible,
again, auto-populating
information where possible.

22. Root Cause Analysis Flow Chart
No
No

23. Performance Management

24. Reporting & Tools - High Level Responsibilities
Reporting -
• Standard operational (Daily/Weekly/Monthly) and ad-hoc reporting
• Maintenance of reporting databases
• Web Metrics – Provide usage of External/Internal and Knowledge Tool sites
Website Ownership –
•Maintenance of Internal Operations and External Service Desk sites
Tool/Applications –
• IIS and Web Services
• Real Time Dashboards
• Customize your tools to meet the needs of your Operations and Back Office teams
• Automation of as many processes as possible
• Build customized, automated report interfaces in each tool

25. Examples of Reports and Customized Tools
Reporting and Metrics –
• Agent Scorecard – Monthly scores used as part of the agent evaluation process
• Site Scorecard – Site Performance by Month. Includes Operations, Back Office and Business
Management measures
• Monthly Decks - Service Delivery, Line of Business Summary, Regional ticket breakdown by LOB
• AIM Performance – Automated Interface that houses data from all key Service Desk data sources
Websites –
• External and Internal sites – Maintain/Develop Client (External to Service Desk) and Operations
(Internal) sites
• Forum – Blog that promotes multilevel communication and solicits agent feedback on pre-
determined topics

26. Examples of Reports and Customized Tools
Tools/Applications –
• Agent Dashboard – Real time view of Telephony data by Operations Site and Skill
• Executive Dashboard – Real time view of Incoming Call Volume for Executives
• Employee Repository – DB containing employee information that is used for setting
access levels to tools, reporting and DR tests
• CSAT Portal – Web interface compiling real time CSAT scores by Site, Region, LOB
and Country
• Access Verification - Used to continually track Agent access to all applications.
• QA (Quality) Portal - Used to track, assign and report on quality issues.
• Communication DB - Used by Communications team to distribute communications
and track responses.
• CSA DB - Used by specialized CSA teams to track, assign and report on
unresolved/bounced tickets.
• HICE (High Impact Change Events) – Used to monitor and track change events.

27. Organizational Dependencies
Outside Service Desk Service Desk Site Operations/SR. Mgmt
Executive Dashboard Agent/Site Dashboard
Weekly, Monthly or Quarterly reports for LOB’s Standard Reporting
Maintain External site for customer use. Ad-Hoc Reporting.
Tool Creation/Maintenance - CSA DB, Access Verification,
Keon Lookup, STARS etc
Internal site maintenance/Updates
Reporting and Tools
Service Desk Back Office Business Management Office
CSAT Portal Standard weekly/monthly reports
Tool creation/Maintenance - QA DB, Training DB, Comm DB Ad-Hoc Reporting requests
Customized/Ad Hoc Reporting Monthly Ticket Database
Create/maintain customized team pages or portlets on the
Internal site.
Automation - Request Routing, ACD ID assignment

28. Reporting – Site Scorecard & AIM Performance
Site Scorecard
AIM Performance – Agent Cockpit

29. Internal Website and Access Verification
Internal Site – Only used
by Service Desk Personnel

30. Dashboards – Agent & Executive
Agent/Site Dashboard – Real Time by
Skill
Executive Dashboard – Real Time Call
Volume by Site. Normalized to any
Time Zone selected.

31. Process and Procedures

32. Process/Procedures
Operations Manual
Documentation of standard operating procedures to manage
SLAs, maintain ITIL compliance, and ensure “Best of Breed”
practices
Communications Procedure
Agent notifications on New Business events, Quality
Compliance, environmental changes and procedure
updates. Database used to track agent confirmation of
information reviewed and understood
Business Requirements
Documented internal operational procedures to ensure
consistency and maintain quality assurance, i.e., professional
greeting/closing, incident management compliance, etc.
Process Flows
Detailed diagrams of operational processes, as needed

34. Communication Information
Real Time Emails are sent for the following
reasons:
When there is an immediate need to communicate
information
When there is no need for a Read Response to be
submitted by the agents
It is up to the requestor to determine if the content of their
communication needs a Read Response

35. Communication Information
Closed Loop communications require a Read
Response from the Agents
Each Agent logs into the Communication
Database and can view communications
assigned for them to read
The Back Office can limit the communications
each agent must read by site and skill set

36. Communication Request Form

37. CommunicationDatabase View
Enter the
communication, Title,
select the Type, select the
Sites, select the Skill sets
and enter any comments.
Comments are only seen
by the Back Office team.
Click Next.

38. Communication Database View
Click Browse to select the communication to upload.
Then, click Upload.

39. Communication Database View
Click on the Repository tab to verify the communication
loaded successfully.
To view the communication content, click on the name
of the communication. A word document will open that
has the communication content in a standardized
template.

40. Communication Information
The Real Time Emails are loaded the same way and
are viewable in the Repository as well, but there is no
Read Response required for these
By clicking the “Repository Only” button when loading
the communication, the tool knows not to require the
Agents to read them when they access the
Communication Database

41. Sample Communication Layout

42. Communication Reports
To view Read Response reports, click on the Reporting tab.
You can view reports by:
• Individual Communication
• Agent
• Supervisor
• Needs Clarification by Site
- When the Agent submits the
Read Response, they have the
opportunity to request
clarification on the
communication content.
- The Supervisor then follows up
with the Agent.

43. Communication Report
As an example, the Individual Communication report will show by site
the percentage of Agents at the site that have read the communication.
By clicking the site name, you can then see the percentage by Supervisor.

44. Training

45. Training
Do you really need dedicated trainers?
On-site and dedicated
New hire training
New business training
Multimedia/just in time training
Certification training
Development training
Quality/Training partnership

46. New Hire Training
Training
Core new hire training that focuses on customer service
skills, troubleshooting techniques, tool usage, quality policies,
technical skills and incident management policies.
New Business Training
New business that is highly complicated or political in nature
requires classroom knowledge distribution. Partnership with
New Business project team and product owners to develop
and administer classroom training. Overall management of all
new business initiatives into day-to-day business to
streamline impact to Operational team.
Multimedia/Just in Time Training
Capitalize on non- peak call times to provide self-study
training material as well as assistance to the agents as they
handle calls on low volume support calls.

47. Certification Training
Training
Oversee management of identified certification programs,
i.e., A+ Certification, Novell, Windows XP, etc.
Development Training
Training University developed to provide employees with a
method to develop their knowledge about the organization,
increase their skills, and enhance their career goals.
Encourage opportunity for employees to move up in their
current job, i.e., team leads, supervisors, or move into other
job roles within the Corporation.
Quality/Training Partnership
Mapping quality opportunities into refresher training to
support customer satisfaction goals. Multimedia can be used
to again leverage non-peak call times.

48. Training Portal

49. DR/BCP

50. DR/BCP
Do you have a DR Strategy?
Fail-Over Model: Cold Site vs. Hot Site
Virtual Service Desk
Business Continuity Plan
Business Alignment
Global Regulatory Requirements
Evergreen “Living” Documentation
Testing
Execution
What’s It Worth To You?
Cost Vs. Impact
Investment

51. Workforce Management

52. Workforce Management
What Is Workforce Management?
Forecasting
Utilization & Resource Analysis
Scheduling
Real Time Management
Why Do We Need It?

53. Risk Management

54. Risk Management
Foster A Risk Management Culture
Everyone is responsible
Self Disclosure
“No Surprises”
Operational Risk Management
Internal Control Health
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act
Minimum Security Baselines
Risk Exceptions
Active Audit Management

55. Change Management

56. Change Management
Change Awareness
Cross Impact
Change Advisory Board
Change Control
Production Readiness Reviews
Impact Assessment
Back Out Planning
Restriction Periods

57. New Business

58. New Business Integration
Do you have a way to manage new business?
Develop Solutions/Knowledge
Integrate into ticketing systems (SCIM)
Certification
Manage customer expectations and timelines
Train
Communicate
Do you have a way to manage support changes?
Modify processes
Modify Solutions/Knowledge
Manage customer expectations and timelines
Communicate changes to the help desk

59. New Support Engagement
Support new Project applications/services
Change the scope of existing support already provided
Support of major implementations/events
Support of all conversions
New support through self-service ticketing

60. Project Initiation
The very first step in engaging the help desk for support is to analyze
the type of support that you need.
Level 0 Support – Pass-thru Support: No troubleshooting required but
the number of new SCIM and Knowledge documents are 10 or less
AND the anticipated call volume is 100 or less calls per month.
Action – When Level 0 support is needed complete the pass-thru
project request on the Help Desk Home page

61. Two Types Of Projects
Pass-thru Support: No troubleshooting required but
the number of new SCIM and Knowledge documents is
greater than 10 AND/OR the anticipated call volume is
greater than100 calls per month AND/OR the project is
associated with an event or conversion.
Full Support: Problem determination/trouble shooting
is performed in varying degrees. The Help Desk takes
the call and performs the troubleshooting steps
provided to resolve the issue. If unable to resolve, the
Help Desk routes the ticket into a resolver queue for
resolution.

62. For Small Projects, a web based tool provides the project
management versus spending time and resources for no pay back.

63. Lines of Business Create A Work Request

64. Business Support Questionnaire

65. Project database is used to track current
initiatives

66. Project Levels Determine Level
Participation
• Develop Project Scope criteria for determining if a
project is a Small, Medium and Large project
• A Project Manager (PM) is assigned to the project
• A Business Partner is assigned to assist with the
project
• Meetings are held and the PM contacts the Requestor.

67. Small Projects
Small Project:
21 Business-day* Minimum lead time
Call volume
Pass-through support
Does not require education of help desk agents
Modify/create simple procedural documents
Does not require VRU telephony changes
No software tool needed for support
Assessment of the Help Desk readiness
Communication to Help Desk agents

68. Medium Projects
Medium Project:
41 Business-day* Minimum lead time
Call volume
Analyze need for additional staff
Simple training on a new application/system support
Modify multiple existing support documentation or create 2 - 3 new
documents that are more complex in nature
Access to an existing software tool for support with an existing
connection
Assessment of Help Desk readiness
Communication to Help Desk agents

69. Large Projects
Large Project:
65 Business-day*Minimum lead time
Call Volume
Analyze need for additional staff
Complex training that may require usage of a training system
Modify or create 4+ docs that require analysis and input from others
Major VRU change such as a call flow change or skill design
Access to an existing software tool
Test Call assessment of Help Desk readiness
Communication to Help Desk agents
* Time begins once a Help Desk PM is assigned to the project

70. Knowledge Management

71. Knowledge Management
Do you have a mature KCS process?
Is your knowledge re-useable?
Is it searchable?
Is it in a single database solution?
Knowledge Management Team
Knowledge User
Knowledge Author
Knowledge Coach

72. Knowledge Management
Lessons Learned - KCS
For optimum performance, KCS practices and the
tools that support them must be integrated with other
support and business systems
Need to recalibrate our systems to measure value
not just activity
Must rethink the role of people, information,
management and customers
Transition to KCS is not easy – it takes persistence
and patience
Sometimes content is “good enough”

73. Knowledge Management
Lessons Learned – KCS (cont)
A process that requires review of 100% of the solutions that are
created is a huge waste of time and money
The system works only when analysts are trained on KCS as a
problem solving methodology and rewarded for their
contribution
An internal KCS certification or licensing program contributes to
the success
Placing goals on activities such as solution creation will lead to
corruption of the KB
To be successful, Leadership MUST back the KCS
methodology

74. Knowledge Management
Culture Changes – Moving from….
Reactive to Proactive to Customer-Centric to
Business-Centric
Individual to Team
Activity to Value Creation
Completion to Evolution
Escalation to Collaboration
Content to Context
Knowing to Learning and Sharing

75. Knowledge Management
What is KCS?
It’s a journey not a destination
Set of knowledge management best practices from the
experiences of the Consortium for Service Innovation members
Capture, structure and reuse knowledge
It’s about people, process and content – not technology
Four Basic Concepts:
Create content as a by-product of solving problems
Evolve content based on demand and usage
Develop a knowledge base of our collective experience to date
Reward learning, collaboration, sharing and improving

76. Knowledge Management
The 8 Practices that make up KCS
4 in the A Loop (Solve Loop)
4 in the B Loop (Evolve Loop)

77. Knowledge Management
Solve Loop (The A Loop)
Capture in the Worklow
Structure for Reuse
Searching is Creating
Just in Time Solution Quality

78. Knowledge Management
Evolve Loop (The B Loop)
Workflow
Content Vitality
Performance Assessment
Leadership

79. Knowledge Management
Capture in
Leadership
The workflow
Performance Structure
Assessment For reuse
Content Searching
vitality Is creating
Knowledge
Just-in-time
Workflow
Solution Quality

80. Knowledge Management
Capture in the Workflow
Context and content are captured as the problem is being
worked
Analysts need to capture in the customer’s context and
not the agent’s context (improves findability)
Important to capture during the call

81. Knowledge Management
Structure for Reuse
Solution readability
Don’t expect analysts to become technical writers
Solution findability
Assure new solutions build and integrate with existing
knowledge

82. Knowledge Management
Searching is Creating
Capturing words/phrases used for searching
Become possible updates to knowledge
Used to create new knowledge
Creating new knowledge from search terms when
solution doesn’t exist
Search early, search often

83. Knowledge Management
Just in Time Quality Solution
People take responsibility in the Knowledge base for
what they see and how they see it
If an analyst determines that a solution is “good
enough” to fix a problem, it should immediately be
made available for others
If a solution is used by another analyst they review
and make modifications as necessary (Flag it or Fix
it)
Solutions are reviewed and evolve in the workflow
based on demand

84. Knowledge Management
Workflow
Repeatable process that creates and updates
solutions in the KB
Root Cause Analysis
Integrate KM system with Incident Management
system so that is minimal duplication of data entry
Infrastructure/tools must align with the workflow and
function at the speed of conversation

85. Knowledge Management
Roles
KB User (reader, user of the knowledge)
KCS User (trained user, can create knowledge but it must be
reviewed)
KCS Author (licensed user, can create, modify solutions
without review for internal use)
KCS Coach (KCS practice expert, focuses on proficiency
development of KCS I, II and IIIs)
Knowledge Champion (monitors collections of solutions,
monitors patterns and trends to identify potential
improvements in the products)
Note: A program to develop, maintain and assess the support
agents KCS skills is critical

86. Knowledge Management
Content Vitality
Content should be findable and usable
Migrate to new audiences based on demand
Content standard that defines simple rules for
structure
Process for random sampling and scoring solutions
for quality
Identifications of patterns and trends in collections of
content to drive product/application improvements
thereby eliminating the source
Need to match the content to the audience (end user
needs to be non-technical)

87. Knowledge Management
Performance Assessment
Organization must facilitate and encourage
participating in KCS
Shift measures from individual and activity based to
team and value creation
Goals should be set for desired outcomes vs.
activities
Identify key results (outcomes) with objectives or
targets
Creation of value cannot be measured by one
indicator

88. Knowledge Management
Leadership
KCS is transformational and requires strong
leadership
Need to understand relevance of KCS to the
organization
Must have a vision and be able to articulate
Define scope and success criteria
Encourage, support, recognize and reward
innovation and the creation of value
Requires strong leadership, not strong management

89. Knowledge Management
Tiers of Knowledge
Used all the time
Used some of the time
Rarely used
Never Used
Note: Not all of knowledge in the KB will ever be
reused, some will be reused and even less will be
reused a lot

90. Knowledge Management
Benefits of KCS:
Faster Speed to Market of Knowledge
– New and updated knowledge is published much faster,
usually immediately
– Small / no backlog of knowledge awaiting publish
Solve Cases and Incidents Faster
– 50-60% decreased Time to Resolution*
– 30-50% increased First Call Resolution*

91. Knowledge Management
Top Ten Reasons you need KCS
10. Need to respond and resolve problems faster
9. Problems are becoming more complex
8. Stop giving different answers to the same question
7. Support analysts suffering from burnout
6. Little time for training
5. Answering the same questions over and over
4. Opportunity to learn from customers’ experience
3. Need to improve first contact resolution
2. Enable web based self-help
1. You must lower your support costs!

92. Knowledge Management

93. Enterprise
Knowledge Waterfall
Knowledge
R&D,
Collaborative
Level 3
(SME)
Diagnostic,
Break Fix
Complexity/
Level 2
(Tech Specialist)
Cost
Q&A
Pairs
Level 1
(Help Desk)
Knowledge
JIT
Level 0
(Self-service)
Enterprise
Stakeholders
Readiness

94. Self Funding Implementation
Enterprise
Knowledge
R&D,
Collaborative
Phase 3 ROI
Level 3
(SME)
Diagnostic,
Break Fix
Phase 2 ROI
Complexity
1000:1 Level 2
(Tech Specialist)
Q&A
Pairs
Phase 1 ROI
100:1 Level 1
(Help Desk)
Knowledge
JIT
10:1
Level 0
(Self-service)
Enterprise
Stakeholders
Readiness
Phase 1

95. Summary

96. Ratio’s
What ratio do you need per function to be successful?
10:1 to 18:1
Total headcount ratio for back office
How do you distribute the functions and resources?
Work load and business drives functional headcounts

97. Cost
How does this affect your unit costs?
There is a huge risk having agents perform back office
functions
Back office employees are not as expensive as you
would think
Multiple Hats
Employees could do multiple functions
Efficiencies vs. Cost

98. Value Add
What is the true value add for these functions?
Smooth transition of all new business
Ability to score and monitor agent performance
Ability to address quality issues
Ability to grow and mature knowledge base
Ability to train and develop agents
Ability to reach ‘Best in Class’ model

99. Business Case
Build a business case for your team
Identify call flow and arrival patterns and model
to successful SLA needs
Model will define headcount
Identify business needs and challenges
Proprietary Support
Complex Technical Support
Merger Acquisitions
Reduced Turnover
Improved Employee Satisfaction
Quality Improvements
Model true unit cost
Total Budget/Total Calls

100. Summation
Help Desks have many back-office support needs
You cannot manage call volume and support needs
with the same people and deliver Best in Class
support
Best in Class means low cost, high quality of work
and knowledge/alignment of the business

101. Q&A