solution

Let us consider the following process performed by an IT helpdesk

that handles requests from clients. The clients are employees of a company. There

are about 500 employees in total. A request may be an IT-related problem that a

client has, or an access request (e.g. requesting rights to access a system). Requests

need to be handled according to their type and their priority. There are three priority

levels: “critical”, “urgent” or “normal”. The current process works as follows.

A client calls the help desk or sends an e-mail in order to make a request. The help desk is

staffed with five “Level-1” support staff who, typically, are junior people with less than 12

months experience, but are capable of resolving known problems and simple requests. The

hourly cost of a Level-1 staff member is € 40.

When the Level-1 employee does not know the resolution to a request, the request is forwarded

to a more experienced “Level-2” support staff. There are three Level-2 staff members

and their hourly cost is € 60. When a Level-2 employee receives a new request, they

evaluate it in order to assign a priority level. The job tracking system will later assign the

request to the same or to another Level-2 staff depending on the assigned priority level and

the backlog of requests.

Once the request is assigned to a Level-2 staff member, the request is researched by the

Level-2 employee and a resolution is developed and sent back to the Level-1 employee.

Eventually, the Level-1 employee forwards the resolution to the client who tests the resolution.

The client notifies the outcome of the test to the Level-1 employee via e-mail. If the

client states that the request is fixed, it is marked as complete and the process ends. If the

request is not fixed, it is resent to Level-2 support for further action and goes through the

process again.

Requests are registered in a job tracking system. The job tracking system allows help desk

employees to record the details of the request, the priority level and the name of the client

who generated the request. When a request is registered, it is marked as “open”. When it

is moved to level 2, it is marked as “forwarded to level 2” and when the resolution is sent

back to “Level 1” the request is marked as “returned to level 1”. Finally, when a request

is resolved, it is marked as “closed”. Every request has a unique identifier. When a request

is registered, the job tracking system sends an e-mail to the client. The e-mail includes a

“request reference number” that the client needs to quote when asking questions about the

request.

MODEL THIS PROCESS USING BPMN.