Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills

Effective Help Desk

Specialist Skills

Darril R. Gibson

800 East 96th Street

Indianapolis, Indiana 46240 USA

Effective Help Desk Specialist Skills

Copyright ? 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-5240-6

ISBN-10: 0-7897-5240-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014949750

Printed in the United States of America

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First Printing: November 2014

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction

1

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Help Desk Support Roles 6

CHAPTER 2 Communication Skills 42

CHAPTER 3

Personal Skills 80

CHAPTER 4

Technical Skills 114

CHAPTER 5

Security Skills 158

CHAPTER 6

Troubleshooting Skills 194

CHAPTER 7

Writing Skills 226

CHAPTER 8

Training Skills 260

CHAPTER 9

Business Skills 310

CHAPTER 10 Calculating Help Desk Value 350

APPENDIX 386

INDEX 400

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Organization of the Text ...................................................................................................................................... 1

Key Pedagogical Features ................................................................................................................................. 2

A Brief Word on Mind Mapping ....................................................................................................................... 3

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Help Desk Support Roles .............................................................................. 6

Chapter Outline ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

Objectives................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Key Terms ................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Understanding the Support Center ............................................................................................................... 8

A Little History ................................................................................................................................................. 8

The Evolution of the Support Center...................................................................................................... 9

Understanding an Incident and Incident Management .................................................................10

The Role of the Support Center .............................................................................................................10

IT Tiers within an Organization ...............................................................................................................12

The Role of the Help Desk Professional ...................................................................................................14

First Line of Support for Users ...............................................................................................................14

Assessing Problems and Identifying Solutions ................................................................................14

Recognizing Required Skillsets ..............................................................................................................15

Understanding Users ..........................................................................................................................................19

User Categories ............................................................................................................................................19

Services Provided to Users ......................................................................................................................21

Typical Incident Process ...................................................................................................................................23

Steps in a Typical Incident Process ......................................................................................................23

Tracking Incidents ........................................................................................................................................31

Taking Ownership of Incidents................................................................................................................33

Chapter Review Activities ................................................................................................................................35

Answer These Questions ..........................................................................................................................35

Answers and Explanations ..............................................................................................................................38

Define the Key Terms..................................................................................................................................40

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