About
The MSC staff will maintain a member support help desk in order to facilitate communication from the members to staff related to system connectivity, MSC procedures, enhancement and configuration requests, and MSC-related billing or general questions.
It is the policy of MSC Admin to convert all member-related communication of the above types into a help desk ticket whether it began as an email or phone call in order to track member needs, identify systemic problems, and inform training or consortia-wide enhancements.
Ticket Response Procedures
At least one staff member will be designated to watch the ticket system for requests during normal operating hours. That staff person will assign tickets to the other staff based on their areas of expertise and overall ticket load. This responsibility can also be designated to the help desk software itself.
Once a ticket is created, the member will receive a notice confirming the ticket was received. For tickets of critical importance, please see the Ticket Prioritization Rubric below. Response to a ticket will mean contact with the member, not resolution, as not all tickets can be quickly resolved. Staff will be conscientious of members’ need to know that their tickets have been received and prioritized.
Staff will communicate to members additional information that is needed for prompt resolution of the ticket. In balance with other staff responsibilities, staff are expected to maintain at least weekly contact with members until the ticket is resolved or determined to be unresolvable. If contact cannot be made weekly on the ticket, or if the ticket has to be escalated to SirsiDynix Client care, staff will inform the member of the change in status and place the ticket "on hold" until resolution.
Once tickets have been resolved, staff may close upon resolution.
If members fail to reply to staff requests for additional information, or the ticket sits idle due to lack of response from the member for a full week, staff will follow up a final time. Staff will ask if members still need the ticket to be open. After one week of no response after follow-up, staff may close the ticket due to inactivity. In cases where the ticket did not originate in the ticket system and there has been no response from the member, staff will follow up using the initial point of contact (e.g. phone or email) before closing the ticket for inactivity.
Staff will not delete tickets unless they are exact duplicates. All similar or related tickets with the same member will be merged and that merging documented within the ticket.
Ticket Prioritization Rubric
Staff will prioritize ticket resolution based on severity of issue, order received, available staff time in the ticket content area, and consortia configuration compatibility.
High Priority Tickets
High priority tickets are connectivity related and will be prioritized above all other staff tasks until resolution is achieved. Connectivity related tickets are defined as follows:
- Unable to connect to staff client
- Down system for staff client or OPAC
- Global or SIP connectivity
- Global circulation impairment
- Global locked records
- Local connectivity, circulation impairment or locked records caused by global errors
Medium Priority Tickets
Medium priority tickets will be resolved in the manner described in the above Ticket Response procedures. Prompt resolution of medium priority tickets is dependent upon prompt responses from members. Medium priority tickets are defined as follows:
- Impaired normal functionality of the staff client, OPAC, supported peripherals, and MSC staff configured third party products
- Policy requests from within the approved policy lists
- Procedural questions or requests with resolutions in the Knowledge Base
- Running of standard reports or notices
- Billing and general MSC-related questions
Low Priority Tickets
Low priority tickets will be resolved on a protracted timetable. These are either requests the member indicates do not need quick resolution, or requests that staff communicate will be resolved farther in the future for specific reasons. Reasons for deprioritizing tickets can include:
- Member indicates request is low priority
- Request contingent upon new software features not yet available
- Request contingent upon staff research for optimal resolution
- Request contingent upon pilot or other MSC/MSL projects affecting specific request
- High volume of high priority tickets
- Requests for batch bibliographic, item, user or other record edits requiring API
- Requests for custom reports
- Configuration enhancements or third party integrations
Enhancement Requests and Third Party Integrations
The MSC wishes to provide an ILS that allows member libraries to best serve their patrons. Staff cannot guarantee that all requests can be resolved or that all third party software will be optimally compatible with our ILS or consortia policies. Special consideration for enhancements or third party integrations will be given for MSL Statewide Projects, Partners Sharing Group requests, and requests involving integrations for more than one library.