Dear Colleagues and Friends,

When that breath of fresh air hits you, when that spark of inspiration gets you at your core, and you are charged up with insights and practical techniques that represent a breakthrough from the real challenges that face you at work – well, it can’t be anything but a trip to San Diego to attend the 7th Annual Conference for Help Desk Professionals to get those incredible insights and inspirations.

Where can you join Help Desk Management Professionals and Technicians in one location with people from Argentina, Malaysia, Iceland, London, Bermuda, Canada and all over the United States from the public and private sectors? The Help Desk Professionals Conference and Expo is where.

But you need to hurry because there is only one week left to get the early registration discount and the incredible bonus gifts.

Be sure and check out our special events on Wednesday and Thursday night. The Zoo Prowl and tour of the USS Midway will be unforgettable experiences for you and your family.

ACT NOW because the early bird discount and the special bonus gifts end on September 2nd, 2005.

Click now to view this incredible program

This is like no conference I’d ever participated in before, and like so many returning attendees have said to me, once you’ve been to HDP, nothing else quite lives up to the experience. The incredible speakers and industry luminaries are visible and accessible, and they’re working hard throughout the event to enhance your learning curve. With extended sessions provided for in-depth training and activities, you will not only acquire new insights, but also new skills. In the development of the conference this year, I’ve made sure that the content represents what we’re needing now; presented by speakers who will blow you away with what they can help you achieve.

You will be among some of the most remarkable colleagues you could ever hope to work with: supervisors, managers and directors like you who have some incredible stories to share. There is no dead time; no awkward mingling or forced conversation. It’s all about making the connection, and networking with others in meaningful ways. From the conference sessions to the after-hours events, this truly is an experience that will take you to the next level: a more effective manager; an informed director; a RADICAL LEADER! Making a difference; touching other people’s lives; achieving not just success but significance – that’s what I wish for your Help Desk.

If you judge conferences like I do -– based on the amount of writing and thinking you do on the flight home, and how much that translates into consequential change once you’re back at the office -- then this is the one conference you can’t afford to miss in 2005. Radical Leadership will make a significant difference in your ability to lead others to greatness.

Give me a call and I will do everything in my power to help you make this experience happen. You have my personal guarantee!

Email if you have any questions, would like help with making your reservations, registrations, or just want to reach out and say hello.

See you in San Diego!

Mary Kay Wegner

Manager, City of Redmond

Conference co-chair

Four Bonuses for ordering between August  23rd and Midnight Friday, September 2nd, 2005:

• A 60-minute Personal Consultation with Brad Worthley after the conference (value $275) www.bradworthley.com

• 20% discount off HDP's 2006 Conference and Expo (worth up to $320)

• Coupon to attend one half-day pre-con at HDP 2006 (worth up to $295)

• Copy of Keynote speaker, Brad Worthley's book, "The Ultimate Guide to Exceeding Customer Expectations (value $24.95)

REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 2nd, 2005 AND SAVE $200.

Total value $1120.00
 

With these bonuses and the early registration discount your investment in the conference is only $475.00.

Don’t miss a single copy of the weekly “HDP Previews”:  In each Preview we will feature a speaker and a vendor who will share valuable content to whet your appetite to attend one of the most significant Help Desk & Service Desks event ever.  Please pass these on to a friend.

Stay in touch by joining our mailing list. 

If you missed any previous issues, visit our website at http://www.hthts.com/hdppreviews2005.htm

TIPS FROM THIS WEEK’S FEATURED SPEAKER:
Rick Joslin, Senior Consultant, IHS Support Solutions

Meet the speaker:

Rick Joslin is a Senior Consultant with IHS Support Solutions and a certified Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) instructor. He is a recognized Knowledge Management expert, speaker, and author in the support industry. For more information on Knowledge-Centered Support, visit www.ihssupport.com

Formerly, Rick was the VP of Customer Care for ServiceWare, VP of RightAnswers.com, and VP of Knowledge Engineering. Rick was responsible for the production of the industry’s leading third-party knowledge bases, known as Knowledge-Paks. A winner of the 1999 Service 25 Award, Rick has been widely acknowledged as one of the most influential luminaries in the support industry. Rick is the author of the HDI Focus Book on Knowledge Management, the HDI Focus Book on the Knowledge Management Maturity Model, and a contributed the Knowledge Management chapter in the HDI Service and Support Handbook.

Rick Shares:

Support analysts due a number of tasks every day as they handle numerous incidents for customers. Of these are three major tasks that define their key responsibilities. They talk with customers, they document the incidents, and they create knowledge. Many support organizations have implemented quality assurance process for talking with customers and documenting incidents, respectively referred to as Call Monitoring and Incident Monitoring. Until recently, few organizations have ever considered implementing a quality assurance process for evaluating the knowledge that is captured by the support analysts.

Knowledge Monitoring is a best practice within Knowledge-Centered Support, a knowledge management best practices methodology developed by the Consortium for Service Innovation. Similar to Call Monitoring and Incident Monitoring in practice, it requires the following:

1. Quality criteria to set expectations and define quality 2. Random sampling of the work performed to identify areas of improvement 3. Scoring of the work sampled to develop a quality index 4. Feedback to the support analysts to improve performance 5. Inclusion in the Performance Assessment system to adjust behavior 6. Corrective action to address sub-quality work

The quality criteria is a checklist based on the standards established by the support organization that can be used to score a specific piece of work. In the case of Knowledge Monitoring, the work would be defined as the knowledge that was captured. Knowledge-Centered Support refers to the captured knowledge as a solution. By scoring a sampling of solutions captured by each support analyst for a given period of time, an average score can be calculated. This score is referred to as the Solution Quality Index. The organization can set an acceptable level of performance and manage the support analyst against their ability to meet the needs of the organization.

Monitoring the quality of the work has minimal impact on performance without the proper feedback. Another best practice from Knowledge-Centered Support is the use of coaches to perform the Knowledge Monitoring. The coach provides valuable feedback to the support analysts based on the coach’s review of the solutions sampled. The support analysts receives the reinforcement necessary to improve their personal performance, which increases the overall quality of the knowledge base.

For example, Bob has contributed 47 solutions this month to the knowledge base. Sarah, Bob’s coach, reviews 10 solutions and determines that Bob has a Solution Quality Index of 79%. The support organization has set a goal of 85% for each analyst. Sarah would then meet with Bob to share her analysis so that Bob understands how he can increase the quality of the solutions he captures. Sarah has the responsibility to both mentor Bob as well as report the results to management. In addition, problems with the existing solutions would get addressed, thereby improving the quality of the knowledge base.

Knowledge Monitoring is an essential process for every support organization that desires to increase the quality of the knowledge base at the point of creation. The support analyst that is assisting the customer is the person that creates the knowledge as a byproduct of resolving an incident. It is the support analyst’s responsibility to talk with customer appropriately, capture all of the information in the incident management systems related to the incident, and to capture the solution when new knowledge is required to resolve the incident.