2.3 Prioritizing Service Requests

Basics​

In some IT Departments, someone will be assigned the duty to prioritize Service Requests or Help Tickets to technicians or a department. Some requests may be automated. For example, tickets submitted from a school campus might be automatically tagged to the technician responsible for supporting that campus when it is initially entered into the system. There may also be certain types of requests that are automatically assigned to people with special skills, like the technicians who work on your network or cybersecurity specialists. The IT technician in charge of assigning Service Requests may make some other decisions as to how to prioritize the request based on SOP for your department.

You should know the following terms:

  • Service Level Targets (SLT)
  • Service Level Agreements (SLA)

Classification of Service Level Targets

Not all Service Requests have the same level of urgency; although, some people may believe that every one of their requests is of the utmost urgency. When a principal calls to report an issue with a projector in a room that is being used for a presentation that evening, it can seem pretty urgent! At least to them. Your Department can’t be governed by the loudest voice or the most senior ranking staff members when they are making requests.

IT Departments classify service requests based on Service Level Targets (SLT) that help determine the urgency of the requests. SLTs are predefined, documented, measurable commitments that provide the expected amount of time necessary to complete service. SLT levels often include something like the following:

Service Level Targets Chart
Priority Level Service Level Target
1 Critical 1 hour
2 High impact 4 hours
3 Medium impact 48 hours
4 Low impact 96 hours
5 Can be completed when time is available Whenever available


SLTs can also include your commitments to the customer making the request, even if that “customer” is someone else in your department, such as:

  • We will respond to all priority 1 tickets within 1 hour.
  • We will complete all priority 2 tickets within 4 hours.
  • We will answer 80% of our chat requests in 1 minute.
  • We will get back with a customer when they have questions within 1 hour.

Prioritization of Service Level Agreements

In addition to SLT, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an agreement between your department and the customers you work with that guides how you will respond. IT Departments might have SLA for a variety of requests of different types, as presented by Frankie Jackson in the following table.

Example Service Level Agreements (SLA)
Type Priority Service Level Target Description
1 - Service Request
1-1 Emergency 2 Hours Immediate attention required. Customer resource is completely unavailable with no available alternative.
1-2 High 4 Hours

Major system component is unavailable. Mandated application where technology is required, or an online component is unavailable.
1-3 Student Learning 6 Hours

Instructional impact service request affecting student learning including hardware, software, access or connectivity.
1-4 Administrative 1 Day Staff, administrator, or educator impact service request affecting customer needs including hardware, software, access or connectivity. 
1-5 Third-party Dependencies 2 Days Awaiting delivery or service by a third-party vendor, strategic partner or customer specified company.
1-6 Customer Dependencies 2 Days Awaiting customer response or approval before moving forward.
1-7 Support Non-district technology 2 Days Support for personal, donated or non-district purchased technologies.
2 - Acquisition (Procurement)
2-1 Emergency 2 Hours Immediate attention required, customer requires immediate purchase for sustainability or project success.
2-2 High 4 Hours Major system component is needed due to technology service being unavailable or a mandated service is unsuccessful.
2-3 Student Learning 6 Hours Instructional impact procurement is needed due to the unavailability of student learning.
2-4 Administrative 1 Day Procurement for staff, administrative, or educator is impacted. 
2-5 Third-party Dependencies 2 Days Awaiting delivery and/or availability by a third-party vendor, strategic partner, or customer specified company.
2-6 Customer Dependencies 2 Days Awaiting budget code, funding or customer response or approval before moving forward.
2-7 Support Non-district Technology 2-5 Days Component and/or technology is needed for non-district purchased technologies.
3 - Customer Service
3-1 Emergency 2 Hours Immediate attention required, customer requires immediate technology service, training and/or support.
3-2 High 4 Hours Major attention is needed in order for the customer to be successful in their planning, goals, objectives and work.
3-3 Student Learning 6 Hours Instructional impact needed due to the student learning being impacted.
3-4 Administrative 1 Day Technology service for staff, administrative, or educator is impacted. 
3-5 Third-party Dependencies 2 Days Integrated services are needed to support a third-party vendor, strategic partner, or customer specified company.
3-6 Customer Dependencies 2 Days Awaiting additional information or customer response or approval before moving forward.
3-7 Support Non-district Technology 2-5 Days Additional levels of customer service is needed for non-district purchased technologies.
4 - Preventative Action Remediation (PAR)
4-1 Emergency 2 Hours Inspect and apply preventative service maintenance to technologies designated as the highest of priority. 
4-2 High 4 Hours Inspect and apply preventative service maintenance to technologies designated where attention is needed in order for the customer to be successful in their planning, goals, objectives and work.
4-3 Student Learning 6 Hours Inspect and apply preventative service maintenance to technologies designated to support or maintain student learning.
4-4 Administrative 1 Day Inspect and apply preventative service maintenance to technologies designated for staff, administrative, or educator is impacted. 
4-5 Third-party Dependencies 2 Days Inspect and apply preventative service maintenance to technologies designated used to support a third-party vendor, strategic partner or customer specified company.
5 - Project, Process Improvement or Other Related Service Needs
5-1 Student Learning Agreed Upon Date with Customer Projects and Process Improvement needs to improve student learning and instruction.
5-2 Administrative Agreed Upon Date with Customer Projects and Process Improvement needs to improve staff, administrators and educators' technology needs.

 

Here are additional resources you may find useful:

Complete the following task or self-assessment:

  • What are the expectations for which requests you should address and how soon?
  • What are your IT Department’s SLT and SLA so that IT staff can organize their work accordingly? SLT and SLA are standard operating procedures for most IT Departments, so know what yours are.  If you don’t have them, determine how they might be developed?

Consider how you might prioritize the following scenarios. It’s even better if you can use your department’s SLT and SLA.

  • A new student arrives at class and can’t remember their network account name or password
  • Science teachers at the high school can’t access the network printer any longer
  • The phones in the office of one of the schools can’t call out
  • A teacher says her Google Drive has “disappeared” and it has all of her files for class today
  • No one can connect to the interactive whiteboard in one of the conference rooms 
  • The superintendent is on a webconference and the camera won’t work