The client, a large charter school, was growing quickly. But, its operational processes weren’t keeping up with the new demand from this rapid growth. Google Sheets served as the primary tool for management and tracking. The schools operating procedures lacked a technological foundation. Additionally, its technology vendors weren’t meeting the strategic or tactical needs of a fast-growing charter school. The lack of technical foundation resulted in poor service desk resolution times for IT and non-IT related issues. For the school’s leadership, service desk tracking and reporting were virtually non-existent, as was visibility into technical and non-technical assets. All of these factors led to discontent among the staff.
TechOps engaged this client and immediately went to work examining the operational challenges, current technology stack, and individual workflows within each process. Following this assessment, TechOps determined that the client would benefit from Atlas, TechOp’s proprietary asset management and service desk ticketing app. Atlas was heavily customized to meet this client’s specific requirements.
As the hub of all employee service desk requests, the Atlas mobile app can be downloaded or accessed from a web browser. Once in the app, employees can then submit both IT or non-IT tickets. All service desk tickets are submitted through Atlas IT, rather than through multiple applications, which greatly eliminates confusion.
To further improve workflows, Atlas IT was integrated with other key operational applications, including Salesforce.com and the client’s HR system. This integration ensured that tickets move seamlessly between employees in the field and corporate resources. Employees use Atlas for help desk tickets, facilities tickets, and service tickets related to their internal systems. Each ticket is also efficiently routed to the appropriate system or resource. SMS, email notifications, and escalation rules ensure that each ticket is assigned and resolved as quickly as possible.
As TechOps was completing the Atlas customization, the client approached the team with a new requirement. With COVID-19 starting to trigger school closures, the client was forced to distribute Chromebooks to students for at-home use. The client requested a solution to check Chromebooks in and out to students using the Atlas mobile app. The client also required a dashboard and report for inventory control so that leadership could view devices by status and location.
Within a week, the TechOps team went to work and developed a solution for the client’s requests. Now, employees scan a QR code on a Chromebook using the Atlas app, click a button to check out a device, and add the student ID. With these steps, Atlas logs the date, time, and student information. All of this data is then sent to the leadership dashboard for tracking.
TechOps’s efforts, coupled with Atlas’s functionality, significantly improved the employee’s experience. Service desk tickets are now resolved in half the time. The leadership team can view all service tickets and has the resources required to resolve the tickets. Through system integration, workflows have been improved to the benefit of operations teams and resources.
Using one application for help desk and internal ticketing significantly improved user adoption and training.
