Distributed User Support and the

Gemini Observatory HelpDesk

Simon Chan and Phil PuxleySPIE

March 2000

Overview

Gemini user support model and rationale for the HelpDesk Division of responsibilities Desirable features of a HelpDesk

Implementation model HelpDesk tiers and structure Remedy AR system Workflow

Life cycle of a requestKnowledgebaseMetrics and user support performance

Shared Support

Operational context: Gemini Observatory operates two geographically separated

8m-telescopes (Hawaii and Chile) Gemini partnership includes nine user groups:

• 7 partner countries (US, UK, Can., Chile, Aus., Arg., Bra.)• University of Hawaii• Gemini staff

Each partner country has established a National Gemini Office (NGO) to support facility development and users

Principal issue recognised was that NGOs would not have adequate staffing to cover all areas of expertise and Gemini staff could be overwhelmed by large volume of queries

Distributed User Support Responsibilities

Observation execution and on-site support Including Contact

Scientists assigned to each classical or queue program

Expert support for user queries Distribute to support

network as necessary

Before and after observations

First point of contact for user queries Distribute to support

network as necessary

Gemini Observatory National Gemini Offices

Challenges for Distributed Support

ModelOpen access and fairness to all potential users

of GeminiEfficient and reliable distribution of queries to

designated responsible staff and of responses to users Any metric must recognize time zone dependency

Accountability to funding authoritiesStaff trainingCommunications bandwidth Implementation and infrastructure

maintenance

HelpDesk Solution to User Support

Leverage commercial “help desk” (a.k.a. knowledge database) technology. Undergoing major investment in software, electronic hardware

and service industries.

Evolutionary step forward from static web page solutions to “problem and knowledge management”:

“goal is the control and reduction of calls per person”

Provides call management... “the ability to accurately and effectively log, track, hold, forward and

escalate calls as necessary, preventing any call from being lost or forgotten”

...and problem resolution tools: “the timely discovery of an accurate solution to a help desk problem”

(PHD White Paper)

Desirable Elements of a

Help Desk : I (NB: all are featured in existing commercial help desk products)

User-friendly web GUI Easy user access

Filter and route queries to designated support individuals “Send all GMOS queries to person X in country Y”

Accounting and analysis tools Assist management of user support, generate usage

reports, efficiency metrics etc.• “How many queries about GMOS gratings?”

Feedback for updating static web information

Desirable Elements of a

Help Desk : IIAudit tracking and history

Track changes to database information; identify who answered a specific question

Integrate existing web-based documentation Complement to primary information resource

Intelligent language interface, options include: Natural language queries

• “What is the best GMOS grating for H” Expert or rule-based systems

• Efficiently moves through stored set of rules Fuzzy logic

• Guesstimates a solution when no exact match can be found

Desirable Elements of aHelp Desk : III

Experience-based learning Resolved problems stored in the database and available

to future queries…the system learns!

Distributed read and write access to database Support staff located at NGOs (and in some instances

more widely)

Simultaneous access by multiple users and scalable. Peak access around telescope application deadlines

Multimedia capabilities Use video files, sounds and pictures to make complex

issues clearer

User Support Model and

the 3-Tier HelpDeskUser self-support

Aim for majority of queries to be addressed by [1] use of ‘static’ web info or [2] Help Desk solutions database (via search engines)

Those that can’t are handled by the [3] HelpDesk

Tier 1: Front-end support NGO staff field requests for information from their own community Queries that cannot be answered are escalated to Tier 2 support

Tier 2: NGO-designated experts and Gemini staff Respond to queries from entire community Queries that cannot be answered are escalated to Tier 3 support

Tier 3: Gemini staff

localNGO

help desk interface s/w

no solution found- route to NGO

solution found automaticallyfrom existing database information

another NGO

request resolvedand entered in database

Gemini

phone/email

resolution

puzzleduser

enlighteneduser

webinterface

localNGO

Remedy AR system

Tier-1

Tier-2

Tier-3

HelpDesk Structure

Queries are categorised into three broad subject areas: Instrumentation Telescope performance and capabilities Proposal and observing process

Subjects are sub-divided further:

Helpdesk Responsibilities

Each NGO has assigned support staff personnel to each subject sub-category in Tier-1 look-up table Includes other staff to be notified

NGOs with community-wide responsibility and Gemini have assigned support staff in Tier-2 table Generally, partners that are providing the instrument or

facility provide tier-2 support Gemini provides tier-2 support for visiting instruments,

telescope capabilities and observing process

Gemini has assigned support staff in Tier-3 table.

Remedy AR System

Remedy Action Request system selected for Gemini HelpDesk Very robust and flexible toolbox of HelpDesk

components that is readily customised Possesses many of the features of a desirable

system Has a large share of commercial market Deployed elsewhere in astronomical community

(Keck, STScI, ESO) for various functions Used for internal Gemini Fault Reporting System

Implementation of Remedy AR System

remote users &support staff (any modern browser)

user interfaceserver

AR system hostedat Gemini North

queries and knowledgebase

Example support- staff form

Helpdesk Workflow Design

Requestor logs on to helpdesk (or registers if a new user). Request is routed to their local NGO using Tier-1 table.

Staff member is e-mailed that a request has been assigned to them; uses web tool to resolve.

Support staff member can escalate the request (using Tier-2 or -3 table) to the responsible individual (within an NGO or Gemini).

Requestor can check status on web and is e-mailed on each action or resolution. Resolution is copied to previously-assigned staff in lower tiers.

New Assigned Workin progress Resolved Closed

Tier-1, -2 and -3escalation

Knowledgebase

The knowledgebase (a.k.a. solutions database) is a self-help database Provides a searchable repository of solutions to

common requests• 2nd stage in user-support model

It’s purpose is to reduce the number of similar requests being submitted to the HelpDesk

Entries in the knowledgebase are derived from existing HelpDesk requests

Currently a simple free-text search engine is used with the knowledgebase

• Search by sub-category or keywords

Knowledgebase Search Screen

Help Desk Metrics

Remedy system time-stamps status changes corresponding to key events: Submission of request, assignment to responsible

individual, changes to work-in-progress log, resolution of the request, closure

System also records: User contact details, assigned group, subject

category etc

These data provide feedback for ‘static’ web pages Update / improve existing primary information

Example User Support Performance Metrics

The system data can be analysed in a multitude of ways; some examples: Measurement of load and balance:

• Number of requests received per NGO– per subject category, per country of origin etc.

• Number of requests escalated (e.g. to Gemini) Measurement of performance:

• Number (fraction) of responses and response time Measurement of fairness:

• Distribution of response times– by country of origin, by subject category etc.

Integrated User Support

web user interface

‘static’ webinfo

HelpDesk

knowledgebase

populates

feedback improvements

Integrated User Support

web user interface

‘static’ webinfo

HelpDesk

knowledgebase

populates

feedback improvements