Reference no: EM132254846

Let us consider the following process performed by an IT helpdesk that handles requests from clients. The clients are employees of a company. There are about 500 employees in total. A request may be an IT-related problem that a client has, or an access request (e.g. requesting rights to access a system). Requests need to be handled according to their type and their priority. There are three priority levels: “critical”, “urgent” or “normal”. The current process works as follows.

A client calls the help desk or sends an e-mail in order to make a request. The help desk is staffed with five “Level-1” support staff who, typically, are junior people with less than 12 months experience, but are capable of resolving known problems and simple requests. The hourly cost of a Level-1 staff member is € 40. When the Level-1 employee does not know the resolution to a request, the request is forwarded to a more experienced “Level-2” support staff. There are three Level-2 staff members and their hourly cost is € 60. When a Level-2 employee receives a new request, they evaluate it in order to assign a priority level. The job tracking system will later assign the request to the same or to another Level-2 staff depending on the assigned priority level and the backlog of requests.

Once the request is assigned to a Level-2 staff member, the request is researched by the Level-2 employee and a resolution is developed and sent back to the Level-1 employee.

Eventually, the Level-1 employee forwards the resolution to the client who tests the resolution.

The client notifies the outcome of the test to the Level-1 employee via e-mail. If the client states that the request is fixed, it is marked as complete and the process ends. If the request is not fixed, it is resent to Level-2 support for further action and goes through the process again.

Requests are registered in a job tracking system. The job tracking system allows help desk employees to record the details of the request, the priority level and the name of the client who generated the request. When a request is registered, it is marked as “open”. When it is moved to level 2, it is marked as “forwarded to level 2” and when the resolution is sent back to “Level 1” the request is marked as “returned to level 1”. Finally, when a request is resolved, it is marked as “closed”. Every request has a unique identifier. When a request is registered, the job tracking system sends an e-mail to the client. The e-mail includes a “request reference number” that the client needs to quote when asking questions about the request.

MODEL THIS PROCESS USING BPMN.