The right Helpdesk for a software firm
The software industry is incredibly diverse, using a wide range of processes, technologies, and applications to support the developers. Methods for software development range from the traditional System/Software Development Life Cycle to Extreme Programming, or XP. While in general, virtually all of the clients will be internal clients, each method presents a different set of needs with respect to helpdesk support. The needs even depend on how you may want to use the helpdesk capabilities. We will show you all you need to consider to find the right helpdesk for a software firm.
how the helpdesk impacts software development![]()
One of the primary functions of a helpdesk is to quickly and efficiently resolve application, system, and network issues. Depending on the development methods used, a number of applications, or tools, could be in play within the organization. An organization using Scrum development will likely have a tool suited to tracking the development and implementation of user stories, test results (pass or fail), and the documentation of bugs.
An XP approach to development will make the availability of version management and version control tools absolutely critical. Test Driven Development (TDD) requires an extensive use of automated testing. And again, the availability of the tool becomes critical in that environment.
But in all of these environments, speedy ticket resolutions is absolutely critical. The system driving automated testing has got to be available in order to support TDD and XP. The only other alternative is manual regression, an unrealistic approach within the environment.
The helpdesk has to be effective. It has to be able to effectively communicate an issue, elevate the issue, and resolve the tools’ issues. If not, development could easily come to a halt. And within an Agile project, that means an impact on all stages of the development process. A helpdesk for a software firm needs to be efficient and modular.
how the helpdesk impacts software upkeep and feedback![]()
Even software maintenance, especially software being maintained by an Agile team (Scrum, XP, Function Driven Development, etc.) will have differing reliance of development, testing, and version control tools.
In software maintenance, bugs found, improvements requested, and design modification developed will need to be tracked. They will all need to be available to the developers. And the analysts, developers, and customers have to communicate.
how the helpdesk impacts internal structure of company and organisation, agents and coordinators.
Depending on how you implement your helpdesk and how you organize the personnel supporting and inputting to the helpdesk, the helpdesk can contribute significantly to the company’s software development capability. Do you have critical tools (automated testing) or a constant software check out capability? Make sure you can assign issues to the true experts and transparently track the progress. The experts should be able to talk to the actual designers and analysts and get feedback from them. Of course this means everybody in the development organization should have some form of access to the helpdesk capability.
OneDesk has you covered!
OneDesk is ideal for your development needs. It provides multiple methods of communications, allows the help desk technicians to communicate with the developers and managers. It captures the comments and suggestions from the users, and allows for real time chats between the helpdesk and the tool users. It can sort issues by tool. It supports a wide variety of Agile development environments.
Photo Credit : ”Box Town 2” / Kim Love / CC BY