Dashboards as a KPI: the final lap

Once again, this week we heard of 3 more MSPs struggling with these top challenges:

1.    Finishing Projects On-Time and On-Budget

2.    Dealing with a huge Backlog Ticket List

3.    Making sure the Techs know what to work on next

The solution to all three of these dilemmas is simple:

Knowing when to Schedule a ticket and when to add it to the Ready to Engage Widget.

And to plagiarize Autotask, “There is a Widget for that.” As well as a Widget to drive Real-Time Time Entry, like there is such magic.

Note: this is not one challenge for each of the MSPs, but each MSP had all three of these challenges – can you relate?

To round out the Autotask #1 KPI (KPI information you can only get from Autotask), these widgets, Tickets needing Scheduling and Kim Drumm’s Team Hours Work this Week, both merit further discussion.

Tickets Needing Scheduling Widget:

Balancing what goes into a Widget list and what goes into the Tech’s Calendars is a challenge. The decisions are easy, but implementing seems risky for some unknown reason. This is an area where trusting the guide comes in very handy so you can become the hero and slay the Chaos. 

There are two conditions required when scheduling a service call in the Techs’ Calendars:

1)    When the Customer needs to be part of the engagement

2)    When the estimated time is over 4 hours of work

So, why are Service Coordinators so uneasy about Scheduling?

1)    They are not convinced they have the authority or ownership of the Techs’ calendars – this needs to be addressed and resolved ASAP**

2)    They are not convinced the Techs will see the service call in their calendars – there is a Widget for that.

3)    They are not convinced they know enough about how much time it takes to make the decision – there is data and automation available to answer that question for them.

4)    The four pieces of Information a Service Coordinator needs to schedule a request are missing:

a.    The skill set needed to complete the work from Sales or a Service Manager

b.    Estimated # of hours needed to complete the work from Sales or a Service Manager

c.     Parts ETA from Sales

d.    Scheduling Pattern from the Service Manager

5)    They lack proper training**

6)    They see themselves as a paper-pusher and not responsible to be the hub of the Company.

** Note: Paul Dipple was the first to say, “there is no MSP training available anywhere” and we are quick to add, no Service Coordinator training; which we are working hard to change.

From Advanced Global’s Service Coordinator Training Proposals:

**Prerequisites with Owner’s sign-off before we start SC training

The Service Coordinator / Dispatcher is the hub of the Company. If this person does not handle the Service Coordinator / Dispatcher job, then no matter what the rest of the Team does, the Customer will be disappointed, and Chaos will reign. The Service Coordinator / Dispatcher also needs to be the Single Point of Coordination (SPoC) for all Customer requests, which means they have to have a complete Ownership of the Techs calendar, workday, and duties. Service Coordinator / Dispatcher daily duties reviewed, adjusted if needed, and accepted. The Service Coordinator / Dispatcher is one of 3-Sys Admin and needs to know how to maintain the following: Dashboards, WFRs, Holiday Sets updated, & Renew Live Report Schedules Giving Client Portal access.

There must be a solution. 

Good news, my friend…there is:

Provide the Service Coordinator on dashboard #1 a widget that shows all Tickets that must be scheduled. Now, it is hard to tell if a particular ticket needs the Customer to be part of the engagement, but that is where SC Help Needed, or Return to Triage, can help.  As long as the Techs take a moment to explain why SC Help is needed or why the ticket was Returned to Triage, the Service Coordinator will learn to fish.

For work that is estimated to be more than 4 hours, the workflows are:

·      Moves/Adds/Changes (M/A/Cs) over 4 hours

·      Installs

·      Projects

·      …and maybe Preventive Maintenance (if the preventive maintenance is remote work)

The recurring ticket can be created Just-In-Time and dumped into the Ready to Engage Widget. If it is Customer facing, the recurring tickets need to be created a year in advance and scheduled in the calendars – quite simple, in reality.

An Advanced Mean Time To Resolve report also provides data on how long Moves/Adds/Changes and Installs take. For Projects, it is either in the signed proposal (you do have one for all projects, don’t you?) or based on historical data.

Either way, everyone is better off if the Service Coordinator owns the Techs’ calendars, is the Single Point of Coordination (SPoC), and schedules the work that needs to be scheduled. Everyone meaning:

·      The Customer

·      The Techs

·      The Company

·      …and The Bottom-Line

Kim Drumm’s Team Hours Worked This Week Widget:

When Kim Drumm presented this Widget at the Autotask Community Live in 2015, I thought we had found the holy grail. I mean, think about it: Who better to motivate Techs to embrace Real-Time Time Entry than other Techs? Although it may be one tool in the tool belt, it is not the one that finishes the job.

As a matter of fact, there are 3 components at work:

1)    Kim Drumm’s Team Hours Worked this week Widget

2)    Document Detention (see article )

3)    Real-Time Time Entry report we will be writing about later in this series

So, why is Real-Time Time Entry important in the first place? The #1 reason is to provide a great Customer Experience.

One that is so great that Customers will not only not leave you, but they also become raving fans who are more than willing to refer you to their friends (I have often been accused of not having any friends, only business associates – can you relate?) and colleagues (which in my case, is the same thing).

How so, you ask? Because it is the Time Entries that drive the Customer-Facing Communications Protocol. Not only do the Time Entries drive the Protocol, but the Customer is also expecting - and paying - for Real-Time Time Entry. They may not call it that, but they are expecting to be updated with answers to these questions:

1)    What did you do?

2)    What are the next steps?

3)    When will I hear from someone?

4)    Whom will I hear from?

(Kind of feels like a Speed Code/Form Template/Favorite, doesn’t it?)

Beyond R-TTE driving the Customer Experience, there is the benefit of having accurate Documentation and Time Entries, along with communicating internally what everyone is working on, without constantly asking them.

These benefits are huge, but how do you track them? Stay tuned – this is what we’re tackling in our upcoming article.