The Finesses of Assigning or Scheduling
If all the MSP work we performed fit into one workflow with one process, life would be very easy. Unfortunately, that is not an MSP’s reality. As discussed in previous articles, there are 11 Workflows, most with a different process, and all with a different response SLA (not to be confused with the services provided).
To make matters worse, it is very complicated how to get the Customer’s request in front of the Tech in such a way so they know what to work on next. Somethings are Ready to Engage, some need to be scheduled, some need more information, and some – well we just don’t know.
When to assign and when to schedule should be kindergarten stuff. I mean it should be easier than writing about Dick and Jane, right?
Not so fast.
Big Changes in the IT MSP Industry
Over the last decade, the IT Managed Services industry has seen significant change, mostly moving from on-prem to the Cloud. Though more subtle, the concept of Assignment vs. Scheduling is also changing. As someone who actually did the work, this is a change observed from the driver’s seat.
When I first joined the MSP industry, 100% of the work was scheduled. 80% was scheduled on-site as a competitive advantage against out of market NOCs. Little by little, the techs realized they could do more of the work remotely, so they started leaving their desk only when they absolutely had to.
Over time, the MSP was forced to do more remote work in order to keep pricing/expenses down. This change led to confusion over when to schedule and when to just assign.
Engaging & Completing Service Requests
At first, knowing when to schedule and when to assign was drawn along the lines ITIL lays out for Incidents vs. Service Requests. While this works well, it is not the most efficient way to engage and complete Service Requests.
Moving Service Requests into the “Assigned Model” leads to more confusion as to what to work on next. This confusion can be sorted out by extending the “Incident SLA Critical, High, Medium, and Normal priority model” to include Service Requests, Quick-Hits, minor service requests, major service requests, and installs.
But this still leaves the problem of what to do with Incidents and Service Requests that require the Customer to be available at the time of engagement. These will need to be scheduled either remotely or on-site.
Remember to communicate which is which at the time of scheduling so the Customer and Tech both know and stay in sync.
Scheduling Projects & Recurring Visits
No matter what, Projects and IMACs (Installs/Moves/Adds/Changes) greater than four hours need to be scheduled.
Projects, so they are done without crushing the availability to respond to Incident or Service Requests. IMACS, because they take too much of the Tech’s time away from the dashboards without anyone knowing they are not paying attention to the Ready to Engage widget
So…When to Schedule & When to Assign?
Based on my experience, here’s a simple rundown:
1) When triaging a ticket, the default is to assign a Tech (which adds the Ticket to the Tech’s dashboard) and let the Ready to Engage widget sort the order in which the tickets are to be worked on by using the Next SLA Event Due Date.
2) However, there are Tickets that must be scheduled in the Tech’s Calendar
a. Tickets requiring the Customer to be available during the engagement (remotely or on-site).
b. Tickets requiring onsite visits, such as UPS Batteries and Hard-Drives.
c. All projects and IMACS greater than 4 hours need to be scheduled.
Sounds simple enough, but from my experience, it may require a major mindset shift and extra time spent making sure tickets are correctly assigned How does a Service Manager know if Customer requests are being properly Assigned or Scheduled? A simple review of all tickets completed last month (including the Service Call Scheduled view) exported to Excel, and then reviewed for correctness provides that information.
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