Problem: We consider the following process performed by an IT helpdesk that handles requests from clients. The clients are employees of a company. There are about 1000 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 an IT 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 EUR 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 EUR 60. When a Level-2 employee receives a request, she evaluates it and assigns it a priority level. The job tracking system will later assign the request to the same or 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 email. 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 email to the client. The e-mail includes a request reference number that the client needs to quote when asking questions about the request. The helpdesk receives approximately 50 new requests per working day. The current process is known to be error-prone. The most frequent types of errors include: Many requests take too long to be processed. Clients need to call often to remind the helpdesk that their requests are still unresolved When the client asks what is the status of a given request, oftentimes the helpdesk gives an incorrect answer. In other words, the Level-1 helpdesk staff are unable to accurately determine what is the status of every request. When reviewing the list of open requests, the Level-1 staff often find many requests marked as "open", but these requests are in fact already resolved.

Task to resolve: Propose a set of changes to improve this process. Give a justification for each change.