Service Automation – Adoption
Embracing a self-service solution like HelloID Service Automation offers great benefits, but also requires some changes within your organisation. In this blog, we set out a number of steps you can take in order to develop into a self-service organisation and reap the benefits of self-service.
In this article
What is self-service?
Self-service can significantly reduce the pressure on the service desk and also give users, managers and/or product owners more autonomy. For example, end users can request products themselves via self-service, while managers, product owners or key users within your organisation can assess these requests. HelloID offers two solutions: products and Delegated forms.
Products
Self-service products allow end-users, managers and product owners to submit a wide variety of requests independently, for instance to obtain additional rights, access to applications or create user accounts. Examples include creating a new mailbox or granting access to project folders. This increases the business’ self-sufficiency, improves productivity, and simultaneously reduces workload for the service desk.
Products are suitable for standard cases that can be requested by end users, and have a standard output as an action. Characteristically, the product remains assigned to the user and can be revoked at a later time, for example if a user leaves employment or changes position. You can also have assigned products automatically revoked after a certain time. More information on products is available here.
Delegated forms
Delegated forms enable the automation of a wide range of tasks. Using these forms, you can standardise tasks and also delegate them to other employees. This enables these colleagues to perform all kinds of tasks, without needing far-reaching technical knowledge and/or rights. One important advantage of Delegated forms is the ability to delegate tasks to non- or semi-skilled helpdesk employees and key users within your organisation. Key users are easily approachable employees within your organisation who can perform certain tasks for colleagues. Read more about Delegated forms here.
At first glance, products and Delegated forms may seem similar. A key difference is that with a product request, the request is fully automated, requiring little to no input from users – they simply request the product. However, a Delegated form, on the other hand, typically requires additional input or involves multiple choices, which are completed by the manager, product owner or key user. As a result, standardising the request process through a product is not possible.
Getting started step by step
With HelloID Service Automation, you can significantly automate the processing and completion of requests made by end-users. The level of automation you apply is entirely up to you and can be gradually increased over time.
Assigning products as a service desk
Adopting self-service products can be done step by step. The first step is to create the products, which the service desk then assigns to a user. Existing procedures, such as requesting additional access rights or an account already in use, remain unchanged. However, the service desk can handle and approve these requests more easily. For the user, nothing changes at this stage. A core advantage of this step is that it allows the service desk to immediately verify whether the correct actions are linked to products.
The second step involves transferring the approval and assignment of a product to a manager, product owner, or key user within the organisation. In practice, this means that requests no longer go through the service desk, but are handled directly by those involved. The products remain under the management of the service desk, but the responsibility for requesting them is delegated to a select group of users within your organisation.
In the third step, you allow end users to request products themselves via HelloID’s self-service portal. HelloID automatically submits these requests to the designated manager, product owner or key user, who can review and, if required, approve them. In this final step, only the management of the products themselves remains with the service desk, while the department no longer has to worry about requesting and assessing product requests.
You are in control and determine the pace at which you want to adopt self-service products. You can also choose to combine multiple steps, which allows you to accelerate the adoption process.
Delegated forms
Just like adopting self-service products, the implementation of Delegated forms can be carried out step by step. The first step is to set up the forms for requesting certain tasks. Initially, the service desk adopts these forms itself, allowing it to perform these tasks faster and more efficiently. What’s convenient about this, is that you can thoroughly test the functionality of the forms without other users in your organisation being affected by or exposed to them.
The second step is to ‘delegate’ the Delegated forms you have set up to specific people within your organisation. In most cases, these people are managers, product owners or key users. This group of users can then test the forms before they are made available to all end-users. Once this step is successfully completed, you can fully roll out and implement the forms across your organisation.
As with products, you are in full control when adopting Delegated Forms. You decide which steps to take and how those steps should be structured. You can also vary your approach and use different steps for different forms or underlying actions.
Every organisation is different
The rollout of self-service products and Delegated forms within your organisation depends heavily on its unique characteristics and requirements. After all, every organisation is different. For example, what solutions are your users already familiar with, and how independently do they operate? How developed are your service desk and related processes? Implementing a self-service portal is always a customised process, tailored to fit your organisation’s specific needs.
Written by:
Maikel Baars