OVERVIEW
When our client, a private college outside of Boston, needed a better way to track requests across the entire university, they turned to Jira Service Management and our expert team of consultants for a solution. Previously burdened with an outdated legacy system that could not withstand the load (nor could it be upgraded), this nationally ranked school required custom configuration of Jira Service Management and an accompanying Confluence knowledge base to provide the functionality and performance they needed.
Used to track a variety of requests across the university, from facilities to equipment, our solution needed to meet their specific use case and requirements - and be completed by the start of their rapidly approaching fall semester.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client's previous issue-tracking system of seven years no longer provided the functionality the university required. Not only was their version no longer supported (and the cost of upgrade was not proportionate to the results needed), but the system lacked reporting and searching capabilities. While tickets transferred from one queue to another, the information in their custom fields didn't.
Server upgrades were even halted entirely at the risk of breaking the already tenuous legacy ticketing system, which was no longer supported. Both system administrators and technicians providing help had become frustrated with the software and set out to find a better solution to their issue tracking needs.
THE SOLUTION
Three potential replacements for the previous issue tracker were set up in a test environment to allow users hands-on evaluation for accurate feedback. At the end of the trial, stakeholders overwhelmingly voted for Jira Service Management, citing integration of documentation, clean, modern interface, and customization options (in addition to solving the searching and reporting issues of their previous system) as their cause for enthusiasm around the product.
Our client's IT staff collaborated with over half a dozen teams to determine their requirements of Jira Service Management before designing and implementing the platform. Many teams required custom workflows and each needed their own specific fields, which could be easily achieved with the customization abilities of Jira Service Management. Tiers of ticketing were established to aid in efficient triage of tickets, ensuring that help desk workers (mostly part-time student staffers) could address their queue for speedy resolution of issues.
As an educational institution, our client's timeline was tight with work needing to be completed during the summer, prior to the start of the fall semester. To expedite the process of implementation, our client sought our expertise to assist in the process, modifying workflows and fields per the needs of their help desk. Once design was complete and Jira Service Management was integrated with the client's knowledge base, offering a self-service option for front-end users, the new platform was rolled out with great success and enthusiastic reception.
THE RESULTS
The successful customized design of Jira Service Management gave each group exactly what they needed. Front-end users loved Jira Service Management because of its easy-to-use interface, which they took to immediately; technicians loved how it streamlined their workflow, with dashboards and queues created to optimize prioritization and organization.
Additionally, adoption of the linked Confluence knowledge base significantly reduced the number of tickets received, as end-users could now get immediate answers themselves. Our client awarded us an A+ for our great work, noting that they could never have done the Jira Service Management project without our expert help.
