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Instructional Design Activity: Needs Analysis

 

Overall Instructor Rating: Exemplary

Ratings explanation:

  • Exemplary - A model answer in almost every way (this is given out very rarely).
  • Satisfactory - Very well done; you've met the expectations of the assignment. There are some minor problems, so read my feedback well.
  • Marginal Pass - You pass, but there are lots of issues to consider. Read my feedback very carefully and be sure you understand the points/issues I raise.
  • Not satisfactory, redo and resubmit - The assignment was not completed appropriately. I am concerned that you do not understand the process well enough yet. To get credit for the assignment, you need to redo it, most probably on another topic. Read and consider my feedback very carefully before redoing.

Instructor's Overall Feedback:

Excellent job. It is clear this is an issue that you have thought a great deal about and are apparently involved with at this moment (good choice for an IDA!). I'm quite impressed with how thoroughly you've thought through many of the issues. I like the way the "data" helped to show what the problem really is. I've provided specific feedback below. (I'd like permission to share your IDA with the entire group. Please consider it and let me know via email.)

 

1. Preliminary: Describe the context within which this potential instructional problem takes place. This will pinpoint where the problem is located. If instruction is deemed necessary, this will be the place where it will be designed and implemented.

a. List the context, also known as the "system of interest".

Your final response:

OIIT Customer Services Helpdesk and GALILEO

b. Describe or show how the context relates to the bigger environment. Show how this context relates to other levels of the system within which it works.

Your final response:

The OIIT Customer Services Helpdesk is part of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia's Office of Information and Instructional Technology. The OIIT supports multiple large centralized technology services, including the following systems: a. GALILEO b. PeachNet c. Banner d. PeopleSoft HRMS e. PeopleSoft Financials f. USO Applications g. Systems h. Workstations The Helpdesk and GALILEO provide services to the following sites: a. 34 USG b. 57 Regional Library Systems c. 1800+ K-12 schools d. 56 Private Colleges and Universities e. 33 Technical Colleges The Helpdesk serves a variety of customers. GALILEO is unique in the systems the helpdesk serves in that up to 8 million end-users -- students and library patrons of Georgia -- are supported. Other systems primarily support a few designated people at each USG institution but may have more mission-critical status. a. Technical staff b. Administrative staff c. Librarians d. Students e. End-users Key characteristics of supporting OIIT systems include: a. Growing volume – almost doubled in past three years to 21,000 + support requests per year b. Complex range of problems with multiple nomenclatures and processes c. Online Support Tracking System “Remedy” used for routing, oversight, and resolution of support requests. d. OIIT CS Helpdesk provides front-line call center support and call routing to second level (e.g., GALILEO Support Staff) but little resolution. Key characteristics of supporting GALILEO include: a. Over 4500 GALILEO requests in 2002 b. Two primary support positions c. Technical environment relatively easy to understand d. Many known problems with known solutions e. Lack of documentation

The instructor's feedback to step 1:

Wow! Excellent job showing how your context relates to the bigger environment! (I wish I could see this in a visual diagram!)

2. Symptoms of a problem. Write a brief description of some symptoms that make you stop and wonder if something is wrong.

Your final response:

a. GALILEO support requests continue to increase without increase in staff b. Backlog of GALILEO tickets causing slow response and resolution time and missed performance goals. c. GALILEO customers have complained about response time. d. Senior management is not happy with support metrics. e. 15% of tickets resolved by GALILEO staff could be resolved more quickly by Helpdesk staff.

Using the evidence cited above, describe why you believe that these symptoms signal a problem. Keeping these questions in mind, describe the reasons for identifying these symptoms as problematic.

Your final response:

a. GALILEO support staff are not able to keep up with the volume of support requests. b. Support problems are taking too long to resolve and customers are unhappy. c. The service standards are not being met. d. Staff in OIIT Customer Services are not being utilized to their capacity.

The instructor's feedback to step 2:

Very good! Another hypothetical reason why these symptoms signal a problem would be students not being able to complete their assignments on time or with high enough quality.

3. Preliminary Problem Statement. Based on 1 and 2, write a preliminary draft problem statement. Your context should be the subject of the statement. This is just the initial pass -- the statement will be revised in subsequent steps.

Your final response:

Available resources in OIIT CS Helpdesk for resolving GALILEO tickets are not being utilized to full potential.

The instructor's feedback to step 3:

OK, but a little convoluted. I always recommend that the context from the step 1 be the subject of the problem statement. There is also an issue of whether this is an instructional problem. Maybe the GALILEO system's interface needs to be redesigned to be less confusing. Maybe the help desk needs more people to respond to request. If it IS instructional, then suggest you rephrase to something like this: "The OIIT Customer Services Helpdesk is not adequately preparing students to use the GALILEO system on their own without assistance to find information to meet their needs." Or maybe you mean that the instructional problem is that the Library's Training Department (I'm being hypothetical here) does not prepare help desk personnel well enough to answer student questions in an efficient way. Hmm? This would be a very different kind of problem. Think about which it might be. If it this, then the context should change to become the "Library Training Department" (or whatever is the closest match to this).

4. Verify the problem and determine specific needs. Two things will now happen concurrently. First, you need a systematic procedure to identify and collect data in order to verify that a problem exists. Second, you must identify information that the data sources may help uncover.

 

Data sources (who, what)

Information gathered

What did you find? (Needs)*

Example: Interview participants in course; administer class survey; administer test of understanding.

Example: Participant opinions on IDAs and course; Participant score on test.

Example: Participants believe there is too much jargon (felt need); Participants don't understand ID vocabulary as compared to other classes (comparative need); Participants don't score above national average (comparative need); Participants don't/couldn't see the relation between their work and the ID process)

Your final response:

a. Ticket reports from Remedy b. Helpdesk Institute studies on improvement of frontline resolution metrics. c. Customer complaints. d. GALILEO support staff and OIIT CS Helpdesk staff interviews. e. Root cause and trend analysis reports. f. Recommendations from consultant’s report.

Your final response:

a. Ticket reports confirm that ticket volume is increasing and that OIIT CS Helpdesk resolution is lower than believed possible. b. Studies show that frontline resolution is increased through knowledge management and just-in-time training. b. & c. Studies show that increased frontline resolution rates result in increased customer satisfaction. c. Customers are unhappy with the resolution and response time and lack confidence in the frontline because they can’t resolve things. d. The staff of both groups reports that more training and communication is necessary. e. Root cause and trend analysis reports demonstrate a pattern of problems that could be resolved by the frontline. f. Benchmarking shows that the organization is falling behind the curve in providing knowledge management and training to enhance frontline resolution. e. f. Projections call for continued growth in volume.

Your final response:

a, b, c, d, e, f. Service to GALILEO customers would improve if the frontline helpdesk was resolving all of the tickets which it could. (normative) a. b. The frontline helpdesk needs to resolve more GALILEO tickets. (expressed) b,c. More tickets will be resolved by the frontline. after training and knowledge management implementation. (comparative) c. Customers need better service. (felt) c. Increased communication between the GALILEO staff and the frontline helpdesk staff is necessary. (felt) e. Root cause and resolution information needs to be documented for use by the frontline helpdesk. (normative) f. The helpdesk processes need to be brought up to benchmarked standards. (comparative) e.f. Measures need to be implemented in preparation for projected increases in support volume without additional staff. (anticipative)

*Note: You are not required to gather data; you can draw on your experience or imagination to list the data you might gather.

The instructor's feedback to step 4:

Exellent hypothetical data! You really thought a lot about this! After reading this, I think the problem is the latter one described above: The help desk folks needs more training.

5. Prioritize your list of needs.Which are most important? Why are they most important?

Prioritized needs

Reasons/evidence for priority

Your final response:

1. Customers need better service. (felt) 2. Service to GALILEO customers would improve if the frontline helpdesk was resolving all of the tickets which it could. (normative) 3. The frontline helpdesk needs to resolve more GALILEO tickets. (expressed) 4. More tickets will be resolved by the frontline. after training and knowledge management implementation. (comparative) 5. Increased communication between the GALILEO staff and the frontline helpdesk staff is necessary. (felt) 6. Root cause and resolution information needs to be documented for use by the frontline helpdesk. (normative) 7. The helpdesk processes need to be brought up to benchmarked standards. (comparative) 8. Measures need to be implemented in preparation for projected increases in support volume without additional staff. (anticipative)

Your final response:

GALILEO support is unable to meet customer expectations due to volume of support requests per staff resource. Analysis and trending of support tickets demonstrates that the frontline helpdesk could provide more resolution of incoming support requests and improve customer satisfaction. In order for the helpdesk to provide more resolution, more communication and documentation of known issues and resolutions is required as part of a knowledge management and training program. National best practices support this direction. Risks include the possibility that the helpdesk resources are fully occupied with call routing and generalist tasks and cannot absorb any more information or skills. Another risk is that helpdesk support quality and discretionary judgement will not be up to GALILEO standards. Ultimately, the problem will only get worse without some remediative effort, as projections call for continued increases in volume without additional staff for GALILEO support.

The instructor's feedback to step 5:

Excellent!

6. Rewrite your problem statement. Take a moment to look carefully at the initial problem statement that you wrote. Revisit your prioritized needs and check if your problem statement is still accurate and appropriate.

Rewrite the problem statement here:

Your final response:

∑ The communication of knowledge about GALILEO known problems and resolutions among GALILEO and Helpdesk staff is not sufficient for rapid resolution and ensuring customer satisfaction.

The instructor's feedback to step 6:

Very good! Yes, I can see that you clearly see the training of helpdesk staff to the problem. Let's rephrase it to something like this: "The Library Training Department does not adequately prepare GALILEO and Helpdesk staff about known problems and resolutions of the GALILEO system in order to meet customer needs in a timely fashion." (Not my best prose, but I hope you get the idea. Notice again that I made the context the subject of the sentence -- this helps to define the place where the 'action' needs to take place, from a training point of view.)

7. Identify the instructional goals. The last step in Needs Assessment is to list a few goals of instruction. Remember, not all goals can be solved through instruction. The instructional goals you identify will be the starting information for the next steps in the instructional design process. List the instructional goals in order of priority.

 

Instructional goals by priority

Reasons for importance

Your final response:

a. The GALILEO and frontline helpdesk staff will develop an orientation and training plan for helpdesk staff. b. GALILEO staff will document and provide knowledge base of known problems solutions. c. Frontline helpdesk will demonstrate improved ability to diagnose and identify solutions for common GALILEO problems. d. GALILEO ticket turn-around time will decrease. e. GALILEO customers will report greater satisfaction or less dissatisfaction with service. f. The OIIT CS Helpdesk will demonstrate adherence to national best practice benchmarks for support processes. g. The organization will be able to cope with projected increases in volume without additional staff.

 

Your final response:

a. An orientation and training plan will ensure that the two groups are in regular communication, a requirement for effective development and maintenance of knowledge base. b. The documentation will take some time to produce and can be on-going during training and orientation efforts. c. Improved frontline resolution should be possible after training, orientation and access to knowledge management. d. Improved frontline resolution will decrease overall GALILEO ticket turn-around time. e. Fewer complaints should result with improved turn-around time. f. Increasing frontline resolution through programmatic knowledge management is a national benchmark for best practices. g. Remediation through training and knowledge management will provide contingency planning for projected increases in request volume.

The instructor's feedback to step 7:

Excellent!