2023-02 Department of Information Technology Help Desk and Help Desk Work Orders

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Chapter 2 Audit Results Our audit of the Department of Information Technology's help desk revealed significant shortcomings in its operational practices and management. We have identified multiple opportunities to improve the help desk's effectiveness and efficiency. These findings are critical as they indicate the need for written policies necessary for the help desk's smooth functioning. Specifically, we found that the help desk lacks key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its performance. This gap prevents the monitoring and evaluation of the help desk's progress toward its goals, hindering efforts to identify areas of improvement. Moreover, the absence of written policies and procedures has resulted in errors, inconsistencies, increased downtime, and frustration for end-users. The frequency of help desk's monitoring and oversight practices poses significant risks as potential issues can go unnoticed, causing more significant problems in the future. Further, we discovered that the help desk lacks adequate training opportunities for its management, staff, and end-users. This absence of training hampers the help desk's efficiency, resulting in an inability to maintain the requisite skills and knowledge to effectively handle IT issues. Additionally, underutilization of resources, such as software, and personnel, directly results from the help desk's deficiency in training and education. This underutilization can result in unnecessary costs and reduced efficiency. In conclusion, our findings identify critical areas for improvement in the management and operation of the help desk. To address these issues, we recommend that the Department of Information Technology implements our suggestions to make the help desk more effective and efficient in managing workflows and providing IT support to end-users. Audit Results 18