How do price a helpdesk call

[jbi1664]

I need to write a short report on the value of having an ITIL service desk, which is no problem.

But I need to come up with a list of 10 typical helpdesk calls and put a price on that call. We don't have any formal SLA, or a seat price, nor do they want to see a cost of how much it cost the business for them not being able to work.

Therefore I need to put a price on setting up a PC or doing a password reset. Has anyone done anything like this before or got any good pointers?
Thanks
JBI1664

[itilimp]

What's the purpose of putting a price to each category of call?
Although it is perfectly possible to achieve what you are asking, to do it properly requires some time investment and a bit of research into the IT finances.

Very quickly you need to be thinking along the lines of:

1. Produce a cost of the hd operation itself per call logged
This could include (but not limited to):
Resource Cost of the HD operators
Investment in the software solution including licences, installation, ongoing maintenance fees, etc.
Accomodation costs for the HD (if you want to go the full hog)

2. Produce a cost of the resolution side per category
This could include:
In the case of a password reset how long does it take the HD operator (if done first line) to resolve the call? Work this out as a proportion of their time.
If you have a self-service solution for password resets then you'd need to calculate the cost of providing that service.
For other categories that include 2nd line onwards resolution... how long does it take them? Is there any procurement involved? The questions go on.

3. For each you may want to look at the number of calls in total for the previous year as well as the number of calls in the given category. From these figures you can then produce a total of the cost of providing the service for each category of call.

Disclaimer: I'm not an accountant and I'm not manager certified so please don't take all this as gospel. It's just part of the technique I used a couple of years ago to arrive at a HD cost per call and average 2nd line resolution cost per call for comparison purposes.

Good luck!

P.S. You may find the financial guidance in the Microsoft Operations Framework helpful as it is free to download. Google it.

[jbi1664]

Thanks for this.

The reason for this exercise is a PR stunt. This is so the users think twice before calling the helpdesk and to see whether they do need to call up and place a RFC for a piece of software they found on a website etc. As we dont recharge, we want them to be aware of the costs which are incurred when a call is logged.