Platform Support Process

California Community Colleges Technology Center

Version History

Table Of Contents

Introduction 2

Platform Support Workflow 3

Support Tier Progression 4

Platform Support Process Description 5

Tier 1 Student Support 6

Tier 2 Student Support 7

Tier 3 Staff Support 7

Tier 4 Product Support 8

Introduction

This document describes the overall Platform Support Process at the CCC Tech Center. It will be used as input and a reference for all project Support Plans under construction.

Support Tier Progression

Platform Support Process Description

Tier 1 Support

The Help Desk, powered by Blackbelt Help, is the primary support channel for Student Services Portal student users. Available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, the HelpDesk is responsible for receiving and processing incoming student support requests via the Zendesk ticketing system, assisting users with account recovery, coordinating issue and incident resolution, and restoring IT services to their defined Service Levels as quickly as possible. Throughout the life of an issue, users are informed at regular intervals of its status.  Other vendors may provide Tier 1 Support for specific Platforms as determined by the contract. 

Tier 1 Inputs

End users may contact Tier 1 support by using the following methods.  Issues entered are forwarded to the Tier 1 Support Help Desk queue for work in the order received. 

Tier 1 Outputs

Issues should be resolved at Tier 1 (during the initial phone call or in an email response), and unresolved issues should be escalated to Tier 2.

Tier 1 Service Level Agreement

• Average Speed of Answer (phone calls): 80% of calls will be answered in 60 seconds or less

• First Call Resolution 85% or greater

• Abandonment Rate 95% or greater

• Quality Rating 95% or greater

• 1 business day to respond to an issue

Tier 2 Support 

As Tech Center employees who serve as the primary support for issues with the Student Services Portal (student users), as District employees, Tier 2 staff are available Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 5 PM PST, per Butte College’s district office hours. They are responsible for identifying one-off issues versus bugs, providing direct support to students and Tier 1 staff, auditing HelpDesk tickets to ensure staff are following protocols, and delivering end-users’ feedback on the Tech Center’s products and processes to the CCCTC HelpDesk Manager.

Tier 2 Inputs

Tier 2 support will contact end users when a ticket is escalated from Tier 1. Once a ticket is escalated, they will follow it throughout its life. End users are informed at regular intervals about the status of their issues. 

Tier 2 Outputs

Issue resolutions not resolved by Tier 1 (phone call, email, or chatbot), update searchable FAQ’s for ​Student Help . Respond within one to two business days to all posts in ​Student Help . Provide resolutions/workaround(s) and/or resources for students who are having issues with completing their steps to enrollment.

Tier 2 Service Level Agreement

Respond within 1-2 business days to an escalated ticket

Respond within 1-2 business days to ​Student Help

Tier 3 Support

Tech Center support engineers provide Tier 3 support. The Support Engineer troubleshoots and develops technical solutions for the CCC Tech Center software application solution efforts for User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and production environments. Emphasis is on applying technical diagnostic techniques to resolve statewide college-staff-reported issues in support of individuals with varying levels of technical expertise.

Tier 3 Inputs

Local college staff, faculty, and administrators may email the Tech Center Support Engineers directly, and the Support Engineer will work on those tickets in the order they are received. Depending on the issue priority (severe, major, or minor), a severe issue involving unavailable systems will take priority.

Tier 3 Outputs

Investigate current and future technology issues escalated by the support team’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 to ensure the CCCTC support base leverages them. Troubleshoot and develop technical solutions related to software and setup errors in support of Tech Center Products for UAT and production environment(s). Update HelpDesk tickets and contact staff about issues resolved or pending throughout the life of the problem. Create workaround procedures when standard procedures fail and ensure issues are resolved promptly.

Escalates urgent problems requiring more in-depth knowledge to appropriate internal or partner resources (Development Support/Tier 4); coordinates with the proper resources to develop solutions that resolve reported issues via a software change or workaround.

•  If a support ticket has gone without an update, or if a colleague is asking for an update on an open support ticket, Tech Center staff should contact the HelpDesk Manager via Slack to request an update or escalate the ticket.

• At times, these escalations may require a response from the product team members, i.e., Product Director and/or Product Owners, for end-users who need or request an official confirmation of Product information that may not be related to technical issues. Notifications will be sent via the staff member's open ticket, and a Slack notification will be sent to the Support Manager (Roberto Fuentes) to escalate to the Product Director and/or Product Owner. A Product leader will contact the ticket requester via Zendesk within three business days.

Tier 4 Support

Tier 4 support will be provided by a Development Support Team, an internal CCCTC team, a third-party software developer, or the Systems Operations Team. This will be determined on a platform-by-platform basis. Tier 4 Support is responsible for providing diagnostics and resolutions for software and hardware via servers, architecture, and system analysts. 

Tier 4 Inputs

A ticketing system, i.e., Jira, Zendesk, Service Now, etc.

Tier 4 Outputs

Provide software resolutions for software bugs and feature updates. Write diagnostic programs and design and code systems in operations and software to ensure efficiency. Work with staff in the Tech Center, including Project Managers, Product Managers, and Support staff. Write and test code, and then refine and rewrite as necessary. Integrate existing software products and get incompatible platforms to work together.