Chapter 7 A Guide to Computer User Support for Help Desk and Support Specialists

While a single performance measure may be useful, trends in performance

measures over time are a more useful indicator of help desk performance.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

One of the first vendor-specific certification programs was offered by ____.

a. Intel

b. Microsoft

c. Novell

d. Cisco

Selected Answer: c. Novell

Which of the following kinds of questions is designed to determine whether a

help desk job applicant has specific educational and work experience required for

a position?

a. behavioral question

b. non-directed question

c. directed question

d. scenario question

Selected Answer: c. directed question

A help desk manager would probably emphasize which of these skills in a job

search for an advanced support position?

a. Technical knowledge and skills

b. Telephone skills

c. Ability to work on a project team

d. Communication and listening skills

Selected Answer: a. Technical knowledge and skills

During an interview for a help desk position, an illegal question is one that does

not give an applicant sufficient time to answer fully.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A measure of the number of support incidents that can be handled in a given time

period, often used in staffing the help desk group, is ____.

a. the response rate

b. the contact rate

c. an Erlang unit

d. the abandonment rate

Selected Answer: c. an Erlang unit

Certification of knowledge, skills and abilities in technology is now a job

requirement for virtually any help desk position.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

The dollar amounts in support budgets vary little from one help desk operation to

another; these amounts are based on industry standards.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A paper CNE is someone who has passed the CNE certification exam, but has

little practical, hands-on experience with computer networks.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

The average time it takes a help desk to respond to incidents is ____.

a. response rate

b. abandonment rate

c. wait time

d. call time

Selected Answer: c. wait time

User support managers often use which of these strategies to determine how many

staff members to hire to handle the volume of support incidents received?

a. Hire fewer staff than needed to reduce support costs

b. Use an Erlang calculation to estimate staffing needs

c. Use industry-standard staffing formulas for help desks

d. Hire more staff than needed to make sure all incidents are

handled quickly

Selected Answer: b. Use an Erlang calculation to estimate staffing needs

A knowledge and skills test is a tool support managers use when selecting new

employees; it measures an applicant's understanding and problem-solving ability.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

User support managers monitor several aspects of their support operation,

including the percentage of calls that were abandoned by the user.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

In smaller organizations, support specialists may perform some user support

management tasks, such as project leader, supervisor, or user support manager.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

A vendor-specific certification is ____.

a. vendor neutral

b. required for employment

c. an industry-wide exam

d. none of these

Selected Answer: d. none of these

Which of these ways of organizing a support center has both an expense budget

and an income budget?

a. Profit center

b. Expense center

c. Cost center

d. Income center

Selected Answer: a. Profit center

Which of these aspects of help desk operation would not normally be covered in a

user support mission statement?

a. Operational efficiency of users

b. Effectiveness of help desk services

c. Fees for help desk services

d. Customer satisfaction

Selected Answer: c. Fees for help desk services

One purpose of user support staff training is to help agents meet the performance

objectives of their position.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

It is illegal to test the stress tolerance of an applicant for an entry-level help desk

position.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Which of the following levels of support services likely costs the most to provide

to users?

a. Minimum level services

b. Free level services

c. Standard fee-for-service level

d. Premium level services

Selected Answer: d. Premium level services

Industry-wide criteria are often used to evaluate the performance of a support

worker.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Performance measures for a help desk operation may be reported as statistics, but

are often reported as a visual graphic, such as a column chart.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

Vendor certification tries to measure the knowledge, skills and ability to use or

support a specialized product rather than a generic category of products.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

The example user support mission statement in this chapter focuses primarily on

operational efficiency and user productivity.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

A support operation that is organized as a profit center has both an income and an

expense budget.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

An Erlang unit is a measure of the number of telephone calls received where a

user hung up before a help desk agent was able to answer the call.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Which of these testing methods is often used in industry certification exams?

a. Traditional, fixed-length test

b. Paper-and-pencil test

c. Computer adaptive test

d. SAT exam format

Selected Answer: c. Computer adaptive test

Objective measures of the user support or help desk operation are called ____.

a. adaptive tests

b. Erlang measures

c. abandonment rate

d. performance statistics

Selected Answer: d. performance statistics

The employee selection process for a help desk position can be described as an

attempt to find applicants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are the

closest match with the requirements of a position.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Which of these can be tested for industry certification?

a. help desk and support agents

b. user support groups

c. IT professionals

d. any of these

Selected Answer: d. any of these

A computer adaptive test may be able to determine a test taker's proficiency level

by asking as few as ____ questions.

a. 5

b. 15

c. 64

d. 100

Selected Answer: b. 15

Unethical activities in the computer industry are those that are illegal according to

federal, state and local laws.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A professional association is a labor union that represents the interests of a group

of agents who work for an organization.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A paper-and-pencil or verbal exercise that measures a job applicant's technical

understanding and problem-solving ability is a(n) ____.

a. IQ test

b. personality test

c. knowledge and skills test

d. scenario test

Selected Answer: c. knowledge and skills test

A support budget is a financial plan that translated the goals in a mission

statement into a strategy to meet the goals.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

The Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) A+ exam is an

example of ____.

a. a vendor-specific exam

b. a help desk agent exam

c. a vendor neutral exam

d. a vendor-sponsored exam

Selected Answer: c. a vendor neutral exam

Organizations that treat user support as a profit center may have more difficulty

justifying the cost of support services.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

The criteria used to evaluate the performance of a support employee should be

related to the support mission statement and to the employee's professional

growth objectives.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

Most open help desk and user support positions are advertised in the newspaper.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

The percent of incidents where a user hangs up or gave up before a support agent

responded is called the abandonment rate.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

Since there are few agreed-on standards in the computer industry, it is very

difficult to agree on a code of ethics for IT professionals.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Since user support is a new field, there are not yet any professional associations

for user support professionals.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

The primary purpose of help desk performance statistics is to ____.

a. respond to technology auditors' information requirements

b. justify the value and expense of support services

c. respond to complaints from angry users

d. report to company stockholders

Selected Answer: b. justify the value and expense of support services

Although end users benefit from training, help desk staff are generally self-taught

and usually do not benefit from an ongoing training program.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Entry-level help desk staff are usually not concerned with performance measures

and the justification of help desk services; performance and justification are

primarily management responsibilities.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A crash course is an intensive class designed to prepare those with no previous

experience to take and pass a certification exam.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Since there are few agreed on standards in the user support industry, there are

currently no certifications available for help desk agents.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Which of the following is not a common type of certification used in the

information technology field?

a. Verification of prior employment during a job interview

b. Industry-standard skills in a specific field

c. Formal education that results in a degree

d. Vendor-specific product knowledge

Selected Answer: a. Verification of prior employment during a job interview

Which of these proficiencies (KSAs) would a user support manager usually not

specify in a position description for a user support position?

a. Marketing ability

b. Communication and interpersonal skills

c. Hardware, operating systems, and application software

experience

d. Internet and web skills

Selected Answer: a. Marketing ability

"Act with integrity and honesty in dealing with the public, end users, coworkers,

management and competitors", would likely be covered in:

a. The IT Professional's Handbook

b. User support industry best practices

c. State and federal laws

d. A professional code of ethical behavior

Selected Answer: d. A professional code of ethical behavior

Orientations for new help desk agents often cover a support organization's

policies and procedures, such as how to handle a client who wants a refund for a

product.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

During an interview for a help desk position, directed questions are open-ended

and give an applicant an opportunity to talk in general terms compared with non-

directed questions.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Automated call distributors (ACDs) often collect data to measure help desk and

agent performance.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

Formal education courses are not an example of user support certification.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

A user support mission statement usually states how an organization's business

transactions will be processed on a corporate computer system.

True

False

Selected Answer: False

Industry-standard certification exams are vendor-neutral.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

During an interview for a help desk position, directed questions are often used to

find out whether an applicant has specific educational or work experience.

True

False

Selected Answer: True

A support operation that is organized as a cost center has both an income and an

expense budget.

True

False1

Selected Answer: False

A user satisfaction survey is a questionnaire that measures how satisfied users are

with the support services they receive.

True

False

Selected Answer: True