Service desk basics: tickets, priorities and response targets

When IT support runs on phone calls and corridor conversations, urgent problems wait behind easy ones and nobody can see what is outstanding. A service desk fixes that with a few simple disciplines.

Log everything

Every request becomes a ticket — whether it arrives by email, phone, portal or in person. A ticket records who is affected, what is wrong, when it started and what has been done. If it is not logged, it cannot be tracked, prioritised or learned from.

Prioritise by impact and urgency

A simple matrix works well:

• **Critical:** many people or a critical system cannot work — the whole office offline, the billing system down.
• **High:** one important person or process blocked.
• **Normal:** an inconvenience with a workaround.
• **Low:** requests and questions.

Set response and resolution targets

Agree how quickly each priority is acknowledged and resolved, and during which hours. Publish the targets so users know what to expect.

Keep users informed

Update tickets when status changes and confirm resolution with the user before closing.

Learn from the data

Review tickets monthly. Recurring issues — the same printer, the same application — point to problems worth fixing permanently rather than repeatedly.

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