DELTA Leverages ServiceNow for Enhanced Efficiency

When the Office of Information Technology (OIT) introduced ServiceNow to NC State in 2015, they triggered a wave of improvements to campus services and workflows. The service and knowledge management software was brought in to replace an effective but dated call tracking system and offers a variety of functions that have stepped up support operations across the university. 

Several teams at DELTA use ServiceNow to streamline processes, develop personalized systems and strengthen communication. As staff members explore the technology’s potential, our clients benefit from the resulting enhancements to efficiency and transparency. Here’s how ServiceNow has made a difference at DELTA:

Enhanced Support Tracking

As faculty use online learning to teach students on NC State’s campus and beyond, they often seek guidance from DELTA’s support teams to understand a tool or navigate a technology. ServiceNow’s incident tracking systems help DELTA team members not only detect and respond to inquiries but anticipate problems and plan for improvements. 

DELTA’s LearnTech help desk provides direct phone and email support to NC State instructors, and ServiceNow is one of the key tools that helps LearnTech to resolve 300-400 incidents each month. DELTA’s technical departments, including Applications Development, Systems Support and Video Communication Services (VCS), appreciate the speed and accessibility with which ServiceNow can deliver incident reports to their teams and partners. When they receive tickets passed on from the LearnTech or Mediasite help desks, they’re able to quickly respond, record details and return the virtual support ticket to the appropriate location. With this workflow in place, our clients can expect clarity and communication for a ticket’s entire lifecycle.

ServiceNow also addresses DELTA’s internal support needs. VCS uses a customized version of ServiceNow’s ticketing system to track any discrepancies that classroom support technicians experience during a taping like the loss of a camera signal or a recorder failure. These discrepancies are addressed by the VCS engineering team with redundancy measures in place to ensure end product delivery.  

Associate Vice Provost Donna Petherbridge says that the technology has enriched teamwork at DELTA and throughout NC State. 

“I’m pleased that we have standardized our help desks to ServiceNow so we can work more seamlessly and efficiently between and among both internal workgroups and with our external partners across campus.” 

ServiceNow makes it easier for DELTA to gather user feedback with satisfaction surveys and statistical reports. These materials help departments maintain high-quality support and make continuous improvements to our services.

Director of Instructional Support Services Stacy Gant is responsible for ensuring that DELTA’s instructional support teams provide excellent assistance to the faculty and staff that reach their help desk. ServiceNow surveys provide Gant with valuable insights and allow her to pinpoint areas for improvement. 

“We also use surveys as internal motivators as we have a monthly recognition program to celebrate those on our team with high scores. We strive to be data-informed in our work, and ServiceNow definitely enables that,” Gant says. 

Personalized Applications

While ServiceNow was originally implemented for its call tracking features, it also comes with promising development capabilities. 

ServiceNow powers the DELTA Knowledge Base, a resource to search and browse informational articles from help desk experts regarding DELTA services and technologies such as WolfWare, Moodle and Mediasite. Since the Knowledge Base was migrated to ServiceNow in the fiscal year 2018-2019, its articles have been accessed by users thousands of times, and the content is regularly updated to reflect changes to DELTA-supported technologies.  

In 2018, DELTA Testing Services developed its stand-alone Testing Knowledge Base in ServiceNow which is co-maintained with distance education administrators, resulting in a superior way to quickly track and respond to student inquiries.

VCS is currently using ServiceNow to develop a service portal for classroom reservations. Senior Associate Director Tony Pearson describes the portal as “a web-based request system that allows members of the university community to request a reservation in a DELTA classroom or other spaces and enables review and approval of submitted requests.”

Cohesive Communication 

Before ServiceNow, many service requests within DELTA were made by email to individual team members, which made collaborative resolutions, tracking and communication difficult. Now, the technology’s easy and transparent methods for creating and tracking tickets have enhanced internal and external communications. 

Requests made to DELTA’s Desktop Support email address now land in a shared ServiceNow workspace. Spaces like these help to make team growth scalable and sustainable, acting as a central interface for all requests and developments. Group members all receive notifications and have access to a searchable record of events. 

DELTA’s website team uses ServiceNow for internal updates and changes. When a request comes in, different staff members can address the notification and alert team members of the requested changes. If a staff member passes a request along to someone else, they can still watch the request progress through completion via ServiceNow.

Staff members have welcomed ServiceNow’s benefits to organizational communication. Associate Director for Media Production Support Services Peter Watson looks forward to the program’s continued use. 

“We encourage our clients and campus partners to use ServiceNow for a more robust response and superior customer service.” 

OIT rolled out a strategic initiative in 2018 to maximize ServiceNow’s impact at NC State, and DELTA is doing its part to help them achieve this goal. By leveraging a range of ServiceNow’s features and continuing to explore its capabilities, we refine our services, empower collaborators and enhance ServiceNow’s implementation at NC State.