Text: Rob Haaring

Photography: Ted Erkkila

ROB HAARING
is an HR advisor at TOPdesk and a TOPdesk application manager.

THE BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION IN TOPDESK

More and more organizations are trying to make their cross-departmental processes more efficient. This edition of TOPdesk Magazine contains part two of the trilogy of practical examples of how an HR department can work together with other departments by using TOPdesk. In this edition: a single service point.

he Self Service Desk (SSD) is also known as the staff portal, service point or help desk. What it always

Desk. Then, based on the selected category or key words, the incident or request will be assigned automatically to the correct operator (group).

task is automatically forwarded to the Finance department.

boils down to is a webpage where staff can register their own requests or incidents. However, one aspect of these applications that is frequently overlooked, is their potential to facilitate simple, straightforward communication between departments, allowing organizations to offer better support to their employees.

Limited access to confidential data

Of course, there are always questions that

Automatic workflow
Some requests require multiple departments to perform tasks. When someone is given a pay-rise, for instance, HR needs to adjust the contract, while the Finance department has to make sure that the new amount is paid out

are considered confidential. This need not get in the way of using the Self Service Desk. After all, TOPdesk offers a vast array of filter possibilities. This enables staff to use the Self Service Desk to file requests that include confidential data. These requests will be assigned directly to the HR advisors, so that the confidential data is only visible to people who, depending on their job, are authorized to see it. This makes working with the Self Service Desk not only clear for the staff, but useful for the operators and the various service departments.

A single contact point

When multiple departments work together in a single Self Service Desk, the employee does not have to worry about sending their incident or request to the right person. He or she simply logs an incident or request from the Self Service

every month. It is not uncommon for templates to be created in the SSD for this type of workflow. If a team leader uses the template (in the shape of a form) to request a contract change, this request is then immediately sent to HR. Once they have completed their task, the following