Professional Position Description
Section I
Position Information
Position Title
Position #
Department
Classification Level
Reports to
Effective Date
Position Summary
Briefly describe the main purpose(s) of the
position
Duties and Responsibilities
Organize by key responsibility area and
include % of time spent where possible
Update Only
Classification Review
Service Desk Coordinator
999835
IT Service Operations
B
Manager, IT Services & Support
May 1, 2015
The Service Desk Supervisor is primarily responsible for the
ongoing operation of the Service Desk, including the
supervision of the Service Desk staff. As a leader in online
distance education, Athabasca University (AU) must ensure
that its students, tutors, and staff are fully able to utilize our
IT services. Clients dealing with many diverse and complex
systems in an environment of change and increased demands
on time and resources inevitably require IT services. The
first point of contact for these clients is the Service Desk.
Duties and Responsibilities include:
1. Managing the day to day operations of the Service
Desk.
2. Supervising the Service Desk staff.
3. Promoting ITIL best practice within the Service
Desk.
4. Managing resources to ensure service levels are
maintained.
5. Acting as an escalation point for service issues as
required.
6. Representing the department as required.
7. Ensuring all Service Desk related documentation and
procedures are created and updated as required.
8. Maintaining a good understanding of AU policies and
procedures, and ensuring they are followed by all
Service Desk staff.
9. Participating in projects as required.
10. Ensuring Service Desk staff are equipped with the
required knowledge and skills.
11. Maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
12. Ensuring all critical issues are escalated, both
functionally and hierarchically if required, in a timely
manner.
13. Acting as a service desk analyst as required to assist
in maintaining service levels.
14. Maintaining awareness of one's OHS Responsibilities
as an AU employee and supervisor.
15. Participating in the AU OHS Program as required.
16. Ensuring the participation of
Service Desk
employees in the AU OHS Program as required.
Classification Factors
Communication
Supervision
Impact of Service or Product
Independence of Action
This position has regular contact with all level of clients
including University staff, with students, and with external
people. The incumbent must be able to understand technical
issues and make them comprehensible for the general AU
community. The incumbent must be able to work well with
all levels of University staff. Extremely well-developed
interpersonal, communication and problem solving skills are
required to interpret user issues, business practices and elicit
the necessary information in order to solve the client’s
problem. Understanding multiple requirements and finding
compromises acceptable to all positions is a major demand
on the incumbent. Awareness of AU policies and procedures
is essential. In addition, the contact with the clients outside
of IT requires an acute sensitivity towards the optics of
service and systems problems.
Because of the nature of the contact (i.e., often dealing with
frustrated, angry people) and because of the high level of
access to confidential electronic material, the position calls
for the utmost integrity and confidentiality. The incumbent
must conform to policy and procedure and ensure that clients
do so as well, but at the same time provide clients with
alternatives to violating policy.
Full supervision of the Service Desk staff. Mentoring and
training of staff will be required on a regular basis.
Fully functioning IT resources are an absolute necessity for
AU. Staff, students, and tutors are all IT users, and the
Service Desk is the main point of all IT support and problem
resolution and so is the technological hub of the University.
Failures can impact both credibility and enrolment.
The Service Desk Supervisor assists in the development of
IT related policies and procedures by providing input and
feedback to the Manager, IT Services & Support.
This role is primarily independent, though part of a closely
knit team. Decisions and communications are reviewed only
from a quality control aspect, and with a view to maintaining
consistency across all Service Desk Analysts and ensuring
that policies and procedures have been adhered to and are
appropriate to the clients’ needs and abilities. Issues,
including those involving inappropriate behavior or policy
violations, would be escalated as required, , particularly in
cases where there is a significant issue involving other units
or departments. The incumbent would need to ensure
Complexity
Planning
escalations are done in accordance with established
procedures where possible, and make appropriate and timely
decisions regarding the escalation point and timing in other
cases.
As the Service Desk Supervisor, the incumbent analyses and
resolves or escalates the most difficult issues and problems
with which the Service Desk is presented. Problem analysis
and resolution take place in a fast-paced environment of
changing technology. A broad range of technical, analytical,
problem-solving skills, an in-depth knowledge of AU
business practices, and excellent communication skills are
required to function successfully at this level.
This position must analyze calls and trends, investigate
reports of problems, and synthesize results in an attempt to
resolve and prevent recurrence of problems and issues. The
incumbent is expected to be proactive with problem
handling, creating ways to prevent problems from happening
as well as better ways to handle ones that do occur.
There is a considerable degree of planning regarding
anticipating issues staff and student may encounter, and
providing feedback as required to ensure these issues are
resolved. Typically this feedback would be directed to IT
management, IT operational units, IT training or appropriate
steering committees. This role will also include membership
in appropriate committees.
This position also provides input into the annual budget
process.
The position requires excellent planning skills, for
scheduling and most specifically in maintaining the
classification and the knowledge base set up to ensure
maximum usefulness of data output. The position requires
the ability to anticipate changes in business practice and
training needs well into the future.
Signatures for Section I
Incumbent's Signature __________________________
Date ___________________
Supervisor's Signature __________________________
Date ___________________
Section II
Qualifications
Includes education, experience, skills, abilities and any other special qualifications required. The qualifications relate to the position
not the incumbent
This position requires a minimum of a 2 year diploma in related to Information Technology from a
post-secondary institution recognized in Canada, as well as 5 years of recent experience in a
supervisor or team lead role on a service desk. Equivalent combinations of education and experience
may be considered. English language proficiency and excellent communication skills, both written
and oral, are essential to this position.
The following would be an asset:
- Supervisory experience with an ITIL based IT Service Desk
- Current ITIL Foundation Certification
- Current ITIL Service Operations Certification
- Other ITIL Certifications
- Other related IT Certifications
- Experience with supervision in a unionized environment
- Experience with Service Now
- Experience with systems and services supported by the AU IT Service Desk
Signatures for Sections I and II
Department Head Signature _________________________
Date ___________________
Executive Officer Signature __________________________
Date ___________________
Human Resources Review
Date ___________________