City of Naperville, Illinois

Background

With a population of 137,000, the city of Naperville, Illinois utilizes technology and network administration with all divisions of city oversight, including the municipal center, electrical service center, police department, fire department, and water and waste management. The city network consists of approximately 1,000 users. Twenty IT personnel, located in three sites—municipal center, electrical service center, and the police department, support these users.

The Problem

Historically, city of Naperville employees used an in house system, running on an AS400. Because the system was key-based, it was very difficult for the vast majority of employees to utilize. Everything technology-related that personnel needed was relegated through that system—it simply was not working effectively. Due to the inherent dysfunction of their information system, the IT staff was constantly bombarded with requests and questions of every kind.

“We were receiving phone calls, emails, and were being stopped in hallways all too often with questions ranging from printer issues to simple request like how to access the Internet,” said Jay Carlson, Network Administrator for the city of Naperville. “We are supposed to log all problems our staff encounter, as well as the process of resolution, and when we are asked questions in casual circumstances there is virtually no way to trace the process.”

Due to the complicated nature of their system, Naperville employees virtually couldn’t use it without a great deal of framing. “The first and biggest problem was getting our staff to use it. The system was basically useless unless you were a guru,” said Carlson. “The problem was cyclical in nature in that people wouldn’t address their problems with IT personnel because they needed to do so over and over again, even though they didn’t possess the means to satisfy their own needs.”

The Solution

The city of Naperville was stuck with a system that was going almost completely unused. Technologies based questions and needs were simply going unmet. City personnel were in need of a helpdesk system that would allow each of the 1,000 network users to access information, and answer questions by their own efforts. By implementing GroupLink’s HelpDesk solution Naperville employees have been afforded easily accessible information that had previously eluded them.

“The question we heard most in IT was, ‘What do I do next?’ Now with HelpDesk we simply point them in the right direction and off they go,” said Carlson. “Providing our personnel with the means to access information and in doing, successfully fulfill their responsibilities in a timely and user-friendly way, has been a huge success for us.”

With GroupLink’s HelpDesk, Naperville now has a simple three-step process that allows users to satisfy their needs. The user is provided a list of panels that link to HelpDesk, the user must: 1) log in, 2) fill out a request 3) submit the request. What was once a timely, and unsuccessful process is now accomplished in less than five minutes. “GroupLink provided us with a system that is tailor-made to our specific needs. Our categories are fully customized to fit our organization,” said Carlson.

Installation of all GroupLink products is designed to be as time-effective and user-friendly as possible. Carlson and his staff installation efforts took about 20 minutes. They simply set up an account for GroupLink staff to access their system and make the necessary configurations. All installation was done remotely. On a scale of one to 10, Carlson gives GroupLink a nine for ease of installation.

Conclusion

Handling the many needs mandated by a city organization requires a full-functioning, user-friendly information access and sharing system. Prior to the implementation of GroupLink’s HelpDesk, Naperville’s network of 1,000 users was virtually helpless in accessing technology-based solutions. By freeing-up much needed time, the IT staff can more easily maintain their crucial responsibilities, while simultaneously supporting each and every user of the network they maintain. “We handle everything from swapping out a keyboard to setting someone up with Internet access,” said Carlson. “Our IT department handles a great deal of different tasks, from many different departments and sites. HelpDesk really helps us help them.”