Frequently Asked Question

IT Services provides a broad range of services, including answering questions, fulfilling requests and restoring normal levels of service when issues arise. IT Services have adopted a common set of processes and procedures based on the industry best practice framework, ITIL, which aims to provide a more effective and efficient IT service to all areas of the Station.

This document outlines the service standards, service expectations and targets that you can expect IT Services to meet. 

Support Provision

IT support at the Shout Radio IT Servicedesk primarily comprises three main components:

• IT Service Desk - The IT Service Desk is the primary contact point for all IT support requirements. Where possible, the IT Service Desk will attempt to resolve the call. If this is not possible, the IT Service Desk will pass the call to another IT team for resolution.
• End User Support Teams -End User or Field Support teams provide IT support for issues that require local knowledge and expertise.
• Specialist IT Teams - Specialist IT teams maintain and support central services (e.g. email, networks and enterprise systems).

When you have an IT support requirement, one or all of these teams could be involved in providing the support you need; your first point of contact however should always be the IT Service Desk.

Support Availability

The IT Servicedesk can be contacted by phone, in person, online, or via email. Please see this KB Article, for our opening hours.

Self Help

Our Knowledgebase can be accessed 24 hours a day, on the IT Service Portal. 

Types of Ticket

Tickets received by the IT Service Desk are classified by type, the most popular are:

Incidents; referring to situations where something isn't working as it should, (e.g. issues with email, broken hardware or error messages in software) and it is preventing you from working. In this case our aim is to get you working again as quickly as possible. 

Click here for more information on this.

Service Requests; referring to situations where something is required, (e.g. access to a file share, a request to access a new system or the installation of new software). Some service requests are straightforward and are easily dealt with, some are more complex and may require system development, expenditure or significant amounts of resource. 

Complex requests may be converted into Projects or Enhancements and approval to proceed may be required by either the Business area or the IT Services Senior Management team, either way you will be informed of the progress and decision.

Logging a Ticket

When logging an incident with the IT Service Desk you will be asked for details of your issue, including how this affects you and your department. You may be asked for details of the system you were working on at the time and any error messages displayed, so please have this information available.

• Your call will be logged in our call management system.
• We will send you an automated email acknowledgement with a unique reference number when your call has been logged. If you need to correspond with us further regarding your issue, please include your reference number.
• You can track, and update the status of your call with your reference number on this Portal. 
• If you are logging an incident, your call will be prioritised depending on the urgency and impact of the issue, as reported to the IT Service Desk.
• Service Requests have a pre-determined delivery timescale (variable per request type).
• If we require further information to resolve your issue, we will ask you for this as soon as possible via phone or email.
• If we don't hear back from you after three consecutive attempts to contact you, we will assume the issue is resolved, across at least three working days.

Remote Hands

To help diagnose and fix faults, IT Services team members may need to use our remote support tool, Anydesk, to connect to your computer remotely, to fix the issue. 

If remote support is required, our team member will always notify you in advance of their intention to connect and you have the right to refuse or end the connection at any time.

Details of all remote support connections carried out using Anydesk, recorded and accessible by our IT Security team to ensure accountability. If you are using a CC4 Workstation, remote access is provided by a built in application. 

Limitations for Support

For the benefit of the Station, IT Services endeavour to use their resources in the most efficient manner possible; this includes limiting support to Station-owned equipment and hardware which is within warranty, as well as IT authorised software and contracted services.

Priorities and Resolution Targets

The priority of an incident is set by the IT Service Desk in consultation with the user. If we are unable to contact an affected user, we will set the priority based on the information available in the incident report \ problem ticket, as well as our knowledge of the criticality of affected systems or services and any relevant critical business dates.

In most cases, we will resolve your incident \ problem before the target times stated below, however there will be occasions where we may not meet the target date.

Please note, the below times apply to Problem Tickets. Incident Tickets have separate resolution times, which are outlined in this document.

Priority One – Critical
An incident that affects more than one person and satisfies any of the following criteria:

Prevents the effective use of any major business critical service
Has serious and immediate implications for the reputation of the Station
In the opinion of the Service Desk staff, Incident Managers, IT Security Team or Service owners is serious, and requires immediate attention

Target Response Time: 1 hour
Resolution Target: As Soon As Possible

Priority Two - Urgent
An incident that affects more than one person and satisfies any of the following criteria:

Prevents the effective use of any major business critical service
Affects several Users, with no workaround available.
Does not affect the reputation of the Station providing it is fixed in less than 4 Hours

Response Time: 2 hours
Resolution Target: 3 Hours

Priority Three – High
An incident that satisfies any of the following criteria:

Prevents the use of any supported service by a single user where no alternative means of access are available, and the user has reported the issue.
Prevents previously authorised access to any supported service by a single user
Does not affect the reputation of the Station providing it is fixed by the end of the day A security issue which is no longer exploitable but requires further action reasonably urgently

Target Response Time: 4 Hours
Resolution Target: 5 Hours

Priority Four - Medium
An incident that satisfies any of the following criteria:

Prevents the use of any supported service by a single user, where the service is degraded and the user has reported the issue.
Limited access to a previously authorised access to any supported service by a single user
A Where there is a minor security issue.

Target Response Time: 6 Hours
Resolution Target: 12 Hours

Priority Five - Normal
Used for Non Urgent IT Problems

Target Response Time: 6 Hours
Resolution Target: 24 Hours

Priority Six - Low
Used for Non Urgent IT Problems and all IT Requests

Target Response Time: 24 Hours
Resolution Target: 48 Hours

Priority Seven - Planning
This priority is given to requests where a timescale above ten working days is appropriate and will be negotiated between the user and the IT team carrying out the work.

The target resolution time will default to 10 working days until an alternate due date is agreed.

Service Targets

IT Services will measure the time taken to resolve a call, commencing from when a call is logged in the call management system and a call reference is allocated.

Time will elapse during standard working hours only (Monday to Friday 09:00- 17:00, excluding days where the we are closed, (such as bank holidays). Out of hours support is provided, but this is for IT EMERGENCIES only.

Where a resolution requires information, support or testing from yourself or a third party the resolution time will be put 'on hold' until the information or support is received.

Resolution times are measured to the earliest time that service is restored to a level which enables you to continue working.

When you contact us via the IT Service Desk site, we will aim to:

Respond to all reported incidents with either a resolution, a request for more information, or an explanation of the next steps IT Services will take within 1 working day

When you contact us via phone or in person, we will aim to:

• Provide a summary of your issue when your incident is logged to ensure we have understood the problem
• Resolve your incident during your initial contact where possible

At all times you have an incident open with IT Services we will aim to provide regular updates on the status of your incident and, where appropriate, provide an estimate for restoration of service.

Resolving Incidents

Whilst we aim to resolve all Incidents on a permanent basis, our immediate priority is to get you back up and running so you can continue your work. An Incident is considered resolved when the affected service has been restored and you are able to continue working. This can be a permanent fix, a temporary fix or a workaround. Where temporary fixes or workarounds are used, the incident can be resolved, and a more permanent solution investigated.

When work on an incident has been completed, it will be given a status of resolved; this is to indicate that we believe no further work is required by IT Services. An email will be sent out to confirm this is the case. If you are still experiencing a problem, you can follow the instructions in the email to prevent the call closing, and automatically notify IT Services the issue persists.

IT Services will mark incidents resolved where we have been unable to contact the user on three consecutive occasions, across at least three working days.

Closing an Incident

Incidents close automatically seven calendar days after being marked as resolved, unless the user prevents this as above.

Users can permanently close an incident at any time using the IT Service Desk site.

Closing Requests

Service requests are closed with a complete status as soon as IT Services have completed the work required to fulfil the request. If the request cannot be completed it may be closed and an email notification with an explanation of why this action has been taken will be sent to you.