BORREL: Help Desk Support Tool

The BORREL Helpdesk Tool project aims to improve adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLA's) by the Information Resource Management (IRM) staff of San Carlos University, and to provide management with better insight in the department. The above goal was met by designing a comprehensive software tool that tracks all enquiries to the 1st line support up to the moment all issues have resolved. Not only does this supply the support staff with the means to assess the current situation in a moments time, but it also provides the management with valuable information with which to leverage the departments efficiency. BORREL relies on the powerful Microsoft SQL Server Database Management software as a centralized data-store. Application logic for the IRM staff is implemented in a Java-client, while a PHP based web application caters all other staff with progress reports on their incidents. BORREL. Industry standard practices combined in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) were incorporated into the system, resulting in support for Incident Management and the possibility to extend to a full configuration management database (CMDB). With the future in mind main focus was on system design, while ensuring the implementation phase would deliver a useable system. This way, the next development team already has the specifications for further implementation at their disposal. It is recommended that a policy is developed for integration of the new system into the organization. After that, more effort can be put into extending the implementation of the client application with the currently available system design as a foundation.