A professional association is a labor union that represents the interests of a group of agents who work for an organization |
False |
Performance measures for a help desk operation may be reported as statistics, but are often reported as a visual graphic, such as a column chart |
True |
In smaller organizations, support specialists may perform some user support management tasks, such as project leader, supervisor, or user support manager. |
True |
A vendor-specific certification is ____. |
none of these |
Unethical activities in the computer industry are those that are illegal according to federal, state and local laws |
False |
Which of these support management concerns directly affects the support staff's job? |
All of these |
Support managers often use recordings of monitored support calls to help workers identify areas where performance improvement is needed |
True |
While a single performance measure may be useful, trends in performance measures over time are a more useful indicator of help desk performance |
True |
Certification of knowledge, skills and abilities in technology is now a job requirement for virtually any help desk position. |
False |
Entry-level help desk staff are usually not concerned with performance measures and the justification of help desk services; performance and justification are primarily management responsibilities. |
False |
The employee selection process for a help desk position can be described as an attempt to find applicants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are the closest match with the requirements of a position |
True |
User support managers often use which of these strategies to determine how many staff members to hire to handle the volume of support incidents received? |
Use an Erlang calculation to estimate staffing needs |
Wait time is the average time a help desk agent is idle before an incident arrives that needs attention. |
False |
Which of the following kinds of questions gives an applicant for a help desk position a specific problem to solve that is representative of situations that help desk agents actually encounter? |
scenario question |
Since user support is a new field, there are not yet any professional associations for user support professionals. |
False |
User support budgets are often divided into two large categories: revenue and expenses. |
True |
Which of these testing methods is often used in industry certification exams? |
Computer adaptive test |
Performance statistics collected and analyzed for a support group are not useful to evaluate individual support employees. |
False |
Employment of Network and Computer System Administrators is expected to increase faster than Computer Support Specialists in the US during the next decade. |
True |
Which of these categories of workers is expected to increase at about the same rate as employment in the US economy over the next decade? |
Computer Support Specialists |
Unlike a question in a knowledge and skills test, there is only one correct answer to a scenario question in a job interview. |
False |
One purpose of user support staff training is to help agents meet the performance objectives of their position |
True |
Industry-standard certification exams are vendor-neutral |
True |
The example user support mission statement in this chapter focuses primarily on operational efficiency and user productivity |
True |
During an interview for a help desk position, a behavioral question gives an applicant an opportunity to describe actions he or she took in a specific help desk situation |
True |
During an interview for a help desk position, directed questions are often used to find out whether an applicant has specific educational or work experience. |
True |
Which of these knowledge, skills, and abilities would a help desk manager probably not seek in an applicant for a help desk position |
Programming skills |
Organizations that treat user support as a profit center may have more difficulty justifying the cost of support services |
False |
User support managers monitor several aspects of their support operation, including the percentage of calls that were abandoned by the user |
True |
Since there are few agreed-on standards in the computer industry, it is very difficult to agree on a code of ethics for IT professionals |
False |
Which of the following is not a primary benefit of IT industry certification |
ability to identify a worker whose performance has fallen below industry standards |
"Act with integrity and honesty in dealing with the public, end users, coworkers, management and competitors", would likely be covered in: |
A professional code of ethical behavior |
Employment in the category of Computer Support Specialists is expected to increase at about an average rate compared with other occupational categories in the US during the next decade. |
True |
CBT or WBT for those preparing for certification exams are ____ courses. |
online tutorial |
A support budget is a financial plan that translated the goals in a mission statement into a strategy to meet the goals. |
true |
A measure of the number of support incidents that can be handled in a given time period, often used in staffing the help desk group, is ____. |
an Erlang unit |
Although end users benefit from training, help desk staff are generally self-taught and usually do not benefit from an ongoing training program. |
False |
Which of these ways of organizing a support center has both an expense budget and an income budget? |
Profit center |
Which of the following is not a common type of certification used in the information technology field? |
verification of prior employment during a job interview |
Most open help desk and user support positions are advertised in the newspaper. |
False |
A user support mission statement usually states how an organization's business transactions will be processed on a corporate computer system. |
false |
An Erlang unit is a measure of the number of telephone calls received where a user hung up before a help desk agent was able to answer the call. |
False |
Orientations for new help desk agents often cover a support organization's policies and procedures, such as how to handle a client who wants a refund for a product. |
True |
The average time it takes a help desk to respond to incidents is ____. |
wait time |
Which of the following is not a primary benefit of IT industry certification? |
ability to identify a worker whose performance has fallen below industry standards |
Since there are few agreed on standards in the user support industry, there are currently no certifications available for help desk agents. |
false |
User support expense budgets are often divided into two large categories: personnel and facilities. |
True |
Entry-level help desk staff are usually not concerned with performance measures and the justification of help desk services; performance and justification are primarily management responsibilities. |
False |