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Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn

JUDITH LUMBELA
... is a consultant at TOPdesk. She supports TOPdesk implementations and gives training.

Text: Judith Lumbela

CONSULTANCY 15

TOPDESK AS A USEFUL AUDIT TOOL

TOPdesks standard features simplify your process management. This helps you monitor and control the quality of your information systems.
Requirement 2: authorization and role management
Another requirement for a worthwhile audit is properly setting up roles and authorizations in your tool. You can reduce the chance of errors by only authorizing operators to use the components they need. The authorization granted must correspond with the operators everyday tasks and responsibilities. TOPdesk enables you to define several permission groups, to which you can link operators. This makes it easy to register per module who can adjust what, who has read, edit, create, archive and delete authorization, and who can grant authorization.

What is an audit?
There are several standards for development and management processes, including ITIL, ISO and Cobit. Sometimes organizations want to adhere to certain standards voluntarily, but customers may also demand specific certifications, such as ISAE 3402 and SAS 60. Standards may even be required by legislation, as is the case with SOx and Basel II. Formally testing processes based on standards such as these is called an audit. TOPdesk Consultancy sees many customers who are faced with an audit. This article outlines the tool requirements for worthwhile audits, and how to perform such an audit with TOPdesk.

TIP: Many customers only authorize the system administrator to delete registrations. This helps you maintain a manageable audit trail.

Requirement 1: registration
You cannot test or assess something unless it is recorded first. This is why proper registration (of calls, changes etc.) is an essential audit requirement. Consistent and unequivocal registration makes it much easier to perform tests. TOPdesk is the perfect tool for registering calls, actions, activities and authorizations. Information is organized in a practical manner, streamlining work processes and increasing the traceability of your data. Our software helps you implement unequivocal task categorization and grants insight into who is responsible for a certain call or activity.

Requirement 3: standardizing processes and authorizations

Managing authorizations within your registration tool is not enough. It is also important to consider who is able to grant authorization within change processes. Standardizing your change process steps increases the efficiency and transparency of your work processes, which in turn makes it easier to perform audits. TOPdesks Change Management module lets you create templates to define standardized process workflows, including authorization moments. You can assign each activity to an operator or operator group.

TIP: When setting up your tool, take into account the data you wish to use for benchmarking. You can do this by making certain fields mandatory and agreeing upon a specific processing method with your employees.

TIP: In TOPdesk, people who are not operators can also be registered as responsible for certain authorizations. Examples include managers, team leaders or process managers. These persons can grant authorization via the Self Service Desk.

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Using TOPdesk for audits

The persons who carry final responsibility for processes such as change management and incident management are usually not the same people who perform the associated daily tasks. However, it is important that the managers have insight into the situation and can check the performed tasks. TOPdesk is ideal for such audits. TOPdesk lets you keep track of the audit trail for a specific registration (call, activity, reservation etc.). This includes the activity being assigned to another operator, or the priority changing. If the desired process is already clear, you can also automatically generate logs of deviations from the process. For instance, if the process manager who must authorize a test activity is on sick leave, they can email a colleague from home. The colleague then grants authorization in TOPdesk. This deviation from the standard process flow (including the linked email from the process manager) is saved in TOPdesk. If you wish to monitor a large number of registrations for anything unusual, you can use TOPdesk to filter for anomalies. To do this, simply

create an overview of relevant criteria. Regularly checking these overviews ensures that you can make any required adjustments in a timely manner. For instance, you can select registrations that were not processed on time, or have been assigned to another operator more than a certain number of times. TOPdesks reports can also provide valuable information. For instance, you can create reports on who has recently granted authorization in a few easy steps.

TIP: Use TOPdesks automatic emails to ensure that deviations from standard procedures are always reported. This eliminates the need for later audits and enables you to make timely adjustments, which can be an important part of meeting certification criteria.

Want to know more about TOPdesk audits?

You can use these tips to set up TOPdesk to better facilitate audits and make your processes easier to test. However, you can also ask a consultant to find set-up solutions for your specific situation.

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