SII Modernizes Army ITA Contact Center To Support Around The Clock Technical Help Desk Operations

SII Modernizes Army ITA Contact Center To Support Around The Clock Technical Help Desk Operations

Customer

The United States Army Information Technology Agency (USA-ITA) is responsible for much of the Information Technology (IT) operations in the Pentagon and nearby offices. It has the mandate to collapse duplicate networks and capabilities, which results in a continuing growing number of groups constantly joining the ITA network. Lockheed Martin (LM) is the ITA’s prime provider for network operations maintenance, management, and security support for all data networks within the Pentagon and the National Capital Region (NCR).

In January 2002 LM contacted SII on behalf of ITA to provide critical support on an ongoing issue that its current contractor could not resolve. SII resolved the issue within 20 minutes.

Challenge

ITA needed to upgrade the 170-seat technical help desk that supports the Army, AF and Joint Chiefs of Staff to ensure 24x7x365 up time allowing for a four-hour maximum response time. This help desk is located at the Pentagon and remote locations. Additionally the ITA required a unified communication system with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities that has the capacity of growing as the ITA proceeds to modernize, integrate and consolidate many of the duplicate systems, capabilities and facilities operated and maintained by separate organizations.

Solution

A complete customized Genesys PureConnect solution with onsite engineering support. The system consists of redundant Genesys servers, media servers, Audio Codes MP 124s, Polycom/Nortel telephones, mediant 1000 gateways, database and mail servers.

SII designed, configured, and integrated a state-of-the-art contact center system that enabled ITA to improve customer services by providing easy, convenient, and rapid access to the help desk. Using traditional channels such as the telephone and newer channels such as the Internet, fax, and electronic mail, SII performed the following work:

• Implemented a high-performance, state-of-the-art Genesys PureConnect solution.
• Connected to the AF Pentagon LAN, TCP/IP and ISDN PRI trunks, integrating to the AFNCR e-mail and database servers, integrating the lines coming from the government’s existing switches, and configuring the software call system to read and distribute calls coming down the lines.
• The system incorporating unified messaging that enabled all client interactions (voice mails, e-mails, and faxes) to be stored on the Microsoft Exchange server.
• The system including Automated Call Distribution (ACD)/Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities with the ability to handle any number of call queues. The ACD/IVR includes VIP routing capabilities and a rules based call distribution system.
• SII surveyed the existing ACD and IVR system to design the new ACD and IVR system, developing call workflow schematics, and programming the IVR and ACD system.
• SII configured the system to accept faxes from a single Direct Inward Dial (DID) number and routed these faxes to a single mailbox in Exchange. The system accepts faxes on the main AF Help Desk number and routes the faxes to the recipient electronically to mailboxes in Outlook
• SII configured the system to use a software phone feature that provides a toolbar on the workstation allowing agents to manipulate call events. SII created a public address list of speed-dial phone numbers including mobile and pager numbers for those people designated by the government as escalation points in emergency situations.
• Integrated BMC Remedy Action Request System (ARS) into the contact center system to provide automated “screen pops” of help desk trouble tickets fully populated with customer and previous problem information simultaneous with the arrival of the voice call.
• Set up help desk trouble tickets so that they are sent and received to field technicians using the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) interface and wireless communications.
• Provided end-user and system administration training and wrote complete documentation for server installation and configuration, server administration, system operations, and software customizations.

SII provides onsite technical support services at the Pentagon to:

• Maintained servers at the latest software release and security compliancy with all Army information assurance requirements.
• Provided end user, desktop, and telephone hardware/software installation related to the Genesys system providing customized call trees, interactive voice recordings, and routing configurations based on customer requirements
• Provided end user Supervisor and Agent training and technical support to system customers.
• Provided upgrade projects to the Genesys and supporting systems for the improvement of service quality and capacity.
• Provided troubleshooting IT and determination of root cause of outages and system supporting the Genesys system.
• Provide consulting and analyzing system improvements and enhancements to meet customer requirements.
• Provide reports on the systems health, performance, and capacity as required.
• Providing documentation of all system components, wiring, cross connects, and demarcation points.
• Manage Remedy tickets/queues for proper work flow and resolution of faults.
• Attend meetings, workgroups forums, and Tiger teams as needed.
• Maintain professional attitude in face of high pressure working environment.
• Provide all other services required in support of the Genesys ACD system.

Results

• SII connected subsequent groups as part of the USAITA’s modernization, integration and consolidation effort:

• Connect a second 35-seat technical help desk located in Roslyn, Virginia, serving the contact center for the Defense Telecommunications Services – Washington (DTS-W). DTS-W provides telecommunications equipment, facilities, and services, including support for command, control, communications, and intelligence organizations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense agencies, and field offices within the NCR. The DTS-W agents are connected back to the main Pentagon IC server via two point-to-point T-1 tie lines from Verizon.
• Installed a 40-seat 24x7x365 help desk call center in support of the Air Force (AF) NCR (AFNCR) (formally both 844^th Communications Squadron (CG) and AF Pentagon Communications Agency – AFPCA ) to provide responsive, professional phone-level support to Headquarters AF (HAF) Enterprise customers. This help desk primarily supports computer problems and requests but also serves as the AF “One-Stop-Shop” for all Information Technology (IT) related outages and System Control (SYSCON) duties.

Eight of these groups are now utilizing the Genesys software with two more slated to join in 2014.