What's top of mind for your service desk?

• Tell me the single business outcome your leadership expects from a new service platform within 6 months. Options: Reduce mean time to resolution, Improve SLA compliance, Cut agent overhead through automation, Consolidate service domains (IT, HR, facilities), Other
• How many tickets does your service desk handle in an average month across all channels? Options: Under 5,000, 5,000 to 15,000, 15,000 to 30,000, 30,000 to 50,000, More than 50,000
• Which support channels generate the highest ticket volume for you today, select all that apply. Options: Portal / catalog, Email inboxes, Live chat / messaging, Phone, Walk-up / in-person, Third-party integrations (monitoring alerts)
• Who currently owns the service catalog for IT in your organization, and do HR and facilities have separate owners? Options: Single owner covers IT, HR, facilities, IT owns catalog, HR and facilities separate owners, No formal owner or distributed ownership, Other
• If the CIO asked for one dashboard metric tomorrow, which metric would most influence immediate budget or staffing decisions? Options: MTTR (mean time to resolution) by category, SLA compliance by service, Repeat incident rate, Agent utilization and backlog, Cost per ticket

Where operational reporting leaves you blind

• Walk me through the last time you could not answer a business question about support performance, what was asked and what prevented an answer?
• Describe the systems or files you rely on for support performance truth, for example a BI tool, exported spreadsheets, or the ticketing database. Options: Centralized BI/dashboard, Ad hoc exports and spreadsheets, Direct queries against ticketing DB, No consistent reporting source, Other
• Give an example of a service category where SLA breaches are frequent and quantify how often they occur in a typical month.
• Estimate the percent of tickets that are misrouted or require reassignment after first touch. Options: Under 5%, 5% to 15%, 15% to 30%, Over 30%
• Which single reporting view, if accurate and live, would change how the executive team allocates headcount? Options: MTTR by category and service, SLA compliance trend by business unit, Repeat incident drivers, Agent productivity and backlog by shift

Which stakeholders will make or break this project

• Who in your organization can veto the rollout or materially delay procurement, and why?
• To whom does the service desk report, and how is authority for cross-domain services (HR, facilities) exercised today? Options: Reports to CIO/VP IT Ops, Reports to shared services leader, Matrix reporting with domain heads, Other
• Identify the executive sponsors and operational owners you would need engaged during a four-week proof of value. Options: CIO / VP IT Operations, Head of HR shared services, Facilities operations lead, Security / Compliance lead, Finance / Procurement, Service desk manager
• How do you currently hand off requests that touch both IT and HR, who owns the handoff, and where do delays typically occur?
• If HR or facilities decline to participate in the pilot, what impact would that have on your ability to validate cross-domain routing and reporting? Options: Pilot still valid for IT-only outcomes, Significantly limits cross-domain validation, Pilot cannot proceed, Unsure

Your service catalog under a microscope

• Name the top five services in your catalog by monthly ticket volume and indicate which are shared with HR or facilities.
• List the SLA targets you promise for your most common service categories and mark which targets are missed regularly. Options: Response time (initial touch), Resolution time, Acknowledgement time, Escalation SLA, No formal SLAs in place
• Provide two recent ticket subjects that best illustrate repeat incidents and briefly explain the root cause for each.
• Walk me through the current process to update a catalog item, who approves changes, and how long approvals typically take.
• Are any catalog items resolved today with manual scripts, spreadsheets, or untracked workarounds? Options: Yes, several items, Yes, a few items, No, mostly automated workflows, Unsure

Readiness, the gates that actually stop projects

• Identify the integration endpoints or data sources your team must make available before a proof of value can run, and name the owner for each.
• Do your user directory, CMDB, and historical ticket systems expose production APIs or read-only extracts that we can use for routing and reporting? Options: All expose APIs, Some expose APIs or extracts, No APIs or extracts available, Unsure / need to check
• Are there security approvals, legal reviews, or audit gates that typically add more than two weeks to integration timelines? Options: Yes, usually more than two weeks, Occasionally adds time, No, approvals are quick, Unsure
• Estimate the number of engineering or integration hours your team can commit to a four-week pilot. Options: Under 40 hours, 40 to 80 hours, 80 to 160 hours, Over 160 hours
• What single missing dependency would force you to pause or reschedule the pilot?

Where past deployments actually stumbled

• When a previous service platform deployment faltered in your organization, what was the proximate cause and who bore the consequences?
• Explain how change management and training were executed for prior rollouts and which elements failed to gain adoption.
• Give an example of an audit, compliance, or security finding that drove a tooling change or a process redesign.
• Could limited staff availability during peak windows create a go or no-go on your side for a pilot? Options: Yes, likely a blocker, Possible but manageable, No, we can staff the pilot, Unsure
• By how much did your last major rollout change ticket resolution time or handoff delays, and was that improvement sustained? Options: No measurable change, Small improvement under 10%, Moderate improvement 10% to 30%, Large improvement over 30%, Not measured

The other routes you are considering

• List the alternatives you are actively evaluating, for example staying with the incumbent, buying another commercial platform, or building internally. Options: Remain with incumbent, Evaluate another vendor, Build internally, Hybrid approach, Undecided
• Tell us what would have to be true about your current incumbent approach for you to stay with it instead of moving to a new platform.
• Do any internal teams currently advocate for a homegrown solution, and who would lead that effort? Options: Yes, IT would lead, Yes, another business unit would lead, No internal build advocated, Unsure
• What cost or timeline assumptions are the internal build advocates relying on that we should understand?
• When comparing vendors or build options, which contractual terms or service levels are non-negotiable for your procurement team? Options: Uptime / availability SLAs, Data residency and export rights, Audit and security controls, Termination and exit clauses, Fixed price or guaranteed timelines

If the pilot proves the numbers, what happens next?

• Assuming the four-week proof of value validates routing, SLAs, and reporting, who can approve a phased rollout and what remaining approvals would be required?
• Name the decision milestones and the person or committee that signs each milestone from pilot acceptance to production rollout.
• By when would you expect a procurement decision if pilot acceptance criteria are met within the pilot window? Options: Immediately within the same week, Within 2 to 4 weeks, Within the quarter, Longer than a quarter
• Could procurement cycles, budget approvals, or contractual reviews block contracting in the quarter following a successful pilot? Options: Yes, likely, Possible but manageable, Unlikely, Unsure
• Provide the measurable acceptance criteria and thresholds you would require for the pilot to be considered successful (for example, MTTR reduction, SLA targets, routing accuracy).

Who will run the pilot and how will we measure it

• Designate the single operational owner who will run day to day pilot activities and confirm one backup contact.
• Share the names and availability of the first line agents who will participate in the pilot and the percentage of their time they can allocate.
• Is there an existing portal, knowledge base, or self service content the pilot should reuse to avoid duplicating effort? Options: Yes, portal and KB available, Only portal available, Only KB available, No existing content, Unsure
• Where will test and historical ticket data for pilot validation come from, and can you provide an anonymized sample? Options: Yes, anonymized sample available, Yes, but needs preparation, No sample available, Unsure
• Will your security and SRE teams be available to validate integrations, monitoring, and logging within the pilot window? Options: Yes, fully available, Partially available, Not available during pilot, Unsure

• Solution Experience: Platform Walkthrough

• You confirm the demonstrated incident and request workflows eliminate the manual rework and missed escalations described in Discovery.
• Confirm the current state and its cost
• Provide the canonical service catalog and three representative recent tickets (incident and request) including expected routing and SLA expectations.
• You confirm the dashboards shown provide the metrics you need for MTTR, SLA compliance by category, repeat-incident drivers, and agent utilization.
• Walk an incident end-to-end using a real ticket
• Identify the stakeholders who must attend the proof-of-value acceptance review and their decision authority.
• Walk a common request end-to-end using a real ticket
• You agree to the proof-of-value scope, timeline, and measurable acceptance criteria for the initial rollout.
• Deliver a tailored proof-of-value plan with timeline, scope, and acceptance criteria within three business days after receiving the catalog and sample tickets.
• Map service catalog to module scope and rollout phases
• Prepare a pre-configured tenant using the provided catalog and schedule the proof-of-value kickoff within five business days of receiving the artifacts.
• Show live dashboards tied to your data
• Validate the future state
• Agree next evidence and proof-of-value scope

• Solution Experience: Platform Walkthrough
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Incident Management Go-Live
• Request Catalog and Service Catalog Launch
• Change Management Workflow and Approval Trail
• Problem Management Configuration and Linkage
• Knowledge Base Migration and Search Optimization
• Self-Service Portal Launch with Search
• Conversational Virtual Agent Configuration
• CMDB Population and Dependency Mapping
• SLA, Prioritization, and Escalation Rules
• Multi-Channel Ingestion (Email, Chat, Walk-up)
• Historical Ticket Migration and Reconciliation
• Analytics Dashboards: MTR, SLA, Agent Utilization
• Role-Based Access, Audit Logging, Compliance
• HR Case and Facilities Work Order Onboarding

Incident Management Go-Live

• List the incident categories from your service catalog to include in the initial go-live (for example: network outage, workstation, access request).
• Estimate the monthly incident volume for included categories to size routing and agent staffing. Options: Less than 5,000, 5,000-15,000, 15,000-50,000, More than 50,000
• Name the agent teams that will own first response and resolution for those categories (for example: Level 1 service desk, desktop support, network operations).
• What measurable acceptance criteria will confirm incident go-live (examples: 80% SLA compliance for P1 within 30 days, average first response under 30 minutes)?
• Indicate required integrations for incident routing at go-live (for example: monitoring alert endpoint, identity provider for user lookup, single sign-on domain). Options: Monitoring alert endpoint, Identity provider / SSO, HRIS lookup, Other

Request Catalog and Service Catalog Launch

• List the service catalog items (by name or ID) you want in the initial launch (for example: new user onboarding, software install, access request).
• How many request forms require conditional fields or multi-step approvals? Options: None, 1-5, 6-20, More than 20
• Specify the fulfillment teams that will own each catalog item (for example: HR benefits, desktop support, facilities).
• Are any catalog items dependent on finance or security approval (for example: charge approval, privileged access)? Options: Yes, No
• Provide target SLAs per catalog item where applicable (for example: software install 48 hours, hardware provisioning 5 business days).

Change Management Workflow and Approval Trail

• Identify the change types to include at rollout and any existing change templates to migrate (standard, normal, emergency).
• Who are the members of your change approval board (CAB) and which roles must sign for normal versus emergency changes?
• Indicate integrations required for change approvals (for example: version control webhook, CI/CD pipeline, scheduling calendar). Options: Version control webhook, CI/CD pipeline, Scheduling calendar, None
• Specify approval trail retention required for audit purposes (for example: retain approval logs for 1 year, 3 years). Options: 1 year, 3 years, 7 years, Custom
• Do you require automatic change impact analysis using CMDB dependency mapping before approval? Options: Yes, No

Problem Management Configuration and Linkage

• List the problem categories to enable (for example: recurring workstation failures, chronic network latency, application errors).
• Choose how problems should be linked to incidents in your workflow (automatic by CI, manual by agent, or both). Options: Automatic by configuration item (CI), Manual by agent, Both
• Who will own root cause analysis for problems (role or title, for example: Problem Manager, Site Reliability Engineer)?
• Specify the target window to create a problem ticket after a pattern appears (for example: within 5 days after 3 related incidents). Options: Immediate, Within 3 days, Within 7 days, Custom
• Do you want problem-to-change automation that creates a change request when a root cause analysis is approved? Options: Yes, No

Knowledge Base Migration and Search Optimization

• How many knowledge base articles need migration? Options: Less than 500, 500-2,000, 2,000-10,000, More than 10,000
• Specify which article types to prioritize for migration (for example: troubleshooting guides, how-tos, HR policy, facilities procedures).
• Do you require metadata tagging standards to be applied during migration (for example: service, category, audience, language)? Options: Yes, No
• Provide the search relevance signals you want tuned for portal search (for example: click-through rate, resolution after article view, recency).
• Will you supply a glossary of service names and synonyms to improve search results (for example: 'email access' synonyms: 'mailbox', 'outlook')? Options: Yes, No

Self-Service Portal Launch with Search

• Select the portal entry points to enable at launch (for example: employee web portal, mobile app, on-site kiosk). Options: Employee web portal, Mobile app, On-site kiosk, Other
• Indicate which catalog categories should be public versus restricted to groups (for example: software visible to all, payroll restricted to HR).
• Do you require single sign-on for the portal using your identity provider domain? Options: Yes, No
• Specify the search behaviors you need (for example: fuzzy match, synonyms, typo tolerance, multi-language support).
• Should the portal display SLA expectations on each catalog item (for example: 48 hours for standard request)? Options: Yes, No

Conversational Virtual Agent Configuration

• List the virtual agent intents to train for go-live (for example: password reset, request status, FAQ lookup).
• Estimate the expected first-touch resolution rate for the virtual agent during the pilot. Options: Less than 10%, 10-25%, 25-50%, More than 50%
• Identify backend endpoints the bot must call (for example: ticket creation API, asset lookup, HR case system).
• Do you require explicit handoff conditions for the bot to route a conversation to an agent (for example: escalation keywords, detected sentiment)? Options: Yes, No
• Specify target pilot metrics for the virtual agent such as deflection rate or reduction in agent queue (for example: 10% deflection).

CMDB Population and Dependency Mapping

• List the Configuration Item (CI) classes to populate first (for example: workstations, servers, network devices, applications).
• Estimate the number of CIs to import for initial population. Options: Less than 5,000, 5,000-25,000, 25,000-100,000, More than 100,000
• Identify the source systems that will provide CI data (for example: asset inventory CSV, discovery tool, cloud inventory).
• Do you require automatic dependency mapping between CIs to enable change impact analysis? Options: Yes, No
• Specify the acceptable CI data accuracy threshold for go-live (for example: 90% of records include owner and location). Options: 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%

SLA, Prioritization, and Escalation Rules

• List the SLA tiers you need configured and the numeric target for each (for example: P1 4 hours, P2 8 hours).
• Describe the priority matrix rules you want (impact vs urgency mapping to priority).
• Identify escalation owners and secondary contacts by priority (role or title).
• Do you require automated SLA breach notifications and by which channel (email, chat, dashboard)? Options: Yes, No
• How will you verify SLA configuration at go-live; provide pass/fail thresholds (for example: 95% successful routing, 90% SLA adherence over 30 days).

Multi-Channel Ingestion (Email, Chat, Walk-up)

• Provide the email mailboxes and domains to ingest at go-live (for example: [email protected], [email protected]).
• Select the chat channels or provider endpoints to connect initially (for example: internal chat platform channel, web chat widget). Options: Internal chat channel, Web chat widget, External chat connector, Other
• Do you have on-site walk-up locations or kiosks to integrate for ticket creation and check-in? Options: Yes, No
• Specify your threading and deduplication rules for email-to-ticket conversion (for example: thread by subject and sender, always create new ticket). Options: Thread by subject and sender, Create new ticket per message, Deduplicate by message ID, Custom
• Are there retention or PII redaction requirements for messages ingested from these channels? Options: Yes, No

Historical Ticket Migration and Reconciliation

• Select the historical ticket date range you want migrated (for example: tickets from the last 12 months). Options: 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, All history
• Identify which ticket fields must be preserved during migration (for example: attachments, resolution notes, timestamps, requester history).
• Do you require reconciliation reports showing migrated counts versus source for each category? Options: Yes, No
• What migration completeness threshold will you accept (for example: 95% of tickets migrated with attachments and correct incident linkage)?
• Are there regulatory or retention constraints that affect migrated tickets (for example: retain for 7 years, redact PII)? Options: Yes, No

Analytics Dashboards: MTR, SLA, Agent Utilization

• List the KPIs that must appear on executive and operational dashboards (for example: mean time to resolution MTR, SLA compliance, agent utilization, customer satisfaction).
• Choose the report refresh cadence you require for dashboards. Options: Real-time, Hourly, Daily, Weekly
• Indicate who should have edit rights versus view-only access to dashboards (by role or title).
• Do you want historical baseline comparison in reports (for example: compare current MTR to prior quarter)? Options: Yes, No
• Identify the data sources that must feed analytics (for example: ticket store, CMDB, HRIS for staff counts).

• success_criteria
• desired_state
• decision_readiness
• stakeholders
• gaps
• current_state
• stakeholders
• decision_readiness
• success_criteria
• current_state
• desired_state
• gaps
• stakeholders
• current_state
• decision_readiness
• desired_state
• success_criteria
• gaps
• decision_readiness
• decision_readiness
• decision_readiness
• decision_readiness

• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Order Form / Subscription Agreement
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Acceptance Criteria and Go/No-Go Agreement
• Change Order Agreement
• Deployment Readiness Certificate

• Go-live Health Check (weeks 1-4)
• First Measurement Review (weeks 4-10)
• Acceptance Gate Review (around day 90)
• Monthly Operational Triage (ongoing monthly)
• Quarterly Business Review, Operations and Outcomes
• Annual Outcomes Review

• Document the top persistent blockers with agreed actions and timelines to remove them.
• Open critical incidents and SLA exceptions
• Reduce the number of open high-priority incidents and set clear timelines for SLA exception resolution.
• Triage enhancement requests so the backlog reflects agreed buyer priorities.
• Confirm immediate configuration changes that will improve SLA compliance rate by service category.
• Update the shared enhancement backlog with agreed disposition and expected delivery window.
• Publish an incident remediation timeline for each open SLA breach to the shared channel.
• Apply agreed small-configuration fixes and record verification steps for the next triage.
• Quarterly KPI summary
• Confirm whether repeat incident rate and portal deflection rate meet or move toward the Solution Scope targets.
• Agree the quarterly operational plan that will be tracked in monthly triage sessions.
• Publish the quarterly KPI packet including raw data exports and diagnostics for buyer review.
• Create the cross-functional remediation plan for the top 3 persistent blockers with milestone dates.
• Update key knowledge articles or run focused agent enablement sessions as agreed.
• Year-to-date outcomes presentation
• Validate whether annual mean time to resolution by service category and overall SLA compliance rate meet the Solution Scope targets.
• Agree the top operational priorities and a verification cadence for the next 12 months.
• Reduce the outstanding enhancement request count by categorizing items for delivery, deferment, or closure.
• Publish the annual outcomes report with raw data and executive summary.
• Deliver the prioritized operational roadmap for the next 12 months with milestone checkpoints.
• Circulate the updated enhancement backlog with expected delivery windows or closure decisions.
• Re-confirm success criteria and owners
• Confirm all critical integrations and environment checks are green or have agreed remediation within 5 business days.
• Agree owner and timeline for each open blocker so no item is left unassigned after the meeting.
• Verify named pilot users can create, escalate, and resolve tickets end-to-end.
• Publish the post-go-live validation checklist with status and remediation timelines.
• Capture and circulate a short list of onboarding gaps that require follow-up training or configuration tweaks.
• Schedule the First Measurement meeting in the week when initial KPI data will be available.
• Present first measurement data
• Determine whether mean time to resolution by service category and SLA compliance rate by service category are moving toward the Solution Scope targets.
• Document 2-4 corrective actions with completion target dates to close identified gaps.
• Confirm the timeline to the Acceptance Gate review at approximately day 90.
• Publish the measurement dashboard exports and the diagnostic notes used in the meeting.
• Implement agreed configuration or workflow changes in the staging environment for validation.
• Schedule a short follow-up demo if any routing or SLA rule changes require buyer confirmation before production push.
• Produce a documented acceptance decision with pass/fail status for each Solution Scope criterion and a named buyer signatory.
• Restate acceptance criteria and targets
• If any criteria are conditional, agree remediation items with clear deadlines to convert to pass status.
• Confirm the incumbent system wind-down plan is complete, including data migration or archival and contract/renewal actions.
• Publish the formal acceptance record with pass/fail status and the named signatory within 24 hours.
• Deliver the incumbent wind-down checklist showing migration/archival status, contract disposition, and fallback-usage closure.
• Track conditional remediation items in the shared issue channel with target completion dates.
• Root-cause analysis for gaps
• Persistent blocker review
• Deployment and environment validation
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Enhancement request triage
• Stability and risk review
• User onboarding and access checks
• Document pass/fail per criterion
• Process and training gaps
• Adoption and operational signals
• Backlog and enhancement disposition
• Operational configuration items
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Incumbent system wind-down confirmation
• Confirm next steps and verification plan
• Agree quarter plan and ownership
• Agree corrective actions and timelines
• Confirm annual operational priorities and verification plan