Help Desk Glossary (D-K)

Database Management System (DBMS): A computer software program that allows your call center or help desk to store and retrieve critical business information. A DBMS may be used within a help desk to store information concerning a callers company, phone, fax, e-mail and other demographics as well as a history of issues of concern.

E-mail: A way of electronically transmitting messages via phone or cable lines connecting computer terminals.
End-user: Customers who directly interact with help desk or call center software products. These may include personnel within your company or external clients who use the software to contact a call center, internal support desk, or external help desk.
Escalation: The act of advancing an issue to the next appropriate level for resolution.

Focus Groups: A group of people who have similar demographics and are interviewed in a group setting by marketers. This strategy provides information not necessarily found in traditional survey methods.
Follow-up Contact: The person or department that an issue is directed to after its initialization. Follow-up Contacts are often the personnel best capable to handle specific types of problems.
Functional Specification Requirements (FSR): Criteria defined when establishing a help desk. These criteria are based on the goals defined for the help desk and may contain items based on your current hardware setup, the type of information you want to track, the necessity for proactive or diagnostic tools, or the ability to create reports or graphs.

Help Desk: A center providing a service to internal or external callers to facilitate the use of their technology assets.
Helpdesk: Widely used spelling variation for the term "help desk".
Help Desk Software: Any software application used for tracking information used and created by the help desk, analyzing helpdesk issues, and responding to or communicating customer service needs.
Hotlist: A list of issues or call tickets assigned to an agent. Typically displays open issues in order of importance or some other priority.

Inbound Calls: Calls made by customers to your help desk or call center.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): An interconnected group of telecommunication devices and standards that provide a single network for transmitting voice, data, or signal.
Intelligent Call Processing (ICP): A feature of ACDs that allows them to automatically route calls based on information from callers or from information retrieved from your database.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR): An application that allows the calling customer to perform a computerized function, such as retrieving information by pressing keys on the telephone keypad.
Internet: An electronic communications network that connects computers and organizational computers globally.
Intranet: An electronic communications network that connects a select number of computers, for example within an organization or business.
Issue: An action, incident, or situation that requires support or expertise.